The Hollow Game.

Chapter Thirteen

Patience, she’s come to realize, is something she has in abundance. Listening to everyone talk at once, over each other and under their breath, wasn’t something she enjoyed. The worst part, if she had to choose, was Ace’s terrible jokes. No one should have to suffer listening to them. “And so I said, ‘Well, at yeast I doughnut have a problem!’”

Torture. “Are we really going to stay here? The tunnels are flooded so why can’t we move along?” Lottie glanced over at JD. Ace, brown eyes narrowed, smirked at him and it was one of the nastiest smiles she had ever seen. JD didn’t look to happy, either. His face paling and a slight but definite quiver in his hands. “The tunnels are flooded,” she agreed. “Doesn’t mean anything. There are eleven of us, not twelve. We’re in no rush, we can spare a few more minutes waiting to make sure it’s just us coming through.”

The words were spoken slowly, each one carefully weighed against each other and accented with her usual grin. It wasn’t a nice in that moment. Lottie glanced at the others, taking in their expressions with a shudder. Maybe she could accidentally get ‘lost’ and avoid everyone else-- be just that much closer to winning the money. “Uh, sure, we can wait a bit longer, right?”

Murmured agreements echoed around the clearing and Ace leaned back against the tree, her grin losing its threatening gleam.

She pursed her lips, eyes narrowing slightly before she threw her head back with a laugh. “I’m going to see how far the water runs,” she said. The others glanced at her then away just as quickly. Good, she thought, watch me walk away. The ground squished with every step, mud and excess water seeping into her shoes, making her scowl. The tunnel was still pouring and everything on both sides was saturated; everything ahead was also soaked and seeping, a literal mud pit. A bit farther ahead, past the obvious splash zone, the mud wasn’t too bad and the ground didn’t adhere to her shoes. She looked back, willing the others to see her. When no shouts came, no running or sudden noises appeared, she smiled. Perfect.

“Achoo!” Wind whipped her hair to and fro and shivers racked her body. The damn cave was warmer than this, she thought irritability. She reached down and rung the bottom of her dress again, wishing that this time her fingers would find dry cloth instead. “Achoo, achoo, achoo!” She was cold, wet and already sneezing loud enough to rival one of the sky trains.

“Hey, could you move a bit, please?” She looked over at the curly haired man and frowned. “You’re spreading a ton of germs sitting there sneezing without covering your mouth. Disgusting.” She thought of going over there and sneezing on him but instead offered him a tight smile and shuffled around a bit. He scowled and stalked over to one of the other women. She grinned and victory before coughing harshly. Her throat burned and no matter how rapidly she blinked her eyes still felt dry and uncomfortable. Mud and grass stained her dress and coated her skin like oil. She truly didn’t want to see herself now or anytime after until she bathed, dressed in warm, clean clothes, and had $100,000,000 tokens to her name.

“The ground’’s a bit soggy for a ways but not too bad.” The girl from earlier trudged back into the clearing, a smear of dirt on her cheek. “Any one come out?”

“No,” the blind woman said. She stared at her, not expecting her to sound so raspy. “Just us. Are we waiting longer?” This was directed at the girl leaning against the tree. The girl shrugged, brows furrowed before staring at the gaping tunnel. “A few more minutes then we’ll take off,” she decided, grinning. Creepy, she thought, sniffling. The low chatter resumed as wind whipped around them, scattering the water even farther. “So what’s your name?” She jumped, twisting around to meet blue eyes wide enough to show the beginnings of being bloodshot. She coughed, her throat burning and her chest full as the smile, more teeth than anything, dimmed and took on a concerned air. “I’m Kitty! I like your dress or what’s left of it. It reminds me of this seashell I once saw--”

“Tara,” she interrupted. “Tara Shaw. Pleasure,” she added, eyeing the other coldly. Kitty’s smile brightened and she quickly pointed to the blind girl. “That’s Sally and her boyfriend JD; Derek is guy with curly hair and the one he’s talking to is Jackson. Lily and Lottie, aren’t those just the cutest names, are with Milo and those two by the tree are Ace and Binks.” She could feel her eyes glaze over as the girl continued, going from who was who to how they had met and so on. It was mind numbingly hard to ignore her when she coughed or sneezed and the pain brought the girl’s babbling back to the fore front of her mind.

“Thanks,” she could practically feel everyone watching her as the girl fell silent. The moment of silence stayed only a beat or two but it was singly the most enjoyable thing she had experienced since nearly drowning.

“No problem, I love making new friends.” And off she went. Tara whimpered quietly and sniffed, huddling into herself for warmth. Maybe once she shuts up I’ll be dry. “Achoo!” Or maybe not.

“Nobody’s coming,” the blonde man-- Jackson-- drawled. “We need to leave or else we’re just going to wait here for a couple hours and I don’t think that structure will stay up long enough.” She glanced over her shoulder at the tunnel entrance and blinked as bits of rocks plopped noisily into the still flowing water. It did look like it would collapse at any moment,especially with so much liquid pouring out. Thankfully the girl-- Kitty-- stopped rambling long enough for her to get her stand up, her dress clinging uncomfortably to her legs. The blue haired girl-- Ace-- nodded, brows drawn together in a funny mixture of reluctance and agreement. She watched bewildered as the others quickly broke up from their smaller groups and joined Ace by the tree. She shuffled over reluctantly, honestly wondering why they had stayed in the first place. Several of them could have left already and would’ve had an amazing head start.

“Okay, so we’ll avoid the deeper parts and as much mud as we can. It’ll slow us down considerably if we have to dig someone out,” she said.

Nods and various noises of agreement all around. She continued, “Keep your eyes open for anything that might be edible. And if anyone sees anything that could be the beginning of the second phase, say something and wait. We’ll stick together this time just in case something happens.” She finished off her speech with a grin, spun on her heels and marched giddily into the trees, Binks right on her tail.

Seconds later everyone entered the treeline and she was left standing there, gaping at their backs. I;ll play along but by god, I am not getting in on this craziness.

She sniffled, coughed, pulled her dress away from her legs and hesitantly joined the others, wishing she were anywhere but there.