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field, then Liam.
    In the distance, a cannon fired.
    The Darwin Games began.

CHAPTER 10 — Anastasia Lovecraft
    Run, girl, run!
    T he cannon blast erupted in the distance, sending the players onto the field known as the Halo. In the mad rush, Ana was thrown to the ground, back first, as several people trampled right over her.
    She cried out, throwing her arms over her face instinctively. Once the crowd passed, she moved her arms and looked up to the cloudy gray sky, watching as the orbs zipped overhead, seeming to track individual players for the audience back home’s viewing pleasure.
    She rolled over, putting her elbows into the cold snow, and looked up to see as half of the 23 other players immediately raced toward the shed where supplies and weapons waited in the center of the Halo for anyone brave enough to fight through the zombies that lingered in the area. Around the shed there were a few crates with supplies, though sometimes the crates were filled with nothing, or a nasty surprise.
    This was the Opening Rush, and usually one of the bloodiest parts of the competition.
    The Opening Rush was considered one of the true “can’t miss” moments of each Game. Even as a viewer, she couldn’t imagine that so many people were willing to risk their lives in order to get to the weapons first. Not only would they have to fight past the zombies, but they’d also have to contend with any other player who got ahold of a weapon. It was suicide.
    In person, actually on the field, it seemed an even more suicidal feat.
    There were at least 50 zombies around the center of the field. And as she watched, a zombie took its first victim, a chubby guy who should have headed to the woods with the remaining players who split up, some going to the right of the Halo and some to the left, heading to the woods roughly 200 yards away.
    That’s what the smart players did. That’s what the weakest players, who wouldn’t survive a scrum in the center of the field, did. That’s what Ana needed to do — head for the woods. She got to her knees and then to her feet, and turned, desperate to find where Liam had gone off to.
    Did he leave me all alone as I was trampled?
    She turned to her right and was surprised to find him standing just inches away. She flinched, wincing, almost expecting him to attack her right there in the opening seconds of The Games.
    She thought of one of the show’s many taglines: “Keep your friends distant, and your enemies close.”
    Their eyes met, and Ana felt foolish and a bit guilty when she saw the deep look of concern in his eyes.
    Darwin was a battle to the death, and that meant Liam would eventually have to kill her if he wanted to live himself, but for now, his eyes swore nothing but her safety.
    “What are you doing here?” Ana asked through panicked breath.
    “Same as you!” he said.
    “You were arrested?”
    “Yeah. I’ll go get us some weapons,” he said, pointing toward the Halo’s center, where a handful of players were tearing through the weapon crates.
    A gunshot thundered from the same area.
    Wonder if it’s someone shooting a zombie, or another player?
    Liam must have had the same thought. He wrapped his body like armor to shield Ana, then spun his head around the Halo. “It’s a player taking down a zombie,” he said. “They haven’t turned on one another. Yet.
    “I’m going to get weapons now,” he said. “I need you to run. I’ll catch up, OK?”
    Liam wouldn’t waste breath or seconds on needless explanation. She knew if he didn’t get to the weapons soon, he wouldn’t have a chance in hell of getting one from the stash. She wanted to argue with him, plead with him to go into the woods with her. They could get weapons later, somewhere along the way.
    “Wait, Li — ” Ana said, but before she reached her second syllable, Liam had already released his grip and launched himself toward the chaos. Ana stood frozen until another gunshot, louder than the first, sent her spinning around and racing toward the forest.
    Ana wanted to vomit at the source of the second shot — a middle-aged bald man standing over the dropped body of the heavyset 20-something brunette she’d ridden in with, her head busted open like a dropped melon.
    Ana looked up to search for any sign of the people she had seen going right. She wanted to make sure she didn’t follow them too closely into the woods. Nothing would be worse than running into them and getting killed five minutes into The