The Freaks

chapter twenty-seven

In my mind, I picture a single bolt of electricity striking through his chest, burning a hole into his flesh much like Veronica did with the dummy. Then I see myself shoving the spoon into each eye socket, hearing his screams as he tries to pull it out. I almost do it. It's so tempting to do each. I feel the familiar crackling at the tips of my fingers, and I think Nox can sense that, because he kicks me under the table and subtly shakes his head with a warning clear in his eyes.

I look back to the Soldier as I say, "Lucky for you, I'm hungry."

"That's what I thought." He turns to face Nox again, his face even closer than before. "If you ever come near her again, Hayes, I'll blow your brains right out of your skull." He shoves Nox's shoulder. "Something to consider."

He gives one last sneer at me before heading for his table again.

"Are you okay?" Diego asks once the Soldier is out of earshot.

"I'm fine," Nox almost snaps back, keeping his voice calm. "I'm fine."

I watch the Soldier return to the others he was sitting with. He high-fives one of them and takes his chair and slides it out from under the table. Smirking and feeling stupid at the same time, I flick the chair farther back with a quick movement of my fingers as he lowers himself onto it, making him fall to the ground. He tries to grab the table to stop his fall, but his hand slams onto his tray—

And the contents dump all over his head and body.

People laugh at him as he bolts up from the floor, red-faced and soup dripping off his face, his chin. The stew soaks his clothes and he tries to wipe it away, but it stains even more. He runs his hands through his stew-soaked hair and grimaces, letting out a loud grunt as he kicks at his chair, cursing at everyone still laughing at him.

Nox turns around to face me with an amused smile on his lips, raising his eyebrows in question. I shrug once, looking down at the bowl in front of me with my own smile upon my lips.

The Soldier got what he deserved.

And so did the Freak earlier today.

A sudden whistling sounds all around the dining hall, but it's not the usual kind, to tell us that our dinner is over. Every head in here snaps to the entrance, watching as Hartman and two other Soldiers walk into the room, one of them the same one that found me the night of the day off when I saved those five Freaks. It's the same Soldier that saw me before I threw him into a wall and knocked him unconscious. I can't see the other Soldier, though; Hartman is blocking him from view.

"Attention, all Soldiers!" Hartman's voice booms all around, the sound amplified in the spacious room. Every single voice silences within a second, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. "I'll just cut to the chase. The night of our day off, a Freak came into the prison and broke out multiple prisoners."

My heart has never been so fast before. I stare at Hartman, then at the Soldier beside him, my hands clenching into tight fists. I even ignore Nox's gaze sliding to me. I just focus on the leader of the Soldiers, everything else slowly morphing into a smear of the colour red.

Hartman holds up the poncho I was wearing, the same one I stuffed in the pipes lining the ceiling. "We can confirm the Freak was wearing this that night," he continues, shaking the material once so it droops down. "And within this poncho, we found this." He takes out a small scrap of light material that looks like it could have been a part of the poncho itself. Except, it's the complete opposite colour to the poncho.

No one says anything—we just look at each other in question.

"This," Hartman continues, his voice sounding angrier, "is from a Soldier's uniform. It's the material of the white T-shirt you all wear."