Captor

2. Hidden

I was facing the door in front of me, uncertain of if I was truly willing to risk it. I couldn't stay at that point. Even I knew. I needed to run.

I placed my hand on the handle and pushed the door open gently. I found myself staring down the empty hallway, in the clear. I took a deep breath, and taking a step out into the open, I was gone.

Inching along the wall, I felt for any sign of a trap door along the cool plaster. When I reached the end of the hallway, I turned the corner and froze.

"Annie?"

Luke was standing in front of me, carrying a tray of blood samples. I rushed to him and begged, "Luke, please. If you truly care about me, you'll let me go. Please, Luke, please. Please..."

"Annie, you know the rules."

Luke seized my arm as I whined, "Luke, please, you can't do this –"

He walked me to the door to Connor's office and opened the door, tossing me inside. I was on my knees on the floor, staring up at him, hissing between my teeth, "How could you? I trusted you."

Connor looked up from his desk and placed the quill in front of him.

"Annie," he said. "Again?"

I scowled. Luke had fled the room, and I was lying across the floor, refusing to move. Connor met me by the door and pulled me to my feet. I was begging for him to stop, but he threw me down into the chair, and I was left to gaze at him, the feeling of betrayal finally setting in.

"Talk to me, Annie," he coaxed me.

I didn't look at him. I sat in the chair, my eyes angled to the floor, terrified of the consequences that were about to unfold before me. Connor sighed and said, "I want to fix this. We truly do want you to see our side of things, how we're doing this all for the good of the world. What can I do, Anastasia?"

I was silent.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

Finally, I replied coldly, "I don't."

Three days prior, my heart had been cut out in order to complete the Hunt. I did it so that my friends would get to go home. I did it so Lillian would get to live. I did it for Ashley...

"How can something so remarkable trouble you so?" Connor asked, baffled. I gazed at him, my face expressionless.

"You don't get it, do you?" I said. "Why is my life worth living anymore if I can't feel everything that I used to? I used to feel everything so deeply, and now it's as if there's a hole where my heart used to be."

I spat, "Literally."

"What more do you want from us, Anastasia?" he asked, disregarding everything about my past response. I couldn't move. It was as if he was oblivious to everything I was trying to express, which wasn't much these days.

"Tell me," I said, my eyes locked on his. "Where are the others? Why is it only me?"

Connor raised his gaze to me and cleared his throat.

"That is a difficult subject, you see," he told me. "We've got them contained in individual quarantines for safe-keeping. But don't get me wrong, they're perfectly fine. I just don't think it's best that you see your friends at this point."

I whipped my arm in front of me and Connor was thrown back against the wall. He was hovering in the air, clenching his teeth with his eyes locked on me. I stood from the chair and said, "I'll give you one more chance to change your answer. Where are the others?"

He said coldly, "I don't think you understand who you're tampering with, princess."

I pulled my knife from my back pocket and chucked it into the center of his chest. He fell lifeless against the wall, and I retained the force. When he fell to the ground, I leaned over the desk to see the blood pooling from his chest.

"Don't call me princess," I whispered.

When I stood up, my arm knocked over a small statue lying on his desk. I scrambled to set it upright, that is, until I heard the creak of the bookshelf pulling in to reveal a hidden staircase. Of course. I should've known.

I walked around the desk and pulled my knife from his chest, wiping the blood onto his shirt. Turning and approaching the staircase, I didn't look back.

I'd resurrect him later.

***

When I came to the top of the staircase, I found myself facing a glass door. There was black lettering painted across the glass, and I slid through the door, turning around to read them.

Anastasia Elizabeth Scott, 18

Resurrection, Flight Manipulation

Usage: 100%

I was alone in the hallway upon reaching the label on my door. When I turned to the corridor, I counted 12 of them. There were 12 doors down the length of the hallway. Because Connor didn't expect this. He wanted all of us to live.

As I walked slowly down the cold floor, I turned to each door, but found that six of them remained blank. For the ones that we'd lost. That's when I saw it.

Lillian Brianna Harper, 13

Gravity Manipulation

Usage: 36%

Without hesitation, I pushed through the door and rushed down the staircase. The layout was exactly the same. I exited through a bookcase in another office, though this time, it was empty. I crashed into the hallway and caught sight of two guards rushing toward me. I shoved them out of my way and screamed, "Move!"

I stopped when I reached the door.

I could see a silhouette of a girl inside, and I pursed my lips together. I pushed the door open and entered. She looked up at me and froze. I was frozen to the ground about five feet away from her. Her heart crumpled. I could see it in her eyes.

"Annie," she whispered. "You're alive."