Valiance

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen.

Gage stepped onto the hover craft that had been flown in to collect the Contestants from the field. Julius and the guards had taken off as soon as Andrew had been pronounced dead. Everyone was uneasy. None of them had spoken in over an hour and the sacred silence didn't seem like it would end anytime soon. Even Swithin got the hint and kept his mouth shut.

Gage could feel that same guilt pang in his gut, the same as the one he had felt that night Joshua was attacked. But he knew that Joshua would be okay, this time. Galen would take good care of him. The sleeping pills were working. And Andrew too. He took a huge risk when he slipped him the pill, but it turned out in his favour. He just hoped that Galen would check the pulse on each of the bodies before cutting them open.

On the craft, Gage went and sat with his back to a cushioned wall, alone. Across from him, Sephy sat, her head down. Why did he feel like it was his fault she was in this pain and hurt? He had no hand in any of it. Alec was to her left, Clint to her right. Swithin sat by himself on a seperate couch. Gage brushed his blonde hair from his face and put his hands together. None of them would ever forget that day. Ever.

Pressing his back against the wall, Gage let out a sigh. Sephy lifted her face to look at him. They regarded one another for a long moment, dried tears on her cheeks. She hadn't been crying for long, but Gage had felt it when she did cry. He wondered if she was thinking about what he had said to her the night before. Was it selfish of him to be thinking that? Of course it was. It wasn't fair on her to tell her everything he had and then to take it back, but he knew it was for the best....

The hovercraft shuddered as it came to a stop and a door slid open. When the door closed after Gage stepped out, he was attacked by reporters. They were all shouting things he couldn't understand. Once he passed all of them, he was pulled by the arm with one of his stylists. They didn't speak to him until they sat him down on a chair, infront of a mirror. His face was hard, a frown looking as if it was permanent. His face was dirty and blood had been splattered on his t-shirt from when he had 'killed' Joshua.

“We expected a lot more reporters, this time we were lucky.” She muttered to him. Gage only looked at her, thinking that their definition of lucky was a little different.

“The riots are getting worse!” A man stepped into the room, shutting the metal door behind, blocking the reporters lens from getting any pictures or shouting things to Gage. Gage furrowed his eyes and looked up at the man.

“Riots? What riots?” He asked him. The man looked a little unsure.

“I don't know if I can tell you.” Gage stood, getting a whiff of the blood on his shirt.

“Please.” Gage couldn't hear the real sentiment in his voice, the feeling, so why did he expect this man to? The man sighed and motioned for Gage to sit. He looked like the preppy type with the gossip of the city.

“Flocks of people are mobbing up.”

“Why?” He asked him.

“Because they are furious about the last Arena. Especially Andrew, but specifically, they are raging about Joshua. They are all behind you Gage Welker!” The man went and patted him on the shoulder. It was something Gage couldn't understand. Why did everyone get behind him instead of Persephone? She was the real star, he would have imagined. Gage shook his head.

“How bad are they?”

“The people began to gather in huddles of ten, maybe a little more. The Ruler's guards took them out easily, arresting some, executing others on terms of uprising. But now, people come in the hundreds. I bet it won't be long before thousands group together.” The man seemed to think it was a bad thing, and it was. In some ways at least. People dieing wasn't going to solve anything, but if thousands of people began to rally together...