Page 115 of My Brother's Teammates

It’s chilly inside. The lights hanging from the ceiling are dim, and there's one flickering at the end of the hall—because of course there is. The paint is dingy, peeling in a few spots, and the floor is an old, weathered linoleum.

This place would make a great setting for those scary movies Mateo doesn’t like. It’s basically one long hall of horrors, and we’re about to make our way to the end.

The further down we go, passing several closed doors, the more my trepidation builds. There’s a sinking feeling deep in the pit of my stomach, and my insides feel like they’re lined with lead.

If you told me last month that Harrison and I would be exchanging more fists than words, I’d have laughed in your face, but here we are. Hopefully Harrison is in a better mood and ready to hear us out.

Mateo stops just short of the last door on the right, the only one that happens to be open, and glances behind us. “This place is creepy as fuck.”

With a nod, I hover in the doorway, relief washing over me when I see the back of Harrison’s head. I’d recognize that wavy auburn hair anywhere. It also helps that he has one of our old college hockey jerseys on.

I’m going to take that as a good sign.

“Hey, man.” I don’t register my surroundings until the door behind us slams shut. My breath catches in my throat, and the heavy beat of my own pulse pounds in my ears.

There’s an operating table in the middle of the room with something that looks a lot like a body covered with a thin white sheet. Next to the bed is a metal stand covered with several rusty and very barbaric-looking instruments. The cabinets around the room looked packed with… well, I have no fucking clue, but it’s the big machine with all the tubes coming out of it, emitting a steady beat, that holds my attention the most.

What the fuck did we just walk in on?

Mateo is the first to turn around, trying to open the door, but it’s locked. He knocks on it. Kicks it. Then throws his body at it. The door still won’t open.

“No. No. No.” Roman chants, whirling around, searching the wall behind us. “Harrison? What the fuck, man?”

I’ve got my phone out of my pocket, activating the screen, and no bars. This thing is worthless.

Harrison turns around, a smirk spreading across his face. He takes one look at us and laughs. “You know, I felt a little bad keeping you in the dark, but this was totally worth it.”

“Hello, gentlemen.” A low voice crackles over the loudspeaker. “Welcome to surgery. We here at Mercy Hospital want to thank you for allowing us to…experiment. Your phones won’t work, and there is no escape. Well, unless you can figure out the clues in the next ninety minutes. If you don’t, the good doctor will be back to put you to sleep. You’re allowed to ask for help twice if you get stuck, but otherwise, you won’t hear from me again. Good luck. Hope you can get out alive.”

Harrison’s smile grows, and I look around again, this time noticing the small camera in the corner of the room and a few containers with locks on them. “Are we in a fucking escape room?”

Mateo bends over, grabbing his legs right above his knees, and blows out a breath. “Fuck me. You’re an asshole, Fournier.”

“Yeah, well, you fucked my sister and then punched me in the face. I’m not sure we’re even close to even.”

Roman takes a step forward. “You know we love her, right?”

“Better start looking for clues if you want to make the game tonight.” Harrison gestures around the room and crosses his arms, watching us.

To be honest, he’s in a much better mood than I expected. His eyes aren’t in their narrowed position, his jaw isn’t clenched at all, and he doesn’t look like he wants to maim any of us. His face is still covered in fading bruises, but some of the old Harrison is starting to break through.

I’ve missed my friend.

Yeah, I want Charlotte back. I want to wrap her in my arms and snuggle into Mateo’s bed with him and Roman, but Harrison is just as important.

If he wants to pretend to be Scooby-Doo and the Gang and look for clues, that’s what we’re going to do.

We spend the next hour scouring the room, searching for anything and everything that will help us get the fuck out of here. Surprisingly, Mateo’s found over half the clues, but I still feel like we’re not any closer to getting out that door.

Or fixing our rocky friendship.

Harrison’s been quiet, occasionally grunting or offering some input in the form of short sentences. And even though this whole thing was his idea, he refused to search the body under the sheet. Roman offered but looked a little green around the gills as he dug through the fake abdominal cavity for a small skeleton key. The four of us are studying a large diagram of all the muscles and arteries in the human body when Harrison breaks away from our group with a sigh. “Yeah, I know you guys love her. You’ve been playing like shit since she left.”

Mateo snorts a laugh. “Your gameplay hasn’t been stellar either.”

“Yeah, well, I lost my three best friends. I needed some time to be pissed off before I could talk to any of you.”

I nod, my voice caught in my throat. He and I have been friends for so long, I should’ve been honest with him. What if he forgives them, but not me? I force myself to swallow down my insecurity. “You haven’t lost us.”

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