CH3: Whiteout

I watch as the grenade rolls and bounces to the middle of the gym floor, well in sight of all the Recreationists.

Grace’s eyes go wide and her leader Calliope gasps and dives. She jumps on top of the grenade and tries to push her vest against the grenade, but the flash hits her still – arms, legs and crotch. After the laser glow, there’s a rattling sound and Calliope lies still. I hold my breath as her teammates stare in disbelief. I see Esmeralda sit down, her mouth open and tears running over her face. I see Grace staring eyes wide and breathing rapidly. Even Korina is holding her hands over her face. The only calm one is Catherine who walks over to Calliope and turns her around. The intercom goes on:

“Calliope has been eliminated by Arleth.”

Esme bursts out crying and throws her gun away and drops on her knees as Grace looks around with her pistols out. “Dammit. Didn’t think she would do that.” Arleth groans next to me and I finally breathe and don’t know what to think. “It’s not safe here. Move out! Everyone! Out!” Catherine commands and Grace runs off with the prisoners they were holding. I see Faye and Tina run off as well while Lucy stays behind with a disturbed look on her face. Faye,the blue haired ex-Retreater tries to pull her along, but eventually gives up and leaves the white haired girl in with Catherine, Esme and Korina.

“W-what are we going to do now?” Korina asks desperately and Catherine sighs and starts walking away and Korina hurries along with her. Esme goes over Calliope’s passed out body and cries on her: “Noooo!! NO!” She raises her face which is almost as red as everything else about her: “You will paaay! Aaah!” She gets up clumsily and takes Calliope’s rifle and runs off too. Arleth reacts and crawls over to a hatch. It opens behind some curtains of the stage and she jumps up.

We follow her unsure and come to the almost empty gym. The Recreationists reorganized the gym in a way that now it looks a lot more like an arena than a fortress. In the middle there’s an open space and it looks like a proper battlefield for the game they wanted to play. I still can’t believe that’s what Calliope wanted. Why didn’t she just say? I look down at her motionless body. She looks nothing like she used to. Her face is relaxed and she looks calm.

We get down from the stage and I look at the only girl who remained in the gym. Lucy, the small white haired girl. I see that her eyes are pin pointed and there’s tears running down her cheeks. She stands up and starts walking towards us. “It’s ok. We won’t shoot you.” I say and notice something a little odd about her. Her suit is leaking from the crotch. There’s clear droplets hitting the floor as she walks closer. Her jaw is trembling and Arleth looks at her closely as she squats down to take the shotgun from the floor Esme left behind. She raises it and we all pull our guns out – what the hell?

She points it at Arleth with her trembling arms and I see how scary her expression is. “Y-y-you f-fucking bitch!!” She presses the trigger but nothing happens. She checks the gun and makes a hopeless noise as she notices the lack of ammo. There’s a sound and her chest turns red. Lucy takes a couple steps back and falls on her knees and drops on the ground with her bracelet blinking red. We all turn to Arleth who is frowning and puts her rifle down. “W-what?!” Vinora lets out and Tatiana kneels over Lucy and holds her head.

“Lucy was eliminated by Arleth.”

“Old grudge. It would’ve never worked out. We didn’t see eye to eye. It just wouldn’t have worked.” Arleth says nonchalantly and I turn to her angrily. I wasn’t exactly friends with Lucy, but she was always so harmless. Surely she didn’t deserve that. “N-no! She was out of ammo! You didn’t have to shoot her!” I tell her but Arleth doesn’t seem to get it and just sighs and looks away. I look at Calliope and Lucy lying next to each other and wonder how it’s possible that two so different people were both Arleth’s enemies.

“Well, shit. I’m done for the day, thank you. Holy shit. Get me out of here…” Vinora moans and walks towards the locker rooms. I give Arleth a long look and pass her and follow my friend inside. It’s true. The third day is coming to an end. It was a long and stressful day, but it’s finally over. Calliope’s tyranny is no more, if there ever was something like that. Thinking about it more, her idea of the arena fight would’ve been the fairest. That’s what I think. And I can’t help but feel regret for not knowing about it earlier.

Too many people had to be eliminated. Hope, Sofie, Lucy… None of them will get their problems fixed. They will still have to suffer with their unfair lives. And then there’s Arleth. I do not know what to make of her. For someone playing by herself, I guess it’s understandable she doesn’t get along. But what makes someone like her get a grudge with someone like Lucy? And how the hell does she have that high a level? With those thoughts I lie down on a bench with Vinora and close my eyes as the night ends.