The Purging Games

Chapter Four

      I had woke up again, but this time, Maria was shaking my arm. "Jess! Jess, come on, someone is trying to break into the basement!" she whispered. I looked up and saw that everyone was awake except for Lexi and Abby. I woke up Abby, and Maria woke up Lexi. "Wh- What's going on?" Abby said drowsily. "There are people trying to break into the basement!" I replied, tugging on her arm. Nicole opened the basement widow, and we all crawled out, one after another, with Shadow going behind us all.

     When we were all out, I took one last look at the basement before all of us began hurtling towards the crowded road. "Everyone follow me!" said Shadow. All though, none of us truly trusted him, we had no other option. As we followed him through the wild streets, surprisingly no one even looked at us since they were all too busy fighting and killing one another. After we made it safely across the road, we sprinted back to the heavily wooded area where we had first met Shadow. It was silent. Almost too silent.

      We heard the tree beaches ruffle.

       "Oooh! Looky at what I have found! Seven little children who have come to visit me!" Said the voice

       We heard another voice, "Yes yes, they would make for wonderful prisoners!"

      "I don't know who the hell you are-" I started before Shadow moved his index finger to his lips, signalling for me to be silent.

     "Everyone, split up. Jessica is coming with me." Whispered Shadow. Though my head was in full denial, I had to trust him. This was twice in a row we had taken orders from him.

     Shadow lead me behind a thick tree, and summoned me to sit next to him. He took my wrist and said, "Don't scream." What? I wanted to say, but before I could make a sound, he made a clean cut in the flesh of my wrist. I let out a squeak of pain, and Shadow covered my lips to avoid anymore sound.

     Blood dripped down my arm, and it formed a pool in my outstretched hand. I looked at him. Why did you do that? I thought. He looked as though he had been the one who had been cut. Shadow lifted me off the ground, wrapped his arm around my neck and whispered into my ear, "I'm sorry." and he walked towards the voices.

     "She won't make for a good prisoner if she's dead." Shadow shouted. Stars! What is happening? I internally screamed.

     "Oh dear no! Do not kill her! Such a pretty face shouldn't go to waste!" Said one of the voices. I cringed, and my head started to throb.

      I heard the crack of a branch as a girl and a boy came plunging to the ground. My best friend Niah stood behind them, with a knife in her hand. The boy and girl lay screeching on the ground, when Niah screamed "Split up and run!" Immediately, Shadow grabbed my non-bloody arm and together we ran deeper into the woods. "What was that all about?" I asked Shadow. He didn't answer, so I didn't ask again. We had been running for five minutes when Shadow finally stopped pulling my arm. He reached into his bag, that I hadn't even noticed was on his back until now, and pulled out some bandage wrap. I watched as he again took my wrist, but this time instead of cutting me, he wrapped my arm.

      "How did you know that would work?" I asked

      "Niah and I teamed up this year. We had this all planned out."

      "How do you know Niah?"

      "We go to the same school."

      Suddenly the realization hit me.

      "Grayson! Grayson Attkins! The one who is in my math class!"

      He looked up at me, directly in my eyes.

     "Why didn't you just tell me?"

      "I thought you didn't like me." He said coldly.

       As he continued to bandage my arm, I understood why he thought that I didn't like him. I would always tell him to go away from me, because he was always around during my lunch hour, he would jab his fingers into the sides of my rib cage, and I would scream at him. I didn't necessarily dislike him, he just wasn't my favorite person in the world. All of the day's emotions came crashing down on me at once, and I started to cry. Shadow, or Grayson lifted my chin and said, "Hey, feisty girls don't cry." I laughed at this, and he smiled. Then I asked, "Where are the rest of the girls?" "They are either with Niah, or she has already sent them somewhere else. We will meet up with all of them tomorrow at dusk, near the end of the woods." He said. "Oh. Well in that case, I guess we should set up camp." I said to him. "Yeah, good idea." Shadow said, breaking his gaze from me. Then, he started a small campfire, and I fell asleep after that.

    *Oh my gosh... We made it to 65 reads! This is crazy! I can't even believe it! All of you reading this, give yourself a pat on the back, because you are the real MVPs! Chapter Five is on its way! Stay tuned for more!*