Fatal Order

Part 5: Slaughtering Solidarity - 3

Once the morning came, Alex headed right out of his cold room and straight to the cafeteria to grab a bite of food.

He would usually skip breakfast, but today he decided to go and eat something as soon as he woke up for once.

He buttered a croissant and sat down alone with a juice box, as he thought hard about what Adam had told him last afternoon.

"He made this game...?" he whispered to himself, hoping that physically hearing himself say it would help him understand what he meant.

But still, he didn't. It just didn't make any sense.

If what Adam said was true, then even he didn't really know what it meant, it was just a vague memory that came back to him after a head injury.

No matter how hard Alex thought about it, he couldn't figure out what he should truly have thought of it.

If Adam made this game, was he now their enemy?

He couldn't think of any other possibility, and yet, he denied it.

He denied it in his head because it didn't make sense.

Then suddenly, as he was in the middle of trying to wrap his head around things, Maria appeared and sat opposite him with a box in hand.

"Hi, Alex!" She cheerfully greeted. "You eating this morning?"

"Yeah... got a lot on my mind right now and it made me hungrier than usual," he replied.

"Oh? What's on your mind?"

Alex of course wasn't going to tell her about Adam's confession, as after all, he said that telling anybody else would be "killing the harmony". So, instead, he lied.

"Just- uh," he stuttered, "I'm just scared, I guess. Always stressed and stuff."

"Oh no," she whimpered sympathetically, "do you want someone by your side?" She asked as she lightly grabbed his hand.

"I-I'm okay!" he nervously replied. "It's fine, really!"

"Someone's a bad liar," Violet suddenly commented as she appeared at the end of their table.

Neither of them replied, they simply kept eating and ignoring her.

"Gonna just ignore me, hmm?" she curiously asked, bobbing her head side-to-side.

Again, neither of them uttered a word to her or even looked in her direction.

"I see," she laughed, leaning into the table, "It's because I've made you both promise not to get in my way, isn't that right?"

"You're not a part of this conversation, Violet," Maria bluntly stated. "So, piss off."

"Ooooh," she chuckled, "am I sensing some... chemistry here, perhaps? Has little Alex finally moved on from me?"

"Piss. Off."

"Ooooh?" Violet giggled. "Why should I?"

"I think she's made herself perfectly clear, Violet," Adam said as he suddenly appeared from behind.

"Are you standing in my way?" she asked, fiddling with something in her hands. "Might I have to... teach you a lesson, so to speak?"

"You can *try* to teach me a lesson," Adam mocked, "it won't work, though."

"I see how it's gonna be," she said, attempting to pull out a knife. But before she could, Adam tightly grabbed her arm without even looking, so that she couldn't even try to stab him.

He held her for a few seconds, saw her distressed face, and then let her go.

"Ggh-!" She grunted, holding her arm with her other hand. "What is your problem, old man?! You'd hurt a young girl?!" She then groaned as she took some steps back.