The Unnamed | The Unnamed Duology Book 1

24: Day Four

24: Day Four

The Runner wakes with a start. Something isn't right in here.

He sits up in bed, hearing the lock on the door click. The door slowly opens.

Daniel lays back down, his eyes wide open, watching, waiting to see what will happen. A figure steps through the door, looking around in the dark for a moment. The Runner closes one eye, keeping the one sort of hidden from the figure by the pillow open to watch. Is this another one of Blaise's henchmen? The one that had burned Daniel?

The figure walks over to Daniel's bed, stopping just before it. The black hood pulled over his head hides most his face, the Runner only able to see part of a smirk.

"No-good troublemaker," the figure says quietly.

It's not one of the henchmen.

It's Blaise himself.

He lifts up a large object above his head, as if he was going to bring it down.

And then he does.

Daniel moves his feet fast enough, the weapon bouncing off the mattress and Blaise looking at the Runner in surprise. He had been expecting him to be asleep.

Daniel takes the moment and uses it to his advantage, jumping onto the man and pinning him to the ground. Blaise rolls over, throwing a punch that connects with the Runner's jaw. He cries out, hearing someone wake up.

"What's going on?" He hears.

"Jim!" The Runner calls. "Help! It's Blaise!"

Immediately, he feels the weight of the man teetering as Jim attacks him to try and get him off. Daniel punches Blaise in the stomach, he hopes, it being the only thing he can reach. He hears a loud crack of knuckles to a jaw, and Blaise is thrown off of his torso.

The Runner stands up, a few more people awake now from the commotion.

"What do you want, Blaise?" Jim asks acidly as Blaise stands up, wiping at the side of his mouth.

Daniel hears Blaise chuckle. "Him dead."

"Well that's not going to happen. Not with me around."

"Why? Because you're his buddy? His friend?" Blaise spits. "Trust me, you wouldn't be if you knew what I knew about him."

"Leave, Blaise," Daniel hears Rose say from behind him. "You're outnumbered."

Blaise laughs again. "The thing about being outnumbered, Rose," he says, reaching in his pocket for something. "Is that I'm an Elite. I didn't get to this position by being equally matched."

He pulls something out from his pocket and it clicks. A gun.

The trigger is pulled.

Someone shoves Daniel out of the way.

A cry of pain as the bullet collides with a body.

Rose.

Blaise curses under his breath as he tucks the gun back into his pocket. "You're lucky I only had one bullet, Daniel the Runner, or else everyone would be dead. All because of you."

With one last smile, white teeth glowing in the darkness, he turns to walk out the door, locking it behind him.

Daniel kneels down to where Rose had fallen. He feels around until he touches her arm. She winces.

"I'm okay," she says as Jim walks over and people start to whisper to each other. Some start to freak out, but Daniel ignores it. "He got my shoulder. I'll be fine for the race."

"Are you sure?" Jim asks her.

There's a slight pause. The Runner can feel her nodding, but she probably thinks they can't see her. "Yeah. Gosh, I hate that guy."

Jim chuckles. "Don't we all."

"Why does this keep happening?" Daniel asks quietly.

"Because you're a threat to him," Jim says plainly. "And night time is the only time that the cameras aren't rolling. So Blaise could get away with murder and say it was a suicide. Just how it works."

After getting Rose back in bed and cleaned up, as well as removing the bullet, Jim and Daniel lay down for the rest of the time they're supposed to be asleep. But Daniel can't go back to sleep. Not after what happened.

How can a man be so paranoid about loss of power that he kills one of his own people?

+ + +

To the Runner's relief, his legs are almost completely healed. His feet are even better, despite running on them for so long yesterday. He stretches. It makes his muscles feel good and loose, and he runs until lunchtime, where he scarfs down a sandwich in a corner, away from prying eyes and long, drawn-out questions from the Runners in the room. Jim tends to Rose, checking up on her often.

They would be good people if they weren't involved with the Unnamed. How many people have they killed? How many laws have they broken? Daniel shakes his head.

Nothing else strange or peculiar happens for the rest of the day. They all eat the dinner that suddenly appears on the table and go to sleep. Once again, Jim and Rose take shifts watching out for the Runner as he slips into a deep sleep, praying tomorrow goes as planned.