"WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE." Gmie hustled across the hallway with her team waltzing behind her like little minions. She stopped a few feet in front of me. "Look, everyone. Betinia decided to grace us with her nutsy presence." Her teeth grinned at me. "We haven't seen you in a while. Whatcha been up to?"

"Nothing," I said, squaring my shoulders. No matter what I said they were going to do whatever to me anyway. Might as well fight back.

"She was probably crying all these days," Demo said, slinging an arm around Gmie. "I would too if I knew I was dying soon."

My long nails jabbed into my palm. I hated that she was right. I was wallowing in misery all those days, but not anymore. "Mind your business. You don't need to know what I was doing."

"I own this place now, so it is my business." Gmie chuckled, scratching at her tight bun. "While you were gone, I took over. Everyone listens to me now."

I laughed in her face. "You think that, but no one really likes you."

Demo sucked in her cheeks. "Stop making up lies. You heard our meeting about you. Everyone was on Gm's side."

"They were just pretending to listen to her big mouth," I said, tossing my hair over my shoulder. "To trick all of you. They're all really voting off Chi."

Chi let out an annoying gasp, cheeks red. "Fuck you, bitch. All the guys love me. I ain't going nowhere." Pursing her lips, she squeezed her ass. "Khan was the best though. He's a real ass man."

"Opening your legs doesn't mean they won't vote for you." I stared at her like she was stupid. "Men can easily fuck and still do what they want."

Chi clenched her teeth. "They wouldn't do that."

"You're either very naïve or very stupid," I said.

Aries pushed Chi out of the way and stood in front of me. He poked me in the chest hard. "Keep talking to her like that, and I'm gonna—"

"What's going on here?" Sebastian rounded the corner with his lips set in a tight line.

Gmie instantly turned, a smile hugging her cheeks. "Just talking. Betinia is very excited about the voting session."

I coughed. "Very. I can't wait to watch your plan blow up in your face."

Gmie glowered at me, and I smiled before backpedaling into the kitchen. It was empty. Good. I let out a sigh before leaning against the island. Being a smartass was a lot harder with Tini gone.

I missed her for a split second before brushing that feeling away and walking toward the food armoire. Shuffling through it, I grabbed a package of shrimp ramen. My last meal could be processed noodles. Even John Wayne Gacy got KFC for his last meal.

I tossed the packet to the bottom shelf and looked for something else. My fingers rustled through more packaged foods, looking for something better, but then my knuckles brushed against the back of the armoire. A hole. THE HOLE!

I completely forgot about it. What if that was my way out? I should—

"Betinia?" Sebastian opened the kitchen door, the jam creaking loudly.

I slammed the armoire shut and almost ran into the kitchen. "Yes?" I said, standing on the threshold.

A bright smile filled his lips. "I'm so happy to see you. I've been knocking on your door for days. I've been worried about you." A look of concern entered his blue eyes.

I didn't know how to feel about Sebastian. I felt like he should've defended me more in that meeting, but he did help me today though. And this was about surviving, so I needed as many people on my side as possible.

Grabbing a can of pineapples from the shelf, I sat at the island and cracked open the tin. "It's been a tough few days for me, so I haven't really wanted to be social much. Sorry."

He sat across from me and used his index finger to rub my hand. "It was the meeting, right? I'm sorry you had to hear all of that."

"No. It's wonderful to know what people really think about me."

"I don't think of you like that."

The tip of my tongue blazed with an insult, along with a loud, "Why didn't you defend me then?" But I held back, putting on that good girl smile. "Forget about it. It's fine. Really. No big deal."

His eyes met mine, eyelashes fluttering. "You can be real with me, Betinia. Just be honest with me about how you feel."

"I'm fine."

"You must be angry with me for not defending you, right?" he asked.

Bingo. "No, it's fine. Really."

"I just let Gmie talk," he said, lowering a shoulder. "I think we all did. I wasn't buying anything she was saying, you know? I would never turn my back on you. Ever. We have his connection, and I don't want to lose it." Fingerprints danced along my knuckles, and I shivered, an electric charge going up my arm. "I don't want someone like Gmie or her posse coming between us."

"You feel that connection even after you heard my interview?" I asked. "So many things went wrong with that interview."

"You mean us learning about your past or the flirting with Jookie?"

"That was Ti — you think I was flirting with him?" I asked, correcting myself last minute.

"Kind of." He gave me a sheepish grin. "But hey, it's not like we're dating or anything." He scratched his head, avoiding my eyes. "You aren't dating Jookie or Khan, are you?"

"No," I said a bit too quickly. "I'm friends with Khan — I think and Jookie is Jookie. He likes to mess with me."

"Then why did you make him leave with you at the end of the cannibalism challenge?" he asked, looking down. "Do you like him?"

Tini left with him because she wanted to hurt him. How could I tell him that? Lie to him. "Umm Jookie pulled me aside before the challenge and said I had to do that. Something about it being for the viewers or something. Nothing happened."

"Oh, that's good," he said before smiling, relief reflecting in his eyes. "And I don't care about your past. It's in the past, right?"

"Right." At least he didn't look at me differently, and I have to admit that it was nice to know that he didn't see me as this crazy person but as me.

"So..." he said, touching my fingers. "Would you go out with me?"

"Umm we're locked in some unknown facility," I said, furrowing my brows. "Where are we going to go?"

He smirked at me. "I have a plan. All you gotta do is say yes."

"Sure, why not?" I needed to keep him as an ally, and I wasn't sure how I felt about him yet. Maybe this date would give me a sign or a clue.

"Perfect." He gave me a brilliant smile. "How—"

The ping of my iPad notification went off, interrupting Sebastian. "Hold on," I said, picking it up. Another group message appeared on the screen from Layla.

It said, "Please meet me in the hallway near the kitchen. I have something to say to everyone."

I looked up at Sebastian, confusion written on my face. "Layla wants everyone to meet her in the hall near the kitchen for some reason."

"What's her deal?" he asked, shaking his head. "She's been losing it the last few days."

"What she been doing?"

"Besides sending those creepy-ass messages, she's been screaming through the halls and talking to walls, calling them Zimmie," Sebastian said, shaking his head. "She's been talking about religion a lot, and I saw her sit at a wall for eight hours and just laugh and giggle with it. She's gone crazy."

Three ear-splitting honks smashed into the atmosphere before I could speak, making everything in me flinch.

"What the hell was that?" Sebastian rubbed his ears. "It's coming from the hall." He stalked toward the door.

My curiosity nagged at me like a jealous wife, until I got up and followed behind him. Outside in the hall, some of the contestants crowded around.

The honking noise continued on repeat, making everyone cringe.

Yaz stormed toward us from the far hall. "What the fuck is going on? I can hear this from the common room."

"Probably that crazy bitch Layla," Gmie said, glaring at the ceiling.

The annoying noises got closer, coming from the left hallway. And then Layla emerged in all her naked glory. Her golden skin glistened with white glitter, giving her a celestial glow. Mixed in with the sparkles were dark paint. It coated her thighs and stomach in weird symbols.

Rucker, who was standing closest to Layla, shoved his shirt over his nose and scooted far away from her. "She's covered in shit. Shit."

As Layla descended further into the hall, a severe stench followed her, reminding me of fecal matter. No sweet strawberry smell covered her now.

Oh god, he was right. Looking more closely, those weird symbols painted on her body must've been made from her shit.

"Ah Jesus, sjsudnnddlm shshsnns," she said, shaking her head as she held plastic bottles in her brown-covered fingers. Her voice continued to hum incomprehensible statements until her body began to shake while walking.

Chi moved back, eyes widening. "This girl has seriously lost it."

Layla waved her hands around and used the bottom of the bottles to smear the symbols on her thighs. "Umm sheesh wish fido ahh soak so."

A cruel feeling crashed into my tummy. Something was off.

"She's fucking crazy like Betinia," Gmie said, standing near me.

"Why do you always got to put my name in shit," I said, ignoring the feeling in my stomach.

Gmie went to say something back to me, but Khan cut her off with, "What is she saying? I can't recognize the language."

"She's not speaking a fucking language," Rucker said, holding the shirt up to his nose. "She painted herself in shit and speaking in tongues."

Demo charged at Layla. "I'll end this now." Before she could even reach Layla, Layla twirled around and punched Demo right in the face. Gmie caught Demo before she crashed to the ground, blood trickling from her nose.

Layla screeched, face scrunching up. "All of you are monsters! And you will be cleansed!" She ran toward the left hall again, but not before tossing the plastic bottles back at us. The bottles crashed into the floor, and white smoke flew from the open tops, covering the big space in seconds.

People screamed, and I immediately backpedaled, covering my face with my hand, but it wasn't enough. The smoke got me, sneaking into my senses, and I blacked out.

♟♙♟

A swift kick to my side awoke me from my dream of flying. My eyes fluttered for a second as my head pounded, and dryness caked my throat.

"Betinia," a familiar voice said, but I couldn't place it because of the pain throbbing across my scalp.

"Huh?" My eyes slid to a half-mast, trying to see in the dimness.

"Betinia. Get up!" Another kick landed in my side.

"Ouch!" I whispered, forcing my eyes open. A dim room swam into view as I tried to move, but I couldn't.

I wiggled my arms, but they were lodged behind my back with something. Something also tied my feet together. Huh? Who the hell tied me up?

"Betinia," the voice came again, and I followed it. Yaz lounged against the wall with her feet and arms tied as well.

Rocking my body to the left, I was able to sit up. Staring around, my eyes widened. Everyone was tied up and placed in some weird shape. Not everyone was conscious yet though.

"What's going on?" I pivoted my body to look at Yaz who looked pissed as hell.

"That bitch Layla," she snapped. "Remember she threw those bottles and that smoke came out? I think it was some sort of knockout gas."

Searching my mind, the memories started to come back. Demo tried to attack her, and then Layla punched her and threw those bottles. Layla also said we needed to be cleansed.

A part of me knew she didn't mean cleanse as in physically cleaning us. She probably meant killing us.

I stared at the circle of contestants, seeing that she had every one of us tied up and at her mercy. Even Fee, who wasn't even in the hall with us at the time.

With Fee being so large and strong, she must've been worried about him escaping because she had thick plastic ties, along with metal around his arms and legs. Everyone else had plastic ties and thin rope.

If she killed all of us, she could win the game. Right now—

Layla stormed through an open door, breaking me from my thoughts. She was still nude and covered in shit, but now she had shit stripes on her face. A weird-shaped knife and a dripping hammer clung to each hand as her dead eyes gazed at us in eerie delight.

"Hello, monsters." A giant smile pinched her face, sending a chill down my neck. "Time for your cleaning."

♟♙♟