Page 17 of Eat Me

“Yes, it is. But it seems like this girl may be half banshee.”

I heard the guy mutter; he has dark blond hair and a scowl on his face. I don’t recognize him. How many people were in on this? The silent question kept repeating in my head, making my stomach drop. It seems like this kept getting more and more complicated. I didn’t know how many people were in on this ‘game’ we were playing. This could make things harder.

“Quiet.”

Marcus didn’t even have to raise his voice much. The cold sharp tone was enough to make the whole room go silent. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. I hadn’t seen this side of him, he’s been well mannered…when talking to me. Narrowing my eyes, waiting to see if he’d do anything else… he doesn’t. He turns his attention back to me, his blue eyes softening as he looks down at me. I kept perfectly still, because I didn’t like how quickly he could change. All the guys seem to be that way.

The psychos.

“Now we’re just waiting for one more, then we’ll explain the rules for the next test.” Marcus’s voice echoes through the room, leaving no room for arguments. Taking a deep breath, I let my eyes wander and take in the room we’re in. The room is like the cells we’ve been in with cement and metal bars over the door. There are four windows around the room that are boarded up. The ceiling is at least twelve feet tall, but it’s one large circle instead of being a square like the cells. Around the room are tables, chairs and other random items. I’m not sure why theywould be here; they seem a bit out of place. There's something that looks like a big machine that's in the corner. I have no clue what it is either, but it’s seven feet or so tall and something like four feet wide. There were vines on the walls as well as some bushes, other plant life is growing on the cracks in the cement.

“Enjoying the view?” Marcus snaps me out of my assessment of the room. He seems to have been watching me like a hawk. Licking my lips, I shake my head.

“Not really. I think I like my jail cell more.” The tone came out with more bite, and I can feel the eyes of the others on me as Marcus laughs.

“Do you now?” His smirk grows as his blue eyes darkened while he looks me over. I don’t know what’s going through his head, but I know it can't be good by the grin on his face.

“What girl doesn’t like to be locked up,” I mutter out, refraining from rolling my eyes. I know I might regret my attitude later, but I’m fine being a brat or a bitch at this moment. I’m tired, hungry and just want to go home. I know that those things aren’t going to change any time soon.

Marcus opens his mouth to say something, but the door opens, and Elijah comes in with one girl we’ve been waiting on. The door snapping shut behind him, the girl’s cursing as her blindfold is taken off. She glares at Elijah who’s standing before her.

“Asshole,” she mutters and winces. I can see the sneer on Elijah’s face as he looks down on the dark-haired girl.

I hear, "Behave,” hisses from Elijah, making me snap my eyes to him. I wonder what she did to make him so angry. I felt a shudder go down me at his tone and hold back the urge to take a step back.

“Now, all you better be listening and I want you all to stay put no matter what else I say.” Elijah raised his voice to make sure everyone is paying attention to him. The unease in my stomachgrows as I glance around the room. After what happened during the first ‘test’ I have to wonder what this one will bring. I’m hoping not to witness another death.

“This test is a little different. I want you to sit here, behave, interact and talk, and no trying to escape.” I can hear the amusement in his voice as he’s speaking. Frowning while listening to his words... the first sentence he said… it can’t be that easy. I see Elijah looking at me and I must have a confused look on my face, because a look of amusement flashes across his face before going back to a cold look.

“See what you can learn from one another. You may need those skills for another test.” He gives me a look before going to the door with the others following behind him. I can hear the other girls cry out. I keep repeating his words.

‘Behave’… ‘Stay’... ‘Listen’... is this to see how obedient we are? Frowning at this, I give Elijah one last look before the door closes us all in with a loud bang that echoes off the concrete walls.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. That didn’t tell us shit!” Glancing over I see Amber, pushing her pink hair out of her face, her face twisted in anger as she kicks one of the chairs. The wood hit the ground with a loud bang as it slides across the hard floor.

“They can’t expect us to just sit here, hold hands and sing kumbaya. Fuck that.” Amber yells as she picks up a vase that’s on a table and throws it at the wall. The glass shatters against the wall, making me wince at the noise that seems to stay in my ears.

“Cursing and throwing things isn’t going to help either,” I tell her. Screaming and yelling out your frustrations at any of us here won’t help any. It would just give me a headache... or, rather, make the one creeping up on me worse.

“It is better than doing nothing!” She snaps at me.

Holding my hands up in surrender, I'm not going to stop her if she’s this heated. If she wants to waste her time and energy,that’s her problem not mine. I watch her for a few seconds, the other girls aren’t saying much. Deciding to move to the other side of the room, I don’t know why the test is like this… but with the hints I have been given… I’d rather play it safe. Compared to the other test though, this seems…tame.

“Are you all really going to sit there and do nothing?” Amber yells again, eyes full of anger. Letting out a sigh and not moving, I watch her look around at the four of us.

“I’m going to follow what they said. I don’t want to end up dead…” I mutter. I didn’t think that she’d be able to hear me, but by the look she sends me, she definitely does. It’s obvious she also doesn’t like what I said. Oh well, her problems are not mine. I'm not going to change my mind on that.

“Shouldn’t we follow directions? They can do who knows what to us…” Another girl says. I think her name is Cami. She pushes her glasses up her nose as she bites her lip. She looks as anxious as I’m sure we’re all feeling. Her emotions are clear and easy to read.

“Definitely not. They left us alone and we can find a way out of this room!” Amber’s voice snarls out. The sound of it was starting to grate on my nerves.

“Just getting out of this room isn’t going to help us. We’d need to be able to make it out of this building and through however much land they have. Do you think any of us have the energy to do that?” I ask the group. I understand the desire to escape, but we need to use our heads. Just getting out of this room isn’t going to help. There are a lot more things to factor in, as I already said.

"Then what would you suggest, miss I-know-everything?” Amber snaps out, taking a step towards me.

Sighing at this, I run a hand through my hair. “You know what…do what you want. Just leave me out of it.” I shake my head as I look over the room again. I can see plenty of thingsto help with an ‘escape’. But they've done this to other girls. I’m not going to risk it. There are too many people, and they’ve got to be watching us. I plan on leaving here alive, so thanks but no thanks.

“You say a lot, but you aren’t going to do anything?” Amber taunts, a scowl still on her face. I just shake my head at her. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I just don’t want a repeat of seeing someone murdered right in front of me.

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