Page 30 of Cut Her Strings (Fractured Puppets #1)

Chapter 29

You Have a Choice

L ess than an hour later, the guards arrived to escort Enzo and me to whatever this was. While Enzo and I had spent time training and getting to know each other, I knew that all the information he provided was surface-level. There was more to Enzo and it left me on edge. I desperately wished Levi or Jayce were joining me instead.

“Come back to me, darlin’.” Levi squeezed my hand again, and I soaked in its warmth and strength.

A guard aggressively pulled me away from him. “Let’s go.”

I smiled back at Jayce and Levi reassuringly. “It will be fine,” I mouthed. I was just able to catch Maverick’s worried gaze before I was yanked through our door aggressively.

I only had one moment of sight to take in both 195 and 189 exiting across from us before I heard the familiar, “Lights out!”

Being blinded and knowing that Ivan was within reach caused more terror to course through me than had the rest of the game.

Thankfully, I heard Enzo’s familiar steps fall behind mine as we were led to our destination. Time’s passage was an illusion, and I could not tell if we walked for just a few minutes or several hours. My heart pounded against my chest by the time we finally came to a stop.

“You first, stay still and keep quiet in there!” was all I heard before I was unceremoniously shoved through a door, which clinked behind me as it was shut and locked. My eyesight returned shortly thereafter, and I found myself in the equivalent of a cell.

The pocket-sized room was approximately seven by four feet. A twin mattress took up more than half of the area, and the remaining space held two steel doors, a small wooden table, and my standing form. The floor and three walls appeared to be concrete; the last was made entirely of a TV screen. I couldn’t see any cameras, but I knew they were there. Altogether, the space was minuscule, dark, and gloomy.

I couldn’t fathom what this even was. Except they had put me in a proverbial jail cell.

I took the one step needed to reach the tiny table. On top of it sat a folded card. I decided it best to wait for instructions.

It was hard to tell how much time passed as I stared intermittently at the blank screen and the folded card before the screen came to life. Even though I was expecting it, I still jumped.

I was on edge. I didn’t have enough information to deduce anything in this lifeless tomb where I currently resided.

“Hello, my lovelies,” the Host cooed, his entire body made up the screen. He sat leisurely in his typical chair. “You have made it to a special round. This round is a double-edged sword. If you are the first to win, you and your team will be exempt from the next game. No punishment for the loser.” He paused, tapping a finger to his chin. “Well, except their life, of course.” He gave a feral smile, his piercings glinted off the lights in the room with him. “Oh, that’s right, you might want the rules. Well, as I am sure you have all seen, there is a card on a table in your room. You should all be quite familiar with missions. On that card is an objective. After you read it, you will need to exit your room. We’ll give you five minutes to do so.”

An EXIT sign flashed to life over one of the doors in my cell.

“Your goal is to complete the objective. You are not to share what it is with anyone else. You can after you win if you really want to, though. Once you complete it, your collar will light up, and you are permitted to return to a room and spend the night safely behind a locked door. The first to make it to safety is the winner. If you do not complete it, you must spend the night in the main room with whoever else is left in there. When you are in the main room, anything goes.” The Host paused. “Oh, and one more thing, it might be a bit hard to see. Now, good luck, my lovelies!” he screamed the words, causing me to jolt.

I steeled my spine and pushed down my nerves. There wasn’t any time. I needed to become the Shadow. This game could possibly work in my advantage, if I maneuvered myself correctly.

I steadied my hands and opened the card.

I read it through three times, soaking it in.

You have a choice.

Let in that which does you harm

Or let go of that which will set you free

You must either surrender to 189

Or grievously injure 173

I flipped the card over, but that was all there was. I could either surrender to Ivan or hurt Enzo?

Great, I didn’t plan on doing any of that.

A noise sounded, and the door below the EXIT sign slowly opened outwards. My time was up.

Here goes nothing.

I stepped out of the room into a pitch-black space; the only other lights came from the other open doors. The space appeared to be circular, and it held five doors that were evenly spaced. One door for each contestant. The whole room was probably four hundred feet across, and on the opposite side, I had to squint to see 189’s numbered shirt as he stepped out of his room. I quickly tried to locate Enzo and 195. Enzo was the next door over to my left, and I did my best to signal him to stay in place. 195 was between 189 and Enzo’s door. That left Jeremy to my right. I only just put my eyes on him when all of our doors shut, and we plummeted into darkness.

I heard muted footsteps approaching from my right.

I dropped carefully to the ground, crawling slowly and cautiously across the floor in the direction of Enzo and 195. The darkness was both familiar and unnerving.

“Come out and play my special birdy!” Ivan cackled into the darkness; his voice was quite a distance away, and I didn’t pay it any mind as I continued my motions. With the knowledge of his presence in this game, I knew we would come head-to-head. I needed to end Ivan’s life; I needed to stop his reign of torture and terror. I owed it to that little girl and her mother. I owed it to all the human beings he had turned into his pets over the years.

But I wasn’t sure now was the time for action; there were too many variables.

A mechanical hum echoed around the room which made it challenging to hear the other players, but I could just make out the same noises as before. I knew Jeremy was trying to be stealthy, but his colossal form created a challenge in his execution.

After crawling for quite some time, I smelled Enzo before I touched him. After days of training together, it was easy to determine his familiar, sharp, comfortable scent. He jolted when I brushed my hand against his covered legs.

I stood carefully and wrapped myself in him, his arms raised and encircled my hips. We stood like that for quite some time, and I listened carefully for signs of anyone’s approach.

“I can’t,” I finally exhaled, the words barely audibly. “I won’t be able to make it out of here.”

He leaned down until his lips pressed to my ear. “I can,” he breathed out.

I heard the noise just in time to whip around and jab out. A hand caught my wrist before it landed.

“Settle, I’m 195.” I realized I had not heard him speak yet, but the voice didn’t sound like Ivan’s.

A light flashed on before I could determine if that was the truth. There was a timer on the ceiling with just under seven hours left on it. I was able to confirm it was, in fact, 195 and locate both Ivan and 87 before the timer flicked off, and we plunged back into the darkness.

“Move!” I snarled. As quietly as possible, I dragged both men away from where I had seen Ivan.

“Ready or not, here I come!” Ivan taunted out behind us.

Once we moved far enough away, I slowed until stopping. We weren’t touching any of the walls now, and I didn’t want to run smack into one.

I guided the men as close to me as possible. I calmed my breathing and tried to hear any indication of where Jeremy and Ivan were. After a bit, I grew frustrated. We needed to act. Not react.

“195, can you complete it?” I murmured out.

He didn’t answer for a moment, and I grew nervous that Maverick’s warning might be right.

“I can, but it would be challenging,” 195 finally answered.

“Should we just take them out?” I questioned softly.

“We should be able to manage 87,” Enzo confirmed. “But 189 is a wild card. We should only do that if necessary.”

Before I could say anything in response, a hand grabbed onto the back of my shirt and yanked me away from the men. The assailant was able to get me several feet away before I gained my bearings. Their other hand landed on my mouth, capturing the sound I attempted to release. I still managed a garbled noise, but it wasn’t quite enough to supersede the mechanical hum in the room.

“Shut up!” the voice hissed into my ear. It wasn’t Ivan, but I already knew by the massive size of the body and hand that it was Jeremy who now held me in his grasp. “Stop squirming! You are going to work with me.”

I internally berated myself for my stupidity. I had let my guard down. I was fully fighting as he continued to drag us away from Enzo and 195. I wasn’t making any traction, though, so I decided on a different route.

The sting of his hand hitting against my cheek unlatched my teeth from his other one that covered my mouth. I tasted blood; I hoped it was his.

With the new leverage, I turned and repositioned my feet. I lowered my center of gravity and stepped between Jeremy’s legs. I maneuvered myself until I had the needed angle. I brought my knee up, bent his, and brought us to the ground.

A surprised grunt left him, but then he laughed, flipping us so he covered my much smaller form. “Good, this will help me.”

His hands began to invade my body, disgusting tentacles against my skin.

“How do I know you?” he angrily let out. “Don’t answer that. ”

I guessed his objective had something to do with me. I wasn’t sure if telling him would help or hurt matters. I tried to jerk up and unlatch him from my form, but all it did was push his bulge into my stomach.

“Fuck! I haven’t been this close to a woman in too long. Stop moving. Let me feel you.”

I decided on a plan of action. “You’re Jeremy Stone.”

His whole body froze up, and his hands on my stomach applied crushing pressure. “Go on.”

Where were Enzo and 195? Surely, they should be able to hear all the noise we were making.

The timer flashed on; less than six hours remained. I couldn’t see anything else past Jeremy’s form; his eyes stared directly into mine, and I watched as something dawned in them.

We dropped back into darkness.

“Nightingale?” His fingers plunged deeper into my skin with bruising force, and it was difficult to breathe through the pain.

“Raven,” I spit out.

“No!” There was horror in his voice. His collar lit up.

The light blinded me, and suddenly, Jeremy’s body was wrenched from mine.

I rolled onto my hands and knees. The light from his collar was just bright enough to see Ivan’s sinister smile as he snapped Jeremy’s neck.

“You do not touch my pet!” Ivan reprimanded the corpse.

Jeremy’s collar went black, and I could no longer see Ivan’s form.

I needed to move and put as much space between myself and Ivan as possible. I didn’t hesitate as I dragged myself hurriedly and silently away from Ivan.