"THANK YOU, GUYS, FOR HELPING ME CLEAN UP," I said, scrubbing up the last bit of dried vomit off my floor. The scent of pine, lemon and disinfectant mingled in the air, cleansing out that familiar suffocating strawberry scent.

Using the back of my hand to wipe some sweat off my forehead, I tossed the dirty rag into the bucket of bleach water on the ground.

Rucker paced around my empty room, tossing a rag in my bucket. "I can't believe you've been sleeping in here. It's fucking depressing." He stared at me. "We can die at any moment and you don't even have a fucking bed."

After Sebastian and Rucker's brawl, Khan had to patch both of them up a bit. Mostly Sebastian. Rucker just had a few scratch marks and bite wounds. Sebastian had a black eye, bruised skin, a busted lip, a bleeding mouth, and two missing teeth.

The atmosphere was a bit awkward and tense as they were getting patched up, so I decided to go to my room, forgetting that it was trashed, dirty and reeked of recent death.

On top of that, in bright pink marker, someone wrote "you're next" with a bunch of large "X" symbols on my bathroom wall. I contributed the messy bathroom to Gmie and Demo since it was written after Layla died.

It looked like it was just written because it wasn't even dry yet. Gmie must've been angry with me again for beating her. Or she just wanted to fuck with me again because she hated me. Who knows with her.

Everyone offered to help me clean up and that's what we've been doing for the past couple hours. No one mentioned the family pictures on the walls. They just moved on and ignored it. I really couldn't ask for a better team.

I stretched my arms out, feeling a tenseness in my shoulders. "I don't feel comfortable requesting things, so I've just been getting by without it."

"Girl, you're missing out," Yaz said, putting the mop against the wall. "You can get whatever the hell you want. Literally anything. If they're offering, you better damn well take it. It's the least they can do after the shit they're putting us through."

"Think of it as a vacation," Sebastian said, closing a trash bag before scratching at the small band-aid on the bridge of his nose. "Where everything's free."

Yaz snorted. "Nothing's free. We pay with our privacy and lives."

"So, we're like celebrities," Rucker said before smiling. "My mama always said I was destinated for great things."

"I'd still rather be a normal person," Khan said, coming out of my bathroom with a broom.

"Me too," I muttered, even though something inside of me slightly disagreed.

Yaz put her hands on her hips and peered around my room. "We're gonna hook this room up. This can be our base."

"I thought Khan's room was," I said, looking around.

"His room is smaller and crowded with shit," Yaz said.

"Sorry for always being prepared, milady," Khan said, bowing and Yaz nudged him with her arm.

"And your room is in the best location," Yaz said.

"It is sort of in the middle of everything," Sebastian said. "And it's bigger than all the bedrooms I've seen so far."

"Layla's was kind of big too," Yaz said, fixing her glasses. "Like my room is smaller than Khan's."

"Mine is a bit bigger than Khan's," Rucker said, looking at me. "But yours is way bigger than mine. Yours is like the nice hotel suite I used to smash chicks in sometimes."

"You be clapping cheeks at the motel 6?" Yaz shook her head. "Heard they got bedbugs."

"Actually, the four seasons," Rucker said, looking at her.

"You wish," Yaz said, snorting.

"Do you think our rooms are based on our sponsor?" Khan asked, tapping his chin. "Like they paid for the type of room they wanted us to have?"

I never noticed how big my room was. I just figured it looked big because it had nothing in it, but it was abnormally big compared to Khan's and Layla's. Did that mean my sponsor was rich? I didn't know anyone that was rich.

"It's possible," I said, biting my lip.

Khan started moving around the newly clean bedroom. "This would make a more adequate base," Khan said, peering around. His eyes darkened to a burnt caramel, swirling with possibilities. "So much room. I could put like six computers over there and one there...."

Rucker slapped Khan on the back, bringing him out of his daze. "We'll work on that tomorrow! Today is fun day."

"Fun day?" Yaz and I asked in unison.

"That whole Layla thing was draining for everyone and I think we need to do something fun before everything gets hectic again," Rucker said and then grinned. "We should do a BBP party,"

"That sounds sexual," Yaz said. "I like ya'll and all but I'm not into that group thing. I'm down for two partners at a time max."

Rucker and I burst out laughing and Khan cracked a smile and Sebastian shook his head.

"Good to know that a threesome is your limit," Rucker said like that knowledge really interested him. "But a BBP part is a BBQ, Bikinis and Pool Party. I say we block off the pool and stay there for the night and party."

"The pool room locks?" Khan asked.

Rucker smiled. "I'll make it lock. I think we should have some fun and get to know each other a little better. Teams that trust each other survive longer, right?"

"I'm guessing you learned that little tidbit from being a gang leader?" Yaz asked, eyeing him.

"Yup, getting to know your soldiers make them trust you more." Rucker shrugged. "And I just want to party."

"Eh, I'm down," Yaz said.

"Me too," I said, looking around. I needed a break. This whole Layla thing had me so emotionally drained and tense. Cleaning up after her made it feel really... final. It felt even worse when I saw guards cleaning out her room.

We now had two empty rooms. Layla and Tiran were gone. Our numbers were slowly dwindling, and the game was getting harder. We might as well have fun when we could.

My gut told me that the next challenge was going to be hard as shit. Mostly because of what Sebastian, Khan, and Rucker did. They basically got one over on the creators, so that we could keep our pinkies, and I didn't think the creators liked that very much. They were definitely going to make us suffer in some way.

Khan tilted his head. "I could use some relaxation time."

"Yeah, a break would be nice," Sebastian said, scratching at his bruised arm.

"I'll make the food and handle the decorations," Rucker said, looking around at all of us. "I'm going with a secrets and mayhem theme." He looked at Khan. "You want to handle drinks?"

"I can do that," Khan said, nodding. "I used to bartend."

"Can you handle the music, fluff ball?" Rucker asked Sebastian.

Sebastian crossed his arms. "Sure, peon."

"I'm guessing me and Yaz will cover the bikinis," I said, looking at Rucker.

Rucker grinned. "Yup, you girls don't have to do anything else."

Yaz eyed the boys. "I don't know. I kinda want to see what you boys look like in bikinis."

Khan chuckled. "I do have good bone structure."

"My legs are amazing," Sebastian said with a laugh.

"My ass is on point," Rucker said, peeking behind himself.

We all laughed together for a few minutes, which made us feel like a real, cohesive team for a moment.

"It's ten-thirty now," Khan said, looking down at his iPad. "It'll take about an hour to request things and get everything ready. Should we start the party around midnight?"

"Yeah, the three of us will stick together and you two stay together," Rucker said, pointing to Yaz and me. "We need to stay alert. We're the biggest team here and I feel like Gmie's got something up her sleeve."

"You saw that too?" I asked him. "She's planning something."

"We'll worry about that later," Rucker said, rubbing his hands together. "Now, let's go, red assassins."

"We are not the red assassins," Yaz said, shaking her head.

"Fine, I'll think of another group name," Rucker said, pouting.

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