Page 36 of Villainous Fate

Gotta hand it to him. He’s a fighter.

The powers that be thought so, too, and allowed him to stay, citing that he indeed made it before midnight with his partner. I’m sure more questions will follow about his death, but in the meantime, each of us is idly hanging around, waiting for our next instructions.

Marcus and I were the first to arrive at the compound, with about twenty minutes before the group we heard approaching was able to make it through the trap maze from their side of things. We each took a bed at the far end of the barracks, him on the right, me on the left, intentionally placing two walls behind us so we had less surface area to protect.

If I could really trust him, I would only have to worry about the person who took the bunk closest to me. I counted the beds as we entered and found only thirty set up in the room. Fifteen on each side, with a long walkway in the middle. A trunk sat at the foot of each, large enough to hold a small person. It’s efficient. It’s minimalistic. It’s going to be a security nightmare for someone like me.

I’m doing this for Grace.

Just thinking her name causes a pang in my heart. I’ve only been away from her for a day, and already I miss the light timbre of her voice, the crinkle in her nose when she sasses me, the warmth of her skin against mine.

How am I going to make it months?

Shaking the weight of that question, I return my attention to the pairs who arrived intact:

Me and Marcus

Finn McCormick and Hayden Furth

Alister Benitez and Doug Martin

Sean Moore and Rico Gomez

JJ Simmons and Veronica Kent

Ornwell Dith and Conner Saint

Yelthin Hines and Kenneth James

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