I opened my eyes to see a bright light coming from a window. It took a few minutes, but I finally got my eyes to adjust. I was laying in one of the bedrooms. I couldn’t tell if it was mine or not since they all seemed to look alike. I glanced over to see the two guys from the road that had caught me. Nick was staring out the window while John looked to be asleep. I attempted to sit up but as I moved my legs, I let out a small cry of pain, which woke up John and looked to have startled Nick.

“Don’t try and move.” Nick said calmly as he stood up and got closer.

“The cell did quite some damage to you. That is the point of it though.” John said as he yawned.

“How long….” I seemed to mumble not sure what to else to say.

“About a week and a half. You’re lucky to still be alive. Mr. Jones wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk keeping you, but Nick and I persuaded him to let us watch over you, since one of us will be your Match in the end.” John gloated.

“Where is…”

“Mr. Jones returned her back to her owner.” John interrupted.

“I see.”

“You should really try and get more rest.” Nick pleaded, “Your legs had gotten completely infected and you won’t be able to walk on them for a little bit. The more you rest, the faster you can recover though.”

“She may need rest, but she should get some food in her.” John looked over at me, “I bet you are starving.” He stood up and walked across the room. I watched as he returned to the bed with a wheel chair. “Help me get her in the chair Nick.” Nick uncovered me and then scooped me up carefully. I tensed up a little but within a few seconds, the small amount of pain I felt went numb. He set me in the chair and John began to push it towards the door. Nick opened it and I noticed we were in a new hallway I hadn’t seen before. John pushed me down the hallway to larger doors that Nick opened for us. We came to the room with the door leading to the road and with the grand staircase. We walked straight and again Nick opened the next large door. We made it to the dining room finally and went inside. John rolled me up to an empty table.

“I’ll grab you a plate of food. Just wait here and don’t try and move.” He and Nick walked up to the counter and began to get food. I looked around to see not many others around. I did notice the Tomas and Brittney eating at one of them. They both seemed serious and didn’t look to be saying a lot to one another, yet I could tell they were a strong match.

“Here you go.” John sat a plate down in front of me. I looked down to see it had some chicken cut up into small bits mixed in rice, strawberries, and green beans. I wasn’t hungry, “Please, eat at least something.” John begged as he took a bite of his rice.

“Hey John! Nick! Haven’t seen you guys in a little bit.” I turned to see a few more people come in. They all seemed to know each other well.

“Yeah, we have been busy.” John laughed.

I watched as they grabbed food and sat down at the same table as us. They all chatted about things I didn’t care about. I looked down at my rice and stirred it around some more. I glanced down at my legs then to finally notice I wasn’t in my school uniform anymore. I was in white sweat pants. I felt weird not being in the uniform. It was all I had ever worn besides our gym uniform. I looked at my arms to see they were fully wrapped up in bandages and I could feel the my legs were wrapped up too. I felt a tear go down my face and hit the sweat pants. I hated to admit defeat, but I was afraid of going back to the cell. I wanted to try and fight back and escape but, I knew they could beat me. The academy taught us how to fight but only the basics. The basics that seemed to be useless compared to anyone outside the academy.

“Cloe?” I felt a hand touch my shoulder which caused me to jump. I glanced over to see John and the others just staring at me, “Are you okay?” I bit my lip. I didn’t know if he was serious or not. He glanced down at my food then, “You haven’t touched anything on your plate either.” He sighed.

“You really shouldn’t let the food go to waste.” A male with silver white hair laughed, “When you start doing missions, you are going to miss having three meals a day.”

“He does have a point for once in his life.” A younger boy with pink hair said and nodded.

“For once? Are you trying to pick a fight with me?” The white hair kid sneered and jumped up from his chair.

“Sit down Spencer. You are the one picking a fight.” The female across from me sighed. Her eyes pure black and long black hair laid on her shoulders. She had a red ribbon around her neck that seemed to stand out from her grey hoody and jeans.

“Rick started it Jenny!” Spencer sat back down and seemed to now be pouting.

“One thing you need to know, is we all get pretty close to one another. We are like one big family.” John laughed. I could feel his hand slide down to my back and quickly rolled back in the chair.

“Please don’t touch me.” I mumbled.

“Well before this gets any more intense, it’s time for us to roll out and go train. We have a mission coming up. Talk to you guys later.” Spencer said as he and the two others stood up and grabbed their plates.

“Yeah, good luck to you guys. We all have had our days.” John replied also standing up with Nick. He grabbed my plate and walked behind the counter with them. I was left sitting alone at the table. I glanced over to see them laughing with one another. It reminded me of school and my friends. I missed them and hoped they were all safe.