Silence.
My heart rushed into top gear as I gazed around at everyone.
Kite lifted her chin. “It's got to be me.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, not wanting to find out what would happen if we got the answer wrong.
“I'm not even sure how many it is,” Kite said like she was proud.
“Okay, go ahead,” Cass encouraged, gripping the stake firmer in her hand.
“Me,” Kite said to the ceiling.
After a moment, Abraham's voice filled the room in a sharp tone, “Incorrect.”
With a rattling of metal, the Vs surrounding us were given an extra foot of chain.
Briony squeaked in alarm, pressing against me as the Vs shot toward us, yanked back just in time.
I took a few, slow breaths to calm down.
Kite snapped around, glaring at us. “Who is it then?” She scowled at Angelina. “You said you only killed five.”
“I did!” Angelina insisted.
“What about you?” Kite marched toward Briony.
“Just one!” she said and Kite's eyes slid to me.
“One,” I announced and with a pang of dread, I realised who it was. All eyes slid to Cass and her face drained of colour. Perhaps she had never seen what she'd done as murder. But now she was. All those people who had died in the fire. How many could it have been?
I rested a hand on her arm, nodding my encouragement.
“Me,” she sighed.
Abraham's voice filled the room. “Correct.”
A hatch in the roof fell open, but there was no way we could reach it without helping each other up to it.
Abraham continued, “The number of people Cassandra killed will equal the amount of seconds you have before the Vs are released.”
A red number 43 flared up on all the walls, immediately starting to run down. I had no time to process it as we smashed into each other, everyone desperate to be the first into the hatch.
We'd already wasted ten seconds when I shouted, “Stop!”
The clinking of metal drew my attention for half a second and I realised the Vs' chains were growing longer.
I held out my hands, locking my fingers together. “Angelina, help me,” I demanded. Of all the girls I didn't want up there before me, it was her. I didn't trust her one bit not to run off the second she was out.
“Cass first,” I demanded as Angelina begrudgingly locked her fingers with mine. The one person I could count on pulling me up, was Cass.
“This isn't fair,” Angelina muttered.
“We don't have time for fair!” Kite barked, helping Cass up onto our hands. The press of her boots weighed down our arms but after a beat, she dragged herself into the hatch. Turning, she immediately reached down to help the next person. Kite followed her, scrambling up with ease, before the two of them helped Briony into the hole.
“Me next,”Angelina demanded, unlocking her hands from mine.
I noted the timer on the wall. Ten seconds.
“Just go then!” I snapped and she reached up, taking hold of the girls' hands above. I readied my stake, pressing closer to Angelina as she kicked her legs, trying to get up. The Vs were just a foot away, their gnashing teeth making me feel ill.
Five seconds.
“Go!” I screamed at Angelina, allowing her to use my shoulder for purchase. With a harsh kick, she launched up into the room above.
Cass practically hung out of the hatch to reach me. I tucked my stake away and leapt into the air, taking hold of her arms.
The timer ran out and the white walls turned red.
I screamed, kicking my legs as the Vs smashed together around me. Claws snagged at my dress as Cass heaved and heaved. Miraculously, I lifted from the room, kicking sharply at the Vs below and connecting with some of their heads.
Several pairs of hands dragged me into the pitch black space above and I lay panting, my entire body trembling.
Lights flared to life around us, illuminating the enormous glass tank we were inside. Below us, the Vs were visible, their arms raised as they spotted us above.
I clambered to my feet, the glass floor making me queasy.
Abraham's voice greeted us again. “To ascend to level three you must answer this simple question.”
We waited, clustering closer together.
“How many Vs have the five of you collectively killed during the game?”
A hush fell over us as we turned to each other, trying to mentally count our kills. I reached eight, but my mind was fuzzy. It had to be more than eight.
The game was a blur, all the Vs' deaths merging into one.
“I think I killed twelve,” Briony said, which I was surprised by. She didn't seem as confident in killing as some of the others. But I saw the truth in her eyes.
“Eighteen,” Kite said proudly.
Cass looked torn, frowning at me as she tried to work it out. “Eleven maybe.”
“Nine,” I said uncertainly.
Angelina nervously rung her hands together. “Three,” she breathed.
“Fifty three,” Cass announced to the room with a shrug.
Abraham's voice cut through the muffled air. “Incorrect.”
Two enormous pipes were attached high up on the glass walls and, at his word, water poured into the tank in torrents. With a loud clank, one of the glass panels beneath our feet fell away, opening a small gap in it, falling into the crowd of hungry Vs below. Briony was closest to the fallen pane and lurched toward us. We gathered together, my heart beginning to beat an erratic tune.
“Count again,” Kite snapped as water sloshed over our feet, rushing so fast that the tank began to fill up, despite the hole in the floor.
I shut my eyes, thinking, trying to keep my breathing steady. But all I could concentrate on was the rising water, already halfway up my calves. It was icily cold, seeping into my boots and freezing my toes.
“Ten?” I guessed, shaking my head.
Kite and Angelina stuck with their answers but Briony and Cass tried again.
“Thirteen,” Briony said with a look of fear in her eyes.
“Twelve,” Cass said with a shrug.
“Fifty six!” Angelina called to the ceiling, looking panicked as the water rose to our knees.
“Incorrect.”
Another panel dropped away in the floor and I lurched aside. My foot had been right on the edge of it. The water poured in quicker and I gasped as it splashed over my midriff. The Vs in the room below us were getting soaked as water streamed through the holes in the glass floor.
“Come on!” Angelina screamed at us. “Get it right!”
I shook my head in dismay. I simply didn't know. I couldn't think straight under this pressure.
“Fifty seven!” Angelina cried in desperation.
“Incorrect.”
Another panel fell away and the water rushed in harder through the pipes.
“Fifty nine!” Angelina shouted again and Kite lunged at her, smacking her across the face.
“Incorrect.”
“Shut up!” Kite snarled at her.
The water started dragging us down, pulling us toward the empty holes in the floor.
“Think again,” Cass begged us all. “Try and remember.”
All I could see was a hundred different Vs, running at me, biting me. Blood, pain, teeth.
I shook my head, starting to panic.
“We have to guess!” Angelina screamed and Briony suddenly sided with her.
“She's right.” Her cheeks were pale as the water rose to our shoulders.
We had to tread water, trying to keep afloat as the holes beneath us sucked at our legs.
“Fifty two!” Briony shouted and Kite splashed toward her, trying to fight her.
“You're going to get us killed!” Kite barked.
“Incorrect.”
The water rose so high that we had to swim. Angelina started screaming.
“I can't swim!” she flailed in the water and I moved toward
her, scooping an arm under her shoulders.
“Just kick with your legs,” I demanded and her soft blue eyes met mine. I flitter of vulnerability passed through them as she nodded, doing as I said.
The water rose dramatically until the tank was nearly full. I kicked up with all my might, keeping Angelina at my side, our heads dunking under again and again.
A metre of air was all we had left.
“Fifty one!” Cass shouted, seeing as no one seemed to have the right answer.
Kite didn't fight her this time, looking panicked as the water rose and she pressed a hand to the glass roof.
We had only a few seconds of air remaining, then we wouldn't be able to give an answer.
A clamour of noise rose as everyone started shouting answers and Abraham's repetitive tone followed again and again.
“Incorrect, incorrect, incorrect.”
I felt the drag of the holes below us, like a giant plug, tugging us into the vacuum. Just an inch of air was left, our mouths gasping, nearly pressing to the glass ceiling.
“Sixty,” I breathed as the water filled the space.
Silence prevailed as I sank under, having been so panicked that I'd forgotten to drag down one final breath.
Below me was turmoil, the water rushing through the open panels in the floor, so many of them, causing whirlpools, sucking us down.
I lost my grip on Angelina and her arms waved madly as she tried to hold on. A whirlpool took hold of her and she span like a rag doll in it, dragged down, down, down.
I wanted to scream, to cry out. I kicked my legs, reaching for her, but it was too late. Her body slipped through the hole.
Through the remaining glass floor, I watched her fall.
All eight of the Vs were loose, waiting for her. Her body writhed as she hit them, dropping to the ground, gazing up at us as we hung suspended above her in the tank.
The Vs fell on top of her and with a twist of my gut, I knew she was lost.
Suddenly, hands were on my back, pulling me up, heaving me out of the water. Cass lay me down atop the glass ceiling. A panel had opened in the roof, incredibly, freeing us.
Cass hugged me tight, her body shuddering. Briony and Kite sat nearby, their faces ashen and their eyes haunted. We were dripping from head to toe and the weight of my dress was tenfold as I rose to my feet. Evidently, my final guess had been correct.
“She got what she deserved,” Kite muttered, leading the way ahead toward a frosted glass door.
“And what do you deserve Kite?” Briony snapped.
Kite shrugged as the door slid aside and we hurried after her. My hands wouldn't stop shaking, my heart was on overdrive, pumping blood through my veins as hard as it could. I hadn't liked Angelina much, but she'd been scared, just like the rest of us.
I had no time to process her death as we entered a brightly lit, square room. Footage burst onto the walls, encompassing everything we could see. Clips from the game played all around us, showing us running, hiding in caves, taking down Vs, looking fiercer than I ever could have imagined.
Abraham spoke, calm and collected, as if he hadn't just watched one of us die. “You have all done things to survive. But who has kept their humanity? Who deserves to survive the game?”
His question hung in the air as the footage changed. I watched as Kite threw Tiffany to the V that had attacked us on the very first day. A shot of Cass played, staying hidden whilst two girls were taken down by a group of bloodthirsty Vs. Briony fleeing with Marie, away from a girl who'd been badly bitten, lying in a writhing heap on the forest floor. Then there was me, stabbing Marie in the belly, her eyes going wide in recognition.
The screens faded to white and a tense silence crept into the room. I felt Briony's eyes on me, but refused to meet her gaze, guilt washing through me.
Abraham spoke, saving us from doing so. “Only three will leave this room. You will decide who stays.”
I sucked in a breath, gazing around at the group. We were being pitted against each other like dogs.
Briony launched at me, shoving me hard. “You killed her!”
“I didn't know!” I begged. “It was the mist. I didn't know it was her.”
“Liar,” she sobbed, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Cass tore her away from me, putting herself between us. “Stop fighting. That's what they want.”
Kite was on the other side of the room, flipping the stake in her hand. “Selena killed one of us.”
“So did you!” Cass barked and Kite shrugged.
“We've all done bad things,” I tried, searching Briony's eyes for forgiveness but there was none there.
“Selena stays,” Briony snarled and my heart flipped over.
“Wait – no,” I tried but Kite rounded on her.
“Or why don't you stay Briony? Go be with your little friend.”
Briony's eyebrows lifted dramatically. “You can't be serious, I never hurt anybody!”
“But you didn't help anybody either,” Kite said with a shrug. “Why should you get to leave this room?”
Before she could answer, Cass spoke up. “We should draw straws. None of us are innocent.”
Slowly, we agreed and Cass tore strips off her sodden dress, ripping them into different lengths. When she was done, she turned her back, clamping them in her fist before facing us once more.
She offered her fist to me first and I pulled one from her grip. It wasn't too long, but perhaps long enough to survive. I tried not to pay attention to the death stare Briony was giving me, guilt already tearing at my insides.
Briony went next, taking a longer strip than me and she finally relaxed.
Kite pulled out a short one and her mouth fell into a thin line.
Cass opened her palm and the longest one remained inside it.
“That's it then, decision made,” Cass muttered and Kite glared at her, the small strip in her hand clamped so tightly in her fist that her knuckles were turning white.
My stomach flipped over as I gazed at Kite. It wasn't right to do this. How could we simply leave her here to die? After everything she'd been through?
Cass pushed me toward the door on the opposite side of the room, not giving me a moment to hesitate. As we reached it, an ear-splitting scream cut through the air.
I span around, my heart in my throat as I spotted Briony on the floor, a pool of blood forming around her. Kite's stake was buried in her chest, a sneer turning up her lips.
“Bitch!” Briony spat, trying to fight back, but it was clear she was already weakening.
“How could you?” I roared, launching myself at Kite. She shoved me back, but I smacked her hands away, tearing at her dress.
“Did you really expect me to roll over?” Kite snarled. “To give in after everything I've been through to get here?”
Briony slumped backwards and I clambered over Kite, cupping Briony's cheek in my hand.
“I'm so sorry,” I breathed as the light in her eyes dimmed to nothing.
I didn't know if she forgave me, but my heart told me she didn't and that was a bitter pill to swallow.
Tears dripped down my cheeks, pooling in the crevice of her neck.
A hand clamped around my arm, pulling me backwards.
I moved into Cass's embrace as she led me from the room. Kite was already standing beyond the door. We were in a small, four by four space and, as the door slid quietly shut behind us and Briony's body was forever concealed, I realised we were in a lift.
It sailed smoothly upwards and the tug of gravity made my stomach lurch uncomfortably.
“I'm not dying in this place,” Kite said quietly, wiping the blood off her stake onto her dress.
In a way, I understood. None of us owed any allegiance to one another. And I wanted to survive as much as she did. But would I have done something so terrible if I'd pulled the short straw?
I prayed not.
Selena
The lift slowed to a halt and the door opened, revealing a wide corridor
running away from us.
“Perhaps this is it,” Cass murmured, evidently trying to move on from the horrors we'd just witnessed. “Maybe this is the end.”
Behind us, another door at the back of the lift slid open. Ten haggard Vs stood there, their eyes flashing with murder as they spotted us.
“Run!” I roared, fleeing down the corridor ahead. Kite and Cass were close on my heels, but so were the Vs.
The passage veered to the right; a staircase was the only way forward. We started sprinting upwards, higher and higher until my calves ached and my lungs burned.
Cass outpaced me, flying up the stairs two at a time with her longer legs.
A scream from behind caused me to turn back. A snarling V had hold of Kite's hair, dragging her into his arms. I kicked out at it, yanking her forward as my boot smashed into his face.
We ran on, her hand still clinging to mine as we rose, higher and higher up the seemingly endless flights of stairs. I knew I couldn't keep this pace up much longer. But if I stopped for even a second, I was dead.
To my left, a door flew open and a well-fed V charged at me. Kite shoved me aside at the last second, taking the blow herself. She twisted her stake up, slicing it through him, but his teeth had already sunk deep into her neck.
I dragged her free of him, encouraging her on, the V's body causing an obstacle for the others as they tried to pursue us.
“Now we're even,” she panted, but I couldn't manage an answer.
Blood dripped in a thick stream to the floor and Kite groaned as we soldiered on, licking her stake as she climbed at my side.
We caught up with Cass who looked exhausted, her feet dragging as she slowed to match our pace.
The screeches and high-pitched cries of the Vs closed in. I was breathless and aching all over.
Finally, the stairs led to another corridor and we flew down it at high speed, the level ground a reprieve from the hellish climb. The Vs had caught up, running just behind us, their fingers clutching at the ends of my hair.
I barged through the door at the other end and nearly lost my footing on the vertical drop immediately before me; we were outside edge of the tower, the island stretching out ahead of us. Kite pushed me aside in seconds, the two of us tumbling onto a platform beside the exit, just wide enough to stand on. Cass hadn't been so lucky, falling forward and catching herself on the edge, dropping her stake as she hung from it with white-knuckled fingers.
V Games (The Vampire Games Trilogy Book 1) Page 25