"I'm playing with Tash," Bruno called out.
"I'll play with Logan," Sanun said, surprising everyone in the room.
Logan held his hand out to Sanun, the pair shaking firmly.
All around the arena, competitors started to pair up, clearly trying to decide who had the best chance of getting them through the rest of the tournament.
"That was almost too easy," Parker remarked from where he reclined in the corner.
The rest break didn't seem to have helped him too much. He still looked tired. Not that I gave a shit. He was as much a part of this as his twin. Still just as sadistic and, dare I say, evil. Who thought up something like this anyway? It wasn't for nothing that people referred to them as the evil twins.
"Parker and I will take a moment to confer," Hunter said.
The pair stepped over to the corner and talked in low voices. Hunter nodding at something Parker said before letting out a laugh.
Hunter pushed himself off the wall and strode over back to the middle of the room.
"Okay, we're willing to do this, but on a couple of conditions."
Of course there'd be conditions. Nothing like this was ever going to be straightforward or easy.
"Condition one," Hunter said slowly. "We have a longer break in between rounds."
Was that all? That didn't seem too difficult.
"Number two," Hunter continued. "Winners have to kill the losers."
Did I mention he was evil?
Nowhere had anyone mentioned us having to do any killing. I'd held a gun before. Knew how to use one. But actually killing someone…
"We accept," Logan called out.
I looked back at him, frowning.
He responded with a simple look that said, 'what choice do we have?'
I nodded slightly and turned back to Hunter.
"Anything else?" I asked, hoping he wasn't about to suggest we all play naked. Although I could take these boots off and move around better. Now I thought about it, nudity might be a good distraction. If the men in the room were too busy looking at my tits to hit the ball, it might be an easy win.
"That's it for now," Hunter said, looking smug. He'd add more rules when he thought of them, just because he could. What were we going to say about it anyway? If we refused to participate, he'd have us all killed. I didn't care for that option.
He started to walk away, but then stopped and turned back.
"One more thing," he said slowly. "You and Bruno can go first."
There it was, the other shoe dropping. I should have seen it coming a mile off.
I nodded and stepped over to the table. Parker appeared with a couple of extra paddles and handed them to Bruno and our other opponents.
"Make it interesting," Hunter said.
"Forget interesting," I whispered to Bruno. "Let's just win."
Despite what the twins may think, I wasn't here to entertain them. I was here to save my skin. Now mine and Bruno's.
If I could figure a way to save Logan and Sanun as well, I would.
