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Drake’s face fell. “Shit,” he muttered.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” Sam said. “If someone doesn’t bleed before the end of lunch, you will all bleed.”
That was it. The whole message. The intercom or whatever it was clicked off. Sam was gone.
My eyes were wide as I looked around the room. Bri, Liam, and Jeffery all had their jaws set and looked like they were psyching themselves up for something. Drake’s head hung as he stared at his lap. When I looked back across the table, Elise glared daggers at me.
“It’s new girl’s turn,” she said through gritted teeth.
What? They took turns like this was some sick kid’s game. I really didn’t want to play.
Drake lifted his head. “Her name is Dahlia. We use our names here. Stop trying to dehumanize her, Elise.”
Elise turned and jabbed a finger at Drake. “Oh, what the fuck? You know how this goes. You know better than anyone. Plus, her stupid ass got me electrocuted this morning.”
“Right,” Liam said but sounded less enthusiastic than Elise. “She’s new, she needs to get a good idea of what we’re in for. What better way than to bleed?”
Drake’s brow furrowed. “That’s not exactly the fairest way to go about it. You guys were all new once too. Is that what you’d want? For someone to fuck you up the first six hours you were here?”
Bri chuckled humorlessly. “Drake, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we have been fucked since we got here.”
Bong. “You have fifteen seconds,” Sam said. “Choose.”
Elise grabbed the knife beside her plate, clenching it in her fist so tight the knuckles were white. When I looked at her face, she stared at me, lips peeled back in a sneer.
“Fuck it,” Elise hissed and slammed the knife down toward the seat beside her.
Liam howled as the steak knife buried itself to the handle in the meat of his thigh. I gasped as he rocked backward and fell from his seat onto the floor. Liam clutched at his leg as the steak knife’s handle wobbled and he writhed where he lay.
He looked down at his leg and the bright red stain growing around the wound. “Jesus fucking Christ. You goddamned psycho!” he screamed at Elise’s back.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. The knife hadn’t hit an artery, but there was still a lot of blood. It glopped onto the tile floor. The coppery tang of it filled my nose and my stomach flipped.
Liam stopped shrieking and started whimpering, his face red with veins standing out on his neck. None of them acknowledged what happened.
Jeffery was back to shoveling pasta into his mouth.
Bri sipped at her glass of water.
Drake looked at his plate and stirred his food but didn’t eat.
Elise was still staring at me.
If this was typical behavior here, I didn’t know why she seemed to be so angry with me. She’d been hit with a stun gun. That was much better than what she’d done to Liam. Was she so angry with me because I was new? Was she this way with all the new people? That brought up another question. Had other people been here but they were gone now?
A few moments later that alarm sounded again, and everyone but Liam stood. He was still cradling his injured leg. Silverware clacked as it was dropped onto plates, and chairs screeched as they slid across floors.
I stood, haltingly, still looking at Liam holding his leg. Everyone walked toward the door, ignoring him. Were they going to let him suffer there?
“What about Liam?” I asked.
Drake shook his head. “He’ll be fine. Follow directions. It’s time to go back to our rooms.”
“He’s hurt. Won’t he get in trouble?”
Bri sighed. “He said he’ll be all right. Come on. Unless you want to end up like him. Damn, he was ready to slice you open three minutes ago. Forget him.”
Going against my instincts, I followed them. I glanced back at Liam one more time. He lay flat on his back, one hand on his thigh, the other arm draped across his eyes. His chest was hitching, and as I rounded the corner, I was pretty sure he was crying. Fuck, if it’d been me, I’d have been sobbing too. All I could do as I headed back to my room was hope he’d be okay.
