I realized too soon that he wasn't going to kill me. Locked in battle with no way out but murder or death- you really don't think anthing but fight or flight, fight- It became my mantra. In those long, cold months trying to kill Ethan Ray-Qet, it was my mantra.
Ethan had been a boy in my class once, in sixth grade- a very long time ago. Or it least, it seemed so. Just a year, three months, and twenty days. My world is so utterly changed than how it was even four months ago, it's amazing. Sent in the Canadian forests until one of us comes out alive. The Warrior Games, part 2.
The Warrior Games are a series of long months where you are sent to kill your partner- your best friend, basically. I've known Ethan since first grade, when he first hacked the computer lab.
Ethan is a troublemaker who never gets in trouble, because he's the smartest in the school. Smarter than tenth graders, even. But he doesn't show it.
Or used to not.
Being a Chosen Warrior changes you, for the good or the bad.
For Ethan, it was the bad, as bad as Warrioring can go.
He isn't the same quiet boy who was virtually mute I used to know.
He's arrogant, selfish, loud-mouthed, trash-talking, popular, rude, and the worst. The thing that hurts me most.
Ethan doesn't care whether I live or die. He never has.
And that hurts the most. The ripping agony I first felt when he joined the ranks of the bullies that hated me. Not the rudeness, selfishness, or arrogancy. It's the ignoring. That really hurts.
But he won't kill me.
And that's a puzzle.
YOU ARE READING
Bloodthirsty: A Collection Of Scary Stories
Short StoryThe stories that will chill you to the bone and leave you in suspense, all at once. From Echoes to Once Upon A Dark Night, you'll be wanting more. Another must-read from Ara Redbridge.
