Numbers that follows

chapter 6

“It was good, I had a good time I guess?” I was unsure what else to say.

“Good, Good” He replied, “when we talked this afternoon you really didn’t have much knowledge on how a pack works, I was a little concerned that there may be other things you don’t understand.”

“A couple” I admitted, “like the card Arrah used today they swiped it and gave Arrah the clothes.”

“That would be a debit card that has currency on it when a business swipes it to take some of the money off.” Armin explained.

“Okay that makes a lot of things so much clearer about today.” I thought back.

“If you would like I can go over rules and other things with you by yourself so it’s less in the open.” Armin assured.

Armin and I sat for a couple of hours reading through pack laws. He answered every question I had. When it became too late for us to stay up Armin sent me off to bed.

“Get a good night's rest, you may be stronger and faster as well as endure more than a normal wolf but Arrah will drag you all over the world if she has the chance.” Armin warned.

I laughed and headed down the hall back to my room. Once in the room I got in the large bed and began to make myself comfortable. This bed was twice as comfortable as the one Armin brought me. And slowly as I layed there I drifted off to sleep.

I looked around, we all stood around the room, some of us were sitting some standing. 2,3,4 and I sat against a wall. 22 came running over and sat down in my lap.

“I hate it here.” 3 said, shaking his head. We nodded in agreement.

“Arken owns us, he does what he wants.” 4 spat frustrated.

“But we do as we are told or you know.” 2 gestured with her head to me.

“Sometimes you need to be reminded of your place One, I don’t punish you because I want to but because I have to.” I mimicked Arken.

“Don't get caught doing that.” 4 warned

“You can’t get hurt One please, I don't want you to feel bad,” 22 looked up at me.

“It’s okay 22, I can take it, I can take it for all of us.” I said, pushing her hair out of her face. “You just try to do your best.”

“You can’t protect all of us, you know?” 2 looked over at me.

“I can and will.” I said.

5 comes running over, he slides to the ground skidding right in front of us. He lays with his legs sprawled out and props his head with his arm.

“Are you guys ready for the run tomorrow?” 5 says with a grin on his face

All of us collectively moan. Running was the worst.

I woke up to the sun hitting me on the face. I grabbed the blankets and tossed them off. I turned and placed my feet on the floor. I was extremely excited about today. I went into the bathroom. Now that I could shower whenever I wanted I was going to use it. Looking around the bathroom there was a corner shower to the left. I took my clothes off and left them on the floor. I turned the shower on and the room quickly filled with steam. I hopped in and the water slightly burned my skin.

Looking at my arms they turned a light shade of red. I didn’t care, it felt wonderful. I looked at the bottles that Arrah got yesterday. I read the back of each bottle very carefully, I took the one that had shampoo on it and squeezed some into my hand. I rubbed it into my hair and rinsed. Then repeated with the conditioner. I took the body soap and cleaned all the dirt from my skin. Finally finished I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower onto the small carpet.

I grabbed a towel and dried off all the droplets stuck to my skin. Then I started to dry my hair. My hair, still slightly damp. I wrapped my towel around my body and walked to the closet. I looked around in the closet and found a pair of jeans and a light blue t-shirt. After pulling on all the clothes I walked out the closet and picked up everything in the room back the way I found it. Just as I was just about done straightening the bed when I heard a knock on the door.

“Oh good you're up and dressed.” Arrah said when the door opened, “if you are all good up here wanna head down and get some breakfast?”

“All set up here.” I looked around and nodded.

We both walked down to the bottom floor to grab a bite to eat. We went into a room I hadn’t been in yet.

“I think cereal, it’s quick and easy.” Arrah said walking into the room. “We can find everything here.

She walked over to a cabinet in the corner of the room. She pulled out a couple skinny boxes and placed them on the counter. She walked a couple cabinets down and opened it up to find dining ware. She grabbed two bowls and two cups. Then she opened a drawer just underneath and pulled out two spoons. She made her way across the room and opened a door and pulled out a white container.

“Here you grab the bowls, cups and spoons. I’ll get the rest,” Arrah motioned for me to follow her.

I followed her through a door and we ended up in the dining room.it wass the door the lady’s used to bring us our food yesterday. We sat at the table and I copied how Arrah made her bowl. We started eating.

“So before the tournament starts, there are games and all sorts of other attractions to do.” Arrah explained before taking another bite.

“What’s it like?” I curiously asked.

“Well, it's a maze of booths. Each booth has a different game. You give them tickets and you try to win if you win you get a prize.” Arrah explained

“How do we get tickets?” I asked

“We get them at ticket booths throughout the tournament. My dad gave us $150 each to buy tickets.” Arrah answered.

Once we finished we cleaned up the table and put the food back in the Kitchen. We then walked across the hall to the closet Arrah pulled out a bag and handed it to me. She then led me out of the room and down the hall to the door. Waiting outside was Vincent standing next to a car.

“You guys take forever you know that?” Vincent said jokingly.

“We had to eat.” Arrah shot back.

“Just get in, I want to play some games.” Vincent laughed while opening the door.

We got in the car and started on our way, heading to town. Vincent parked the car on the side of the road and we walked the rest of the way. When we got to the entrance I saw Flint with a group of guys. When Flint saw us he and his friends headed our direction.

“You guys, this is One.” Flint gestured to me. “And One this is James and this is Beric.”

James was tall, well built and had reddish blond hair. Beric was slightly smaller but more built and had brown hair.

“We’ve actually met, you knocked me unconscious.” James joked.

“I am so sorry.” I manage to stutter out.

“Don’t be. It’s been a while since we’ve had our butts handed to us.” Beric reassured me.

“You are one hell of a fighter I don’t think we would have got the upper hand if not for the fact” James was cut short as Flint hit him in the stomach.

“Shut up.” Flint looked at him.

“Dude what the hell man.” Arrah yelled at Flint.

“I didn’t want to make One any more uncomfortable than she already is.” Flint replied.

“Well you didn’t have to hit him.” Arrah threw her hands up.

“Anyway let's have fun, come on.” Flint jesters for us all to follow.

Before walking away, Flint's eyes covered over and so did James and Beric. They were mind linking one another. Anyways we headed to the nearest ticket booth and bought a bunch of tickets. We headed to a booth that was close.

“So the goal is to knock down all the milk bottles as much as you can. Prizes depend on the amount you knock down.” Arrah explained walking up to the stand.

“Who’s First?” The Guy behind the counter exclaimed.

Flint walked up and handed the guy 2 tickets and the man gave him 3 balls. Flint picked the first one up and threw it and missed. Arrah snicked, causing Flint to turn and glare at her. She just shrugged her shoulders and smiled. He grabbed the second ball and hit the top bottle off and turned and stuck his tongue out at Arrah. We both laughed. He aimed for the Final ball and missed.

“Great shooting you win this fine keychain with Valley Green Pack printed on it.” The guy at the booth spoke enthusiastically.

Flint grabbed the keychain and stood to the side with his arm crossed almost pouting. James and Beric both missed every shot on their turns. Arrah Hit two and got a small stuffed frog. Vincent passed saying he was just going to help carry our bounty of prizes. So it was my turn. Arrah gave the guy two tickets.

“You got this.” Arrah cheered from the side.

I grabbed the First ball and hit the middle of the three milk bottles on the bottom. It broke the one bottle on impact and knocked down the others. I jumped back hearring the sound of broken glass.

“Sorry” I gasped out.

“We have spares, don't you worry.” He assured “And you win a giant teddy bear.

He handed me the bear and I looked at it. He reminded me of the one I had when I was little. Before.

“Hey, are you good?” Arrah pulled me from my thoughts.

“Yeah” I smiled, “I just remembered something.”

“Okay,” Arrah replied unsure.

We played more games and continued to one up the boys at almost all the booths we visited. When we heard a loud horn sound. It rang for a few seconds and then stopped.

“Come on, let's go get our seats!” Arrah grabbed my hand and drug me Towards the arena.