Day One - Part 2

[Blink]

When Blink awoke, the sun had gone down. She couldn't tell how long she had been asleep, but it felt like a long time because it hadn't even more sunset by the time she passed out. It had just started to rain at that point too, and it was pouring from the sky now. Her green eyes shifted to look around the small little hidey-hole she was bunking in. They found the purple-haired fighter that was still awake, standing watch. Blink sat up in her spot, realizing quickly that her clothes were soaking wet. Their little spot underneath some bunched-up trees hadn't done a whole lot to shelter them from the upcoming storm.

"You still awake?" Blink asked, wiping her eyes.

"Yea," came the response. "Barely. Did you get any sleep?"

"Yea," Blink repeated back to her. "How long was I out?"

Violet shrugged. "Hour, maybe. Not long. We need to start moving. Jak said that a storm is coming. I'm barely holding together in the rain here. There's no way we can sit out a storm."

Blink glanced upwards, through a gap in the tree branches above her. She could barely see at all through the darkness, but the moonlight helped a little bit. The wind was a bit strong, but not too bad yet. The real movement came from the rain hitting it hard. She wasn't sure if this was a natural storm or something that was man-made just for the television show. It would make sense for them to create a storm themselves, if they could. It was a good way to force everyone into the same spots. "We'll have to either find a building or high ground. You've gotta think most people will be looking for a building."

"If we find high ground, all that's going to do is keep us from getting flooded," Violet pointed out. "The storm is still going to suck."

The pink girl nodded her head. Her body shivered a little bit, causing her to squirm. It was starting to get cold. It made going to high ground sound like a terrible idea. "I don't like the idea of braving the storm, either, but..." she frowned a bit, "I feel like everybody is going to be finding buildings. I don't think it's a good idea. We'll have to deal with the storm and a fight."

Violet didn't answer her. She seemed to get lost in her own thoughts. Blink shifted onto her knees, pulling out her map to glance at it. As she did, she thought about how the rest of the game was going. Thus far, only a few people had been eliminated. For some reason, she went into the game thinking it would be all action with very little downtime. But thus far, she had only run into two people; one she briefly sparred against and one that already had most of his body in the grave. She wondered how long the downtime the last.

She looked up at Violet, remembering the woman had experience. "How long does this last? The quiet."

The lavender-haired girl turned her head, breaking herself of her thoughts. "It feels like it lasts forever. And when it's over, it feels like it went by way too fast." She sounded almost sage-like as she spoke, as if she was remembering her own horrible stories from this game. "It always starts like this. Little scuffles break out. People get hurt. Some people die. But towards the middle of the game. Around the third day...that's when it gets serious. There are less spots to hide and the really dangerous people get their hands on the really dangerous weapons. You really separate whose here for a camping trip and who might actually have a shot at winning. But nobody...and I mean nobody comes out of it in one piece. By the time there's only a few people left...everyone is going to have a story. Everyone will have been through Hell."

Blink listened intently. This was the first honest piece of information she got about this tournament since the day she signed up. This didn't feel like an advertisement or a tall tale. It sounded like reality.

"The people that die early are lucky," Violet said under her breath. "Compared to what's awaiting us. And I mean that."

Violet turned back away from her, looking out into the rainy abyss. Blink didn't know what to say. What could she say? She had a rough life back as an X-Man and Exile, but she'd never been in a game like this before. Violet had seen some serious stuff. "We've gotta get moving," she finally suggested, breaking the silence. "You want to get a nap in first?"

"Nah, I'm good for now," her companion said. "Let's do it. Quicker we move, quicker we can get out of the rain. One way or another."

Blink agreed, moving into a squatting position so she could crawl out of the little naturally-made hut they had found. The game had still not really started for Claire Ferguson. She had been in a very strange camping trip so far. She was wet, hungry, tired and covered in dirt. But compared to what others most surely had encountered, things had been very tame for her. She wasn't sure if she had an advantage because of her lack of injuries or a disadvantage because of her lack of experience.

As she followed Violet out into the rain, she couldn't but feel like a bit more secure in her position knowing this woman was with her. She had made the right call teaming up with someone, and she was lucky it was someone like Vi.