The Game Read Online Free PDF Page B

enough. People close to you get beaten. Fallen can do that job, the worst work for the worst luck.” This was how the others tormented her. The kind ones just taunted her, others hunted her down and beat her, took her food, and did whatever they could think of to hurt her if they caught her off guard.
      Late at night, with rats for company, she would drop to the ground whereever she could find an out of the way spot and try to sleep. Her body would be exhausted enough most nights, but sleep, when it would come, never lasted long enough to allow her to rest. Thought was the enemy if you were Caste, although most of them seemed to think very little.
      Alex — “Fallen” — thought way too much. Most of the time her thoughts were occupied by The Game and the lie that it was; a lie that everyone had bought into. Working in the sewers and bowels of the city, it was plain to see that the Game hadn’t improved peoples’ lives as promised. The rich were still rich, the poor were still poor. Nothing could change that , she thought to herself miserably.
     
     

Chapter 8
      Two days after the announcement, Alex reported in to the school base. Days would go by between checking in; they didn’t care where you were, as long as the work they assigned got done. Alex spent as little time as she could in the school. It was the most dangerous place for her to be since the gangs hung around there and got you coming out. She learned this the hard way, when early on she’d been beaten badly and hospitalized. After that, she kept visits to a minimum and tried to get in and out quickly.
      Alex shuffled through the front entrance, her eyes on the floor with her focus centred on getting into her class to collect her new job order and then getting out before anyone could cause her harm. She hadn’t gone more than ten feet when Principal Williams, a short, greasy haired, angry looking man in a dirty mismatched suit called to her in his strained nasal voice.
      “Alexandra Montoyas! Get into my office now !”
      Alex froze, then quickly turned and walked towards the principal’s office. The Toad, as he was disdainfully called by the students and teachers alike, didn’t like to be kept waiting. Alex knew he was silently counting as she approached, and would deliver at least one blow to the back of a student’s head if they weren’t running to get into his office. She was counting too, and she knew she would get at least two swats, but she couldn’t bring herself to run. This little freak wasn’t going to scare her.
      Alex walked past the Toad, bracing for the hits to the back of her head as she did so, but when they didn’t come, she looked up with concern. The only thing worse than getting hit by the Toad was not getting hit by the Toad. That meant she was walking into a room with important people already present. Alex quickly noticed three individuals inside the Toad’s office. Two of them were elite security officers, the large, muscular dark suited men who provided security to the wealthy. Bodies standing still and erect like stone statues, their eyes lazily swept over Alex, quickly dismissed her as a non-threat, and continued to scan their surroundings, ever vigilant for an opportunity to spring into action. Alex dismissed them as quickly as they did her, and her lips pressed into a thin line of disgust as she noticed the third person sitting behind the principal’s desk.
      A beautiful woman sat smiling confidently from the Toad’s desk, everything about her exuding confidence, power, and beauty. It was clear from the energy in the room that this woman was in charge, and very comfortable to have it that way. Dark green eyes beamed above a perfect white smile. She stood with arms outstretched and walked around the desk to envelop Alex into a fierce, warm embrace. Alex’s arms remained stiffly at her sides as she endured the hug. Her eyes were full of hatred and her teeth were clenched as she bore the woman’s