D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

It was almost over before it began. The fish moved so fast it nearly yanked itself out of my grip. My left hand flailed in the water. If I didn’t grab on with both hands, fast, I wouldn’t last for 3 clicks, let alone 13.1 was able to bring my left hand down and hold on, just as the fish bloated. It threw my legs out wide, which made it even harder to hang on. It got so fat I had trouble gripping with my legs. I knew this ride wasn’t going to last long. The spinney twisted and bucked, then swam upside down! I was head down, but I wouldn’t let go. When I managed to hang on even though I was upside down, I had a faint glimmer of hope. I knew it wouldn’t be a long trip, but maybe it would be long enough. I only had to hang on for 13 clicks.

The fish spun me upright, then quickly spun back in the other direction. That did it. I had shifted all my weight one way to counter that first twist. As soon as it went the other way, I was gone. With a flap of its tail the fish squirted away from me and shot to the bottom. All that was left was for me to surface and check my time. I was confident. I felt there was a really good chance that I had hung on long enough.

When I surfaced, I saw that my time-including my head start of 10 clicks-was 20. Missed it by 3 clicks, however long that was. As I climbed onto the platform, I imagined the screens all over Quillan flashing: winner-challenger green! What a depressing thought. When I pulled off my globe, I saw that Veego was smiling. She may have said she didn’t care, but she did. She wanted me to lose.

“That’s one event each,” she announced. “There is one more event before the rest period.”

After we took the elevator down and walked a fair distance through the parklike compound, we all stood on the edge of a dense forest of pine trees. There were so many trees, it looked unnatural. The branches began about ten feet off the ground, so I was looking at a sea of tree trunks. From where I stood, there only looked to be a few yards between each of them. The forest looked about a hundred yards wide. I couldn’t tell how deep it was. I figured that was part of the game.

Veego and LaBerge stood with their backs to the trees, facing Challenger Green and me.

LaBerge looked giddy. “This is my favorite game,” he said. “Hidden in this maze of trees are six flags. Three green, three red. The goal is to enter the forest, find each of your flags, and make your way to the far side, where we will be waiting. The first to arrive with all three flags is the winner!”

He clapped his hands and giggled. I couldn’t imagine why this would be his favorite game. There wasn’t much to it. On the other hand, it was another game that Nevva didn’t tell me about. I figured there were hundreds of Quillan games, so there was no way she could have covered them all. I just wished she had guessed right on one of them.

But the game didn’t seem so hard. It was all about finding the flags. They could have been anywhere, so the winner would be the one who was lucky enough to find them. Not a lot of skill involved, or danger for that matter. It all seemed so random, I didn’t think the 10-click advantage would mean anything.

Veego said, “Since Challenger Green won the last contest, he will get a ten-click head start.”

“Everybody ready?” LaBerge asked. “Go on the horn. Challenger Red, wait until we release you.”

The two stepped aside, the horn sounded, and Challenger Green sprinted toward the trees and disappeared.

“This is your favorite game?” I asked LaBerge. “I don’t get it.”

“You will,” he said slyly.

I didn’t like the way he said that.

“Ready, Challenger Red?” Veego asked.

“Just give me the go,” I said.

She counted down for me, “Three, two, one, go!”

Fum!

My left arm went numb. It was like I’d been shot by one of those dado guns, but it only affected my arm. I couldn’t lift it.

“Don’t worry,” Veego said. “The effects are temporary. Try not to get shot in the legs.”

Shot? Who was shooting? A flash of movement caught my eye. I looked at the forest and saw something skitter through the trees at ground level. Whatever it was, it was colorful. I thought I saw a flash of bright yellow and red. Was it an animal? What kind of animal was colored so strangely? And shot a tranquilizer gun? I wondered what territory Veego and LaBerge had taken such a strange creature from.

“Better get moving. Challenger Red,” LaBerge warned. “They’re very quick.”

I looked back into the forest and saw it. In that one sickening moment I realized why this was LaBerge’s favorite game. The flash I saw wasn’t an animal. It wasn’t from another territory, either. These things were homegrown. Peering out from behind a tree, no more than a foot high, was a mechanical doll. After seeing the quig-spiders at the gate, I had no doubt that this thing would be trouble. It could run, it could hide, and it could shoot. There was one more thing about it that gave me a cold shot of dread.

It was a clown.

Have I told you how much I hate clowns?

(CONTINUED)

They were sneaky-little-dado-clown-creeps. I didn’t stop to ask how they worked. If they could make life-size dados, it followed they could make small ones too. But dressed like clowns? LaBerge was a sick puppy.

“Run, Challenger Red!” LaBerge shouted with glee.

Freak.

I took off for the trees with my arm hanging dead at my side. If one of those clowns shot my leg, I’d be done. I hoped they were after Challenger Green, too. The clown who shot at me tossed his gun down and ran at me. He was quick, too. I sprinted through trees, desperate to keep ahead of that little monster. I was already getting feeling back in my arm. The effects were definitely temporary. It must have had something to do with the fact that the guns were so small.

I had no idea where to go. At least my legs were longer than the clown’s, so I put some distance between us. I reached a large tree, rounded it, and put my back to it, listening to hear the sound of his little red clown shoes pitter-pattering on the ground. It was quiet. I had lost him. Or he had lost me. Whatever. I turned to get my bearings, and saw another mini-clown sitting on a branch just above my head with a golden gun aimed at me. His face was white and his eyes and mouth were red with clown paint. It was a nightmare. The thing grinned at me and fired. Fum!

I dodged around the tree and heard the little bolt of energy crackle against the trunk. The little beast ran along the branch and got right in front of me. I had nowhere to hide. I was done. But he didn’t shoot. He dropped the gun and leaped at me! The fiend sailed down and landed on my shoulder. He grabbed me around the neck and started to bite! Yeow! I wrestled the thing off and tossed him against a tree, hard. The thing hit and fell to the ground. A second later he was back on his feet like nothing had happened, and he started after me again.

I ran. There were two things I learned about these monsters. One was that it seemed they only had one shot with their guns. That was good. But the other thing was, they liked to bite. That was freakin’ gruesome. I hated clowns now more than ever.

I ran wildly through the woods, always alert for little flashes of color that would mean I was about to be ambushed. All I could think about was getting away from those bozos. It was hard to run fast and dodge trees at the same time. I wasn’t even thinking about the game when I rounded one tree and saw a red flag. Yes! It was the size of a bandanna and tacked to a tree. I grabbed it, jammed it in my pants, and continued running. It didn’t matter which way I went. I had no way to know where I was, or where the next flag might be.