His words echo in my mind like a revolving door. I close my eyes, forcing myself to take a deep breath and focus on what I know: there is an odd number of golden tokens, likely twenty to twenty-three. They would want to get rid of just enough girls to scare the rest, but not enough to render them incapable.
The tokens are circle and gold, about two inches in size. They are hidden on the surface.
Surface.
They aren’t up high, they’re on the ground. They are in the grass.
Immediately I’m sprinting, searching every inch I can, watching as more and more girls come up, immediately going for the tree line as well, some even searching through the leaves. I keep searching the grass.
The dirt is dry so I can rule out any tokens being pushed under unless there is an obvious dent to the ground. The sun shines down slightly to the east, telling me it’s not even midday yet, and I’m already fighting for my life. How peachy.
Then Bella comes running towards me panting and breathless, stopping in front of me with her hands on her knees as she attempts to catch her breath. “There’s none on the ground,” Bella says, gasping for air. But I don’t interrupt, she’s figured something out.
“Trainer’s words said the tokens are on the surface, never that they were hidden. Then she said, I hope you’re ready to fight. It was never a search; we weren’t sent up here to find tokens, we were sent up here to fight for them.”
I take a second to process her words. It would make sense, they wouldn’t make it as easy as just finding the tokens, but fight? Fight who? Who has the token that we need to fight in front of?
“This was never about trying to find the tokens, it’s about dividing us. Making us fight each other and ruining the trust we have with each other. We have to fight one of our own to get a token, and we have to win.”
I’m not ashamed to admit I have a name come through immediately on who to fight. It’s me vs them, and considering they got me put in the chair one time for ‘whispering’ after dark when I was asleep, it’s an easy decision. I might have been nine at the time, but I never forgot the first time in the chair.
Though, to The Academy’s credit, they didn’t torture me then; just left me up in the chair alone, scared, and cold. It’s always so fucking cold.
“Where is Tracey?”
We look around the grounds, searching for Tracey. She’s taller than me, but I have everything else; speed, strength, agility. When I finally spot her, she’s with her partner, Clover. Why they put them together, I’ll never understand. Tracey may be tall but she’s cocky, so is Clover; they both care about their image more than they do training.
They’re both assholes, and I’ll take pleasure in kicking her ass.
As much as I want every girl to get out, these two I’m willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
I look at Bella, who’s already watching me knowingly. She nods, giving me the green light. Making our way to the opposite end of the fences where Tracey is currently searching the grass unknowingly, it’s almost laughable how far her guard is down right now.
Kill or be killed.
Kicking the backs of her knees, the unexpected force sends Tracey to the ground and face first into the dirt. I can’t bite back the smile that curves my lips. While she’s down I roll her over, making her face me as I get on top of her. My knees are on either side of her head, keeping her arms in place, my weight keeping her torso down while her feet kick behind me.
I grab my knife from the sheath, holding it to her neck.
“Do you yield?” I ask. My voice is strong and confident, hers…not so much.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Tracey argues, still struggling against me, but I press the knife in harder.
“Uh ah,” I taunt, watching as she stills.
“Do. You. Yield?” I ask again, pressing the blade in deeper, but not deep enough to actually cut her, and she nods. Idiot.
“Yes, yes, I yield.”
I watch the graze on her neck pebble with blood, but it’s not deep enough to need immediate attention. Looking up at the guard, I wait for my token, but he shakes his head. Bella looks just as confused as I do.
“They said we had to fight, this was a fight.” I try to argue, but the guard shakes his head again. “What do you need? For her to be out? Unable to fight?” A single nod from the guard, and I put my knife away again.
“For what it’s worth, I am genuinely sorry about this.”
I grab Tracey’s hair, forcing her head up, but before I can finish the task, I’m yanked back by my own hair. Fucking Clover.
Thinking fast, I place my foot under Tracey’s chin, pressing on the wound on her neck. The dirt and grass from my boot touch her skin and she stills again, whimpering from the pain as Clover holds a knife to my throat.
