Arena Mode Read Online Free PDF Page B

back with the bottle in hand, preparing to gulp down the remaining drops of amber liquid. “The days of clearing a quarter of a million in a night are long gone, Gav. They’ve been around far too long, and it’s down to a science: the house always has the system rigged in their favor.”
    “That’s right, they’ve been around forever. But games that are a lot newer ... they’re easier to cheat at, right?” He motioned towards the television, which was displaying a live feed of the construction going on in Chinatown in preparation for Arena Mode.
    “Sure,” I replied with a shrug. “I bet at least a few people will try to expose some loopholes.”
    “There aren’t a lot of rules to begin with. If someone was smart enough ... I bet they could win this thing just by gaming the entire system.”
    I’d never thought of it that way. “Yeah, I guess.”
    Gavin raised an eyebrow, and he flashed a beaming grin. “Maybe someone like Lex Luthor, or Tony Stark, or Brainiac ... know anybody like that?”
    I shook my head and smiled. “Shut the hell up. Neither of us are drunk enough to even joke about this.”
    “Is it really that crazy?”
    “ Yes .”
    Come on,” Gavin persisted. “You’re practically a superhuman yourself. You could give these chumps a run for their money if you just had the right strategy.”
    “I’m sure I could,” I mumbled, motioning to the screen with the bottle. A clip of Sergei Taktarov was being replayed and analyzed by a particle physicist. “Strategize right into getting sliced in half like a tin can.”
    Gavin sat up, more alert. “What if you had armor? There’s no rule against that.”
    “All right, so I could theoretically wear armor. Great. Then what?”
    “Then we make a plan. Hell, even if you make it to the final four, you’d earn enough prize money for your surgery. You can do this, Mox.”
    I knew what Gavin was referring to; the news flash popped onto my com the minute I checked out of the hospital. In an attempt to make it seem like there was a significant chance at survival, Frost was offering a twenty million dollar prize for second runner-up, ten million for third, and five million for fourth. Anyone failing to place in the final four would receive nothing (assuming that many superhumans even survived until the end.)
    “Look ...” I knew that Gavin didn’t want to lose me, but I wasn’t sure how to explain my feelings without sounding like I’d completely given up. “I don’t want to die,” I said softly, staring down at the empty bottle in my hands. “Believe me, I don’t. But I’ve gone through all the scenarios, and there just isn’t a way for me to come up with that kind of money in such a short period of time.”
    His smile faded. “Well as long as you gave it a solid four hours of thought.”
    “I’ve lived with this thing in my head for almost thirty years,” I said with a reassuring tone, “and doctors are wrong all the time. Maybe I have years left instead of months?”
    “So that’s your plan? Wait around, day after day just hoping for the best, and see what exciting new symptoms pop up? You passed out today, but you never know – tomorrow you could go blind. Maybe you’ll get really lucky and go bat-shit insane.”
    “Do you think this is easy for me?”
    “No,” Gavin replied with venom in his voice. “But quitting sure is.”
    “What is that supposed to mean?”
    “It means that you quit everything , Mox. You dropped out of college because the classes were boring, you quit a high-paying job because you didn’t like the responsibility ... it makes sense that you’re gonna quit on life, too. You’ve practically given up on it already! All that’s left is to drop your body in the ground.”
    I leaped to my feet and launched the bottle at the wall, shattering it against the wood paneling above the television. “I don’t have it in me, Gav! I don’t have the strength.”
    “You mean you don’t have the courage.”
    “I