11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
Victoria
I have no idea how long I’ve been sitting here hiding, but I’m not moving. I know I may have to go find water soon, but my stomach turns at the thought. I’ve left a girl behind and bleeding. I know that my life can still end at any moment, but that doesn’t stop the guilt that’s building inside of me.
“Deep breath. You’ve got this. You’re fine.” I whisper to myself, trying to prevent me from curling in on myself. The guilt’s heavy in me, but I know that to survive I have to put myself before anyone else. I come first…even if it means putting someone else in the spot of dying. I have to be selfish if I want to survive.
‘Deep breaths….deep breaths’. Repeating my new mantra over and over again, I try not to think about that girl. Hearing something snap and then a scream, I sit straight up, my body tense and I’m ready to run if I have too. It’s a handful of minutes before I start allowing my body relax. The minute I do, I hear shuffling. Not moving from my spot, I don’t want to give away my position. I look through the bushes that are hiding me.
“Let me go you assholes!”
My eyes snap to the girl. She’s the one that was in the pit. I don’t remember her name from introduction night. She hardly walks as she’s being pushed until she’s standing about ten or so feet from my hiding spot.
“Now, now, there’s no need to get mouthy.” A man drawls out. I don't have a clear path to see who’s talking. I don’t need to though, because I’m positive it’s one of the men from that sick family.
“Fuck off,” is what I hear the girl hiss. I hear a yelp and see she’s been made to kneel. Someone is holding her head, forcing her to look at the one that’s holding some kind of hatchet.
The man’s voice hisses again, “Mind your manners.” He’s the one holding the hatchet. I have a better view of the girl now that she’s on her knees. She has tears running down her face and blood all over her. She looks like someone straight out of a horror movie…. but then again, we’re in something out of a horror movie. Trying to survive because of some murder happy assholes.
“Why the fuck would I do that! Go fuck yourself. All of you are fucking crazy and need to get your heads checked! Or killed so you can’t do…” The words were cut off with a sickening crunch and sound of something wet.
Holding my breath at the scene in front of me, the man who's holding the hatchet buries it into her head. He’s using enough force to split her skull open all the way down to the bridge of her nose. I can see the blood drip down her front as the man lets her go allowing her body to fall to the ground. Not only can I see her brain sliding out on the ground, but I can also hear it. As her blood seeps into the green grass, it’s turning red.
I slap my hand over my mouth, trying to keep myself from gagging or screaming. I’m not sure which one at this point. I can see her blood and the empty, horror filled eyes looking right at me. She’s dead. Brutally murdered.
Is that going to be what happens to me? They killed her so easily and didn’t even bother picking up the body. I can hear them laughing, along with their retreating footsteps. My body is shaking from shock. Tears are running down my cheeks and over my hand that’s still solidly clamped over my mouth.
Why murder her? Why not just let her bleed out in the pit? What’s the purpose? Was it to play with her? Is it how they get their rocks off? There’s no way I’ll be able to understand this. I let my hand fall from my mouth, my body still in my hiding spot. The bad part is I can still see the body. Turning my eyes to the ground, my mind’s going a mile a minute. If I would have helped her could she have maybe survived? Did I contribute to her death? All those kinds of questions are going through my head.
“You can come out now.”
I freeze hearing Elijah’s voice. If he’s here I’ve sat in shock for longer than I thought. Shaking my head no, I don’t want to see him. I quickly rub my face, getting rid of any tear stains. I'm not going to let him see me like that if I have to face him.
“Don’t make me come and get you….” There was a pause before his voice took on a dark note, “You won’t like it if I have to do that.”
Taking a deep breath and letting it go, I will my body to move. Slowly crawling out of the bush, and sitting on my knees, I look up at one of my tormentors. I look at him with as much anger and hatred as I could muster with one look. Though, I don’t think it did much by the chuckle Elijah lets loose.
“Now, now, now, there’s no need for that, well...let's get going. You did good.” When he holds out his hand for me to take, I look at it for a second and then look up at Elijah’s face. Letting out a sigh of frustration and acceptance, I take his hand letting him pull me up.
“Good Girl. ” He says as I stand in front of him. The fact that he’s still holding my hand makes me want to scream and rip it out of his grip, but I know that won’t help me any.
“What was the point of this test?” Keeping my eyes on the center of his chest and nowhere else, I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my emotions. I’m happy this test is done, but at the same time…someone died. I'm exhausted, in every imaginable way. Mentally, physically, emotionally and physically.
Elijah lifts my chin, forcing me to look at him. “The point was to see how your survival skills were….and to see who would run. Some did better than others…as you can see we don’t take those who are weak.” His eyes flickered to the body not to far away from us. “You did good. You hid yourself from everyone. You also didn’t help someone when asked…you put yourself first knowing what was on the line if you didn’t.”
He’s speaking to me in a soft tone, that’s something that causes my mind to pause and ask questions. Why was he so nice to me? Is it because I’m the only one here for him and his brothers? Feeling his hand leave my chin and go to my hair, gently pulling the leaves and twigs makes me want to pull away from him. Instead, I’m choosing to stay silent and let him do it with no fuss.
“You knew the other girl wanted my help….how?”
My mind is slow to catch up to what he said. Elijah’s lips twitch as he looks down at me in amusement. Like a puzzle, the pieces start to come together as I let my eyes survey the surroundings, trying to see if I was correct. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I catch it from the edge of my vision.
A camera.
“So you see it now…?”
He brushes my hair out of my face, leaning down he takes the long ends between his pointer finger and his thumb, before letting them fall again. “We’re always watching…. it’s the best way to see how you react to every situation.”
A shiver travels down my spine at his words, as I lick my lips, “Even in the cells I take it?” I already knew the answer, but I want, need and for fuck’s sake deserve the confirmation.
“Of course. We need to make sure no one tries to kill themselves…..or vice versa.” I take a breath at that, his tone holds so such amusement at his own words, it almost makes me lose my shit. Do our lives mean so little? I don’t know if I want to know the answer, if I was to ask him.
“I take it both of those things have happened more than once.” I faintly ask, my voice barely above a whisper.
Elijah just gave a hum for an answer, as he moves to stand beside me. His hand moves slowly down my back until it comes to rest on the curve of my back.
“Now let's get you back. You can rest before we have bonding time.” Elijah doesn’t bother putting a hood over my head this time, and simply leads me through the woods. The whole time my body is stiff as a board. He keeps his hands on me as he leads me through the lush greenery of the forest.