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“If he’s following the tropes, whatever we find down there is likely to have guns. He may be trying to set us up for a shoot-out.”
I felt a surge of approval from Kaio, not for the first time in the last few minutes, and I had to wonder what that was about. But I didn’t ask. As far as I was concerned, the sooner we got through the rest of this game, the happier I’d be.
And after almost being choked to death by poisonous vines and then almost falling to my death from a cliff, a good old-fashioned gunfight sounded practically pleasant.
Apparently my thoughts amused Kaio, because he chuckled before he held out his hand to help me to my feet. “Let’s go see if we can find some weapons, then.”
“Sure thing, pardner,” I said in my closest approximation to a Texas drawl.
Kaio didn’t get the joke, of course, but he passed me the handle of my suitcase so I could go back to pulling it behind me, and we began trudging across the reddish dirt and rocks that littered the landscape between us and the faux-western town.
* * *
We endedup camping overnight at the base of a rock formation not far from the town. Kaio was concerned about lighting a fire, worried that another gladiator pair might see it, so we huddled together in the cold desert night. I didn’t sleep well, and by the time dawn rolled around, I was ready to head out again.
The town was eerily silent when we got there, and yet somehow, it didn’t feel empty. It was only two rows of buildings creating a single street—the sort of place you’d expect the black-hat bad guy and the white-hat hero to have a showdown at high noon.
We slipped in around the corner of one building, sliding up along the edge and peering around the corner.
“There have to be weapons here somewhere,” I whispered.
Do any of the symbols on the buildings mean anything to you? Kaio asked silently.
Yes, I replied, but I don’t think the bank would have weapons. Maybe the saloon.
That’s when I saw it. “There,” I hissed. “The sheriff’s office.”
Kaio gave a funny waggled his head and traced out a route in my mind.
The waggle came with a sense of agreement—so I guessed it was his equivalent of a nod.
Let’s go.
Just as we stepped out so far from behind cover that we couldn’t easily retreat, something whistled past my ear. I whipped my head around, confused, but Kaio didn’t hesitate. He flew at me in a tackle that would have terrified me if I’d had even a moment to think about it.
But I didn’t.
He swept me up with one arm, flipped over in the air while still holding me, and then landed in a skid on his back that took us behind the nearest structure—a rickety wooden cabin.
“What was that?” I hissed.
“Someone took a shot at you.” Kaio peered around the edge of the building, then ducked back when another shot pinged past us, hitting the dirt in a shower of sparks.
“That wasn’t a regular bullet, was it?” Who was out there trying to kill us? And why were they targeting me and not Kaio?
My partner’s voice came from inside my head. Be quiet. I’m trying to determine what to do next.
We didn’t have to kill them, did we?
God, I was so stupid. Of course we did—that was the only way we would get out of here alive.
Then again, Grace had gotten through the last games alive—and without winning. But now she was stuck preparing other human women to die.
I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to go home.
And to do that, I had to win.
But I’d watched enough of those survivor-type shows on Earth television to know that alliances early in games could be helpful long-term.
