“Spoken like a true Queen. I love you, Canary.”
“I love you too, Sir.”
15
Dario
“Is the stadium set?” I ask the guys. My face is stained in war paint, body covered in green camos. All of us in one way or another are in fatigue as we get ready for the hunt.
“Yes Boss. They have been placed in the grid. Snipe is already on perch one.”
“Excellent. After the past few days I need this. Who are on the other two perches?” I have one and I let the guys choose amongst themselves.
“Well I want to go on foot. I like the chase.” Tim’s fucking ass. This kid is an anomaly. I swear before his surgery he was on his way to being a firefighter or some shit. But now, I hardly recognize him. Is it possible that getting someone else’s heart can turn you into them? I mean I know it sounds crazy, but this dude is far from the little cousin I helped send to college.
“Whatever. Figure it out. Have the alligators been caged and ready?”
“They are hungry and ready to chomp.”
“Then let’s get this party started. Oh and Scar, I haven’t forgotten.” He inclines his head and walks into the marsh. I allow myself a fleeting moment to think of my fiancée and what she is doing right now, before I push it out of my mind and walk up the ladder. Loading my Kilo 141 Cerulean assault rifle, I clear my scope and make sure everything is in focus. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath to allow the monster inside of me to come home. He has been dormant most days, enjoying the potency of love from his enslaver. Yes, my monster is a slave. He is a slave to the beautiful brunette who teases and flaunts her pussy in his face every day. He is a captive in the orbit of her brightness that beckons him to be different. Softer. Kinder. So yes, my monster has been imprisoned and neither of us want to be released. But right now, I need only him. Pulling down my night vision glasses, once again I exhale before giving the bird call. The voice over the speaker says ‘Happy Hunger Games. The odds are never in your favor.’ Yea. That was my idea. What can I say, I love that fucking franchise.
Upon the signal. The lights in the arena go off and all that can be heard is the steady hum of the gates being lifted to let our captors out. Overhead, the bright neon countdown screen comes on letting us know how long before they are fully let loose. ‘10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. The alarm goes off and there is nothing but the sound of sloshing water as the prey moves through the swamp, in the dark, frantically trying to find an escape route. I know Tim, Click and Volt haven’t begun tracing them on foot yet because I only hear sporadic movement in unorganized paces. I can see the heat signatures from the scared shits running and I grin. “Run, run motherfuckers.” I look up at the clock for the second countdown letting us know when it is time for us to begin the fun part.
Turning on my earpiece I make sure everyone is ready. “Everybody ready to rock and roll?”
“Fuck yes.” “Hell yea.” “You know it.” “Let’s do this.” they all sound off one after the other. The buzzer goes off and my soldiers on foot begin to move out. I smile at their taunting words as they stalk their mark, letting the thrill of the chase soak into them. The four us on the perch, always wait before we start ticking them off. We let them have their fun first. Typically, one of the men gets caught, they get tortured and then let loose again for it to start over and over before we all get bored and those of us up top put an end to it. Sometimes, I join in early and shoot off a foot, or a leg. I mean hey, can’t let my guys have all the fun.
My scope is my scotch right now. This is me, sitting at a bar after a hard day's work, letting it all go. The only difference is, at the end of this night, we are going to let the gators go and eat. “Here little puny dick motherfucker.'' I hear Click say in my earpiece right before a screaming plea fills the space. Smart thinking about buying out this property and the airspace above it.
“How does it feel being someone’s prey?” Scar snarls in my ear.
“Please...I just...I was following orders...I mean you know how that is...right?” piece of shit.
“The difference is, my boss is not a bloodsucking cockroach and if he was, I have a conscientious, leech.” I don’t know what the fuck her does to him, but the gut wrenching scream is like a sirens call.