Marin and I walked back to the dorm together in silence. I looked over my shoulder and saw Mia go into Maya’s dorm. Maya was still clinging to her arm. Miles and Atticus both went into their dorms alone. After arriving at our dorm, Marin went straight to the beanbag chair and curled up into a ball on top of it.
“This is all so horrible…” she said.
“I know…” I responded.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“We have to keep fighting,” I said. “We can’t give up on leaving this place.”
“I know… but Louis, Jane, and Sienna...the way they died…” Marin said, looking up at me with tears streaming down her face. “It was so horrible. I don’t want anyone else to go through that.”
“We won’t let it happen again,” I said. “We just need to bring everyone together and strengthen our bonds. We won’t let them get what they want again. The reason this happened was because of the division in our group. We need everyone to band together.”
“You’re right,” Marin said, standing up. “I’m sure we can get Miles, Robbie, and Cyrus to work with us somehow. We already got Atticus and Sabrina to help us, and now that Maya is back with her sister, I think she’ll help us too.”
“I think so too,” I said. “This whole situation is a nightmare, but we are going to show them how strong we can be. We won’t just lay down and die.”
“I know we can do it,” Marin said, giving me a weak smile.
“We should get some rest,” I said. “We’ve got to meet up with the others at noon, so let’s get some sleep before then.”
“Okay…” Marin said. She was fidgeting a bit. “Um…”
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Is it okay if I pull the beanbag next to your bed and sleep there? I-I’m too scared to sleep by myself right now, and…I trust you…” she asked.
“I-I don’t mind at all! I think I’ll have trouble sleeping too,” I said. “I’ll take the beanbag though; you can use my bed tonight.”
“Are you sure?” Marin asked.
“Positive,” I responded.
“Okay…thank you.”
Marin got up from the beanbag chair and layed down on my bed pulling the covers over herself. I pulled the beanbag chair close to the bottom bunk where Marin was laying and sprawled out on it. It was actually more comfortable than I thought it would be. We both then tried to get some rest.
I must have been out like a light, because when the intercom announcement came on letting us know that it was lunchtime, it felt like no time had passed at all. I opened my eyes and saw Marin’s face pointed towards my own. Her eyes were closed. She was still asleep. I decided to wake her up since we were already late to the noon meeting.
“Pssst, Marin,” I whispered to her. She didn’t move.
I’m not really sure how to gently wake someone up. It’s not something I’ve ever done before. I’m the youngest child in my family, so it was always my older sister or parents waking me up, not the other way around. I’m not sure why, but I decided to poke her head and see if that would work. It did. She slowly opened her eyes and rubbed the spot on her forehead where my finger poked.
“Did you just poke my face?” she said sleepily.
“I wasn’t sure how to wake you up.”
“Can’t just be poking my face,” she said, turning over in my bed and facing away from me.
“Sorry, I figured that was the easiest way to get a reaction out of you. It’s already past noon, so we’ve gotta get a move on.”
“What?!” Marin said, jumping out of bed. “Why didn’t you just say that?!”
“The intercom went off and you didn’t seem to hear that, so I figured you were immune to noise.”
“Man, I am not going to have time to shower…” she said. “I can’t just walk around stinking up the joint.”
“Just take a quick rinse, I’ll go tell the others that you’re on your way.”
“I owe you one,” she said. She then ran into the bathroom.
I walked out the dorm door, and there were no clothes outside our dorm doors. We’ve been in our pajamas since last night, and it looks like no one has taken up on doing Jane’s duties now that she’s gone. Just then though, I saw Levi walking down the hallway with a medical mask on over the space helmet he was always wearing. He had a mop bucket which smelled horrible. He then stopped and looked at me.
“Ryder…please promise me you will never throw up ever again until I get a new housekeeper,” he said.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Andrea and I played rock, paper, scissors, and I got stuck cleaning up all the vomit in the gym. She’s doing the laundry right now…” he said.
“I thought you were in charge here?” I said.
“I am, but I don’t need any more of my employees rising up against me right now, so I’m trying to keep everything fair,” he said. “Why are you still in your pajamas?”
“We never received our clothes.”
“Damnit,” Levi said. “Please bear with us, we are understaffed at the moment now that Jane’s dead.”
I then got a flashback of Jane’s death which then was quickly followed by the horrible execution of Sienna from the day before. I reeled over and gagged at the memory.
“Don’t do it! I asked nicely!” Levi begged. “I can’t handle any more puke for the rest of my life!”
“F-fuck you…” I said while wiping my mouth. I then left the hallway to go to the cafeteria.
While the memories of last night were not something I wanted to remember, I was glad that it was negatively affecting Levi as well. I entered the cafeteria where I saw that everyone except Marin was present.
“You’re late. Where’s Marin?” Keon said immediately.
“She’s taking a quick rinse in the shower, she’ll be here very soon,” I said.
As I said that, Marin then came running in the door. With her wet hair flopping around.
“Sorry, I’m late!” she said. “Huh, looks like you all didn’t get your regular clothes either.”
“Not having Jane here seems to be causing a lot of processes to slow,” Emma said.
“Levi told me he was cleaning up all the puke in the gym, so at least he’s suffering from his own actions,” I said.
“Yeah, I saw him rolling around a nasty mop bucket by our dorms,” Marin said. “He looked miserable.”
“That fucking psycho deserves way worse punishment than that,” Carmen said.
“We will make him pay, I swear it,” Keon said. “I’m happy to see that everyone has calmed down a bit since the events of last night. I want you all to know that you shouldn’t forget what happened yesterday. Don’t push the images out of your mind. We owe it to all of the people we’ve lost to remember the horrible actions of our captors, so it may fuel our passion for making them pay. We will escape, we will avenge them, and we will carry on the memories of those we have lost.”
“Well said,” Carmen said.
“Now, before we start, I’d like to ask something of you all,” Keon said. Everyone gave him their attention. “I’d like everyone to work together. I know I’ve been saying that the whole time, but now that we all saw what can happen to a fractured group with a lack of communication, it is more important than ever for us all to band together and trust in one another to prevent this tragedy from happening again. Maya, Miles, Robbie, and Cyrus, can we count on you to join us?”
“I’ll join,” Maya said. “I’m going to trust in my sister’s judgment. I also am not going to leave her side ever again. I’ll follow her if she’s working with you all.” Mia gave her a hug. It seems that these horrible events have brought them even closer together.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Keon said. “How about the rest of you?”
“I stayed away because I thought I was going to be a burden…” Miles said. “I’m not very smart, and I don’t know how I can help you all without getting in the way all the time, but now I realize that by staying away from you all, I was making it much harder for everyone. I’ll join you, and you can use me however you want to! I’ll help in any way I can!”
“About time, you fucking baby,” Conrad said while putting him in a headlock.
“We’re all happy to have you,” Keon said. “Robbie, can we count on you?”
“Hmmmm…” Robbie looked like he was giving it some real thought. “I suppose I can stick around you kids as a fatherly figure. We did almost all die because you all couldn’t figure out who the culprit was. I’m mostly staying just to watch though. I’m interested in you most of all, Ryder. You were the only one who could reason out the answer other than myself! You’re definitely someone I gotta keep an eye on.” He winked at me.
“I was pretty impressed when you figured that out too,” Carmen said. “I always saw you as just a quiet guy who keeps to himself and was just following Marin around, but we wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere without you taking over the discussion at the end. Looks like you’re a little more than meets the eye.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“I agree,” Keon said. “You were very impressive out there, Ryder. Can we count on your skills in the future?”
“Y-yeah, definitely,” I said.
“Don’t go back to being the quiet guy now!” Amber said. “We all are going to appoint you as the detective of the group starting today!”
“Don’t put so much pressure on him!” Marin objected.
“I-I’m just happy everyone here is okay,” I said.
It felt good to have everyone rely on me, but that also meant that my anxiety was going to spike like crazy if I ever didn’t have the answer. I really don’t want to let everyone down.
“That aside, Cyrus, are you going to join us?” Keon asked.
“I’ll think about it if you all stop digging into my life,” Cyrus said. “You’re all too darn nosy all the time.”
“We can’t have any secrets in this group,” Keon said. “Secrets are what’s going to sink us.”
“Heh, that almost rhymed!” Cyrus said. “You have such a way with words, Keon.”
“Stop playing around, Cyrus,” Keon said gently. “Join us and we can work together to get out of here. I saw how disturbed you were during Sienna’s execution. We all were. So stop acting all tough and mysterious and work with us…Please.”
“Wow, you actually said ‘please’,” Cyrus said. “Now that everyone is banding together, I guess it wouldn’t work out well if I was the only odd one out. I’ll play along, but I’m not going to tell you my talent. I won’t budge on that.”
“Fine,” Keon said. “As long as you are cooperating with us all, then I’ll let it slide…for now.”
“So, now that we are finally united, what’s our next move?” Amber asked.
“Well, since Levi knew about our escape plan somehow, it might be quite difficult to try something similar, at least for a while,” Keon said.
“I agree,” Carmen said. “I vote that we just keep our heads down and make sure that whatever motive he throws at us next, doesn’t result in anything close to what he wants to see.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Keon said. “We should assume that based on the previous motive, they aren’t actually allowed to kill us if we don’t break any rules. They only lied to us about the bracelets because we weren’t used to this environment, so we actually believed them when they said it was deadly. That trick won’t work on us again though.”
“Since they’re down an employee, I believe we should also assume that we won’t receive this new motive for a while,” Emma said.
“What are we supposed to do with all this free time then?” Maya asked. “There’s not jack shit to do in this place except read stupid books.”
“Books aren’t stupid!” Emma said.
“Books are stupid as hell!” Maya said. “What kind of entertainment requires that much work to enjoy, huh?! It’s dumb.”
“Glad to see you have that bite back, Maya,” Carmen said. “Figured you were going to be a wuss for the rest of our stay here.”
“I was accused of murder!” Maya said. “Of course, I was a little down in the dumps! If it were you, I know you would have been much worse!”
“I liked the timid Maya better…” Miles said. “I’m not into the tsundere types.”
“You never had a chance with me anyway you stupid muscle monkey!” Maya said.
“So, you admit that I look strong?” Miles said with a smirk.
“Only on the outside! Inside I’m positive there’s nothing more than empty space,” Maya said. “You’re like a gorilla.”
“I may not be the brightest, but I have plenty of ways to make up for it,” Miles said.
“Your one track mind is exactly why Mia is moving into my dorm with me!” Maya said.
“What?!” Miles said. “Mia, say it isn’t so! I thought we were finally starting to get along!”
“No, you’re icky,” Mia said. “You kept putting your ear up against the door every time I took a shower…it was weird.”
“H-how did you know?!” Miles said.
“My sister has great ears!” Maya said. “Now leave her be! I’m not letting you near her again!”
“Damn,” Miles said. “So…anyone wanna move into my newly vacated dorm?”
“Even if anyone did, they wouldn’t be able to get past the facial recognition lock,” Keon said. “Mia and Maya are the only people who can easily get into each other’s dorms.”
“But, now I’ll have to be alone!” Miles said. “I’m an extrovert, I need people around me or I’ll shrivel up and die! C’mon, Atticus, you’re with me, right? Being alone sucks!”
“I’m actually quite fine with being able to sleep on a bed and use my own bathroom for a change,” Atticus said.
“Okay, bad example,” Miles said.
“You’ll just have to live with it,” Carmen said. “You’re a big boy, now act like one.”
“Yes, ma’am…” Miles said, defeated.
Suddenly, the intercom came on and everyone was petrified as to what was coming.
Good afternoon, students. Now that you are all up, come to the gym. I have some important news to share with you all. Please come promptly. Thank you!
“God, now what?” Carmen said.
“This can’t be anything good,” Keon said.
“Now, now, maybe this is something we can use to our team’s advantage,” Cyrus said. “Don’t be so quick to judge.”
“When has it ever been anything good?” Amber asked.
“There’s a first time for everything,” Cyrus responded.
“Let’s get this over with,” Keon said.
I got up and started to follow the others out of the cafeteria, but Sabrina came over and stopped me.
“Hey, Ryder! Wanna walk there together?” she asked.
This was definitely one of those situations where you can’t say no. Sometimes when someone asks you something and they pose it as a “yes or no” question, there is really no room to refuse if you cannot come up with a good enough reason. And I am terrible at quick thinking in social interactions.
“Y-yeah, sure,” I said nervously.
I still have no idea what to think about Sabrina, and I know there must be something I don’t understand going on, but I can’t get the picture of her face during the end of trial out of my mind. She looked like she was about to burst into tears when everyone was about to vote for her as the killer, which would have resulted in all of our deaths, except Sienna’s of course. She looked more fearful and helpless in that moment than I had ever seen her. Even in the moments of Jane and Sienna’s executions, she showed no fear at all, which is why it’s so weird to me.
“I’ve been wanting to apologize to you about the trial,” Sabrina said, walking next to me.
“Apologize? Why?”
“You almost died!” Sabrina said. She ran in front of me and blocked my movement. “I promised you that I wouldn’t let harm come to you, but I already failed you…”
“Y-you really don’t have to apologize for that!”
“I’m supposed to save you, but in the end, you ended up saving me…” Sabrina was twiddling her fingers and blushing.
“I’m just glad I could help everyone,” I said. “You really, really don’t have to give yourself the job of protecting me. We should all be protecting each other, y’know?”
“No,” Sabrina said. “I don’t care about the rest of them one bit. As long as you make it out, and I’m there by your side, then I’m happy.”
“You shouldn’t be!” I said. “We all need to work together. You can’t just single me out.”
“But I love you…” Sabrina said, giving me puppy dog eyes.
She did look really cute, but I can’t falter now. I’m still convinced that this is a trap.
“I can’t accept that,” I said.
“But I’m not lying!”
Suddenly, we heard Marin yell from across the hall.
“What are you two doing?! You’re falling behind!” she yelled.
“Coming!” I yelled back. I turned back to Sabrina. “C’mon, we gotta catch up with the others.”
“Hmph,” Sienna grumbled. “I hate her. She better not try anything with you.”
“Marin’s great. You should get to know her,” I said as we started walking again. “I’m sure you could be friends.”
“She’s a rival. There’s no chance we’d get along.”
“It’s really not like that,” I said. (I’d be lying if I said I didn’t kind of want it to be like that though).
We then finally entered the gym. We were the last two to arrive. Marin waved at me and pointed to the empty seat next to her. I waved back and walked over to where she was. Sabrina followed and took the empty seat on the other side of me. Once we were all seated, we saw three familiar faces, and an unfamiliar one, walk onto the stage. Levi took his place at the center of the stage with Andrea on his right, Alex on his left, and then a woman I didn’t know who was standing next to him.
“Welcome! Welcome! This is a glorious day for many reasons!” Levi said. “First order of business, I’d like to introduce you all to your new housekeeper who just arrived moments ago! This is Rayna.”
The previously unnamed woman walked up towards the front of the stage and started speaking.
“Hi there, everyone! I’m Rayna. I think I got the gist of this gig, but starting as a housekeeper in an underground facility is definitely not something I thought would happen so quickly after applying. I promise to keep everything as clean as I can, so feel free to let me know if there’s anything I can do to help!”
Rayna came off very energetic, which was very unlike Jane. Rayna had long black hair with bangs that hung just above her eyebrows. She seemed to be about my height, so probably around 5’6, and she had light brown eyes. She had wide hips but was pretty thin everywhere else. She was dressed in the same outfit that Jane had worn when we first saw her. Which was a light navy dress with a white apron, and brown strapped shoes. If she really did apply last night and is already here, then I’m not sure how much she could possibly know about the situation we are all in. Jane never once looked comfortable during her time here, so it’s going to be pretty difficult for Rayna to adjust if that’s even possible in this place.
“You’ve already hired someone new?” Cyrus said from his seat. “Did you tell her what happened to the last housekeeper?”
“I am not cleaning up any more puke, so put a sock in it!” Levi said.
“It’s alright. With the amount of money that I’m getting paid for this, she could’ve died horribly for all I care. I was told not to ask questions and to carry this firearm to keep you all in line,” Rayna said while pulling her pistol out of her pocket and spinning it around her finger. “This is definitely different from my other gigs, but this pay is crazy! Take that mom! Told you I didn’t need to go to college!”
“I love that enthusiasm!” Levi said. “You’ll make a great addition to the team!”
“She’s a little out there, huh?” Marin whispered to me.
“You can say that again," I whispered back. Sabrina then tapped on my shoulder.
“Stop cheating on me,” she whispered right in my ear.
“Wh-what are you talking about?!” I loudly whispered.
“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get onto the second portion of this team meeting,” Levi said.
“Team meeting my ass!” Conrad yelled. “We’re rivals if anything!”
“I’m always on your team though!” Levi said, with a fake tinge of sadness to his voice. “I even got you all a new housekeeper to take care of you all.”
“That’s because you didn’t want to do any more work!” Marin yelled. “You’re lazy!”
“I’m not lazy!” Levi objected. “You all don’t even know how much work I do to keep you all happy!”
“Boooooooo!” Carmen yelled from her seat. We all then joined her.
“Order! Order!” Andrea yelled while drawing her pistol. “I’ll make you all into swiss cheese if you don’t start showing your headmaster some respect!”
“It’s alright Andrea,” Levi said, putting his hand on her shoulder. “I’m much like Van Gogh…unappreciated in my time. They’ll all understand someday.” Andrea put her gun back in her holster with a grunt.
“Now, back to the second announcement,” Levi continued. “The second floor is now open! You are all free to explore it to your heart’s content. I’m sure a lot of bonding between you all will occur in these new facilities. You now all have a place to blow off some steam, which I’m sure will greatly help out our more active ultimates. You are dismissed.”
Levi, Andrea, and Alex left the gym the same way they usually do, through the back door, but Rayna gave us all a friendly wave with both hands before she left.
“A new floor, huh?” Keon said. “All right everyone. There’s no time to waste. Let’s go meet in the cafeteria so we can break up into groups and explore this floor immediately. We need to find out if there’s anything we can use for our escape or any other clues on a way out of here.”
“Agreed,” Carmen said. “We can’t waste any time.”