Chapter 4

Door 1

The beach was amazing.

Two days later and she still couldn't believe how perfect it had been. They hadn't gone anywhere else, they seemed to like to relax a lot. Willow knocked on her door, and she waved her inside. She sat on the bed next to Patricia.

"I just was wondering how you were." she said. "You've been in here alone all day, and you've hardly eaten."

"I'm good." Patricia said truthfully. "I've just been... thinking."

"About what?" Willow prodded.

Patricia shrugged. "The four doors."

Willow's smile dropped.

"No, no hear me out." Patricia said. "Before we went in there was a riddle. Each door held something special behind it. Two were bad, one was supposed to be good, and one sent us home."

"Maybe this was the good door!" Willow grinned.

"Yeah I think it was." Patricia agreed. "And so I think myself to be very lucky. Because I could have ended up somewhere else. And I ended up here."

Willow smiled.

"But it also worries me, because if this is the good door, the other two were the bad doors. And I have no idea what's behind them. But I'm afraid my friends might be suffering."

Willow nodded. "Tell me about your friends."

"They're your friends too." Patricia said immediately. "There's Fabian, and Amber. I think they both might be geniuses."

"Really?" Willow asked. "I've never met a genius."

"You have, okay? You've met ten. Two of them are here with you, even if they don't remember." Patricia assured her.

"I'm sure there are three here with me." Willow smiled. Patricia rolled her eyes and attempted to hide her smile. "Who else."

"Well there's my best friend..." Patricia said smiling while thinking of them. "Her name is..."

Patricia sat up suddenly, startling Willow. "Is everything okay?"

Patricia jumped off the bed and started pacing frantically. Willow watched worriedly. "I've known her for over a decade, she's been with me through everything she knows things not even my sister knows about me! Why can't I remember her name?"

Willow watched her stop in her tracks.

"My sister, I can't remember her either!" Patricia started hitting her head. "I can't remember the American girl who came here two years ago, I can't remember the meathead jock, those two weasels, I can't remember anything!"

Willow jumped off the bed and held Patricia's shoulders, "Its okay-"

"NO!" Patricia pushed her away. "I have to get out of here before they take everything!"

Patricia ran out of her room and sped down the stairs. She ripped open the door, but was met with just the outside. "NO!"

"What's happening?" came Mara's voice.

"P-Patricia please stop!" said Willow who was coming down the stairs after her. Patricia slammed the door shut and started banging on it.

"TAKE ME HOME! TAKE ME HOME!"

The next thing she knew she was in her bed, waking up. She was breathing rapidly. Eddie was on the edge of the bed watching her. "What happened?"

"I... I really don't know." Eddie said. "But whenever we express how we hate it here, they take us somewhere and do something horrible to us."

Patricia sat up. "What do they do?"

Eddie shrugged. "They take the memories away. You just get the aftermath of it all."

Patricia shook her head, Eddie gave her a glass of water. She hadn't realized she was shaking until she took the glass and the water was nearly spilling from it.

"Whatever they do, it's... traumatizing." Eddie said.

"If you don't want to be here, why don't you fight? Why don't you do something about it?" Patricia asked.

"What can we do? We're powerless."

Patricia took a long sip of her water, and then gave it back to Eddie. "The Eddie I know, wouldn't give up without a fight."

He seemed to be thinking about this for a few minutes, before answering. "If I don't have any of his memories, or any of his past experiences, or any of his relationships, am I really the Eddie you know?"

Patricia leaned back and pulled the covers over herself, turning away from the intruder with Eddie's face. "I suppose not."

Door 3

The seljani had some sort of holding facility for their prisoners. Fabian suspected it was at least partially underground, because he knew he'd been in there a while but it never got light in there. He didn't know how long it had been before Nina found him. She took his hand, like the first day, and lead him somewhere where there was more light. He had to climb a rope to get to the surface. When he reached the top he realized the entrance was some kind of empty well made larger underground for their 'stanica'.

Nina gathered the rope again, while Fabian shielded his eyes from the sun. He lost one of his shoes. "This place really isn't made for shoes is it?"

"Shh." Nina whispered. "Do you want us to get caught? I remember you being smart."

"Thanks for the rescue by the way," Fabian smiled. Nina rolled her eyes.

"Do you think I did that for you?" Nina asked. "I needed to be sure I wasn't hallucinating you a few days ago, now quiet down."

Fabian sighed quietly. "Don't they usually have guards around prisoners?" Fabian asked a lot quieter.

"Yes." Nina said shortly. Fabian stepped forward to help her, before stepping in some kind of liquid. He squinted down and gasped.

Quickly he looked around, three people were dead. "Did... did you do this?"

Nina paused. "Are you going to run away from me?"

Fabian stared at her. For a moment she stared back, then went back to gathering the rope.

"No." she said. "I didn't have to, I wasn't the only one with a friend down there."

Fabian looked around. "Where are the others then?"

"They fled. I was told to gather the rope." Nina explained. "And then get back there as fast as possible, so I hope you can run with one shoe because it won't be long before the watches are supposed to shift."

"Why would they leave you?"

"Our army is small, if everyone stayed and got caught we could lose ten, as opposed to just you and me." Nina explained. He supposed it made sense, but he still didn't like it .

"What's so important about the rope?" Fabian asked as she tied it tightly around her hips so it wouldn't fall while she was running.

"It's just useful, and we don't have many resources." Nina said.

"Nina."

Nina and Fabian turned around to see KT, Mick, and one other person. Nina looked shocked. "You two are the next watchers? Should have known. Trust my luck to pull this little prank on me."

Mick and KT didn't move, but the huge man behind them did. He shot an arrow at Fabian, but Nina jumped in front of it and it got her in the shoulder, she cried out in pain and the guy with the arrow took out a spear. KT and Mick still didn't move, as if frozen.

Nina pushed Fabian to the side, pulled the arrow out, and took out a makeshift stake and some kind of shiv. She held them in a fighting stance. Fabian stood up to help her, but Mick stopped him by holding his arms.

"Who are you two?" he spat. "Because you are not the same people I knew."

"No we're not." KT said to him, picking up a large rock. "But neither is she."

KT moved out of his vision just in time so he could watch Nina cut the guys knee, so he fell, and knock him down. She turned towards KT and Mick, and that's the last thing Fabian saw before KT used the rock to knock him out.

When he awoke, he was on some of the animal fur in the old warehouse. This time there were others around, sleeping and eating. He looked at the back wall, four more lines had been drawn. Nina was there with a wrapped shoulder and a black eye, tending to his head. When she saw he was awake, she gave him water.

"What happened?" Fabian asked.

"After KT hit you? Not much." Nina said. "Obviously I'm no match for both KT and Mick."

"So how'd you get away?" Fabian asked.

"They let me go." Nina said.

Fabian's eyebrows rose. "Maybe they're-"

"And then they blew the rog and sent their people after us. Knowing I'd be slowed down with your weight."

Fabian flared up. "What is the point of them letting you go then!?"

"Shut up!" Nina whispered. "It's very rude to wake up people when they're trying to rest."

"I'm sorry, I just can't believe them." Fabian said.

Nina shook her head. "If they didn't blow the horn, Anajah and the others would know they let us go. You can't get mad at them, Fabian. You don't know the full story."

Fabian narrowed his eyes at her. "They said the same thing."

"Well... they don't know the full story either." Nina said. "You can't hold anything they do against them. The VJeran Tribe are manipulating them."

Fabian sat up, slowly. "Manipulating them?"

Nina nodded. "They're brainwashed. They're being told things so they would fight with the tribe. So they'd have a larger army. You have to understand... it's very complicated."

Fabian had to agree.

Door 4

Amber sat up quickly when she heard the others get back. She pressed the button so her door slid open and watched them run up the steps again. They all had blood on their shirt this time. Over the past week they had three jobs, and this one seemed to be the worse one. She went by how much blood was on their shirt when they come back. The first time, Joy had blood on her shirt. The second time, no one had any blood. This time, they looked like the went down a slide with blood all over it.

Amber followed them up the steps this time, and they went into The Commander's office, which was coincidentally where Victor's office was back home. The door slid shut and she pressed her ear to it. Unfortunately she couldn't hear a thing. Just muffled words. Angry and annoyed, she went downstairs just as the door slid open.

"Hey Ambs!" Alfie smiled. Amber sent him a small wave.

"Hurry and change." The commander said from the top of the steps. Apparently the other three hadn't realized he had come out of his office with them, because his voice scared them so much Jerome had to grip the banister and the other two nearly fell down the steps. "I'll be watching your training today."

"Yes sir," they said running to the showers.

"And... Ming will be joining me in watching you." The commander said. Amber watched for their reactions, but they didn't seem to have one. Maybe Ming came often.

While the others were in the showers, Amber met Ming. The Commander smiled at her. "Blonde, this is Ming-Húa. He works with the others."

"On the jobs?" Amber asked.

"No," The Commander said. "He's their trainer. He comes here a few times a week."

"She's very pretty." Ming said. "When was she finished?"

Finished?

"A week today." The Commander said. "They've been teaching her."

"Good." Ming said approvingly. That was around when the others came back, and greeted Ming, and they all went into the training room.

Joy had become Amber's partner. Sometimes she fought Jerome and sometimes she fought Alfie, but mostly she paired with Joy. Joy always went easy on her. Whereas when any of them fought each other, they fought as if they wanted to kill the other. Perhaps that really was what they were aiming for.

Joy and Amber balanced each other out. Joy was more experienced, so there hadn't been a time she did not beat Amber, but Amber was taller and caught on well with her hands, Joy's weak spot.

They did their normal regimen for a while, Jerome and Alfie both 'finished' each other during their fight, much to Ming's delight. Apparently he got a lot of pleasure in watching them die, which was absolutely sick. Soon they moved on to weapons, ending with knife throwing.

Amber stayed away, she'd never got a lesson on knife throwing. It was fascinating to watch. They set up dummies so that they moved in front of them. They hit every target. if not bullseye, close to it. Especially Joy, she was incredible.

"Stand up Blonde." Ming said. "Observe. Learn."

Amber stood up and moved closer to the three. They didn't notice, they were focused. They hit the targets, one after another.

"Behind you!" Ming yelled.

Without missing a beat, they turned with their next knife and threw them behind them. Jerome and Joy's knives hit the dummies, and Alfie's hit Amber. Right in the neck.

Amber went down with a white hot pain starting at her neck and going to every part of her body. Hot blood spilled down her neck and into her mouth as her eyes pooled with tears. She could hear yelling from a distance, Alfie, Jerome, and Joy.

"WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF IT WORKS WITH HER!"

"And now we'll know."

Another wave of pain and nausea came as the knife was removed and the rest of their argues were lost on her while she coughed blood up. Her vision got spotty, until finally the pain was gone.

She opened her eyes, blinking tears away, and stood up at five faces. Jerome, Alfie, and Joy all looked horrified but relieved. The other two, Ming and The Commander, looked ecstatic. Joy handed her a towel and she wiped her face, and coughed up more blood.

"Perfect." The Commander said as Jerome and Alfie helped Amber up. No one else said anything, while Ming and The Commander went upstairs to talk about this. It seemed now that they knew Amber was okay, they weren't going to speak up anymore.

Amber pushed them away to run to the bathroom, where she was met with the taste of blood, and a past meal. When she was finished, she washed her face, and rinsed her mouth out. And then she wasn't in the mood to train or talk, so she just went into her room and went to sleep.

When she woke up, she knew she couldn't stay in her room all day like she wanted to, so she slowly went into the training room. The other three were already there, sparing. They stopped as soon as she came in.

"Are you okay?" Jerome asked. Amber nodded, though she still felt a little sick. She couldn't help but notice that not only was the pain from the knife, but all the pain that was in her joints from working and the bruises from sparring was all gone as well. The Commander came in, and her friends all stood a little straighter.

"I have another job for you." he said. It wasn't normal that they had a job two days in a row. Amber went to back up, but The Commander stopped her. "You're going on it, Blonde."