THREE. I had three choices, and I picked the one that most fit me.

RUN!

Swerving around in the darkness, I booked it through the entryway and ran toward the light. My hand held onto the shank like it was my last connection to the free world. The cracked flooring pounded under my bare feet, jagged splinters gouging into my soft flesh. Ignoring the discomfort, my heart leaped into my rectum when I heard heavy thumps behind me.

"Run, piggy. Run those little fatty legs."

A sadistic laugh swarmed the area around me, sounding like it was coming from everywhere.

I kept moving, the walls becoming narrower until a whoosh stoked the air, and pain skirted up my shoulder. I tripped from the sharp sting, face planting into the wooden flooring. Pointy lumber scraped my lips from the fall, blood dribbling down my chin.

Gasping, a shocking ache throbbed up my torso, as I rolled over. I couldn't lie flat on my back because something skewered my shoulder, lifting me partially off the ground.

They threw something at me, and it was stuck in me. Fingers numbing, I tried to snatch it, but every movement was excruciating, my body continuously locking up from the agony.

The footsteps running at me slowed to a stop a few feet away. I whimpered and back crawled, barely moving a few inches.

A humming click went off, and the dimness lightened to a dull pink hue. It took me a moment to realize that the pinkness emanated from them. Blackness shielded their body, leaving behind only a mask. A gas mask. Soft fuchsia light illuminated from the eyeholes and the two outward-facing filters.

"Aww piggy trapped?"

The voice shrieked at me, sounding extra robotic and staticky. It was like their voice was made of pure electricity, every syllable sending a jolt up my flesh, hair lifting on my arms. 

I lurched back, trying to get away, but it only made the agony jetting up my back worse. I blinked back the tears and used my left hand to touch the thing sticking out of my right shoulder. Sticky fluid glazed my tips, as I pulled on the hard, waxy object sticking out of me.

"Nah ah, piggy."

The mask bolted toward me. A boot punted me in the chest, and all air left my lungs. Letting out a choking wheeze, my back rammed into the floor, plunging the item further into me. I chomped back a high-pitched squeal by biting my lip, and metallic liquid flooded my mouth like I just bit into a jelly donut.

"Don't hold back. I want that oink. OINK!"

They stomped on my belly like they were killing a roach, propelling me harder into the ground, sticking the weapon in deeper. Ripples of electrifying pain flowed up my back and neck, as wetness damped my eyes, teeth biting my lip.

I trembled, using all my strength to hold in my moans.

But they pushed harder on my body, pressing my spine into the floor, and it became too much. I squealed, tears descending down my cheeks, their annoying robotic snicker drilling in my eardrums.

"Ah, that's so delicious, piggy."

They pulled their boot back, and I gasped and turned on my side, body shaking. They knelt next to me, their breath crawling up my back, making me shudder even more. My eyes focused on the cracked wooden wall, staring at the tiny grain lines, panting like a woman in labor.

"So plump and scrumptious. I always liked you like this, my fat whittle piggy."

"I-I'm not f-fat," I stammered out, staring at the lines until my tears blurred them into one.

"Is thick a better term?"

A suede glove caressed my side, and I flinched, arching my back.

"How about pleasantly plumped? Fluffy?"

I didn't answer, closing my eyes, defeated. The pain was too much like last time. I could feel the blood oozing from my wound, a tiny tickle on my skin.

"Why so quiet now? Oink again."

Silence.

"I said oink again."

They smacked my back, hitting the lodged item. I jerked, but no noise came from lips, not wanting to give them the satisfaction.

"Oink!"

They dug the object deeper into me, tears streaming down now, but I stayed silent — until they jerked the weapon out of me. I arched and yelped at the sudden surge of horrifying agony.

"So beautiful..."

Droplets of something — probably my own blood — dribbled on my back, each drop feeling like a trillion pounds. I attempted to move, but everything felt weighted down by cement. My lip trembled, as realization kicked in. I couldn't do this. I couldn't beat them.

Yes, you can! I refuse to die like this Betty Deville — by some idiotic tart smelling freak who laughs at their own pathetic jokes. When we die, we're going out epically, okay? You better act like you got me and Tini in you! She might not be here, but you better channel that bitch like a Ouija board. But— We did not survive with Rucker to go out like this. 

Rucker. Just hearing his name hit hard. He would be so destroyed, thinking my stupidity was his fault.

You have me.

I felt a gush of energy vibrate through the light-and-dark blanket that covered her. It sliced through my weakness and pain, fueling me.

You don't need to win. You just need to survive. Use that big brain of yours.

I inhaled, absorbing the pain as much as I could, letting adrenaline flood me instead, giving me a boost. I wasn't a fighter, but I could analyze.

They haven't tried to throw any killing blows. They were getting off on torturing me, so killing me wasn't an objective — not yet anyway. They said something about a sacrifice. They wanted to sacrifice me. What did that even mean?

It didn't matter. My best bet was to keep them talking, so I could get away. Moving my head, I gazed forward at the end of the hallway, the lights looking like the holy grail. Just needed to get there, and it would all be over.

"What d-do you want from me?" I asked, shifting fully on my side, feeling the heel knife under my shoulder.

Shifting their legs to be on either side of me, the pink eyeholes glowered down at me, blinking every second or so. "I want you to be my sacrifice." They laughed.

"I've been planning it ever since our last encounter. I had this amazing kidnapping scheme all worked out, but you came to me instead. It's funny how things just work out, huh? Now I can move into phase two."

"Sacrifice?" I asked, moving to lie on my arm, giving my other hand room to grab the heel knife. Not yet though. "Phase two?"

"You're way too important to me to just kill outright — not my fluffy little piggy. You're going out in a blaze of glory and teeth. A sacrifice for my precious Pewee Blossom."

Huh? They're starting to make Aries look normal.

"Peewee Blossom?"

They ignored me and bent down, and I rotated away, gripping the heel in my hand without them seeing, placing it behind me. "S-so you were working with F-fee this whole time?"

"I know what you're doing. I'm not dumb. No matter how much time you waste, you're still mine. There's no escaping, but I'll bite." They laughed. "You really think I'm working with Fee?"

"I went through the hole in his room," I said, moving back. "That's how I got here."

"I don't know if I should be mad or happy that you think I'm working with that giant ball of mental idiocy."

"What?"

"The producers limited how much food they gave me. I guess they thought it would make good tv if I had to scrounge up my own food while living in the walls. Funny, right?" A bitterness colored their tone. "They barely gave me anything — just junk food and that wasn't enough. I was still hungry. Starving. I needed food, but I couldn't very well just walk to the kitchen, could I? That was against the rules for me. I had to steal plates of food, which was hard since most people don't just leave food lying around."

"What does this have to do with Fee?"

"When he started to get animals, I knew he'd have to leave food out for them. He was a heavy sleeper, so it was easy to drill a hole in his wall. Once I was in, I ate the scraps he left his animals while he slept or was out. Eventually, I started to drug him so I could be out longer."

I jerked back. "What?"

"Why do you think you barely ever saw him sometimes? Especially lately? Drugged. He'd be out for hours sometimes. One time he was gone for two days." They let out a bark of laughter, sounding like two atoms rubbing together. "Stupid oaf. He never realized Layla was sharing the food he made her with me. It was nice not having to steal anymore." They snorted. "Of course, I didn't let her see me. I just told her where to leave the food, saying it's what God wanted." They used air quotes. "She wasn't very bright. She'd get me whatever I asked for, and she'd do anything I wanted. I even got her to drug Fee a few times."

"If Layla was helping you get food, why'd you keep drugging Fee? There was no reason to."

"I wanted to keep playing with his cute piggies, of course! How could I not? Aren't they the best animals?" They punched the wall. "Then you ruined everything. You escaped, and Layla killed herself and I had to revert back to stealing again."

"But you wanted her to kill herself?"

"Yeah, but she was supposed to kill all of you first," they snapped. "But of course, you messed that plan up."

"Sorry for not wanting to die."

"With her gone, I had to fend for myself again. The sucky producers were only giving me water, two cartons of milk, some chips, and bread. I got that once a day. Who can survive off that?!" They blew out a breath, pissed. "No one can, so I had to keep drugging Fee more and more just to eat his pig's leftovers again. Sometimes I'd even have to eat the scraps off his plate when he brought food to his room. I've been surviving like a homeless person because of you."

So Fee wasn't helping them. He was getting used by them. And Layla. I closed my eyes. I was so wrong.

"So you're Zimmie? The person Layla was talking to in the walls?" I asked, crawling back a little more.

They moved with me, their legs still straddling my body. "I go by many names. It's part of my charm."

You're in love with filthy livestock and smell like a cupcake's clitoris. The only people who find you charming are horny truckers who are looking to have sex with lot lizards at rest stops.

"But I did have the occasional help from someone else in the house."

I stared at the glaring pink lights. "Who?"

"That got your panties in a bunch, didn't it? Who is it, right? Could be anyone really. Who betrayed, my luscious little piggy. Or did I blackmail someone? I have spied on everyone. Or maybe someone else just wants you dead as much as I do?" 

They let out another robotic giggle, irritating my soul.

Am I the only one who finds them annoying? Like how did they seriously survive this long? I would stab them in the neck with a pencil first chance I got.

"Is Aries helping me?" They cocked their head at me, the pink lights becoming more blazing. "He's a real weirdo with all that alien crap, but you gotta be amazed by his transformation. Going from loving Jesus to masturbating to a picture of an ET lookalike is a big jump," they said before smacking the wall. "You know that white symbol on the floor of his room? It's made from his sperm. He literally came in a bowl and used his fingers to paint it on the floor while humming. And he jerks off at least ten times a day. I mean he's been doing it less because of his finger loss, but he's still dedicated. Gotta love that in a guy." 

I didn't know whether to laugh, be disgusted, or feel bad.

"Or maybe it's Chi? You guys did bond today — girl power," they said, tone hostile. "You know she cries for two hours straight every Friday at three fifteen am? She's like clockwork that one."

I figured she was lonely, but not that lonely. Or was it something else?

"Or was it your precious Khan? How do you still like him after knowing he murdered his parents? In cold blood. Like look at what he did to poor Demo. That just shows you how ruthless he can be. He doesn't work on emotion. He's calculating. And what's with that weird blank face. It's seriously creepy."

They're judging someone on being creepy and weird? They're the poster board of what happens to kids who eat glue in kindergarten.

They moved a bit closer to me. "Do you want to know a secret about him? About your precious Khan? He secretly meets up with Jookie sometimes. How about that? They talk for hours."

My eyes fluttered shut a moment. "You're lying."

"Am I?" They said. "That's a stupid thing to lie about."

Khan's been meeting with Jookie? Why? Was he the spy? Or were they lying to me?

♟♙♟