Culling

Part I • Chapter IX

Owen

Sang had fallen asleep, the sound of her soft breaths echoing throughout the room.

Most of the others were either lounging on the beds or sitting around the central seating area, myself included. I studied the distant shapes of the familiar capital landscapes alight for their nighttime patrons.

I glanced at my watch, it was about 1am.

We would have to make this brief. We would need some rest to be fully functional later in the day, because this first day was going to set the tone for everything.

Once it was certain that Sang would stay asleep, the rest of my group gathered around the couches with me.

Miss Sang Sorenson.

That brought up another concern.

She was certainly unexpected, and I wasn't just saying that because of her tribute status.

There was something about her, something that I couldn't quite put my finger on at the moment. Not anything alarming, per say, but rather was like an itch that I could not scratch. There was a familiarity that hovered right on the end of my subconscious.

Right now, I would have loved the resources to research into her background. There were so many unanswered questions.

I also couldn't deny the initial attraction that I had felt towards her.

I knew that most, if not all, of the team felt the same thing.

It was somewhat alarming to me that this would happen now, considering the suicidal nature of our current mission. I was more certain than before that Kota's worries about the Toma team wanting to claim her were ridiculous. That much wasn't even an issue, of that I was certain.

There was something more than just simple attraction going on between us and the mysterious Miss Sorenson. It was an instinctual, raw, and primal feeling within that told me that she was mine - that she was ours.

How in the world were we going to keep her safe?

Sean was the last to join us, he had taken a detour to look over the object of our affection.

"Dr Green," I addressed him as he sat beside me on the couch. "Will she wake up?" I nodded towards Sang. I knew that he had checked her for that reason.

"No." Sean leaned back on the couch, as he looked towards the ceiling. I could tell he was exhausted. "She was already in a deep sleep. She must have been completely worn out."

"That is to be expected." Victor pointed out. "Especially considering events today."

"Yes." I agreed before looking around at my family.

Everyone's focus was on the small shape of the woman sleeping nearby.

I continued. "We will need to tread carefully with her. The timing is not ideal to say the least; but we have no choice but to move forward. Outside of this situation, did any of the other tributes from district six stand out to you?"

"Not really." It was Nathan this time. "I noticed that that Derrick guy hovered around your buddy Chet during the evening. So he may have joined up with him. I also thought I recognized two other district six tributes with Chet as well."

Silas nodded. "The other two weren't with him when he was bothering me earlier, so if they joined him it was after."

Sean looked at me. "Do you think he will be a threat?"

A threat? Most likely not.

Chet was someone who was more of an annoyance, and someone that I would rather avoid. However, him a tribute made that much harder to ignore him. For some reason, a long time ago he had gotten it into his head that we were rivals and latched onto every opportunity to annoy me.