The Black Box Disease

Boom

A/N real quick... Thank you all for reading this story! I appreciate all of you and I'm so glad your enjoying it. Please share with all your friends! Thank you

I was training for tonight, but I kept getting distracted. I get to see Ethan. I miss him. I was thinking about him, when I saw Kassidy's right hook coming at me and I ducked. "Clear your head, you're getting distracted." She says, as I shake away my thoughts. Tonight is the night I fight one of the girls. Tonight is the night I may be killed. Or broken. I'm fragile like a porcelain doll. No, I am a lion. I am a fighter. I am a winner. I am a Mockinj-. Nope, I'm not in the Hunger Games. I'm not Katniss Everdeen. I'm no hero. This time Kassidy's right hook hits me in the arm. "Ow." I say, rubbing my arm. "Clear.your.head." She says as I think. I need to have a clear head to fight and to win. I look up at Kassidy and we continue training.

It was almost time for the fight and all my panic has burned away to nothing. That doesn't mean I'm not nervous, I am, at least I think I am. My emotions have just gone a little numb. Now all I think is that whatever is going to happen is simply going to happen. I barely recognize the moment that Kassidy bumps my elbow and nods towards the doors. I give her a short nod and push open the doors to see most..no all..of the trainees grouped around a painted cement square. I hope it's not supposed to be comforting that it's painted red, cause I think they missed their mark.. I scan the crowd and see Red in a bulletproof booth with Ethan standing next to him. "Incentive" I see Red mouth.

"Alright!" A guy named Ed shouts, "it's time from some entertainment!" The crowd roars in approval and Ed chuckles darkly. "May the best girl win, so Dylan, see you soon".

Dylan steps to a white line within the square, and I take the other. She's built like a lion, tall and lean, but set with well-toned muscles. I am not quite as..blessed. I guess that's okay though, because if there's one area she isn't blessed it's her face. At least I'll die knowing I'm prettier.

She's already there and here and everywhere, she's fast and I'm not. BOOM. There goes my face. BOOM. There goes my lunch. BOOM. She thinks she's won and so do I. I shakily stand to face my death standing, at least the others will escape, Kassidy will make sure of that. Dylan knocks another fist into my jaw, and slips behind me. It will take about five minutes for her to choke me out, I know, and in about three minutes my brain will start to shut down. The life that starts flashing in front of my eyes is not a bad one. I see my dad slamming the door behind him, and my mom softly closing it behind her a couple months later. I see Miranda taking little me to the movies, on a picnic, to the park. I saw her being beat by Brodie, taking me to a shooting range, saw our apartment building crumble, saw the start of this hell, meeting Ethan, praying with Annie, shooting Lydia. It happened so fast till, poof, it was all gone. I lay coughing on the ground, my whole chest hurt, and I looked up to see Ed saying something to Dylan, I couldn't hear what, though.

Ed turned towards me and grinned evily, "I'm not quite done with you yet." At his cue, two leaders grabbed my arms and dragged me, none too kindly, back to my bunk. After they left, Kassidy climbed down from the top bunk and rushed out the door. "Wait", I croaked, "where are you going, what about everyone else? Where are they?" She either didn't hear me, or didn't care to wait. "Nooo" I moaned, "we can't wait, we cant...." Tonight is the only night we can do this, the only chance that Red won't find us. I would not be a liability, not me, not today,  not ever.  We have to go, I have to get up, I have to ge.....  I wake up to Kassidy shaking my bed. "Whaa.. what. Aaah!" I sit up ramrod straight only to smack my head on the bed frame. "Ow." I press my hand to my forehead. "What time is it? What day is it? Where did you go!?" I narrow my swollen eyes at her.

"I was checking the guard list for tonight . Shea and James are up on ground level, and Sean and Dylan are up at second floor." she said. "So who's up on our floor?" I ask. She grins impishly, "We are." "We are?" I asked. "Why?" I look at her confused and in pain. "I told Red it's another chance to prove yourself." She says, grinning sheepishly. "He believed I'm trustworthy?" I say. "He doesn't know we are friends, and he doesn't know how much I hate this place." Kassidy says. "What about everyone else?" I say, looking up at her, my body aching at every move. Kassidy handed me a melty bag of ice and said," Shea and James should be easy to take out, but Sean and Dylan might be a problem. We should try to get to the first level around them, and come back with Ethan, Tyler, James, Daniel, and Darren to get the girls." I shift uncomfortably and wince, "Okay, I'll bite, how are we supposed to sneak past some of the most trained fighters here?" We look at each other for a long time. This isn't going to be easy.