Page 3 of Cut Her Strings (Fractured Puppets #1)

Chapter 2

The Masquerade

Present day

" W elcome to our fifth annual...!"

I blearily opened my eyes, trying to make sense of my surroundings. More darkness, a blindfold? My body felt heavy, everything was fading in and out. I was steps away from escaping this country and now where was I? What happened? The pounding in my head made it difficult to focus on any coherent thoughts.

"You have been selected..."

Wait, fuck, no, this couldn't be. My whole body began to shake as the voice droned on. It sounded male, but warbled and staticky as if it were coming through a broken speaker and a modulator.

"You may all be wondering how you found yourselves here. Well, if you make it out of here alive, you may just figure that out." The mechanical voice laughed sardonically.

I tried to move my body and found it challenging; I felt heavy. All four of my limbs tingled as if they had long since gone numb. I began calculating my surroundings using my remaining senses. I was lying on a freezing, hard floor; my ankles seemed to be pinned together, and my wrists were handcuffed to my front. I attempted to roll into a sitting position, but the ground shook violently just as I managed to. In the distance, several screams penetrated the air. They seemed to ricochet, and I could not pinpoint their distance. My anxiety skyrocketed.

"As some of you are starting to realize, it would behoove you not to move. Wait until instructions are given, and you might just make it through this first part," the robotic voice cackled.

"What the fuck is this?!" This voice came from nearby, and it took everything in me not to jump. The new voice was distinctly male and somewhat familiar.

"Don't move!" I gritted out through clenched teeth as I was jostled again, nearly knocking me forward. Whatever we were in or on, wasn't stable.

"Who the fuck are you?" His voice was every bit as enraged as the first time he spoke, but he stopped his movement.

"Someone like you. Listen to the voice of the speaker," I verbalized as calmly as I could manage, considering everything else that was happening around me. Dread dug deep into my skin, my previously numb limbs began to tingle as they roused with my mind and suspicions.

If I were correct, I’d been thrown into what I’d spent the last several years trying to stop. One of the most horrifying parts of our corrupt country.

"It seems we are still waiting for a few more contestants to wake up. This year, we decided to make it even more special. There are two hundred and fifty contestants, and due to this increased number, there will be five fortunate winners," the callous voice from before continued.

That confirmed my suspicions, and I was fucked. Straight fucked with nothing to do but accept it. I had somehow managed to land myself in what those in our country referred to as the most sadistic reality show to date. It had already been broadcast for four years in a row, and the Government was still no closer to, nor did they have any reason for, shutting it down. Additionally, the bodies that ultimately came from killing as many people as the show did every year, were never discovered.

None of that was a surprise, though, since the Sponsors were assumed to be those in high standing in the Government. The Sponsors funded this game, while the Creators hid in the shadows, their identities no closer to being known.

Not only could the Government supposedly not find it, but they also didn't stop the live broadcast sent out every year. You couldn't turn on a device without watching this disgusting show. It was streamed live until the single victor remained. We weren't able to hear the contestants, but we could see the atrocities they were forced to commit. Just another tool used to oppress the citizens in this country. Another reason why the Resistance fought to dismantle those in charge. The Government didn’t even bother to deny their involvement, they simply used it as another method to control the masses.

The first year was the shortest; it only took seven days. Years two through four lasted around two weeks. Usually, they would have fifty unassuming contestants tasked with grueling games and who, ultimately, must make unforgivable choices to survive. None of the winners had been seen again, though finding them would be challenging. All the players wore masks throughout the game, and their faces would blur out if the mask ever came off. The identities of the players were only released upon their death. The winner of the first year was the only face to ever be shown. The winners of the last three years were still unknown.

It had never been given a name, but many called it The Masquerade . My mask was firmly in place to further confirm that these sadistic games were exactly where I had ended up.

We all pretended to be good people until given no choice. Only the most brutal, strong, and relentless could make it.

The players? Well, it was hard to know exactly where they all came from, but they all had one thing in common. A Sponsor. Someone wanted them in these games desperately enough to pay the exorbitant fee the Creators charged to secure the players they requested. The irony? If the Sponsor’s contestant won, they were rewarded with a portion of all the bids throughout the game.

"Now that all our contestants are officially awake, let us start our very first trial here! This year is a little different in several ways. In past years, besides the first, of course, we accepted any contestants if the bid was high enough. This year, you were still brought here by a Sponsor, but you all have something in common. You want to be here. Yes, you heard me. You may not believe it yourself, but you want to be here.”

I contained the full body shiver that attempted to rampage through me. What I wanted was to escape this country, but if that wasn’t possible, the voice was correct. I didn’t have anything left to live for; all I had was anger. Rage. If my sister were in this game with me, I would have my last wish granted. To kill her.

“You want to exact your revenge. Be it on someone here or the game itself. In your cages, there are several people. Some may only have one other; some may have up to five. Consider yourselves a team ."

I decided the voice was definitively masculine.

"In all cases, there is one thing in common: the victims and the perpetrators. The person or persons in the cages have done wrong to the someone or someones in that cage with them. There is, of course, a catch. The only way to survive this round is for you to work together to escape. If even one of you disagrees, you will all tumble to your deaths below." He paused, and suddenly, I could see through the mask on my face.

"Your eyesight has been temporarily returned; use this time wisely. You have two minutes."

I blinked rapidly against the sudden onslaught of light and stared directly into the unmistakable eyes of a man I had wished never to see again. I wished more than anything that it was my sister’s eyes that stared back into mine, not his. My heart pounded in my chest aggressively and I suddenly found it incredibly difficult to breathe. How had they found him? The Government searched for him for the last five years. We were a team? We would have to work together? How? His betrayal still stung all these years later, but I knew immediately I could never kill him. He was the one person I would never be able to physically hurt.

"You!" he growled out. He attempted to jump forward but didn't account for his immobility due to the restraints currently on his body. Our cage shook roughly once more.

"Stop!" I shouted. I steeled my emotions, I would need to process this, but not now. "Right now, we need to focus and investigate, and later when we are on solid ground, you can say what you need to." I couldn’t understand his anger, he had hurt me. His betrayal led to my life in the Factions, to Ivan , and to every other horrible thing that happened in-between.

He didn't seem to agree but stopped his attempt at forward movement and glanced around. As he did so, he asked me a question I wasn't sure how to satisfy. "Then answer me this one thing: how are you still alive?"

I afforded myself thirty more seconds to take in all of him. Shaggy blond hair fell into his eyes; tattoos encapsulated every area not currently covered by the T-shirt and sweats he wore, including his bare feet. Even hunched over as he was, I could tell he'd significantly bulked up. Lastly, his familiar stormy ocean eyes stared directly back at mine. The resentment directed towards me, however, was new. I was extremely confused by his anger, what did I do to deserve it? I averted my eyes and began my search of the area, noting the "cage" was just a metal room we were in with no way to see out.

The ceiling contained small holes where I assumed the speaker's voice came from earlier. There was a hatch for someone to place something inside behind the man, and as I carefully turned my head around, I saw another behind me. I inspected myself and noticed that I was, in fact, handcuffed by my wrists and ankles, and the cuffs were attached to make mobility nearly impossible without rolling; they dug in deeply. The cuffs would add to the scars I already had around my wrists and ankles.

Since I could not see what I wore, I examined the man more carefully. A collar wrapped around his neck and a half mask covered most of his face. It was the last confirmation I needed that we were, most assuredly, in The Masquerade . Both devices appeared to be high tech and I could feel the weight of them pressing on my neck and face. Apprehension crept into my gut. Quite a few upgrades were made this year. In the past, the masks were simply made of plastic, and I didn’t remember the players wearing collars.

I attempted to shake away my uneasiness. I cast one more look around our cage. Besides us, the room was completely bare.

“Well?” The man’s furious voice snapped, prompting me to answer his question. “How are you still alive?”

My eyesight once more disappeared as my mask's eye slits were covered. "I don't know," I whispered to the man's impossible question. I refused to think of who he was. He was now just a stranger .

"I hope you saw everything you needed to see and made the decision you needed to make. Now for the rules. It's quite simple. Everyone in your cage needs to be alive at the end of thirty minutes, and you must break one thing each in your cage. Oh, and don't mess with your masks or collar." The voice took on a sinister tone. "Good luck, all!"

The cage was empty of anything except us. I knew that for a fact. I began to think in a way that would satisfy this brutal game.

I felt the cuffs around my ankles and wrists fall off and, simultaneously, the sound of the man's restraints dropping echoed in our metal tomb. Two breaths later, a clang came from both right behind me and on the other side of the room near the man. Something dropped, and I bent carefully to touch what it was. My eyes remained covered.

"I'm assuming you also received a metal mallet?" I inquired.

"Yes," the man grunted. "Give me one reason I shouldn't use it to bash your skull in, Nightingale."

Understanding dawned, it finally made sense why he was so incredibly enraged. "Because that isn't my name," I replied, knowing that wouldn't work for this, but wanting to say it at least. "My name is Raven."

"Bullshit," he practically spat the word. "Raven has been dead for years. You should have joined her by now, but here you are getting the karma you deserve."

I twisted in the direction of the man I once loved, the boy I had grown up with, and the stranger I hadn't seen in over five years.

"Twenty minutes remain," a robotic voice echoed in our cage. I knew exactly what happened if a game wasn’t finished or completed in the time frame.

We would be killed.

We were running out of time, so I said the words I was scared to say but knew were the only way to get through to him, "Dark as a Raven, bright as a Jay. No matter where you go, I will find you. All you have to say is Sparrow." I whispered the last word, the name of someone who was no longer with us.

"NO!" Horror entered Jayce's voice. "How is that possible? I saw you die; I heard your heart stop!"

My heart felt as if it were breaking all over again. "I'm not the wrongdoer here," I whispered. At least I hadn't been when he saw me last.

"Oh god." The horror turned to anguish. "How?" The word was almost a cry, a last-ditch sound of desperation.

"Not now; first, we need to figure out how to get out of here." I carefully heaved the mallet into my hands, testing its weight.

Break something in a cage with just our bodies and metal mallets. The first test aimed more at emotion and overcoming the need for revenge than a real puzzle.

"We need to break something," I stated in a dull voice, adjusting my grip on the weapon in my hands.

"I know," he gritted out. "But there isn't anything breakable in here; even the handcuffs appear to be made of some sort of reinforced metal. I can try to break them, but it might cause our whole cage to shake and send us tumbling. "

"Ten minutes remain," the mechanized voice came from above.

"We are in this room," I stated matter-of-factly, “and we have breakable bones.” I placed the mallet on my pinky toe, hoping the size of the broken item wouldn't cause an issue.

"Whatever you think you are doing, don't do it!"

I did my best to separate the toe from the others; I lifted the mallet as high as possible, hoping to break it in one go.

The sound of the metal hitting my toe echoed in the small room. It caused our chamber to shake, but not enough for alarm. The pain was instant and searing; I did my best to block it out and spoke as calmly as I could manage. "I broke my pinky toe. If you can get to me, you can break my other, or-"

I heard rustling, and then, his mallet landed with the same sickening noise.

"You have successfully passed the first test. You are now safe to move around until the time remaining is up," the voice echoed around the room, and once more, my sight was returned.

I studied Jayce. "I may have survived, but I am not the same Raven you used to know."

He dropped his head and finally whispered in a voice full of several emotions I couldn't quite grasp, "I'm sorry."

I leaned back against the wall behind me. "Me too." My toe throbbed, but it was nothing compared to the inner pain of being in this game with the one person I refused to watch die.