Variant

I dressed quickly, picturing the game in my mind. Maybe the school was trying to train us to be soldiers and maybe it wasn’t, but I didn’t care-I felt like paintball was helping me prepare for escape. I was learning how to move silently through the forest, how to hide, how to watch for attackers. Maybe that would come in handy soon. I hoped it would.

I was only four or five minutes behind Mason, but most of the school was already empty. I could hear some voices down the Society’s corridor, but I didn’t see anyone until I got all the way downstairs.

“Hey, Bense!” Becky was coming out of her office as I passed. She was dressed for the game, too, though she didn’t seem to be as enthusiastic about it as some. She wore camouflage, but just the most basic, cheap stuff you could buy, and she hadn’t upgraded her gun. That was one of the first things anyone did. Her hair was still perfectly styled, and she held her mask in her hand as she walked.

“Hey,” I said. “You heading outside?”

“Now I am,” she said with a huge smile. Huge smiles were Becky’s default. “Just had to finish up a couple quick things.”

We walked out the front doors and down the steps. There were a few people on the edge of the forest, but not many. I checked my watch to make sure we weren’t late. We still had ten minutes.

“It’s cold today,” she said.

“If I was back home it’d be snowing.”

“Do you miss the snow?”

I shrugged. “It’s better than here. But I bet you have hellish summers.”

Becky slung her gun over her shoulder. She hadn’t removed the strap-even I had done that.

“It’s not too bad, really. We are in the mountains, after all.”

I had nothing against Becky, but it felt strange talking to her anywhere other than in her office. The Society didn’t like me and Isaiah probably wouldn’t want us chatting. Then again, maybe Becky was still trying to recruit me. Maybe her talking to me was an assignment.

“Are you excited for the dance?” she asked.

“I guess. Seems a little ridiculous, though. Don’t you think?”

She frowned. “I think it’s nice. We’re trapped here. They could just as well not let us have any fun.”

“Maybe. But maybe if things were worse more people would be trying to escape.”

Becky didn’t answer. We finished crossing the lawn and entered the edge of the forest. I could see the other students gathered together a hundred yards farther in.

“Then I’m even more glad we’re having a dance,” Becky finally said.

I started to laugh, but she quickened her pace, hurrying off toward where the Society was gathered.

Isaiah was already standing up on a rock when I arrived. He tore open the envelope.

“The scenario is Fly the Flag,” he read. “Each team has its own flag. You have to take it to the pole in the center of the field, raise it, and defend it for five minutes.”

“Those grenades will come in handy,” I whispered to Mason. “Let them get there first, blow ’em away.”

“I don’t know, man,” he said. “This field is tough. That flagpole is up on a little hill, and there’s no good cover to get up there.”

“Variants versus the Society,” Isaiah continued. “Havoc will be refs. Each team gets a medic.”

Jane raised her hand again and got the medic badge. Dylan got it for the Society. I hoped I’d get a chance to shoot him. Then again, the list of people I didn’t want to shoot seemed to get shorter all the time.

Isaiah continued, “The winners of today’s game will get double points for all their contracts this week. The losers will get no points, but will still be required to fulfill their contracts.” There were groans from both sides that quickly turned into taunts.

“Game starts in fifteen minutes,” Isaiah said, and stepped down from the rock, handing the bullhorn to Oakland. I still didn’t like the idea of Havoc as the refs. I wouldn’t be surprised if they shot me themselves.

Curtis gathered us as we watched the Society hike off toward the other end of the field.

“Okay,” he said, keeping his voice low. “We worked something out for this scenario, and I like it. When the whistle blows, the Society’s going to charge the flag-everyone always does. So this time we’re going to do the same thing, except it’ll be a fake.” He pointed to Joel, one of the younger squad leaders. “Joel, you guys are fast. You, Gabby, and Tapti charge that hill as soon as the whistle blows. I mean, run your butts off. The rest of us are going to get right on the perimeter ribbons-all of us-and run as fast as we can for their end. Joel’s squad will slow the Society from getting on the hill, and then the rest of us will hit them from behind.”

Joel nodded. “So we stay up there till we’re dead?”

“Yes,” Curtis said, and then laughed. “But it’ll be a noble death.”

“What if it doesn’t work?” Joel asked. “What if we get pushed off and they get up there?”

“If that happens then we’ll try to hit it from three sides-Lily from the right, me from the back, and Hector from the left. Got it?” He checked his watch. “Jane, you’re with us.”