Juno lunged to catch Veronica, barely able to stop her head from hitting hitting floor. Maylea was there a moment later, helping pull her to the bed.

"Three..." Juno gritted his teeth. "Two." His arms complained from lifting and holding this kind of weight, so unlike what he normally did. "One." They half lifted, half tossed Veronica onto the bed, and Juno let out a whistling breath. "Thanks, Maylea."

The other girl jumped slightly at hearing her name, eyes wide. "Hmm? Oh, sorry Juno." She picked at her fingernails, studying Veronica. "So... what do we do with her?"

Juno sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. Veronica's face was pale, with small beads of sweat forming on her forehead, her eyebrows creased into a worried line. Juno bit his lip, drifting his hand across her skin. It was warm, warmer than it should have been, considering how cold they kept it in rooms. "She has a fever."

Malyea made a small noise and crawled on the other side of the bed, shifting and creaking the mattress. "I think we should let the adults know. She wouldn't be in there if something wasn't wrong."

Juno turned to look at Maylea. "Would you act this way if it was Corben lying here instead? They've both broken out of the nurse's station, hospital room, E.R. whatever thing thingamabob we're going to be calling it."

Maylea folded her arms. "Juno, Corben has a concussion and it's a miracle that he made it to Kai's room without falling and hurting himself further." She gestured down. "And Veronica, well they said she was sedated, so it's probably not safe for her to be off of whatever drugs they had her on. She'll wake up and hurt herself or someone else."

Juno's brows furrowed. "Or maybe they're keeping her on drugs for another reason. Maybe she's saw something she shouldn't have, and they're trying to keep her from telling anyone. Maybe she's in trouble, Maylea!" He leapt up from the bed and then paced to the other side, then whirled back around. "Are you really saying we should just give her up?"

"I'm not saying that..." Maylea threaded her fingers into the strands of her hair, tugging at them gently. "It's just, we shouldn't be responsible for this, Juno. We can't get in trouble for hiding her. We don't know what they'll do to us." Something about her expression made his insides tighten, as if he was going to be sick.

Ignoring it, Juno stepped closer, desperation in his eyes. "And we don't know what they'll do to her! She's in trouble, Maylea, and she even said so herself! Do you just expect me to turn her away? To give her up?"

"We barely know her!" Maylea snapped back, her eyes shaded. "We barely know anyone here, Juno, and you expect me to risk maybe even my life for some stranger?" Fear shone in her eyes, her lips twisted into something hurt.

Juno froze, staring at Maylea. "You think they would actually kill us?" His heart slowed to a crawl, his words, her meaning, spinning on repeat in his head. The air started to become thick, too heavy to breathe.

Maylea dug her fingers deeper into her hair. "I'm saying I wouldn't put it past them. We don't know these people, these teenagers, these walls. You've already seen how careless they are with our safety. We fell down a hole in the wall, and then I almost drowned! People who leave glass tanks under ventilation shafts obviously aren't worried if we live or die."

Juno curled in at her words. "That doesn't mean they would intentionally kill us." Right? Right? His entire body was sending up alerts, tingles and shivers across his skin, shutting down.

Maylea scoffed. "Wouldn't they? They may act caring, but it may be just that, an act." She groaned in frustration, tapping at her Band. "I'm calling them."

Juno jolted forward. "No, don't! What if they kill her instead?" He grabbed her hand, pulling ut away from her other wrist, breath stuck in his throat as he stared at her, wide eyed.

Maylea looked him coolly in the eye. "Maybe she should have thought of that before she broke out." She moved to pull away from him, but Juno tightened his grip. "Juno, let go of Mr right now."

He shook his head, the action messing with his balance, and he shifted further against the bed. "I can't let you do this, Maylea. They could hurt her."

Her eyes softened, just a touch, and the affect of it hit Juno deep inside. "And if we don't, they could hurt you." She slipped her arm away and pressed the screen of her Band.

The whole world started to scream.

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Blair pounded on the door, the panel not shifting as he continued to shout, his voice feeling rough as it scraped out of his throat, cracking one too many times for it to still be ok, his desperation clawing at his throat as his energy flickered and faded. "Let me out of here!"

"Hey!"

Hands on his shoulders yanked him away from the panel, and he stumbled back, hitting another wall. Charlie stood in front of him, a deep set frown on his face. "Dude, you need to chill out. It's not like we're going to die in here, so relax."

Blair scoffed, the sound slowly dissolving into laughter, quick and sharp. "Really? Really, Charlie? You think you can just fix everything by saying chill out? You think you can fix me?"

Charlie shrugged. "Who said anything about fixing you?" He stared at Blair, and though Charlie was the shorter of the two, a certain aggressive confidence filled his eyes that Blair couldn't help but feel intimidated. "I just said you need to relax. You're giving me a headache."

He walked back to the bed and flopped on it face first, letting out a low groan. "I just want a normal night for once. I was about to have a bed to myself for once."

Blair let out a quavering chuckle. "Like you had it bad. Dude, I was stuck with Veronica. I've gotten kicked off the bed the last two nights, and not in a quiet way either. That girl has serious issues."

Charlie rolled over. "Eh, she's not so bad, if you like someone that commanding. If you want issues, though, just take a look at Corben."

Blair thudded his fist against the door a final time, then made his way to the bed to join Charlie on the bed. "What's up with Corben, anyhow? He broke out of the medical room earlier."

Charlie shrugged, covering his eyes with one arm. "He and Kai were a thing in the simulation, and apparently that really screwed with him. He had a breakdown in the middle of camp."

Blair's eyebrows shot upward, his voice tight when he spoke. "Corben? Really? Man, he's the last person I would have expected to react like that to being trapped here."

Charlie waved his words off with his free hand. "Nah, it was nothing like that. Something about Maylea dying, yadda yadda yadda. Kai had a whole speech about it and got angry at Carmen. Even slapped her, y'know."

Blair let out a low whistle, laying back on the mattress. "Dang. What, was Carmen jealous or something?"

The bed shifted, and Blair returned his head to see Charlie staring at him, eyes wide. "Actually..." He said slowly, eyebrows drawing together. "I think she was. Blair, how did you guess that?"

An incredulous grin stretched Charlie's face, and Blair looked to the side. "I don't know, man. I just thought Carmen liked him. He seems like her type, and the way they were acting the other day means something definitely happened between them."

Charlie sat up, staring down at Blair, who squirmed slightly under his attention. "Like what? Who do you just know this?"

Blair shrugged, sitting up as well. "I mean... have you ever seen two people simply not interact with one another like that? They were ignoring each other to the point that literally everything they did brought them in different directions, yet the entire time, Carmen was sneaking glances toward him." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I wonder what it was that they did..."

Charlie looked down, clearly in deep in thought. "I mean, had to have been something big enough for her to be jealous, right?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "Carmen doesn't strike me as the kind of girl to be jealous over just being attracted to a guy."

Blair shrugged. "I don't really think this is a big deal, but ok." He cast his gaze around the room, then back to Charlie. "I'm not sharing the bed with you tonight."

Charlie shrugged, but his brow was still creased. "Sure. Whatever."

A smile tugged across Blair's face, and he leaned back, supporting himself with one arm. "I'm going to make you sleep in the bathroom."

Charlie nodded, not even answering this time.

"If you don't answer me I'm going to make out with you."

Silence. Blair smirked and leaned forward, slowly inching closer so that his face was merely inches away from Charlie's. "Hey."

Charlie's eyes flicked up, then widened. "Wha-!" He jolted backward, his mouth working in silent words as he stared at Blair, an incredulous look on his face. "What on earth were you doing?"

"Making sure you payed attention to me." Blair flashed him a cheeky grin. "Do I have your focus now?"

Charlie wrinkled his nose, giving Blair a sidelong look. "If anything, you have have my annoyance. You need to learn the concept of personal space, dude."

Blair chuckled and pulled his legs up on the bed. "I think I already learned how that works."

Charlie made a face. "Well, relearn it, you doofus." He sighed and tapped at his band, a frown twitching at his lips. "That's weird."

Blair looked away and was silent for a long moment, then sighed and looked back. "What's up?"

Charlie held his wrist, and Blair leaned in to look at the small screen. "I've got a message from Azalea... it just says help."

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Lights and flashes of red swam into Corben's vision as he opened his eyes, smeared shapes and figures slowly drifting into clarity, his other senses reeling from the nothingness he had been experiencing, trading the tingling felling of darkness for the starkness of life. He moved to rub at his eyes, but pain, rough and brittle scraped against his skin, keeping him pinned down.

"What?" His voice was made of sandpaper and dust, dry and unused. A hum started to fill the air around him, sliding up and down an unfamiliar tune, broken for small pieces of silence before falling back into the repetitive pattern. "Help," he croaked, the word pale against the noises started to crowd around him.

The red flared, flashing over Corben, revealing a person moving about the room, swathed in the bleached white of a coat. They turned, smiling, pressing wrinkles into all of the soft creases of her face. "Oh, hello dearie! You aren't supposed to up this soon." She shook her finger at him, as if scolding a small child, before turning once more, footsteps shuffling over to a metal cart.

"I know that James is supposed to know how to work everything and be in charge, but honestly, that young man forgets details all of the time, I can't help but have to pick up after him." A flash and flurry of fabric, and she came back to his side, her soft fingers brushing against his forehead as she swept his hair back. "I told him that you lot would be trouble, that he would have to keep an eye on you."

A glint, a needle, a blue liquid, tinted violet with every flash of the red lights. Corben strained away, but his body was too numb, too useless to do anything as she slid it into his wrist. "It's quite silly, you know," she continued one, pushing down, the liquid dissapearing with every heartbeat. "James insists on the elbow, I was raised with it in my shoulder, and yet, I find the best spot for shots is this nice blue vein right here."

She stepped away, and Corben's breath was still caught inside of him as she returned with a second needle. "You needn't look so afraid, dearie. It's not as if this is meant to hurt you."

"Please." His tongue was too thick, and drowsiness pressed against his skull, insistent and painful. "Please don't."

She walked around to the other side, sliding her hold to his wrist. "Now, Corben, you know better than to beg. Such a thing is for weaklings." She set the syringe down, spreading his fingers to reveal a dark marking stretched between his ring and middle.

"Wouldn't want to have a face like yours marred by stitches."

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Eyoooo!!!! This chapter took forever and I had to rewrite every single section because my writing style is really annoying me right now and I'm trying to find something more consistent.

What do you think of this chapter? I'm trying to add a lot more dialogue because I've noticed that a lot of my exchanges only go back and forth like, four times. SO I'm going to try and fix that moving forward

I'm also trying to add higher stakes and stress to the environment cause y'know, these teenagers need more trauma in their lives

Until next time!