WARNING: This is the creepiest part yet. It's veering deeper into scary territory.
They fell asleep like that, Prim tucked into the sheltering curve of Ali’s body, and the rest of us sat close together, trying to stay calm, all through that day, until we too drifted off to sleep, curling up together on the cold stone floor.
We were awoken somewhat rudely by Fluffy, kicking the bars and making an awful racket. Cass sat up, yelled at Fluffy – something that made Natalie and I quickly put our hands over Prim and Sami’s ears. Fluffy growled something back and then smiled.
“One last game, girls,” she smirked, and pulled a lever. We fell, twisting uncontrollably, and landed, hard in six glass pods – well, I assume we all did. Once again, we were separated along the chute.
Fluffy’s voice rang out over a speaker, and I saw Ali cringe at the sound, before a strange kind of coloured smoke filled my pod, obscuring all vision. A strange kind of adrenaline surged through me. I wanted something. Any sort of object, just something I could rip apart. Fluffy would be a good thing to break. To destroy. The smoke cleared. I scanned the arena laid out before me, spotting every weapon – knives, swords, nets, axes… and found myself picturing Fluffy, sprawled on the ground… possibly in a few pieces, with a sword through her chest. I turned my head and saw Ali. Her hair and eyes were dark with fury, and she was hurling herself at the walls of her pod, straining to reach the sword.
“Well then, girls. Here we are. My last game. All you have to do… is be the last one alive. Then I’ll let that person free. Everyone else… will die,” purred Fluffy’s voice, and the pods released. Ali shot forwards like a cheetah, snatching up the sword. I dived for a rucksack just outside my pod, and dived into the concealment of the trees that formed the edge of the arena. Watching through the leaves, I saw Ali charge.