Frozen

Chapter 3

I get up from my seat and head to the exit. From here all the groups that eat in this dining room split off. Our job is to follow Grayson and make sure we do not get caught communicating with others from other groups. I find that rule so stupid because it is limiting us and is restricting us from making connections outside the people within our groups. That are not letting us grow into social beings which is obviously not going to be any help with whatever they are planning to do here. 

I do not get to along with the people in my group which is one of the reasons I am so miserable. the 3 other girls are in love with Grayson so I cannot relate with them and the 2 boys stick together. There is one girl, Malaya, who gets mad at me for breaking the rules. If H.O.P.E does not give me shit for breaking the rules, I know she will. For the knife incident she yelled at me for weeks which allowed me to master the art of ignoring her. The funny thing is, is that I can tell Grayson is not the biggest fan of her also. 

I am alone in this damn group and the only person I can talk to is Hunter who I am not allowed to even talk to. The last time I talked to him was a month ago when we were both called to the office. I was wondering what horrible thing Hunter could have done because I had a whole list in my head of things that Sonia could have pointed out. She called us down to congratulate us on our training scores or some bullshit like that. Everyday our group leader has to mark us on each task we have to complete which may include shooting targets or winning a fight against one of your group members. 

We follow Grayson into the shoot range. I walk in behind  everyone in my group with my hands in my pockets. We walking into the range and line up side by side facing Grayson to hear for further instructions. 

"Take your hand out of your pockets," Malaya whispers to me. She has a lot of guts that girl, but one day it is going to cost her. 

"Take your nose out of my business princess," I whisper back to her. She lets out a little grunt of frustration. I look up at Grayson who looks like he is trying to hold back his laughter. He probably heard what I said and frankly I do not mind. 

"Okay," Grayson starts, "one at a time you will shoot and aim for five of the targets. Once you hit five of any of the targets you will wait at the end of the line and wait for you turn again. I will record how long it takes for you to hit five of them." 

Shooting is fairly easy for me, but so is everything else in this place. I hate the fact that it is now the norm to be able to know how to shoot a gun at the age of 17, or should I say 6. 

"Danielle, you should go first," Grayson says leaving a path for me to walk down. I walk towards the bins of guns and pick a pistol. I still find it weird how he is our age. Some of the kids in my group are older than him, yet he is the leader. 

I walk up to the ledge in front of the targets and check if there are bullets in the pistol. There is a perfect 5 which means I should hit five targets back-to-back. Easy. 

I aim my gun and shoot. One by one I hit every target, even the far back one that most people have struggles hitting. There is an art to it. It is to not over think it but to just do it. I notice the people in my group focus on hitting the target in the middle which causes them to overthink and miss while I just aim, shoot, and hope for the best. It works 100% in my case so far and I just proved it again. 

"Good job Danielle. Zero misses," he says as he writes something down on his clipboard. I walk to the back of the line holding the empty pistol in my hand. 

"Okay Malaya it is your turn now," Grayson says looking at her. 

"Grayson," I say. I walk back to him and give him the pistol. "May I use the washroom?" 

"Gray I do not think you should trust her out there by herself!" Malaya insisted. 

"Do you want to go with her?" Grayson adds. 

"Never," Malaya says with anger and disgust. 

"Then why do you have such a strong opinion," Grayson says. He turns his head to look at me. "Yes, you can use the washroom." 

As I leave I can hear murmurs of my group members talking. They are probably questioning why Grayson lets me go to the washrooms and honestly I think the same thing. 

I walk out of the range and towards the building. The washroom is the other way but who will actually check-up on me. I enter the main building and walk down the hallway towards the six year old area. Section A is such a big building and it is super creepy especially since no one is here except for Sonia in her office which is far from where I am, and the kitchen staff. 

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Sirens start to go off and the white bright lights on the ground turn red. I start to panic a little. I am confused, what is going on here. Did they catch me? Would this even be as big of a deal as me taking the knives? Is Dominic okay? What about Hunter? Should I take cover?

I start to run back from the doors I entered through. Maybe it is just this building that has sirens on. I never experienced this before. 

"DANIELLE!" Grayson yells. I can see him running towards me and something in my body tells me to run the opposite way. 

"WAIT COME BACK! IT ISN'T SAFE!" I ignore what is says and continue to run away. 

What is going on here and why is Grayson here? I have to get out of here.