Free The Games Villains Play by Joshua Debenedetto Page A

ready for.
    In the back of the storage closet Donny had found a ladder leading up to a catwalk above the playing area of the arena.  From there he could watch the events unfold without interfering.  He stayed above Jay first, watching him enter and look about.  For a moment Donny felt like maybe he was doing the wrong thing, segregating his brother from the team.  Donny wanted them both to be prepared, but he did not know what it was they should be prepared for.  As he watched his brother, he longed for the days when they were younger, playing games in the yard, imagining that they were heroes.  The dream was much nicer back then, when the villains really were villains, and their enemies were only a t hreat when they could see them.
    The game did not last very long.  A few people showed up to Jay’s right, and Jay saw them immediately.  Then the shot came, hitting Jay from the left.  The sneak attack was completely successful, and everyone s eemed surprised by its success.
    “Good, now let’s try it again, this time with Jay being aware that he is a target.  Go back to your entrance, switch to a different paint color, when you’re ready, flicker the lights to show it’ s begun, and start back again.”
    They did as he said, moving back across the arena towards the far entrance.  Jay looked up at Donny with a smirk.  He was relieved to see that his brother was not taking this poorly.  In fact, it looked like this might actual ly be cheering Jay up a little.
    After a time the lights flickered, but this time Jay did not stand around waiting, but dashed off in the direction of the other entrance.  He was considerably slower than a normal Hermes, but he was still considerably faster than Donny.  Donny ran to catch up, making sure to be careful on the catwalk, but not wanting to miss the event.  Jay was quickly out of sight, and by the time Donny got close enough to see the group, they were all walking around casually.  Whatever took place was clearly over. 
    Donny called down to them as soon as he was close enough.  “Hey!   What happened?  I missed it!”
    It was Duke who answered.  “I got him, we won.”
    Donny looked around at all the people now wearing painted clothing.  Somehow Jay must have gotten his hands on a weapon and opened fire.  “Won is a loose term, looks like you lost a lot of your teamm ates before bringing him down.”
    Donny heard some mumblings that sounded like laughter.  He had not meant it to be a joke, but it was alright that they did not take it as seriously yet.  To them this is still just a game.
    Donny ran the exercise a few more times, changing it a little each time to make it interesting.  After two hours of paint balls flying, Donny was disappointed to find that Jay had never been able to beat the whole group on his own.  He knew he should not be surprised, Jay was outnumbered 34 to 1.  But Donny could only imagine the odds his br other could face at any moment.
    That moment came sooner than Donny had hoped.  As the group stood around just after the finish of one game, changing the paint color in their weapons once again, the door swung open and half a dozen of the school’s faculty and staff walked in.  At first Donny did not recognize any of them, but then he noticed that one of them was the man who had come to test Jay at their house, then picked him up to go to the school.  It was he who spoke.
    “I need everyone to go back to your dorm rooms immediately, you will all be informed of the situation when you arrive.  Do not stop anywhere else along the way, the school is in a state of emergency.”
    After a moment where every student looked around at each other, they began filing out the door.  Donny could tell that many of the new visitors were looking directly at Jay.  He was actually surprised that his classmates were not noticing this as they paced by the group.  Jay seemed to understand the situation, and was not moving.  He stood there, covered