CH1: Tyranny of Calliope

After the two found Grace and I, we get added into the long row of people on their knees and now I get to see Calliope up close as she paces in front of us. She has a very athletic build and a permanent scowl on her face. Even when she smiles at her teammates, she just shows her teeth, leaving all the smile out of it. “Ok? Was that all? Any other players around?”

Samantha, the tanned girl joins her side and there’s still some red on her bodysuit from earlier. We really messed them up. “We checked, nobody else. These bitches almost got us at the cafeteria. I swear to god, these are good.” She smirks at her boss and she looks a little impressed. “Uh huh? So that’s why you don’t have a med on you and your thigh is still red?” Calliope grabs her friend by the thigh which is still red from the hit Grace or I gave her and it makes Sam a little embarrassed. “Go grab some meds. I can’t have my commander be looking like that.” Sam nods and gives us a long look and then hurries along.

“You must’ve heard what I was saying, right? About recruiting people, hmm? Well, well. Wouldn’t I want powerful soldiers like you on my team.” She kneels down and examines our untouched bodies and seems genuinelly impressed.

“The other one had this.” Esme walks in holding the headphones and Calliope takes them and looks at us. “I see. Could you explain to me?” I really don’t want to. I don’t like Calliope the slightest. She is being really weird about this whole game. Sure, it’s a big thing, but it’s not big enough to keep a prison camp over. I look away and keep my mouth shut and then I hear Grace’s voice.

“We got it for Wicky, the blonde girl there. She needed that.” Grace sounds somewhat defeated and I look at her worried. “Aha! Thank you! Well then. That might explain something…” Calliope gets up and walks over to Wicky who is still holding her wrist. Calliope dangles the headphones at her face: “What is it? Something to do with your broken bracelet, huh? I mean, you can’t listen to music from this, can you?” She laughs dryly and Wicky looks at me with a shy expression.

“What?” Calliope says coldly and Wicky seems really shy to answer but stammers: “I-I had t-this modification in mind… I-I just needed a component from… f-from the headphones… f-for the bracelet…” She looks at Calliope and the tall woman raises her eyebrow: “So… are you telling me… are you telling me you broke it… on purpose? Catherine! What do you think about that?!” She shouts at the tall dark haired woman standing to the side where she looks almost invisible. “Just eliminate her. You shouldn’t try to exploit the system.” She mutters and Calliope turns back to Wicky who has a blush on her face now and sweat dripping on her forehead. I can’t believe it’s coming down to this. I have to intervene.

“She has bad dysmorphia!! You can’t eliminate her!” I shout and Grace looks at me sharply and bumps my side. Calliope turns her head at me and then reaches for Wicky’s crotch while staring me down. “N-no! I didn’t… Wicky, no…” I feel like crying and see Wicky’s eyes go wide as Calliope feels her crotch. “Hmm… Interesting… but you lost so…” She gets up and shoots Wicky point blank in the chest. Wicky lets out a sigh and collapses on the floor like a ragdoll. My eyes go wet and my stomach turns as it happens.

I feel Grace lean on me to tell me to not scream, so I keep it in and bite my teeth together and look down. She shot her, she shot Wicky even knowing about her condition… now she will never get the treatment, she will not heal. The intercom turns on and announces: “Wicky has been eliminated by Calliope”. The leader of the Recreationists walks in closer and claps her hands:”I think that’s enough eliminations for day one… I was actually hoping for none if you can believe that.” She doesn’t convince me and I want to shoot her with my shotgun. She deserves to lose. But I feel my friend lean on me still, and that’s enough to keep me from jumping up at her.