“Who do you think is out there?” he asks, sipping his drink.
“I’m not sure. Definitely those who are part of the Dracken, other than that who knows.”
Lightning flashes brightly as rain begins to pelt the windows.
“What do you think this building was used for?” Garrett asks after several moments of silence.
“It was an academy of some sort, or at least that’s what the Patrician showed me.”
“Do you believe the last part? That the Dracken were the ones safely secured in the building?”
“No,” I say as a finish my water.
Flames shoot up into the sky from several miles away. A couple of drones that I hadn’t noticed fly in that direction. Garrett and I both walk to the windows to get a better look, but with the rain coming down in torrents it’s almost impossible to see. Another explosion ignites the same area. The rain falls harder, then there’s another explosion. I get so close to the glass that my face is almost pressed against it. The rain now is coming down in a sheet. Several more balls of fire light up the sky, all still from the same location. As the flames flicker down, the rain tapers off and stops.
“We need to talk to Van,” I say, dropping my empty bottle and heading back to the stairwell.
Going down is a lot easier than going up, but it’s not something I want to do many more times. When we reach our floor, Van and Brink are each lying on separate couches, eyes closed, and slightly snoring.
“Hey,” I say to Van, tapping him on the shoulder.
He jolts awake, looks confused for a few moments, and then focuses his eyes on me.
“For Nius, what types of options were you given for explosives?” I ask.
“Um, let me think. The detonator of course, grenades, land mines, propellants shot from a small pistol. There are a few others, but I can’t remember what they were called.”
“Could any of them have been ignited by water?”
“Yeah, a magnesium bomb. They’re small, maybe the size of your palm. Not many people picked them since you need water to set them off, but a few did.”
“Who?”
“Only one person comes to mind. Lil. I think she came from the Outer Limits like you. She always made sure she had a full bottle of water or two before hitting the selection floor.”
“The explosions we saw,” Garrett says, starting to put some of the pieces together. “That’s why the Patrician made it rain, so they could flush out her and whoever she’s with. They must know exactly what types of weapons we have and how we each use them.”
“Was she a Dracken?” Brink asks, waking up.
“Yes, she was,” Van replies.
“So, what do we do?” Brink asks, searching from one face to another.
“Get to the others before the Patrician do,” I respond.
“But we don’t know the layout of the Dead Zone, or where they all could be hiding,” Van says.
“Max has a map,” Garrett blurts out.
I turn to look at him. “Not anymore. When Lok downloaded the maps onto my wristband, he added an extra program that allowed the Patrician to hack my mind and implant that nightmare. When Matron Kaniz had it removed, the maps went with it.”
Garrett’s mouth tightens up as he begins to shift his weight from one foot to the other. He looks both antsy and uncomfortable.
I step closer to him, my hand resting on the handle of my Kopis. “Did you know that he was going to do that?”
Sweat breaks out on his forehead. “Not exactly.”
“Then what, exactly?” Brink asks.
“I didn’t know what the program would do. I thought it would just help turn Max against the Dracken.”
“I should kill you,” I say, gritting my teeth.
“Then why don’t you,” Garrett says, challenging me.
“Because we need as many people as possible to make sure this realignment happens,” I respond.
“I thought we weren’t going to take sides, Max?” Garrett asks.
“I’m not taking anyone’s side… at the moment.” I walk over to the double doors and begin to wonder where everyone else could be. “Who’s going with me?” I ask, keeping my back to them.
“I’ll go,” Brink says.
“No,” I say turning towards him. “You’re injured.”
“I’ll go,” Van says, standing and slinging his bag over his shoulder.
I look over at Garrett. I don’t want him to come with and I think he senses it since he removes his bow and quiver from his shoulder, handing them to me.
“You’ll need these,” he says.
I take them without hesitation and secure them across my shoulder. Van grabs my hand and I loop us out of the building. We land under an overpass a few blocks away. I want to keep low so the drones don’t spot us. We keep to the side of the road as we move further away from the tower. I wish I knew how to locate the others. I decide to start where the explosions erupted. I take Van’s hand and loop us mile by mile along the road until we come upon the burning remains of structures and players.
There isn’t much left of Lil, but I can still tell it was her. I don’t recognize anyone else amongst the wreckage, but Van does.
“They’re mainly from Nius,” he says moving from one body to another. “I don’t see everyone, so maybe they didn’t all get sent at the same time.”
I check for any useable explosives, but all have been detonated. I loop us a mile to the southeast and onto the plaza from round one. Everything looks just like it did on the battle floor, right down to the Patrician symbol on the tiles of the pool.
“Who do you think she was?” Van asks, pointing to the fallen statute.
“She was a very powerful God,” someone says behind my back.
I pull out an arrow and secure it to Garrett’s bow
