"Okay, that's enough maggots! The cleaning will be happening soon so all of you, get out of the Testing room." Jarxen drove everyone off. Fujimoto did the same thing, pulling everyone to their feet and dragging them out of the room. "Hurry, do you want to be cleaned too?!" Fujimoto roared at them.
"... I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry."
Red's eyes solely stared at Knuckles as he continuously repeated his apology. He sounded like a broken cassette, but to everyone, he sounded like someone who went through hell and back.
Freckles went beside Red and personally pulled him out from the Testing room. "Jarxen told us everything about it. Once you die in the Testing room, you won't even get to have a funeral. They'll just get rid of your body via the incinerator connected to the Testing room."
"I even told him that we'll make it out alive." Red choked, trying to hold back his tears.
"Hey, it's not your fault. No one expected them to have blades." Freckles continued. "In any case, we have to work out a plan to escape from here. I mean, enough about that! Is your leg okay?!"
Red wiped his tears and nodded. Although it hurt quite a bit when he snapped the humanoid's arm on his leg, the pain immediately disappeared. Red thought that it's probably due to adrenaline and that's probably the case.
"We'll be heading back then." Fujimoto deeply bowed towards Jarxen before urging his group to the Block exit.
"Now you know why I told you that your luck has run out," Jarxen stressed to everyone although he had a saddened look on his face. "Head back to the lodging room."
After that, he headed out of the Block, leaving the teenagers alone.
"Let's go." Blond repeated.
When they arrived at the lobby, Red went straight to his bunk but he was stopped short by Curl. "Hey, you need to clean yourself up first." She urged, dragging him out of the bed.
"Leave me alone." Red patiently said as he slowly drifted to unconsciousness. Those three minutes of adrenaline-rush finally took a toll on him.
"But you still got some blood on yo... aaargh~! Never mind, do it when you wake up." Curl said. Because of her, Red fell asleep on the floor.
Scar walked up to the two of them with an impish smile on his face. Any person who watched Curl for a few seconds could accurately point out her feelings. Since Blond was an expert on those things, he was fairly certain that such was the case for Curl and he decided to confront her about it.
"You like him, don't you?" Scar rhetorically asked since it was very obvious. However, he couldn't hide the sympathetic look on his face.
"What? I can't like him?" Curl retorted as she placed Red's head on her lap. She knew very well that they're in a literal hell and one of them could die in a flash if the Head of the place decides to.
"Hey, I'm not saying anything, you're free to do whatever you want." Scar shrugged. "But man, he really pushed himself back there."
"Knuckle was a good comrade and all of us could agree to that. It's just hard to accept that one moment he's alive, and the next thing we know, he's already lying on the ground with his heart a few feet away from him." Blond pointed out.
"We have to get out of this place as soon as we can, otherwise we'll be dropping dead like flies sooner or later." Scar said back to Blond as he wore a concerned look on his face. Even he wasn't feeling confident about getting everyone out of the place alive.
"And we can't just rely on Red if we're going to escape," Blond added. "Sure he's stronger than any of us, but if he continues fighting in a streak, it would take a huge toll on him."
"Either way, we have to get stronger, right?" Scar sighed. He's not really that adept in terms of fighting.
... ...
Red woke up to the strong white light on the ceiling. The brightness made him close his eyes a bit longer as he buried herself on the softness of his pillow.
Wait? Pillow?! He exclaimed in his mind, this time, feeling the rough clothing that touched his cheeks. Red stood up in a split second to see what that's all about. Then he saw Curl, sitting down where his head was a couple of seconds ago.
"You're awake." Curl greeted.
"Mmm, I'm not that tired so it was just a short nap. Anyway, what are you guys discussing?" He turned around and faced Blond, but his flushed cheeks couldn't be more obvious.
Restraining his laughter, Blond answered in a more serious tone than normal. "Red, we need you to teach us how to go head to head with those humanoids. Otherwise, we'll always remain dead-weights to you."
Red saw the determination leaking in their eyes as soon as Blond spoke. Just like Scar, Red wanted to be the meatshield for everyone in the room, although he knew that it would be inefficient. And what Blond said was true as well. If he kept on going like this, he will die much sooner and everyone will just be put in a slaughtering ritual. "
However, if I trained everyone, then, there would be fewer burdens for me. That would also put them in the same danger as I am. So there would still be a chance that they will die while fighting the humanoids in the future. What do I do? Red asked himself He wanted to pull his hair out due to the dilemma he was in.
"We should at least know how to defend ourselves, right?" Scar butted in. "And after what happened this morning, it's not really anyone's choice if that guy Cipher decided that one of us would "test" the humanoids. Who knows if I would be picked for the next one."
"Don't raise a death flag." Red sighed, finally admitting his defeat. "Alright, alright, I'll teach you."
"Red."
"Yes?"
Red turned around and was greeted by the guy with black ruffled hair. Ever since they arrived at the Block, he never talked, just like the other girl sleeping on the bunk bed beside Scar's.
"I want to take a look at that earpiece." He said next.
Red hesitantly stepped backward as he clenched the earpiece in his hand. It was his first time talking yet he already asked for the most valuable object of the group. The thought made Red think that he's the traitor amongst them. "What do you need it for?
"Relax, if we're going to escape out of here, we'll be needing some outside help." The boy cautiously said. "You pretty much have a mini radio with you. With my help, I think we can access every frequency if that earpiece could handle it."
Red scrutinized him from head to toe. He doesn't scream like a traitor but that's just my wishful thinking. Well, it's not like we have any use for this aside from listening in to other conversations.
"Don't try anything funny," Blond warned him when Red handed the earpiece.
"Trust me on this one. And you can call me Gadge instead of a simple 'you'. " He continued.
"Right Gadge, just do what you can. I hope you can pull it off." Red smiled at him. If I had a little brother, he would probably look like him. He said to himself.
But just when they were finally letting their guard down, Gadge suddenly pulled out a knife from the depths of his tattered clothes.
"W-where did you get that?!" Scar muttered, but before he could react, Gadge charged at him with his knife pointed forward.