The Curse of the Versati

Chapter 3

"Sir, the 9th pen is full" the soldier guarding the door said to a man in his early thirties. He took a quick look at the children and then walked to an older man dressed in light armor. He had a white beard and a face full of scars while his left sleeve was waving from the light breeze with nothing to fill it. "We are ready, General"

"You may begin"

"Team 9, start" he gave the signal.

The soldier immediately opened the door of the fence and pointed at the track with the wooden planks.

"You'll run around the camp. Speed is not important as long as you complete the round. Just keep in mind that there are 99 portions of food and 100 of you, which means at least one of you won't eat, so its better not to finish last. Go!"

After a short pause, the children started running, pushing and jumping over each other. The well dressed kids were the first to get out followed by a few that sneaked through. A large group blocked the rest from going out for a while before following. The boy tried to get to the exit since he was closer to the door but he was immediately grabbed by his collar and thrown to the side. Most of the children had already gotten out before he managed to cross the exit. Someone tried to grab him and as he twisted to escape, his shirt was ripped apart.

He threw aside the pieces of cloth still on him and kept running, passing a couple of kids. Back in Amon, he and Aston used to play at the forest and hills around the village, so the flattened path here was much more comfortable.

As he approached a group of kids running side by side, one of them suddenly sidestepped and knocked him aside with his shoulder. The boy stumbled and, before he recovered his footing, another kid fell on his back throwing them both on the ground. He managed to stop the fall with his hands but someone stepped on his shoulders slamming his head in the dirt. His vision darkened for a moment and he tried to crawl away before more of them stepped on him.

A slightly overweight kid saw the collision in front of him and changed his course towards the crawling boy with a sinister smile on his face. He leaped planning to fall on the boy to reduce the competition early on. The boy's vision cleared and he turned around to see the unfamiliar kid about to land on him. He rushed to roll out of the way but he wasn't fast enough. The sharp pain coming from his ankle made him scream as the kid that had jumped on him laughed and kept running.

"We found today's loser" he shouted from a distance.

Many kids passed by him but no one bothered to help him. The boy crawled to the side of the path and after everyone passed him he attempted to stand up. The throbbing pain he felt made it clear that running was out of the question. His face was covered with dirt, blood and tears as he walked back to the fence's entrance. He just wanted to lay down but the soldier blocked his way.

"You will finish the round, even if you need to crawl all night" he declared with no sympathy.

The boy attempted to explain that he was injured but the soldier took a threatening step forward and pulled a wooden baton from his belt.

"You either go now or after you wake up"

*
No one could claim that the boy had lived a comfy and spoiled life but still, he had never been treated this way. Tears fell off his eyes as he started limping towards where the other kids had disappeared.

Even a single step felt like torture. He held the planks on the side to support his weight as he dragged his body around the camp. Many other groups of children from the other pens had passed by him but averted their eyes when he looked at them for help. Even if there was someone willing to assist, they would have to risk their own portion of food so they ignored and left him behind.

The sky was getting darker when he finally reached the entrance of the pen. A large wooden table had been placed beside the entrance in the meantime but now it was completely empty so he just found an empty spot and carefully sat on the ground. His ankle was swollen and felt like it was on fire and his throat like he had eaten sand. As he was gasping for air and trying not to move, he felt a shadow over him. It was Leo.

"It seems like you had a hard time" he mentioned and sat next to him. The boy just nodded since he didn't know if he could speak without losing control over the tears he was holding back.

"Here, you can have this" Leo said and handed him a pack with a jug of water and some hard bread. "Put it in water before eating it or you will break your teeth" he advised pointing at the bread.

"But that's yours" the boy whispered with difficulty but his stomach started growling.

"Mine? I already ate mine a while ago. The rules were that whoever returned here first got food but they didn't say how much each, so I picked as many packs as I could carry" Leo said cheerfuly.

The boy decided not to argue anymore and took sips of the water leaving behind  enough to soak the bread.

"This looks bad" Leo pointed at his ankle. "I don't think you will be able to run tomorrow. Wait here and save some of the water"

"I won't run away" the boy smirked despite his pain. He felt a little better after drinking the water.

Leo chuckled and walked away. The boy saw him conversing with a few kids and, after a while, one of them took off his shirt and handed it to Leo. The boy lost sight of him as he moved to the other side of the pen so he started slowly eating the bread. It was hard and the water barely softened it but he kept on chewing.

When he spotted Leo again, he was holding another pack  that he passed to the shirtless kid. He then went to the side of the fence and filled the shirt with dirt.

"Drop the rest of the water here" he instructed when he came back and started to mix the water and the dirt turning it to mud. He covered the boy's ankle with a thick paste and tightened the shirt around it. The boy clenched his teeth so he wouldn't scream.

"This will help a bit if it is not broken but don't expect miracles. Make sure to get better fast, you owe me two packs of food" Leo winked at him but he didn't really seem like he was joking. "I'm going to look for Mika"

"Thank you"

"No worries, today me, tomorrow you and probably, the day after, Mika" Leo said and raised his thumb before leaving.