I was on the verge of death, that I was sure of. I was so sure too that this annoying feeling of being attracted was out of place especially with this tournament. And yet I couldn't do anything but stare at his eyes and ponder on the thought of where I had seen them before. And his smile? It made my heart pound uncontrollably as much as it ached. But why would it ache?
It was Claire's voice that broke my reverie. Turns out that she and Simon were still with Damian.
"Woah Maia you okay?"
I could hear the silent scoffing of Iavan and Miisa for the fake concern that Claire was giving us but I couldn't care more about it.
"Yeah I'm alright, you can put me down now"
I tapped at Damian's arms to let him know that I was fine and as soon as he let me down, I stared at him. Looking for signs of any injury but it didn't feel like he has any. I scanned Claire and Simon too but it looked like they were uninjured as well.
"What happened?"
I asked them. Damian stared at me for a while and then smiled lightly.
"It seemed like they both got the wrong idea. It wasn't them the others were chasing, it was just about time that we also ran after you guys."
I raised an eyebrow at his explanation and looked at Claire and Simon. Claire seemed oddly apologetic like she was too dumb to even realized that and Simon was just glaring at me.
"So it wasn't you guys that shot a gun?"
"A GUN?"
Claire shockingly exclaimed as she put her hand on her mouth like what I said was so shocking. I raised an eyebrow at her theatrics. Damian also stared at me like I had said something weird. I looked at the two who were sitting on the branch of the tree and beckoned them to come down, which they slowly did.
"We heard a gun being shot so we thought something must have happened"
Damian stared at me for a minute and what he said next made no sense at all.
"Maia guns aren't allowed in here. I didn't hear any shots either"
My eyes widened and as I stared at him, I got the sense that he wasn't lying. I looked at Simon and Claire and both of them were acting suspiciously. Iavan and Miisa were about to press the topic when I held out my hand on them and stopped them.
"You're right, must have been my imagination, so what's the plan? The two of them are coming with us?"
Damian scratched the back of his head and apologetically looked at us.
"Just until today passes, they promised to find another place after today"
"Please Maia, we promise we mean no harm"
Claire pleaded with her pretty face as if she had thought that it was enough for me to say yes. Simon on the other hand had proven to keep his silence. I was weighing any possible option open for me but I found the two of them suspicious.
"As if you leave us with any other choice, Miisa, Iavan let's set up camp here for now"
Miisa and Iavan exchanged looks and quickly got our things to start setting up camp.
Trusting Claire and Simon was already a hard thing to do. Seeing Claire openly flirt with Damian while we're on a death tournament is definitely pissing to look at.
It was beginning to get dark again, as Miisa and Simon lay asleep I figured it wouldn't be too much to get some rest too. But it was quite hard to do so especially when Claire kept on clinging at Damian like a sea slug.
"You're blood is boiling"
"Huh?"
Iavan commented as she sat right beside me before pointing at Damian and Claire's direction. There was a teasing grin plastered at her face.
"That situation pissing you off?"
"As if, of course it's not, why do I care about them, they can flirt all they want until death"
Iavan laughed at my remark and as if to add fuel to the flame like she knew that it would definitely piss me off more.
"So you are jealous, never seen you deny something that strongly"
I felt myself burn red and I wasn't even sure if it was because Iavan remarked that I was jealous or if it was because she was suggesting that I have romantic feelings for Damian.
"We're in a game Iavan"
"Yea and you know what? I bet the audience would love a good quality love triangle in the midst of the war"
I scoffed at her and decided to just close my eyes. My shoulder was still throbbing with pain and after the whole fiasco with the trees, I doubt it would get any better quickly. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep. It was probably due to the exhaustion and anxiety that had built up in me.
Like earlier I fell into another dream, this one wholly different from the one before. A place where green trees, meadows and a sky so clear is visible. No dark clouds shrouding the sky and no fear lurking beneath the shadows. Not far from where I was standing, a small hut stood in the middle of the meadow. Two small shadows running can also be seen. I found myself walking towards their direction. On closer view, there were two of them.
A young boy and a girl, they weren't minding me as they were both engrossed with what they were doing. I stepped in closer and saw that they were making flower crowns. I smiled. The innocence and purity that they still have was something I should be jealous of. In this age, it was already hard to keep your purity and keep on being the naïve one. I decided to walk inside the hut to see what was inside but before I could even go inside, a hand stopped me and held me back.
I looked back and saw the two kids holding my hand, shaking their heads with panic evident in their eyes.
I was about to ask why they stopped me when the little girl opened her mouth to speak. But instead of a tiny voice what I heard was my own voice. The light raspy voice of mine.
"Wake up"
And so I did.
"Damn it, why did you have to wake up"
What welcomed me after that dream was something not nice and pretty. Claire was on top of me with her hand on the trigger of a gun. My good arm and hand were also on the gun preventing Claire's fingers from pulling the trigger.
"MAIA, YOU'RE AWAKE"
I took a side glance and noticed Iavan pinning Simon down, I looked at Miisa and saw that she was fast asleep, same with Damian. Or atleast that's what they look like to me.
My head was about to burst from the sudden intake of the scenario happening before me but I knew what I needed to do. I raised up my legs and kicked Claire right on the middle of her lower body.
She yelped in pain the same time that I twisted my hold on her hand making her lose her grip around the gun. The moment she had dropped it, I had the opportunity to kick her again this time far from me. I stood up and took her gun.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn't your ordinary gun. I squinted my eyes and looked at Iavan. Simon was struggling beneath her but Iavan tightened her hold.
"Miisa?"
"These two have some kind of sleeping serum inside the guns, the moment you fell asleep, I saw Claire shot Damian one, they tried to do the same with me but look"
Iavan explained gesturing to Simon whom she knocked out by striking the hilt of her knife on the back of his neck.
"Claire tried to shoot you too but I guess even when asleep, you're reflexes were still the same"
I walked to where Claire was and grabbed her hair as she winced painfully.
"Explain yourself before I decide whether to kill you or not"
If there was one thing I was sure of, it's that Claire and Simon could never bring themselves to kill anyone inside this tournament. I had learned how to judge people by the slightest movement of their body and the two of them were definitely not the combative type of people. Nor would they be able to live with themselves after they kill someone.
I saw fear run through Claire's eyes when I pointed the gun on the temple of her head.
"Speak Claire, Don't make me repeat myself thrice."
I stared down at her while she trembled needlessly under my watch. To say that I was angry was just an act, I was worried. Not just for Miisa but also for Damian who both looked like they were dead.
"They're in a dream, they won't wake up not until you tell them a story that they know"
"What kind of story"
"CLAIRE DON'T TELL THEM!"
I glanced at Simon who begun struggling under Iavan again, he looked half awake and was beaten up pretty badly. Despite how little Iavan is, he shouldn't have belittled her, she could punch a six foot tall man right in the face and leave the person half dead.
Iavan gave him another smack right on the head making it so that his face would land on the muddy ground.
"Shut your trap before I make you eat the ground"
"SIMON!"
I stared as Claire's horrified face made me realize why the two of them were together. Sure, Claire was the outgoing type but she was the class beauty too so it wouldn't be much of a surprise if the bigger boys would take her up as an ally but instead she's here with Simon. The weak-minded and frail Simon. Deadweight Simon who was limping his way through the woods.
"Claire, who made you do it? And how do we get our friends back?"
"Friends? Maia you can leave them behind, you're in a death tournament why not leave them and survive alone?"
"Betrayal isn't in my vocabulary Claire and I think you're the same aren't you"
I stared at her as I removed the gun from her head and pointed it to Simon who was now barely holding. As if to confirm my suspicion, her eyes glowed dangerously.
"I can't tell you who but to wake them up, you need something from their memory. A story from their memory"
"Glad doing business with you"
After knowing how to wake the two up, I shot Claire, the gunshot echoing through the forest along with Simon's screams. It didn't take too long before Claire completely closed her eyes and slumbered like a log.
I can't say that I knew about the sleep serum but I had a hunch and my gut feeling had never been wrong before.
"Fuck you Maia, I'll kill you"
Simon was still yelling and that was a bad sign already, it was the middle of the night and the other kids might be hunting nearby, it wouldn't do us good if they start hunting us. So I also shot him.
"That work out well"
Iavan looked at me and I apologetically stared at her.
"I should've avoided this beforehand"
"I know but you know, I was curious too. On why that kind of gun exists here in the tournament"
I couldn't tell her. It may look like a gun but I know that this was a smaller and compact version of the machine that the SDC uses. To why and how Claire and Simon have this in their hands, we can never know.
"Let's wake Miisa up"
Iavan nodded at me, she moved closer to Miisa and whispered in her ear one of the most embarrassing stories of our childhood years. It didn't even take a moment for her to wake up with cold sweat dripping all over her face. She wide-eyed stared at us.
"I had a nightmare, my ex-boyfriend was there telling me he loves me again"
I chuckled and helped her up as she slowly took in what was going around her. Iavan summarized everything for her for us to save time from explanations but my gaze was transfixed on Damian.
"What about Damian? We know nothing about his memories"
I glanced over at Miisa and Iavan who was worriedly eyeing Damian too. Miisa was right, we knew nothing about him. Not his family, his friends, nothing.
All I know about is how he was so aloof and the only time that we ever talked was during a class. I doubt that Miisa and Iavan even interacted with him before.
But we need to try, he did saved me before. I walked towards him and knelt beside him. He looked peaceful, his face looked so serene that it made him look like…
Like the young boy from my dream earlier. That was highly impossible, dreams come from the unconscious mind, what we dream has something to do with what was on our mind during our sleep, something that we aren't aware of.
I knew I had to try and there was nothing wrong with doing so.
I moved my face near his ears and whispered what I saw in my dreams.
"Damian, did you ever like making flower crowns? You were near a small hut in a middle of the field. A girl with pigtails and a missing tooth, do you like spending time with her? I bet you're having a good dream but I need you to wake up. I… need you."
That was the truth, I need to know what his role in the SDC is and who he really is. I have too many questions for him and none of those are answered yet.
I stared at his face and lost all hope when he showed no signs of waking up. I let out a heavy sigh.
"You're sighing often now"
I stared up and saw Damian staring back at me, his face slightly flushed red and a small smile was on his face.
He woke up.
Does this mean, my dreams were also the same as his? They were his memories?