The Game of Undesirables

Chapter 3

"Aria!" I could hear my mother's tears in her scream. I instantly regretted leaving the house. We promised my father that we'd stay in the house and be safe. I could see her running toward me, but I didn't know why until I was on the ground. The pain paralyzed me, left me gasping for air.

Being the only one left, my mom was surrounded. The men were all dressed in dark cloaks, weird enough to make them look like members of a cult. All of their faces were hidden by the large hoods. It was looking to me like my mom was done for, but she was never one to give up that easily. She was furious, fighting them down to the last man standing, but I didn't have enough energy in me to watch her valiant battle. I could only see her fight them off with one of the men's knives, fading in and out until I heard the wail of police sirens. Everything was actually starting to feel peaceful when it became dark.

When I come to, I hear a familiar voice next to me. She sounds like she's in a state of panic, but I can't piece together who the voice belongs to.

"I think they shot her," a guy says. 

"Technically, I shot myself," I mumble. I blink and look around, seeing we're in some kind of chamber. The room is dimly lit by old, buzzing lights above our heads. The floor is made of creaky wood and chains and shackles hang off the walls, clinking together.

"Aria! Are you okay? What happened?" I can't believe who I see in front of me, her clothes torn and cheeks stained with makeup-filled tears. Her jet-black hair is in knots and in a bun on her head, her bangs cut in a straight line across her forehead, which is beaded with sweat. Her honey-brown eyes look wild, occasionally darting around the room.

"Olive? Yeah, I'm fine." They look at me like I'm insane, since I'm probably far from fine. "What are you doing here . . . wherever here is?"

"If I knew, I would tell you. I was just on my way to meet up with you, and I guess I must've been hit on the back of the head." She rubs her hand on where she was hit. "I guess that's what I get for walking in an alley. What happened to you? How did you get shot?"

"I tried shooting at them, but somehow the bullet bounced off of one of them and hit me instead."

"Where did you even get a gun?" I'm starting to get uncomfortable with all of her questions, so I just shrug, acting like I don't remember.

I look from her to the boy. It's the first time I really notice him. He was light blue eyes, dark brown, shortly cut hair and a couple of freckles on his cheeks. "I'm Aria Davis," I say, holding out my hand. He shakes it.

"James Donovan," he says. "You can call me Jay." I nod to him and look over at Olive, who appears lost.

"Did either of you see who attacked you?" I ask them. Olive shakes her head.

"I did," Jay says. "They were all wearing dark cloaks, like they were a cult or something. The hoods were covering all of their faces."

I freeze for a second, but shake my head. There's no way. It can't be the same people, I think. No matter who they are, though, it's obvious they're dangerous. "Guys, we need to get out of here."

"There is no getting out of here, Aria!" Olive yells. She bursts into tears, crumpling onto the floor.

"What do you mean?"

"Look out the window," Jay answers for her. His grave expression and hollow words make my heart begin to race.

I couldn't even imagine what was out there that we couldn't escape, unless maybe we happened to be in the ocean or even in a plane, but what I see out that window was beyond unexpected. I get to my feet, Jay helping me up, and stumble over to it. I have to make sure that what I see is possibly true.