Eventually, I did end up falling asleep. Waking up in a recognizable place, but knowing I wouldn't stay there for too long, really left me scarred on the inside. The cabin felt empty to me, and it only made the feeling worse.
Upon waking up, Angeli was nowhere in sight. I still looked around anxiously, as if waiting for her to appear and I realized that she really wasn't in there.
Laughter came from up on the deck, and I felt myself relax a little. She was probably hanging around with Derrick, still annoying him to death. I stood up from the bed and climbed the small stairs up to the upper area of the boat. Like I anticipated, she stood by the steering wheel and was giggling at Derrick's blank expression.
"Hey guys." I greeted, sitting down on a built-in bench.
"Hi. Check it out, I got Derrick to show me his eyes!" She exclaimed happily. "Well, he didn't show me them, but I got him to tell me what color they are and you were right! They're blue!" I looked at her with a shocked expression. It was just a simple guess, but I was right?
"They're not blue. I told you. They're a crystal color." He corrected and scoffed a little at Angeli's apparent ignorance.
"Same difference." She said, leaning back against the railing.
"Well, I see you're getting better." I said with a soft chuckle.
"With what?"
"The sickness. It looks to have gone away."
"Yeah, it did! Thanks to your advice." She smiled and looked up at the slightly cloudy sky. The sun was beginning to set in the horizon and I looked at Derrick worriedly.
"We're almost there, hang in there for a little while longer." He assured and continued to stare out into the vast sea. I looked over at Angeli and she still stared out towards the sun.
The sky was beginning to turn a light shade of pink and orange that reflected off her face. Her auburn hair flowed gently along with the soft wind. I caught myself staring at her and turned away after realizing it. That had been happening often, but I refused to let it mean something.
Once the sun had gone down, everything looked pretty dark. Slight light shone on the water from the moonlight above. It just made the feeling much more eerie. To my surprise, however, a large land mass came into view. It could only mean one thing. We were finally arriving in Germany.
Hitting against the shore, Derrick ordered us to jump on off. As we did, I landed in the water, but quickly emerged out of it and crawled up to the shore. Soon after, Derrick was tying the same rope onto a stake that closely resembled the one we had found the boat tied to and secured it.
"There. Now we have a way to go back. Now come on, we don't have much time to waste." I hastily picked myself up and went after him, still trying to catch up.
"Hey, slow down, will you?" I screamed a little, frustrated with his speed.
"Oh, sure! Sorry." He called back and slowed down a bit. Why was he even going so fast, anyway? That's when I realized where we were. Moderate country. We really did have a reason to be quick. Night wouldn't be a good time to get caught by Moderates.
"Derrick, where are we staying for the night?" Angeli walked beside him, while I walked beside her.
"I'm not sure, but we'll figure it out." He seemed confident about this, so I decided to trust his word. Then, he screamed out all of a sudden and clutched his side. I looked to where he was holding himself and saw the familiar sight of oozing blood. A knife protruded from his body. I fixed my eyes around the landscape and spotted someone hiding in bushes.
"Stay down!" I ordered and pulled out the knife from Derrick. He gave out another yelp, but I didn't want the knife to go any deeper in him. "Angeli, here!" I tossed her the knife and after she caught it, she immediately threw it at the guy in the bushes. "Nice! Now keep an eye out while I fix up Derrick." She nodded and pulled out a few more of her throwing knives from her pack.
His blood seeped through his shirt and he groaned in pain. "Hey, you'll be fine. Tell me what I need to do, Derrick. Come on," I urged him to stay awake by talking to him.
"Disinfect it with the clear white liquid in a bottle and dab it with honeydew to calm the bleeding. Then just wrap it in a bandage." He instructed quietly, as always. I rummaged through my bag until I found the objects he described. Meanwhile, I heard calls and screams surround us. It was like the Holocaust all over again.
After wrapping the bandage around his upper stomach, I helped him off the ground, but we were kicked back to it by a couple of Moderates.
"Stay down, Lankies! Ve're not putting up vit more of ya!" He had a thick German accent, which made him slightly more intimidating. Soon, Angeli joined us on the ground after being surrounded by so many of them.
"Vhat are ve going to do vit zem?" Someone asked.
"I don't know, but I bet we could use them somehow." A woman suggested.
"Zey're a lower class. Ve can just make zem vork for us." Chuckles erupted through the night.
"That would be useful. Good idea. Get the chains, they're feisty ones, I can tell." I ignored most of the conversations after that and continued glancing over at Angeli and Derrick. The three of us had worried expressions as we were dragged along with the Moderates. Apparently, now we were slaves and it would be difficult to escape with chains hanging around your wrists, ankles, and neck. So, I really had my work cut out for me.
In a matter of time, chains held me tightly against the wall, not letting me move properly. It wrapped around my wrists and held them above my head. Meanwhile, my legs were tucked underneath me, bounded together. Even my head was immovable. They held my neck tightly against the same wall.
What made matters even worse was that I had no idea where they took Angeli and Derrick. We were each separated into different rooms and I had no clue as to which ones they were put in. Thankfully, we were still in Germany. That way, if we escaped, we could continue with our travels.
The steel door of my room opened and a wealthy-looking man entered it. He wore a fur coat, even if it was at an unbearable heat outside. His hair was sleek and brown, but was dirty all the same. He was thin, but not too thin, either. The door shut behind him and he kept his golden eyes on me. He seemed to be German, from what I could tell.
"Norman Blake." He said in a monotone. "That is my name. While you are here, you will address me as either, 'Master Norman,' 'Master Blake,' or just 'Master.'"
I glared at him with hateful eyes while he walked closer to me. "You look fairly young. What is your age?" I didn't answer him. Instead, I scoffed and looked away from him. Big mistake.
He pulled out a horse's whip and struck me across the face, leaving a thin red line on my jaw. "Look at me when I am speaking to you. What is your age?" He repeated. I growled in pain as I looked back at his face, but didn't answer him. Again, he struck my face. Clearly wanting an answer, I gave him one.
"Nineteen!" I yelled, not bearing the stinging on my skin. "Nineteen." I said again, in a more calmer voice.
"Ah. I see..." Norman stashed away his whip in a pocket on the inside of his coat and continued to look at me with hard eyes. "You are now a slave to the Moderates. Whenever they ask something of you, it is your job to do as you are told. Otherwise, you will have to endure intense consequences. Understood?" I merely nodded. Not that I agreed with it. Just that I understood it.
"Good. And do not worry about your friends. They are being acquainted with their masters. Make yourself at home. It is what it will be for the next year or so." His thin accent was easy to understand, but I couldn't catch most of his words. It seemed that I really had no escape, especially if I was going to be chained up. Norman turned around and headed for the door.
"Wait..." I croaked out. His gaze followed mine to the chains. "Will I be here, with these chains, for a long time?" He shrugged.
"I do not know that, but it should not be too long until they let you free from the chains. It is hard to do work when you are all chained up, you know." He left the room laughing a little and I stared after him. You couldn't just own people and make them work for you! It was outrageous and it only angered me further. It was a good thing I wasn't a Moderate. I could have never been able to live with myself if I was.
I groaned from the burning sensation on my cheek and jaw. He struck me much harder than was necessary, but to him, I was nothing more than a dog to his master. And my "master" was Norman Blake. I was going to refuse to call him by his suggested names, but I realized it would only make me have to "endure intense consequences."
For what felt like centuries, I sat there in an uncomfortable silence. Every once in a while, I heard screams of protest from the slaves imprisoned around me. I seriously wondered how many more there were, and if they were caught the same way I was. Either way, I wanted out of this nightmare. If I was able to help the other slaves, I would. As of right now, I could only wait. And wait.
A familiar sound of a steel door opening rang in my room. "Give me the keys, it is time he eats or he will starve to death." Norman's voice echoed in the cave-like room and I heard the little jingle of keys. Then, I heard footsteps. "I really got you good, did I not?" I could sense him looking at my face. Imagining how the marks on my face must have looked like, I stared up at him. What I saw looking back at me took me by surprise. His eyes looked concerned. "Excuse my brutal force. It is, how you say, force of habit."
The grip on my wrists loosened and the chains dropped to my sides. I immediately lowered my hands and rubbed the red marks on my wrists. I pulled out my legs from under me and he released those too. Lastly, he unlocked the chains that tightened around my neck so that I was finally free.
"There you go. Now, follow me." We left the room and I found myself in a long hallway. How was this building still stable after all the pollution on the Earth? I had no idea. Still, the dim lights and dark atmosphere of it wasn't giving me the notion I was really yearning for.
Walking down the strangely identical hallways, we came across a different door. It was brown and wooden, instead of being like the steel ones I had seen before.
"Go in," Norman opened it up after unlocking it with a small key and held it open for me to go through. I walked in voluntarily to come face-to-face with a hardly lit up room consisting of long tables. The door closed and locked behind me, so I had nowhere else to go, but forward.
The people who were sitting at the tables, very few people, looked up at me as my footsteps echoed throughout the room. I didn't recognize anyone, until a hand waved me over. Their face was hidden away, but I went over to them anyway. It wasn't until she uncovered her face that I realized who it was, but barely.
Angeli's face was streaked with red lines and even a few cuts. She looked up at me with scared eyes and explained, "My master is very cruel. If you don't do what he tells you to do within three seconds, he whips you in the face. Nowhere else." I lifted my hand up to her cheek and ran the pad of my thumb across one of the cuts, staining it with blood.
"These masters are so cruel..." I whispered, letting my hand fall back to my side and wiping away the blood on it.
"Your master hit you, too?" She looked at my cheek with worry and I nodded.
"But he's not as bad as yours. He just tells me there's consequences I need to face if I don't listen to what the Moderates say." I stared down at the cold table they were going to be feeding us food on.
"Well, I wonder where Derrick is. He hasn't come in yet." She leaned against the table, resting her arms against it and putting her chin on top of them.
"Same here. I hope nothing bad is happening to him."
"Maybe because he's older, they're making him work now." I considered the possibilities and forced myself to be positive. After all, what use was there to be negative all the time?
"That could be true. He might've eaten earlier." I agreed, hoping it really was true.
A sharp whistle sounded before she could answer and everyone else stood up. Angeli and I followed them, heading towards the back of the room. Silver trays were placed there, and everyone took a platter. Going back to the table we were sitting at, a large young man snatched away my tray and laughed as he went off with it. Angeli almost went after him, but I quickly stopped her.
"Don't. You'll get hurt." She gave up easily, already too hungry, and sat down.
She opened up the bowl on top of the plate to find some meat and bread neatly arranged on it, with a few vegetables.
"Wow... where did they get this stuff?"
"They're Moderates. They have a good food source that they don't share with any other classes." I answered, hungrier than I had just been.
Angeli must have noted it because she asked, "Want some of mine?"
"Can I?"
"Go ahead." She smiled and pushed the plate towards me. I smiled back before taking something to eat. We both ate in silence, not sure what to say or do, but we still remained hungry after eating. Once our masters came back for us, we had to part and say goodbye before we saw each other again in the evening.
"Be careful, Angeli. And make sure you do everything within three seconds."
"Easier said than done, but I'll try." She grinned a little before placing her hand on my shoulder. "We're gonna get out of here soon. I know we will. We can't stay here while Trevor's free."
"I know. I'll think of something, but for now, we need to lay low."
"Sure. I'll see you later." She walked away, following a thin and sleek-looking Frenchman with a snotty look to his character. Poor Angeli.
"You never told me your name, boy. But I will not be needing it. I will call you Nineteen. Seem good to you?" Norman was leading me away, where I was back to being chained by the arms and around each of my ankles.
"Sure. Whatever floats your boat, Master." I answered with a roll of my eyes. He laughed cheerfully and continued walking down the endless halls. Eventually, he opened a separate door and I was led into a strange, foul-smelling room.
"You will be our blood tester, Nineteen. You will examine the blood, smell the blood, and, of course, taste the blood. This blood comes from the meals we prepare, so if anything goes wrong, you and the other Blood Testers will be blamed. If it looks funny, smells funny, or tastes funny, throw the meat in the discard pile. Anything else goes in the appropriate buckets of classified meat. You will work for six hours, nonstop, each day. Good luck." I stood, shocked and disgusted with my new job description. All the information was thrown at me at once, but I slowly trailed over to one of the wooden seats that designated the words, "Norman's Slave."
Rabbit meat was placed in front of me. I looked at it hesitantly before looking at the blood closely. It was red. Ok, check. It was a thick and rich liquid. Check. When on my finger, it slid down evenly. Check. The girl who was sitting next to me stared at the blood on my finger and I shrugged.
"You only live once." I brought it up to my nose and sniffed. It didn't smell spoiled or anything, and it smelled how blood was supposed to - plain. She continued to stare at the blood. Then, I brought it to my lips. I hated the taste of it, but I remembered that when I was younger, I would lick at my open cuts when I was too lazy to get a bandage. This blood tasted something like it.
I got up from my chair, picked up the rabbit, walked over to the row of large buckets, and plopped it inside the one labeled, "Rabbit." As I walked back to my chair, the girl who was sitting next to me looked completely lost as to what to do.
"Need help?" I asked her. She nodded timidly and I sat back down, looking over at the deer that was set down in front of her.
"First, examine the blood. It needs to be a pure dark red color and look pretty thick and liquid, not a mushy solid. Next, you smell it. I'm not sure how it would smell if it was going bad, but if it's a strange smell, you can let me know. Lastly, you just taste it. If it doesn't taste right, then you could easily tell." She looked at me, dumbfounded.
"How do you know all that?" She spoke quietly and gently. That's when I realized how loud I had been talking and the other Blood Testers were looking at me curiously.
"Not sure. There's been a lot of blood involved in my life. I guess I just picked it up." Murmurs sounded around the room, but the girl continued to look at me.
"My name's Anne. I'm from the Poor country." She had silver-gray eyes and chestnut hair that went to her upper back.
"I'm Mathias. I'm from the Lankie country, but don't worry, I'm not the kind of Lankie that steals from the Poor. I call those Dodgers, but I'd steal from them."
"Oh. Then that's good. You know right from wrong. Not many people have common sense anymore." She prodded the deer in front of her before dabbing her finger in its blood and placing it on her tongue. "Clear. Help me carry it over there?"
I grinned. "Sure." We lifted either side of the large buck and placed it inside the "Deer" bucket. We each grabbed new animals to blood test and a boy stood up from his chair.
"Alright! I have a strict blood phobia, so there's no way I'm testing this stuff!" Anne chuckled.
"That's Max. I met him in the Meal Room. He has a 'phobia' for almost everything." Max had black hair and green eyes, but they were cowered in fear. "Don't worry," Anne called over to him. "I'll do it." She prodded the magpie he had and quickly tasted it. "Ugh... this stuff tastes terrible! That animal was probably sick before they killed him. Poor thing..." She gently stroked it before carrying it to the discard pile.
There were only three other people in the room. Two boys and a girl. The girl had brown eyes and curly dark brown hair that went over her right eye. Meanwhile, the two boys each had the same pale, mint-green eyes. One of them had ash-gray hair while the other had gray-blond hair. They seemed to be related.
Since I was going to be stuck here for five more hours, I decided to learn their names. They all happily gave them out. The other girl was named Rebecca, the ash-gray boy was Xavier, and the gray-blond boy was nicknamed Xero. He wouldn't give me his real name, because he apparently didn't really like it.
Rebecca was unusually very quiet. She didn't talk too much, but had a warm smile to go along with her sweet personality.
Xavier and Xero were half-brothers that shared the same interests. They liked to annoy their master, since they had the same one, but always got away with it. Their ways of testing the blood were very... interesting... but I would never try it.
Max was, as Anne described, freaked out by everything, but it was funny to see his reactions. However, Anne was the complete opposite. She wasn't afraid of taking on challenges she was faced with, and wouldn't back down without a fight.
I was beginning to get used to these guys, and it really made time fly as we worked. It still didn't make the work exactly "fun." We were still being forced to work under terrible conditions, the only good ones being food and shelter. Though, it couldn't pay the price for our freedom. I was so much more determined to free not only Derrick, Angeli, and myself, but every other slave trapped in this building. I was willing to do what it took to get them out because it just wouldn't be fair if I left them behind, like Trevor had once done to me.
Time seemed to go by slower as the last hour approached. There weren't any clocks in the Blood Tester room, but the sixth hour of slavery was the hardest one. I would glance at the door, hoping to find Norman there, ready to lead me back to my prison-like cell, but he never would come. This was killing me.
Eventually, of course, he did retrieve me, but it took some effort to not attack him right then and there.
On my first day of being a slave, it was already driving me insane, but I had barely even scratched off the tip of the iceberg. This was only the beginning.
So as we made our way to the Meal Room, as Anne had called it, I wasn't very hungry. Tasting blood all day really did things to your digestive system. Norman was acting like his usual self, slightly cheery and bold, but I was sensing something behind all that.
Walking into the Meal Room felt like more work than when I first came in. Maybe it was because I was tired out, or maybe it was because I felt much more vulnerable, but I suddenly lost my appetite. Angeli wasn't here yet, so I sat myself at the table we shared the last time we were here.
I waited there for a while before someone sat next to me. "Oh, hey Anne." I said softly, trying to hide the anguish in the pit of my stomach. I was getting really uneasy.
"Hi Mathias. What's up?" She seemed quite happy, but I groaned a little as I lay my head on the table. Something was really out of order.
"Are you ok?" She asked, sounding in a bit of a panic. I only nodded as I picked my head up again.
"I'm just a little fatigued, is all." Replacing my groan with a smile, she seemed pretty convinced.
"Well, ok then..." Her silver eyes gleamed in the dim room and I got lost in them for a second.
"So where's the rest of the gang?" I asked, changing the subject.
"They should be arriving soon. The more kind masters let their slaves come to the Meal Room earlier, but the strict ones put their slaves to work longer." She explained.
Come to think of it, Norman did seem pretty good-natured. I should have considered myself lucky for that, but I still was a slave. It didn't make a difference.
"Are all Moderates like this? Are they all masters?"
"No, of course not. There's a few select Moderates who are chosen to become masters. The things they put their slaves to work for are the things all Moderates benefit from. The blood we test from the animals go out to all of the Moderate country. That's what they use us for. To benefit themselves." It all made sense now. I had to admit, their idea was good, but it was cruel.
The wooden door to the room opened and multiple slaves came in. Some of them looked worn out and ragged. Others looked perfectly fine. One in specific caught my attention.
The poor young boy had marks all over his bloody face and looked as if he were about to pass out. I wanted to help, but his master was right next to him, holding him up by his hair.
"That monster..." I muttered as I continued to watch him.
"How coincidental. His nickname is 'The Monster.' If anyone ever mentions that, then you know who they're talking about." She said matter-of-factly. "Hey, look! There they are!" She pointed towards a small group of people and I recognized them as Rebecca, Max, Xavier, and Xero. There was still no sign of Derrick or Angeli.
"Wait up, I'll be right back." I told them just as the door to the Meal Room was locked again. I stood up from the table and started searching the small room, looking for that familiar auburn hair or hair over the eyes. There was no such luck, of course.
I glanced back at the table with the Blood Testers on it, and they were looking at me curiously, waiting for me so I could join them. They were starting to become like friends of mine, and they were wondering what I was doing. I probably looked lost, searching for something I knew I wouldn't be able to find.
The worst started to play in my mind. What if her master had punished Angeli? And what if they already killed Derrick, since he hadn't been at either of the meals? If they were both gone, how was I supposed to keep going? I had grown close to them both. They were my only close friends. If they were gone, then I was too.
The whistle blew and no one went through the wooden door again. It stayed shut and locked closed. Footsteps echoed around me, heading for the back of the room to get their food. I didn't want anything to eat. I couldn't. Not anymore. With a heavy heart, I walked back towards the Blood Testers and sat down, waiting for them to come back.
Trying to find someone who was obviously not in the place I was looking through had to be like trying to tie a shoe when it didn't have laces. It was impossible, pretty much. So, looking for both of them when they were clearly not in the Meal Room came of no use to me. Every part of me felt heavy, as if I had lost something much more important than just my travel buddies. Honestly, I wasn't even thinking about them as people I would need in order to get out of this place. They were like friends, or maybe even second family. It had gotten to the point where I completely trusted them with everything.
If it weren't for Derrick, I might have gotten a real hard beating from Karla and we wouldn't have been out looking for my monster of a brother. If it weren't for Angeli, I wouldn't have actually made any friends. I would have still been alone at my RV. Since Trevor, my dog, was already gone and passed, I really would have been completely and utterly alone. Too depressing to think about.
It all still felt heavy on me as I waited at the table where the Blood Testers were going to come back from retrieving their given meal. Xavier and Xero sat down on either side of me. Might have been a bad choice, but I was too under a dark cloud to notice. Anne sat across from me while Rebecca sat on her right and Max on her left.
"What... was that all about?" Xero asked me, giving me one of those you're-going-insane looks.
"I... I was just looking for... some friends." I decided not to lie. Mostly because I couldn't. I was a terrible liar.
"Really? You have friends here, other than us? You must be one of those popular, good-looking, and eye-catching slaves." Max taunted, using a humorous edge to his voice.
"That's not true. I'm guilty as charged, but that's not why I have friends." Everyone chuckled, but they quickly stopped their little laughs as they saw the completely serious expression on my face.
"Hey, is something wrong?" Rebecca's sweet and soft voice tried to comfort me, but it wasn't really functioning correctly.
"Yeah, there is." Nobody asked me for the reason, so I didn't give it.
"Back to what we were talking about," Xavier wanted to go back a step in the conversation. "How do you have other friends, then?"
"I came here with them. We were planning on traveling to the Rich Country, from the Lankie Country. As you can see, we sort of got into this mess. It was just minutes after we came into the Moderate Country. I'm sort of worried about where they are." Their curious glances were probably asking me why in the world I would want to move to a different Country, when Countries never accepted outsiders. "It's a long story."
"I get you. I was all the way in the east. I had to cross through the Middle Country to get here. I was just looking for my parents. I lost them about a year ago, when they were brought into slavery, but I haven't... I haven't seen them yet." Anne looked up at me with sad eyes.
"You'll find them. I know you will." I smiled down at her, assuring her that she would see her parents some day. Even if it meant it would have to be in the afterlife, she would see them.
"Thanks," she smiled back. I could tell she already knew she would see them. I didn't even have to say it.
"How did your friends look like? I might have seen them somewhere." Xero gave me a serious expression, even with all the faces he had probably seen. It would have been more than unlikely for him to remember.
"Yeah! He has a great memory!" Max exclaimed, a bit louder than necessary. Multiple slaves turned to look at our table and he cowered away, hiding from the stares.
"Anyways, yes. Xero has like, a photographic memory. Anything he sees, reads, touches, feels, or whatever, is permanently etched into his brain. Like a camera." Xavier boasted about his brother, in a way I could never boast about mine. It actually made me sort of jealous.
"That's great. Then, what do I do?"
"Just describe them to me. I might be able to faintly make them out." Xero's expression remained blank as he stared at me.
"Alright. Well, the first one is a guy. He's pretty tall, has really long hair that goes over his eyes, and is bit British." I explained Derrick as much as I could, though it wasn't much. "Oh! And he was wearing a light jacket with tight jeans."
Xero furrowed his brow for a moment. "I think I have seen him. Does he have a wound on his left side?"
"Y-yeah! He got that from the ambush we had with the Moderates when they first caught us! You've seen him? When?" This new information gave me new strength and perseverance.
"I think so. It was actually just a few minutes ago, when my master and I were walking here. He and his mistress were walking in the opposite direction, back to the cells, and the poor guy was pretty beaten down. He was covered in sweat and blood. Cuts, bruises, and heavy gashes all over his body. Even my master scowled at his mistress."
I took my hair in two fistfuls of my hands, resting my forehead against my palms while my elbows propped my head up. Just fantastic. "So, his master-"
"Mistress. It's a woman." He corrected. The rest of my Blood Tester friends listened silently, looking up at the two of us constantly while still gulping down as much food as they could.
"Fine, mistress. So, his mistress is abusing him to no end and won't even let him eat?"
"Sadly, that's how it seems." He confirmed my conclusion with a sad nod.
"God..." I mumbled. "How about a girl with wavy auburn hair, that goes down to the middle of her back, with blue eyes?"
Another moment of silence. "I don't think so. I'm sorry. I saw her once, earlier today, but that was during the Dawn Meal Time. Plus, you were sitting with her."
I slammed my clenched fist onto the space of the table in front of me. It startled everyone immediately, and I found that I probably reeked with the scent of fear. The fear that something bad had happened to her. At least I knew something about Derrick and his state, but I had no idea what had happened to Angeli and it was killing me on the inside. After all, she was like family to me now.
"Mathias, calm down. You'll see them again! Just like Anne will see her parents again." In the afterlife?! No way was I going to let that happen.
"N-no... " The dim room we were in seemed to drown in mumbles and mutters from the other slaves, taunting me with their occasional groans of pain and despair to be let free. I couldn't take it anymore.
I stood up with a start and staggered away from the table, slightly dizzy. Luckily, a wall was right behind us and I crashed against it, sinking to the floor. Anne and Rebecca came to sit next to me while Max, Xero, and Xavier sat in front of me. They were all saying things I couldn't hear. It was all pushed to the back of my head and I wouldn't process the sounds coming from their mouths.
I uttered out the words I could before my eyes glazed over in a panic attack. "Angeli... Derrick... where are you?"