Fear Games

3. Freedom Doesn't Come Without A Price

CINDER

Together, Kael, Colton, German, and Arya exited the room where we'd been held captive, out into a dark hallway. The walls surrounding us were made out of some kind of steel, and it was hard to see exactly where we were going. The only lights were coming from dim, flashing bulbs on the ceiling, allowing us to see just inches ahead of us at a time.

Kael anxious voice broke through the void as he said, "Cin, where do we go from here?"

I wasn't sure of the answer to that. God only knew how big this place was, or where we even were. There was no way of knowing how to get out of this hell hole. But the only way to find out was to keep going. "I'm not sure, but we'll find out eventually."

"Maybe we should go back," Colton said as he grabbed my arm. "Our parents are probably looking for us. Maybe they already have someone on the way to save us."

I shook my head. "If our parents send anyone down here, we'll be dead in a heartbeat. This is a Game, remember? We have to win this ourselves. We can't just wait to be rescued. The Players will come in and blow our heads off in a heartbeat."

"Like they did with Freddy," German said softly from behind me.

"Yeah," I replied in a hushed tone, looking down at the floor, which also appeared to be made of steel. "Like Freddy. Now let's figure out how to get the hell out of here before we all end up just like him. But first, we have to find Emerald."

"Cinder," Colton said, his hand still wrapped around my arm. "We can't worry about her. We have to get out of here while we have the chance."

That ignited a fire deep inside of me, and my wrath came out like a raging fury. "What the fuck are you talking about, Colton? That's your ex-girlfriend we're talking about. And my best friend. We can't just leave her here!"

"Colton's right," Arya said, "we have to save ourselves before we can even worry about protecting her. For all we know, the Player and Harlin could have killed her and her body could be—"

"Why do you think they'd kill her?" I asked. "They didn't just take her out of the room for no reason. If they wanted her dead, they'd have just murdered her right there. No, they took her for a specific purpose, and I bet it was to show her something."

"What makes you so sure of that?" Colton asked.

I wasn't sure of anything at this point, but if there was one thing I'd learned over the course of my life, it was that I needed to trust my intuition. Emerald was alive and I knew it. If she was dead, my heart would know. "Just trust me on this, okay? She's alive and we need to find her. And we have to stick together, otherwise we're all going to be at a bigger risk of dying."

Colton and Arya seemed to be heavily debating leaving me with their silence. Which was a bunch of bullshit, considering we were all brought into this together—staying together should have been no question. Finally, Colton said, "Fine, we'll look for her. But if we can't find her anywhere, you have to agree that we'll start looking for a way out of here."

This wasn't the time for negotiation, but I wasn't in the mood to argue. I said, "Yeah, sure, whatever. Let's just find her and get out of here before any of us end up with our brains on the wall like Freddy." When they all gave me nasty looks, I asked, "Oh, too soon?"

"I think forever from now would be a moment too soon," Kael said, shaking his head.

"Right. Well, may he rest in peace." And may we all get the fuck out of her before we turn up just like him, too.

KAEL

We walked through the dimly lit hallways, trying to find something that would lead us to Emerald. There were no windows, no doors, and nothing that would even work as an escape. From the looks of it, we were just as trapped as we were inside the room—except now we were free to walk around. What the purpose behind that was, I had no idea.