12 Six Little Puppets

"What did they do to you?" I whispered at him as we locked gazes. Broken gazes of uncertainty.

I lifted my hand a little to touch his scarred face but then withdrew it. Instead I turned back to stare at Ethan, "What was he doing outside? Why didn't you let him in?"

Ethan smirked, "We don't like to be friends with traitors," he nudged Kai, "Isn't that right boys?"

"You're a bunch of jerks who think you're so entitled," I pointed at Ethan, stepping closer so that we were eye to eye. I was a little shorter, so maybe not exactly eye to eye. Maybe eye to nose.

"The only reason you all are here in a good place is because of my brother. Cross me, and you cross my brother and you are all back on the streets! Do you understand?"

He put a hand on his heart and shook his head, no less sarcastic than before, "Oh my, Ashe? I'm afraid you're wrong? Last I checked, it was the government who wanted us safe...all you Systema Games freaks know is how to spoil lives. I'd be surprised if they saved even a chicken crossing a road."

I paused and gulped. I was out of words. I never argued with people, I only gave in all the time. This outburst surprised me too and after what Ethan had just said about the company, I wanted to lash out at him. But I couldn't. Suddenly, a lock fell over me.

It was my hedgehog mind again. "Hey Ashe, what are you doing? You'd never win against a boy like Ethan, just give up already," it poked into my mind.

Kai leaned forward, "Nothing to say, Ashe?" He waited for a while, expecting me to answer Ethan. When I didn't he just shook his head disappointedly and walked inside the house.

"Just let them in, Ethan. We should pity helpless people," Kai said, glancing at my defeated face once before going back in. Romeo followed him in, "Hey Kai, are we watching that horror movie today?"

Outside, Ethan chuckled and shook his head, "Two losers." He walked past me, towards Adrien and lifted up his chin, "I can't believe there was a time I called you brother," Ethan admitted then whispered into his ear, "I never got to punch you back."

He leaned back and his fist collided with Adrien's already broken face. Adrien got thrown to one side and fell on the floor. He groped for a pillar for support, groaning.

I gasped and looked at Ethan walk back into the house, he smiled at me next. "If you don't watch your mouth, you're next."

Their programming, I realized. It's their programming that was making them this way. They were programmed to live like wolf packs. Alpha, beta and finally the traitor ends up being an Omega, poked on by the higher wolves.

I couldn't kill them if it was like this. I needed to change their programming...but how?

Adrien groaned louder and knelt down and helped him up, "What did they do to you?"

He shook his head and limped back in, holding my shoulder as a support. His hands clutched my shoulder tightly, its heat travelling through my shirt and burning my skin.

Back inside, the other boys selected a movie from the racks of CDs and put it in the player and made themselves comfortable on the huge couch. There was popcorn and other snacks...it was like they were in a hotel.

I looked up at the rooms of the second floor as I lead Adrien into the washroom where I could help patch him up.

Four rooms on top and one more door leading to the roof. And three rooms on the ground floor. Exactly seven rooms. Like this mansion knew all along that we would be its residents.

I closed the commode seat so that he could sit on it while I searched desperately for bandages and other nit-bits.

He clutched his arm in pain and looked up at me. "Why are you helping me?"

I acted like I didn't hear and ignored him, bending down to open the cupboard under the sink to search for scissors.

"I almost let you die...you should do the same," he told me. His voice had a strange lisp to it. I grabbed the scissors from the corner and stood back up straight again and knelt down to study his face.

His lips were swollen and his eyes and cheeks were smeared in dirt. His face had lost color from the last time I had seen him. "You spent the entire night in the rain?" I took a cloth and wetted it a bit, cleaning his arms in soft clean strokes.

He nodded. "They didn't let me in."

I took out a bit of the antiseptic solution and applied it using cotton. He flinched and let out a pained hiss, turning his head away. "Easy there," I said, trying to calm him down.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes. Me in full concentration to not even leave one spot untouched and him trying not to cry.

Cute.

After I was done, I stood and washed my hands. He looked up at me, "You didn't answer my question."

A lady from the horror movie screamed from the living room and I heard one of the boys scream too. Was it the shorter one? What was his name...Luca? He was of Indian origin, that I remembered. In the movie, Breakfire was an international game.

I sighed and smiled at him. "But you tried to protect me, even when the others didn't. You broke off your friendship with them so that you could protect me and for what's right. How can I let a person like that bleed?"

I made that up. I totally made that up. Everyone here knows the real reason I'm doing this is because I like him. I wanted to face-palm myself.

Further, I almost asked him to be friends again with the other five boys, but when I remembered what I came here for, I didn't. I needed them to kill each other, right? What good will it do if they became friends?

I helped him stand up but he shook me off lightly, "It's okay, I can walk on my own."

I retreated back to my shell and walked out of the washroom, Adrien behind me.

Popcorn fell on the floor as Romeo gaped at us two coming out of the same washroom. His eyes went wide and were looking at us up and down, "What...what were you guys.."

"Oh no," I muttered under my breath.

"What were you guys doing in there?!" he yelled. And perfect, it caught the attention of the other four boys and they turned around from the couch to look at us.

I knew living in a house with six boys would be hard...but I didn't imagine it would be horrible. "I was just, helping him out..." I whispered, walking back to my scared self.

Ethan laughed from the couch, "Guess I'll take the two rooms on the ground floor then! Those two will need only one!" The rest snickered with him.

My face went red in embarrassment and I adjusted my satchel around my shoulder before lowering my head and walking out of the scene, into the hallways and into my new room in the strange house.

I locked the door shut and slid down to sit on the floor, tears already scattering on my face.

"Why are you making me do this, Darren?" I asked particularly no one. I felt like a caveman. No connection to the outside world, no happiness and on the verge of death.

Rumi's face came into my mind. What if I couldn't see her after this? It was too painful to think about. Everything was painful.

I didn't leave the room the whole afternoon and nobody called me to eat lunch. Not even Adrien. I sighed, so this was one-sided love. That was clear. Then why was I wasting my time thinking whether to add him on my kill list or not?

This wasn't home. This was hell. I wanted mom. I wanted to go back to my normal life.

By the time it was night, the house had quietened down and it started raining. Slowly at first and then incessantly building up, showering down over the whole estate.

I unlocked the door, the golden invitation card in my hand. I had stuffed the shoe box into my suitcase, it had no use in my house anyway. Stuffing the golden card in my pocket, I walked up the stairs, using only moonlight as my guide.

Everyone was asleep.

I halted and gasped as thunder rumbled and clutched the bannister. I swear my knuckles had gone white in fear. Then slowly, I started up the stairs again, one step at a time and soon reached a room in which one of the boys were sleeping.

Swiftly, I turned the knob and the door slightly creaked open to reveal a bed with a boy laying on it. I tip-toed next to him, making sure to close the door behind me.

And I saw his moonlit face. It was Kai. He looked so serene...so innocent. He licked his lips in his sleep and cuddled closer into the blanket.

I leaned over and reached for the back of his neck, right where his hair ended and felt for a clasp. Before Kai could feel my touch and opened his eyes, I flipped the almost invisible clasp and a chip got ejected from his neck.

I pulled it out and studied it in astonishment.

They were programs after all. I glanced at Kai now. Without the main chip, he was just a still body. A lifeless robot. Even Adrien was the same.

By the next day morning, I was sure, these boys will not be the boys as you know them now. Because by dawn, I will have changed all their programming according to my wishes.