CHAPTER SIX
The loud and bustling chatters in the huge cafeteria reminded me of a time of normalcy before the arrival of the Fog. People walked about, their trays of food in their hands as they giggled and chatted with their friends. I wondered how they could smile and gossip when they were held hostage by a maniac. Had they forgotten the harsh reality that brought them here?
"Sit back down," a loud voice turned our attention to the source.
A Terror towered over a man who held his tray in his hands as he approached the exit.
"I need to use the toilet," he insisted.
The Terror hit him across his face with his gun and blood gushed out immediately.
"Eat your food!" The Terror yelled at the onlookers. Like robots, they turned back to their food, resuming conversations like nothing happened.
The poor guy stood up, holding his bloodied forehead and went back to his seat. I could see the little pee stains on his pants, and I stared in surprise at the people around me.
"Don't do anything," Alijah said, seeing the expression on my face.
"What?" I asked incredulously.
He grabbed a plate and stared at me. "Do you think he's gonna thank you if you stood up for him?" he shook his head. "You'd only make it worse."
I glanced at the injured man. His seatmates left the table one by one while he ate his food quietly, the blood dripping on his plate.
"But-."
"We live by one rule; follow the Terrors' orders." he moved up a line.
"Failure to do so gets you in trouble, and then you are on your own," he pouted at one of the girls behind the counter.
"More beans, please?" he flashed a bright smile, the girl blushed and poured an extra spoon of beans on his plate.
"Yeah, there are no friendships or loyalty in the Inlands," Raven stared at me. "If you wanna last here, you better know that,"
"Raven," Rae shook her head.
"What? You know it's true."
"There's some truth in it," Raven paused and glanced at us. "But there are some people here you can trust."
"Like you?" my tone was biting. I didn't trust her, not one bit.
Her lips curled in a smirk. "Like me."
I grabbed my tray and followed Alijah to a table.
"At least, it beats being in the Outlands," Alijah said.
"You are from the Outlands too?" Zapphire asked.
I stared at the food in front of me, my mouth salivating. It looked like something a dog would eat; but the pale porridge, watery beans, and stale bread splattered on my plate made me gulp loudly.
It'd been months since I had a decent meal and even though the porridge looked like a child's vomit, I wolfed it down like it was my last meal. The stale bread hung in my throat, choking me and making my eyes watery, but I managed to swallow it.
I reached for Melo's stale bread and tore it apart so he could swallow easily. All I had to eat in the Outlands for the past nine months was dried-up beef jerky, expired jar pickles and murky water, with a side of poisonous air. Compared to that, the dog food tasted like heaven.
"We are all from the Outlands," Alijah said.
I watched Melo swallow his food and smiled. He stared at my beans longingly, and I passed him the plate. He thanked me with his eyes and gulped it all down too. He must have been really hungry.
"Most of us," Raven corrected.
"What do you mean?" Zapphire paused in the middle of eating and looked up.
"Not all of us are Outlanders," Raven paused and glanced at Rae. "Rae's from Faction 5."
The three of us turned to look at Rae at the same time, and she nodded. What the hell was Faction 5? Was that how she knew about the scavenging team?
"What the hell is Faction 5?" Zirconia asked, taking the words right from my mouth.
"Right, you wouldn't know since you are new," Alijah said, and dropped his spoon.
"Ugh, here it comes," Raven rolled her eyes.
"Raven," I called, and she looked at me.
"What?"
"I believe I speak for everyone at this table; shut the hell up."
"She's right," Zapphire fiddled with her spoon.
Raven puffed out loud breaths and crossed her arms without a word.
"Section 5," I turned to Alijah.
"As you all know, the Inlanders found a way to keep the Fog away by using the Dome of Life. It prevents the monster that lurks in the Outlands from getting in."
The monster reminded me of the strange boy I was trapped in the practice room with. He'd known my name, even when I never mentioned it, and how his ankles had somehow miraculously healed.
"Who are you?" I asked, backing away slowly from him in fear.
The sound of his bones breaking filled the room as he transformed into something--- unnatural. My watch beeped loudly and mom's hologram popped out, but I was rooted in fear as I watched the boy transformed slowly into what I could only interpret as a monster. Its violet eyes glowed as the fog seeped in from the crack under the door.
"Emre! Close your eyes, and do not open them, no matter what," Mom's hologram yelled.
"W-what?" the words came out, barely a whisper.
The monster snarled loudly, drools oozing from the sides of its mouth. It trapped me with its eyes, and I was unable to look away, no matter how much I wanted to.
The once human skin was now replaced with black scales, it bared its yellow, humongous teeth at me, snarling. It was hard to describe, it had the tail of a scorpion and the fangs of a snake. Even though it was clearly not a human, it still seemed like one. It was absolutely terrifying.
"No matter what happens, keep them close and do not look it in the eye," her lips quivered. "Please."
I did as she instructed and shut my eyes tight. The monster growled lowly as it slithered towards me slowly. My hands folded into fists, my nails dug deeply in my skin as I kept my eyes shut.
"Emre," a low sinister voice called out, and the hairs on my body stood up.
"Help me, Emre," the voice called out again, and it sounded like the boy's voice.
"Who's that?" I asked softly, my body quavering.
"I'm scared," he said, and I could feel he was genuinely terrified.
"No!" Mom yelled out. "Whatever you are hearing, it's not real, Emre."
The monster growled loudly, the sounded pierced through my ears, and I could feel a liquid slowly oozing out of my right ear.
"Mom? I think he's in trouble," I said.
"No! It's not real, the boy is the monster, okay? It's a trap."
The growls grew louder. I crouched and covered my ears in pain, my eyes still close.
"Do not look at it in the eyes, Emre."
I nodded and did as she said.
"You are not gonna help me?" The helplessness and fear in the voice had vanished, replacing in its stead, mockery, and something absolutely terrifying.
My lips quivered and I held my hands to keep it from trembling.
"Too bad, I thought we could be friends, Emre,"
It was so close to me, I could feel its breath fan my face, and it smelled so rotten, I gagged.
I whimpered when I felt the scaly claw grab my hair, and my body shook in repulsion.
"I'll see you soon, Emre," it whispered in my ear.
The air went still--- silent. I didn't know if the monster had vanished or if it was still in the room with me.
"Emre," a voice called, it sounded like Mom's but I didn't reply.
"You can open your eyes," she said.
"How do I know it's you?" I asked.
"It's us against the world," she said and I opened my eyes quickly.
"Not the world against us," I replied, the tears rolled down my cheeks as I stared at her.
"We've got nothing to be afraid of," we echoed and I hugged her flickering hologram. It was what we said to each other whenever things got so hard for us, and it brought peace to my aching heart.
"I am so sorry, Emre. I put you in danger," she wiped her tears.
Her icy blue orbs mirrored mine.
"What do you mean?" I wiped the tear from my eyes so I could see her better.
"I didn't know they intended to us my research for horrific reasons. It was too late when I found out their plans and I tried to stop it. But I-I-I,' her breaths caught in her throat as she choked on tears.
"Mom, what's going on?" I asked.
"I have to stop this, before too many lives are lost," she mumbled under her breath and gripped her hair in panic.
"Mom!"
She paced around the room and bit her fingers.
"Emre," she paused and stared at me. There was something in her eyes that I had never seen before. It terrified me.
I heard a loud bang in the background and my heart skipped a beat. "Oh no, no, no," she mumbled.
"Mom, what's going on?" I started to panic when I saw the look on her face.
"They are here," she picked up some things just as a door crashed in the background.
"Mom!"
"Emre, meet me at the Huge Wall in 21:00 hours, and turn off your watch. They could be tracking you to find me," she dratted out instructions but my mind was too jumbled to understand a word she was saying.
"Mom, wait!"
"Remember this Emre; trust no one," the watched clicked off and left me in silence.
"Mom, Mom!"
Silence.
My heart thundered in my chest. Who were the people chasing after her and why did she look so afraid? I turned off my watch like she instructed me, and tried to calm my racing heart. I had to stay alive so I could see her again.
The Huge Wall.
21:00.
Trust no one.
"Emre?" a soft voice pulled me back to the present and I met Rae's concerned gaze.
"You okay?" she sounded genuinely worried.
"Yeah, yeah," I cleared my throat.
"Believe it or not, the Rich can't really do without the Poor. Who'd do their dirty jobs for them?"
I nodded. It made sense.
"This divided the Inlands into five factions by their classes," he said.
I leaned closer out of curiosity. "There's a class division in the Inlands too?"
Raven scoffed. "You've have no idea."
"I thought the only class division was between Inlanders and Outlanders," Zapphire said.
"You couldn't be more wrong," Alijah shook his head.
"Alijah, what are the Factions?" I asked.
"The Poor occupy Faction 5. They are the lowest class in the Inlands."
"They are actually called the Poor?" Zapphire asked and he nodded.
"Pretty self explanatory if you ask me," Zirconia chipped in.
"Faction 4 are filled with the Runts. They are not much better off than the Poor but they are higher in class," he chewed his bread loudly.
"What about the other Factions?" I asked.
"The people of Faction 3 are called the middle class. They are not exactly well off but they have enough to get by," he paused and scraped the last spoon of beans from his plate.
"Faction 2 belongs to the Terrors. It's where we currently are," he licked his plate in silence, gulped down his water and sighed in satisfaction.
"What?" he asked when he saw us staring.
"What's the last faction?" Zirconia asked.
"Oh, no one knows," Raven said.
"No one?" it perked my curiosity.
"And don't go about asking either. It could land you in trouble with the Terrors," Rae warned.
"But, is no one curious?" I asked.
There was a whole faction unaccounted for and no one was curious to find out what it was. Could it be the escape I was looking for?
"Curiosity gets you killed here. You'd do well to remember that," Raven said.
Silence surrounded the table, I knew we were all thinking the same thing but no one dared to ask. My whole body itched to know what laid hidden in the faction, but I knew it wasn't the right time to ask.
"You know, other factions would die to be in your shoes," Alijah smiled.
"You mean, kidnapped and enslaved by the Terrors?" sarcasm seeped Zirconia's words.
"Yup," Alijah nodded, ignoring the sarcasm.
"That doesn't sound right," I raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"It's true," Rae interjected, and we turned to her.
"Why the hell would they want to be in our shoes?" I asked.
"You might be imprisoned, but at least you have food and shelter," she held my gaze. "It's more than what the Poor have."
The silence shrouded the whole table as we stared at her.
"What do you mean?" Zirconia asked.
"I am a Poor. I offered myself to be taken by Dane," she said.
Silence.
"Amora is also a Poor," Alijah said.
Zapphire gasped loudly, and Zirconia choked on her spit. I struggled to snap my jaw shut.
"Did you two know each other before coming here?" I asked.
Rae nodded. "Amora's kind of a frenemy; she's like this irritating fly that won't go no matter how hard you swat it away."
"So, how come she gets to be close to Dane, and you're, no offense," Zirconia paused. "Here."
Rae chuckled. "None taken."
She turned to me even though it was Zirconia who asked a question. "Amora and I have slightly different roles."
She tilted her head, her eyes on mine. "I offered to take care of prisoners, and help keep them relatively safe, while Amora's a-," she paused to find the right words.
"Slut," Raven interjected. Rae chuckled.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"It means that-" Rae was interrupted when a door opened loudly.
The silence in the cafeteria grew silent. I could feel the shift in the air as they focused on their food in complete silence. I heard heavy footsteps headed in our direction and a pair of boots stopped in my vision.
"Princess."
My heart thundered in my chest when I heard the low chilling voice and looked up. Standing before me was Dane Arrkan, my captor.
The man whose life I would enjoy ending.