Sisters Till Death

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A wicked laughter came from the crowd as soon as Carmen said that simple line. I struggled to talk but the thick tape was still over my mouth.

"Aw. I forgot you couldn't talk." She said as a sneer grin slowly spread across her face, "Though, I will miss not having to hear you run your mouth as much as you usually do."

After she said that, she ripped the tape off of my mouth, sending a mild burning sensation all through the area where the tape had adhered itself to.

"Why the fuck am I tied to a fucking tree!" I exclaimed. I was heated. Frustrated. Furious. I didn't sign up to be dragged into the middle of the woods just to be in some lame ass sorority that I didn't even care about in the first place!

"For your membership," She started with her same annoying grin on her face, "you have to play our little game."

"What game?" I said as my anger disintegrated and curiosity took its place.

Carmen pressed her lips together and gave a tight intimidating smile, "Are you familiar with the game hide-and-go-seek?"

"Yeah." I squinted my eyes wondering what was she going with this.

"Well that's what we're going to play." She said.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

"What in the actual hell..." I gave her an incredulous look.

"There's a catch Miss Mel," She continued, ignoring my judgements.

"And that would be?" I said, hanging the words out a little.

"You see my Beta devils?"

I nodded. So that's what their called apparently.

"Well there's another Beta devil even deeper in the woods who is wearing a purple sash. You have to take the sash from that devil and if you do happen to retrieve it, blow this airhorn to stop the game." She said as she lightly jiggled an airhorn in her hand to make its presence and significance visible.

"Okay seems simple enough." I shrugged.

"Be careful now, Miss Mel." She said with a challenging smirk, "My devils will be out there too. If one of them catches you, we leave you to fumble around in the woods trying to get back on campus for the rest of the night, maybe even longer depending on how deep we leave you in the woods."

A cold shiver went down my spine but I kept it unnoticeable. I didn't wanna show any weaknesses in front of them.

"Cut her free." She ordered. One of the devils stepped up to me, kneeled down, and pulled out a pocket knife. It was custom, it had a dark brown wooden handle with a fancy 'N' carved into it. The devil pressed a button on it and the blade quickly shot up from the wood. The blade was a purple-silver color and it cut easily through the thick rope.

Once I was free I quickly got up from the sitting position that I was held captive in. At least my ass feels better.

"I'm going to count to 50, since the woods are pretty deep." Carmen said to me after I was on my feet, as she threw the air horn for me to catch it, "Good luck."

Something tells me she didn't mean it sincerely.

"Oh!" She said as if she'd forgotten something, "You'd better start running. One."

I took off.

"Two."

I ran as fast as I could not knowing where the hell I was gonna go.

"Three."

I pushed myself to run faster.

"Four."

Her voice was starting to sound distant.

"Five."

My heart pounded.

"Six."

I could barely hear her at this point.

I didn't hear her say the next numbers so I must've been a little bit deeper into the woods and farther from them. I wandered around blindly, even though the cloth wasn't over my head and my eyes adjusted to the darkness a little bit. I had no idea where to go or any sense of direction since I've never even thought of going here.

     Okay, this is stupid. I'm just gonna leave and avoid the Betas for as long as I live.

     I started to run but I realized something just as soon as I did.

     I don't know where the hell I am right now.

     I guess I have no choice but to play this little game of theirs. How great.

     I started taking a strategic view on the game. The Beta devil wouldn't be just standing in the middle of the woods for me to easily see, so it's probably being well hidden. And they wouldn't be in a tree. I just have a gut feeling they wouldn't.

     Then it hit me. Every spring break, for the people who are outdoorsy enough to want to spend two weeks in the woods, there's cabins for them to stay in. That must be where the devil is hiding.

     But which one?

     The Betas have their own cabin but where was it? And they wouldn't be that obvious. Would they? I guess it wouldn't hurt to check.

     The only way to find anything in these woods is to get higher ground. I grabbed a branch on a tree that was closest to me. I held on to the branch with both hand and started to move my feet up the trunk of the tree until they reached the base of the branch that I was holding on to. I swung my leg around the branch and pulled my body upward into a sitting position on top of the branch.

     I'm so glad I was an outdoors kid.

     I repeated the process on up the tree until I made it up far enough to see more of the area. I looked out to look for a cabin with their signature 'B' on it or their purple color or anything that would resemble something that the Betas would live in. I looked around, seeing nothing but plain cabins at first, and then I saw a purple cabin with the signature 'B' at the top.

     Bingo.

    I decided to stay to see if there was anyone in there. If there was then that meant that the sash was definitely there.

     After a few minutes, two devils walked out of the cabin and neither one of them was wearing the sash.

     This might not be the right cabin.

     Just as I was about to start searching for a new cabin, I noticed that the devils were just standing there. If there was nothing in there then they would've already left the cabin. They're standing guard. That's definitely the right cabin.

     I wanted to get closer, but if I got out of the tree, then the two guards would capture me. I also heard footsteps in the distance, which meant that Carmen was done counting, so I also had to worry about them capturing me too. The only way to get closer is to jump from branch to branch.

     Crazy, but it's the only option.

     I got up from my sitting position and waited until I got my balance. I walked back slowly until my back rested on the tree's trunk. If I don't land on the right part of the branch it'll break and I fall to my death. Not to mention that these trees are already hundreds on years old so they might break anyway but it won't hurt to try. I guess.

     I looked at the branch on the next tree and calculated the right spot to land on. Once I did I ran and then I jumped. I landed on the spot I planned to land on and thankfully it didn't break. I wrapped my arms around the tree trunk and swung my legs to the other side of the tree where another branch was. I had one more tree to jump to and I'd be close enough to the cabin. I calculated, ran, and jumped just as I did before, but this time was different.

     I landed on the branch and it snapped.

     And I fell.