EQAO

Chapter 14 - Murder

I stood on the platform next to Collin, and saw my friends slowly emerge from the dark room, one by one, the announcer calling their name each time. Michelle came up beside me, followed by Sameera, Anika, and Kat. After all the other competitors walked onto the platform, the booming voice said,

"Each contestant will line up in front of the black brick wall. You will be handed your weapons back, but any use of them before the wall is lowered will result in immediate disqualification."

The fifty-five students walked over to a wall that stretched all the way across the arena, and was black with big red splotches that looked disturbingly like blood. Several armed soldiers started handing out the weapons. I took my dagger, and the weapon felt strangely familiar to me.

Suddenly, a shrill scream filled the air, followed by a loud 'thud'. I looked over, to find that a tall boy with blond hair was crumpled on the ground, blood oozing from his neck. To his right, was a boy with jet-black hair standing horrified with blood all over his axe and clothes. To the left, was a self-satisfied Mia, who was resting a mace on her shoulder, and had no blood on her whatsoever. Five soldiers rushed forward to grab the black-haired boy and drag him away. He was thrashing, screaming, and kicking as hard as he could, but he couldn't get out of the soldiers' grasps. Finally, one of the soldiers conked him on the head, and the boy slumped. His head lolled to the side, and I heard a gag somewhere next to me. Another soldier came to dispose of the body. I felt my stomach twist, my throat close, and my hands start sweating. I saw that my friends looked as sick as I felt. I looked over at Mia again, and felt utterly disgusted. She was smiling to herself. She had just saw a murder, and she had been smiling!

Wait a second...

The boy had been screaming that he didn't do it, when he was clearly covered in blood. He looked just as horrified and sick as I was. Mia was clever, I'll admit that, and she looked determined to win no matter the cost.

What if she killed the boy?

I felt doubly sick after that, knowing that someone could kill and look so smug about it.

"Your objective is to reach the end first." said the booming voice as if nothing had happened, "The last person will be eliminated. And, try not to die on your way there."

Suddenly, the wall started slowly descending into the floor.

"Woah..." gasped Michelle.

The wall stopped moving once it had disappeared from view. Behind the wall, was a long track that stretched to the very back of the arena. At the very end, was a gold and silver podium. The entire track was suspiciously bare. As I stood there, others had already started running towards the podium. Mia was sprinting along, occasionally smacking people with her mace as she went. She was about to pass a large girl with a huge spear, when the floor opened up underneath them. With miraculous speed, Mia jumped onto the girl's back, kicked off her, and landed on the other side without looking down once. The girl shrieked, and fell down into the pit.

"Come on!"

I felt a tug on my arm, and I pulled my eyes away from Mia to see that Sameera was forcing me into a run. All five of us ran as fast as we could, while avoiding other people and traps. This was rather difficult however, considering that the traps would appear out of nowhere. At one point, I almost tripped into a pit of spikes, as the floor right in front of me raised itself slightly. Anika caught me, and pulled me back.

"Thanks." I breathed.

I looked around, and saw a boy lunge at Anika.