“Whoo, look at this place! Pretty fancy, huh, gents? And little girl…Oh, look! Is that a bar? Hell yeah!”

Sara enters a large, luxurious room. An in-house bar with stools decorates the back wall. There's plenty of furniture for sitting and lying down—trays of wine are abundant. A large view screen displays a compilation of horrors engaged in combat—a constant reminder of what brought them here. Jacky, Deacon, and Miun follow Sara into the room.

The room walls are dark silver, absorbing most of the room's light. A chandelier hangs from the ceiling; it glistens with a dim golden aura. The temperature is warm and cozy, creating an inviting atmosphere. Jacky looks around the room. He casually makes his way to the couches and takes a seat. Deacon sits across from him on the other side of the sofa. Deacon sits back and crosses his arms. Miun wanders around the room until she finds the perfect corner for her to sit far away from everyone else. Sara clatters bottles of liquor together. She snags a few glasses and pours a shot for everyone.

“Hey, Miun! If you want your drink, I left it here on the bar counter!” Sara observes Miun’s odd behavior. “So weird…”

Sara makes her way over to Deacon and Jacky, shots in hand. She hands Deacon his drink, and he accepts it. She passes Jacky his glass; he takes it and slowly places it on the table next to him. Jacky leans back in his seat; the cushions sink, embracing his weight.

“So we pour drinks for kids too, huh? Don’t you think that's irresponsible?” Jacky gestures to the glass left on the bar counter. Sara shrugs.

“Don’t you think being forced into a fuck fest of death games for some mystery organizations is a little irresponsible?” Sara chuckles to herself.

“This is no place for children. It’s sick.” Jacky takes his shot and throws it down his throat.

“At least…you…found something…worth drinking…to” Deacon knocks back his shot.

“You know I’m not the one who had to kill a pair of kids to get here, though.” Sara takes a jab at Jacky. Jacky shrugs it off.

“They weren’t kids. From what I gathered, the girls were roughly in their early twenties; they were just small. One of them “acted” more like a child because her psyche couldn’t handle the stress of her environment, so she regressed. Another example of why this system is not right for anybody.” Jacky lights up one of his smokes.

“Maybe they just weren’t cut out for it then? Look at us; we made it just fine. Why not embrace it?” Sara hits her shot. “I’ll drink that.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Jacky shakes his head. Deacon doesn’t show much of a reaction.

“You lot aren't fun at all.” Sara says, “Look, what we all have been doing for a while now isn’t exactly cool. I get it, but we don’t have to act so wistfully every waking second. Besides, this committee or whatever made a mistake sticking us together as a team; we’re pretty strong. I’m sure if we needed to, we could turn things on this org’s head.” Jacky and Deacon both smirk at each other,

“You mean Deacon and myself are pretty strong. You? I can’t be too sure about that. You meant to say that if push came to shove, Deacon and I would be the main distraction while you swoop out under everyone's nose. I’m not stupid, girl.” Deacon smiles at Jacky’s remark. Sara takes in a deep breath, then smiles.

“See, now we're all getting along.”

“Which is just what I would expect out of my brand new team!” Anders enters the room from down the hallway. The clattering of the elevator doors closing is sharp and startling.

Great, this guy. Here I was hoping we could get answers from Claire.

We’ll get answers. I’m curious, too, as to how things played out differently than expected and whether or not Claire knew even more than she was letting on.

Jacky stands up to address Anders.

“Where's Claire? I need to talk to her.”

Anders slowly turns his head to look at Jacky; he takes his hat off and places it on his chest.

“I’m so sorry to inform you, but we had to put her down….”

Jacky’s eyes widened slightly at the thought of her being gone, just like that. Without even getting a chance to ask her why.

“Ha! I’m just pulling your leg, their partner! Hahaha! She's still alive; that's why I’m here. Each of you, listen up. You’ll still be reporting to your manager as usual throughout your time here on the second floor; however,” He pauses, pushing his tongue into his cheek.

“They report to me. I will organize your handlers and inform them directly about committee information. They will then pass it along to each of you. Every so often, I’ll be around to check up on y’all cause I do so care about all of you….” Anders looks around at each member of team Sacrifice. “I sincerely do…now, enjoy yer selves. Your handlers will be here later tonight to inform you all about everything you need to know.”

Anders scans the room one last time. He twirls his hat and turns to walk down the hallway. At the end is an elevator; the doors open up automatically. Anders is laughing maniacally for no apparent reason. His giddy laugh echoes down into the main room before being cut off by the elevator doors. Sara yawns.

“That guy sure is happier than horse shit, as I’m sure he would put it. He has some screws loose.” Sara puts her hands on her hips. “Well, while we're all waiting around for the managers to show up, why don’t we watch some of our competition on the big screen. I’d rather not be left in the dark as much as possible.”

Sara grabs a remote and flips through a menu connected to the net. She lands on a channel re-running the past few months’ worths of fights that have taken place on the second floor. She kicks her feet up onto the coffee table, almost knocking over the try of wine. Jacky leans onto his side and looks over at the TV.