15. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen
Victoria
Being touched causes me to jerk awake and scurry away from what I can now see is a hand. Blinking a few times to help my eyes adjust to the room, I see Marcus kneeling by me with one eyebrow raised.
“Time for the next test,” he tells me, a small smile on his face as he looks me over. I'm not sure what to make of him. He hasn’t done much talking, but he also looks the youngest out of all of them.
“Already?” I mutter as I shift and slowly sit up, my legs crossing as I looked at him. My body was aching at the new position. Sleeping on the floor is hurting my body. It has only been three days? Or was it two? I can't tell anymore.
“Yes. We are giving you all an early wake up call. We don’t know how long this test will take. It really depends on you all.” Marcus hums as he tilts his head, his blue eyes darkening as his dark hair that's pulled back, almost seems to brush the ground with the crouching position he’s in. I felt like he’s trying to evaluate me.
“What?” I asked with a scowl and a frown on my face as I tried to see what he was trying to figure out by looking at me. He’s just as hard to read as Jasper.
“Just seeing what the others have been seeing. You haven’t broken down once while here. Not like the others.” He moves the hand he’d been leaning on to let his fingers reach out and brush where Jasper bit me. Evidence from the bandages peeking out of the edge of my shirt.
“Are you all waiting for me to break down?” I asked, trying to see what he was wanting from this conversation. I hadn’t spoken to Marcus much and he left me not knowing what to expect from him. He seemed more guarded with his emotions, but I haven’t interacted much with him so again it was hard to tell.
Marcus just gives me a small smirk, before shaking his head, “More like trying to figure out how you tick. You keep surprising us with what you are doing. I am just trying to figure out what is going on in that head of yours.”
Tilting my head, so I was keeping them on their toes... good. That may just be what keeps me alive here. “I don’t think I’m that interesting, but if you want to try to figure me out… go right on ahead and try.” It’s not like I’m going to be able to stop him from observing me or trying to figure me out anyway. Now that I know that though I’ll be doing things that will make them second guess what and how I’m thinking.
He releases a low growl as he stands up looking down at me, “I think this next test will give us some insight on how you think... Now let's go. We’re already a bit behind because of this little chat.”
Taking a deep breath, preparing to stand up, I hold back a wince as I feel a throbbing pain travel through my muscles. I’m not in as good a shape as I thought I was, if my body hurts this much. Marcus is closely watching me, so I bit my lip as I stand.
“Sore?” He asks, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. He must have seen my face as I stood. I gave a small nod but said nothing more.
“Hmm.” He moves to me, taking out a blindfold from his back pocket. Taking a deep breath, and feeling my body stiffen as he walks forward and puts it around my eyes. I know I don’t have a choice. It’s easier to give in now and save the fighting for when I know I'd be able to win. Right now, there’s no way I'd win.
“Now let's go. No bright ideas of running... got it?” There was a teasing tone in his voice making me want to accidentally move so I could headbutt him. I refrain from doing that and let him lead me out. His hand firmly taking hold of one shoulder and his other hand on my hip, we turn a corner, my feet catching as I felt his hands tighten on me, steadying my feet.
“You can walk slower. Getting there faster won’t do anything if you end up hurting yourself first.” Marcus's breath on my ear makes my hair stand on end and causes a shudder to run through me. Marcus laughs as we stand there for a second, he pulls back some letting me get my bearings before we were walking once again.
It doesn’t take long before I’m able to hear the sounds of others, I let my ears try to pick up on anything around me, but sadly there’s nothing. I feel myself being led forward and Marcus’s hand on my waist gives me a firm squeeze, making me stop and stand still. A few seconds later the blindfold is removed from my eyes.
Marcus grins down at me, taking a step back so there was a little room between the both of us. I can hear a couple of the other girls, and from the sounds of it, they're cursing and screaming. I winced at one of the girl's shrill voices.
“A little loud for this early, isn’t it?” Marcus asks, turning around and with that movement I can see the girl who's causing the most ruckus right now. It’s the girl with the pink hair… Amber? I think that was the girl's name. The night of our introductions flashes through my mind, as I’m trying to remember all the girls' names. I’m not the best at names... faces are another thing. I can remember a face easily.
“Yes, it is. But it seems like this girl may be half banshee.”
I heard the guy mutter; he has dark blond hair and a scowl on his face. I don’t recognize him. How many people were in on this? The silent question kept repeating in my head, making my stomach drop. It seems like this kept getting more and more complicated. I didn’t know how many people were in on this ‘game’ we were playing. This could make things harder.
“Quiet.”
Marcus didn’t even have to raise his voice much. The cold sharp tone was enough to make the whole room go silent. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. I hadn’t seen this side of him, he’s been well mannered…when talking to me. Narrowing my eyes, waiting to see if he’d do anything else… he doesn’t. He turns his attention back to me, his blue eyes softening as he looks down at me. I kept perfectly still, because I didn’t like how quickly he could change. All the guys seem to be that way.
The psychos.
“Now we’re just waiting for one more, then we’ll explain the rules for the next test.” Marcus’s voice echoes through the room, leaving no room for arguments. Taking a deep breath, I let my eyes wander and take in the room we’re in. The room is like the cells we’ve been in with cement and metal bars over the door. There are four windows around the room that are boarded up. The ceiling is at least twelve feet tall, but it’s one large circle instead of being a square like the cells. Around the room are tables, chairs and other random items. I’m not sure why they would be here; they seem a bit out of place. There's something that looks like a big machine that's in the corner. I have no clue what it is either, but it’s seven feet or so tall and something like four feet wide. There were vines on the walls as well as some bushes, other plant life is growing on the cracks in the cement.
“Enjoying the view?” Marcus snaps me out of my assessment of the room. He seems to have been watching me like a hawk. Licking my lips, I shake my head.
“Not really. I think I like my jail cell more.” The tone came out with more bite, and I can feel the eyes of the others on me as Marcus laughs.
“Do you now?” His smirk grows as his blue eyes darkened while he looks me over. I don’t know what’s going through his head, but I know it can't be good by the grin on his face.
“What girl doesn’t like to be locked up,” I mutter out, refraining from rolling my eyes. I know I might regret my attitude later, but I’m fine being a brat or a bitch at this moment. I’m tired, hungry and just want to go home. I know that those things aren’t going to change any time soon.
Marcus opens his mouth to say something, but the door opens, and Elijah comes in with one girl we’ve been waiting on. The door snapping shut behind him, the girl’s cursing as her blindfold is taken off. She glares at Elijah who’s standing before her.
“Asshole,” she mutters and winces. I can see the sneer on Elijah’s face as he looks down on the dark-haired girl.
I hear, "Behave,” hisses from Elijah, making me snap my eyes to him. I wonder what she did to make him so angry. I felt a shudder go down me at his tone and hold back the urge to take a step back.
“Now, all you better be listening and I want you all to stay put no matter what else I say.” Elijah raised his voice to make sure everyone is paying attention to him. The unease in my stomach grows as I glance around the room. After what happened during the first ‘test’ I have to wonder what this one will bring. I’m hoping not to witness another death.
“This test is a little different. I want you to sit here, behave, interact and talk, and no trying to escape.” I can hear the amusement in his voice as he’s speaking. Frowning while listening to his words... the first sentence he said… it can’t be that easy. I see Elijah looking at me and I must have a confused look on my face, because a look of amusement flashes across his face before going back to a cold look.
“See what you can learn from one another. You may need those skills for another test.” He gives me a look before going to the door with the others following behind him. I can hear the other girls cry out. I keep repeating his words.
‘Behave’… ‘Stay’... ‘Listen’ ... is this to see how obedient we are? Frowning at this, I give Elijah one last look before the door closes us all in with a loud bang that echoes off the concrete walls.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. That didn’t tell us shit!” Glancing over I see Amber, pushing her pink hair out of her face, her face twisted in anger as she kicks one of the chairs. The wood hit the ground with a loud bang as it slides across the hard floor.
“They can’t expect us to just sit here, hold hands and sing kumbaya. Fuck that.” Amber yells as she picks up a vase that’s on a table and throws it at the wall. The glass shatters against the wall, making me wince at the noise that seems to stay in my ears.
“Cursing and throwing things isn’t going to help either,” I tell her. Screaming and yelling out your frustrations at any of us here won’t help any. It would just give me a headache... or, rather, make the one creeping up on me worse.
“It is better than doing nothing!” She snaps at me.
Holding my hands up in surrender, I'm not going to stop her if she’s this heated. If she wants to waste her time and energy, that’s her problem not mine. I watch her for a few seconds, the other girls aren’t saying much. Deciding to move to the other side of the room, I don’t know why the test is like this… but with the hints I have been given… I’d rather play it safe. Compared to the other test though, this seems… tame .
“Are you all really going to sit there and do nothing?” Amber yells again, eyes full of anger. Letting out a sigh and not moving, I watch her look around at the four of us.
“I’m going to follow what they said. I don’t want to end up dead…” I mutter. I didn’t think that she’d be able to hear me, but by the look she sends me, she definitely does. It’s obvious she also doesn’t like what I said. Oh well, her problems are not mine. I'm not going to change my mind on that.
“Shouldn’t we follow directions? They can do who knows what to us…” Another girl says. I think her name is Cami. She pushes her glasses up her nose as she bites her lip. She looks as anxious as I’m sure we’re all feeling. Her emotions are clear and easy to read.
“Definitely not. They left us alone and we can find a way out of this room!” Amber’s voice snarls out. The sound of it was starting to grate on my nerves.
“Just getting out of this room isn’t going to help us. We’d need to be able to make it out of this building and through however much land they have. Do you think any of us have the energy to do that?” I ask the group. I understand the desire to escape, but we need to use our heads. Just getting out of this room isn’t going to help. There are a lot more things to factor in, as I already said.
"Then what would you suggest, miss I-know-everything?” Amber snaps out, taking a step towards me.
Sighing at this, I run a hand through my hair. “You know what…do what you want. Just leave me out of it.” I shake my head as I look over the room again. I can see plenty of things to help with an ‘escape’. But they've done this to other girls. I’m not going to risk it. There are too many people, and they’ve got to be watching us. I plan on leaving here alive, so thanks but no thanks.
“You say a lot, but you aren’t going to do anything?” Amber taunts, a scowl still on her face. I just shake my head at her. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I just don’t want a repeat of seeing someone murdered right in front of me.
“Just forget it.” I don’t want to be a part of this conversation anymore. I know with how she’s acting, anything I say would end up in an argument.
“I bet you’re not even in the same situation as us. You seem close to those guys... are you a part of the test?” Amber snaps, eyes almost glowing in rage.
“You have to be fucking kidding me…” The words left my lips before I can stop them. This girl is something else. I’m shocked at her comment because I’m quite literally in the same situation as her. To insinuate I’m working with these psychotic people is low. I walked closer to the group, my body tense with anger.
“I am not with them. I am here trying to survive, the same as you. I'm sorry if I don’t want to go through with something so stupid that it could cost me my life,” I snarl. I’m not above hitting her even if we are doing a so-called ‘test’. I don’t give a fuck.
“Then help us, or you’re being a stupid sheep by not doing anything,” Amber spits out. Taking a step closer, we’re almost standing toe-to-toe. She’s so close I can see the small freckles on her cheeks.
“No. I’m not going to help you. I'm following ‘directions’ this time. I want to survive and no offense but helping you won’t help ME, survive. I’m not going to jeopardize my life by helping any of you.” I tell her, glancing at every one of them.
“Do what you want… just leave me out of it.” I didn’t yell, but I came close to it. Just because they’re scared doesn’t mean I’m going to let them walk all over me. I left the years of being walked over behind me and I’m not going to let this situation change that. All the girls stay silent. I turn my back and make my way back to the corner away from the girls.
As I’m almost back to the corner I hear movement behind me– then pain . Black dots dance across my eyes as I stumble forward, my arms reaching out to prepare myself to fall, but end up leaning against the wall. It takes me a minute to get my bearings before I’m able to stand straight and let my hand go to the side of my head. I can feel something warm running down.
Blood.
Turning around and looking at one of the girls, Jennifer, is looking at me with an expression of surprise. There’s a half-broken vase still clutched in her hand.
“What the fuck was that for?” I yell, my temper is now in full effect. I can still feel the blood running down from the side of my head. The small stream is making its way down the side of my face and neck. She smashed the fucking vase on the left side of my temple.
“I was just trying to knock you out! If there is a chance, you’re working with them it would be better to have you knocked out,” Jennifer speaks in a panic, letting the other half of the vase drop out of her hand. She takes a few steps back, so she’s standing by Cami who’s brown eyes are wide looking at Jennifer in complete shock.
“Fuck you and fuck off. If you try anything else, I’ll make sure you don’t walk away with just an injury… you’ll need a fucking body bag,” I snarled. I’m still a bit unsteady on my feet and I can still see black spots. The bitch has an arm on her, that was for sure.
“It works in the movies. People get knocked out by them all the time!” Jennifer looks to the other three girls, as if looking for support.
“Why don’t you just go back to your corner,” Amy spoke, coming forward and pushing Jennifer over to where Amber is. I give them all a dirty look.
“I was doing that before someone decided to try something stupid.” I snap out, trying to get my body to listen to me. Taking a deep breath, I force myself to calm down. I really want to hit Jennifer, but know I’m outnumbered right now. I also don’t have the extra energy to physically fight right now.
“Just stay away from me and we will be fine.” Moving further away from them, I lean my back against the wall, and let myself slide down to the floor. I'll just sit here, as I can see the rest of the room and what they were doing. Learning not to turn my back with any of them around was a painful lesson. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
I don’t have any allies here, but a deep part of me… a dark part, hoped none of these girls passed the test. I didn’t want to have to deal with them if I survived this.