Apocalyptic Chaos

Chapter 23: Reggie

The battles were exciting, I figured out most of the competitors fighting styles that way. I obviously won my battle and so did Peter. Shockingly, the rolling pin was more effective than anyone thought (He said he'd thank Swiper later). Most of the other groups had finished already and there were only two people left.

"And next up is..." The last two names showed up," FISHBONE AND CHRIS SAMPSON!"

"Fishbone?" Peter asked in confusion.

I shrugged. We were in a gladiator-style arena. All the people who weren't fighting were sitting in the stands and waiting for the battle to start. I looked up at the arena as a guy who practically looked like a skeleton in a black hoodie (Obviously Fishbone) walked up with another who was another stereotypical buff guy. The game master dropped the flag and they both just stood there. The other guy started pulling out his weapon and Fishbone charged at him with what looked like a halberd.

The battle was over quickly, Fishbone moved so fast I could hardly keep up and Chris was barely holding him off. Eventually, he surrendered and Fishbone was declared the winner.

Mimi looked impressed," I like this guy, he doesn't hold back."

"Yeah," I said," we should be careful of him."

"Why not befriend him?" Jimmy suggested.

"You've got a point there." Peter said," Oh why not? Let's go say hi, I can try and win him over with pizza."

We got to the exit from the stadium and found him wandering the casino nearby. He was drinking an unusually large glass of water. Considering how skinny he was, it was a surprise that he could lift it. He quickly noticed us standing in front of him.

"Listen, I don't want any trouble here. I just wanted something to drink." Fishbone muttered.

It was shocking to know that this was the guy who defeated a really buff dude.

"We aren't here to hurt you," Mimi responded," we are trying to befriend you.

"I don't even know you, let alone trust you at all."

"I was about to give you a slice of pizza," Peter replied, holding a pizza that he seemingly got from thin air," but if you don't want it-"

"Nevermind, I trust this dude." Fishbone said, grabbing the pizza from him.

We all sat down at a table and talked about random stuff and at one point Nep got ahold of a soda and started saying philosophical but still confusing stuff. Peter and I talked about which pizza brand was best. Timmy, Jimmy, Duck, and MM were yelling about a card game. And Mimi was having an arm-wrestling competition with JV.

"Hey crazies, mind if I join in?"

I turned around and saw the one person in this competition I wasn't looking forward to meeting, Madoka.

Mimi shrugged," Yeah, the more the merrier."

Duck didn't look very happy either but Fishbone couldn't stop staring at her.

"What're you looking at?" She asked with a glare and he immediately started apologizing.

Everyone eventually got used to having her around and the seemingly on-drugs conversation started back up. Shockingly, she was very open and had a good sense of humor. We all decided to head to our rooms when Mimi suggested a pizza party in theirs. I could tell some of their group wasn't happy about that arrangement, but we all eventually agreed.

I'm glad we all decided to do this, I had more fun than I've had in awhile. We played Marco-polo and snacked on pizza. There were a few people who yelled at us to be quiet and Mimi just yelled at them to screw off. Towards the end of the night, some of them started talking quietly and I picked up something about the competition.

"Hey," I said," if you're going to make conspiracy theories, let me join in."

MM looked anxious," It's not exactly a theory, to be honest."

"Well," Fishbone said, picking up another slice of pizza," the difference between this pizza and your opinion is that I asked for the pizza. Now, what are you talking about?"

Peter was curious too," Then what is it?"

Timmy looked equally uncomfortable," Well, last night we were bored so we started wandering around the hotel and heard someone talking. We listened in and learned some very interesting things."

"And?" Jordan asked.

"This is entirely speculation," Duck said," but from what we heard, the entire tournament is rigged for all the losers to go to work on some project."

Adriel looked shocked," I thought we would have to leave if we lost!"

"And that's not the weirdest part," Jimmy said, glancing at Nepoznat," there's another half infected here."

"Another?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, it means two." Apple said.

"There's two?!" I shouted," I didn't know there was one!"

"Oh, ha, nice." Mimi said.

"Wait, infected?!" Fishbone shouted.

"Uh.. ya." Nep sat up as she spoke, "You couldn't tell?"

"NO!" they all screamed at the same time.

"Let's forget about it." Mimi said quietly.

"How can we just forget it!?" Madoka shouted," We could die because you are hiding an infected here!"

"Yeah, and she can control herself!" Adriel said," She's said it before that if she couldn't, one of us would be dead already."

Nep sighed," You can kill me, you can let me live, I honestly couldn't care less. I just want everyone to quit arguing because first off, it's not helping and second off, it's giving me a headache."

Everyone was quiet for a minute.

"Okay," I said," whatever, so there's two of you?"

"I guess." She said with a shrug.

"And the competition is rigged too?" Madoka asked.

"Yes," Duck said," from what we can tell, everyone who is disqualified gets put in some experiment."

"Damnit," Fishbone muttered," I was looking forward to that prize money."

MM shrugged," Sorry to disappoint, but I personally wouldn't like to be a lab rat."

"So what do we do about this?" JV asked, arms crossed.

"We wait," Nep said," if we play our cards too early, they'll have the advantage. If we wait, we can take them by surprise."

I reached for my journal, wanting to jot down something about her in case we ever fought, but I couldn't find it.

"Umm, who has my journal?" I asked.

Everyone looked around but no one had any clue.

"Why's it so important?" Madoka asked," Can't you just get another?"

"No," I said, still looking around," that one had details on all the competitor's stats, their strengths and weaknesses are all recorded in there."

Everyone started looking a bit more frantically but it was nowhere to be found. We looked under beds, in closets, everywhere, but it had vanished into thin air. Suddenly, Jordan dropped the cushion she was looking under and looked terrified.

"What if the game master has it?" She asked," Maybe the people running this experiment have it."

And that's when everyone truly started freaking out.

------------

Well, that could be a problem.

Good news, there's safety in numbers!

Right?

-Writer boi