Play Stupid Games, Win Awesome Prizes

#1

((Sofia Kowalski continued from Feeble Cursed One!))

The fish stank disgustingly.

Sofia wondered who had put it there. The pike (at least she believed it was one) looked too unnatural to be placed there by the tv-staff. That left only her schoolmates. But why would someone go to the effort to catch a fish during SOTF? And then just leave it on a random place to rot?

Sofia felt like there was an easy explanation, but she didn't care enough to actually think hard about it. In the end, the important fact was that the smell the fish odored would hopefully make keep everyone else from even approaching the boat, making it the best hiding place for someone as vulnerable as her.

Only fractures of memories reminded her what had transpired back at the restaurant.

She remembered following Chris upstairs.

She remembered that a chair crashed through a window, but she couldn't recall who had thrown it.

And then came the loose floorboard.

The goddamn loose floorboard.

Sofia wondered if this had been done on purpose by whoever readied the restaurant for the show. Or maybe the ship was old, so a few loose parts where to be expected. But in the end, this too were details that didn't matter.

The moment Sofia remembered the best was the moment directly after she tripped. How Chris, apparently more out of pure luck, had brought his axe down.

And how she had instinctively raised her left arm.

The blocking itself had been successful in preventing her torso from being split.

Her hand? Not so much.

Four of her fingers were probably still scattered across the restaurant's upper floor. The thumb was intact, but not usable since her entire hand was covered in the shirt that had been her mask.

Her reaction of instantly ripping of her mask and wrapping it around what remained of her left hand might have saved her. But it also gave Chris the perfect opportunity to push her through the window.

Asshole.

What happened next, she wasn't sure. She faintly remembered the feeling of all the things she had collected dragging her down. Of her lungs scteaming. Of her surviving hand desperately trying to get rid of her ballast while she tried to swim upwards.

Judging from the fact she was still alive, Sofia must had succeeded.

But that was all she had. Both of her backpacks were no.longer with her. Even her shiv was now resting on the bottom of the ocean.

Her memories restarted this morning, when she awoke lying not too far away from the Alifie. The scent had made her hope no one else would be here, and she had been right.

Since then, Sofia had sat down against the railing and waited.

And waited.

And then, it finally arrived.

The announcement.

Sofia didn't move as Ritzy rattled of some names she no longer cared about, instead waiting for the moment the names she did care about would be mentioned.

It never happened.

During the entire announcement, there was no mention of anything that had transpired in the restaurant. That could either mean that somehow no one had died, which Sofia doubted, or that once again a few deaths were being saved for the next announcement for another shitty reason.

In any case, Sofia remained clueless on whether or not her allies had succeeded. And more importantly, whether or not James was fine.

She wanted to see him. More than everything else in the world.

But unfortunately, everything else in the world had other plans. She wasn't even allowed to know what had happened to him.

Anger rose within her. If only they had never been casted! If only they had never jpined the Respects! If only...

... James and her had been at the same team.

That would have solved a lot of problema. They could have survives together. Maybe finding some other teammates.

But instead Sofia had been chosen as a Buccaneer.

She looked at her pink bandanna with disgust.

And then,.without another thought, she allowed her anger to manifest in a very questionable move.

Sofia stood up, took off her bandanna and threw it into the sea.

BEEP

It took only one second for her to realize her stupid action.

BEEP

And another to see that the bandanna was floating on top of the water.

BEEP

Sofia calmed down a bot. Sure, dumb move, but all she had to do was jump into the sea and reclaim it, right?

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP BEEP

Then why did her body refuse to move?

BEEP BEEP

BEEP BEEP

Sofia didn't know much about traumatas. But this was the only explanation. Even if she barely remembered it, her subconsciousness must have gotten scars from the experience of almost drowning.

Scars that now froze her in place when she so much as thought about jumping back into the water.

BEEP BEEP

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The bandanna was still floating, only two meters away from the boat and still unreachable in her current state.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

How many seconds had she already wasted? At least half of the minute before her collar blew. Panic rose within her, but she fought it back. There was still hope. All she had to do was find a fishing hook or something and reel the bandanna on board.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

She looked around the deck.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Nothing.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Now her inner panic was returning with a vengeance. Even if she found a hook now, she wouldn't have enough to-

That is when she spotted the blood on the cabin door.

Blood meant bodies. And bodies meant...

Sofia rushed to the door and swumg it open.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The beeping was almost constant now, but she didn't care. Because right before her lay the corpse of another Buccaneer.

Almost falling on top of it, she bent down. With her useful hand she ripped the bandanna from the corpse.

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

In the moment she hastily wrapped the bandanna around her left arm, the beeping stopped. Sofia let out a deep breath. It had been an idiotic moment of weakness almost leading to her death, but she had survived.

It was only then that she noticed the other corpse sitting on a bench. And the total of four backpacks lying around.

And most importantly, the harpoon gun.

Half an hour later, Sofia left the Alifie behind.

Since her old clothes had been either lost at sea or were so wet they might as well be, she had taken and was now wearing the black t-shirt and track pants from the previous owner of the harpoon gun, which Sofia recognized as Mariko. Another person she knew the name of thanks to being a fellow senior, but that was all. The dead Buccaneer was unknown to her. Probably a junior.

What remained of her left hand was now properly treated and in bandages. Instead of carrying all four backpacks, she had put most of the stuff into one, leaving some food, a first-aid-kit and the weirdly small shield behind.

Also she was armed with the harpoon gun. Having used some minutes to read the manual, a few holes in the walls of the cabin showed her training shoots.

Now she only needed to figure out where to go

The restaurant would probably result in nothing. After all, their plan had been to utterly trash the place. It was unlikely that James and the others would hang around after making that much noise.

The shop boat might have been a spot to look, but Sofia didn't want to go there. With the Danger Zones, many would try to scavenge the shop for some supplies before it got closed off as well. And if Sofia understood Ritzy's parting words, the next announcement would herd them all on the cruise ship.

So the cruise ship it would be. Even if the others weren't there, they would eventually arrive.

Having decided on a destination, Sofia set out.

((Sofia Kowalski continued in A Little Piece of Heaven))