The Management

Chapter 6

 It was a dream. It was just a dream.

I woke up in my room. Cassidy walked in, looking tiny and afraid.

"Kaylee?" She walks up to me and tries to hand me something. It's a beautiful black flower, one that I've never seen before.

"Wow... this is beautiful. Where did you find it?" Cassidy doesn't respond. She looks down at the flower.

"Cass?" She won't meet my eye. I reach for the flower and she snatches it away. I see the gleaming of a blade in her pocket. I try to take it. Where did my seven-year-old sister get a dagger?

"No!" She snaps. She pulls out the knife. There's no reason I should be scared of a tiny child, even with a knife, but the look on her face is making me uneasy. She raises the knife and begins stepping away. She brings it towards her face as if she was about to lick it. Then pulls it along her cheeks, forming a horrifying smile. Jackson appears, with the same cuts. Then Cassidy starts toward me. I back into the wall, hitting my head on the iron frame of my bed.

I wake up again. Same thing, but there's no Cassidy, no Jackson, and no knife. An empty house. I step outside. My classmates are all here. Even the dead ones. Caroline, Bella, Brooklyn, and all the others are brutally attacking the survivors.

"Caroline?" She creaks her neck towards me. "W-what are you doing?" She licks a knife clean.

"You survived. You don't understand. Y-you'll never understand. This... this is your fault. It was one of you! Get out! Leave before we skin you alive! Monsters! F***ing monsters!" She plunges the knife through my stomach and I wake up.

No sadistic siblings, no psychotic friends. Just Jason's head slumped against my chest. I scoot back and accidentally cause his head to smack against the bench.

"Owww..." he groans. "Sorry..." I whisper. I try to brush a piece of hair out of my eyes and realize my hands are tied behind me. I shake it behind my ear and my eyes focus, as I look around the small truck. Seven of my classmates, all the ones that came with me to Webiki's office, are handcuffed to benches. Some are still unconscious, but I make eye contact with Kendall, Salem, and Archer. Kendall sees that I'm awake and looks at me. She has a cold expression but I can tell it's fake. "What happened?" I ask.

"They drugged us. I'm... trying to piece together the conversation, but I can't remember most of it." Salem and Archer join our conversation.

"I... I think I remember all of it." Salem says. She and Archer go back and forth recalling the exchange, including the locking of the office door. There's a giant gash on Archer's forehead.

"Damn," Kendall said. "What happened to your head?"

He groans. "I hit my head on the corner of Webiki's desk. How bad is it?"

"Well, your polo's not white anymore. How do you feel about pink?" I ask absentmindedly, looking around. Jasper and Elizabeth are coming too, and Jason's completely out again.

"Where are we going?" Salem whispers. "And who's driving?"

"Soldiers, I guess."

We sit a few moments in silence until everyone's conscious and able to see again.

"So are we being executed?" Jason asks.

A couple of us shake our heads and a few nod. "I think it's more complicated than that. I don't think we're leaving alive, but we're not being drowned or beheaded."

"How do you know that?" Elizabeth questions snarkily.

"If you were awake during our entire conversation, you would understand." Jack snorts and rolls his eyes.

"Let's recount for those who... weren't involved the first time. For any reason." Salem begins, speeding through the encounter as the truck finally slows. It jolts to a stop as we finish the story.

"So what, we decide each other's punishment? Can't we all just agree not to kill anyone and be done with it?" The glimpse of innocence in Jasper's eyes gives me a flash of Cassidy.

Cassidy. What happens if I die here? They're tiny and Father's never home. They'll be sent to labor camps if there's no one available to take them home.

Awkward looks dart around us.

"I mean... someone here killed eight people. Don't you think they should pay for that?" Jack looks around, seemingly surprised at everyone's horrified reactions.

Jasper pauses and looks concerned. "What do you mean it was someone here? How do you know? There are twenty more kids back at the Academy. What about them?"

I stop and think about that. If this had been a true Lottery, why not have it public? They can easily rig it if it's in private. But then why eight of us?

The heavy metal doors of the truck open. The handcuffs click open and at least three of us make a run for it, me included. I am thrown back by armed guards. Although I don't get much of a glimpse outside, it's slightly cloudy and the sun is setting behind a large rustic house. The house had aged white bricks and brown wood roofs, with trimmed and flowered ivy climbing the walls. We're handcuffed again, and separated, being shoved into separate rooms and locked in. I turn around, expecting to look at something resembling a molded jail cell, but instead, a fancier room than I've ever seen with a large screen on the wall. 

A selection of buttons sits at the bottom. I press all of them, against my better judgment. None work, except for the last one. A video begins playing. A voice plays over a video with many shots of the very house we're in. It's strange... the video seems to be glitchy until some disturbing shots are shown. I see Bella and Caroline, shot and slumped against each other, but... wait.

Bella was the first one shot. Caroline was the last. They were on opposite sides of the room. And Bella's loose dark brown waves were up in a high ponytail... not spread out behind her head. These pictures aren't real... they aren't totally fake either. But when Kendall walks on and introduces herself, and so does Archer, I'm confused. These clips are so realistic.

How long have they been watching us?

How long have they been waiting for us to arrive?