The Cruelty Challenge (Accepting)

Anyone else gonna post anytime soon!?

I'll post in a sec.

Tabbitha- Holding cell

It's been three days since we entered this hellhole. Three days since we've had human contact. After Blade left the holding cell, he sent a nurse to clean up Spencer's head wound. She also cleared out all of the broken shards of glass, just to make sure we didn't try to end it, if you know what I mean. We asked her what was going on, how long will we be in here, what's going to happen to us. But she just finishes up cleaning up the glass and gives us a smile, but it does not reach her eyes. Her blue eyes are filled with sorrow and pity. That can't be good.

After she left, we were alone. No one has come for us since. It seems like it has been weeks since we arrived in the cell, but my internal body clock says that it's only been three days. It's amazing what happens when you're without food or water for only three days. My lips are peeling, and have turned a malnourished browish-red color. My stomach has shrunken and is painful all the time. My throat is as dry as desert, and my voice is raspy. The same goes for Spencer. We have given up on speaking; it is too painful.

The room smells of old urine and blood, mixed with the electric smell of fear and despair. It hurts to move with the chains around our throats, wrists and anlkes; they have rubbed off our skin and are working their way to the soft tissue, and eventually to bone. It is excruciatingly painful just to sit there, with our arms held up above our heads, straining our muscles, but it hurts even more to shift positions, so we just clench our teeth and don't move. Unable to do anything else, we just stare at the door, both of us both hoping and dreading that it will open.

We drift off to sleep for a while, but then I hear footsteps approching, and jerk my head up. I wake Spencer up as well, just as the five-inch thick steel door swings open, revealing a malviolent Blade, a smirk smeared across his face.

"Have you two learned your lesson?" He says cheerfully. We both nod, even tough it is extremely painful to do so. "Good. then come with me."

A woman appears, the same woman that cleaned Spencer's head wound. She is harsher this time, not as careful, but mouths the word 'sorry' as she sees us wince in pain. She then hands us over to Blade, who takes out the electric rope, and ties it around our sore wrists. The pain is explosive, but I don't show it. Escorted by twenty- plus burly gaurds, we are led down a series of hallways we have never seen before. We arrive at a large room, where all of the other prisoners are already seated, restained, clamped to their seats. We are restrained as well, and the guards leave the room. Then Blade begins to speak.

We have been sitting in this hell for three days, slowly we are dehydrating and starving to death. I finally doze off, but Tabbitha wakes me up. Blade is here. A woman comes in and unchains us. It feels good to be out of those chains, they've cut into our skin. Blade ties our wrists to the electric rope. He has an extremely evil smirk on his face. I'm scared for what's to come. The rope sends a new pain through me, but I just grit my teeth and deal with it. We are lead through a series of confusing halls, as usual, except these halls are more confusing than the other ones he's taken us through. There are at least twenty guards surrounding us, making it impossible to do anything that is not Blade's direct order. We are lead into a large room, similar to "the office," only larger, with more furniture. We are forced onto the sofa, where the other prisoners already wait. We are let off of the rope, but all of the guards are still very close by. We sit in silencce. Blade takes his seat across from all of us and begins.

Tabbitha- Briefing room

I am restained to the chair by one of the scores of gaurds around the room. Not a good sign. I gulp as Blade looks at us each in turn, square in the eye. I am terrified of his gaze, but I hold it nonetheless, defiant. But as he begins to explain our next task, I have to look away I'm so disgusted.

"Now," he starts, "In light of these recent... incidents... it has become clear to me that you are quite a rebellious group. There is, however, a time where every horse can be broken. So, failure to complete the task will result in immeadiate death, either to you or a random other participant." I have a feeling however, that this 'random' other will not be quite as random for Auburn and Daniel. "This particular challenge was supposed to be the last, but I figured we needed to weed out the rebels from the obiedients. So, tomorow morning, you will go out into the world and take one child from their homes each, and bring them here to me by sundown. Do not try to run. I will know, and I will kill you on the spot. Understood?"

We nod our heads numbly, dumbfounded and unbelieving. We all knew this day would come after watching the video with Kalaf, but we didn't think it would happen this soon. I think a part in all of us wished it never would. I will not do this. I will run, or fight my way to freedom. If it comes to it, I would rather commit suicide then subject another human being- another child- to this torture, this not-life.

With these thoughts racing through my head, we are taken out of our seats and led to our resepective dormitories. No one says a word, they just lok at the floor, resigning themselves to having to live with what they're about to do for the rest of their lives. I also look down at the ground in front of my feet, but I do so only to hide a secretive, gleeful, if not twisted smile. In one way or another, tomorrow I will be free of Blade, his tortures, and the Cruelty Challenge once and for all.

Blade explains our task. It's so horrible and inhumane, I'm actually feeling sick. I can't do it, but I have to. I can't get someone else killed because I didn't want to follow orders. I know I have to do it, but I will never be able to live with myself. I wouls rebel, but I don't want to take the chance of Blade killing someone else, if it was only my life at risk I wouldn't care. I can't seem to figure out what I should do. I have until tomorrow to figure this out, it's guarenteed I won't sleep. We are led to our rooms and forced to lay in bed. I lay there, silently sobbing to myself, trying to figure out what to do.

Daniel - Dormitory

I pace the room. The instructions we had been given today were so distressing I would normally have cried, but I had spent my last tear in the torture chamber. I couldn't make another kid suffer this fate, but I couldn't risk Blade killing any of the other mutants because I tried to run again.

I see only one thing to do: die before I'm faced with that choice. I'm going to pick the electric lock, and if that doesn't kill me, the guards outside will. I search for the fork I had stashed away in here somewhere, but it's gone. That's my last ticket out of here, and they've taken it. I release a ferral yell at the ceiling. When my lungs run out of air, I sit on the bed, defeated. Spencer and Kyler glance at me, but spare me no emotion. I start to sob. It seems I do have tears left. Kyler and Spencer turn in. Eventually, when I stop crying, I go to bed too. I hear scratching in the wall by the head of my bed. I'm curious, but it's a solid brick wall! It's not like someone's trying to dig through it or anything...

Tabbitha- Dormitory

I will not give up, I will not give up, is the mantra running through my head, in snyc with the rythmic scraping of my smuggled spoon againt the brick wall. I've been working on this for days, but never with as much passion and desperation as tonight. Another scrape and I reach air, my spoo poking out the other side.

I hear a muffled,"What the...?" from the other side, and I pause, petrified with fear, but I carry on, realizing thatits to late to stop now. Plu, if it oe of the gaurds, they'll probably just kill me. Then I won't have to face tomorrow.

I dig a bigger crater, and soon I have a hole in the wall big enough for me to squeeze through. The other girls hesitate, waiting to see what happens to me.
I find myself in the boys dormitory, the guys startled, wide eyed and incredulous.

"Hey guys, its ok. Its just the guys." Of course, Auburn is the first to wriggle through, and grins from ear to ear when she sees Daniel. Mary is next, a disapproving look on her face, but she says nothing.

"Look, we need to talk." I say, and we get down to business.

Daniel - Dormitory

"Look, we need to talk," says Tabbitha. Mary is sitting on my bed, next to me. She's close, so close. I feel blood rising inside me, heating up my face. My arm, almost of its own volition, goes around her waist and holds her there, like I don't want to let go - which, of course, I don't. My heart pounds. I'm nearly in shock that she actually likes me, but I saw the way her face lit up when she saw me. That wasn't fake.
What's that? Oh, Tabbitha said something. "Yeah, about our new 'mission'," I say. "There is no freaking way I'm going to kidnap anyone. I can see now why they tried to kill themselves." I frowned awkwardly at the floor.
Auburn looked confused. Maybe she was unwilling to believe what she thought. "You don't mean to-"
"Yeah, I do," I said. I looked her right in the eyes. Her gray eyes were as big as saucers. "Only I'm not going to fail."

I sit in silence on my bed when I hear Daniel, "What the..?" I whirl around to se a huge hole in the wall. All of the girls crawl in. Tabbitha sits beside me. Us guys are a bit confused for a minute, still processing what just happened. "Look we need to talk/" Tabbitha says getting right down to business. "Yeah about our new 'mission,' there's no freaking way I'm going to kidnap anyone. I can see why they tried to kill themselves." His message is clear, None of us are so heartless as to kidnap another kid to come in and suffer the same torture we have and are. So to end the cycle here and now, we're going to have to kill ourselves. I'm all for that idea, if it means no one else has to get hurt or die because of me, and I don't have to be here with Blade, then it's a great idea. Only how to carry this out? We all sit in a circle and try to come up with a plan.

"Now, we don't really have to kill ourselves. Not in that way." They all stare at me, confused. "Look, who here actually would rather kidnap a kid than die?" No one says a word, no one raises a hand. But they still tare at me blankly, not understanding where I'm going with this. "Look. Blade said that if we run he can kill us with that little remote-thing right? Well, if we all run at once, maybe we'll shortcircut it. Then we can run. If he gets a few of us, he gets a few of us. Some of us can still run, get help. And if he ends up killing us all, we'd be dead either way."

They stare at me, incredulous. "But-" They start to protest. "No, we all have an equal chance of surviving. Plus, this isn't just about us anymore. There' a whole world out there that can help us help the other people trapped here. We can end this, but not if we kill ourselves."

"Okay." They each say in turn, determined but weary.

After a long moment of silence, I say, "Okay, we should get to bed, so we can boost our endurance. We've got a lot of running to do. But first, we need to cover up this hole in the wall."

Daniel -Dormitory

Suicide by "law" enforcement. Presicely what I was thinking. Although, my plans hadn't involved any chances of escape... and they wouldn've abandoned Auburn and the others to their fate... and it wouldn't have helped any of the other kids still in the pit... I actually feel rather guilty that I hadn't thought of it myself, like I had been selfish thinking about only my own death. What a messed up world we're living in, when that statement even applies.
As Tabbitha and the others set about hiding the hole in the wall, I turn to Auburn. I put the hand that wasn't already on her waist up to her face and tuck her hair behind her ear. "They're sending us out tomorrow," I say, "This might be it for us. This might be the end. So, just in case it is..." I lean in cautiously, pause for a moment to gauge her reaction, and kiss her. Blood rises to my cheeks and my heart beats double time.
I feel like one of the others was staring at us. I pull away quickly. I don't know if I've ever felt more self-concious. "So, that hole in the wall," I say.

Tabbitha suggests a great plan. I wonder why none of us though of this sooner. We all work on hiding the hole in the wall while Daniel and Auburn kiss. It's quite sweet, they go good together. I hope they both make it. Hopefully if I make it into the real world, I can find a girl that I connect with like that. Why am I thinking of this now?! I should be getting rest, we have a lot of running to do tomorrow. I guess seeing them together makes me long for a girl I can hold like that. I lay down in bed and try to clear my head. It doesn't work. I eventually fall asleep, but I dream about love all night, what it might actually feel like to be in love with a girl and have her love me back. This is not what should be going through my head.

Tabbitha- Dorm Room

I cannt get to sleep, there is so much adreniline coursing through my viens. I know I will probably die tomorrow, but there's a slim chance that I will survive, that I will survive, that I will escape to freedom. Just the thought of running free has the blood buzzing, humming in my veins, thrumming in my head. I'm also afraid, very afrai of dying. Even though I've been through so much, I want to live, desprately. I want to be n the outside before I die, to be free. Then again, I will be, momentarily, either way. Until Blade pushes the button.

Eventually, I finally drift off to sleep, dreaming of country roads and woods. In the woods, however, I am running, being chased by Blade and his minions. They are playing with me, shocking me but noot killing me, giving me the upper hand, following a step behind. They're enjoying this. I wake up, sweating like crazy, panting, gulping down air. I lie in bed for the longest time, until both Auburn and Mary wake up as well, startled by equally disturbing dreams.

We sit in silence until Blade arrives, giving us our uniforms, this time normal clothes, t-shirts and jeans. He leaves to let us get dressed, and he does not seem to havee any suspicions abut the wall. We get dressed in solemn silence, ready to do what's right, even if it kills us. After we are done, Blade returnn with the electric rope which he secures and leads himself, the boys on the other rope, in his other hand. He starts to lead us to an ever- upward-sloping series of hallways, which I assume is the way to the surface, to freedom. I hope.

As we reach the suface, we are blinded, having never seen the sun before. It's even more brilliant and brutal than I could have imagined. And the sky, so many colors, so open and wide, nothing like the cramped spaces of our cells. Everything is bright blues and greens, pinks, puples, and an almost-black color of the sky. I realize it is night. It's amazing, realizing you can see if its day or night, not just are told.

The magic of the outdoors, however, is lost within seconds, when we are forced into a waiting van. "Can't let you escape." Blade chuckles as he slams the door into our faces.

As we see him climb ito the front of the truck, I yell out to him, against my better judgement, "Why don't you just kill us now? We're not going to do it anyway!"

Everyone turns toward me, astounded that I had revealed the plan. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure about that. I had the exact same sentiment when I was in this same truck. And look where I am now."