Burn Me (A Shatter Me Series Sequel)

Five

Time is going awfully slow.

The night in my cell went worse than expected. Obviously I couldn't sleep. The door had been unlocked the whole time but where could I go? I considered going upstairs and finding Juliette but what good would that do? So I stood and I waited.

They brought me two meals. I assumed one was dinner and the other breakfast. That is the only clue I have to how much time has passed.

I am sitting on another metal chair. They replaced the one I broke.

They are the two young men that are allowed to come in my cell. They wear all white. They are all silent. I don't like them.

After I have finished the oatmeal and the bowl of fruit I was given as breakfast, the door slides open. She walks in.

She is the girl that imprisoned me. She wears a lot of red. She talks too much. I don't like her either.

"I've never been one to enjoy a parade, so lets keep it simple." she says and I get up and walk towards the door. "You have prepared your speech, yes?"

"I'll improvise." I retort, my tone dripping sarcasm.

"You better be good at it." she is already walking down the hall "I will be evaluating."

And again - I follow her.

Up the flight of stairs, past the gate of her living quarters. I notice a new lock, but similar to the previous. Easy to break and she knows it.

We reach the next level where I know the others are being held. We reach the door, she opens the panel and punches in the code. I don't see anything. The door clicks, she opens it. Standard protocol.

When I look inside, nothing has changed. I start to turn around, I start to grow angry at the unkept promise and at the one who didn't keep it. But she interrupts me.

"Begin the waking procedure." she orders the two men dressed in white, who have seemed to appear out of nothing.

"Do you trust them?" I ask as I watch them go from a bed to bed and inject some serum in the lifeless bodies of my friends.

"I don't trust anyone. I trust that they know I can kill them in an instant and I trust that they don't want to die yet."

"You can't build anything based on fear." I tell her.

"Really?" her tone dripping sarcasm "Because I was planning on building a whole new world based on fear."

She leaves the room. The two men with the syringes have finished their job. They leave as well. 

And I am left alone with the lifeless bodies of my friends. A minute passes. Then two. I count the seconds in my head. They hven't furnished me with a watch to keep track of time. I take a mental note to require one.

I watch as they start to wake up. I see Kenji's fingers twitching. I see Alia's eyelids fluttering. I see Juliette turning her head to one side and then to the other as if having a bad dream.

I go to her bed and stroke her hair with my hand. She keeps twisting and I'm worried that Jasmine has lied about the procedure being completely safe. Jasmine, the name rings in my head, the vibrations of it causing an unsettling feeling. I push it away.

Lost in my thoughts I don't notice the slight shift in the room somewhere behind me. I realise someone is awake only when I hear the familiar voice.

"Warner?" I turn around. Adam is sitting up in his bed which is two beds away from Juliette's. 

I notice James lying on the bed next to his and Brandon in the one next to it. I shift my gaze back to Adam. He looks horrible - hair tousled, eyes red as if he hasn't slept in days even though it's precisely the opposite. His veins are dark green and visible under his now pale skin. The tattoos on his forearms look odd and eerie, like deadly vines wrapped around a dying tree.