Chapter 54 Cassandra's Game

Chapter 54 Cassandra's Game

The fourth game was trust.

Kara sat in the chair. Her arm was healing. Her head was clear. Her hands were steady.

Derek sat across from her. His face was bruised. His eyes were hollow. But he was there. He was still there.

Cassandra stood between them. The investors were on the balcony. The lights were bright.

"You will be given a weapon," Cassandra said. "One of you will hold it. The other will be the target. You will decide who lives and who dies."

She placed a knife on the table between them. Small. Sharp. The kind of knife that could end a life with one move.

Kara looked at Derek. He looked at her.

"You have thirty seconds," Cassandra said.

Kara picked up the knife.

Derek didn't move. His eyes were on her. His hands were in his lap. His face was still.

Kara looked at the knife. At the blade. At the weight of it in her hand.

She thought about the collection facility. About the day she escaped. About the guard who'd let her go. Who'd looked at her with eyes that weren't dead. Who'd said, "Run."

She thought about Derek. About the way he'd looked at her in the motel, when she'd told him about Adrian, about the network, about the possibility of something different.

You think they can win? he'd asked.

I think they can try, she'd said.

She set the knife down.

Cassandra's face didn't change. "You have to choose."

"No," Kara said. "I don't."

She stood. Her hands were shaking. Her chest was tight. But her voice was steady.

"You want to see something entertaining? You want to see what people become when you put them in a room with a knife and tell them to kill each other?"

She looked at the balcony. At the investors. At the people who'd been watching for three hundred years.

"This is what we become. We refuse. We choose each other. We choose to be human."

The room was silent. The investors leaned forward. Cassandra's face was unreadable.

Then Derek stood. He picked up the knife.

Kara turned to him. His face was calm. His hands were steady.

He looked at Cassandra. At the balcony. At the lights.

"You want to see something entertaining?" he said. "Watch this."

He threw the knife at the screen behind him. The glass shattered. The lights flickered. The investors shouted.

In the chaos, Patricia moved. She'd been waiting. She'd always been waiting.

She grabbed Kara's arm. Pulled her toward the door. Derek was behind them. The other players were running too. The guards were shouting. The investors were screaming.

They ran.