Dawn actually shivered when she saw Lucian shift. For a second she wondered how it was that he always appeared wearing clothes, but when he shifted there were none. Figuring that was the least of her worries, she move quickly. Moved to the side of the room so that she could look down one of the sides that had a gap along the wall. It let her see the lower floor.
She saw Lucian move between the crates. He moved like a shadow, silent and the others didn't even realize he was there. Jackie was on the floor and one of her legs was broken. She was sobbing and bleeding bad. She had been struck several times and had a large gash in the side of her face and blood over other parts of her body.
"Please, please don't." She begged, and JD was standing over her. Next to him was Craig. JD had a lot of blood splatter on him. Craig just a bit, but it was clear that he wasn't going to help Jackie at all. She hadn't seen when he'd come in.
"There isn't enough room for you." JD said and swung hard, the crack was audible and Jackie's head snapped to the side and she went back to the ground. She was barely moving, JD struck her a few more times in the head. The blood that was pooling in a large amount. She felt like she was going to be sick, this was human nature at its finest.
Dawn jumped and nearly cried out when a hand touched her shoulder. Mitch was there and put a finger to his lips.
"JD has taken this very seriously. We figured out that they let others in at random intervals. That one came in forty minutes after JD, but he didn't come out for two hours."
"I know him, his name is Craig. He was friends with Jackie."
"Yeah well, I'd question who your friend is now. I want to get out of here alive. Nothing is full proof, want to help me find an escape?" She looked at him and gave a nod. He offered her a slight smile.
"The trick is staying away from them. I've found a few trap doors in this place. Couple good hiding spots." Dawn gave a nod, and looked down when there was a gurgling moan from Jackie. She put a hand to her mouth when JD viciously beat her head in. she was nearly sick with the sight and sound of it.
"We should try it fast. I don't think they are going to let us stay in here forever. I don't want to run around for weeks." She said she was starving at the moment, and looked around. She spotted tomatoes and a few others fruits she hadn't before. Things were edible here. Mitch noted her gaze.
"Yeah food, I was starving. You know that they were holding us for a week and a half before they put us in here?"
"They were?" She asked in a whisper. As that was how they were talking. He gave a nod.
"Before JD went psycho he told me that he woke up. He heard them talking about the time frame they had and how long they had been holding us." She couldn't believe that they might just be in a part of the world unknown to them.
There was a slight roar below them and then a menacing growl. Both JD and Craig backed up as Lucian sprang at them. He stopped poised over Jackie's body and his lips were pulled back showing the dangerous teeth.
"We need to be careful of him too." She gave a nod. The two below kept backing up until they managed to get to a different room and then they moved away. Lucian moved staring down at Jackie. Mitch moved off but she watched. She was waiting for him to start eating her or something.
However he just licked at the blood on the floor. She was perplexed by that, he didn't touch her at all. Didn't even nibble at her, just licked the blood. She heard someone coming up the stairs and she laid flat so that the plants were hiding her. She glanced through a few and saw JD moving around looking, but he didn't stay long, moving on. She let out a slow breath that she was holding and figured that she needed to find a safer place of her own.
Dawn slowly crept around the place seeing where things were. She found out that Mitch was right there were hidden passageways. She'd nearly fallen right through the floor in the jail area not realizing what the switch below the cot did.
She'd also taken several fruits from the plant room to eat and found a few granola bars in a few drawers in the living room area. She wasn't sure how long she'd been in here. Just that there were currently four including her. They hadn't put anymore in, and this group was having a time getting rid of each other.
She and Mitch were the two that weren't fighting, but they would defend themselves and she'd gotten into it twice. Both times with JD, and only once she'd seen Craig who she didn't let close enough to touch her. At the moment she looked at her thigh where there was a yellowing bruise. He'd gotten her hard with the metal bar, but she'd got a damn good swing with her crowbar. JD left bleeding.
It wasn't a small place and you could hide in the rooms easily. She found the plant room a good one because you could climb in there easily and she would do that hiding up toward the ceiling. She slept there a few times and hadn't been bothered. She also was thinking that a few days or more had passed. She judged it by the number of times she slept. She tried not to until she had too. She didn't trust that JD wouldn't show and bash her head in.
JD was now not very kind with Craig as the two of them were having problems getting rid of her and Mitch who were outsmarting them. Dawn knew that they had gotten into it. In all honesty JD wanted to get rid of everyone and an alliance with him was shaky at best. Which Craig had learned and they weren't staying around each other.
Second, she hadn't really seen Lucian in a while. She was pretty sure that he'd been gone for a couple days from the place. When she passed one of the ladders in the bedroom she'd heard something up above there. Not to the loft area, but where there was an obvious hatch like thing in the ceiling. She was wondering if he was up there and locked out because they wanted to watch them or something.
Currently she was sitting on the floor in the plant room. She was starving for something a bit more solid than fruit, vegetables and granola bars. She was in the back, near the gap in the floor, and while it was a high drop she had figured that the tallest crate down below was only a six foot drop too. Instead of fourteen foot drop to the floor.
She had ripped her skirt so that it was mid-thigh. Which let her run if she needed it and move better. Plus she used that as a sling to hold the food that she grabbed up near the ceiling and it was black so you couldn't really see it unless you knew where to look. She also found a bunch of cameras and decided to try and find a hiding spot out of them, or the best that she could.
As time passed, she was starting to wonder if perhaps there weren't that many people that they had taken, because they weren't putting more in. So far with the two dead that made six, but they could just be holding them back, they started with four right?
She jumped when she heard something like metal sliding and it was below her. She watched as the small chute door, that was big enough for a medium sized dog to go through opened. Dawn watched a tray being slid into the room and there was food on it. And not simple foods. Actual food and it took a second but the smell of the cooked food made her mouth water and she wanted it so bad.
There was another whooshing sound as a door somewhere opened and she figured that was another being allowed in. It looked like they had others still waiting. She moved quickly because she wanted the food, and it was clear that they were trying to provoke them into action. Probably wanted to try this before they had Lucian tearing them apart.
She grabbed the edge of the floor and decided to drop. She let the crowbar fist and it made a dull sound on the wood, but she dropped right after it, grabbing it. Then jumping down and running forward. She cocked back to swing as someone came from her left but it was Mitch.
The two of them just looked at each other and dove grabbing the food. They were starving and they looked around hearing movement. The two of them went different directions. She ran to the left and him to the right. She moved hiding along the crates and sat eating the food in the shadows watching. She didn't want to go somewhere where the smell would attract the others.
A woman showed and this must be the new one that they put in. Then Craig was there. He didn't go for her right away, he went for the food. She looked at him, grabbing a bit and then took off, but she didn't look as bad as he did. JD showed moving fast and Craig stood holding the weapon item that he had.
"You come one step closer and you'll regret it." Craig said to him.
"All I want is some of the food, I'm sorry about before. But it wasn't like you didn't attack me either, tensions are high okay?" JD was a smooth talker, but she knew a bluff when she heard one. Though she doubted that right now JD would attack. He just wanted food.
"Another was let in weren't they?" JD asked in a whisper. Craig had taken a few steps back and was eating the food that he was holding.
"Yeah." He said in the same quiet tone.
"Maybe she'll be helpful, we could use her to get one of the others. She has to know the stakes. They have a screen in the cells they kept us in to watch. If we convince her to pretend she's on their side. Easy to find and take care of them right?" JD was talking so softly that she was having a problem really hearing them. But she understood that, and she finished her food, backing up a bit more.
"Human nature at its finest." She let out a rush of air, but felt a scream she choked on to stay quiet. Dawn turned her head seeing Lucian there. Why did he come find her out of the rest? She was starting to wonder about him and what went on in that head of his. He was so freaking silent.
"Yeah, you just watching us?" She asked, she was crouched and so was he. Which told her that he'd been watching her for a bit. How did he move so damn quietly?
"I've been let out again, I'm supposed to remove those that don't want to participate." She felt her grip on the crowbar tighten. She was one of them, she was sure about it.
"What are you waiting for then?" She asked, and his gaze went down to the crowbar and then back up to her face. He had a slight smile which looked sly in her opinion.
"Just because I was told doesn't mean I want to. There are things that I enjoy and want. I listen better when I get what I want." She didn't take her eyes off of him, but she could see the other two moving off, not really turning their back on the other.
"However, they've just placed another bet on those in this room. So I can't go after you yet." At his words a voice sounded over the place. As if he'd triggered it by his own spoken words.
"The food that was provided to you has a poison in it. It's not lethal, however it will make you extremely sick and can paralyze you for a short bit of time." Dawn felt her hands get clammy at the words, and her stomach tightened. These people were sick and twisted in her opinion betting on their lives.
"There is an antidote within the layout and there is enough for each. If you don't get it however, it will leave you vulnerable to the others." She was looking back at Lucian, he just watched her. So that was why he couldn't come after them yet. Betting on their lives and will to survive again. She felt a bit of dryness start in her throat.
"This is ridiculous!" She heard JD shout and there was anger in his voice. Anger that they were all feeling, he just couldn't control it that well.
"I would check your anger, because the one you have to get the antidote from is Lucian." JD had nothing to say to that and Dawn felt her eyes widen. They had to get it from him? She looked him over. This was no lie, she could now feel a kind of tightness running through her muscles. Her gaze went down to his hand that was clenched and she saw something in it.
He opened his hand and there were five syringes. She had to give herself the shot? Where did she have to give it? She wasn't sure she could do that. Was it getting hot in here or was that just her? She reached out but he closed his hand and pulled them away. When Dawn met his gaze, she could see that clearly he was not giving handouts.