Eliminated

Chapter Two

I almost fainted when I heard my own name. I was so confident I would be safe this year. My dad started crying a bit, and my mom began bawling. I, however, did not cry. I barely ever cried, even after watching an extremely sad movie. Yes, I knew I had a one tenth chance of living. But I was going to stay strong.

I gave my parents a hug, then walked quickly up to the stage.

“Well, that's it everyone! Soon, you will know who is the winner!” said Zane. Then guards escorted all the contestants to two trains. Team One had one train, and my team had another.

On our train, we met another person who told us to sit. We each sat in a folding chair across from a tall, handsome man.

“Hello everyone,” he said. “I am Jackson. I will be judging and creating the challenges with the man who is on the other train, Kyle. Today, I will be explaining to you the basics of our game, if you don't know them already.”

“Get on with it already!” Phillip said angrily.

Jackson narrowed his eyes, but then began explaining. “The Eliminated. The game that goes on every two years. There are two teams, and five people in each team, with a total of ten contestants. These teams go against each other in a series of odd challenges. You don't know the challenges unless you're in the game. Even if the winner told everyone about the challenges they participated in, it would all be different next year. The team that loses the challenge has to pick one person from their team to be eliminated: A.K.A. die. Only one person wins, which mean only one person comes out. No one knows what goes on in the game except the players... the people who don't participate only know who win.”

I shuddered at the thought of sending my own team mates to die.

“Any questions?” Jackson asked, and two hands raised into the air.

“Andrew,” he called on the man who raised his hand first.

“What do we win?” Andrew asked.

“You win money, fame, unlimited food for you and your family until the next game, and your children have one less ball when you have them, or if you already have them.”

“That seems nice...” Andrew whispered.

“Zinnia?” Jackson then went to the other person who had their hand raised.

“What happens if there are no people on the other team, and more than one person left on our team? Do we all win?”

“You will find out if that happens,” Jackson said, smiling. “Any more questions?”

Phillip raised his hand, but didn't wait to be called on. He just asked, “What are the challenges?”

“Impatient, are we?” Jackson said, but continued. “You will find out once you do them.”

“Secretive, are we?” Phillip mumbled under his breath. I giggled.

“You can now do whatever you'd like on the train, you can't control it because the car with the controls is sealed off.”

I walked to the farthest car which happened to be a bedroom. I changed into something more comfortable besides my dress. I didn't care if they kept it. It would always give me bad memories... if I even made it out. I looked out the window at all the trees and grass and buildings the train was quickly passing. I soon took a seat on the comfy bed, and before I knew it, I was asleep.

- - - - -

Sunshine through the windows woke me up. Jasmine walked in to my room while I brushed through my tangled, long brown hair. “Um, breakfast is ready,” she said quietly.