The Shrink Program

Chapter 20

"Do you know how hard it is to judge an injury when you can't feel pain?" Nigel said, waving his trumpet around erratically.

"They're going to make me have a full-body inspection at the hospital now!"

When the boy showed no remorse for his crimes, Nigel shook his head, disappointed.

"You need to start thinking about the inconvenience you put people through when to wave that thing around. "

He pointed down at the Bat accusingly. The boy holding the weapon itself shifted nervously, rightfully disturbed.

Not every day you see a guy just shrug off blunt force trauma like it's nothing.

With a sigh, Vain's shoulders relaxed beneath me. I didn't blame him; it was hard to feel afraid when you have the carefree Nigel backing you up.

The idiot would probably go flower picking in a minefield if given half a chance.

Despite the growing relief I felt, I couldn't overcome this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that was telling me that something was wrong.

I glared around the courtyard in irritation, trying to pinpoint the source of my unease, and that's when I noticed that the kids surrounding us weren't exactly cowering in terror.

There are many students at this school who compete in the King of the Hill.

Some people, like Nigel, were strong enough to fight alone. Others worked in groups or pairs. And some worked behind the scenes, manipulating their way onto the Hill.

For the five of us on the Hill, most people weren't really a threat.

Despite being selected for this game, not everyone could compete at our ridiculous level.

But that's not to say that no one could challenge us. Some students actually know what they are doing.

The hay is only there to hide the needles after all.

As I stared at them, it quickly dawned on me that this group knew exactly what they were doing.

They had remained silent, and hid their faces, making sure that we knew as little about them and their intentions as possible.

Instead of coming at me head-on, they used underhanded methods to get me into this state.

They hadn't challenged me directly, hadn't underestimated my strength or attacked carelessly.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl Vain had spoken to smirked at Nigel.

There is a brain lurking in the shadows here.

Slowly, I came to realise why I couldn't relax. What my subconscious had been screaming all along.

This was all too clumsy.

This was the group that had flawlessly orchestrated an attack that had completely crippled me. All they had to do now was defeat me, and the person behind all this would take my place on the Hill.

Yet they had clumsily herded Vain and I into this trap, only to be caught by the strongest person in the school.

If I had been them, I wouldn't have bothered to trap and threaten a weakling like Vain. I would have just taken what I wanted and not make a spectacle out of...

I nearly fell off Vain's shoulder in horror.

"They wanted this to be seen."

Vain stilled, only able to hear the whispered words since I stood on his shoulder.

"Maddison...?"

I shook my head.

They wanted to be seen.

That is why they did this in the open, why they had stalled for time by threatening us.

I stared at Nigel where he continued to chatter senselessly, remembering what he said to me just moments before.

"I'm glad I finally found you!"

The unsuspecting idiot had been looking for me.

All along, this trap hadn't been for us.

We were Bait.

Why take the Jack,

When you can have the Joker?