Outpost Three

Chapter Ten ~ The Intruder

A/n - hey hey hey I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in so long!! I'm carrying on with it now so here's the next chapter, you can probably all guess who the intruder is...

I'd been sitting in the dining room for over twenty minutes and I couldn't contain my worry anymore. The siren went off after about ten minutes of waiting but the red lights were still flashing all around the room so that didn't give me any comfort, I needed to see Wilhemina and know that she was safe. I wasn't going to sit waiting in this god forsaken room anymore while she was out there, possibly in a lot of trouble. After a few more painful seconds I slammed my fists down on the table and stood up out of my chair, earning a shocked look from everyone else in the room.
"I'm done waiting. I'm going to see what's going on." I said looking at Coco and Gallant, who just looked at each other helplessly, knowing they wouldn't be able to stop me this time.
"Be careful, (y/n). Come back here as soon as you can." Coco said with a worried tone lacing her voice.
"I will, I'll see you in a bit guys" I nodded towards them as I opened the door and left the room.

I peered around the hallway wondering what direction Wilhemina and Ms Mead went when they left earlier but it was empty, the red light from the alarm was bouncing off of the walls. I decided to walk straight down towards Wilhemina's office near the outpost entrance. As I approached I heard the muffled sound of voices, which gave me some comfort as I recognised one of them as Wilhemina's. The closer I got the more clear the voices became and I realised the other voice belonged to a man, certainly not one I'd heard before. I arrived at the closed door and leaned my head against it to get a better hearing.
"The Co-operative sent me to analyse those worthy of salvation." The male voice stated. He sounded strange. There was something about his voice that made my hairs stand on edge, his sinister tone was unsettling.
"And how do you expect to do that, Mr Langdon?" I heard Wilhemina ask. She was using her authoritative tone, I'm guessing to show her power over him. That's my girl ;). I waited a couple seconds for his response, pressing my ear closely to the wooden door.
"I will be arranging one on one interviews with every member of your outpost, Ms Venable, until I have gathered enough information to know who will accompany me to the sanctuary. And who will remain here. To die." He seemed to speak in such a passive manor, his words laced with venom.

There were a few uneasy seconds of silence that followed his response. And of course in those few quiet seconds clumsy me tripped over my own feet, causing my head to bang into the door making a loud thud noise. I brought my hand to my mouth in an attempt to stop myself from making any more noise, but it was already too late as I heard footsteps heading in my direction and shortly after, the door was harshly pulled open revealing Ms Mead scowling in front of me.
"Look what the cat dragged in." She spat in her irritating voice as she grabbed hold of my wrist and yanked me into the room.
"Ms (y/l/n), what are you doing here, when my orders were clearly to remain in the dining room?" Wilhemina asked, raising her eyebrows and giving me her best 'you're in trouble' look. It was weird having to act like this around her and have her pretend to hate me like she did the others but it was for her, so I followed her lead.
"I'm sorry, Ms Venable. I was just curious... I wondered what was going on so I came to see for myself." I said with a wink in a confident tone. I liked playing with her and challenging her control even before we were together. So why would I stop now?

I turned my head to get a look at the man in the room. He had long, dirty blonde hair that stopped just past his shoulders and wore all black. His face was sharp and had prominent features, but his piercing eyes stood out. He stared directly into my eyes and didn't say a word, before scanning up and down my body slowly, taking in my figure. He eventually brought his eyes back to meet mine, but before he could speak Wilhemina stepped in between us. She had obviously been watching our encounter, and she probably didn't enjoy the idea of some one else eyeing up what's hers.
"(Y/n), go directly back to your room. I will see to you later. Don't be late for dinner." Wilhemina said in her harsh tone, as she glared at the man opposite us.
"Ms Mead, take her back please." She added. Before I had the chance to speak again I felt Ms Mead's grip back on my arm as she dragged me out of the room and down the corridor to my room.

"I don't know who you think you are, Ms (y/l/n), but I will make sure Ms Venable punishes you for eavesdropping AND interrupting." Ms Mead stated before she slammed the door in my face. She can fuck right off, the old bag. I slumped on my bed and thought back to my brief but impactful encounter with the man, who I assume was the reason the alarm went off in the first place. What was his name? Where did he even come from? I thought we were the only ones left. I remembered something he said about the "co-operative", whatever that meant. I rolled over as I realised that with Ms Mead out of the room, Wilhemina would be in there alone with him and that made me uncomfortable. What even was his reason for being here? He said something about choosing some of us to take with him? I couldn't even be bothered to think about it all anymore, so I decided to take a nap, with my alarm set so I didn't miss dinner.

— time jump a few hours —

I chose my outfit for tonight and decided to go all out. There was a new arrival in the outpost and not that I wanted to impress him or anything like that but I didn't want to look like a little weakling with no dress sense. So I put on a gorgeous deep purple, silk, tight fitted dress that hugged my curves and had a slit up the leg, showing my thigh. I paired it with a pair of purple red bottoms (I know, I was shocked to see them in the wardrobe as well) and let my hair fall down my back in loose curls. I checked the time and headed to dinner ten minutes early to see if anyone else was in the dining room yet. To my surprise, nearly everyone was already there. I guess they were all eager to see if the new arrival would be joining us for dinner, and who he actually was. I got a number of looks from everyone as I walked through the door, especially from Coco and Gallant who made gasping noises and dropped their jaws when they saw me.
"Oh shut up you two, quit gawking" I laughed as I approached the table and sat next to them, in my usual seat.
"Wow, really (y/n), this is the best you've ever looked" Coco said, embracing me in a hug.
"We were worried about you, you never came back after you left this morning. We had to go and ask Ms Venable to see if you were alright" Gallant explained.

"Well what did she say to you?" I asked.
"That you were fine and asleep in your room." He replied. So she must have come and checked on me while I was napping earlier. God I love that woman.
"Did she seem ok? When you saw her?" I asked them both.
"Yeah she seemed alright, just usual Venable. Moody and snappy." Gallant said with a smirk.
"Hey, don't speak about her like that, I don't care if you're joking." I replied with my brows raised.
"Through that whole 'I'm in charge' facade she did seem a bit worried though. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about but just letting you know." Coco added.
I bet something happened between her and that man. If he did anything to her I'll kill him. No one hurts her and gets away with it.

Maybe I'm overthinking. Calm down y/n. I haven't even spoken to her yet. Just as my mind was going crazy with all these thoughts the door was pushed open and in she came, accompanied by Ms Mead, and of course the man from earlier.