Nice Day to Die (15 page)

If. We. Survive.

“They forgot that this game is about us,” explains Bellona. “They could design the worst villains and never please the audience. If they don’t make it hard for us to survive, send us through the worst hell they can create, the audience won’t be pleased. In other words, those villains will only shine if we suffer.”

I need more time to comprehend Bellona’s philosophy, and let it sink in. But I have no time.

“So what is the damn game about?” someone asks from the audience in the Zeppelins.

“The Breathing Dome has all the water the Monsters need underneath the ice. To get it, they will have to kill the twenty Bullies inside the dome. The catch is that there is no oxygen inside the Breathing Dome.” Timmy laughs. “How ironic. No air in the
Breathing Dome
.” He claps his hands together, happily. “While fighting in the dome, the only way to breathe air is from within
the breathing booths you can see inside the dome.”

He points at tall glass boxes that look like phone booths. There are oxygen inhalers inside the booths. The back of each booth is connected to a large blue tube that supplies it with the oxygen. The tubes, wide enough for someone as tiny as me to crawl inside, run all over the icy ground, already posing an obstacle to the ice skaters. We’ll have to jump over them.

“The Monsters have to survive the Bullies with no air in their lungs. They’re allowed to enter the booths briefly to inhale the oxygen they need, and get back to the killing fields of the Breathing Dome — if the Bullies let them. When the Monsters are in the Breathing Booths, they are immune. I believe this is exceptionally fair.”

The viewers counter is alarming: two and a half million people are watching now.

“Sick lunatic.” Bellona spits on the ground. “I am glad we know how to skate on ice, or we would have lost already.”

“I can’t,” says Leo.

Bellona and I can’t believe our ears.

“Then we’re all going to die in there.” Bellona lets out a painful chuckle.

“You can’t skate?” I wonder.
Really? I thought you were some arrogant superhero who could do anything.

“Yes,” answers Leo. He is cool about it though. I don’t think he understands how this could hurt us. “I’ll walk barefoot.”

“You’re such a caveman.” I roll my eyes.

“You will crack the ice. You are too heavy,” explains Bellona. “This is why the ice skates are thin. It creates as little friction with the ice as possible. With your weight, you can’t fight without breaking the ice. If you break the ice, you’ll drown in the water underneath, and contaminate it. Capiche?”

“I have clean feet,” says Leo like a robot.

“Oh. Please,” says Bellona.

“And you said you don’t have enough ammo, right?” I remind him.

“Two bullets,” he says. “I have a knife like yours. And I have my bare hands.”

“We need weapons inside. We can’t fight the Bullies without weapons,” says Bellona. “We have to think of something to get weapons.”

I am mad at Leo. I don’t believe he has a plan. His improvisation techniques are going to get us killed. I know that he will eventually find some heroic way to do his best, but I can’t enter the dome with this state of mind.

“May I present to you the great designer of the Breathing Dome,” Timmy announces. “A respectable young scientist of Faya, and a promising Eight. Please welcome… Zeinstein!”

A short boy appears on the screen. He is wearing a yellow blazer jacket that he thinks is so fashionable, and big glasses that almost cover his long irregular nose. His hair is curly and uncombed. His ears are bizarre; no one has ears that long anymore — didn’t mankind evolve from rabbit to man a long time ago? His sick yellowish smile bothers me, and the fact that he is an Eight kills me.

On my iAm’s screen, the Summit announces that Zikee, the reputable sneakers manufacturer, is offering Zeinstein a multi-million zollar
contract to acquire the rights to the Bullies’ ice-skating shoes. Half of the money goes to the Summit. Every rich kid in Faya will buy the skates after we die.

“Zeinstein my—” mutters Leo.

“You know him?” asks Bellona.

“I know Einstein,” mumbles Leo, acting like he is an intelligent alien from outer space while we’re just silly humans here on earth.

“Are they brothers or something?” asks Bellona.

Leo shoots Bellona that look. Again, he looks like an alien, aching perpetually from living among us. “I will explain later,” he says. I don’t know what upsets him so much about Zeinstein. His reasons are definitely different from mine.

“I’d like to announce that these are not filter masks. They are tethered to the oxygen tanks.” says Timmy to the audience. “We just wanted them to look cool. They’re designed by Zersace. The implanted horns are courtesy of Lady Mama, available in all stores after the games. Go get yours before they sell out, kids. I’ve always wanted a couple of horns on my head, and maybe elf ears as well.”

“This game is a money fest,” says Bellona. “Like I told you, they are worth nothing without us.”

Timmy demands that we put on the ice skates and grab the caterpillar tubes, which are used as water containers. They are elastic bottles that look like a big worm with a fixed curving straw that squeezes up the water from underneath the ice. The company that manufactures them brands it the Caterpillar.

“I think your Bullies suck,” I say in the iAm. We are allowed to say whatever we want on game time. It will only be picked up if they think it is important. This is different from calling.

I never said the word
suck
before, but always wanted to. This is the perfect situation, with an edge.

I turn to Bellona. “Tell everyone not to wear the skates until we get what I am asking for,” I say. Bellona complies. Her skating friends don’t like it though.

“What will it be, Zippy-Zap’s girlfriend?” asks Timmy.

“We don’t like your Bullies,” I say, reminding myself that I can do this. I have an idea. Leo is grinning at me.

“It’s not up to you. They’re not made for you to like them. They are made to kill you. That’s the point,” says Timmy. “We do like our Bullies.” The audience backs him up. “Please don’t stop your friends from attending the game, or I will explode me some Monsters.”

“Can he do that?” I ask Leo and Bellona.

“It’s more of an electric shock like the one I had in the forest,” says Leo.

“You had an electric shock?” Bellona admires Leo with her eyes. “And you’re still alive. Man, you are strong.”

I am starting not to like Bellona. I don’t know why.

“Did Decca give you a hard time? Did you just want to end your life?” continues Bellona, touching Leo’s arm. Leo puts his poker face on. Actually, Leo has his poker face on most of the time. It’s more of a poker-slash-dumb-slash-Terminator face. How many times did girls hit on you, Leo? Of course, my question applies to your past life, when you were a rock star, before becoming a mindless killing machine.

“Ding dong,” says Timmy, wearing angel wings with a lollipop in his mouth. “Jealous eyes never lie.” He shakes his head. I am sure his act will get him a couple of hundred more viewers. Who is he calling jealous?

“I am not jealous of you—” I don’t want to offend Timmy. I need to make him feel okay so he takes my bait. “And Bellona isn’t either.” I say this to save myself from sounding defensive. I don’t think it works.

“Look, I think your Bullies don’t look scary enough.” I get my mind back on track “What is it with that over-hyped outfit? Implanted horns in their heads, bare chests, huh? They look so sissy—” Again, I never said that word before, but I never felt the need. I am trying to provoke Timmy. “We’re younger, smaller, and faster. Nothing about them scares us. At least they should have weapons so they can shoot us. This game is going to be boring.”

Leo nods his head. Bellona seems impressed. If Timmy takes the bait, the Bullies will have weapons and Bellona’s friends, the army teens, can snatch the weapons from them. They are ex-military and have experience. This will be better than getting into physical fights with them, which none of us can win, even Leo. The Bullies are big.

The audience demands the Bullies should have weapons, and the viewer's counter is picking up. This is Timmy's greatest weakness. He has to please Prophet Xitler and the Summit by gaining Viewership, thus making money, pleasing the audience, and getting the best rank he can.

“The Monsters seem to actually have brains,” says Timmy. “Boys and girls, it is a trick—”

“If you don't do it, we’ll go suicidal, meaning we will just give up and die. That would make for a very dull show.” I cut him off, counting on the fact that they need us in this money fest.

The audience is upset, shouting at Timmy.

“All she does is talk, blah blah blah,” Leo whispers to Bellona. Is he flirting with her, or is it his unusual way of saying he appreciates me? I don't care. “I wonder where her off button is,” he adds flatly.

“Ok,” Timmy agrees. “But we will not send them guns. These weapons kill instantly. We want slow deaths so we can watch and be entertained. We’ll send you swords. Samurai swords. Everyone loves them.”

The screen on my iAm advertises the new set of swords that will be used in the games The swords look too fancy for a real fight. They are manufactured by NinjaCutz. A couple of days from now, every kid in Faya will ask his parent to buy those to play with.

“NinjaCutz?” Leo rolls his eyes. “Making
Samurai
swords? In the name of Bushido, God help me.”

Bellona and I eye exchange looks but we decide to dismiss Leo’s irritation.

“I hope this Ninjacutz company makes real swords because these swords look like they’re made for kids, ” murmurs Leo. “We’re not going to die in there finding out they have sold us lightsabers.”

We send puzzled looks his way again. What’s he talking about? I liked this boy better when he was mute.

“Lightsabers anyone?” Leo furrows his brows at our ignorance. “Star Wars. Darth Vader. Yoda. Hello?”

What’s this dude talking about?

"Anyway. Don't worry Thor," Bellona hits him on the chest playfully. "The Swords are reliable. My aunt works for that company. I remember her saying they produced excellent real swords. She was even planning to chop off her husband’s head with one of them.”

“Oh,” Leo furrow his eyebrows. “What did her husband do?”

“Made fun of her swords,” says Bellona.

I have to learn to be like Bellona. I like the way she called him Thor, and how playful she is with Leo. I hate her for that, but I will learn from her if I stay alive.

“So we enter the dome, get the water we need, and get out?” Bellona asks Timmy.

“You enter the dome, kill the Bullies, fill your Caterpillars with water, each member has to leave with one, and get out, ” explains Timmy. “Or you can take a shortcut: enter the room and die.”

We gather to start entering the Breathing Dome.

“I wish I could warn you of trying to break the rules. But don't worry; you won't break any, because there aren't any.” says Timmy.

“And what happened to the I am Alive rule.” A girl from our team wonders. It's Shoegirl. I want to take her in my arms, since we both survived all the way from the car full of mud, but I back off. No emotions. Emotions are distracting. Leo is enough distraction. Everyone takes care of themselves.

“This is not a rule,” Timmy sticks out his tongue. “This is a lifesaver.”

Bellona is talking with the skaters. They are confident they can kill the Bullies, all of them, if they can get their hands on the swords, which won't happen if we don't use the Breathing Booths effectively.