BLOOD AND BONE | rewritten

6

The next two days were filled with drills instructed by the soldiers. Wishing for this team to succeed where the others had not, the IMC needed them honed for any situation that arose in Bereysk. By the end of the first night, Delphinium returned to her quarters with an aching body.

Despite her exhaustion, she did not allow herself to sleep. Sitting in the corner of her room with the barred window in view, she imagined scenarios in which the others broke into her room and tortured her for their own sick entertainment. After all, she saw what Jake Evans did to Jaxon McEntyre, his supposed friend. Delphinium was nauseous with fear picturing one of his blades of ice piercing her own delicate neck.

The only positive note was that they were worked so hard that there was no room left for further altercations. The others kept mostly to themselves. Even Rainey, Finn, Gigi and Arlo, who had apparently been living there before the rest of them, hardly interacted.

Delphinium made sure to give the others no reason to dwell on her, while simultaneously demonstrating her willingness to gut anyone who posed a threat. Given the several training exercises they partook in all day, her demonstration required no words; every time her blunt throwing knives connected with the dummy's heart, she felt several eyes on her.

At the end of the day, they were forced to give up the weaponry. They were then subject to an involuntary pat-down. Delphinium despised both-the former because it stripped her of the small safety she felt and the latter because she had to play off her flinch every time a soldier laid a guiding hand on her, regardless of whether she expected it or not.

However, her issue of being weaponless was partially solved the second night at their evening mealtime. As the seven of them were being filed from the room-Kane had been suspiciously absent for two days-Delphinium took half a second too long getting up from her seat to let a fallen fork soar inconspicuously into her palm. Shoving it up her sleeve, she made sure none of the soldiers spotted it. They hadn't.

The first thing she did when she was alone was hold it under the light, admiring the way the metal shone as she turned it. Over and over. Then, under the might of her mind, all the tines were forced together to make it one seamless metal spike. It may not have been a blade, but it could rip through tendons and muscle all the same.

The time came for Delphinium to sleep, but her thoughts were frantic and scattered. Pressed against the wall, she riled herself with the eerie feeling she was not alone in the room. But it was sparse enough to ensure no one hid anywhere within. There was nothing but a bare desk, a single block of cabinets, an armchair and a perfectly made bed.

The bed.

Everything in Delphinium locked onto it. The box spring was just large enough for a grown man to fit comfortably inside.

Blood rushed in her ears. Her mouth went dry. What if someone was waiting for her to fall asleep so they could stab her dead? A tremor ricocheted within her ribcage at the thought of sleeping upon a bed hiding another human inside it.

It was too much. Delphinium had to be rid of them. Ripping the comforter and sheets off the mattress, she raised the makeshift blade into an arc. The entire thing was stripped open, sending fluff flying all around her. Clenching her fingers tight around the shiv, Delphinium leaned over the mess she made.

There was no one inside.