The one man, who stands right in front of me, grabs my left wrist with force. The grip tightens after a little while and I am thrown to my feet. The grip on my wrist doesn't fade and I'm pulled into the darkness. I feel something jab into my right shoulder blade, something like a barrel of a shotgun. Something tugs at my hair, causing my head to be pulled backwards. The grip on my wrist is gone and I fall and hit my head on the ground.
"Sir, we got a female." One of the men says as he grabs my left wrist. "And an eight!"
"Tell me something I don't know. Get up you stupid R.O.S.E." The first man, the one who had my wrist, kicks my legs.
Someone gently picks me up by my armpits. "Knock it off, Atlas. Even if you're the leader, she shouldn't be treated like that." His voice is soft and caring yet so bitter towards Atlas. Whoever that is.
"She is nothing more than a R.O.S.E," his voice is harsh and cold. I'm guessing this is Atlas. Atlas grabs my shoulders roughly.
"That hurts.." I whisper, leaning over to the guy who helped me up, breaking the grip Atlas had on me. I feel a soft pair of hands gently resting on my shoulders. Atlas scoffs and turns around. I look up to a face that is hidden by darkness and smile. He removes his hands from me and starts walking.
After some silence, he speaks up in a whisper. "Do you have a name?"
"Ind-.. my name is Indigo." I say in a nervous whisper.
"I'm Adryan, you can call me Ad if you want. That grump was Atlas, our leader. He doesn't care much for anything but some cash." He tenses up when he starts talking about Atlas. I put a gentle hand on his shoulder and he seemed to jump at my touch. I quickly remove my hand.
"Sorry.. I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to scare you, Ad."
"It's not that you scared me, you're freezing cold." He pulls me closer and his warmth is calming.
»»————— ❈ ————-««
We walk for a long time, it's no longer dark when we arrive at a camp. The sky is a fade of pink and orange. The camp has a set of four flat rocks, all varying in sizes, a few feet away from what looks to be a fire ring. Outside of the ring are camping, well taken care of, blue tents. Adryan takes my hand and leads me to one of the rocks, and gestures for me to sit, as he sets down his shotgun by the ring.
"I'm going to have to cuff you, since you are an eight and all." Adryan clicks on a pair of rusted handcuffs with a short chain, making it impossible to remove my hands nor move them much.
"What do you guys mean by an eight?" I speak in a low tone.
Adryan points to each vine as he counts them out loud. "1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. 5.. 6.. 7.. 8. You got the shot 8 times, such a lucky bastard if they didn't make you guys turn." He looks at my puzzled face and sighs. "The more shots you get, the more powerful you are when you turn. Turning basically makes you into a 'superhuman.' Therefore, you are a threat to us if you turn."
I nod and he just turns around and starts making a fire. With this chance, I stand up on wobbly legs. I fall onto my knees and hit my chin on Adryn's shoulder. He just turns his head and laughs. I finally got a good look at him. Adryn is wearing a dark red turtleneck that has the sleeves ripped off. He has scars up and down his arms, and has on a pair of dark gray sweatpants. His one eye is a bright green and the other is a light gray with a white film over it. They look so pretty but yet I sense a darkness lurking behind them.. His golden-brown, with a tint of red bangs, cover the top bit of his eyebrows, and look like they could use a trim.
"Why are you staring at me? See something you like?" He says with a smirk.
I try to stand up again. "I just found your eyes pretty.." I whisper to myself. He laughs as I try to stand up again. "What happened to the white one?"
"Nothing really, got into a fight with another member." I stand up and turn around to look at him and our eyes meet. He smiles at me. "You won't have anything to worry about, you're with the coolest member here." He stands up and pats off the dirt from the back of his pants.
"That's a nice fir-" I am cut off by screaming and the sound of guns going off. Adryn curses under his breath, grabs his gun, and stands in front of me. I try to speak but he just sushes me. I just keep silent and look around me. Next thing I know, my head is spinning and I'm on the ground. My head is resting on a rock but I'm not well placed. Almost like I fell.
"Holy sh-, what happened?" Some voice asks me but all I can see is black figures. I feel a warm hand touch my face and everything goes dark.