Our Time Bomb

Chapter Seven ~ The Blakesbog Competition Part Two

I stood close to Jefferson as we mingled into the crowd and listened to a man on a pedestal who was talking about the event.

"Good afternoon everyone! Welcome to the Blakesbog Competition! We are thrilled to have such a big crowd here today. We're gonna start out by pairing everyone up with another couple. The first competition is knife throwing! It's not your typical knife throwing however. Teamwork is involved. Gentlemen, you better pray that your lady knows how to throw a knife."

Jefferson nudged me and winked. I rolled my eyes and smirked.

The man continued, "Guys, you gotta have your girl on your shoulders and all she has to do is throw it. Whoever gets closest to the bullseye on the target wins. Simple enough?"

Everyone cheered in agreement.

"Great!" the man laughed, "You all sound pumped up about this! So to start, you and your partner need to get in line. You'll get paired up and lead to a target area. And that is it for round one! Best of luck to you all!"

We found a rather disorganized line and managed to squeeze ourselves in.

A guy in line next to us started talking to Jefferson. "Hey it's the Captain! Hope I'm not paired against you. Who's your girl?"

Jefferson smiled, "hey Marcus! This is Erika."

I nodded, "Hello Sir. Are you a Gyardican?"

"Yep! Many of us here are." he slapped Jefferson on the back, "Glad you finally found yourself a date. I mean, you're practically ancient! No joke!"

Jefferson shoved him playfully, "Shut up Marcus! We're not dating, I just needed someone to go with me."

I laughed, "Exactly."

Marcus winked, "Have fun you two."

For some reason I didn't feel so nervous about being here surrounded by Gyardicans. I was good at faking the good girl act. Nobody would expect me to be Shadow Nation.

Jefferson and I were paired with another Gyardican and his wife. She was a skinny little thing. Both were younger than us.

The Gyardican, who's name was Richard, was obviously terrified of competing with Jefferson.

The four of us made our way to a target board with screens on either side of it.

Richard mock face palmed, "Yay! I get to go against the Captain."

Jefferson chuckled, "You get the 'honor'."
Then he whispered to me, "Long as you still got that killer aim, I think they are fried."

I blushed, "Don't you worry."

I glanced at Richard's wife and smiled, waving lightly.

She smiled back but didn't say anything. I guessed that she wasn't really keen on being here.

A voice on the loud speaker boomed over the chatter of the crowd. "Contestants may now begin!"

Jefferson motioned to the other couple, "You guys can go first."

Richard sighed, "All my wife knows about knives is how to cut vegetables, but let's try."
He knelt while she climbed onto his shoulders. Once she was up, he stood. She looked very uncomfortable, but instead of freaking out, she laughed nervously. He handed her a knife.

"The sign over there says we get three tries." He said.

I cringed as she drew her arm back and chucked the knife attempting to send it in that direction of the board. It clattered to the floor, she had missed by at least four feet.