As we finally arrive at our bedrooms, Ms. Venable finishes her explanation of the outpost rules. "Finally, there will be no unauthorized copulation of any kind, under any circumstances," Venable states, staring each one of us down. "No exceptions."
"You're joking," Coco scoffs. "You can't lock us away in this bunker and tell us we can't have sex. What are we supposed to do, just stare at each other?"
I roll my eyes at Coco's complaints. I doubt I'll be looking to hook up with anybody anytime soon considering the slightly traumatizing experience I just had.
Venable glares at Coco. "Go ahead and test me. You'll find out that it is not a joke."
She turns down the hallway and shows Coco, Gallant, and Evie their rooms, while the shorter woman that took us through decontamination walks over to us.
"What is it, Ms. Mead?" Ms. Venable asks the woman.
"The Cooperative decided that Mallory will be a Gray," Ms. Mead states.
Ms. Venable sends her a questioning glance while Coco scoffs. "She can't be a Gray," Coco protests. "She's using my brother's ticket, which was for a Purple."
"The Cooperative's decision will not be reversed," Ms. Mead says firmly, taking Mallory's arm.
"Wait!" Mallory yells, shocking even herself by her little outburst. "Why did they decide that I'm a Gray?"
"That's classified," Ms. Mead says forcefully. Coco and Gallant send her an apologetic look as she is whisked away.
Ms. Venable turns on her heel and leads me down the hallway, pretending as if Mallory hadn't just been stripped of her ranking. "Ms. Callistra, your room will be here," she says as she stops in front of a door.
"Is that your office?" I ask, pointing to the room next to mine. It has a grander entrance than any other room, and I can see marks from her cane at the doorway.
"It is," she says skeptically. "This is a short hallway, so it's only your bedroom and my office. I would suggest that you keep it quiet at night unless you would like to end up on my bad side."
"I wouldn't dream of it," I say semi-jokingly. I don't know if she has a good side, but if she does I need to be on it.
I look around the dining table skeptically, wondering where the hell I should sit. I don't know any of these people well yet, so I have no clue who will tolerate my personality.
"God, these dresses are horrible!" Coco yells from down the hallway. We all turn to see her entering the dining room, noticeably later than everyone else.
"Tell me about it," Gallant complains. "These suits make me feel like I'm some fucking medieval person."
"This corset is killing my ribs," Coco grumbles. "Mallory, come loosen my corset!"
Mallory quickly jumps up and fixes Coco's corset for her. "God, that Gray's outfit is horrible," I say sympathetically to Mallory. She looks down sadly.
Coco walks over and takes a seat without even thinking about it, but she soon notices that Evie is sitting only one seat away from her. "Valentina, please sit between me and this old bat," Coco calls out as she takes her seat, motioning to the chair between her and Evie. "I cannot stand her constant nagging."
"I can't believe that you two haven't even been together for a few hours and you already hate her guts," I scoff as I take the seat between the two of them. "And don't you dare nag at me," I threaten, pointing to Evie. Evie Gallant always seemed conceited in her interviews, so I'm sure she's even worse in real life.
"I make no promises, darling," she says in her old-timey actress voice. That will surely get on my nerves soon.
The Grays bring in everyone's dinners and I look at the gelatin cube sitting in front of me. "What the hell is this?" I ask.
"Are we supposed to eat these?" Coco shrieks in disgust. "Are you trying to poison us?"
Coco may be a bitch, but she is the most entertaining person here. I quickly hide my smirk as Ms. Venable shoots Coco a glare.
"These cubes contain every vitamin that our body needs," she states. "Eat them or not, I do not care. If you don't eat them, you starve to death and leave more food for us, so I will not complain. We only have enough nutrition for the next 18 months, so I would rather not waste it on somebody as shallow and naive as you."
I widen my eyes as I pick at my cube. Coco definitely did not deserve that harsh of a statement. The whole room goes silent as everyone resorts to eating their cubes.
Ms. Mead reenters the room after a few minutes. "Our last resident has arrived," she says to Ms. Venable. Ms. Venable stands and leaves us all alone in the dining room. Having finished my cube, I stand to leave.
"Are you just leaving?" Coco asks me.
"I don't see anybody to force us to stay here," I point out.
"I'm good with that," Gallant says, standing as well. He and Coco go off to the back staircase to go to their rooms, but I use the main staircase since it is closer to my room.
When I reach the main staircase, I suddenly stop as I look ahead. Standing in the middle of the staircase is fucking David.
Before I can control myself, I am storming towards him. "You fucking asshole!" I shout as I punch him.
"Get away from me, you crazy bitch!" he shouts, pushing me back.
I punch him again and see the bruise that I left from backhanding him earlier. "If you think that I'm going to let your pathetic ass out of this one-"
"Don't you understand?" he laughs. "I bought my way into here, and I can easily buy your way out. I'll ask that woman to name her price, and soon you'll be kicked outside, left to fend for yourself."
I simply step back and laugh. "Don't you understand that money is worthless now? You could offer her your whole company, but it wouldn't be worth more than the shit I took last night. You have no power over me or anybody else in this place."
He glares at me. "We both know that I can easily out strengthen you." Without warning, I kick him in the groin and slam him against the wall. I hold my elbow against his neck and he struggles to breathe. "Go ahead and say that one more time."
He barely manages to gasp.
"That's what I thought," I state as I release him and he falls to the ground. "Now stay the fuck out of my way and I won't do that again."
18 months later...
Time passes painfully slow at first, but eventually, days go by within seconds. Two weeks into our stay, Emily and Timothy show up, alerting us that absolutely everything outside is gone. Ms. Venable receives word of other Outposts being overrun, and we all fear that we will be next.
Over the last 18 months, I read all of the strange books in the library, many of them being about witchcraft. I've come to learn that this was no ordinary boys' school; there is something very supernatural about it. That explains why it's built underground.
Luckily enough, I have managed to get on Venable's good side, so she allows me to play the piano in the sitting room. I played piano before the bombs, and I was quite a good player, so everyone seems to tolerate my music when it's in place of the song that never stops repeating from the radio.
The only time that we are forced out of our rooms is at mealtimes, which only happen once a day. At tonight's dinner, Gallant has decided to throw a tantrum about being tired of living how we are.
He throws his plate against the wall as he stands up. "What are you going to do? Kill me?" he shouts as he backs away from the table.
Everyone looks between Gallant and Venable nervously, wondering what punishment is in store for him. "He's about to get his ass beaten, maybe even killed," I mutter under my breath, only loud enough for Coco to hear. Coco and I happened to grow together over the last 18 months due to our shared hatred of Evie - and almost everyone else in the Outpost in that matter.
She stifles a scoff. "At least he's making this meal worth my while."
Out of nowhere, a siren begins blaring. Coco and I look over from watching Gallant's meltdown to watch the tall guard enter the dining room. "There's been a perimeter alert," she states.
Ms. Venable and Ms. Mead both leave in a rush, so we all just sit and watch Gallant compose himself. I turn to Coco, unamused. "Do you think this thing that crossed the perimeter will finally put us out of our misery?" I ask.
"God, I hope so," she groans.
"I'm going back to my room while I still can," I whisper. "I hate these fucking dinners."
She nods and follows suit. We each split once we meet the main hallway, and I head for my bedroom.
As I pass Ms. Venable's office, I notice a man with long blonde hair entering it. A puzzled look flashes across his face as he looks at me. One eyebrow is raised, creating an expression of curiosity yet also mockery. His gaze stays focused on me until he walks into the room.
I sigh and turn back to keep walking to my room. I try to shake off the strange energy that I felt from him. He must just feel strange because he's the first new person I've seen in over a year. I ignore the feeling in my gut and head off to bed.