The Freaks

chapter twenty-two

I need to find the perfect moment to slip away from this club.

The music is still blaring around us, but I continue to move with everyone around me pressed tightly together in the centre of the room. I can't dance like the Soldiers to save my life, but I don't think anyone is paying me any notice—they are all too immersed in their own little world as they let the beat reverberating against the ground flow through their bodies.

A female Soldier who I've never met before crosses my vision, twirling and moving the lower half of her body as she bumps into the Soldiers around her. They don't seem to mind her doing it—they are doing it to everyone else around them anyway. Her moves are perfect—the way she's dancing to the beat of the music like it's a part of her.

My eyes move to the DJ's table. The Soldier who announced the start of the party is still there, nodding his head to the beat of the music while he presses a large pair of headphones to one of his ears, while the other hand flicks switches and presses buttons that makes the lights move in creative patterns. He's not down here with the rest of us, but he doesn't seem to mind; he seems to be completely in his own element up there.

Once my legs and arms can't take any more movement, I make my way to the small bar in the corner of the room. I lean my forearms against the cool glass countertop as I watch the Soldier behind the desk pour drinks from the sparse supply behind her into glasses for the two Soldiers who are also at the bar next to me. The perfect time to slip away is near, but it's not right now.

"What can I get you?" the Soldier asks me, pressing her palms against the counter where she is working as she looks me over with a strange look upon her face. A look I cannot seem to place.

I study her as well as I pretend to think over my drink. She's wearing a vest that just stops at her hips. Her trousers are made of some type of skin-tight material that hugs her legs all the way down to her shoes which I can't see behind the bar. When I look back to her dark eyes, she's smirking at me for some reason.

"Anything you recommend," I reply, forcing a smile upon my lips.

She smiles in return and moves around to face the supply of alcohol again. Her heavily curled hair is tied back into a ponytail, bouncing around her neck and back as she moves. In the light behind the bar I can see a slight sheen of sweat formed along her dark skin. The heat of about thirty Soldiers all moving at the same time in a room is not good for those who are not dancing. This girl in front of me obviously would rather be outside than here. She stays happy, though. She doesn't complain about it.

I turn around while she's preparing my drink and stare around the room. It's now dark outside; all of the windows are a frosted black colour rather than when they were white from earlier. It makes the whole place dark as well. I have to strain my eyes in order to see the bodies moving around. In the crowd of dancing Soldiers I feel eyes on mine, burning intently against my body. I look around again and catch Brianna's gaze in the collection of people. She looks away quickly and continues dancing, smiling at Taylor who is exaggeratedly moving against her. They both laugh, the look she gave me a moment ago completely forgotten, it seems.

I look away from them. Every time I catch Brianna's eyes, I see her shooting that innocent Freak back at the block of flats. I hear the gunshot and see his blood all over the ground and all over him. It makes me hate her even more than I do because she's a Soldier. In fact, now that I think about it, I should hate every single one of the Soldiers around me, not just Brianna.

"Here you go," the girl behind me says. I turn around and watch as she places a small glass onto the bar between us, the click of it hitting the surface almost drowned out by the music still blaring.