I Am Alive (11 page)

“Entry to the dome is obligatory, or I will explode me some Monsters.”

“Can he do that?” I ask Leo and Bellona.

“It’s more of an electric shock like the one I had in the forest,” says Leo.

“You had an electric shock?” Bellona admires Leo with her eyes. “And you’re still alive. Man, you are strong.”

I am starting not to like Bellona. I don’t know why.

“Did Decca give you a hard time? Did you just want to end your life?” continues Bellona, touching Leo’s arm. Leo puts his poker face on. Actually, Leo has his poker face on most of the time. It’s more of a poker-slash-dumb-slash-Terminator face. How many times did girls hit on you, Leo? Of course, my question applies to your past life, when you were a rock star, before becoming a mindless killing machine.

“So we enter the dome, get the water we need, and get out?” I ask Timmy, neglecting Bellona's annoying comment.

“You enter the dome, kill the Bullies, fill your Caterpillars with water, each member has to leave with one, and get out,” explains Timmy. “Or you can take a shortcut: enter the room and die. I wish I could warn you of trying to break the rules. But don't worry; you won't break any, because there aren't any,” says Timmy, peeling off a banana.

Bellona is talking with the skaters. They are confident they can kill the Bullies, all of them, if they can get their hands on the swords. Which won't happen if we don't use the Breathing Booths effectively. This time, I don't pay much attention to Timmy's comments. I let his voice fade away, like a forgotten nightmare. We are sixty-six outranked about to enter the dome.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Slowly.

The skaters know how to ice skate. Bellona orders them to stand second row inside, ten feet away from the Bullies.

About twenty of us can't skate. They tumble, whine, and ask for help. No one can teach them now. Bellona orders them to stay third row. I wonder why she wouldn't let them be first row. We could sacrifice them. I hate that I even think that.

Leo is his own master, no one argues with him. He hardly manages to stand still. I don't know what he will do about the skating. I won't ask. All I think about is how to stay alive, wondering if my family is watching the games.

“The twenty in the back are dead,” Bellona whispers in my ear. “I say they are twenty extra razor-edged weapons. If I can’t get me a sword, I will use their skates as blades after they die.” I thought I was cold-hearted. “You and I will be up front,” she continues.

I am good at skating. Woo taught me. I was fourteen, and I became even better than him. I will manage, but I don’t understand why Bellona wants me first row. I suspect she is planning to sacrifice me too.

“No,” Leo interferes. “Decca stays close to me.”

“Oh, I take the kiss did its magic,” Bellona grins. “While my soldiers get the swords, and probably kill as many as they can, Decca and I will use a collision tactic.”

“What’s that?” I ask.

“You will trick one of the Bullies into hunting you. I do the same to another one. We run into each other as they try to catch us, and we both duck at the last possible second. We crouch, and they collide into each other like heavy pigs. We pick up their swords.”

I think it over. It sounds good. It’s like ducking in Dodgeball. It’s going to be harder for Bellona, since she is taller. I am shorter than most, and lighter in weight.

“This is not for you, Leo,” I tell him. “You can stay close, considering you can barely skate.”

Leo doesn’t like it. He nods cautiously though. “Okay,” he says gravely. “You two breathe steadily. Inhale four counts in, hold your breath for one count and let it out for two. Do it now,” he tells us. “This will keep you calm before playing. Right before we put one foot in the grave, inhale as long as possible and give ’em hell.”

Woo taught me the same technique.

“All right.” Bellona’s eyes shine. “Twenty Bullies to kill. Easy peasy.”

“Lemon squeezy,” says Leo, and hits fist to fist with Bellona.

Suddenly, we hear a loud horn, and the glass door to the dome opens. Leo dashes in before us, and shoots two of the Bullies dead with the last two bullets. He loses balance and falls to the side, yelling at Bellona, “Eighteen left.”

Bellona’s plan flies out of the window. The horn was a surprise. In the blink of an eye, we're thrust inside the dome. No breathing, no preparing, and no plan. I have to learn this. Planning is not a strategy here. Being alert at all times is a necessity.

The Bullies collide with the skaters. There is blood on the ice already. Bellona has provoked one of the Bullies to chase her. I find one rushing toward Leo, so I run toward the Bully and punch him in the lower part of his back. He is not hurt. But interested.

He follows me. The air left in my lungs is not helping. I am slower than usual. My vision isn’t clear. My eyelids throb. Bellona skates in my direction. She doesn’t say anything, only making eye contact with me to preserve energy. I am suffocating. The world around me is in chaos. I can’t seem to understand what is going on. I hear a faint voice creeping into my head.

The Bully glides after Bellona, until he is close behind her. He tries to chop off her head with the golden sword. He misses, and the sword cracks the ice. This isn’t good. We could all fall and become easy targets.

Something swooshes next to my ear, leaving a rushing sound like a seashell or heavy wind in my ear. From the corner of my eye the slash looks gold. It’s my predator behind me, trying to kill me. I think he has cut off a piece of my hair. This morning, my hair was my greatest asset. I would have cried if someone did that to me. Now it doesn’t matter.

I need air. My mind wanders to where I can find a Breathing Booth. I see one, but I shouldn’t give up on Bellona. She is too close now. If I keep steady, we can cause the two Bullies to crash into each other and take their swords.

The distance between the booth and Bellona is almost the same, about twenty feet. I can’t breathe. Neither can Bellona. I am bending too low, I might fall on my face.

Closer.

Eye to eye with Bellona. We can’t speak. I will trust my eyes and hers to time the ducking.

Now.

I can’t stoop any lower, so I take a swift detour to the right, gliding over the ice in the direction of the booth. I lose balance and fall on my face, but my body keeps on gliding, the ice cracking underneath me.

I hear the terrible sound of collision behind me, like two bears pounding against the floor. They let out painful
oohs,
then I hear the ringing of one sword hitting the ice.

Bellona is screaming. I hit my head against the bottom of the Breathing Booth with no energy left to look back. I need to pull myself together, stand up, and get into the booth. I need oxygen.

I try to balance on one leg then pull the other up after me, but the distance deceives me, and I slide down to the floor again. I manage to stand up again. Bellona stops screaming. I don’t know what happened to her. I hear the ice cracking again behind me. I struggle to pull the door of the Breathing Booth open. When I succeed, I hop inside the booth, close the door behind me, and use the inhaler.

Slowly, the oxygen fills my lungs. I feel like a rose blooming back to life. I should be looking back to see what happened to Bellona, but I am addicted to the oxygen, reminding myself that I am in the safe zone.

More oxygen into my lungs. And some more.

I will need it, because I have to go back and pick up a sword.

Will I have to look for Bellona?

When I look back in the battlefield of the Breathing Dome, it’s a bloodbath.

The red color is spreading fast; like growing tree branches, curving, thickening, and thinning onto the white icy floor. I follow a trail of red that leads to Bellona. One of the Bullies has fallen on top of her. The poor girl, although taller and stronger than me, is trapped underneath him, almost unconscious, arms trembling, shivering for help. Her eyes roll back, showing almost all white. Her face is pinkish blue. The Bully above her is dead, with the other Bully’s sword plunged in his neck — the collision trick worked. We just didn’t expect one of them to trip over Bellona.

The ice around Bellona is cracking open. The zigzags are spreading around her in all directions. Every time Bellona gathers her strength and tries to free herself from underneath the Bully, the cracks spread further in random directions. One of us, from those who couldn’t skate, falls into an open crack in the distance. I can’t save her. It’s too far, and too late.

The other Bully is gone without a sword. His sword is two steps away from my booth. Although I know I should only care for myself, I can't leave Bellona behind. We promised we would do this together. It’s Armageddon, the world is falling apart, but a promise is a promise. I take one last breath in, and grab for the door.

It doesn’t open…not wide enough to let me out anyway.

I hear a thud. I am shaking. I feel like I am in an elevator that has fallen loose from its hinges, and now its door is jammed out of place. I push the door again. It won’t open, blocked by the icy floor outside. The booth is too small. There is no room for me to swing and break the glass.

The cracks keep spreading around the booth. I could drown in the cold water underneath, trapped inside the booth. The same water I am actually fighting for. I need the ice around the door to melt or disappear so I can open the door, or I will die.

It’s not my time to die. How can you die before discovering who you really are?

“Don’t contaminate the water, little Monsters,” says Timmy in the microphones. “There are too many dead bodies falling into the water. Unless you’re okay with drinking blood."

The booth falls deeper below the ice. The cold water rushes in. It’s up to my knees. I could drown before the whole booth drops in the water.

Beyond the glass, Bellona is lying still. I can’t let her die. Besides the promise, I just made a new friend. I don’t give up on my friends.

I try to stretch my right leg through the small gap showing between the door and its metal frame, kicking the ice with the sharp metal of my skate. The ice starts to break but very slowly, because I don’t have enough space to swing my foot with enough power. My leg hits the metal side of the door, and it hurts. I wash the thought of pain away, and focus on the thought of survival. Woo used to say that there is no such thing as pain. It’s all in your head.

I need a gap wide enough to crane my head out the door, but the ice breaks so slowly.

Another thump from the booth. More cold water rushes in.

I am still breathing through the inhaler. I am wasting too much energy here. I need to be in the Breathing Dome. The Suffocating Dome.

Raising my head, I see that I have caught the attention of a Bully from afar. It looks like he doesn’t consider a booth with an open door a safe zone. He is skating heavily toward me, lowering his pointed horns. He has bruises all over him. The others are doing a good job so far.

I am going to die now. I just have to decide how.

A skater and another Bully are fighting next to my booth, which complicates my situation. As the skater forces the Bully down to the floor, more zigzagged cracks spread toward me.

Another thump.

Now more water rushes inside, and the door gets harder to push open. The skater kills the Bully, takes his sword, and skates away. He doesn’t help me. Maybe he didn’t see me. My booth might not grab anyone’s attention in this situation, because it is useless. No one can get inside it. I won’t forget the skater’s face.

I don’t look at Bellona. I will not get frustrated. I have to stay positive. Negative thoughts will kill me faster, and I have learned in a game with bus explosions that every second counts.

I can do it. I just don’t know how. It will happen. It will be shown to me.

The Bully is approaching fast, so close now. If I manage to open the door, I think he might eat me alive. I pull the door closed instead, as the water reaches my belly. I have my oxygen here inside. It will buy me some time.

The Bully is in front of my booth, breathing into his gas mask, producing an awful sound, like an alien from outer space. I inhale, staring straight at him, showing him that nothing can get me out of here.

A broadcast of me is projected on the inner surface of the Breathing Dome. Timmy must think my situation is most entertaining. I can’t hear his silly comments, because water is already covering my iAm in my back pocket — it’s waterproof. There is no audio coverage inside the dome. Either that, or I have gone deaf.

The Bully is circling around the booth, looking for a way to shake me out of it. He is looking at the blue oxygen tubes outside, which feed oxygen to the inhaler inside the booth.

Oh. My. God.

He raises his sword high in the air with theatrical evilness — all in the name of entertainment. The viewers are holding their breaths in utter astonishment.

Here, you’ve got your horror movie of the year, your adrenaline rush, your coveted violence and anger release. Hail the system and kill the Bad Kidz.

In a moment he could cut off my oxygen supply. He should know better, since this won’t get me out. I will only suffocate in here.

How could I possibly survive this? If I don’t suffocate, I will drown, and if I don’t, a Bastard will stab me.

Shake the thoughts away
. As long as I have one last breath, there is hope; better than hope, there is a way.

His sword goes down on the blue tube and…

…the air in the booth cuts off.

I feel like I have died already.

The Bully leaves me be, realizing I am as good as dead. He skates away toward another prey. I pound against the glass door, and my heart is choking in my lungs.

I guess my fear is accelerating my death. Fear is bad. Too much blood pumping, high pressure, lack of reason, and your body can’t help you. I wonder what the graphs on my iAm look like now.

I have found out how to save us all from the Breathing Dome, the same instant I’ve found out I am going to die.

The blue tube is the solution. It’s the mockery implemented by the sick designers. The thing that will make them laugh at us when we’re dead:
Look at those Monsters. They could have just saved themselves from the beginning.
This Breathing Dome is a joke. We could have saved ourselves by cutting the blue tubes, and filling the dome with oxygen. I just found out too late.