I feel myself being pulled, ripped from my body. I try and fight it, fearing I’m going to die, but I’m too weak. A moment later, the hard metal floor is replaced by a soft mattress. Nurses swarm around me. I want to see what they’re doing, but all I can tell is that they’re shredding my uniform, removing it as quickly as possible. Pressure is applied to the wound in my shoulder, and a device placed over my knee. I feel bones being pushed together, then fused. I scream from the pain, begging for it to stop. Then I’m shot with something, making me sleep. I wake sometime later to find Matron Kaniz standing next to my bed, a concerned look on her face.
“You’ll be mended within the next couple of days,” she says, setting down a tablet she’d been holding. “You were lucky the plank didn’t completely sever your leg. The doctors and nurses were able to reattach everything, so you’ll regain full functionality.”
“Will this prevent me from going with Frey?” I ask, hoping the answer will be yes.
“You’ll be released from the medical office the morning you’re to leave,” she answers, with a wide smile.
I slam my head back into my pillow.
Matron Kaniz turns to leave, then stops in the doorway. “You are down to five hundred points. Depending upon how the Keepers reconfigure The Litarian Battles, you may be one of the first players eliminated when you return.”
After she leaves I let out a large, frustrated scream. It calms me down, but my head begins to pound. I look at my battered body, noticing that the mending device is still on my knee. My left shoulder is already healed, with a new scar to add to my collection. No one from my unit visits. The only people I see are the nurses, who bring me meals and check on my knee every couple of hours. There’s a monitor secured to the corner of the room, running the battles that I’m missing. No one has died since Frey’s battle, and Garrett and Brink haven’t been selected to participate.
I’m released early in the morning a few days later. Matron Kaniz escorts me up to our floor and packs a bag for me while I eat breakfast. Rem is nowhere to be found when everyone starts pouring into the common room. Addie tells me she was able to go home last night, which I find odd since the Keepers weren’t supposed to allow any of us to leave until this morning. After eating, I take a shower and am met by Addie, waiting just outside my stall with some clothes. They look like the ones I wore when I first arrived, only cleaner.
“You’re going to love Tarsus. Especially the area Frey is from,” she says to me as I slip my undergarments on.
“Are you going home?”
“Yes. Maybe I’ll get to see you.” She gives me a hug and skips out of the room.
Matron Kaniz and Frey are both waiting for me in the common room, bags in hand. I begrudgingly take the duffle bag from Matron Kaniz’s hands. It’s heavier than I expected, and I wince from the residual pain in my shoulder.
“The carriage will be arriving in about ten minutes,” she says. Frey moves to stand beside me. “It’ll take you directly to Frey’s home. You’ll both be picked up in five days.”
“Five days?!” I shout. “I thought it was only going to be a couple of days, like two or three.”
“Five days, Max. That’s what the Keepers are allowing, nothing less,” she responds, her tone stern, almost forceful.
She gestures for us to head towards the lift. At the moment, it’s only the two of us leaving, but I see other bags sitting along the hallway. Frey is almost giddy as we descend. A transport is waiting for us when we exit, but it’s not the one that’ll take us to his home. This one swings us around the basement of the building, dropping us off where the main carriages enter. Garrett is standing along the wall, a bag at his feet. Brink is further down. They both catch my eye, but Garrett walks over to me first, which makes Brink frown then kick his bag like a child having a tantrum.
“So, you got roped into this too?” Garrett asks, stopping less than a foot away.
“Unfortunately. Who are you going with?”
“Lok, believe it or not. He offered, so I thought why not.”
“At least you had a choice in the matter.”
“Wait, you didn’t? They’re making you go?”
I nod.
He steps closer and bends down so he can talk into my ear. “Be careful. I don’t know what they’ve got planned if you’re being forced to go. I’ll try and figure out if I can find you. Where will you be?”
“Frey’s house,” I whisper. “But I don’t know where
