Number 7

Two

Running back to our camp, I wondered what the punishment today for losing would be. I caught up with Cai, my best friend, a sprinter. He was short and skinny, but one of the most agile of the sprinters by far. His long brown fringe flopped beside his head as we jogged back to camp. We'd met after he was taken from the other camp to ours last year, when we'd won five times in a row. I'd been down and depressed back then, always hiding in the trees, never really participating in any of the games of Capture. Of course, this had resulted in being taken by the Ghosts and, in one way or another, tortured. The Ghosts didn't exactly like it when you defied them. I couldn't remember anything after that, like the pain I'd gone through had erased all recollection of that set of events. All I remember was pain and blackness.

"Josh? Earth to Josh?" He lightly tapped me on the head with his staff, carried between both hands in front of him. He replaced it on his back, where there were straps to keep it there.

"Yea?"

"Did you find anything interesting today?" He asked, eyes forward.

"Not really, managed to tie up a girl named Elle though. Do you remember her?" I asked, referring to when he was a part of the indigo team before.

"Oh, Elle." Cai laughed. "How was that?"

"Well, she dropped her weapons and said she wanted to be friends."

"Classic Elle move." He laughed and flicked his hair to the side of his head as kept running.

"Yea," I chuckled. "I tied her up in a tree and left her there."

He burst out laughing. "Wow, you'll have to tell me-"

He stopped.

We'd both seen it.

A Ghost.

It was right there.

And then it was gone. Cai looked at me and we both burst into a sprint towards where the Ghost had disappeared into the bush. We ran as fast as we could, Cai in front, clearly the faster runner. He was a sprinter. However, I dodged through the bush faster, familiar with these specific surroundings. The Ghost was getting further and further away, dodging through the scrub effortlessly. I looked at Cai, gave a flick of my wrist in a half salute, and he ran to the left. I ran to the right. We were still in sight of each other, about fifteen meters apart. We ran in full sprint now, slowly catching up with the Ghost, who didn't tire. My legs screamed at me to rest, to cool the burn that was the effort we were putting in. I snuck a glance at Cai, who was also looking tired. We pressed on still.

The Ghost was heading straight for the ocean that wrapped around the entire island. I was hoping against hope that Sam, a fellow sneak, was down here. He was a sneak that stayed over here usually, sometimes even in the water.

We burst through the forest onto the beach. Cai came running around towards the Ghost, who had temporarily stopped, and I followed his lead, cutting off two of the four directions the Ghost could escape to. The sea cut off one more, waves laughing at the Ghost. The Ghost looked like a normal human, but covered in a white cloth that seemed fully material and yet seemed to float around its body at the same time. It carried no weapons, but the razor-sharp talons on its hands and feet spoke for themselves. It's head was concealed in a mask with slits in seemingly random places around the 'head', exposing white skin. It wasn't an actual ghost, or at least not one that looked like Casper and it certainly wasn't friendly.

The Ghost seemed to regain thought and ran for the remaining option: inland.

Sam stared back at it.

I almost laughed with relief. Sam was here, blocking it's only escape. The creature let out a howl of rage and lurched towards him, talons outstretched, impossibly long. Sam brought his twin swords up just in time, blocking the beast and cutting one of the talons off. It screamed again and headed for me, knocking me down. My throwing knives were useless at close range, and so I brought out my dagger, slamming my thumb on the button on the handle of the dagger. This sent an electrical current though the metal, which I slammed into the leg of the beast, drawing a stream of crimson blood down its leg. It screamed a horrible scream, a mix of rage and pain, and got up slightly slower than before. Cai rushed at it, staff bearing the metal blades only ever used for emergencies, clearly thinking of this as a worthy occasion. He jumped up, drew the lethal staff over his head, and plunged it down into the heart of the Ghost.

Only it wasn't there.

The Ghost had simply vanished.