She didn’t want to end up trampled like that other girl.
A red glow grew brighter as Gemma hurried down the tunnel. She focused her eyes on the light until a loud buzz, followed by a pained scream, made her trip over her feet.What in the blazes...?
Gemma rounded a bend to where hundreds of lasers shone from the ceiling of the tunnel, bouncing off metallic netting not far from the floor. Contestants pitched to the ground to crawl on their bellies beneath it. Zaps echoed as those who waited too long were struck with bolts of electricity from the ceiling. Lying on the ground, draped over the edge of the netting, was the charred corpse of another contestant.
Walking across the netting apparently had been the wrong choice.
Gemma scrunched her nose at the smell of burned flesh as she neared the obstacle. Even Perileos’ pseudomeat smelled better.
She flicked her gaze from side to side and found her opening. A guy with broad shoulders would never fit.
But she was no man.
Gemma flopped onto her abdomen, sliding beneath the netting, and used her elbows and the insides of her knees to propel forward.
The lasers had heated the obstacle until it was sweltering inside, like a furnace. Sweat rolled into Gemma’s eyes as she crawled, her core muscles screaming for a break. But she could feel her fellow contestants all around her. If she lagged, they would flatten her. She couldn’t slow her progress, no matter how much her muscles protested.
A hand grasped her ankle, yanking her backward.
Gemma’s throat twisted as she dug her fingertips into the steel floor.No, no, no. I can’t die like this!
Grimacing, Gemma lashed out at the contestant, kicking her leg toward what she hoped was their face.
Even through her shoe, she felt a bone crunch.
A loud cry of pain, and the hand slipped off her ankle.
I’m so sorry.
Gemma drove herself forward again, praying for no further interruption, and a cool breeze wafted from the other end of the netting.
Praise the stars. She was almost there.
Popping out on the other side of the netting proved more difficult than expected. Crying out with relief, Gemma flattened herself against the wall, sucking in oxygen in large gasps, her abs protesting with every breath.
The others hurtled past as she placed a hand on her stomach and counted down from ten.
Three, two, one—Gemma leapt back into the throw of contestants ravenous for a win.
Footsteps clopped onto the metal of the tunnel like haphazard drumbeats. The knots in her stomach tightened with every passing second.
The sound of rushing water met her ears. Her knees wobbled. Gemma didn’t know how to swim and doubted most of the contestants knew either. There was no standing water on Reva, only what they collected in their wells from rainfall. Did Rami expect them to morph into fish?
Gemma rounded another bend, the noise from the gushing water growing louder, and she almost tripped.
Four, rickety rope bridges hung precariously over charging water.
Again, contestants rammed into each other as they vied for their chance to get across a bridge. One fell in and was flushed into the dark, their scream fading into nothingness.
A chill ran down Gemma’s spine. It wasn’t a race. As long as they passed the finish line in twenty minutes, they would be safe. The Kaizen said she didn’t care if people died, not that they should.
Gemma grabbed hold of the rope handrail and lifted a foot to step onto the wooden planks of the bridge.
A boy with buzzed, pink hair rammed into her as she lifted her other foot.
Gemma toppled sideways, off the bridge and toward the water below, shrieking as air surrounded her.
Somehow, in her panic, she’d managed to grab onto the thick rope that held the base of the bridge together. Her breaths came quick and shallow as she clung tightly, fighting desperately to not fall into the river and wash away.
