CHAPTER 148

Her final stand was at the volcano. She had ridden her horse up and down the line, doing her best to give a speech about how they were the last line of defense, and that she was so proud. The words didn't come easy, and were heavily plagiarized from different movies. Her people had cheered as they turned as one to face the oncoming army, ready to take down as many of War's troops as they could.

Instead, War bombed the volcano, which caused it to erupt violently. It exploded, the pyroclastic flow incinerating Beth and her troops where they stood. There were no last moments of honor or glory, just the howl of angry winds followed by fire, dirt, and pain.

Hovering above the Earth afterward, Beth couldn't help but break into tears. She didn't have enough energy to acknowledge War, who taunted her failures. Nor could she yell at Jenny for abandoning them. She wanted to believe in the plan, but her faith had finally been broken.

"Since you are no longer a player, you may wait here between rounds." Murray spoke matter-of-factly, as if Beth hadn't just lost the fate of the world in a board game gone wrong. "It is your choice."

"I'll keep watching," she announced, then looked over at Reggie. "To provide moral support."

Reggie nodded his head in thanks.

Several weeks passed as Reggie's position in Europe was gobbled away. The horsemen started a blazing wall of fire that gobbled up the land as they conquered his territories. Reggie was able to hold them off for a bit, but it was purely a numbers game at this point. The horsemen had surrounded Reggie, pressing him from multiple directions. His numbers dwindled faster than theirs, and his remaining troops clung to the Eiffel tower as Famine detonated a nuke right on top of them.

The mushroom cloud could still be seen from space as Reggie reformed. His mech suit was gone, and he wore neither his glasses nor his crown.

"I have failed you," he told her morosely.

"You did your best," she said, kneeling down to pick him up. "We did our best." She gave him a hug, his whiskers tickling her ear.

"The best is yet to come," he whispered in her ear, his voice barely audible. She wasn't even sure he had said anything.

"Do you wish to continue your turn?" Murray asked Famine.

"Huh?" Famine looked up at the Earth, then over at Jenny. She was looking away from the horsemen, her horse squeaking ominously. "Oh, right. Forgot about her. I need to move some troops first, but then I'll pass." He looked to War. "Thought you might have more fun with her."

War grinned, his teeth glinting in the unfiltered light of the sun.

"I'm going to grind you into paste, little girl." He licked his lips in anticipation.

Jenny stopped rocking on her horse. Her head rotated around until she was looking backward at the horsemen.

I look forward to ripping your eyes from your head and shoving them up your ass. Her voice was composed of multiple wavelengths—as if several men and women spoke through her body. With a click, it became a little girl's voice again. That way, you can watch me kick your butt, mister.

War was clearly taken aback. He looked over at Pestilence, who just shrugged. It was the first aggressive thing she had said this whole time, and it was clear that it had caught them off guard.

It was Jenny's turn next. Her territories were massed together, but she shifted the bulk of her troops to the outer ring. Being left alone each turn, she had amassed a rather large force that now formed a barrier around east Asia.

Pestilence didn't have any troops nearby, so moved them around. When War's turn came, he pointed at Kamchatka.

"I attack from Alaska," he declared. He had been building a small army there, and everyone teleported down to the ground and watched as War's military presence came from the sea. Large boats dumped troops and equipment on the shore, but there was no sign of Jenny's army anywhere.

"What the fuck is this?" War stood on the beach, his sword slung over a shoulder. "I don't see anybody here."

That's cause we're playing hide and seek, silly! Jenny's voice came from the distant hills. Can you find all of us?

"I'm not here to play games, I'm here to kill you!" War's voice magnified and bounced off the hills like distant thunder.

That's too bad! I'm here to play games with you! The clouds up above formed into a rocking horse with a figure on top. A demonic face formed by opening holes in the cloud, revealing blue sky behind. And you can't kill me until you find me.

War almost dropped his sword. "That's not how this works! You have to face me!"

It's a game of war, silly! If you don't like it...quit!

"She is correct." Murray hovered in the sky behind them like a marionette. "For the turn to end, one of you must kill the other."

"Fucking hell." War stormed off with his troops. Beth wanted to laugh, wanted to have hope, but was afraid to voice it out loud.

Down by her side, Reggie was wringing his hands together in anticipation, a giddy gleam in his eyes.

War's troops scoured the countryside for hours. As spectators, Beth and the others were able to hover above the scene and move about, unrestricted by physics. War and Jenny were the only ones confined to the playing field, and Jenny was using it to her advantage.

Night was falling before anything happened. The movement was so subtle, that Beth thought she had made a mistake. One of War's soldiers had walked behind a boulder and had simply vanished in the shadow of the rocks. Not a sound was uttered, and the nearby troops didn't see what happened either.