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As curious as I was about our new visitor, my eyes didn’t follow his body to the ground. I looked out the front door. Greedily trying to catch a glimpse of where we were. Bri was in the way as she knelt to check on the person, and whoever was in control of the house had already pushed whatever button they had to close the door. It was swinging shut. I saw a flash of bushy greenery. Trees? I didn’t see the sky, but there was light coming from somewhere. The door boomed closed, and I hissed a curse under my breath.
Pulling my attention away from the door, I finally looked at our guest. He looked terrible. A man in his mid to late twenties. He had four or five days’ worth of brown stubble on his face and what had been a shaved head, bags under his eyes and lines of tiredness cut deep in his face. He looked both physically and mentally exhausted. He sat on his knees glancing around the room like an animal caught in a cage.
“Where the fuck am I? Who the fuck are you people?” His voice was deep and gravelly like he hadn’t used it in a while.
My cuff buzzed. I heard the faint hum as everyone else got the same notification. My screen read a few simple words: Welcome your new housemate.
Drake walked forward and helped Bri get the man off the floor. He rose but stumbled a bit, and Drake had to put his arm around him to guide him to the empty chair. A moment later, the new guy sat in what had, until recent events, been Jeffery’s seat.
His eyes were still wild, but when he saw the food on the table, I watched any questions or fear he had vanish. It was replaced with a ravenous hunger. He reached out with his hands and scooped a handful of the breakfast casserole into his mouth. I winced in disgust as he devoured the food like a mad man. It made me wonder how long he’d gone without eating. I remembered my own hunger pains and that had only been from a couple days. Had this guy been outside the whole time?
A whiff of body odor informed me he hadn’t had a chance to shower in some days, either.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw that the front door was still visible. Sam hadn’t closed the hidden wall again. There had been trees or shrubs or something outside. It had been so quick I couldn’t be sure. Were we in the middle of a forest, far from civilization? Maybe Sam or whoever was working with him had dropped this guy out in the wilderness with no food or water. That was a torture in and of itself. For the first time since being there, I was glad that I’d woken up in a warm and soft bed.
Once the new arrival had eaten and drunk his fill, my device buzzed and told me to lead him to his room. Jeffery’s old room. My heart fluttered, but I’d learned to do things when I was told. I dreaded another painful shock.
I put my napkin down and stood. “Uh, mister? Sir? If you want to come with me, I’ll show you to your room.”
He wiped his face with his napkin and glanced around at the others. It was obvious he had a million questions, but he had no frame of reference to ask them. He was intelligent, that much was obvious. Finally, he tossed the napkin down and stood to follow me.
The whole situation was strange, and that said a lot. Based on everyone else’s reaction to his arrival—this wasn’t the typical way people showed up here. I could feel his gaze on me as we walked, so I turned to address him.
“My name’s Dahlia,” I said.
He grunted, and scanned the hallways, eyeballing every inch. He reminded me of a trapped animal.
Frowning, I gritted my teeth. I’d changed in the time I’d been in this house. I wasn’t as weak and fragile as I’d been in the real world. Too much had happened, and I was beginning to realize I was stronger than I’d ever given myself credit for. After the things I’d done the day before, there was no reason to be afraid of this guy.
“I said my name is Dahlia. Now, tell me your name,” I demanded.
The new arrival blinked and looked back at me. His face became a mask of suspicion.
“Why do you want my name? What exactly is going on here, huh?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “I only want to know who I’m talking to, okay? Is that so hard? As for what’s going on,” I shrugged helplessly, “you know almost as much as I do.”
He thought about that for a minute before making an irritated face. “Name’s Kaden.”
Before I could get any more info out of him, my cuff buzzed painfully at my wrist. I hissed. “Fuck.”
Looking down, I saw a message: No more questions. His room is Jeffery’s old room. Move.
I turned and hurried along with Kaden following behind me. He peppered me with questions about the bracelet, but I ignored him. I didn’t want a stronger shock from the damned thing. Once we were at the room Jeffery used to occupy, I showed him the door.
“This is your room. Word of advice. Whatever Sam tells you to do? Do it.”
Before he could ask me anything else, I ushered him into his room. Not wanting to be caught with him alone, I made a split decision. While he was glancing around his quarters, I jumped back out to the hallway and slammed the door behind him. The lock latched into place automatically, and he banged on the door, screaming at me to let him out. I could still hear him slamming his fists into the door as I hurried away.
My cuff gave me a painless buzz with a new message: Well done, Dahlia. Please report to the gym.
Once I got to the gymnasium, I found Elise and Liam as well as Drake waiting for me. Drake’s eyes widened as I entered, and he stood.
“How was that?” he asked.
“Yeah? What’d you have to do? Suck his dick to welcome him?” Elise asked.
Ignoring her, I answered Drake. “It was fine. He’s in Jeffery’s old room. I left him there to come here.”
