Folk Games

Chapter 14: Bad luck with dogs.

“And then he thinks that he can just make it all go away by kidnapping me to go see Willy.” I brought the crowbar down on my tied up hostage. “Don’t get me wrong, it was a really sweet gesture, no one ever took me to the aquarium before.”

I hit him again until his skull popped like a tomato and his body stopped wiggling.

“But it’s not the first time I stupidly got bitten by a dog,” I tossed my weapon and wiped the blood splatter from my face. “You worked with him, what do you think?”

I turned to my other hostage who was chained to the chair with his bare feet nailed to the floor with railway spikes.

“Stop crying,” his appearance and sniveling were just disgraceful. I picked up the jumper cables and attached them to the spikes.

“P-Please, I will do anything you want,” he begged but I wasn’t listening as I flipped the switch of the small generator and watched the guy get electrocuted.

“Painful isn't it? Went through it myself when I was nine, pissed myself halfway through. That was embarrassing.” I recalled the sessions. “Does Jerry have anyone he cares about? Friends? Lover? Pets?”

My fingers twisted the knob, while the guy sobbed in relief when the currents stopped. “Well?” I raised my voice.

“N-No one.” He answered and fearfully shook his head when he noticed the switch about to be turned on again. “W-Wait! P-Plea-Aaaah!”

My lips curled up in disgust when he pissed himself. “I thought he was different, he certainly thought I was.”

I cranked up the voltage and watched the guy puke out last night’s dinner. “I thought...and he was so…and…”

I was conflicted. I was confused. I didn’t know what to do, my insides were all twisted and my mind was in turmoil.

“I never had any luck with dogs,” I dazedly murmured.

Dogs were man’s best friend, I guess that doesn’t include me.

“Hi,” I blinked up from my first meal of the day, to find a canine trainee standing in front of me.

I stared.

“Is it true that you were given a name early?” She asked, her dark honey-like skin glowed under the fluorescent light.

I continued to stare at her, trying to decipher her reason for being at the Hive table. “Killer wasp, right?”

Rumors. I don’t have a name yet.
I tilted my head and skeptically raised my brow. “Why are you here?”

It’s only been a year since my transformation and crippling one of their own with my teeth.

“I’m B-seven-four-one, breed beagle, rank trainee.” She introduced herself as I finished my food and got up to clean my tray.

She annoyingly trailed behind me, I ignored her presence.

“What do you want?” I asked when she refuses to go away. “Friends?”

I snorted at the absurdity.

Friends? Most of the canines trainee won’t even live past their first mission, and those who do come back will be tested for signs of defects or damages.

“Alright, allies then?” She must have noticed the expression on my face. “Stick to your kind dog, you have no business mingling with Hives unless you want to breed.”

I doubt that’s what she required from me. I had yet to have my first bleeding, it would be much wiser to seek someone more seasoned in her program.

“Listen, I need help in weaponry class, section sniper, and everyone here knows you are ahead of even the best numerals of your age group.” Wrong, I was ahead of even the best numeral above my age group, but I allowed her to stroke my ego.

“And I will help you in hand to hand,” I stopped in my track, my gaze cold at the mention of my fault. “I don’t need nor want your help.”

“I will trade you then,” she was quick to change her tactics. “You can have my bacon and boiled eggs.”

I weighed her offer with some consideration. “Beef jerky, add that to the pile.”

“Fine,” she agreed and put out her hand for me to shake, but I just glanced at it before brushing past her. “I have advanced weaponry class with the canines tomorrow, I expect your eggs on my tray.”

I don’t like dogs, especially ones that think they were ferocious Rottweiler’s when in fact they were just mean yapping Chihuahuas.

The beagle kept her end of the deal and I had her eggs with my congee.

I suppose it was my turn to hold up my end, even if I didn't want to do it. “You are doing it wrong.”

“No, I’m not.” She missed as expected before I adjusted her stance and told her to focus.

She missed again at a thousand meters distance.

“You didn’t check the wind. Sniping isn't just about shooting, its calculations, angle, and prediction.” I explained, yet it was like talking to a steel wall. No wonder she was failing at this particular weapon.

I tried, I really tried but the dog was just too stupid to comprehend simple instructions.

I have wasted three classes with her, it was not worth the trade.

“Here,” a piece of bacon appeared on my tray, it’s been seven days with no improvement. “Keep it. The deal is off.”

I had lost my patience with her.

“I know, but I want you to have it.” I didn’t trust her, not one little bit, there was no such thing as nice people in our world, let alone a kind gesture.

“So the pit is coming up,” she excitedly mentioned our weekly event, which will be held tomorrow after the second meal. “What about it?”

“How about it? You and me in the pit, it will be fun.” Sure fun, if the definition of fun is getting my ass kicked, then it will be a fun thing to do.

“No, thank you,” I didn’t touch her bacon, no matter how tempting it was. The beagle was persistent, I should have known better than to let my guard down.

She and her pack cornered me the next day after my demolition class. They had forced me into the pit against my will.

I didn’t fight back, yet I didn’t make it easy for her to take me down, if they thought to put me in my place in the pit, I will put them in theirs in the maze.

I conserved my strength and waited for an opening, like a waterfowl during duck season.

My arms protected my head. My back and abdomen ached from taking hits, my knees gave out before she delivers a kick aimed to incapacitate me completely.

I blocked it, infuriating her. Pain was something I had lived with since I could remember. I have learned to endure it, accepted that it was a part of my life, no different from breathing.

The crowd cheered, there was no glory here, just a bitch trying to enforce her dominance.

I smirked. She should have picked a different target, however, I knew I was just too good to pass off.

“Time out!”