The announcement of the kills and deaths and new danger zones came at an inconvenient time for Nicole Campbell. Specifically, they came about forty-five seconds after she had settled herself in the top of the tower and opened her book again. She'd had to go around some corpses to get to the ladder. That hadn't been so good. She'd tried not to think about it and she'd still barfed. Her mouth still tasted a bit of stomach acid
More than that, the climb had been somewhat tiring. Nicole wasn't in great shape, and it was tough to climb with a pack and a sword. Thus, when she was told that she had to leave immediately, she let out a loud curse, rolled her shoulders, and tried to think of a way out of it. Maybe they wouldn't actually make her move if she just sat still for a while. Maybe they were joking. Okay, they weren't joking about the whole thing, with all the death and stuff, that was clear, but maybe they were joking about just this one little part.
It didn't make much sense, even to the delusional part of her mind that wanted to believe, so when her collar gave the first beep Nicole swore again and moved back to the ladder. She assembled her stuff. The sword was slung awkwardly over her shoulder, tucked into the strap of her daypack. Her book was held in her left hand, her finger firmly pressed to keep her place. Dammit, if she was gonna sink this deep into denial, she was gonna do it right.
She started down the ladder.
It only took about three rungs before everything went completely wrong.
The top of the sword projected to about six inches above Nicole's head. It was behind her, so she didn't really notice it that much. That was why, when it got caught on the top rung of the ladder, she didn't realize it until she tried to take another step down. Then, there was this sudden resistance from the sword. It wasn't much.
It was, however, plenty to throw her totally off balance. She let go of the ladder with her right hand, grabbed for it with her left, and missed completely, largely because her fingers were still in position to hold her novel.
Blood Price went spiraling down.
Well, shit, Nicole thought as she followed it.
The landing sucked even worse, because she came down hard on her right leg and her ankle went pop and then snap. She crumpled to the ground, screaming and screaming and clutching at her ankle. Despite her best efforts, it was hurting like nothing else ever had. It would have held her undivided attention were it not for the beeping of her collar, a beeping which grew louder and faster by the second.
She made a token effort to get up, and it didn't work. It just made the pain worse.
It was then that Nicole realized she was going to die.
There was nothing to do, no way to scream or beg or bribe or plead her way out of this. The only positive was that maybe the pain in her ankle would go away.
Her eyes were tearing up. She wanted to cry. She wanted to live. There was nothing she could do.
So, instead, she reached out and retrieved her book. It had been bent by the fall. She couldn't focus through the pain and the tears, but she sat there, leaning against the ladder, and pretended to read anyways. It was calming, in its own way. Denial, all the way to the end.
She'd almost distracted herself enough to forget about the pop when it came.
G21, Nicole Campbell: DECEASED
12 STUDENTS REMAIN
12 STUDENTS REMAIN