Rabidity (Jane Loft-series #1)

Chapter 6

"That was incredibly stupid," Fang tells me when we walk out of the Arena.

"What was?" Trevor asks, joining our company and matching our pace. "Where are we going?"

"DON," I reply.

"Who's that?" he asks, pointing at Fang. I study Fang and bite my lip, not really sure how to describe him. Tall, muscular, nice and handsome? Or maybe intelligent, brave, smart and good looking?

Fang winks at me when he sees I'm looking at him. "Right. Fang, this is Trevor. He came here with me. Trevor, this is Fang, he taught me to fight dummies."

Trevor looks weird. "When?"

"About five minutes ago," Fang replies, "where's the blonde girl that sleeps in the temporarily house?"

"You mean Summer?" Trevor asks him. He shrugs when Fang nods. "What can I say? No one knows where she is during the day. I guess she's still recovering from all of the information. Why do you want to know?"

"No reason," Fang blushes. Aha. Someone has a crush on the most annoying girl walking on the surface of this planet. "We're here."

DON is even more impressing when you're in front of it. It's silent, but not a good kind of silent. It's creepy, mysterious and it makes the hair on your arms stand straight. From where I'm standing, I see three very high buildings. If I'm not mistaking, people called them skyscrapers before the Second Big Bang. We would've called them so, too, if it wasn't from the fact none of them survived the disaster. The skyscrapers stand approximately ten feet from each other and between them there are normal, worn down houses, forming streets. It's all grey and black and misty. It's only guesswork, but I think DON is not a cheery abbreviation.

"What does it stand for?"

Fang and Trevor answer at the same time, both knowing exactly what I'm talking about. Fang probably knows it because he's born and raised here and I guess Trevor has his knowledge from books he found in the library. "Dead Or Not."

Told you. "What does it do?"

"You can compare it to the Arena, only bigger and more dangerous," Fang explains. "Someone installs the tablet, scans his fingerprint and enters DON. When you're with two players, DON will keep sending monsters to you, until both of the players are close enough to fight. The game doesn't stop until one of them surrenders. That is, if you're not out because the monsters defeated you before the players reach each other."

"You call this a game?" I ask, my mouth falling open.

He shrugs. "Other things bore us."

"Oh, naturally," I say sarcastically and the three of us start laughing. Probably the nerves.

"Hey, Loft, you ready?" Xavier asks, standing next to our group, dressed in armour.

Wow. Xavier Le Vainqueur sure does look badass in that outfit. He's wearing black trousers, metal arm protectors with golden flames and a dark brown armour with light golden accents. He looks even older in that outfit, more mature. "Yes. I was waiting for you."

"Of course you were. I always arrive late in a classy way," he winks.

"Ha! You wish," I reply, and pull the Cleaver out of its holder on my back. We're standing in front of the two entrances of DON and my heart is pounding loudly, so loud I'm afraid the people around me will hear it. They don't, and I force myself to be calm, to think about DON, the game we're about to play. Both entrances lead you somewhere completely else in the village, and you need to survive the monsters before you need to force your opponent on his or her knees. We're also wearing badges. We need to protect them, and we lose the moment your opponent takes it away from you.