Chapter 7: deal

549’s POV

The forest swallowed me whole.

Branches tore into my skin, as I moved, roots caught my feet—making me stumble.

But I didn’t slow down, I couldn’t.

The voices behind me were multiplying, flashlight beams cutting through the trees.

I ran until my legs stopped working properly.

Until each step became a stumble and each stumble became longer to recover from.

I ran until the voices faded and the lights disappeared and the only sound was my own ragged breathing and the distant indifferent singing of insects.

Then my legs gave out entirely.

I hit the forest floor and couldn’t get back up.

I lay there on my back, staring up through the canopy at a sky scattered with more stars than I had ever seen from behind a barred window.

My chest heaved. My body throbbed in ways I couldn’t separate or locate.

Something warm was spreading from my side, soaking through the black turtleneck, and I knew distantly that it was bad. That I should care more than I did.

But I was so tired.

Twelve’s face swam behind my eyes.

Fifty nine’s face.

The rock in my hand.

The stars blurred.

Trust no one, I thought, as the darkness began to close in. I should have listened.

The forest floor was cold beneath me, and the stars were very beautiful, and somewhere far away the alarm was still screaming my number into the night.

Five forty nine.

Five forty nine.

Five forty—

The darkness took me.

***

I woke up slowly.

My sense of hearing came first, catching the distant sound of a ticking clock.

Then my sense of touch. I felt something soft beneath me, almost feather like.

Then finally, I caught the strong scent of pine and something darker, something familiar.

I jolted up, my eyes snapping open.

And locked on a pair of stormy grey.

The King stood opposite me, his body cloaked in darkness, half of his face bathed in the soft glow of the moon, while the other half remained in the dark.

Those sharp eyes pierced into my soul, striping me layer by layer until my secrets and fears were bare before him.

I swallowed.

“What am I doing here?” I whispered, my voice unrecognizable even to my own ears.

He didn’t respond for a minute, just watched me.

The room was cold, making the hair on my skin rise.

Finally, he took a step forward, his tall frame towering over the bed.

“You’re wanted.”

The words sliced through me, sending a jolt of fear up my spine.

My heart rate picked up.

I was wanted.

The event from earlier replayed in my head, the loud gun shot, the sickening sound of body hitting the ground, the detachment I had seen in fifty nine’s eyes.

Tears stung the back of my eyes, but I blinked it away.

“The facility is known for their punishment.”

I shuddered at the thought.

He was right.

Some girls disappeared without a trace for breaking the tiniest rules, while some of them returned differently—with either a physical scar or mental scar that told a quiet tale of what they went through.

I couldn’t imagine what they’d do to me.

Oh goddess.

My throat clogged.

How had things gone so wrong?

All we wanted was our freedom, to explore the world, to—

“You killed your friends.”

My heart shattered at the accusation in his voice. My friends.

I didn’t kill them.

“I didn’t—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he cut in coldly. “The facility wants you, and there’s nowhere to run.”

Panic surged through me, different emotions hitting me all at once.

Pain, regret, fear, helplessness—they all blended into one painful blob that settled in the pit of my stomach.

“I—” I was going to deny it, to make him understand that I didn’t kill my friends.

But what use was it?

They were dead anyways, probably still lying there, where I had left them.

Guilt clawed up my throat but I pushed it away.

I had escaped the facility, escaped getting caught, escaped getting killed.

I couldn’t give up now.

My fists balled, and I grit my teeth.

And bowed my head low.

Humiliation burned my skin, anger and hatred surged deep within my heart.

“Please,” I uttered the one word that shattered me. “Please don’t let them take me back.”

I expected him to laugh in my face, to kick me out, but it was worth a shot.

I had to try.

For twelve.

“I don’t do favors.” He dismissed, turning around on his heels.

His footsteps retreated, heading to do door and I felt that familiar ache of desperation.

“Please!” I cried out, tears streaming down my face freely. “Please! I’ll do anything!”

I fell to the ground, my body weak, aching in places I didn’t know existed.

But I stayed upright, kneeling with my head bowed.

“Please,” I sobbed.

He stopped walking, but he didn’t turn to face.

“You’ll be my personal slave,” he finally spoke, his voice carrying that steel I’d heard before.

A slave.

My eyes burned.

“I’ll fuck you,” he continued slowly, making dread settle in my bones, “and breed you.”

I took a chance, peering up at him.

His eyes were completely devoid of emotions, glaring down at me like I was nothing.

Just a lowly human.

But I wasn’t just a lowly human. I was a lowly human with the desperate need to survive.

“Deal.”

And just like that, everything changed.

How had I lost my two friends, only to run into the arms of the very thing I had been avoiding?