𝐖𝐀𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒━︎━︎ S. Rogers 【︎ 𝐨.𝐡.】︎

𝐓𝐰𝐨

CHAPTER TWO:
FAIR AND SQUARE

WHEN SHE WOKE UP THE next morning, she and Karine made their way through the giant home, knives clenched in their hands as their eyes continuously moved back and forth as they waited for someone to jump out at them and attack them. The smell of blood and death was thick in the air, causing the two to stop in their tracks for a moment before waving it off and continuing their way towards the dining hall.

     "Is it just me. . . or is it eerily quiet in here?" Karine hummed.

     "Concerningly quiet." Liliya agreed, nodding her head. They got themselves breakfast, sitting down at one of the tables with their backs facing the wall, waiting with bated breaths for the other children to come walking in. But they never showed. The two females roamed the home, searching for any of the other children, but they were no where to be found. The two friends continued their day as normal, training with one another, hanging out casually, before eating dinner. That's when everything changed.

     "Hey, Lils, come look at this." Karine called to her. Liliya looked up from her food, looking at Karine from across the room who held something in her hands. Liliya stood up, carefully making her way towards the brunette before taking note of the bloodied knife that lay in her hands. The blood was beginning to dry, meaning that its victim hadn't been stabbed all that long ago.

     "Karine." Liliya whispered, nodding her head towards the blood trail. The two exchanged looks before pulling out their own knives, carefully following the trail before stopping as their eyes widened in surprise. Their bodies were everywhere, slaughtered, having bled out or died a quick death. All of the children were dead.

     "My God." Karine whispered, walking over to one of the bodies, kneeling down and placing a hand on the boys wrist. Nothing. She glanced up towards Liliya, shaking her head. She stood up, moving to stand beside of Liliya once more. The two sixteen year olds stood there in slight shock. Out of everything that they were expecting, this was not one of them.

     Liliya stood there for a moment, swallowing thickly before softly asking, "Is this. . . is this everybody. Are we the only ones left?" Karine didn't answer, instead her green eyes went from body to body, naming the person in her head and counting how many laid there. She closed her eyes in regret. That was everybody. "Karine?"

     "It's uh," Karine nodded solemnly, "it's everyone." Karine expected this, she had. She knew that there was going to be a point in time where she and Liliya were the only ones left. And she didn't think it would phase her. But as she stood there, realization dawning over her that only one of them was going to come out of this alive, she felt tears start to swell in her eyes. She shook her head. "What? Only eleven years? I thought we would've at least made it to eighteen."

She was trying to lighten the mood, Liliya could tell that. Karine was the hard ass of the two, and as they stood there, Karine was the one to reach for Liliya's hand, interlacing their fingers and giving her best friends hand a squeeze. She didn't think she could do this. They both stood there for what seemed like hours, allowing for the reality of what was soon to come to life take over their bodies. They knew that no one would come to tell them what they had to do, the people that controlled the facility telling the children they wouldn't come back until only one of them was left inside the home.

The sick feeling of the people who were in control of this operation watching them churned in Liliya's stomach. She wanted someone to come into the building and demand it of her to fight her best friend, because Liliya knew that she wouldn't be able to do it on her own. And she had a feeling that Karine wouldn't be able to either. Neither of them could move, all they could do was stand there, stare at the blood, at the bodies, whilst putting their minds in a sense of denial. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. Could it?

     Karine was the one to break the longing silence. "Not tonight." She whispered, shaking her head. "We're both going to go to sleep, alright? And in the morning, we'll eat breakfast, we'll train. . . and then we'll. . . we'll fight to the death."

     "I can't." Liliya shook her head, her voice cracking as a tear trickled down her cheek. "Karine, I can't fight you." She turned towards Karine, finding the brunette already looking at her with a knowing smile.

     "I know." She whispered. "Just think of it as a training session."

     "I can't."

     "Fair and square, right?" Karine asked her, a tear of her own sliding down her cheek before she quickly wiped it away. "I want to win or lose fair and square. No surrendering, got it?" Liliya continued to shake her head. Karine placed a hand on the girl's cheek, swiping away her tears. "For me, alright? No guilt. No hard feelings. One of us is going to make it out of here, we just gotta promise not to forget the other."

     "Never." Liliya assured. She nodded her head before whispering, "Fair and square."

     Karine managed a small smile. "Good. I'll see you bright and early."

     "Bright and early." Liliya repeated before watching as Karine turned away from her and walked down the hallway and towards her bedroom.