~~ I slowly walk through the empty halls of the school, careful to make my steps light and silent. No one is supposed to be here after the school closes, but I am determined to find out what's really going on in this school. I hear the door at the end of the hall creak open and I duck into the bathroom, run into the last stall, and click the lock. I know that I need to calm down, my heartbeat is racing and I'm breathing hard. I search my head for a plan, but nothing comes. I just close the lid of the toilet, sit down, and pull my knees to my chest. Tears sting the corners of my eyes, I wipe my eyes and force myself to stay calm. A few minutes pass as I sit in that cold, lonely stall, but I finally walk to the door and pause. I slowly lean forward and put my ear to the door, then get down and peak under the door... nothing. Everything is silent. I let out a slow, steady sigh and slip out of the door.
I peak around the corner, the hall is so empty. This can't even be called a school, there are no posters on the walls, no desks in the classroom, not even a teacher's desk. We all stand or sit in a room together and the teachers abuse us. The weird thing is, we don't get taught, the teacher's only test our strengths or how much pain we can endure. It's like a sick form of training, the only teacher that I have that does this to me is Mr. Henninger. He's the last teacher that I get to see before they release us. The teachers tend to choose the toughest looking kids, testing them, abusing them, the kids have no choice but to take it or sometimes fight back. Me and the other students in the room act weak and just watch in fear, cower against the walls. Mr. Henninger saw through my pathetic little disguise and decided to choose me as his test dummy. When we do get to leave the school, we don't have any homes, I go and sleep under a bridge, no one has ever found me there. But I have to go back to the school the next day, it's the only place that feeds me. No matter where I go, no one cares about me and the weirdest thing is that no one gets anything until they're eighteen. I once saw this girl die out on the street because every single one of her teachers abused her on a daily basis, she didn't want to go back, she was only fifteen, so no one would give her any food. The students at the school are all between thirteen through seventeen and we all share something in common. Not a single one of us can remember anything from when we were younger than thirteen, no memories at all. Another crazy thing about this school is that no one has ever seen the gym, no one goes in or out. I've been here for a solid year, I'm fourteen, or I think so... everyone that goes here is told that they are thirteen when they arrive. So, I must be fourteen if a year has already gone by... right? Oh, there is one more thing... it's something that only I have noticed. We have numbers on the backs of our necks, like codes. I saw a girl walking down the hall with numbers and letters tattooed across her neck and a teacher immediately saw her neck and cut her ponytail holder, so that her hair fell down over it. At first I thought he was just being an ass, but it's true... we all have our hair down and for good measure, they make us wear ribbons around our necks. When a kid cut their ribbon, I caught a glimpse of their neck and sure enough, a code. So far, I've seen about twelve kids with codes and the way the teachers guard them, I'm sure we all have codes. When someone asked about the ribbons, the teacher said it was like a uniform, for school spirit. Most students here have learned to stop asking questions. But I'm the only one, except for the teachers, that knows about the numbers and it makes me extremely curious.
I hold my breath and sprint to the end of the hall to the door that leads into the main hallway and slowly sneak out. I'm heading to the gym, curiosity has gotten the better of me, I wish I hadn't done this. I slip to the floor and lean my head against the brick wall, why the hell did I do this? I take a deep breath and slowly let it out, then run to the gym door. The small windows on the doors are painted black and there is a padlock on the door. I pull at the lock and it doesn't even budge, I slam my fist into the wall, "Damn it." I whisper. I think of another way to get in, my mind wanders to my own code, of course I've never seen it. There are no mirrors and I wouldn't ask someone else to tell me it, I worry that a teacher would find out. Suddenly, the sound of light footsteps fills my ears, making my feet freeze and my heart race. I can't find the will to move, I'm screwed. Please... MOVE! I scream in my head and clench my teeth.
I close my eyes and pull a blade from my pocket, shoving it deep into the side of my leg. A rush of electricity flows through me, my body moves on it's own, and I slip into a janitor's closet. I collapse into a shelve, sending towels and bottles falling around me, I throw my hand over my mouth and suppress a scream. Tears stream down my face and I lay back against the cool metal, holding my leg in pain, eyes shut tight. My leg burns with agonizing pain, and I can't see clearly from the tears in my eyes. I grab a towel that fell beside me and tear off a strip of cloth, use the blade to cut my jeans into shorts, and tie the cloth around my bleeding leg. A shadow passes under the door and my heart stops, I quietly get to my feet and grip the bloody blade tightly. ~~


I keep my eyes down, as Mr. Henninger scans the room, about to call someone up to the front of the room. I see people fidgeting out of the corner of my eye and a girl sitting next to me takes slow, shallow breaths. I slightly look over at her. I've seen her before, maybe somewhere in the halls during passing period. She has long, wavy brown hair that drapes over face and she is a little on the big side. Someone coughs on the other side of the room, she jumps, and I immediately fix my eyes on the ground. A crack runs through one of the tiles in front of me, another is chipped, and anothers surface is scratched. The girl next to me holds her breath and Mr. Henninger's black boots are in front of me. I keep my head down, not even daring to look up, the girl next to me still refuses to breathe. Mr. Henninger's boots shift and he crouches down in front of me, I can feel his face only a few inches away from mine. He lifts his hand to my chin and pulls my face up to his, we stare eye to eye and I notice that I'm not breathing either. I stare into his eyes, they're intense and a scar runs across his cheek. I slowly take a shallow breath and he drops his hand from my chin, I keep staring into his eyes. He gives me a small grin and pushes my shoulder against the wall, I close my eyes and pray for a miracle. And then the bell rings, everyone runs out of the door and when everyone has gone, he stands and walks to his desk. I slowly stand up and walk towards the door, "Caitlin..." I hear his venomous voice whisper. I freeze and slightly turn my face, letting him know that I'm listening. I hear his chair creak as he sits down, people rushing out of the school, and I wonder if I should just leave. I take a step behind me and turn to face him, in a split second, he's face to face with me. I can literally feel his breath, his heartbeat ringing in my ears. That grin appears again and then slowly fades. "Get out," he growls with a stern voice as his grin disappears. I turn and walk out the door, down the hall, and out the front door into the rain outside.
"Caitlin!" hearing someone scream catches me off guard and I trip. I try to step forward but the ground is slippery and the ground rushes up to meet my eyes. I throw my hands out in front of my face, but all of a sudden, I'm being held in someones arms. I open my eyes and see electric blue eyes. It's a boy with short blonde hair and I hear him let out a small, friendly laugh. "Uhm... you alright?" he asks. I nod and he let's me down. "I'm Seth," he says and smiles at me, his smile is warm and welcoming, I feel the ground slightly shake, but I figure it's just my nerves messing with me. I smile back, "I'm --" Suddenly, he throws his hand over my mouth and pushes me against the wall, I hear a girl scream and the ground under me shakes violently, I know it's real this time. Seth presses his body closer to me, blocking my view, and I hold my breath. The shaking stops and everything goes silent, all I can hear is my pounding heartbeat and Seth's breathing. He pulls me away from the wall, "I'm sorry..." he says and brushes my hair from my face. I start breathing the second he touches my face. "What the hell happened?" I say. Seth gives me a questioning look, "That was the Baron." I tilt my head slightly, "What?" Seth takes my hand and leads me around the side of the school, I notice that this is where the girl's screams came from. We turn the corner and a foul smell fills my lungs, the football field is scorched and blood is soaked into the sand of the volleyball court. A girl's body lies motionless on the ground and a few others are scattered across the ground, I turn and run back to the brick wall and cough. I fall to the ground, coughing and gagging, until I feel Seth's hand on my shoulder. "It's alright, I guess you never heard of the Baron's legend..." he whispers to me and I shake my head no. I turn and sit against the wall, my head feels light and my legs are weak. Seth helps me up and takes me to a bench near the front door of the school, letting me lay down and put my head on his lap. "Thank you, Seth. I just met you and you're being so kind." Seth grins and gives a small laugh, "Yeah, it's kind of funny, I feel so protective over you." I look up at him and he stares off in the distance, "Tell me about the Baron."
He looks down at me and smiles, "Alright... A long time ago, there were these guys that decided to inject chemicals into animals, like sheep, dogs, birds, and cats. Most of them died and when the guys were about to give up, they decided to try it out on a wolf that they saw in the woods. They figured one last shot wouldn't be any trouble and plus, this one was different. They found this full grown, white wolf, that actually turned out to be a rare breed." Seth played with my long, blonde hair and brushed it out of my face. "The wolf didn't die like the other animals, but it started to mutate, it's claws grew larger and it's body grew faster. The guys were excited and they started getting seriously comfortable around this... thing. They treated it like a pet, let it sleep in an old warehouse with them and tried to gain it's trust. One night, the wolf attacked them in their sleep and they all died except a guy named Jack Brookes. Jack got a knife and stabbed the wolf to death. Something very odd started happening, the wolf's blood had splattered onto Jack's skin and it began to seep into his arms and face. Jack started mutating, he started growing taller than everyone else, his fingernails sharpened and grew into claws, and his teeth pointed into fangs. His instincts changed and he started killing his family and friends. The government took him in and secured him, taught him to kill only who they felt deserved to die. They were amazed and stricken with power, they had their own personal super-weapon. Jack Brookes was all they had ever wanted, what they were always searching for, it drove them mad. So... now, the government picks ten random people from ages thirteen to eighteen to be killed by the Baron. To keep the population in line and to let us know that they are in charge and only them." A chill runs down my spine as I imagine the Baron, huge, beastly, and extremely deadly. "Seth... how old are you?" I whisper, remembering how he pushed me against the wall. "I'm seventeen..."