The Suicide Project (Rebirth Book 1) (35 page)

“Come on, Aidan! We’ve been getting stronger every day. We can do this!”

“No, it’s not time yet. I think we should hold off until we get our second injections. Did you see how high those three were able to jump the other day during training? No….we need to get stronger first, otherwise we won’t stand a chance of making it over the electric barb-wire fence.”

“I can’t wait much longer Aidan…I need to get the fuck out of here. I feel like I’m suffocating in this place. I hate it here!”

“We’re in the middle of the freakin’ desert, Leif! What the hell do you want me to do? I said we’re not strong enough yet. What do you think they’ll do to us if we get caught?”

Having heard enough, I opened my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh as I shook my head in annoyance and continued on my way. Aidan and Leif. I knew they were the two angry guys whom I hadn’t officially met yet. Even though they had been whispering heatedly, I was able to clearly hear their conversation when I concentrated. So I knew that if I could hear them, then the military staff most definitely could too since they had bugged nearly every common room in the barracks. What a couple of boneheads!

The whispering stopped as soon as I rounded the corner and entered the Mess Hall. As I predicted, the scruffy-faced blonde haired guy was sitting at one of the tables with a younger guy who had pale skin, dark brown hair, and a severely pock-marked face. Both of them were glaring at me as I kept my distance and walked along the perimeter of the room.

Sheesh…if looks could kill.
When my eyes involuntarily flicked back in their direction, the younger one whom I presumed was Leif, stood up from his chair with his hands fisted at his sides. Pointing his finger at me, he practically growled, “What the hell are
you
looking at?!”

Taken aback at the level of anger directed at me for no reason, I tried to play it cool even though I was sort of beginning to regret leaving the safety of my room. Raising an eyebrow at him I replied, “Not a damn thing. I have no interest in you at all, so you can just pretend I’m not here and go back to plotting your escape from the barracks.”

The moment the words left my mouth, I bit my lip and internally cursed my impulsive tongue. Leif seemed a little bit on the unstable side, and it definitely wasn’t smart of me to get him worked up even more. Who knew what could make the guy snap.

Breaking eye contact with him, I resumed my walk to the beverage station. Maybe if I ignored them, they’d lose interest in me and go back to planning their escape.
Idiots.
Reaching for a mug, I filled it with hot water from the dispenser and turned to look for some tea bags. Frowning when I didn’t immediately find any tea, I carried my mug with me to the kitchen. Since I was on friendly terms with Amos, I figured he probably wouldn’t mind it if I puttered around in his domain, so long as I didn’t mess anything up.

The first drawer I pulled out happened to be the “junk drawer”, and there was a bunch of miscellaneous stuff in there, like pens, tape, candles, and….zip ties. Staring at the zip ties for a moment, I grabbed a small handful and shoved them into the front pouch of my hoodie. They were the type of zip ties that were long and thick and useful for immobilizing opponents in a pinch.

Continuing my search for tea, I had to open four different cupboards before I found what I was looking for. I dunked two chamomile tea bags into my cup before heading for the doorway leading back to the Mess Hall. The quicker I made it back to my room, the sooner I’d be able to relax.

Unfortunately, I encountered the pock-marked freakazoid pacing back and forth in front of the empty buffet table, and as it so happened, he was blocking my path.
Great.
As soon as he saw me re-emerge, he stopped pacing and approached me. Aidan had also drifted closer and was currently standing off to the side with his arms crossed as he watched the scene unfolding.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Leif.” He warned his comrade.

“Yeah, Leif. Don’t do anything stupid,” I mimicked. Once again, I couldn’t help the smart assed comment from tumbling out.

Leif glared at me again as he ranted, “Who the hell do you think you are? I bet you think you’re pretty damn special, don’t you?”

Shrugging one shoulder, I replied, “Not particularly. We’re all equal here. I just work harder than you to get what I want.” Sensing trouble brewing, I decided to put my mug down before any of its precious contents got spilled. But before I did, I couldn’t resist taking a soothing sip of the delicious tea.

For some reason, my actions seemed to piss Leif off even more. “That’s it! I’m gonna knock you on your ass and teach you a lesson! I hate how everyone around here bows and worships the ground you walk on, like you’re some freakin’ queen of the castle or some shit.”

Starting to lose my temper, I said, “You’ve got quite the mouth on you. Do you speak that way in front of Kyrie?”

“I speak however the hell I want. What are you gonna do about it?” Suddenly rushing forward into my personal space, he grabbed me by the shoulders and shoved me hard.

I stumbled backwards a few steps before I was able to catch my balance. “Knock it off! I don’t want to fight with you.”

He rushed at me again and shoved me with all his strength. Once again I stumbled backwards, and felt my lower back crash into the edge of the buffet table.
Okay…that freakin’ hurt!

“Shut up and fight me, you bitch! What are you, a wuss or something?”

“Of course I’m not… I just don’t wanna hurt you if I don’t have to. It wouldn’t be a fair fight. So consider this your warning. If you keep pushing me, I won’t be held accountable for my actions. Do you really want to get your ass kicked by a girl?”

“You’re the one who’s gonna get your ass kicked!” And with that, the fight began. Leif moved fast, throwing punch after punch with his full strength. Every now and then, he kicked out with one of his legs trying to take me by surprise. But for every punch and kick he made, I managed to block him blow for blow. Fairly soon he started to wear himself out, huffing and puffing from being out of breath. All of his movements were uncoordinated and jerky, and I saw that it was pissing him off even more that I wasn’t fighting back.

Suddenly I felt a yawn coming on, and even though I knew it was bad timing on my part, for the life of me I couldn’t suppress it. Naturally, seeing my yawn launched him into a full blown rage and he let out a yell as he made a desperate grab for me. He got lucky as he wound up fisting a handful of my hair. Tears sprang to the corners of my eyes from pain when he jerked me backwards by my hair.
That’s it! No one messes with the hair!

Before I had the chance to regain my equilibrium, Leif struck out with two consecutive blows to my face with his open palm. I was actually impressed with the speed at which he moved. However, I should’ve known that the sneaky little bastard would fight dirty.

Deciding that enough was enough, I dropped my weight down to a crouch and swept my leg backwards in a low, reverse-roundhouse kick, catching Leif by surprise and causing him to fall hard onto the floor. He lay there stunned for a few seconds before quickly climbing to his feet again. Wasting no time, I leapt forward and sharply brought my knee up to his solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. The moment he bent forward at the waist to catch his breath, I swung my elbow out in a Muay Thai style elbow strike, clocking him in the face and causing a nosebleed. When he staggered back from the blow to his face, I closed my fist and threw a quick jab to his windpipe; not too hard, just hard enough to incapacitate him.

He dropped to his knees like a rock, choking and gasping for breath as blood spewed out of his nose in a steady
stream
.
Oops! Maybe I hit him a little too hard.
Shooting Aidan a look in a silent message not to interfere, I withdrew the zip ties from my hoodie and worked quickly to hogtie Leif. When I was satisfied that he was completely secured, I turned a wary eye on Aidan. He was taller, beefier, and older than Leif, but I felt confident enough in my abilities to be able to take him on too.

He stood there frowning down at Leif, but one side of his mouth was quirked up at the corner as if in perverse fascination of the entire scene. When he finally looked up and noticed me giving him the evil eye, I demanded, “What about you? You want a piece of me too?”

His expression changed as he met my gaze directly. I had a hard time trying to figure out what he was thinking. Sighing wearily, he rubbed the back of his neck for a moment before replying. “Nope. I told that dumbass not to do anything stupid. He didn’t listen. So…..yeah. I’m going to bed.”

Still glaring at him, I said, “Smart man. Now run along.” I was using my no-nonsense voice and Aidan just stared at me for a few more seconds before turning and walking away. I caught the ghost of a smile on his face though before he disappeared around the corner. What he found so amusing, I could only guess. I just beat the shit out of his friend. What was so funny about that?

I turned my attention back to Leif. The position I had him in was undoubtedly painful, and he was simultaneously gasping and whimpering while blood dripped from his nose onto the floor. Bending at the knees, I leaned down until my face was within his line of sight. Without remorse, I sneered, “Who’s the bitch
now
?” Yes, it was extremely bitchy and immature of me to rub it in, but at this point I no longer cared.

Straightening up, I tilted my head in the direction of one of the surveillance cameras, curious as to why none of the military staff interfered. Speaking directly to the camera like I had in the past, I jerked my thumb in Leif’s direction and explained, “He started it.”

Bending down, I hooked my arm beneath one of Leif’s armpits and started dragging him in the direction of the front doors. It was slow work since the front doors were kind of far away, but I kept at it. I was disgusted by his sniveling but needed to move him out of the Mess Hall, or risk waking everyone up. He was making a lot of noise in the otherwise silent building, and the last thing I needed was an audience. As it was, a little kernel of guilt was starting to grow in my subconscious. He was just a punk-ass kid after all. I was older and wiser, and shouldn’t have let him goad me into stooping down to his level. I should’ve known better.

Finally we made it to the double doors, and I grabbed a chair to prop one of them open. Grabbing hold of Leif again, I resumed dragging him out the door. Panic started to set in as I wondered where the heck I was going to put him.

Then from out of the darkness came a voice. “What are you doing, Teagan?” Startled, I dropped Leif’s arm and pivoted to my right to see who spoke. I relaxed a little bit when I recognized Sergeants Flynn and Honda.

“Ummm… I’m taking out the garbage.”

Sergeant Flynn rubbed his lower jaw with his hand as a strangled cough emerged. Or it could’ve been a laugh, I just couldn’t tell.

“Go to bed, Teagan.” Sergeant Honda gave the order, but his voice sounded weird. So far they hadn’t said I was in any trouble, and I definitely didn’t want to push my luck, so I decided to follow orders and not question anything.

“Yes, Sir.” Pivoting on my heel, I re-entered the Mess Hall and walked quickly back to where I left my tea. Picking up my mug, I let out a sigh of disappointment.
Dammit! It got cold!
I darted in to the kitchen where I stuck it in the microwave to reheat for a minute. While it was reheating, I grabbed a pair of rubber gloves from beneath the sink along with some antibacterial alcohol wipes. I ran back out to the spot where Leif dribbled blood onto the floor, and I worked quickly to erase all evidence of our fight.

I finished with my speed-clean just as the microwave beeped. Flinging the soiled gloves in the garbage, I took my mug out of the microwave and hastily made my way back towards my room. As evidenced from the faint glow of Kyrie’s night light, everything in the room was just as I’d left it. Exhaling on a relieved sigh, I eased myself down onto the floor to sit cross-legged next to Mercer. I softly scratched the top of his head while I drank my tea and let my thoughts drift back to my fight with Leif.

Not surprisingly, I felt even more wound up than I did before leaving my room.
Crap.
Breathing deep, I exhaled again as I rolled my shoulders back and did some simple stretching exercises to loosen my muscles. My face no longer stung from the double-slap Leif delivered earlier, and in fact my body felt great. No aches or pains whatsoever.

When I finished stretching and felt relaxed enough to make an attempt to fall asleep, I put my empty mug on my dresser and stood to remove my green hoodie. Snuggling beneath the covers of my duvet, I pulled it up to my chin and tried to ignore the still-present stench of my chlorine scented hair. Thankfully, I was able to drift into a blissful, dream-free sleep.

The next morning, I actually felt apprehensive to leave my room. I wasn’t sure how much trouble I was in for beating up Leif. The previous night’s episode almost felt like a bad dream, however I couldn’t deny the reality of my actions.
Bad Teagan!

Once again, Kyrie and I were the first to enter the Mess Hall for breakfast. After first taking care of Mercer’s needs, I idly scratched at my rumbling tummy as the wonderful smells of breakfast drifted my way. Grabbing a plate, I wandered over to the buffet table and reluctantly made eye contact with Amos as I started loading scrambled eggs onto my plate. I’m sure my eyes conveyed the load of guilt and misery I was feeling at having assaulted a fellow program participant. (Regardless of how despicable he was.) My parents had taught me better than that.

Since Kyrie was at the opposite end of the buffet, I whispered for Amos’ ears only, “So….seriously. How much trouble am I in? And don’t try to pretend that you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

It startled me when Amos threw back his head with amusement, his deep booming laughter echoing off the walls of the Mess Hall. I could feel my eyes bugging out of their sockets as I glanced furtively around the empty Mess Hall. “
Geez
Amos!!! Can’t you turn down the volume just a little?” I shot a nervous look at Kyrie who was peering over at us curiously with a half-smile on her face.