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)
QUILLAN
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.
Fum!
I heard it first, then I felt it. My left leg went numb. I fell to my knee, my good knee, and turned to see a little clown in a striped suit with big blue buttons charging at me, screaming like a banshee. I couldn’t run; I had to fight him. The little gremlin leaped at me, his sharp teeth gnashing. I caught him and threw him at another tree. The clown hit, landed on the ground, and instantly jumped up and attacked me again. I couldn’t stop these things. It was like they were made of rubber. Except for their teeth. The teeth were sharp.
Without a gun the thing wasn’t going to hurt me badly, but he was making my life miserable. Until the feeling in my leg came back I was going to have to deal with being semi-lame. He leaped at me again, I caught him, and rather than throwing him against a tree, I threw him as far as I could. I got lucky and the little banshee sailed between trees, screaming the whole way. As soon as I let him fly, I furiously rubbed my leg to get the circulation going and get rid of the effect of the stun gun. I grabbed a tree and pulled myself up, stomping my foot to get the blood flowing…
And got jumped by two more dolls. I lost my balance and crashed to the ground as they clawed at me and viciously bit my shoulders. I pulled them both off and jammed them together. In their frenzy, they started biting each other! Idiot clowns. I turned and heaved them as far as I could. By then I had gotten enough feeling back in my leg that I could start limping. I had gotten a few yards when I saw the next red flag! Unbelievable! I pushed myself forward, dragging my leg behind me. I hadn’t heard any horns go off so I had to believe Challenger Green was having as much trouble as I was. Hopefully more. I was still in the race.
I got closer to the flag. No clowns were in my way. I reached out, and was about to grab it when I got a faceful of fist. Challenger Green had returned. He’d been hiding behind the tree with the flag on it, waiting chance to defend myself. He hit me so hard that I was knocked off my feet, though I suppose that wasn’t so hard, since one of my legs was almost useless. The guy leaped on me, jammed a knee into my chest, and stuck his nose right in my face.
“I’ll kill you before I let you win,” he snarled.
He pulled out the same knife I’d seen him use to saw the rope and kill his last opponent. He held it to my throat. “Or maybe I’ll just kill you now and be done with it,” he said, his spittle spraying me.
“We’re not alone,” I said. “All of Quillan is watching. Is this how you want to win? Kill me like this and everybody will know you only did it because you knew you couldn’t beat me. Is that how the great Challenger Green wants to be known? Not good enough to win, but good enough to murder?”
I saw his confusion. He may have been ruthless, but he had an ego. He liked being champion. He pulled the knife away and jammed it back in his boot. He then stood up and grabbed my red flag off the tree.
“You want to win?” he taunted. “Then you’ve got to get this from me.”
He laughed and took off into the trees. I sat up, rubbing my throat. That was too close. I had no doubt he would follow through if he got another chance to kill me. This wasn’t a real competition. This was survival of the fittest. Or the most ruthless. Or craziest. I cautiously stood up and tested my leg. I was okay. But the game was over. I had no chance. The only thing left for me to do was keep away from those clowns until Challenger Green made it to the far side with his flags. I started walking in the general direction of where I thought the far side was. Maybe the clowns knew I had given up, because they didn’t bother me anymore. I actually found the next red flag, too. I was going to leave it, but took it anyway. Just because.
A few minutes later I heard the horn that signaled the end of the game. Winner-Challenger Green. Good for him. The rest period was coming up. I needed it. And I needed to talk to Nevva.
Fourteen was waiting for me when I finally made it to the far side. We got in the electric cart, and he drove me back toward the castle.
“It is two games to one,” he said. “What’s important is that you are still competing.”
“Yeah, I feel really great about that,” I said sarcastically. “Did you find Nevva Winter?”