Author note: WARNING: This chapter will gross you out! You don't have to read the test part, but you'll be missing out on the story!

Stephen, Cadince and I left Spot and the others early so I could have another little chat with Ned. I was actually getting tired of seeing him so much, but this time I wanted to. Stephen couldn't stand dead bodies, even though we buried one.

I shivered at the memory of burying Ned's wife. Seriously, who would marry a sick man like him?

I glanced over at Stephen who seemed to turn a sickly pale when we entered the school. A few beads of sweat trickled down his face.

I quickly turned to him. "You guys stay here, and I'll go have a chat with him," I said.

The two nodded, and silent as a mouse I crept away. I climbed up and down staircases over and over again until I came upon that familiar wood door. I raped my knuckles against the door loudly, and heard on the other side a deep voice echoing: "Come in."

I pushed the door open ever so slowly, and slid in, shutting it behind me.

"Anomie," Ned said. "What brings you back to my office?"

"I need to speak with you about something," I told him.

I walked up to the desk, and Ned motioned for me to sit, but I didn't.

"About your friend I presume," he said.

"Stephen? Yeah," I said. "I was wondering if you'd let me take his place in the test this afternoon."

"Now Anomie, how will he learn to survive if you do his tests for him?" Ned asked serenely.

"I'm not asking you to set him free," I fought back. "I'm just asking you to let him by this time. If you let me do the test then I'll also do a punishment. If you want me to do this favor-"

"Alright, alright, calm down," Ned said. "You can take his place."

He grabbed a piece of paper in which held all of the tests for the day, and who the unlucky students were who was taking them. He marked out Stephen's number and wrote in "101".

"3:00 Anomie," he said.

I nodded dully, and left the office. That was easy – too easy. Maybe it was different now. Maybe they changed the test a little.

I met up with Stephen and Cadince in mine and Erica's room.

"Is he letting you do it?" Cadince asked immediately.

"Yeah," I said.

Stephen sighed and shook his head. "Nomes, how can I ever repay you?" he asked.

"Take care of Erica," I said, waving a hand at my sleeping friend.

Erica was wrapped tightly under her blanket, breathing lightly as she dreamed away. I felt so terrible for what happened to her. She didn't deserve the pain they gave her; she didn't deserve to be here. For all the years that she's been in this school, she still managed to be a sweet and caring girl.

I took in a sharp breath and glanced out the window. The sun was shining so brightly I was sure it was getting ready to explode. And for some reason I wouldn't mind it exploding. I wouldn't mind if the world stopped spinning, and time stood still. I just wanted to find my brother and get out of here.

I haven't seen Daniel for so long. They only let me see him once a year, and then they put him back in hiding. I'd see him soon, hopefully. It wasn't fair to him that he had to go through this too. He was just a little boy. He should be going to school and playing with wooden swords with his friends. I should be taking care of him while working somewhere to make money for us. And father should be a father and stop being selfish.

"Anomie," a soft voice said.

I looked down at Erica and smiled softly. "I'm here," I said, bending down beside her bed.

"Thanks Anomie. For helping me," she said hoarsely.

"Oh, anything for you, kiddo," I laughed.

Erica smiled and sat up in bed. She looked down at her bandaged hands and sighed. "They were laughing," she muttered.

"What?" Stephen asked.

I sat down beside Cadince on my bed and stared at Erica.

"The people nailing my hands," she said. "They were laughing. It hurt so much, Nomie; I thought I was going to die."

"Nonsense," I snorted. "Do you think I'd let them bastards kill you?"

"No," Erica breathed. "I was so relieved when I heard you guys screaming. I knew you guys would come after me."

"Of course we would," Cadince said. "You're our friend, and that's what friends do, they help each other."

"Yeah, and I wish one of my best friends wouldn't do my test," Stephen said, looking at me.

"What?" Erica asked. "Anomie, you're taking Stephen's place?"

"I'm not going to give Ned the pleasure of hurting you guys," I said darkly. "He just wants to see me go insane."

Cadince pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Anomie, I think it's time," she whispered.

I stared at her shortly but nodded. "I believe you are right," I told her.

"You mean we're going to do it early?" Stephen asked.

"Stephen, we don't have much time left anyways," I said, looking at him. "These tests are getting more and more dangerous by the day, and if we don't think of a plan soon then we'll all be dead."

"Everyone but you," Erica said.

"I'm not going to let him get rid of anybody," I said.

Erica opened her mouth to speak, but the door flew open.

"Anomie, we lost one!" Trey barked.

I jumped to my feet. "What?" I yelled.

"138," he said out of breath. "We lost her!"

"Kate," I said under my breath. I immediately dropped to my knees and pulled out a medium sized brown book out from under my bed. I grabbed the nearest writing utensil and opened the book.

The pages were full of names and dates, and other writings. I flipped through the pages until I came upon the last one with names on it, and under the name: "Janice Lowder" I wrote in "Kate Thompson". I then wrote in her number and the date.

"What test?" I asked dangerously.

"The fire," Trey sighed sadly.

I scribbled down the test and then slammed the book shut. "That's the first one we lost this week," I breathed.

"That's the first one we lost this month," Trey growled. "They lengthened the time!"

"They lengthened the fire time?" I asked.

"Yeah, they were testing it and used her as a guinea pig! Apparently they waited too long."

"Kate Thompson," Stephen said under his breath. "Wasn't she that black haired girl?"

"Yeah," Trey said, leaning against the doorway.

Erica bowed her head, and the rest of us did the same. "May her soul rest in peace," she said sympathetically.

"Amen," we all said in unison.

I looked back up and watched Erica wipe the tears from her eyes.

We sat there until 3:00, just talking about random things. I sent Trey off to make sure everyone was okay, and then a man came.

"101," he said, looking at me.

I rose to my feet, but Erica grabbed my left wrist. "Be careful, Nomes," she whispered.

I smiled slightly and nodded. I walked out the door with the man and followed him down to the dungeons. We stopped at one of the many doors and I stared at it doubtfully.

"Alright, you have to-"

"I know what to do!" I hissed. "Has anything changed?"

The man glared at me but shook his head. "Everything is the same," he growled. He handed me a lantern and opened the door. "But you may want to watch out for sharp objects."

The smell of death filled my nostrils and I stared into the pitch black room. I stepped in, and the door was shut and locked immediately. I gulped and closed my eyes.

"Thirty minutes," I told myself. I had only thirty minutes to find the key and get out. I opened my eyes and held the lantern out in front of me. Five dark figures lay on the damp, cold ground. None of them were breathing, and none moved.

I moved forward and felt around with my feet. Before I entered the room I had to take my shoes off. It was some kind of rule for this test.

I felt something crumble under my feet and moaned in pain when I felt the shards of glass embed themselves in my flesh. I closed my eyes shut tightly and grunted as I moved my other foot along, crushing more glass.

I looked down at the floor behind me to see my bloody footprints. I've been in worse pain, I reminded myself. Normally I could handle the pain, but there wasn't one thing on my mind, so all I thought about was pain. I quickly pushed that thought away when Daniel's image came to mind, and I willed myself to drop to the ground beside the nearest body.

Pieces of glass crushed beneath my knees, in which were unsafely covered by my skirt. I laid the lantern down beside me and took in a deep breath before reaching into the pocket of the man's jacket. Something sharp jabbed into my finger, and I pulled my hand out instantly.

Little droplets of blood seeped from the small wound, and I raised my eyebrows.

"Well what do we have here?" I said, watching a rat crawl out from the pocket. "Sorry for invading your home," I told it.

The rat squeaked angrily and scurried away into the shadows. I shrugged to myself and reached back into the pocket, to find it now empty. I searched all pockets of his clothing, but found them empty.

Let's see, where was that thing last time? I asked myself. I flashed back to the last time I was in this room, and remembered scratching wildly at on of the body's skin, and under the flesh was a little silver key.

"Oh hell no," I sighed. I still wondered how they got that damn key in that man's skin, but pushed that thought away.

I gave up on the first body, and moved across the glass to the next. This man, though, was completely nude, and looked as if he had been cut open and stitched up over and over again. I gagged and looked away, trying not to throw up the contents of my stomach.

I turned back to the ghastly smell and looked around the man. Well, if the key was on him then it was surely somewhere inside of him.

"Maybe he ate it," I laughed.

Okay, so I wasn't humoring myself. I was trying to listen for a snicker from the live man, but nothing came. I grunted and glared at the bodies. I went on to the next man, only searching clothing before deciding to tear apart innocent bodies.

This man's head was once cut off, but sewed back on. I bit my lip and looked down at his pant pocket, which was as big as my hand. There was a lump in the pocket, and curiosity got the best of me. I reached in and felt something stiff. I grabbed hold of it and pulled out a hand. I screamed loudly and fell backwards on my back.

I looked up and finally realized that the man's hand had been chopped off, and some insane moron stuck it in his pocket.

"I don't think he wants it back!" I said loudly.

I got back on my knees and searched the man from head to toe, but found nothing. I shivered and gagged at the smell, but moved on to the fourth man. He was lying in a puddle of blood, so technically he was just recently killed. He was what smelt so bad. I then noticed something that made my heart skip a beat.

There were holes in his hands and feet, and it looked as if somebody wrapped a rope tightly around his wrists. His shirt was sticky with blood coming from his sides. I made the symbol of the cross by tracing my finger from my forehead to my stomach, and then from one shoulder to the other before searching him.

There was no key in his clothing, so I moved on to the last body. It was either the first man, or the last that was alive, and the live man never had the key.

"I pronounce you dead," I told the body as I checked for a pulse. Oh yeah, it's real hard to tell who the live one is. Let me just sit here until time is over and find out instead of checking for a pulse.

"Twenty minutes," came a voice from the other side of the door.

"Wanna give me a hint, buddy?" I called out.

I didn't get an answer but I chuckled anyways. I stood to my feet, lantern in hand and looked at each body.

"Which one, which one," I said to myself.

I dropped to my knees beside the nude man. The key was inside someone's body, and if I had to guess, it'd be the stitched man. I clawed at his chest until the stitches opened, and I looked away.

"Oh God forgive me," I said.

I reached into his body, and felt around. I instantly pulled my hand out and coughed up the contents in my stomach to the side. I groaned and coughed up again. I turned back to the body and continued to search inside his body. I didn't feel a key, and pulled my hand out quickly.

I whimpered in disgust and moved far, far away from the bodies and leaned against the wall. I sat on the cold ground, just staring at them.

"This is so wrong," I said aloud.

I took in deep breaths, but found myself puking once more from the putrid smell. I crawled over to one of the bodies and just stared down at it.

"Just kill me now," I told nobody in particular. "Just kill me."

Nothing happened.

"Ten minutes," a voice said again.

I didn't even realize how much time I had wasted, and I jolted back to life and found myself searching everywhere. I looked through bodies, searched clothing once more, and even looked up their noses.

I growled in anger and got to my feet and kicked one of the bodies over and over.

"Where is the damn key?" I yelled.

I picked up a piece of glass and threw it against the wall. It shattered into a million pieces and flew back to the floor.

For the first time since I been in that room, I finally realized a weapon in the far corner.

"Oh great, an axe," I said, out of breath. "What am I supposed to do with that?" I screamed.

I picked it up lazily, which was stupid. The axe slipped through my fingers and the blade cut into my calf. I stumbled backwards in pain and my back hit the wall. I finally yelled in pain and clasped my hands over the bleeding wound.

"Five minutes," a voice said.

"Screw you!" I screamed.

I was surprised I didn't even sprout a tear, but I was too disgusted to cry. My feet, hands and knees were bloody, and now my calf was throbbing in pain.

Somehow I managed to continue searching through the bodies, and still found nothing. There was no key in these bodies.

"There's no key," I said. "There's no key!"

"Ten, nine, eight, seven…"

I looked around desperately and my eyes quickly landed on the hand lying in the middle of the floor. I grabbed it up and clawed around it.

"Four, three, two…"

I pulled out a small silver key and took in a deep breath.

"One."

I turned around and ran right into somebody.

"Times up," the live man said. He picked up the axe and held it far over his head.

My eyes grew wide and I instantly pushed him to the ground. I stepped over his body and fumbled with the key in the lock. I heard a click and pushed the door open, and slammed it shut behind me.

"Test passed," a voice said from behind me.

I turned around and stared at the man who dragged me down here. I moaned in pain once I remembered my wounded calf and clutched my leg tightly.

"You may want to visit the school infirmary," the man said with disgust in his voice.

The school infirmary only fixed up people who were badly wounded – like they did Erica.

I didn't understand what had just happened in that room, but I felt something in my heart. I couldn't tell what it was, but it felt a little something like…guilt.

Next Chapter: Anomie spends some alone time with Spot on the docks.

Anomie is finally allowed to visit with her brother.

Author note: So, this chapter disgusted me, and I'm pretty sure it disgusted you too. Sorry about that.