The Games Heroes Play (14 page)

After a moment, Hammer checked the time and declared, “one minute until we begin.  Ok, once the door opens, I will enter first with Decathlon.  I don’t want a second lost, so Decathlon, you go grab the instructions off the table and bring it to me, so I can read it as I walk to the table.  Actually, just bring the whole table, or whatever the directions and supplies are sitting on, right back to the entrance, so we can all see it as soon as we enter the door.  The rest of you line up t
o enter double file behind us.”

The line had just finished forming when the click of the door unlocking could be heard, and Hammer opened the door.
 

Jay ran forward, and quickly found the directions and supplies sitting on a carpet, lying on top of a small dune of sand.  He rushed them back to the entrance before the third pair had entered the arena.  With his starting responsibility finished, he took a look around.  As far as he could see, there was nothing
but hills and dunes of sand
all around.  There was a strong wind blowing, causing dust storms that inhibited their visibility.  Jay took stock of the situation, trying to decide whether this would be an ideal place for a Hermes or a nightmare for them.  Without obstacles they would have free reign to go as fast as they would like, but the sand was not the best surface to get traction, and the dust storms would le
ave them running into oblivion.

While Jay pondered their situation, Hammer had finished reading.  “Alright team, looks like we’re dealing with goggles again.  Luckily there are enough for all of us this time, and they will
certainly help with all this sand blowing about.  The point of this game is to capture everyone on the red team before they can capture us.  Here are a bunch of devices that we need to use.  Apparently we just need to touch the person with this part here, and it will stick to them.  The object can detect the movement and sound of the person it is attached to, and neither of these things
are
allowed.  After the third offense, that team will forfeit the match, and the other team will win, so I do not want any of you moving or talking once you are caught, not even once!  Once a person is caught, if three different people on their team touch the thumb pad on the outside of the device, it will release its prisoner.  So if any of you come across one of our team members captured, give them a thumb print if you can, but watch for traps.”  Hammer looked around at the team, clearly trying to think fast for a plan of action.  “Everyone grab two of these things, one for each hand.  I am not sending scouts; they would be ready for that and we would just lose a few runners.  We will split into teams A through E, and loop around from different angles, each moving dune to dune.  Decathlon, you will be part of team B this time, we can’t afford to leave you alone, they will be looking for a chance to
catch you.  Alright, now move!”

Jay and his team looped around to the left.  He would have preferred a full on assault over the sneaking forward as they were doing.  His adrenaline was high, and he wished he could run about to release some energy, but he stuck to his orders and remained with his group.  Suddenly Jay heard a commotion from the group next to them.  It sounded like they were under attack, so Jay and his group began to move towards the noise in the hopes of catching the attackers off guard.  To their surprise, the attacker had stopped the attack, and was now running directly at them.  They were all amazed when they realized the attack had not come from a group, but rather from a single person, and Jay was particularly surprised when he realized that the one person
was none other than
Zahrah
.  They spread out as quickly as they could in the hopes of surrounding her as she arrived, but she got to them too fast.  She reached the side of the group, and quickly leapt sideways to avoid the first two of Jay’s teammates who tried to trap her.  As she did a clear shot opened up where she could easily have trapped one of them, but she
did not
take it.  Instead she looked right at Jay and smiled.  She ran at him with a device in each hand, dodging the rest of the team as if they weren’t even there.  Jay managed to dodge her initial attack, but it did not take him long to realize she was faster than he was.  He kept dodging attacks, barely missing each time she thrust one of the devices towards him, so that a few times he was even surprising himself that he
did not
get caught.

After a short time Jay managed to catch a break, as
Zahrah
had to turn her attention to dodge a few attacks herself.  Jay tried to take this chance to trap her, but as soon as he got within arm’s reach he found himself the target again, and he was forced to back away.  It
was not
long before
Zahrah
stopped ignoring Jay’s teammates, and with a quic
k motion, Jay saw her trap two o
f his team members, and
grab
their devices out of their hands.  She dodged an attack, then another, but was soon able to trap a third of Jay’s teammates.  Jay had to step in now, as there was just
himself
and one Hermes left among that group.  With Jay again within reach,
Zahrah
turned her attention, running around Jay swiftly to be out of range of the other Hermes.  Jay moved to give his teammate a view, but
Zahrah
kept moving to keep herself on the other side of Jay.  Jay could see the determination in
Zahrah’s
eyes, and he realized he
could not
beat her like this.

“Go!  Get help for these three!  I’ll lead her away!”  Jay called to his teammate.  Without hesitation Jay’s teammate ran off into the desert.  Jay turned and ran with
Zahrah
close on his heels.  Whether or not the conditions were good for a Hermes he still was unsure, however he
quickly learned that the conditions were terrible for someone being chased.  They were moving too fast for Jay to be able to see where he was going through the blowing sand, but all
Zahrah
needed to be able to see was him, and as she kept just a few paces behind him, this was not hard for her to do.  Jay would have been caught in no time if he
was not
able to read
Zahrah’s
mind, but her being a first year played to Jay’s advantage, and whenever she got close enough to get him, her decision to reach out for a trap would show in Jay’s mind and he would cut to the side and avoid it.
 

This went on for some time, with the two of them running all over the artificial desert.  Sometimes they would come across other people, either trapped or
untrapped
, but they were moving too fast to have any sort of interaction, and often too fast even to tell which team they were on.
 

Finally Jay realized he needed to shake
Zahrah
off, or else she would eventually get lucky with one of her trapping attempts and catch him.  Jay saw a small valley between two long mounds of sand up ahead, and realized the only way down into the valley was at the very end, with the sides too steep to safely run up or down.  Jay ran towards the valley diagonally from it, and at the last second cut sideways, running down the incline and into the valley itself.  Jay felt sure he would shake
Zahrah
with this, and she would have to stop herself and turn around, and by the time she would do that Jay would be too far away for her to find him again.  One quick glance into
Zahrah’s
head showed Jay that his plan had failed however; she had cut in right behind him, and was down in the valley with him, still in pursuit.  Jay realized he was now trapped with a wall on either side, so that if she made a move at him now he would not be able to sidestep out of the way.  He could see that
Zahrah
had realized the same thing, and began to push
as fast as she could to catch him.  It was apparent that Jay’s only hope was to outrun her now, so he too pushed forward with all his speed.  He was now moving faster than he had ever moved in his life, but he could still feel her gaining on him.  The end of the valley came into sight, and there was another incline at that end that they could run up.  Jay pushed for the end, and run up the incline as
Zahrah
reached out to get him.  Jay reached the top before getting caught, but he no longer had time to dodge her, so he did the only other thing
he could think of.  He jumped.

With the momentum of a Hermes speed and the strength of a Titan’s legs he launched off the ground, leaving
Zahrah
far behind.  The roof of the arena which had seemed so incredibly high before quickly came to meet him, and being unable to stop himself he closed his eyes and hit the ceiling hard with his left shoulder.  The metal frame bent outward slightly, and Jay felt dizzy and disoriented as he began to fall back towards the dunes below.  He opened his eyes, and despite the pain and confusion he
could not
help but think of how nice it was to be above the wind, out of the sandstorms and battling going on below.  Jay felt almost at peace as he fell, until he hit ground and lost consciousness completely.

CHAPTER 14

WHEN JAY AWOKE
, he was lying in the hospital ward, in the largest personal room they had.  Despite the size of the room, it was nearly filled up with people, most of whom were on either the red or green team.  On one side of his bed stood Brain and
Zahrah
,
and on the other was Michael and Duke, with others crowding around behind them.  They all stayed quiet for a while, allowing Jay to wake up fully.  Jay could tell he was pretty beaten up; his left arm was being held immobile by bandages, as well as his hips and right leg.  Jay
did not
like laying there feeling the way he did with a sea of sympathetic looks around him, so he decided he would
start the conversation himself.

“S
o,” he began weakly, “who won?”

The crowd began to laugh, and amidst the laugh
ter Duke answered.  “They did.”

“Hey now, you can’t just leave it at that
,”
Zahrah
started with a small grin.  “Officially we were declared the winners, but technically you guys
won.  A forfeit is a forfeit.”

“Hold on, forfeit?  What happened?”  Jay was a little overwhelmed by all that was going on, but he needed to know
how the game had really ended.

Michael took the lead in explaining “Well, first you hit the ceiling at about 100 miles an hour, then you fell about 15
stories onto a dune of sand…”

“Don’t exaggerate.  And I meant what happened
with the forfeit
,”
Jay asked.

“That’s what I’m telling you.  You fell, and landed not far from where Brain was standing.  He ran over to see if you were alright, and when you
did not
respond he tried to call off the game.  When the sands wouldn’t stop he hit himself with the trapping device and moved around
to end the game that way.  He sent the closest Hermes to get help, and began to take care of you himself.  Apparently he k
nows a good deal of first aid.”

“Really?
Wow, Brain, is there anything you can’t do?”  Jay said, trying to keep the mood light in spite of
the grim tale being recounted.

“That’s an odd question, coming from y
ou
,”
Brain chided back at him.

“But why was the red team declared the winner if Brain called the game off?  Shouldn’t there be a rematch or something?”  Despite his injuries, and the overwhelming desire to go back to sleep, Jay w
anted to know everything first.

“Well, I guess they were declared the winners because our whole team was either caught or… unconscious,” Duke explained.  “At the time of your accident, the rest of us were already caught.  What Brain didn’t realize is that the quickest way of ending the game wasn’t to break the rule and forfeit, but rather to have just touched you with the device.  It took the administration about a week before officially overturning the results and decla
ring the red team the winners.”

“Wait, a week?
  How long have I been out?”  Jay asked, almost in a panic
.

“Calm down Jay.  You have been out almost two weeks now.  Classes are over, but don’t worry, I talked to your teachers and they all agreed to give you extra time to finish
your exams
,”
Duke assured him.

Jay looked around, and was a little overwhelmed with the amount of people standing around, listening in on their conversation.  “Why are there so many people here?”  Jay
could not
help but ask.

Michael looked up at Brain,
then
began to explain.  “Apparently, you get your power from being around other powerful people.  Brain figured it out a while ago apparently, and when they brought you back here after the game ended, Brain ordered that a group of Titans and Hermes stay by your bed at all times to give you strength.  As you can see, there was no lack of
volunteers.”

Jay
was not
sure what to say to this.  He never thought that the source of his abilities could be the people around him, but thinking about when he felt the strongest, the fastest, and read the clearest, it was always when he was around others that could do the same.  He looked over at Brain.  “Thanks Brain, I guess now that the gam
es are over we can be friends.”

“I guess so,” Brain replied.
“Although, you did lie to me.”

Jay was taken aba
ck.  “When did I lie to you?” h
e asked, struggling to think of what he migh
t have said that was incorrect.

Brain smiled at him.  “You told me you couldn’t fly.”
 

Jay smiled at this, glad that he hadn’t really done something to offend Brain.  Jay wanted to ask more questions, but he realized that no matter how many questions he asked, there would always be more that he would need answers to, so he let his head drop back onto the pillow in resignation.  Without meaning to, he soon fell back asleep.

“I
WANT ANSWERS
soldiers, and I want them now.”

“He will be alright, sir, he should be up and about in…”

“That’s not what I want answers about.  Rumors are all over the schoo
l about his being able to fly.”

“He cannot, sir.  It was his speed plus the force with which he pushed off that propelled him up that h
igh.”

“So it was just a jump?  He jumped u
p to the ceiling of the arena?”

“Yes sir.”

“And you say he cannot fly?  Soldier, if he can really jump that high, and still
be moving fast enough to dent the
roof, I’d say
that’s about as bad as flight.”

“At lea
st he cannot land, sir.”

“We don’t know that.”

“Sir?
  Only the broken arm came from his hitting the roof.  The cracked pelvis and
broken leg came from the fall.”

“He fell while nearly unconscious, and he was unprepared for the ceiling.  He was also weak from having been separated from Titans for a short time.  If he had been at full strength, and been ready for the impact, he might have been able to deflect himself off the ceiling, and achieved a l
anding when he came back down.”

“Sir, from that height, and at tha
t speed,
even
the best Titans…”

“He is not the best Titans, soldier, he is an anomaly.  He is developing in ways we had previously thought impossible, and so we need to keep our minds open
to any physical possibilities.”

“Yes, sir.”

“On the topic of physical impossibilities, how the heck did he survive all that?”

“It appears the sand helped, as it was a softer thing to land on than most. 
Also, the fact that he was still strong from being near his team, which is predominantly Titans.
  We suspect that his adrenaline slowed the loss of that power.  Lastly, he landed near a fellow student, who bandaged him enough to stop the bleeding and got him help quickly.  Any of those events missing and th
e end may have been different.”

“So you think he got
lucky.”

“Yes, sir, the circumsta
nces played favorably for him.”

“So the rumors of
his being immortal are false.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You really need to stop considering your speculations as facts.  He is still alive, so how do you know for sure of his mortality?  Still, I would have to agree.  His bones are clearly broken, and he is healing slowly, so that is pretty good evidence tha
t he as a whole can be broken.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Any permanent damage?”

“No, s
ir, he should heal completely.”

“Then we need to be ready for that.  I fear that in the long run this might make him even stronger, and as a result, even harder to keep track of.  His brother is being picked up now, which should help keep him distracted.  We can also use his having multiple abilities to our advantage.  He is not the best academically, but having all three abilities means he should be taking all three sets of classes.  A harder course load may
weigh
him down a little more.”

“Or it migh
t help him exceed even faster.”

“This is still our best bet.  If he somehow is still able to keep up, and we start to lose control, I have another plan waiting.”

THE BRIGHT SIDE
to being bedridden, Jay realized, is that you have all the time you need to get your work done.  Jay
did not
enjoy lying in bed, being unable to get up and move, but there was always a friend or two around to help him with whatever he needed.  Brain, who admitted feeling a little responsible for Jay’s injuries, since he had purposefully led Jay away from the other Titans in the hopes of decreasing his strength, came by often to answer any academic questions Jay had about his classes, or to tell him stories of different simulation games he had been in, or other stories from his time at the school.  He even explained how he had actually planned on capturing Jay, if Jay ha
dn’t taken off the way he did.

“The plan was for
Zahrah
to chase you away from the rest of your team, while we trapped them.  Then after they were trapped, we would move them to the outer edges of the arena, and signal to
Zahrah
that things were in place.  She would then chase you into the center of the arena, where we had a trap set.  The trap wouldn’t capture you completely, but it would have slowed you down long enough for
Zahrah
to get away.  We would have our Prometheus’s waiting at the trap, and as you lost your speed, and with your strength gone by that point, we should be able to take you easily, no m
atter how much you could read.”

Jay enjoyed hearing Brain’s strategies, even when they involved ways of stopping Jay himself.  Brain was much older than him, and certainly much smarter, but he was a child a
t heart, and this was his game.

Another of Jay’s frequent visitors was Duke.  Without being able to move around, Duke and Jay quickly realized they really
did not
have many of the same interests, and conversation between them was awkward at first.  Before long, however, they made a habit out of sticking to the one thing of which they di
d share an interest, and that was
the simulation games.  The games may have been over for that year, but Jay could see that to Duke, the games were never fully over.  He would talk about strategies that could be put into place next year, different ways they could have dealt with the different environments, and the stats of the students who would still be around the next year.  At first Duke tried to keep his big plans to himself, but Jay agreed that he would not play on a team unless Duke was on it as well, and
that was good enough for Duke.

Zahrah
was another one who would visit constantly.  She had a lot of catching up to do with her classes as well, so she was not able to spend much time talking with him, but she would often bring her work in and sit there with him while she worked.  Her teachers had given her an extension on her tests as well; originally her professors had turned down her request for an extension, but with Brain saying that a Hermes by Jay’s bedside would give him strength, she ignored her tests and hardly ever left his side throughout the two weeks he spent unconscious.  Brain explained to the teachers that
Zahrah
had missed her tests in order to save Jay’s life, and they all gave in.  Even though they spent little time talking, Jay felt happier when she was
around,
as if she were an old true friend that he had known his whole life.  He allowed himself to treat this as the case, instead of the truth, that she was the Hermes nicknamed Sapphire, who was
considered by many to be his enemy and a rival throughout this past season of games.  The games were over now, and they could now be friend
s; Jay was satisfied with that.

There were the random visits from others too; Hammer, Hummer, first year Prometheus’ from his dorm room, team members from the green team, even many of the people from other teams who he had faced, or from his classes.  Out of everyone, however, the one who was always there was Michael.  The first few nights the nurse sent him away, but Michael waited nearby until he could see the nurse’s dreams, then snuck back in and took a seat by Jay’s bed once more.  At first he was reprimanded, then he was talked to, then he was ignored, and after a few days the nurse just stopped telling him to leave during closing time altogether.
 

Jay tried a few times to tell Michael to go live his own life, or to have some fun, but his answer was always the same.  “We’re on break for a few weeks before the new semester, so I don’t have any work to go do, and besides, what could be more fun than this?”