The Chosen.

Low Profile

"Get up." i feel a finger poking me sharply in my back. I groan rolling back over Tom snuggling my head down into his chest. Breathing in his smell intertwined with the aroma of laundry detergent, i start to drift back off. Mia will just have to wait.

"GET UP." My eyes fly open to Tom's gray shirt beneath me. That was not Mia's voice. I feel Tom shift below me groaning out at the disturbance. Yanking my head up from him, i see Ruth standing in front of me. Her arms folded over her chest, she looks at me with fierce eyes. Right in my ear Tom smacks his lips together and slides his arm over me tucking himself back into bed.

"Tom." i whisper, my gaze not breaking from Ruth. I have now realized she is accompanied by a few of the men who locked us in the boardroom our first day here. My mind runs a hundred miles an hour, wondering what she could possibly want from me. Then it hits me, Brady is dead. "Hmm?" Tom murmurs with his eyes closed as i dig my elbow into him.

"Oww!" he cries out at me, his eyes flying open with a scowl only to be met with the figure of Ruth standing intimidatingly in front of us. Both of us lift our selves timidly from the hospital bed we sleep in every night. "Come with us." Ruth bitterly mutters under her breath, turning and walking away from our shocked expressions.

Tom and i shoot each other an anxious glance before we start to shuffle our feet behind Ruth following her to wherever she may lead us. I think he can tell just how scared i am as last nights events replay unforgettably in my mind. His soothing touch glides down my arm, his hand resting in the crease of my elbow. His presence always puts me at ease. I breathe a slight sigh realizing i will be okay if he is right there next to me.

My heart thuds against my chest as i realize we are slowly but surely approaching the doors of the third wing. I sneak a glance at Tom who's expression contains nothing but panic and anxiety. I wonder if they know we snuck back here, and if so... what are they going to do with us? The familiar double doors fly open leading us down the hallway where i drug Tom through.

Finally Ruth stops quickly in front of a door, opening it with a key. Not many doors stay locked since the vanishing. The only one i was aware of was the door to the third wing. Even when we snuck in here, not one door i came across was locked. My eyes widen in wonder, what makes this room any different? As the lights are flicked on with a slight buzz of the light bulbs, i see one of the strangest sights i have ever seen. 

Long cords adorn the perimeter of the walls close to the ceiling. My brows furrow in confusion at the bizarre sight laid before me. Dozens upon dozens of cords all seemingly plugged into electronics. Tvs, radios, stereos, old phones, you name it, sit around table tops scattered across the room. My vision cuts to Ruth for an answer to this strange happening but she stares back, her eyes cold and desolate. She refuses to give me anything.

"Brady is dead." She mutters, leaning her butt against the ledge of a table that holds a large old school Tv. Her hands clasp together and her look burns into me with fury. I mean yeah, i hate that Brady is dead too. Even though the guy tried to force himself on me, i never wanted anyone to die.

Tom starts to defend me, a disgusted look over taking his face. He's pissed for what Brady did to me last night and right now it seems that Ruth is defending an abuser. "Look, I'm sorry but he-"

Suddenly, the door is flung open with force. A man drags in Mia by her arms as she tries to kick and scratch at the very large man. "LET ME GO!!" she screams thrashing her body around trying to escape his large grasp. Her eyes examine the room and stop quickly when they reach us. The man throws Mia forward with a force that makes my blood boil. How dare he be so aggressive with her? She's just a little girl, nothing compared to his size.

"Mia!" I dash forward picking her up from the carpeted floor. My eyes fall to her knees and elbows that are now brushed with bright red burns from the carpet. I look towards Ruth hoping for her intervention to defend Mia but she says nothing. "Was that necessary?" I ask through my gritted teeth.

"We are trying to keep a low profile here. And you aren't helping that." Her finger points at me with force. She seems to forget i'm not even the one who killed him, Mia is. But i'd much rather her take her wrath out on me anyways. My eyes narrow and my head tilts to the side trying to compute what she means.

"Why? Who are you hiding from?" My heart feels like it is going to beat right out of my chest and fall out on the floor between our standoffish stares.

"That doesn't matter. But what does is you not causing me any trouble. I have other things to attend to and i can't go around policing children all day." She says with a smirk in her mouth. Her pretentiousness has only gotten stronger since i last saw her. She seems to be ripe with power, ready to snap at the next thing she can. I think she likes chastising me in front of all these people.

"One, I'm not a child. And i think you know that Ruth. That's why you feel the need to talk down to me as if i am one. I sense a need to make yourself feel... superior, i can't help but to feel you are over compensating." her eyes widen as the coarse words leisurely flow from my lips. I match the smirk that once over took her face.

"Two, I know a lot more than you think i know." The last words fall off of my tongue with a fire bellowing from my tiny chest. 

Her hand quickly reaches for a gun in her waist band, drawing it to my head as she steps towards my fuming body. Her eyes look deeply into mine as she places the cold metal barrel to my steaming forehead. The touch makes me shiver ever so slightly. My eyes narrow remembering her exact words 'We don't do guns here.'