Chained - Cannibalistic love

Chapter 11

"Ladies and gentlemen meet your judges! On the left we have Reuben, then we have Hugo and finally our very own coordinator, Ryan!" My eyes bulge out of my sockets while I stare at him. He gives me a cocky smile and turns away giving a wide smile to the rest of the contenders. It's a good thing he doesn't know what we made, or he may just purposely make us win. He'd want to see me kill someone. He probably knows I won't be able to kill anyone. No matter how badly I want to get out of here I could never take someone's life. And he knew that. That's why he proposed this deal.

I watched the three of them sit down in each of the seats in the same order they were announced, on the left was Reuben, followed by Hugo and then Ryan. They, unfortunately, started with the one we made. I held my breath hoping to all gods it tasted disgusting and they would all spit it out and disqualify it. But that didn't happen. I watched them share glances before whispering and writing down their thoughts on a piece of paper. Almost makes it look like a real cooking competition. Then they moved on to another one. It was a slice that looked like it had nuts on top and the colouring could potentially be coffee flavour. Again, they whispered a little before writing down their thoughts. This continued until all five dishes were tasted. The sixth dish remains in the oven.

My attention drifted back over to Ryan when he stood up. Please don't let us win. Please.

"We have come to a conclusion on the top three dishes, and we would like to talk to these teams before we say who the winner is," he said, looking each one of us in the eye, lingering a little bit on me before continuing over to Nova. I gulped as I waited to hear who he wished to talk to. Please don't let it be the pinwheels.

"Please come forward, the team who made these delicious chocolate fudge cookies." He smiled as the red team stepped forward; big happy smiles gracing their lips.

"The team who made the coffee-flavoured cake." This time the green team stepped forward. They seemed to have a cocky air around them. I watched as his eyes flashed over to me, obviously hoping that we were to come forward. I sure hope not.

"And lastly please come forward the team who made this delicious pizza-flavoured bread." When I started this competition, I had hoped it would give us a step up in the game, and maybe even win. But I'm regretting this choice now. We should have gone with basic cupcakes or something. I dart a quick glance over at Nova who gave me a big smile.

I don't know if she is honestly happy or faking it. After a moment's delay, I too move forward much to Ryan's absolute delight. I watch as he sits back down and we come to a stop before the table next to the red and green team.

"Tell us a little about your dishes." The first judge, Ruben stated as he leaned forward a little. I paid no attention to what the first two teams said, just praying theirs was better than ours. When it all fell silent, and I felt a hard jab in my side, I realised that it was our turn. I quickly placed a fake smile on my lips as best I could while trying not to glare in Ryan's direction.

"While living in the outside world, one of my favourite foods was pinwheels." Nova started. I glance at her in confusion. Her wording is so specific and odd. Outside world? Who talks like that?

"My mum-"

"Birthmother." Nova quickly interrupted me. I glare at her a little. What do these people have with cutting me off? And what's up with 'birthmother'?

"My birthmother told me how to make these long ago, so we decided to go with it." I managed to finish talking without getting cut off again. Really, it was Nova who came up with the idea. We had decided that we should each say something if given the chance – which I now deeply regret. Furthermore, my mum would occasionally make something similar, so it wasn't that much of a tall tale. Not that I care about any of this.