Jillian shrieked in pain as the bullet pierced her back. She crumpled to the ground with a hard thud. I could sense the other running back in our direction. I should have known they'd come running back. .
“Jillian, Jillian!” I shouted. She was coughing up blood. She rolled unto her back and coughed up more blood.
"What happened?" Angela squatted next to Jillian. I looked down and watch as blood coated her teeth and she began to heave.
“What are we going to do, what are we going to do?” Sammy stressed. “We have to keep moving or Sydney will leave." She kept looking to see if anyone was listening in.
“Come on, we can’t leave her here,” I said as I sat in front of her and placed her head in my lap.
“She’ll slow us down, Mason. We have to go,” Caroline said, pacing. “I hate to say this but she’s going to die. We can’t risk the rest of us getting caught.” I knew deep down she was right. Time was of the essence. But I couldn’t leave Jillian. I couldn’t let her die on the ground alone, not when we've gone through so much together.
“No!” shouted. "I am not leaving her. You all need to go. Go without me."
"We can't, you're our leader. You're suppose to lead us out," Sammy sobbed. "Please don't do this Mason."
"Mason, we need you," Angela ran her hand through her hair repeatedly and started pacing.
“M-Mason, please don’t leave me Mason.” Jillian sobbed. "Mason, p-please," her lips quivered and right then I knew I couldn't leave.
I started running my hand through her hair to comfort her. She was beginning to look really bad. “I won’t leave you Jillian, I promise.” She gave me a lopsided smile followed by a few coughs of blood.
Not long after she started shaking. In my head I was freaking out. She was dying. What was I supposed to do? Her blood was seeping through my dress at a rapid pace. “Do you think my mom and my brother would miss me?” her eyes flickered as she laughed softy.
“Come on Mason! We have to go,” Caroline yelled. “We don't want to leave you,but we can't wait any longer.” I ignored her and continued to soothe Jillian.
“I’m so sorry Jillian,” Angela croaked. "You hang in there."
“I’m sorry Mason, I just can’t get caught,” Sammy looked at me with such sorrow in her eyes. “Hang in there Jillian. You, ah, you can pull through this. Don’t give up,” she turned around shaking and I knew it wouldn't be long before she started crying.
I turned my head around and they all started fleeing. I didn’t blame them. How could I? The consequences would be bad if they were caught. I just prayed that they got out safe or all of this would have been for nothing. I made my choice to stay with Jillian. No one should die alone. There's no better way to die.
Minutes later, all could hear was the barking of the guard dogs and the faint sound of twigs snapping. I kept telling myself that if they were free, I would be happy. That meant that I was able to help them after all. I wanted to go with them. I wanted to see my mother’s smile again and to hear my dad’s deep laughter. I was so afraid. I was afraid that Jillian was dying in my arms and soon after I would be joining her.
“Mason, I…I can’t feel my legs,” she sobbed. “I can’t feel my legs. I don’t want die Mason." Tears escaped her eyes and rolled down the sides of her face. I quickly wiped them away.
“Shhh, shhh, it’s going to be okay,” I rubbed her cheeks. They were turning cold and discolored. My heart skipped a beat. “Jillian,” I choked. She didn’t answer. “Jillian.” Nothing. She was gone. I looked down into her chocolate brown eyes that now retained no life. I closed her eyes. Tears escaped my owns as I held her, sobbing.
I looked up when I heard the barking get louder. The dogs weren’t the only things I heard coming. I could hear Keegan blurting out curse words left and right and the other guards. I cringed as his stream of curse words got closer. I would be joining Jillian in just a few moments. I squeezed my eyes shut awaiting the darkness.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Keegan came up from behind me. I opened my eyes to look at him and his face was cover in dirt. I wanted to laugh, but the pistol in his hand had me wanting to kill him. He grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet. I looked down at Jillian’s body in horror as the guard dogs started tearing into her flesh. They were eating her. I turned away because bile started to rise in my throat until I threw up on Keegan.
"Ugh, you bitch!" he shouted as he looked down at his sullied shirt.
“You’re so going to pay for this.” His eyes darkened at it had to be the scariest thing I’d ever seen. “You see what happen when you don’t obey the rule. Now my fuck buddy is dead. Are you going to take her place?” He asked and my heart started beating fast. “Oh no, you’re too disobedient. I have better plans for you.” He walked me back through the forest, occasionally making me trip on purpose.
Once we had reached the back door, some of the other guards showed up with Angela, Sammy and Carolina in their arms. They were all teary-eyed and sobbing. This was all my fault. We’ve lost everything now. I just stood their staring at them.
“Did you really think we wouldn’t catch you?” Keegan looked at every single one of us. “We have eyes everywhere. Isn’t that right Caroline?” he gave her a cocky grin.
“Caroline?” Angela jerked her head towards her. “You told them? You betrayed us?” I had never heard such pain in her voice. “You screwed us all. Look at Jillian?!”
“You BITCH!” Sammy screamed.
“Caroline?” I sobbed. “Y-you did this? You told them? Jillian is dead because of you!” I screamed and tried to claw her face off. Keegan dropped me to the ground on my stomach and tied my hands behind my back. “You bitch!” I screamed while spewing dirt from my mouth. “Traitor!” Keegan picked me up so I was on my feet again and pushed me through the woods and then the kitchen door. The others were trailing behind me. Caroline as walking behind one of the guards.
“Mason,” Caroline cried from behind me. “I had to. If we had gotten caught he would have killed us. It’s better this way. Even Jillian said that.”
“Shut the fuck up and don’t ever say her name again out of your filthy mouth,” I shouted.
One of the guards mouthed something to Caroline and start pushing her down one of the corridors. “No!” her voice shrieked. “I did what you I ask. I told you everything. I did what you asked! Nooo!” I watched as they took her down the dark corridor kicking and screaming. I didn’t have pity for her this time.
“Do you want to pay for her crimes this time?” Keegan whispered in my ears. I shook my head slightly. “Answer me!” he yanked my arm back causing a sharp spike.
“No,” I said before he untied me and took me back to my room. I was confused. Why wasn’t he trying to kill me? He already killed Jillian. I was sure that he was going to kill me after what we did. Where were Angela and Sammy? How could everything get so fucked up? I helped Caroline, and then she goes and betrays us. She’s the reason Jillian is dead. I could hardly contain my wolf as new tears formed in my eyes.
About an hour later, I heard an announcement over the intercom. It was Keegan telling all girls to come outside to the front lawn. I didn’t know what to expect but my pulse was racing and my hands were getting clammy. Why hadn’t he punished us yet?
I walked out of my room and followed the other girls to the front lawn. There were murmurs from all direction out on the lawn. We were all jumbled together. No sign of Angela and Sammy. I could see a stage that I hadn’t seen when I came here my first day.
Shortly after, most of the girls had settled down, Keegan walked out on the stage. He was sporting a very wide grin on his face. That couldn’t be good. One of his goons was holding something under a tarp and handed it to Keegan.
“Many of you might be wondering what you’re doing out here. We’ll you can thank the five girls that tried to escape today,” he stated. “One of those girls is dead,” he said. I hated how he talked about her like he didn’t make her life here unbearable. “Three were sent to their rooms and one will be explained in a few minutes.”
All I could see where eyes, accusing eyes. They were all searching for the girls who were stupid enough to try and leave this place, to escape their fate. I wanted to crawl under a rock or dissolve into nothingness. How could everything go so wrong? I saved her. I swiped angrily at some stray tears.
“I want to show you all what happens to girls who don’t follow the rules.” He dropped the tarp. There was a long staff- looking thing in his hand. My gaze rose as I surveyed it.
At the very top was…Caroline’s head. I became dizzy, keeled over and regurgitated. Blood was leaking through her eyes, nose and ears. I looked a little closer and I could see that someone had sewed her mouth shut. I could see that one side of her head was bashed in. Then I puked again.
After his little showcase, Keegan ordered everyone back into their rooms. Lots of girls were murmuring about what she could have done. I have a feeling that this was only a piece of what they could do to us. I got to my room, no longer mines and Jillian’s, and plopped on the bed crying.
Is that going to happen to me? The thought of my head on a stick being showcased in front of the entire school scared me. The pain of what she had to go through terrified me. I thought I could be strong here, but I ever since I got here my definition of the word ‘strong’ as gotten weak.
I wondered how long they waited to kill Caroline. How many minutes did she scream in agony? She was a traitor, but no one deserved that. Shit! What’s going to happen to me? What’s going to happen to Angela and Sammy? Two dead, three more to go.
Tomorrow Angela’s supposed to be auctioned. Will they auction her? Will they kill her? All these questions rattled in my head. It was all my fault. How could things go so wrong? I was supposed to be strong; instead, I think I was the weakest one out of all of us. I had no more fight left. I was a sitting duck waiting for death.
After about an hour or so, my door was opening. Angela stepped in and I couldn’t help but run up to her and give her the biggest, most suffocating hug I could give. “Angela, are you okay? Where’s Sammy?” I sobbed into her shoulder while she sobbed into mines.
“I’m fine, I’m okay. I don’t know where Sammy is. How are you doing? I was sure I was dead when one of Keegan’s guards found us. Caroline that bitch!” she shouted.
“I’m fine; I don’t understand what’s happening though. Do you know why they haven’t punished or killed us yet?” I wipe away my tears and pull away from Angela.
“The last time I’ve heard of anything like this, they let the girl live because her mate was paying a lot of money.” She sat on Jillian’s messy bed. “They won’t kill you when a lot of money is involved.”
“But I don’t have a mate,” I said bemused. “I don’t go to auction until another five and a half weeks.”
“Most likely someone has seen you and made an offer,” she sighed. “The only reason some of us go into auction is to pretend that the sales are fair, but most of the men have already bought us unless someone else bids higher.”
It was as if everything stopped at that moment. I was already sold? The auction is just some hoax for the council. This wasn’t an auction, it was trafficking.