The Rookie

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

Chapter 5 (The Prisoner)

"Please." Mr. Erwin Sikowitz wept as he was led to a riverbank, shoved by a firm hand. Jade was there, part of the few picked to be forced to watch what was about to occur. "It just wasn't supposed to be like this, that's all." The woman behind him had a vicious expression on her face, her long blonde curls were like flames blanketing her shoulders. Her right hand was on Erwin's shoulder while her left carried the Beretta 9mm pistol.

"You had one job," the woman hissed, "Because of your failure we've been given unwanted attention."

"I didn't know he was going to fight back!" As the teacher's voice echoed with his sobs, Jade hardly felt any sympathy. For her, the betrayal was too much. All she thought about was how calmly he spoke to them, captivated their attention and guided them into the woods moments before they were abducted.

In that moment of abduction, Andre was able to overpower his attacker; but he was the only one. She wasn't entirely sure why, though she had her ideas, he seemed intent on reaching her first. Tears in her eyes, she had screamed for him to run when he broke free. The man he overtook was the one that shot him, trying to stop his fight; but someone else had been responsible for his death.

The blonde shoved Erwin to his knees, causing the man to wince and cry out as his knees scraped the rocks. His wrists and ankles were bound with thick rope, so he wouldn't be able to try to escape if he wanted to, fitting all things considered. "Please, I'm begging you. Please have mercy."

"You're asking the wrong person for mercy." The blonde pulled back the hammer, her blue eyes narrowing and her nose crinkling as the man bowed his head and continued to sob. "I'm just the Executioner. Your death has already been ordered. You're a liability."

"I didn't think anyone was going to be killed." Erwin leaned to the right, burying his face into his hands. "I promise I won't talk, I swear, I didn't know what was going to happen."

"You should never agreed to the job if you were going to be so fickle."

"It was revenge, not murder."

"No." The blonde frowned and turned her head to the others watching on. Along with Jade and Tori, who was beside herself with grief, were the kidnappers themselves. "Nobody was meant to die. At the very least not so soon. Andre fighting back was expected, but our boss would have taken him non-lethally out if not for his kidnapper shooting him."

"Then why am I here? Why did the boss kill him?"

"Believe me, the shooter is being watched. The boss killed him because at that point there was no other choice." The woman's murderous glare never went back to Erwin, instead seemed to intensify on the kidnappers who were shuffling about where they stood. "Your guilty conscious, however, is a liability." Erwin gasped, his lips separating and breaths sucking in the tears dripping from them. "While we weren't quick enough to dispose of Andre before his body was discovered, you have the potential to squirm and talk. The boss cannot afford that."

Erwin twisted his head to the right, his voice filling with a new terror. "You're making an example of me? No, please!" The blonde snapped her gaze back to Erwin and growled at him before pushing the Beretta against the back of his head. "After everything I've done, please!"

"I'm the Executioner, if the boss calls me, it's too late. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm just doing my job."

"Had to bring you out to kill me off, then." He closed his eyes and let his chin drop. "That says something, at least."

Jade's stomach churned and she looked away just as the blonde pulled the trigger, her eyelids slammed shut as the sound of the gunshot tore through her body like thunder.

In an instant she opened her eyes and saw the walls around her, feeling the sweat on her body she realized she'd been dreaming. Sitting up from the firm white bed, she slowly rubbed her eyes and looked around the empty cell.

She understood why it seemed like the guards that kept them holed up here never seemed ready to talk or show a guilty conscience whatsoever; if they weren't afraid of the boss, they were damn sure to be terrified of that blonde woman. The minute she was called in, something serious was underway.

Of course, the boss was like a prison warden in their own right in that they rarely ever showed up in person, and when they did, something horrible was about to happen.

Jade understood this was more a prison than anything, they were under orders to not be tortured or have any type of egregious abuse inflicted upon them. In some ways it felt like a sick joke. She knew there was no hope of survival, or at least it felt that way. There was no release at the end of this prison sentence, lest there be no reason for an Executioner to be called upon. No, she didn't think the blonde was there just to keep the guards in line, she thought for sure there was going to be an end to this sentence, an end that was fast approaching.

At this point she'd given up hope of survival. It was her choice to not take in food or drink, which according to conversations she overheard from outside her door irritated the boss.

As if a form of torture, or perhaps strategic planning, they put Tori in the cell next to her. That said, it was Tori's constant pleading and weeping that guilted her into eating, or more, she'd eat just to get the girl to quit nagging her.

She didn't know why she bothered, especially when she'd always been so fond of her odd connection and fascination with death. After all these years in hell, the only thing she wanted was that sweet release of death; yet for some reason she willed herself to eat and survive. It was as if she were afraid of the pain of starvation, rather she saw more fit that her end would be that of the Executioner's gun.

Jade looked to her left, groaning when she saw the hole in the ground. It was essentially the toilet, an indecent fixture she still hadn't gotten used to. Her gaze flickered about the room and settled on a large stone block in the corner. There was no reason for it to be there, it had simply always been there.

A knock came on the door, drawing her gaze back to it. She'd grown accustomed to the times the guard came. "Breakfast. Your neighbor's donated half her meal. Again." Jade rolled her eyes and moved her trembling fingers across her knees, sighing as the door opened partially.

She knew there was a chain on the other side of the door, barring any attempts of them shoving the door open when the guard came with food. Still, it was a thought she hadn't considered in a very long time; it was almost as though she'd become accustomed to this hell.

Watching the guard's hand closely, she eyed the plate of food as it slid forward across the floor. "What's the food today," she muttered. As she tilted her head she saw, not one, but two stale looking biscuits and four fried eggs along with two slices of bacon. "I guess the extra biscuit and the eggs come from Tori?" Raising an eyebrow and lifting her gaze to the closing door. "Is she starving herself now because she's so worried about me not eating?"

After the guard's footsteps retreated down whatever walkway there was, Tori's squeaky voice echoed into her room. "Do you have your food, Jade?"

She poked the biscuit with one finger, groaning softly at the hardness. "Yours too, apparently. You need to stop, and trust me when I say I'm not saying that out of concern over you starving."

"If you wanted to starve yourself, Jade, you wouldn't be eating what I donate from my portion!"

She picked up the biscuit with a heavy sigh and let her gaze drift back to the stone block in her room. "Frankly, I'm not sure why I am. Maybe I'd rather that bitch shoot me like she did our teacher than go hungry."

Tori let out a cry. "The last thing I want to do is see her again."

"I don't know, she keeps our prison guards in line if she ever has to be called out. They haven't acted up in a while because of it."

She wondered if the guards ever would act out of line, especially since it had been some time. At this point she felt forgotten, and not just by society and the people she cared about. Even still the guards themselves, while not many, were captives in a way too. They were paid to check on them, couldn't leave wherever the hell they were and knew all too well both their boss and the executioner wouldn't shy from their iron fists.

If Jade gave it much thought, she could see trying to manipulate one of their captors to escape; but the possibility felt so slim that she didn't see the point. Now, she no longer had a purpose, there was nothing but death on the horizon and she knew it.

She bit into the hard biscuit and groaned as the bread moistened with her saliva. It didn't matter how stale the bread was, it felt great to bite into something and to chew.

Halfway through the meal she considered screaming for the guard, seeing as how well it seemed to work for Tori-if only for her-she might be able to convince the guard to come and give Tori back her own food.

"Unlikely," she thought. Closing her eyes, she let the aroma of the cold eggs fill her nostrils. "What I wouldn't give for fresh, hot, runny eggs." Her eyes flew open and a sigh drifted from her lips; it had been some time since she even bothered fantasizing about food.

Devouring the rest of her meal like a scavenger on a fresh corpse, she wasn't ashamed to leave the flecks of food on the corners of her face or the tip of her nose. Her concentration was only broken when she overheard the sound of a struggle.

Raising her head, her breathing grew still as she heard a familiar scream echo and reverberate within the walls. "I can't stand it anymore," shouted a guard to another dissenting guard, "Damned the boss's orders."

"It's not a good move, you know what could happen."

"Fuck off then!"

The scream sounded off again, followed by Robbie calling out Cat's name. Jade's stomach churned as she heard one of the distant doors slam. Next to her cell Tori cried out, asking for someone to tell her what was happening; but no answer came.

"Please," Cat screamed, "Please stop." Jade's eyes flickered back to the stone brick in her cell as every sound outside of Cat's voice grew silent. In her hands she held one of the sausages, her body shaking violently as she listened to the cries fill the air.

The dissenting guard called out, "I don't want anything to do with this when the Executioner comes out here, much less the boss." Soon, even Cat fell silent. Jade waited, listening for any sign of life. What came was a curse from the first guard, announcing that Cat was dead. "Well shit, now the boss is really going to hear about this…You fucking idiot, we're all fucked."

Jade's body grew numb and she dropped the food in her hand without thinking about it. Beside her, Tori's scream of realization did nothing to startle her. Unable to comprehend what had just happened, Jade felt the tears welling up in her eyes.

"No," she whispered, "I can't. This…This has to end." She wasn't strong by any means, but looking at the stone block in her cell, she saw there was a means to an end. If Tori really was insistent on donating her food to make sure she ate, then Jade could reasonably rebuild some form of strength.

After what just transpired, Jade was sure. If even one guard was getting uncontrollable, it was a sign of changing tides. "Can I even get out of this hell, or have I just gone more insane?" There was no doubt in her mind that the blonde woman would be called in, or the boss themselves, to shape up the guards if whatever just happened to Cat came to light-and that would only happen if the Boss showed up and discovered the truth.

Until then, there could be a window of time where the guards could possibly still be manipulated. If nothing else, maybe she could work on her strength in the meantime.

Looking down to the remains of her food and listening to Tori's incessant weeping in the other room, Jade let out a heavy sigh and slowly pushed herself to her feet. With shaky steps, she walked to the stone block and sat down beside it.

"What the fuck am I thinking?" Looking to the door, she studied the barred window. There was a way to look through and see into the other cell, which was Tori's, and thus a way to see into her own cell from outside; but there was a corner that was difficult to see from there. "Screw it." She gripped the edges of the block with her fingers and slid into the corner, carefully sliding the block with her.

Closing her eyes she laid on her back and grimaced as she lifted the block up to her chest. Cat's screams before her sudden silence echoed in her head. Focusing on that, she gritted her teeth and fought back the groan while shakily lifting the block into the air from her chest.

"One." Tears rolled out from the corners of her eyes as she brought the block back down from her chest. An agonized breath escaped her lips and her eyelids flew open. She studied the ceiling above, her brow furrowing as she struggled to push the block for a second rep. "I'll just keep at this. Cat, I'm sorry…I kind of hope the Executioner doesn't come too soon, I don't want your death to be in vain."

Any thoughts or theories after this chapter? Anything catch your attention?