Roomscapes I - survive

Chapter 16 ~ Acid and feelings

 ** VALENTINA'S POV  **

I woke to find someone-- I don't know who-- with their hand on my lips, stopping my desperate screams. Once they let go, I gasped and sighed, my breathing still heavy. I closed my eyes for a second, and opened them again right after, scared of what I would find if I kept them closed. "Who-- who are you?" It wasn't Parker, that's all I knew. "It's-- uh...umm... let's go..." his voice was too familiar, and I felt like dying. My eyes closed by themselves and I was terrified when I saw them again, but at least this time I was whispering, not screaming, "No! Iyan! Adriana! Please, forgive me! I tried! I tried to save you! I promise!" I was crying by now, the tears becoming somewhat heavy, joining my breathing. "Shh..." a calming voice said to my ear, and now I knew who it was...

 ** CAMERON'S POV **

I moved fast, really fast. It's not bragging, well, my point is that I moved as fast as my body allowed--which is incredibly fast-- but that's still not bragging. I swear if I hadn't found her there, laying on the ground, she would've died. I wonder where Parker was... her ally... that kid-- I don't even know what to think about him... not that I care, anyway. My body ached when I stopped to check how far we had advanced. Luckily, the literal acid rain had gotten better, and we had only gotten little tiny drops on our suits, and I got one on my shoulder, which caused the fabric to burn open and now it hurts since it got to my actual skin. But I'll live with it, I hope. Val kept screaming and whispering and calling out names, like Adriana and Iyan and Maria and Ben and no please no please. I was starting to get worried. I was glad to see the hallways begin to become wider as we moved on, meaning we might be out of this. I kept running, ignoring my legs' begs and my lungs' air searching. Once we were out of that horrible....thing, the score board on the roof lit up and Val's name was on top, with a score of thirteen points. I was too shocked to realize this whole thing was a puzzle to notice that my name as well had been moved up to the top, with a score of sixteen. I only had that score because my last puzzle was supposed to give me five points but it didn't since I barely made it out alive. This one was physically harder than the other one, but logically easier. Valentina would've probably solved the other one, I guessed. I stopped when I realized we were finally out of the acid mess. I sat on the floor and as soon as my head hit the wall I stood up again. Something was coming. I was glad to be proven wrong when the door to the acid rain hallway closed. I looked at Val, her face was covered in blood. What the--?! 

 ** VALENTINA'S POV **

 I felt my face covered in a heavy liquid as I slowly opened my eyes, "Oh god Val... are you ok?" A random guy was looking down at me, his expression obviously worried. "Who the hell are you!?" I asked, sounding a bit too rude, "I'm Cameron...." he continued after noticing my confused look, "The guy who told you about the people who were going to kill you..." he tried to make me remember, but my mind was still confused, he rolled his eyes slightly, and said, "The guy who pinned you against the wall...? Oh, and sorry about that, by the way," and then it hit me, ohhh, that kid... I smiled for no apparent reason, and thought, geez, I'm going crazy, he seemed to notice, and his mouth turned at the edge, "I'm going crazy, I know..." I defended, smiling again. My smile faded as I felt more heavy liquid on my face, "What in the--?" I start to wipe my cheeks, finding blood, clearly not mine. "Cameron...." I started,  but he was on his feet, "Let's go!" He reached for my hand, and as he pulled me up I ended up against a wall once again, his face inches from mine, I looked in his eyes then hesitated, "We have to go." he said, his breath hot against my damp skin, "I know...I know" I agreed, but we still didn't move, "I guess the jerks who created this couldn't come up with any ideas, so they stole the Hunger Games' " he smiled, knowing what I meant, "I know...I know" he agreed, imitating me, "The blood rain... that means..." he started to breathe heavily, "We have to get moving," he grinned, and I nodded, slipping away from his firm grip. He flinched, but his grin returned to his blood-covered face almost immediately. I started walking, more blood, hot and thick, landing on me, "You coming?" I called out, still walking, "What do you mean?" I turned to see him right next to me, smiling, "I'm right here." I flinched, "What the f--?" he stopped me, placing his finger to my lips, "Language..." I rolled my eyes, "Whatever..." and he let out a small laugh and we kept walking, and I wondered if I had feelings for him... I didn't... did I?

I had lost track of time, so I had no idea how much time had gone by. I looked up at the leadership chart--or whatever it was called-- and regretted it when a single drop of blood fell on my eye, and went in. "Fuck!" I screamed, feeling the odd and horrible sting, Cameron was on my side almost immediately, worried but acting against it, "What happened? A mosquito bite?" he smirked, and I miserably failed to roll my eyes, which made him laugh harder. "Are you for real?" I asked, discarding the attempt to roll my eyes again, "No, I'm not for real..." and he laughed even harder, which made me want to slap him too hard to be playful but too gentle to be serious, but since I couldn't, I just sighed. "What happened? For real." he had ended all the laughing by now, and I had to admit, it was about time he stopped... "Blood fell in my eye, and it hurts." I whined, and he grinned and knelt down to see my eye, so I opened it, ignoring the awful wave of pain that washed over me, "It looks perfectly fine, actually ..." he said, sounding rather serious. "Really?" I asked suspiciously, waiting for him to say, No, it looks awful and start laughing again. But to my preference, he didn't; he just nodded and told me to keep it open, and to not close it at all. First, I whined and complained, but minutes later the pain paid off, because the sting had left completely, and I felt like it had never even happened. I smiled as the last bit of pain washed away. The rain began to get worse and I started to panic. "Cameron..." I said, panic obvious in my tone, "I know..." he said, a frown on his face, "We have to hurry up..." his tone was no longer mocking and playful, but worried and serious, and I was starting to get scared. We walked for hours, until I heard a sound. They were voices. I panicked. "Where's Cam?" a voice asked, a girl. I was frozen. "Did he already kill that girl he was supposed to kill?" she asked, and my eyes met his, my expression terrified. NO, no, no, no please no.... I couldn't quite read his eyes, but I was scared of what I would find in them anyway, so I was somehow glad I couldn't deceive his feelings. I started to breathe heavily. This was it. Literally. I was done. This was all a trap. A damn trap and I'm the biggest idiot ever for falling for it, and I admit it. All of it, the smirks, the laughs, the jokes, the saving.... it was all just to get me here. And kill me. I wondered where Parker was, and for once in forever I start to think he didn't leave me there, Cameron made him leave or even worse, killed him. I felt like attacking Cameron and killing him, even if it meant I would be killed as well. Unluckily, I couldn't find any strength left inside of me to attack him with. "Who, that Adriana girl? Or the other one? What was her name? I don't know... Ugh I can't remember..." I gasped, and my breathing became too heavy to control... he did not kill Adriana.... he did not.... he--he... I was already backing away from him, my expression terrified, when I heard someone come in. Parker. Oh thank god... I ran to him and hugged him really hard. What was I doing? Maybe I was hugging him because he was the only thing I had left, the only real ally left for me to hold on to. "Are you ok?" he asked, not noticing Cameron. His expression changed completely when he spotted him. "He-- he's going to kill you... he killed Adriana... he killed... he-- we have to leave!!!" I rushed him, stuttering and breathing too fast to slow down. Cameron had not moved since the girl's voice had confessed his true 'mission'.  I was too busy crying and trying not to faint to realize it was still raining blood, now harder and the amounts of it increasing. The blood was up to my knees now, and I panicked for the millionth time since I got here. "We have to go now," Parker said, grabbing my arm, and I nodded, but before turning and leaving, I gave Cameron a last glance, and shook my head, "and to think I liked you..." his expression changed, I didn't know how and honestly didn't care, "But like they say..." I looked down, letting a single tear escape, "Love fades..." and I started walking, more tears following the first one, and I felt empty inside, with nothing else left to live for and nothing else left that would die for me.