Fortune Favors the Bold

7

Kalani sat on her bed with her legs crossed on the mattress and her eyes trained on the empty wall in front of her. Her thoughts raced, faster and faster as she drew the connections.

It must have been the reason why the killings never occurred directly after Thysía. The Intermediacy were never the ones to end the lives of their Saviors. That was why the gunshots that sounded through the provinces were rarely consecutive, announcing that a savior had been sacrificed. But they hadn't really been.

They'd died the same way Alaska had.

Beginning with one and ending at the tenth or eleventh gunshot, the saviors' lives were ended through means nobody truly knew of. Only one or two were spared in the end, but they'd never mentioned such a thing happening to them.

Those spared always appeared grateful for the Intermediacy's generosity. They'd never questioned them. Still, Kalani didn't believe it; this couldn't be the first time the saviors were thrown into this.

She couldn't help wondering what exactly this was.

The door of the bathroom opened. Her ears perked at the quiet squeak of the hinges on her side. Convict 286 curiously peeked into the space, wondering why it had been silent for so long.

"I'm not dead," Kalani answered the question she imagined he'd asked himself before bothering to look. Two deaths in two days would be a bit much. With the thought, the girl couldn't help wondering how Mason must be doing now.

Convict 286 raised an eyebrow, beginning to close the door –he hadn't asked.

But Kalani continued before he could block out her words with the sealed bathroom door. "We're probably not the first," she mumbled.

He stopped and listened.

"...in whatever this place is." Her eyes remained focused on the smooth sheet of white paint on the wall across from her. "There were probably others who came here before us. And, Alaska, I doubt her death was an accident. Or-" she corrected herself. "-natural. Someone killed her, but I don't know who."

Her words were met with silence, but the ex-soldier was standing in his place when she turned around to look at him. He was watching her thoughtfully, not seeming to reject all her hypotheses like he'd already been thinking of them.

He stepped closer, wearing the same dark gray shirt he'd worn since their arrival here. Its long sleeves hid his silver arm. They all had a few changes of the exact same clothing.

"One of us," he answered her, confident in his conclusion.

Kalani pulled in a breath at the conclusion she'd desperately tried to stay away from. No matter how much she tried to avoid it, Not-Castiel was right. The girl slowly nodded, holding his gaze. "Who?"

He shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest, and stepping toward the wall she'd been staring at. His frame seemed to broaden when he leaned back against it, looking toward the door that led to the outside hall. "I haven't figured it out yet," then he looked at her. "But, when I do, I'm going to do to them what they did to Alaska."

"Kill them?" Kalani asked.

He watched her intently. "An eye for an eye."

It was then that she averted his gaze, the intensity in the look he wore making her anxious. She wondered if they would be able to do it if the moment truly came; kill the killer. Kalani would rather the threat be killed before another innocent savior was.

Does that mean that the saviors that were spared were always the ones who killed? Did they only win once they killed everybody?

Would she die?