Blood Lust
Chapter Nine

As soon as I heard the word 'Escape' my mind instantly flashed back to the time that man tried to run out of our pod on the first night. All the times I had to watch others lose their lives trying at their own attempts. I couldn't believe how stupid they were to even think of trying it.

"That's a suicide mission and you know it." I struggled to say as Anton put more pressure against me. "I won't die for you!" I wiggled my hands free and moved them to try to put space between us.

"You didn't even hear me out." He grunted and lifted his weight off of me. The looming fear of Anton hurting me had only temporarily dissipated. He grabbed me again and bent me over the table, leaving me even more vulnerable. "In order for this to work we will need a map and a Guard's key." He tugged on the string of my sweatpants, loosening them. "We have the map and all we need now is for someone to steal a Guard's key." Anton stuttered as he groped at my waist, I struggled to keep my pants up.

"Stop!" I begged, fighting him as he tried to pull my pants down.

"Shut up. You stupid bitch. Once you get close to a Guard, lift the keys off of him and I'll meet you later to pick them up." He let me go, only to slam my head down hard on the metal table.

"You weren't supposed to be that rough with that one!" The Guard whined as he looked back. "Aw fuck, someone's coming!" He shouted.

"You. Don't. Tell. A. Soul." Anton loomed over me as I curled up in a ball on the floor. I didn't have to guess what he was going to threaten me with. Anton looked back at the door before disappearing through a side door.

I heard the footsteps of someone walking up to the Guard at the door, I tried my best to pull myself up and pull my pants back up.

"It was just a scuffle, nothing to worry about." The Guard had lied through his teeth to someone out in the hall.

I had finished tying off my sweatpants when I walked straight into a rock in the middle of the door way.

It was R, that weird Guard who never spoke. He had a new look on his face, one I had never seen before.

"What?" I asked, hiding the fact of what happened. He stood there, still unwilling to respond. So, I brushed passed him and walked towards the coolers, pretending to get something. R stood outside the door, still gawking . "WHAT?" I shouted. He refused to say anything. I groaned and shoved past him again.

I went back to the prep table and finished cutting carrots to put, his gaze still heavy. I told myself not to look back at him. I heard him huff and storm off. Not long after he had left, I got twenty minutes into cutting up the carrots before the Guard had cut me off, "Time's up. Switch out!" He ushered a different girl in and mimicked for me to come with him.

When I ended up right back in the library, I felt like something was off. Like something was going to happen. Something told me to look up and I did. It was the Guard, R. He was trying not to stare, but I caught him. When our eyes met, a strange feeling ran down my spine. It was like a cold wind that gave you goosebumps.

I averted my eyes and focused on replaceing a new hiding spot. I tried to make it through a small crowd of people in the middle of the library. Everyone giving me weird looks as we passed each other. I had a feeling it had something to do with Thad and Anton's death wish.

"Hey, girl! Come hang out with us!" A girl from the back of the crowd had shouted at me. I had never shared so much as a word with her until that day, let alone half the people in that crowd.

The crowd circled around me and made the circle smaller around me, encroaching in on me. Thad appeared from somewhere in the crowd, "You told Anton you weren't going to help us." He took a step closer. I took a step back.

"Stay away from me." I warned, but I knew no matter how much I begged and pleaded with anyone in that crowd, they were going to do anything Thad said, even kill me.

"Twice in one day?" I heard Dee's voice as he broke through the crowd. "Break up the fight guys, it's over." He made everyone disperse. I took a deep breath of relief as I saw that going terribly wrong in my head. "...And you." Dee pointed at me as the last few stragglers wondered off. "You need to replace a better hiding spot." He chuckled lightly.

"You know, this could all be solved by eating the crappy people." I shot back. It got him to laugh a little more.

"Touché. For now, let's get you to your pod." Dee suggested.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Thad and Anton smirking. I could only imagine what they were thinking. They wanted me to get in that particular situation so I could take keys off of Dee. I refused to do it.

I was staggering behind Dee as he walked me back. "Oh, thanks. You didn't have to." Dee seemed to be talking to thin air, but R was behind us. I groaned when I realized they were switching.

In the months that I had been on that island, R had never spoken a word to me and made every encounter between us extremely awkward. For no reason.

I glared at him, "Not gonna talk?" I paused and waited for an answer. No answer. "Of course." I puffed and walked away. We reached the last hallway that led to my pod, I stopped dead in my tracks and blurted, "You guys can't keep putting me in the library with everyone else. Put me on extra duty or something."

No answer.

"I'll scrub toilets. I'll do anything, just don't put me back in the library after today." I begged, but there was still no answer. The closest I got to a response, was R had tilted his head as if to ask me why.

R opened the doors to the pod. I peaked my head inside to see if our Matron was in, she wasn't. What a relief. I didn't need a lecture about trying to make friends.

I walked over to my bed and stood there quietly, still feeling R's presence. "Why won't you talk to me?" I asked. No answer.

Ugh, this is so frustrating.

"Will you get me on extra duty at least?" I pestered. I was able to get a slight nod, which I was more than glad about. It was the first time he was willing to communicate. "Wait. I lied." My mouth spoke before my brain could stop it. "They're planning to escape. I don't wanna get dragged into it." My mouth was on autopilot. Saying whatever it wanted before letting my brain even get a minute to think. R sighed. "I am supposed to steal your badge and bring it back to them. That's why I don't want to go back."