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“How exactly would they do that?” Mel asked, kicking her sandals off. I was amazed she’d kept them on this entire time. That took skill.
“Track our cellphones.”
“The ones you all so eagerly dumped into an oil drum? Those phones?” I checked, shooting Ciaran a pointed look.
He returned it with an infuriating smirk. “You really going to hold keeping you alive against me?”
“We don’t know what’s happening outside of this place,” I replied to Abby, ignoring him. “Maybe they will find us. I know they’ll realize something is wrong, but do you really want to sit around and wait for that?”
Not to mention Mel couldn’t locate wherever this was using GPS. I was going to keep that tidbit to myself, though. It was liable to push Abby right over the edge.
“Our best chance of continuing to breathe is hinged on all of this.” I waved at the interactive map.
“Are you saying we have to go back out there?” She looked at me, horrified, her dark eyes round and refilling with tears. Ugh.
I did my best not to cringe. I even tried to force a small bit of empathy for this girl, because this situation was horrible.
I failed. My parents would be beside themselves from this lackluster effort. Mom always chastised me when I was younger for being so callous. There was this one time at my riding lessons… a girl fell off her pony and broke her arm. As she cried and cried, I was more concerned about us still getting the ice cream we’d been promised than I was about her being in pain.
I was only around eleven then. My moral compass had changed quite a bit since, but I didn’t have the mental fortitude to handle Abby or her tears. My head was in its own state of discord.
Thoughts and emotions swirled within me like a typhoon. My illusion of control was threatening to shatter. I couldn’t let that happen.
I couldn’t allow myself to revert to the woman I’d fought years to distance myself from because of a little death.
“We can’t stay here,” Gracelyn filled the silence that had spread amongst the group. “We’ve got almost six hours to accept that we’ll be going back outside with a bunch of deranged freaks to get to the end of this map.”
“And then what?” Margo asked quietly.
Grace shrugged. “I’m more focused on us getting through the city. We can deal with what’s next after we’ve done that.”
“So, what are you saying? I—”
“We’ve got to play along with whomever is behind this. That’s what she’s saying. Think of it as a game,” Kyrous cut in cleanly.
“Like Jumanji,” Selena suggested.
“Game?” Abby’s voice pitched to a near squeal, causing Margo to wince. “People are dying.”
“There are dead bodies just lying around. Susan just got dragged away like a dog on a leash. My best friend is—”
“Calm down. We were all there, Pistol Annie,” Charon drawled.
She wound her fingers through her hair and pulled at the roots. With tears having smeared mascara all over her reddened face, the action made her look like someone on the verge of a mental breakdown. I didn’t blame her.
“I can’t go back out there,” she whimpered.
“And I can’t take much more of this,” Ciaran monotoned, crossing his arms. “If you don’t think you’ll last, then I guess you’re shit out of luck. No one here is going to be your hero.”
“Now that’s enough,” Leonard reprimanded, sitting taller.
“You can’t go around saying whatever you damn well please, son. That isn’t the way the world works.”
“My world and your world are two very different places. I do whatever the fuck I want, while people like you remain bottom feeders striving to reach my level.”
“You little mother—” Leonard caught himself, jaw clenching and fury igniting in his eyes. They stared at one another, hostility practically snapping through the air between them.
I risked a glance at Ciaran, seeing a grin spread across his face. It was downright cold and sinister. His silent threat was harsher than any he could’ve spoken.
Leonard took a breath, puffing up his cheeks and then slowly letting the air out, running a hand through his graying hair.
Wisely choosing not to make the situation any worse, he took two bars from the multigrain bowl and changed the subject.
“I think the food’s okay. Same brand they sell in the stores and still wrapped.”
“Why are they feeding us when we’re just going to die?” Abby hiccupped, a fresh wave of tears spilling down her cheeks.
“Speak for yourself. I have no plans on dying here,” Mel snipped, breaking away from us to sit at the kitchen table.
“Girl, you need to stop bringing bad juju to the rest of us. Have some faith,” Selena advised softly, following in Mel’s path.
“Does this mean the meeting is adjourned? We might as well make the most of these few hours,” Maverick spoke up. “I spotted a bathroom off the hallway, and I’ve had to piss since we got here.”
