Andrew sits at a table in what looks like a conference room, maybe his office. The walls are white and the floor's concrete, the table he sits at is white and glossy and the chairs are clear. The room looks clean... fresh.

"You wanted to talk to me, Mr Grey?" I say and he looks up with a bright smile. He is nothing like his son, Andrew is warm and friendly and that's more than I can say for Colton.

"No need for the formalities... call me Andrew, please," he says and I nod. "Please sit and don't worry you're not in trouble, I just wanted to give you your schedule," he explains and I take a seat in the chair opposite him.

"Schedule?" I question and he slides a piece of paper across the table. The table shows the days of the week and the activities I'll be doing on each day. There are two weeks of activities and Andrew tells me that it will rotate. So one week I will do week A then the next week B then week A again and so on.

"I know there is a lot of training but we need you to be prepared for war at any time," Andrew explains. It's not the training I am worried about, it's spending all of that time with Colton - but I can't exactly tell him that his son is one of the worst, if not the worst, people I have ever met.

"War?" I ask and his face turns solemn.

"I shouldn't be telling you this but as you are the lead commander's daughter, I know I can trust you. There has been an uprising in our sector and they are planning to take down the government and anyone in relations to them," Andrew says, his voice low and my chest tightens. Why wouldn't my father tell me this? I know that he thinks I'm irresponsible but this is big.

"Why are they going after the government?" I ask, my curiosity getting the best of me once again.

"Because... they believe they and the system are both corrupt. They think that the power is going to the wrong people and that they should be in charge, not who is now. It's all just talk, there is nothing to worry about," he smiles and I know that he has overshared and that's his way of taking it back.

"Okay well thank you for the um... for the schedule," I say and he smiles and says that he will see me later.

***

I'm walking back to my room until someone grabs my arm and pulls me into yet another dark corridor. My thought process goes out of the window and I start swinging profusely at whoever grabbed me.

"What the hell... get off of me!" I shout into the darkness and I already know who it is.

"Calm down love, I just wanted to ask what my father spoke to you about," Colton says and I decide on messing with him a little. Two can play this game.

"Nothing you need to worry about," I smirk. I can't see him but I already can tell the face he is pulling right now; his eyebrows are drawn together and a frown set on his lips. It's too easy to get a rise out of him... it's like I don't even have to try and he gets annoyed just like that. Or maybe we share the same hatred for each other - we may finally have something in common.

"Why don't you just tell me and I won't get angry," I can already hear the anger in his voice and I scoff.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" I laugh. "Screw you," I push his chest but he doesn't move, he just places both hands on either side of my head. Through the darkness, I can see the emerald green of his eyes, which are both captivating and haunting. His lips press against my neck and inhale sharply. I am so engulfed in his lips against my skin that I don't realise he has taken the dagger from my waistband and is now holding it to my neck.

"How easily distracted you are... now tell me," I feel something warm dripping down my neck and my heart stops when I realise what it is. My breathing is so rapid that I can't even form a coherent sentence.

"In your dreams," I say breathless and he pushes it further. My neck feels like it is on fire and pain radiates through me, making it hard for me to breathe. But I won't give in. I knee him right where it hurts most and he bends over in pain, dropping the dagger.

I pick up the dagger and kick him in the stomach just for good measure. Colton falls back onto the floor and I feel nothing but triumph as I place my foot just under his neck, making sure to push down hard.

"You do that again and I swear to god... I will end you," I whisper the last line and walk away.

***

I hold my hand to my neck and feel the wetness spread across my fingertips. Looking down at my white shirt, I see it's now bloodsoaked at the neck and I have to control my breathing to calm myself down. I can't believe that idiot stabbed me in the neck at the expense of not telling him about the conversation I had with his father.

Even though Colton is his son, I'm yet to find out if he is trustworthy. Giving him the valuable information Andrew just gave me would be a lapse in judgement and would be making decisions out of fear and not logic.

Regret rushes through me when I realise how many chances I had to kill Colton but hesitated. It takes everything in me to not go back and finish what I started.

Opening the door to my bedroom I stumble in and head straight for the bathroom, ignoring Zach who seems to be shouting at me but I can't find the strength to answer him. I can't settle my shaking hands, I can't think straight, I can't do anything but focus on trying to stop the bleeding before I bleed to death on my bathroom floor.

"Who did this to you? It was that guy, wasn't it... I am going to beat the hell out of him," Zach spits and I am torn from my thoughts. The blood is gushing, he must have hit me right on my artery.

"Zach just stop... I need you to help me stop the bleeding," I say breathlessly from the panic and adrenaline coursing through my veins. He rushes over to me and uses a towel to apply pressure to the wound. I hadn't realised how deeply he had punctured my neck, I barely felt it at the time.

"Why did he do this to you?" Zach asks calmly and applies more pressure. My neck seethes with pain and I bite down on my lip to stifle a sob. I should have gone to the medical wing... I shouldn't have come here.

"I wouldn't tell him what his father said to me," I almost laugh but a sharp pain shoots through my neck. Who knew something could be so painful? But I welcome the pain, it makes me feel human again. My vision goes black at the edges and I feel faint for a minute.

"We need to get you medical attention," Zach says and I wave my hand haphazardly. I'll be fine, it's just a small cut... that seems to be bleeding a lot. It's then that I realise the amount of blood covering my hands. What a strange colour blood is... so dark and odd-looking.

Zach is talking to me but everything just seems so muffled. I'm fine, I'm fine. Before I know it Zach has his arms under my legs and my back.

"Zach... I'm fine it's just a little cut," I say and by the amount of blood there is he'd probably say otherwise. There's no need to be so dramatic.

"If you could see what you look like right now you'd be saying something the complete opposite," he laughs to try and lighten the mood but my mind goes foggy. God, I am so weak it's embarrassing.

Zach walks quickly through the corridors and I try to tell him which direction to go in. After some questionable stares and long corridors, we finally make it to the hospital wing and I sigh in relief. I should have just come straight here but no, I thought I could take care of it myself.

As soon as we walk through the doors a nurse rushes up to us.

"Oh heavens, what happened?" she questions.

"I... I accidentally cut myself in the neck whilst training," I lie. I don't know why I am protecting him but I am. This was a result of me trying to get a rise out of Colton but this was also his fault for trying to torture information out of me. Besides, I don't have time for the consequences of reporting Colton.

"Rose th-" I cut Zach off.

"It's fine... thank you," I say and he follows the woman before gently placing me down on a bed.

"I'm gonna go clean up your room... I'll see you in a bit," he pecks the top of my head and leaves the room before I even get the chance to say goodbye.

***

I wake up to machines beeping and it takes me a moment to grab my bearings. A nurse walks into the room and smiles sweetly at me. My head is pounding and my mouth feels dry. Looking down, I realise I am still wearing the same blood-covered clothes and I swallow the bile rising in my throat from how much of it there is.

"Your injury wasn't too severe," the lady explains and I am relieved. "It was more so where the wound was," I had thought so. He punctured the left side of my neck right where my artery was, it was bound to bleed uncontrollably. "Are you sure that's how you got hurt?" she looks at me with what I hate most in the world... pity.

After the look she's giving me there is no chance in hell that I am telling her the truth.

"Yeah," I try my best to smile and she returns a sympathetic one.

"I'm afraid it did need stitches from how deep it was but as long as you change the dressing regularly and keep it sterilised, you shouldn't have any problems," she says and I go to get up but she stops me. "You're not allowed to leave until your supervisor has come," she explains and I furrow my brows.

"What do you mean my 'supervisor'? Who is my supervisor?" I ask, confused.

Just as she begins to open her mouth she is cut off by someone else talking.

"I am... love," and I feel like I am going to be sick.

***

My blood runs cold at the sight of him and I want to cry at the irony of the situation. I glare at him and think about all the ways I could rip that smug look off of his face. Words can't describe the pure hatred I have for this man standing before me.

"I'm not going with him," I cross my arms and look anywhere but at him, anywhere but those green eyes. I don't want to see the sadistic smile that I am sure is spread across his face at seeing me like this.

"Don't be stubborn Rose," I shiver and the nurse looks genuinely concerned for me. I don't blame her, I would be concerned for anyone leaving with someone like him. Come to think of it... I'd probably kick Colton out.

"Please don't make me leave with him," I plead with the lady and she gives me a look as if to say 'what do you expect me to do?' and I want the earth to swallow me whole.

I'm well aware of how desperate I look but I don't care. I am desperate.

"Let's go," Colton yanks me off of the bed by my wrist and as soon as I am upright black dots fill my vision and I feel heavy all of a sudden. I latch onto Colton's arm with my free hand to keep myself up. His hand lets go of my wrist and is now placed firmly on my hip.

"She lost a lot of blood," the nurse tells Colton. It takes me a few seconds to regain complete consciousness but once I am steady again, I push myself out of Colton's hold and walk quickly towards the doors.

I suddenly feel claustrophobic, despite the wide, open space I am in and the air feels stuffy. I need to go outside but I have no clue how to get out of here. After walking aimlessly through a bunch of corridors I finally see a fire exit sign.

"Where do you think you're going?" his voice cuts through the air and I mentally slap myself for not thinking that Colton would be following me. I decide on just ignoring him but that doesn't suit him of course. "I asked you a question," his voice more firm now.

"And I chose not to answer," I sigh and start walking towards the exit. It looks dark outside and I wonder how long I was in the hospital wing.

"You might not want to go wandering into the night whilst you're all drugged up," Colton states and I bite back a scoff. He stabs me and decides that now he wants to be concerned for my welfare.

"I appreciate your concern for me," I mutter sarcastically and open the door. The cold air hits my skin and I inhale the crisp air. My mind immediately feels cleared and my body relaxed.

It's so easy to just forget about the world when you're inside the walls of the facility. It's so easy to just get caught up in everything and forget that there is life outside of the place that I am now supposed to call home. I should be thankful, I suppose, that I could get away from my father and that this place will be more of a home than it ever will be with him.

I can feel Colton's eyes burning into my back and I hear him take a deep breath before responding.

"I think you're blurring the line between concern and common sense," such a smartass, always has to be right. I roll my eyes and continue walking, leaving him standing at the door. I don't care what time it is and I don't care where I am going or the number of drugs in my system.

As long as it is anywhere from here... from him. Then I don't mind.