Chapter 11

Instructions

Chapter 11 “I’m sorry, okay?!” Violet said, angry and completely not sorry. “Heh, yeah, I believe that,” Lily said, clutching Chip and petting his scratched fur. “Both of you, just shut up!” Kylie yelled. Violet started shaking again, and Lily started whispering to herself. Kylie walked up to me. “I don’t know how they do it,” Kylie said. “Do what?” I replied. “Be able to be so angry and yell at each other while their animals kill each other, and then both be so dead that they can’t help anyone!” “I’m just glad… very few of us are like that,” I sighed. I didn’t want to talk right now. I wanted to help fix Carter, the broken, skinny boy that used to be healthy and sweet and caring. Kylie shrugged and went off to talk to Gabrielle. I heard a scream and fought the urge to run to it. “Get off me!” The voice said. The group had stopped. “Stick with me, Lily, Caitlyn, and Deja,” Nevada said, “The rest of you, I’m making Kylie your leader, Kylie you go straight ahead, and go wait near something close.” She looked at the rest of us, “Hold your weapons and don’t be afraid to kill.” Lily threw her cat to Kylie, which rewarded Lily in much hissing from the creature, and we all ran to where the scream had been heard. “Stop it! Get off me! I have to get away!” It was obviously a male but with all the other screaming, it was hard to distinguish who it was if we even knew them. I was the first to enter the scene. It was from the boy’s side of the group, and someone was trying to break away, me and the boy each realized who each other were before anyone else knew I was here. “Deja!” Carter said, fighting his way out of the group of people, and running to me. “We’ve got to get out of here! They’re trying to lure us into a trap!” “Carter! I trust these people! If they were to put us in a trap, I’d be glad dying or being tortured knowing it was for our parents!” Carter looked down. “Carter,” I began again, “What have they done to you? Who are they?” Carter looked up, “When I was in that building, training, on the 20th floor, where I was, we were making a bomb of confetti that would go off exactly when people needed to wake up. We were later going to add scented confetti, and other odd things, because we were running out of ideas. There was one person that my father knew of from… that trash cleaning company that worked there. He wanted the company to end because he was greedy and didn’t like the people who worked at Elec Corp. He filled one of the more expensive bombs, the bigger ones, with actual explosives. That was the one I was carrying, and I dropped it.” “I started running away, knowing that the confetti does make quite a big explosion, and beeping started. I was confused and went over to check on it when dad whisked me away, pulling me to the elevator. I was spamming the floor one button, but we were too high up, and I didn’t make it to the ground. The confetti bomb exploded, and I fell 5 floors. It was terrifying. I remember being on a white stretcher, being whisked away, seeing you collapse on the floor, and that’s when I knew that nobody. Not one human beside you, and besides me could be trusted.” Pain. Betrayal. Anger. That’s how I feel, all bunched into one. I’m the one screaming and fighting now as I try and rip Carter’s head off. “Why did you lie to me!? Why did you keep all of this away from me?!” I scream. Finally, knowing my struggle to kill Carter is in vain I slump to the ground and let them carry me. I’m as dead as Violet was. Not wanting to help. Just walking. No thoughts. Keep walking. No thoughts. Sleep. Oh, you’re too broken inside to sleep, so you just have to curl up and watch, unable to do anything but scream if something bad happens. Nevada took my knife away from me, giving it to Shadow, who gratefully accepted it. I try not to be a burden, I do what I’m told and nothing else. Carter is not allowed to see me apologize for how he’s broken me. Maybe, if I get my parents back, I’d be kind of fixed like Violet, who still shakes when she’s not angry. Who sighs constantly. I’m aware that the boys come and join us, making us one huge clump, me in the front, Carter in the back. Both of us always surrounded. One night, I’m on a rock overlooking a small but deep stream of water. Carter gets out of his blanket of grass that he has sewed for everyone. He brought a needle and many rolls of thread. He learned to sew while he was trapped in the same metal room as I was, never able to break out, but finally set free. He walked over to me and sat next to me. He started talking to me, but I didn’t listen. His words were like flies around my head, buzzing, one more fly added to the noise. Every word was another fly. There were so many flies, I pushed him into the water. The splash woke half of the people, and they all looked at me. “He came to me,” I said. Some people took Carter, who was coughing out water, shouting at me. Again, I couldn’t hear.