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Drake reappeared a few minutes later holding a pistol in his right hand. The sight of the gun made my palms go sweaty.
"Do you know how to use that?" I asked, naively assuming everyone was as inexperienced as me.
Drake tucked the weapon into his waistband like a guy in an action movie, and headed for the foyer. "Wish me luck, I guess."
Sam could punish me if he wanted, but I wasn’t letting him go without a goodbye. My chair almost tipped over as I leaped to my feet. I went to him, very aware of the others watching us. I still made sure to heavily limp as I went even though my ankle was almost a hundred percent better.
I put a hand on his arm. "Promise you’ll be careful?"
Drake grinned. "I’ll do my best. You stay safe here. Got it?"
"I’ll do my best." Leaning in close, I lowered my voice. "If he sends me to follow you, or one of the others, I won’t let it happen. I’ll refuse. I’ll kill the others if I have to, to keep you safe."
My words were barely more than a whisper, meant for the two of us and no one else. Drake took my hand and winked at me. "I appreciate that, but don’t put yourself in danger for me, okay?"
Sam didn’t let me answer. Instead, Drake and I both hissed in pain as we were shocked. Our captor didn’t say anything, he just let the physical pain of the punishment speak for him. Drake gave me one last longing look before turning and standing in front of the entry door. It clicked open, revealing the exterior again and all the fake plants.
Before I could say anything more he was out the front door. He vanished and left me alone in the house without him for the first time. Even when I’d been locked in my room or off by myself doing tasks, I’d always comforted myself with the fact that Drake was somewhere close by. Another room down the hall. Upstairs. Somewhere inside with me. Now he was off in the wilderness.
The only description Liam had really given us was that we were in a forest or something. Trees everywhere, and nothing else in sight. What awful things could wait out there for us? I didn’t want to even think about the people Sam had set free for us to hunt. Hell, maybe there were several, exactly like us inside the house? They would meet up, form a group, and fight back. Even with a gun, could Drake fight off multiple people?
The rest of breakfast was spent in silence as all of us, whether we wanted to or not, thought about Drake out there fighting for his life, hunting another human or humans. From the looks on their faces, I wasn’t the only one worried that he might not come back.
After breakfast all four of the remainder of us were sent to the gym. I hobbled along, and Payton put an arm around me to help me walk. I couldn’t help but think it was a shit thing to fake, but I had to play the part. I didn’t want to think what Sam would do if he thought I’d been lying.
Once we were in the gym, Sam finally spoke to us.
Bong. "Good morning. Payton, you will be sparring against Elise and Bri. Dahlia, as you are injured I have supplied a chair."
At the side of the fighting circle a simple folding metal chair had been set up. Payton helped me over and lowered me into the seat. Five minutes later, I watched the three of them beat the shit out of each other. Bri punched Payton in the face, a hint of glee in her eyes when she did. It soon devolved into a chaotic wrestling and boxing match. As glad as I was not to be involved, I had a hard time concentrating on anything that wasn’t Drake.
Even as Payton tried to put Elise in a headlock, I wondered if Drake was doing the same to someone else out in the forest. It went on like that for an hour, my mind spinning as I went over the dozens of scenarios that might be playing out beyond the walls of the mansion.
The hours dragged on. After the gym, I ended up seated in the library with Elise while Payton and Bri made lunch. I did my best to read some Stephen King short story collection, but after twenty minutes of rereading the same paragraph over and over, I gave up. Instead, I simply stared at the page and zoned out, letting my mind wander to what was possibly happening outside.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait until dinner to find out what had happened. Drake came through the front door halfway through lunch. I almost gasped in relief when I saw him. He was sweaty, and the knees of his sweatpants were brown with mud like he’d been crawling or something. He held the gun in his hand, but the slide was back, the empty ammunition magazine in his opposite hand. Had he used every bullet?
He sank down into his chair beside me, and began scooping food onto his plate. We let him take a few bites and chug a glass of water before starting with questions.
"Well?" Elise asked. "How did that go?"
Drake whipped his mouth with the back of his hand and didn’t look up from his food when he answered. "I did it. Found a guy south of here. He had a big branch fashioned into a club; he almost caught me. I used half my shots firing like an idiot. He ran, and I fired at him as he sprinted away. Got him in the ass and calf, and he went down. I used my last bullet to blow his brains out." He finally looked up at us. "I didn’t even find out what the fuck he was supposed to have done. I have to assume he was put there by Sam. Otherwise, it means I murdered some innocent camper or something."
"What does it look like outside?" I asked. I still wanted a visual picture of what waited there.
Drake took a couple more bites then answered. "The exterior is a massive warehouse looking thing, but the walls are all painted dark green, and it looks like the roof has a bunch of either real or fake plants too from what I could see. Maybe to help it blend in from above. It’s fucking huge. Like the warehouses they store big yachts or small cruise ships in.
"Liam was right, it's a forest as far as I could see. I explored a bit while looking for the person I hunted. Once the guy was dead, Sam used the cuff to order me back here. I did my best, but it looks like this forest goes on for miles in every direction. No buildings, not roads, nothing."
"Damn." Elise sounded actually upset. Maybe she’d hoped there was some sign of civilization.
"Yeah," Drake grunted.
On the way back to my room, Drake helped me walk. From the way he assisted and made a show of it, he obviously knew I was faking as well.
"How were things here?" he asked.
"Fine. Boring, honestly. Which for here is a good thing."
