D. MacHale - The Quillan Games

I saw Challenger Green down on the floor, hopping from square to square. He landed on one just as it moved. It was so fast that it threw him off balance. He had to throw himself backward or he would have been dumped into the hole.

A flash of silver sped by me, very close. It got my attention. I had to get moving. I leaped down the mountain faster than I should have. But Green was ahead of me. I needed to make up time. I was lucky I didn’t take a tumble. That would have been weak. When I hit the floor, I crouched down low to make a smaller target and started running for the next closest mountain. I only got a few steps when I saw a silver disk headed for me at head level. I threw myself to the side and it sailed past, but I was falling right toward a section of floor that was opening up! I had to contort my body to change my direction in midfall. I hit the section of floor right next to the new opening. Too close. I rolled to my right just as the section of floor beneath me started to move. It was so fast, it spun me into a barrel roll. I had to fight against my own momentum and stop myself from rolling off the edge. I ended up on my belly, with my left arm dangling over the side of the ch^sm. I took a second to catch my breath, then realized I was in a bad spot. I quickly pulled my arm out a second before a piebe of floor slammed into place, nearly cutting off my limb.

As frantic as I was, I couldn’t stay still. No place was safe. I got on my knees and crawled toward the next mountain. The loud music picked up the pace. I wished it made a difficult game nearly impossible. I made it to the base of the next mound and started my climb when I felt a sharp, hot pain in my right leg. Looking down I saw that a disk had clipped my right thigh. It made a neat cut through my black pants and stuck in the side of the mound. I didn’t want to know how deep the cut was. There was nothing I could do about it anyway. So I climbed. If it hurt, I didn’t know it. My adrenaline was pumping too hard to notice. I got to the top of the mound to see that there were still only one red and one green light lit. I quickly hit the next red light. I was in the lead!

I turned to head down just as a second green light turned on. I looked out over the room to see Challenger Green on top of another mound. It was dead even. I hurried down the mound, even more recklessly than last time. It was going to be close. I hit the floor and scanned to see which mound I should climb next. Challenger Green was doing the same thing. We were maybe twenty yards apart. I saw the mound that was closest to me. Unfortunately, it was the same mound that was closest to Challenger Green. It was decision time. Did I go for the closest mound and possibly have to fight Challenger Green to get to the summit? Or risk running for a mound that was farther away?

The two of us made quick eye contact. We both knew what we had to do. We ran for the same mound. We both chose to fight each other rather than make a suicide run across that deadly, random gauntlet.

I was halfway to the mound when I saw two disks flying at me from different directions. I dove to the ground as they hit above me and shattered. Pieces of metal rained down, nicking my arms like stinging bees. Challenger Green saw this and laughed. My dive cost me precious seconds. Green was almost at the mound. I was going to lose.

That’s when the Green. He fell. Not to the floor-he fell into the hole. He never saw it coming. He screamed, but kept his wits. He caught the edge of the opening with his arms. His arms and shoulders were above the floor, the rest of his body dangled below. But he was trapped. I saw him kicking to try to get a leg up, but he couldn’t get leverage. He wasn’t going to fall, but he wasn’t getting up, either.

I realized with horror that he may not have been in danger of falling, but in seconds he was going to be cut in half. As soon as that piece of floor jammed back into place, he’d be history. It was almost over. I was seconds away from winning the Grand X.

The reality of the situation hit me hard. This guy was about to die. I would be the champion, but at what cost? Another gruesome death? In those few vital seconds I realized there was an opportunity here. Which would have more impact on the people of Quillan? My victory in the Grand X? Or a selfless act that would demonstrate yet again how things were going to be different? I could win the competition and let Challenger Green die, or I could save him and be a hero. Even if I ended up losing the Grand X, I would have made my point. The choice was easy.

I quickly crawled across the floor and grabbed Challenger Green by the arms.

“What are you doing?” he growled.

The floor piece started moving. I pulled back hard, but the guy was heavy. He quickly realized I was trying to save him.

“Pull! Pull!” he commanded.

He got one leg up onto the edge, and had nearly brought up the other when I heard the crunch.

“Ahhhhhh!” he screamed as the flooring slammed home, crushing his foot.

I heard the cracking sound, even above the music. It was horrible. The poor guy lay on his back, his foot jammed between pieces of floor, trapped. I tried to force open the pieces of floor, but they wouldn’t budge. Challenger Green screamed in agony. There was nothing I could do to help him… except to win. When the game was over, I had to believe he would be released. It couldn’t have been a better situation. I not only saved his life, but the game was mine to win. I quickly left him and climbed up the mound. The silver disks seemed to be coming from every angle. I didn’t bother ducking or dodging. I was either going to be lucky or I wasn’t. I got to the top of the mound and saw the lights. All I had to do was press the final red light and it would be over. My finger hovered over it. The game was mine. But I didn’t push it. I suddenly remembered what Nevva said. If the competition was tied going into the last round, the final game was always a match to the death. If I pressed that button, the competition would be tied. By saving Challenger Green and winning the game, I might have set myself up to die.

I kind of wished I had remembered that a few seconds before.

I looked down at Challenger Green, who was clutching at his shattered foot. The guy was in a lot of pain. Whatever the next competition was, I was going to have a pretty big advantage. I wondered if I had just saved Challenger Green from a random death, only to be put in a position where I might have to kill him myself? I had never killed anyone in my life and didn’t want to start. Had I made a huge blunder?

There was only one thing to do. I pressed the red light.

(CONTINUED)

Fourteen worked to seal up the slice in my leg. The cut was clean, and luckily not very deep. He used a device that spit out a gluelike substance that sealed the wound and deadened it so I felt no pain. I was good to go, but I still didn’t know for what.

We were in the dining hall of the castle. I refused to go back to my room, or anywhere else in the castle. I didn’t want to be surprised by any more trapdoors or falling beds or killer clowns leaping out to bite me. Whatever was going to happen next, I wanted to see it coming.

“You saved Challenger Green,” Fourteen said. “Why? By letting him die you would have won the Grand X.”

“Lots of reasons,” I said. “I think mostly it’s because I’m not cut out for this warrior business.”

“But you are fantastic,” Fourteen said. “I have never seen anyone like you.”

“Thanks. I’ve got the tools, but I don’t have the killer instinct. I don’t even like putting lobsters into boiling water.”

“I do not understand that,” the dado said.

“What I mean is, I’m not cold enough for this.”