The Kairos Games

Chapter 18

Trinity shifts in her tree and finds herself nibbling on a leaf. As much as she would like to climb down and look for food, she knows the ground is not safe. She just witnessed Madeline murdering Jordan. He was simply wandering through Alumni Park, looking for a comfortable bench to sleep on, when she came out of nowhere with her gun. Luckily, her aim was decent. He died in a matter of seconds. Trinity worries that she may not be so lucky. While being shot is not ideal, bleeding to death would be even worse, so she stays concealed and watches as Madeline searches the ped mall for her next victim.

    The birds are already chirping. The sun will be rising in roughly four hours, but, you know what they say about worms. The clock strikes two, which means it’s actually about 2:57. Madeline steps into the amphitheater, searching. She stands in the circle for at least fifteen minutes, according to the chiming of the bell tower. After a while, however, she decides that people will be easier to find in the daylight. She wanders over to the grassy steps of the theater and settles down to sleep, gun grasped in both hands.

    The night passes slowly. David and Cody find a comfortable set of couches to sleep on in the library. Paige wanders back to Nora and locks herself in a bedroom. Andrea goes back to her creek. By 3:30, Mesa is the only person still awake. She sits in the breezeway between the halves of the SMC, playing with a match. Could she really burn down another building? The campus seems oddly empty without Medlin, BOB, and Humanities. Not everyone is sleeping in a building, anyway. She knows Madeline is out on the grass, and Andrea is still sleeping in the creek. She’s lost track of Hannah; evidently, Hannah is on the run from Dani. Dani, however, is easy to spot. After escaping the deadly euchre game, she wandered back to Simmons, screaming at Hannah. Mesa could see her now, asleep next to the stalker window, just over the ped mall. When Madeline wakes up… It will only be a matter of time.

    Mesa wants to sleep. She knows that her body is going to give in eventually, and if she doesn’t find a safe place soon, she’ll be dead in the morning. Then again… she’ll be dead soon, anyway. Why bother trying to stay safe? Why sleep? Sleeping makes you vulnerable. Now is the time to strike, while everyone has their guard down. If she was quiet enough… Maybe she could even take the gun. She could kill Madeline, and then she would be the one with the upper hand. She could shoot them all, quickly, and hopefully end their lives without causing too much pain. To die by fire… It must be torture. She reaches for the tiny flame with the tip of her finger, then pulls away quickly. Even that tiny contact is painful. Imagine it multiplied… How quickly would you lose your mind? How long would it take for you to actually die?

    Death couldn’t come fast enough.

    Mesa stands up and wanders into the building behind her. The lock is already broken, thanks to Becca’s bat, and Dunkin has already been raided. Mesa passes it by; she takes the stairs up to the second floor and collapses on one of the turquoise couches.

The bullet shatters the glass over Dani‘s head. Dani rolls to the floor, hiding behind the window seat. “Dang it, Madeline! You’ll have to try harder than that!” Outside, Madeline is pacing. Twelve tributes remain. The drop in numbers is apparent; finding a victim is harder than ever.

    “Where is everybody?” Madeline asks herself. Something heavy hit’s the back of her neck. “Ow! DANI!” Dani sticks out her tongue and runs down the hall before Madeline can lift the gun. Madeline glances at the shoe on the ground behind her. Dani had scratched a note into the sole. Let me kill Hannah. Madeline sighs and yells to the window, “Fine! I’ll give you two days. After that, you’re dead!” She wanders over to the tables and takes a seat, bracing the gun in front of her and watching for movement.

    The fourth day in a tree is always the worst, Trinity tells herself. Yeah, it’s uncomfortable now, but you know what else is uncomfortable? Getting shot. That’s uncomfortable.  Madeline has been sitting in that chair for hours. Could she really sit there all day? Granted, Trinity has been sitting in this tree for much longer, but not everyone has that kind of stamina. She’s facing the other direction, anyway. Trinity could easily sneak down and be out of here before Madeline even lifted her head. Right?

    Dumb as it seems, no good can come from sitting in this tree for another four days. It’s running out of edible leaves, anyway. Bugs occasionally wander by, but forcing an animate being with splintery legs and wings to squirm down your throat and drown in your stomach acid is not the most pleasant experience. The sun is still high in the sky. If she waits until nightfall, Madeline will be on high alert. Afternoon is the laziest time of day. This is her best chance of getting out of here alive.

    “Alright. You can do this.” Trinity starts to clamber down, one branch at a time. She pauses briefly at each step, watching for signs of life in the ped mall. All clear. She braces herself for the final jump. One, two --

    BANG! Trinity nearly falls out of the tree. She hides behind the leaves and watches Madeline running after her victim. Her victim is a squirrel. She must be hungry. Trinity waits a moment for her heart to stop beating out of her chest, then leaps down from the tree. Like a child running to base in hide-and-go-seek, she sprints to the door of the Vest Building and closes herself inside.

    The building is a labyrinth. Why didn’t she think to hide here earlier? Trinity wanders down the stairs to the offices. The electricity is off, so she is forced to stumble through the dark in her search for a couch in the dim basement. She finds one with her knee and nearly face plants onto the cushions. The pain is nothing, though, compared to the torture of sitting on a branch for four days. Within minutes of resting on the soft chair, she is sound asleep.

    Hannah remains frozen on her couch. She had just been falling asleep when someone invaded her secret abode. The voice that exclaimed when the intruder hit the couch was female, for sure. Trinity, perhaps? Was she still alive? It couldn’t be Dani. The figure had hit the side of the couch and fallen over top of it, hitting her head on the other arm. It had to be someone tall. Hannah considers leaving; after all, if her location was compromised, even by someone as innocent as Trinity, the news could get back to Dani. Or Madeline. Or anyone else with a bloodlust.

    The visitor lets out a shaky snore. From the muffled sound of it, it seems her face is smushed against the side of the couch. Well, Hannah thinks, if she’s this comfortable, she’ll never even know I’m here. I might as well go back to sleep.