"Good luck trying to escape." A voice boomed through the room. A red light was flashing on the center of the table. For about an hour, an envelope sat in the middle of the room, flashing every 5 seconds. Men with machine guns stood outside every door and window, showing the man in charge of this operation was heavily armed.
"We need to open it. Our lives may depend on it." Kyra broke the silence, standing up.
"Or it could end our lives." Matt grabbed her arm.
"Well we need to take that risk." Skylar grabbed the envelope, tearing at the edges of the paper. She pulled out three objects. First was a cellphone, and the second was a timer, blaring the red numbers 7:07. Skylar put the timer on the table, as she watched a guard through the window signal to another man, steadying his gun. The room got darker as the numbers disappeared. They all waited for the numbers to glow back, closing their terror in as the timer read 7:06.
"It's counting down.." Hannah observed, covering her mouth.
Skylar put the next object on the table, setting everyone back in confusion.
"A straight jacket? What?" Carlos wondered as everyone stood around confused.
6:48
"Oh my god. Everyone, go to the back of the room, stand against the wall. Find anything remotely sharp and stand there. Don't do anything stupid." Skylar walked forward as they scattered to the back. She slowly pulled the knife used to prop Spencer up out of her pocket. Nobody knew she had it, hopefully not even the gunned men outside the door.
"Everyone get ready. When the clock hits 0, prepare yourselves for anything, no, anyone to come in." They stood there as the seconds passed, holding rulers and staplers. Hannah was shaking as she watched the clock slowly count down.
0:02.
0:01.
0:00.
They stepped back as a man was pushed through the door, falling to the ground, smiling with a look in his eye while he shook. He stood up, still shaking, and pulled out a shank. Just by looking at his raggedy clothes, you could almost taste the methamphetamine and alcohol running through his system. He lunged forward at Hannah, who quickly threw her ruler at him and let a scream escape her throat.
"Pierce his body. Impale him." Skylar sharply whispered as she gestured a stabbing motion towards Hannah. Hannah picked up a ruler and prodded the deranged man in the chest, puncturing nothing but the tip of his skin, pushing two droplets of blood to his ripped pants.
"It's not sharp enough." Hannah gasped as the man came closer, beckoning his shank towards her.
"Motherfuck-" Skylar muttered as she pushed Hannah out of the way. She pulled the knife out of her back pocket and thrust the blade into his body, holding him back as he fell to the ground.
"Holy shit." Brianna whispered, twisting her hair in her hands.
"Grab something to get rid of this blood. There's going to be a lot." Skylar said, grabbing a sweater from Carlos to wipe off the blood that was left on her hands. "Matt, I know you're weak when it comes to this shit, so you might want to close your eyes." Skylar smirked as Delta laughed, pushing Matt playfully. "Okay.." Skylar whispered to herself, leaning down with the knife as blood splattered onto her shirt. "Matt..now would be the time to look away." She said as she made an incision on the man, using the blade to cut off his hand. "Hopefully this will be enough of a message to tell them to fuck off." She said, grabbing the sweater to wipe the blood off her arms. "Hopefully."
. . .
"Never thought this would be what I wore when I died." Kyra smiled, looking down at her bloodstained Nirvana shirt. "Should have at least worn my Kurt Cobain dress." She laughed, as Skylar handed her a box.
"Shut up. You're not going to die." Skylar looked her in the eyes. "Besides, you volunteered. Take this with you." She took her knife and wiped it off on her shirt, placing it in her best friend's hands.
"Wish me luck." Kyra looked at the group of people, placing the knife in her bra. She walked to the door, and looked at the man who stood guard. Her friends turned their backs to her, afraid of what could happen. She stepped up, and tapped her fists on the door as adrenaline raced through her body. The man turned his face towards the window, and questioned her with his vibrant green eyes, snapping at her with a simple look. She hated that she thought he was cute, he was the enemy after all.
'Get yourself the fuck together. Can you control your hormones for one second?' Kyra thought to herself. She looked back at the man, focusing on his grenade belt, rather than his face. "We need to talk." She yelled, looking down at her converse. She gasped when the door slowly opened, light crawling across the room onto the walls.
"Hurry it up." The man looked at her. She could tell he was trying to act tough, but he seemed to be intimidated.
"Here. Give this to your asshole boss. Tell him we are all okay." She smiled with an attitude.
"Watch it." The guard took the box, and whispered, " Or I may have to shoot you.." He half smiled back and winked.
"Are you fucking flirting with me right now?" Kyra snapped back and watched the smile escape from his lips. "After you chose to work for the very same asshole who killed my friends? Possibly my family? The dick who is torturing us, sending a psychopath into a room with us to see who can survive the longest? He or She- They're fucking sick! I have no idea why anyone would support this in any way, shape, or form? I don't even care if you're cute- this is terrible. People are dying and you choose to flirt with your victims? I'm done." She turned, heading towards the door as he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around, facing him.
"I did not choose this life. I did not choose any of this. I wish I could leave." He whispered, looking her in the eyes.
"Oh yeah? Who did? Your mom?" Kyra snickered, wiping away tears from her eyes.
"She's dead to me. I want to leave so badly, but she has me here, trapped." He whispered angrily, pointing to a shock bracelet around his ankle. "One tap of a button, if she notices I'm gone, and I could die." He looked up at a video camera at the corner of the wall.
"Okay..I'm sorry. What's your name?" Kyra looked at him.
"Cobain."
"Like Kurt?" Kyra got excited, pointing to her Nirvana shirt.
" I wish" Cobain laughed.
"My name's Kyra. I should go. Don't forget to give your mom that box." She smiled, slipping through the door into the arms of her friends. Cobain looked down and opened the box, gagging as he saw a severed bloody hand lay before him.
"Thank god you're okay." Skylar smiled as she went to hug Kyra. Kyra did not want to admit she could have a crush on the enemy. She knew how the group would react. She looked at all the faces crowding around her. She could jeopardize everything, their lives, if she got with Cobain. She had made her decision. Kyra slowly pulled away, and went to talk to Carlos and the others.
"I think we passed." Kyra laughed, pointing to the incoming call sign on the cellphone laying on the table.
"Have you tried to call anyone? Like the cops?" Kyra asked, picking up the phone and running her fingertips across the buttons.
"Yeah. Busy tone for every number we tried. Except this one that's calling, just all sevens. Just answer it." Skylar replied, closing her eyes as the click of a button shot across the room.
"He-Hello?" Hannah answered nervously as they all listened in.
"I bring you remorse, but place you alive, you'll have to force me, to continue to thrive. What am I?" A voice laughed as the line cut off. The bold lights flickered as the group stood in shock, racing their minds which bolted through ideas to clarify the resolution. They closed in around the gloomy counter while a droning "Busy Signal" shot through the room.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Matt yelled, glancing at the soldier at the door.
"Sacrifice." Delta looked up, facing Matt. "a fucking sacrifice."
"Who?" Hannah yelled, frustrated.
"No one. We aren't sacrificing shit." Skylar chimed in.
"We have to, for the safety of the rest of us. I'll go." Kyra spoke up.
"No, Kyra. I wont let you do this. We can beat them." Skylar yelled, grabbing Kyra's wrist.
"Are you kidding? There are hundreds of armed men and we are just 7 people with one knife! You're outrageous if you think we will survive that. I will miss you. You are and always will be my best friend." Kyra whispered as she pulled away and slipped out the door.
"No.." Skylar whispered back, hugging Delta.
* * * *
"I'm here for the sacrifice." Kyra awkwardly walked up to Cobain, who quickly put his gun away.
"You? Please no.." Cobain whispered, motioning her back to the door.
"I'm ready." She smiled, pushing past his arm.
"I am charge here, and I am not killing you. I will tell my mother that it has been completed, and we are running as far away from here as we can."
"What about my friends?" Kyra looked at him.
"Let them think you are dead. We will come back, hopefully in time to save them."
"Well what about your ankle bracelet shit?" Kyra beckoned to his feet. She watched a smile spread across his face as he held up the shock bracelet, torn apart.
"Okay." Kyra glanced at the door one last time, and ran. She followed Cobain through the school, never looking back.
"Prepare yourself for this." Cobain stopped, and looked at her. Kyra stepped back, and he opened the door and revealed the world to her for the first time in weeks.
"Holy shit."
****
"It's done." A voice called out through the room as Skylar fell into the chair of a desk, slamming her head down on the table. "Your best friend is killed." The voice taunted her, laughing between words. Skylar's mind raced.
"How did you do it? At least tell me that! Do not just taunt me and leave me in the dark, you sick bastard. I demand to know." Skylar yelled, breaking into tears as Delta and Brianna tried to calm her down. 'Great, the voice disappeared.' Skylar thought, closing her eyes.
"It is okay..Everything will be fine." Matt said, walking towards Skylar.
"Okay..you know what Matt? Everything will not be okay. My best friend just died and I did nothing to save her. How do you think that makes me feel? We had this one shred of time, one tiny little moment together before she left, and that was our goodbye. It was small, but it hurt more than anything. You know why? Because deep down, I know that I will never say hello to her again. It is hard to forget someone who gave you so much to remember." Skylar walked away, and sat in a desk across the room.
"Attention, cry-babies!" The voice rang from the phone as Delta sniffled and picked it up.
"You are now down to six. Let us try to make that number lower?"
