Until Death Do Us Apart ? ???? ???????

II wake up in the infirmary to see Christina and Will sitting next to me.

"Wow, you look..." Christina trails off. "You look bad."

I weakly smile. "How long have I been here?"

"About a day," Will says.

"A day?" I ask, shocked. "Have you seen the scoreboard?"

They both look down at the ground.

"You're below the line."

"Why are you wearing those vests?" I ask them. They exchange a glance.

"War games," Christina says quietly.

I try to sit up, pushing myself out of bed. "Woah, what are you doing?" Christina asks.

"I'm coming with you."

"Eric says you're done," she replies.

"What?" I'm stunned. "Your father is on the council, maybe they'll make an exception and let you go home."

I lay back down, tears welling in my eyes. "I'm sorry, Jordan," Christina says softly. "We gotta go."

"We're gonna miss the train." They both give me quick hugs before walking off.

But I won't let this happen. I'm not giving up—not now, not ever.

I quickly get dressed in better clothes and rush out the door.

I see the train starting to leave and sprint as fast as I can to catch it. After a minute of running, Four grabs my hand and helps pull me up onto the train.

"Thanks," I say, but he walks away without a word.

"Hi," Christina says, walking over to me, followed by Al and Will.

"Hi," I reply, still trying to catch my breath.

"What are you doing here?" Will asks, surprised.

"I figured I had to make it," I say firmly.

"Who let you out?" I hear a deep voice behind me. I turn around to see Eric standing there.

"I did," I reply, meeting his eyes.

He looks surprised. "You did?" I nod confidently. He glances around, then shrugs. "Okay."

"The game is simple," Four says, looking at the group. "It's like capture the flag."

"Weapon of choice?" Eric holds up a strange-looking gun.

"You call that a gun?" Molly scoffs.

Eric pulls it back and shoots Molly in the leg. She hits the wall and crumples down.

I jump. Eric pulls the dart out of her leg. "Neurostim dart," he says, holding it up. "Simulates the pain of a real gunshot wound, but only lasts a few seconds."

"Two teams," Four adds. "I'm captain. You pick first."

"Okay, yeah, I'll take the stiff."

I look up and see Eric staring directly at me. I smile. Maybe he doesn't hate me after all.

"Oh, picking the weak ones so you've got someone to blame when you lose?" I tease.

"Yeah, something like that," Eric replies.

"Alright, lights off!" Eric commands. Everyone turns off their lights and huddles in a circle.

"Okay, what's the strategy?"

"We'll hide the flag well enough that they can't find it."

"Look around to see if we can spot their flag," I suggest.