Do As I Say

The New Seeker

Ryde

"Start," Val said, vacantly.

I raised the wrench painfully and hurtled towards the door not before glancing back at Trace for a moment. The girl wasn't moving, her entire body was trembling and as she met my gaze I could see the unadulterated fear and helplessness in her eyes. I wanted to stop and tell her to get her crap together because she'd be dead if she didn't but I couldn't.

The bastard Val was watching me, his empty eyes trained on my every move. I wanted to fucking trash him with the same wrench I held in my bloodied hands but I knew it wouldn't do me any good. I had to find another fucking way outta this.

The seeker a lanky kid with a faded look in his eyes and a beaten out jacket started counting in a loud voice, terror lacing every syllable. Shoulders bumped harshly into mine, bodies pushing me forward as the other hiders around me ran out. A girl ducked under my arm and flailed wildly around a corner to the stairs that lead to some upper floor. I decided on going behind her but I knew the seeker would tail me upstairs because he'd know at least one or two of us would be hiding there.

I took a deep breath that strained the broken bridge of my nose and blood poured down my cupids bow and lips until it was trickling off my chin. I winced and wiped it against my sleeve before dragging myself down the corridor. This one had dim lights over every doorstep. The other parts of the apartment complex seemed to be shrouded in darkness but this part was partially lit. I knew why.

That fucker Val wanted it to be easier for the fucking seeker to find the hider. My fingers seared as the cold metal of the wrench imprinted into the flayed edges, my flesh had gone soft like minced meat and the blood dripped steadily onto the tiles below. I slipped the wrench into my back pocket as the seeker was still counting halfway through.

First I needed to do something about the lights. I could hinder the seeker's ability to find me and then it'd buy me enough time to figure something out. I stared down at the fingers of my right hand that were reduced to a lump of shredded skin and flesh and then at my left hand that wasn't swelling unlike the other one.

I drew my left hand down to the wrench and slowly clasped my fingers around it and pulled it out of my back pocket. The seeker was counting in a shrill voice so I fucking hoped no one was going to hear me over that. I halted in the middle of the corridor, a hider hustled past me while brandishing a large saw in mid-air. He dove into a room and crashed it shut behind him.

"Get the fuck outta my way, cockblock," a girl screeched, nearly impaling me with her pair of glittery scissors.

She had a manic look in her eyes, the kind that showed that she'd lost it. That this hellhole had reduced her to a crazed bitch. I sidestepped her as she shot past me into a room and kicked the door shut. I cautiously glanced over my shoulder and then quickly raised my hand back and flung the wrench at the nearest bulb, it burst open and shattered into a thousand flecks of glass.

I ducked sideways as a small shard nearly grazed my cheek and started running up the corridor while recklessly smashing the wrench into every bulb on both sides. Glass exploded around me and the place behind me fell into shadows as I bounded up the corridor and then slid into a room adjoining the elevator door. The elevator light was weak and muted but it was enough to accentuate the entrance and it was somewhere out of reach so I couldn't take it down.

I left the door open behind me in case the fucking seeker caught me at once with the door closed cause all the damned doors were left wide open. I backed away and jackknifed into a darkened corner trying to adjust my eyes to the darkness. I slowly realized I was wedged between something warm and soft almost like another person. My eyes widened as I shifted a bit and something pushed into my side, its heavy mass restraining me against the ground. I tried shifting some more but the fucking object plopped sickly onto my lap. That's when the first shitty smell hit me.