by K. A Knight
Kaiden and Lucien start arguing about what to do. They try to free his arm, pulling on the screaming young man, but his arm is trapped. Valerie backs away, shaking her head with a bitter laugh and turning her back to us. Looking around, I wince when his screams go an octave higher, the machine slowly clamping down farther on his arm. Blood drips to the floor below as it starts to cut his arm off. I examine the drive further and try to catch their attention. “It’s a weight mechanism, both arms must be inserted to keep the balance, see in the middle there?” I try, but no one can hear me, and the more we wait the more it cuts into his arm.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, don’t do it, Natashia. But when he starts sobbing, begging out loud for someone to help him, I step forward and shove my arm in without letting myself think through the consequences. I can’t stand by while another person dies down here, I just can’t.
Instantly, the weight of my arm tips the scales, balancing towards the middle two vices, as the top and bottom start to clamp on my arm. I swallow back my scream as I feel the rough steel cut into my arm. It’s painful but not unbearable. I hear Cameron’s screams cut off, but when I look around, I realise it’s because he has fainted, his arm still in the machine but no longer in danger of being cut off. Fuck, we need him awake.
Lucien looks back at me with wide eyes. “What have you done?”
Gritting my teeth, I force words out through the pain. “It’s a weight system, I’m balancing it out before he loses his arm, we need him awake, we need to grab the food and remove our arms at the exact same time. One second’s difference, and one of us will lose our arm,” I explain as calmly as I can, feeling my warm blood running down my arm to my fingers and then dripping into the machine. What I don’t say, but I know they realise is, is if he panics and pulls out, the weight imbalance will cut my arm off in a second and I will die from blood loss. Or if one of us pulls away too late or early, the other will lose their hand or fingers while pulling their arm free. This is all about timing, enduring pain for survival, just like the madman said.
Lucien comes to my side, feeling my pulse, and then looking into the machine, I don’t look, it will only make it worse. Instead, I stare over the top at Cameron who’s waking up. I look at Kadian with wide eyes. “Don’t let him pull his arm out!” I almost scream, as the young man starts to shriek and do just that, causing the weight to drop on my arm, and a cry finally breaks free from my throat as I feel the steel cut through more skin and muscle. The pain is like red-hot lightning racing around my body.
Both Lucien and Kadian move to him quickly, grabbing him and stilling his movements, and Lucien slaps the man until he looks at him, then he forcefully turns his face to me. “Look! You can’t pull out your arm or you will kill her! She saved your life!” he repeats until Cameron stops struggling, just staring at me.
The weight balances again and I let out a relieved breath, slumping on the machine as tears fall down my face unchecked from the pain. I taste blood in my mouth, probably from me biting my tongue, and I have to swallow it back. “Explain it to him,” I order as loud as I can, closing my eyes for a second and concentrating on not fainting as my body turns weak. I grit my teeth and force myself to feel the pain, to accept it and let it move through me rather than trying to fight it.
Is this what he meant?
How far would you go to save a life…or your own?
How much pain can you endure before you give up and pull away, killing the other person?
How much can one person suffer?
The thoughts flitter through my mind before I force myself away from the debate and listen to Lucien explaining the plan to Cameron, and what will happen if he fucks it up.
Shit, I hope he doesn’t fuck it up.
I really don’t want to lose an arm...or die.
Once they have finished, they all look at me and I force a smile. “I really don’t want to lose an arm, ‘kay? So stay still.” My attempt at a joke falls flat as Cameron sniffs, snot dripping from his nose. “Cameron,” I snap.
He nods, forcing his attention to me.
“We need to do this together. I’m going to reach in deeper and grab the food, we need to do this very slowly, and then once we’re ready, we count together, and then slowly pull our arms out, stopping if the weight shifts. This is how we both get out of here with our arms,” I explain and he nods again, his face paler and sweaty, the big, fat droplets rolling down his face, slowly and dripping from his nose and mingling with the snot there.
“You are both fucking crazy. I would have just let him cut his arm off,” Valerie yells, but we both ignore her. Some people could live with that, but I couldn’t when I could have done something, maybe that makes me stupid or naïve, but I don’t care. I’ve don’t some bad shit in my life, but I refuse to do any more, and let this boy’s blood be on my hands. I might die down here, but I will die as a human with compassion, not a person only looking out for themselves, willing to kill anyone and everyone to survive.
That might be my downfall, but screw it.
Fuck, I could use a drink right now.
“Cameron, don’t move, okay?” I wait for him to nod shakily before I blow out a breath and slowly move my arm farther in, trying not to unbalance the weights, it should work if I’m not moving my arm out. It’s slow going, and sweat now drips down my face as I concentrate on the slow inching of my fingers, searching along the inside without looking for the bars I spotted. I might as well try and get them. He’s right we won’t survive without food, and he might not give us any more. We need every advantage we can get and to keep our strength.
My fingers touch something cold and slippery, and I smile as I grasp the nutrient bars, the metal bar bears down on my arm as I move the weights, and I close my eyes as a whimper escapes my lips. I wait for the weights to balance again before I start to slowly pull my arm back, each inch a gamble since it might unbalance the weights, and now with the weight of the bars, I feel the steel bite down farther, but I grind my teeth and keep going, ignoring the pain and blood I can now feel streaming down my arm.
When I get back to about where I started, give or take a few inches, I look up at the others who are silently waiting, all anxious. “Okay, I have the food, give me a second to catch my breath and then we’re going to start pulling.”
Cameron nods, but Lucien steps forward. “Kadian, get behind Cameron to pull him out of anything goes wrong, I’ll do the same for Natashia,” he orders, before circling around me, his arms wrapping around my waist from behind, ready to yank me away at a moment’s notice. He lowers his voice then, whispering in my ear, “I don’t trust him not to panic, he already did once. If he does, I’ll yank you away as fast as I can…it might not be fast enough.” He sounds pained and I nod, not wanting to spook Cameron.
“Okay, on three we’re slowly going to start pulling, ready?” I ask and he nods. “One, two, three,” I yell, and start to pull my arm slowly, but I feel the weights tipping too much as he pulls too fast. “Stop, stop!” I shout.
“I can’t do this, I’m sorry, I can’t!” he screams, and I see him start to pull his arm, my own getting clamped into a vice and making me scream as I see white. I’m yanked backwards, the steel cutting my arm along the way as I’m ripped from the machine. It slams down where my arm just was.
We fall backwards to the floor with me on top of Lucien, and blood rushes to my head as I turn and vomit again, almost passing out for real now. Lucien holds me. I can hear screaming and shouting as my hearing goes in and out, but only when I finally open my eyes do I realise they are shouting at Cameron.
“I’m okay,” I croak, but no one hears me. “I’m okay,” I say louder, and I hear them shut up, so I blink open my eyes and look down at my arm to check that it’s still there since I can’t feel it.
It’s there, still attached, and I let out a relieved breath. There is a cut all the way down it. I can’t see how bad it is since it’s bleeding, but the worst is the cut across my bicep. It appears deep, and just looki
ng at it makes it worse, so I glance back up and meet their eyes as they peer at me worriedly.
“I got the food,” I announce, and Lucien and Kadian laugh, shaking their heads as they step closer to help me into a sitting position against the wall. I look at Cameron who is lying on his side, crying, repeating the same sentence again and again
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he repeats, so I tune him out and focus on Lucien who is crouching in front of me. He grabs the bars from my clenched fingers and removes them softly, placing them on the floor in front of me before examining my arm, he twists it from side to side, making me let out a scream of pain and he winces.
“Sorry, sorry, it’s not broken or disjointed, just a skin tear,” he tells me, before sitting back and looking around, grunting.
Gasping, trying to hold in my cries of pain, I blink to clear my eyes. My head is spinning and my body is weak—probably from the lack of food, water, and sleep, and now it’s all mixed with pain. I watch as Lucien rips off the bottom of his shirt and wraps it around my bleeding arm, my heartbeat echoing through my ears as I turn warm.
“Stay with me, okay?” he orders, and I nod slightly, unable to speak yet.
“Why did you do that?” he inquires, shaking his head as he wraps it tighter to stop the bleeding.
“Couldn’t watch anyone else die,” I reply, the words cracked, broken, and slurring slightly.
“You stupidly brave girl,” he chides and snorts, his hands stilling as he looks up at me. He moves some hair behind my ear and strokes my face, but I can barely feel the wisp of this soft skin. Is this shock?
“We need you to eat something, you’re in shock, and the sugar will help. You’ve lost some blood and I don’t want you fainting, rest, okay?” he commands, switching to doctor mode even as he continues to stroke my face, watching me with gleaming eyes. “Don’t do that again, okay? You fucking worried me, I thought—” He looks away then, blowing out a breath. “Just don’t do it again,” he finishes, before leaning forward, cupping the back of my head, and dropping a kiss on my forehead. Then he gets up and goes to see to Cameron. I do as I’m told, closing my eyes and leaning into the wall, breathing through my weakness, that soft, caring kiss replaying in my head.
Is he playing a game? No one is this nice to a stranger. Down here, everything feels so…surreal, like we’re on fast forward. It’s hard to know who to trust and lean on, but Lucien seems nice and trustworthy. Everything he has done so far shows that. So I put my trust in him and slip into a painful sleep, letting him watch over me and protect me as much as we can down here.
Chapter 7
“Natashia, sweetie, wake up, okay? I need you to drink this and have something to eat,” comes a warm whiskey voice, drawing me from a bad dream. Who is that?
Where am I?
Dragging myself from the clinging darkness of sleep, I blink open my eyes, looking around in confusion, and then meeting the deep eyes of the man in front of me. Is he a hook up?
Then it all comes back to me.
The kidnapping, the games, the deaths.
For one moment I had forgotten. One moment I was free, and then I wake back up down here. Lucien must see it in my eyes because he winces. “Sorry, I just need you to eat and drink, and then you can go back to sleep, okay?” he says softly.
I nod. “It’s okay, sorry, just forgot where I was for a moment.”
“That’s probably good,” he replies, passing over the bar, which I nibble on before accepting the water. “Sip it, your stomach might rebel at it.”
Sipping it slower, I lower the bottle and clear my throat. “How’s Cameron?”
“He’s lost a lot of blood and can’t feel his fingers.” He glances behind him before looking back at me. “He needs his arm amputated, but I can’t do it down here. If we aren’t free soon, he might get an infection…I don’t know how long he’ll last,” he admits, and I can tell it’s annoying him that he can’t help him when he has the means to.
Reaching out, I lay my good hand on his arm. “It isn’t up to you to save everyone, okay?”
“How come it feels like it? Plus, I don’t think you can talk. You stuck your hand in a bloody meat grinder,” he teases, and I laugh as I lean back. I try to wiggle my fingers and grimace at the twinge of pain.
“Guess we’re both idiots,” I counter and he nods, sitting cross-legged in front of me while playing with the cap of my water bottle.
“There aren’t many of us left. How long do you think he’ll keep playing with us?” he asks, and for the first time I see the concern and fear there. He’s letting me see behind the mask of the confident surgeon.
“I don’t know,” I reply. “Honestly? I don’t see this going our way, each test ends in someone getting hurt or dying, there might be ways to win them, but they aren’t without consequence, and I think he’s getting off on our pain and suffering. He’ll want to draw that out as long as he can. He’s done this before and there were obviously no survivors, or we would have heard about this on the news,” I surmise, wincing when he nods.
“I figured as much too,” he murmurs, looking up at me with hopeless eyes. “Kind of makes you want to stop fighting.”
Frowning, I lean forward, gasping at the pain it sends through my arm. “Lucien, look at me, we can’t give up just because it seems hopeless. If we do, we might as well just kill ourselves now. They weren’t us and he might know facts about our lives, but he doesn’t really know us, we can do this. We can win these fucking games and get free, and when we do, I’ll buy you a drink on the outside, okay?” I offer and then he laughs, the sound bitter at first but his eyes light up again, his plump lips tipping into as smile.
“Sounds like a date,” he replies and smirks.
I laugh. “Sorry, I don’t date.” I wink, leaning back and sipping my water.
“Really? Too bad. I heard there’s this cute surgeon who might be interested,” he teases.
“Oh yeah? I heard he’s a bit of hard ass,” I taunt back, and he laughs.
“You got me there. How about giving me something to live for though? One date?” he suggests, and those eyes and teasing lips have me agreeing mentally, but before I can reply verbally, Cameron wakes up and starts screaming, so Lucien jumps to his feet and heads over to him.
I watch as he helps the young man who looks worse for wear, but after Lucien is done, he’s back to sleep and a tired looking Lucien heads my way. I pat the floor in front of me. “Lie down before you fall down,” I order.
“Bossy, I like it,” he teases, but a yawn splits his face and he gets gracefully to the floor, lying down, but I offer my lap and he rests his head there, his eyes closing as I run my fingers through his soft hair, unable to help myself.
“One date, no escape rooms though,” I tell him. He smiles and looks up at me.
“I’ll turn that one date into more, don’t worry, doctor’s orders.” He winks and closes his eyes, moving closer as I stare up at the ceiling while stroking his hair, and letting him rest while he can.
My eyes drop to the room. The machine has disappeared back into the floor and an idea hits me then. We should test that unit of floor and the others for an escape. I’ll wait for Lucien to wake up, though, as I won’t be much good with my one good arm.
Looking around, I spot Kadian asleep in the corner and Cameron passed out near him, but Valerie is leaning back against the wall, watching me. I move my gaze away from her, not willing to argue right now. The bodies are really starting to smell now, mixed in with faecal matter and urine, I have to breath shallowly to stop myself from being sick.
I pass the time by counting the bricks, trying to keep myself awake and distracted from the stench and pain. One, two, three, four—shooting pain goes down my arm, making me wince.
“You should strap it to your chest so you can’t move it,” Valerie advises, and I drag my gaze to her in shock. “Don’t look at me like that. I might not be a selfless fuck willing to lose my arm for a stranger, but I’m not a total bi
tch.” She rolls her eyes and I smile despite myself.
“No, I’m usually the bitch,” I reply, still playing with Lucien’s hair.
She grins then. “I thought you looked the type, secret Goody Two-shoes but total ice queen on the outside.”
I snort. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called good.”
“Me either,” she retorts and laughs, then looks at Lucien as he snores and turns to his side in my lap. “What’s the deal? You hoping by flirting with him, he’ll help you escape or sacrifice himself for you if it comes to it?”
My mouth drops open and she snorts. “It’s a good angle, I wouldn’t blame you.”
“No, I just like him. He’s nice, and I don’t want to be alone down here,” I reply.
“I guess I can get that too, I wish Ree was here, as horrible as that sounds,” she whispers, looking anything but angry since the first time she woke up.
“Ree?” I ask.
“She’s my wife, I was on the way to her office for breakfast when I was taken,” she explains then looks up, her eyes falling. “What, a girl can’t marry a girl?” she snaps, angry again.
“Bitch, please, I like women as much as the next person, I was just fucking shocked someone could love you,” I answer, but soften my words with a smile and she laughs, grinning at me.
“Fuck you,” she jokes,
“Fuck you too, pussy lover,” I shoot back.
We share a smile, a truce of sorts, but Cameron whimpers in his sleep, drawing our gazes to him as he sweats in his slumber. Kadian wakes up and tries to rouse him, but he just keeps whimpering and crying out, unable to wake up.
Stroking Lucien’s face, I call his name, but he doesn’t wake so I shake his shoulder. “Lucien, we need you,” I insist after he opens his eyes, blinking before they zero in on me.
“Something is wrong with Cameron,” I inform him, and he clambers to his feet, unsteadily righting his trousers and shirt before kneeling beside the injured man. He checks him over as we all watch, and then he glances up with a worried look on his face.