I was not prepared.

  Michael and Mei had tried to teach me how to fight, but neither of them preferred a sword. The lessons had all reached the same conclusion: Don’t get in a fight.

  I eyed my opponent as he charged. He wasn’t huge by any standard, but he was bigger than me, showing confidence I was only faking.

  I thought about discharging electricity from my sword, but that would be a wild blast and would probably hit everybody here, including my friends. The more I thought about it, the more it was obvious that I had only one option.

  His first strike was an overhead slash. His big sword moved slower than Mei’s dagger, leaving me plenty of time to sidestep it. Without thinking, I slashed out with my blade, drawing a thin red line on his arm.

  My self-congratulatory session was cut short when I realized that I was too close to him. I was informed of this after he backhanded me.

  I dropped my sword as I moved my hand to the bruise under my right eye. It wasn’t until I saw his blade moving that I realized what I had done.

  I expected the sword to cut into my neck, but it stopped against my throat. The cold edge bit into my skin but didn’t feel like it was cutting.

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  He grabbed my hair and yanked me close to him. His smell made me gag. I know we were in a game, but there was plenty of water everywhere. There was no excuse to smell this bad.

  “Let her go.” Michael ordered.

  Both Michael and Johnnie had dispatched their opponents. Judging by the blood, they had elected for the permanent solution.

  The blade bit deeper into my neck. “The boss wants her alive.” His snarl released more repulsive odor: “But he can use her dead.”

  Michael had his bow drawn with an arrow pointing at my face. There was something dangerous in his eyes.

  “She’s dead anyway if you take her.” Johnnie spouted, “Might as well kill you now and save us the trouble of tracking you down.”

  I squeezed my fist. The guys were going to risk killing me rather than let me be killed later. Such chivalrous idiots. I bounced my fist on the guys thigh.

  That gave me an idea. I grabbed his crotch and squeezed as hard as I could.

  He let out an earsplitting scream and grabbed my hand. I headbutted him in the face.

  He let go of me and staggered to his knees. I was so mad. Mad at the guys for thinking they had to rescue me. Mad at this smelly idiot for grabbing me. Mad at Billy for dragging me into this stupid game. I screamed as I channeled all that rage into a punch. The impact set my fist on fire, but the smelly idiot dropped.

  “I got mine.” I cradled my arm. It felt like I broke my hand.

  Johnnie kneeled down next to the guy and stabbed him with my sword.

  He pulled out the blade. “Now we’re done.”

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