Clementine:
"This bitch just pushed Ian over to the red flag," Haiden screamed louder, already standing at the line with Troy.
I suddenly stopped because of the way they were screaming and grunting at me. I had a feeling if I went near the line, they would push me back and not let me cross. I looked around in confusion— Yorick and Riv were still not there.
That’s when I saw Riv in the distance. She was struggling, sitting on the ground with the flags in front of her.
"What is she doing?" I asked myself, changing my plan to go get her. She seemed too distracted to focus on the ogre. That wasn’t good. She could get killed.
"Riv, what are you doing?" I yelled, running towards her. The ogre was busy trying to squash others when I reached Riv.
"I don’t have the flags," she whispered, making me sit down and quickly count hers. She had only 3 flags.
"Wait," I started to count mine.
"I have extra," I said, watching her eyes light up with hope. "Here, take the rest. Now you have—15." I watched her smile return, but then another worry hit her.
"I don’t have the rest," she said, staring at the ones in my hands. And then, without a second thought, she lunged at me.
I didn’t expect that. She got on top of me, trying to snatch the flags from my hands. She punched me in the face, but I didn’t hit her back. I didn’t want to hurt her, even when she gave me a split lip, but I had to protect myself. I used my strength to push her away from me. She stumbled backward. I didn’t mean for her to fall so hard.
But there was a ditch right behind her. I had no clue we had rolled a few times and reached the ditch. She slipped and fell into it.
I heard her scream and my body went on alert. I got up and ran to the edge. She was on the ground, holding her leg, clearly in pain.
"Help me!" she shouted, reaching up to me.
Even after what she did, I couldn’t leave her behind. I understood she was just desperate. I climbed down a bit and gave her my hand.
"Come on, hold my hand. Just climb, and then together we can find you the flags. We still have five minutes," I yelled, shaking my hand to get her attention. It would be easy to get flags unless Ian had the spare. He wouldn’t share them with anyone, not after I pushed him into the red flag.
But when she grabbed my hand, something felt wrong. She didn’t pull herself up, she pulled me down.
I gasped and almost lost my balance. My chest hit the dirt, and my legs started to slide. She wasn’t just asking for help. She was trying to pull me into the ditch with her. The ogres in the distance were going crazy too.
I tried to pull back, but she kept holding on tight. I looked at her face, she looked scared, but also wild, desperate. She knew I was slow at climbing, and maybe she thought if I went down, she could take my flags and climb up instead.
"Riv, what are you doing? I can help you get the flags," I yelled, trying to make her understand that betraying each other wasn’t the right thing to do at that moment.
"I can’t risk it. I’ll climb if you give me your flags," she screamed back at me.
That’s when I heard it, the ground shaking, the heavy steps.
An ogre was coming.


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