Culling

Part I • Chapter V

"So..."

Or not.

A dark haired man with a goatee, who surprisingly didn't look as distraught as the others, squeezed into the chair next to me. "Sing! I don't remember ever seeing you around town. Did you live way out in the country?"

Considering that the chair was made for one person, he was most definitely way in my space.

I moved over as much as I could, but I could still feel him pressed against me. He swung his arm around my shoulders, and I leaned away from him as he tried to bring me in closer.

"My name is Sang." I told him.

"Sing, Sang, Song." He drawled. "Whatever. I'm Greg. You must be into same kinky shit if you got into the selection process, they never put women in. What did you do?"

He leaned his head next to mine and I could feel his breath on my cheek as he spoke directly into my ear. "Since we are gonna die anyway, we should go out on a date when we get to the Capital. Live it up a little, know what I mean?"

I looked at him in horror and he smirked at me.

I didn't know which was worse, the nonchalance he had towards our impending deaths or the thought being with him in any way, shape, or form.

I got out of the chair and backed away, making sure to keep him in front of me.

It didn't matter, he made no move to stand up from where he had made himself comfortable in my seat.

"No thanks." I replied as nicely as I could.

"Just think about it, princess." He smirked at me. "I know you don't have a boyfriend."

I blinked at him and put my finger to my lips. That was a strange conclusion to make. "...Why would you think that?"

"A hottie like you? Any dude worth his salt would have jumped to take your place, just to play hero. Yet no one did." Greg seemed to be smug about this. "So you should go out with me."

One of the older men called over from where he sat at the table, "Is this really the best time to pick up a girl, man?" Apparently we had an audience.

I backed up even further and looked at the ground, noticing that the rest of the room's occupants were now paying attention to us. The bald man and his friend were leaning across the bar, watching us with interest. The redhead, who I vaguely remembered being one of Maro's classmate, and his buddy were looking between me and Greg.

"Chill." Greg snapped at the man who interrupted him, "What Sing and I do is not your business. She's my girlfriend."

A large man, probably Greg's lackey, came and stood up behind the chair that Greg was sitting in. He crossed his arms and glowered at the men at the table.

"I'm not your girlfriend." I mumbled, trying to figure out how to dissuade him. This guy was really creeping me out.

Greg was still talking to the blonde man at the table, who was now frowning at him. He ignored my statement and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture towards the other man. "We are just gonna have some fun, there's nothing wrong with that."

The man across the bar raised his eyebrow as he continued to look back and forth between me and Greg, I could tell he was about to say something.

But Derrick's voice entered the conversation, "I know for a fact that you have never met her before today. She is no one's girlfriend."

Everyone turned towards him.

He had stood up from the chair he was sitting in previously and was leaning his hip against the back of it as he faced the room, his arms crossed. "In case you are all forgetting, she's competition. Boy, girl, it doesn't matter. We are all going to need to fight each other. To the death. There is no fun to be had."