Playing Games (5 page)

There was a lot of damn mukluk in the bowl.
Soon, my entire mouth tasted like fish, and all I could smell was
the scent of slightly-turned mukluk. I held my nose for a few
pieces, and then decided to just suck it up and cram a piece of
cooked mukluk in with the raw and chew fast. The taste was still
awful, but it helped masked the slimy gristle-texture, and so I
kept pairing and swigging with water.

It wasn't a fast process. Even as I ate, I
saw one of the girls on the end get up, stagger toward the judge,
and was handed her token. Abby. She’d finished the challenge
first.

She headed off into the snow, likely to meet
up with her partner Dean. That was okay, I told myself. Everyone
else was still here. I crammed more mukluk into my mouth, eating as
fast as I could. It was pretty awful, but I'd had worse at culinary
school when we had to taste our own experimental dishes. I could
hear someone else get sick nearby, and it made my stomach roil
uncomfortably, but I ignored it and kept eating. I crammed my mouth
full of mukluk and glanced down the tables at my competition.

Liam had his head down on his table, clearly
trying to compose himself. He hadn't eaten another bite in several
minutes. Others picked at their food, gagging at the taste or the
texture. I continued to sandwich mine between the less slimy pieces
and drank lots of water, glancing at the people that had just sat
down. I was doing all right.

I grabbed the last piece at the bottom of my
bowl and choked it down, ignoring the fish smell and the way it
felt in my mouth. Almost done. I stared up at the clear blue sky
overhead as I chewed, willing myself not to barf and ruin this.
Gristle and fat squished between my teeth as I chewed.

And chewed.

And chewed.

Then, I reached into the bowl for the next
piece…and there was no more. I was done. I jumped to my feet,
flipped the bowls over, and trotted over to the judge.

He handed me my disk, and I gave him a nod of
thanks, then ran down the path.

I started out jogging, but as soon as I did,
my stomach gave a sick little gurgle, and I had to slow down. Sure
enough, my mouth filled with saliva, and I paused on the side of
the snowy trail to puke my guts out.

Mukluk splashed all over my shoes and the
snow, and I grimaced, moaning at how awful I felt. I had to keep
going, I told myself. We were in second place right now. I couldn't
let anyone else pass me. Dragging myself forward, I headed down the
marked path, following the trail.

Over a crest, I saw a finish line ahead. Each
race always had a mini finish line set up, complete with waving
flags and a tape that you could break through. The tape was still
unbroken.

Two people milled by the tape, waiting for
their partners. One was Abby, clutching her stomach…and the other
was Brodie. Holy shit, where was Dean?

Brodie gave a whoop of delight and a jump
when he saw me, racing for me. "Come on, Katy! We're in first
place!" He grabbed me and began to drag me forward, toward the
tape. My stomach roiled in protest.

I staggered with him across the finish line,
and we landed in front of Chip Brubaker, who stood below a colorful
World Games
flag. "Brodie and Katy," he said with a beaming
smile. "Congratulations on being the first team for the Greenland
leg of the race!"

"We did it," Brodie yelled, and grabbed me
and spun me around. "You did fuckin' awesome, Katy!"

My stomach gurgled again. "Put me down,
Brodie," I whispered. He did, and I sank to the ground, resting my
cheek in the snow. Blessed, blessed snow. I was pretty sure I was
going to puke again.

Overhead, I heard Chip talking to Brodie.
"Here is your prize for winning the Greenland leg - an Ace. You can
use this Ace to save another team at any time in the game."

"Great," Brodie said enthusiastically.

"Pepto," I moaned, clutching my stomach. "My
kingdom for Pepto."

Brodie came to my side and thumped me on the
back, hard. "We did awesome, Katy! I totally smoked everyone in the
kayak race."

I gave him a weak thumbs up, still sitting on
the ground.

A moment later, Dean and Abby trotted up to
take second place. Abby looked as green as I felt, and collapsed
next to me in the snow a moment later.

"You puke?" She asked breathlessly.

I held up two fingers. “Twice.”

She nodded. "Me too."

Taking a cue from us, our partners sat
nearby. One of the cameramen pointed us off to the side, indicating
that we should get out of his shot, so we all sat on a nearby snow
bank, drinking bottled water to settle our stomachs and watching
other teams arrive. The girl Olympians were third, and not too far
behind Abby and Dean. Over the next hour, the other teams crossed
the finish line, pair by pair.

Last to arrive? Tesla and Liam. I felt a
twinge of pity for Liam, who looked a bit like death warmed over.
He was sweaty and pale, and clearly had not done well in his
challenge. Tesla looked unhappy with her partner, annoyance stamped
over her pretty features. Her arms were crossed over her chest as
they came to the finish line.

"Tesla and Liam, you are the team that has
finished last," Chip said in a dramatic voice. "Unless someone
wishes to use their ace to save you, you will be eliminated from
The World Races."

I snorted. Not likely.

To my horror, Brodie stood up, brandishing
the sealed envelope that had been marked as our prize. "I'll use
the Ace."

CHAPTER FOUR

"
That douchebag just fucked me, all
because he wanted to sleep with my partner. What? No cussing? Fine.
That
jerk
just dicked over his sister and me. What? I can't
say dicked on camera either? Come on.
" — Liam Brogan, Ireland
Leg of
The World Races

~~ * * * ~~

"What the fuck, Brodie?" I called,
staggering to my feet.

Chip plucked the Ace from Brodie's hand,
brandishing it triumphantly. "And we have our first Ace of the game
in use! Yellow team is going to use it to save the black team! That
makes this round a non-elimination round!"

My jaw dropped. "Wait, don't we have to vote
on this?" But no one was listening to me, it seemed.

Tesla gave a small cry of happiness and
jumped on Brodie, kissing his cheek and bouncing all over him as
she squealed her thanks. I rolled my eyes at that, and eyed Liam,
who was bent over, hands on his knees, as if he were about to hurl
again.

I didn't blame him. I kind of felt like
puking at this moment myself, and it had nothing to do with a
bellyful of mukluk. What the hell was Brodie doing?

"But this Ace," Chip boomed, and held the
envelope aloft, "has a twist!" And he tore the top off the
envelope.

I groaned. Of course there was a damn twist.
Nothing was ever simple in this damn game. My stomach gave an
uncomfortable anxious lurch (but it might have been the
mukluk).

I was going to kill Brodie for doing this to
us.

Chip pulled out the bright green card inside
the ace packet with a flourish and read it aloud. "Since the teams
are all safe on this leg, the next leg will be double elimination.
In addition, since Yellow Team saved the Black Team, there will be
a mix-up of those two teams. You will swap partners."

I stared at Chip, aghast.

Liam straightened, frowning.

Tesla gave a happy giggle, and Brodie just
hugged her again.

"Swap…partners?" I said slowly, then looked
over at Tesla and my brother. "So I'm with Tesla?" I asked,
deliberately misunderstanding.

Chip shook his head. "Since the teams were
initially boy-girl, we'll keep them boy-girl. You're now with Liam,
and Brodie is now with Tesla."

"Seriously?" I stared at my new partner in
horror. Liam had the grim expression of someone who'd just been
told he needed a root canal.

"Gee, that's a bummer," Brodie said, in a
voice that didn't sound bummed at all.

I turned and gave him a scathing look. "You?
Do not talk to me. At all. Ever again. I’m here on this race
because of you, and you just screwed me over."

Brodie gave Tesla a look that said I was
being tiresome, which just infuriated me all the more. "Quit being
so dramatic, Katy," he told me. "Liam's a nice guy."

"Yeah, and I'm a nice girl who had to shovel
raw whale blubber into her mouth so we could get first place!
Except now I've lost my partner and I'm paired up with the dude
that pushed me to the ground and can't eat whale blubber to save
his life! So you'll forgive me if I'm throwing a bit of a fit
here."

My new rock-star partner said nothing at my
ranting, but that didn't surprise me. Heck, the guy never said
anything around me.

"So which one of us is in last place, then?
Huh?" I gestured at the four of us standing in front of Chip.
"Who's yellow and who's black?"

"We'll draw straws," Chip announced,
seemingly unruffled by my rage. An assistant rushed forward to hand
him the straws, and he mixed them up in his hand and then held both
of them out to us, the bottoms carefully masked. "Whichever one is
tipped with black means that they will be black team…and last
place. Yellow will remain in the lead."

He held the straws out to Tesla. She glanced
at me. I waved a hand at Liam. "Let him do it. Doesn't matter what
I say around here anyway."

Liam pulled a straw.

It was black-tipped.

I ignored Brodie's whoop of delight and shook
my head. "Someone point me to my tent, because I'm done for the
day."

"Igloo," Chip corrected.

I could have cheerfully pushed everyone into
the icy waters of the bay in that moment.

~~ * * * ~~

It was cold in the igloo. Not a surprise,
considering we were in Greenland, in a shelter made of ice. I'd
more or less sulked in there for the entire afternoon. Abby had
come by to try and cheer me up, but I could tell she thought I'd
gotten a shit deal, too. "If Dean and I get an Ace, we'll use it to
save you, I promise," she told me. "And if we have a chance to sell
your brother down a river, we'll totally do it. Dean thinks he did
an awful thing today."

"He did," I agreed. Hearing it from another
person made me feel a bit better, at least.

"Just hang in there," Abby had told me.
"You've got to move up two places in the next round or else you'll
get eliminated."

Two places might as well have been
impossible, since I was with Liam the Loser. But I kept that to
myself and told her I'd do my best.

My brother Brodie had swung by at some point
to try and explain himself, too. "It's nothing to do with you,
Katy," he told me in a patient voice, after I'd thrown snow in his
face. "You know I want a TV career out of this. I have to make big
moves in this game to get on the producers’ radar, and I'll do
whatever it takes."

I'd said nothing. Abby's earlier advice of
make good TV
rang in my ears. Hell, I hadn't even shared
that with Brodie and he'd already known what to do. I felt a little
less angry at him after hearing him say that. He had been totally
honest with me about what he wanted out of this. He wanted a
career. Me, I wanted a check for twenty grand to kick-start my
business and a vacation in Acapulco at the Loser Lodge.

But even as I told myself that, it felt
untrue. I might have wanted to come into this race for the
consolation prize, but now that I was here? The competitive spirit
was catching up to me and I was in it to win it.

So I laid in the sleeping bag provided by The
World Races people, huddled in the icy darkness, and hated
everyone. Well, except Abby. I hated my brother most of all for
selling me out so he could make good TV.

And I hated that I was stuck at the back of
the pack. The only thing good about me probably getting kicked off
next was that Liam wouldn't be getting the prize money either. Then
again, I'd be stuck at the Loser Lodge with him for the next three
weeks, so that didn't sound like fun either. I was screwed either
way.

A shadow moved across the entrance of the
igloo, and I stifled a groan of irritation as I heard the rustle of
Liam's thick parka as he came into the igloo. This team switch was
awful - not only had my brother sold me out, but I had to bunk with
Liam the Girl Shover.

I said nothing as I heard him rustling around
in his bunk. It got quiet, and I assumed he was laying down to
sleep. Long moments passed, and neither of us said anything. I
stared up at the darkness, practically vibrating with
resentment.

"I tripped," he said, in a voice that was so
low I almost didn't catch it.

"Huh?" I turned to look in his direction.

"I tripped and fell on top of you. I wasn't
trying to. I just tripped." His voice was low and even, the words
so slow to emerge that they were almost hesitant. "I didn't push
you."

Oh. Some of my rage deflated. I thought about
the scene with the footballs. It had been pretty chaotic.
Horrifically chaotic, even. I could see someone tripping in that
mess. And I remembered him offering me a hand after the fact. "You
still stole my football," I told him.

"You dropped it."

"You could have given it back."

"I could have, but it's a game."

That wasn't the answer I wanted to hear. I
rolled over and tried to go to sleep, but I was too angry and cold
to do more than stare into the darkness.

~~ * * * ~~

The next morning, I woke up and began to
shove my gear back into my backpack. We had twelve hour rest
periods between race legs, and the time was dependent on when we
finished the last leg. Since black team was in the back, I had at
least an extra hour before I had to get going.

Which was fine, because I was pretty wrecked
physically, due to sleeping in an igloo. I was also wrecked
mentally, due to my brother, the selfish jerk. The only good thing
about being so wrecked was that I was pretty sure my new partner
was, too. He looked like he had a mukluk hangover, and his shaggy
black hair hung in his face.