Housing eleven young adults in the cramped attic of a bar turned out to be a challenge.

We'd made a collective decision to hunker down in the city for the time being. Kole and Ana had retrieved three more of us, Soren, Zara, and Jack, from the nightclub. This meant three others who were supposed to meet up—five including Jessie and Jade—were missing in action. We all hoped to stick around and try to locate them or any traces of their disappearance.

We routinely left in small groups to scrounge up any supplies we could. More of us had made contact with family members, which I was wary about. If one person let our location slip, we might all be goners. One positive, though: parents were usually eager to donate clothes and food to our cause.

Kyle was now on his feet, though still not himself. His breathing was labored, his movements slow and pained. I could tell it was frustrating him, but it was much better now that he could move around and talk again.

I stood beside him as we interrogated Jason, his cold fingers interlaced with mine. Loud music still pounded through the rickety floorboards, the vibrations of bass shuddering through my bones.

Both of Jason's hands were raised as if in surrender. "I don't know much," he asserted, his eyes flickering restlessly around the room.

He was backed into a corner, the entire group staring expectantly at him. Most faces were marred with anger. His expression was stoic, though the sheen of sweat on his skin and a rapidly rising and falling chest betrayed his true emotion.

"One of the government workers said...they want to begin taking us again," Jason went on. "The species." His gaze shifted to me. There was a strange glint in his eyes. "Apparently, they already are."

There were some anxious murmurs and a couple of gasps, but I was unfazed. It felt like nothing could shock me anymore.

Just as I glanced behind me, Shaun fell to his knees.

Upon our return, we'd told the group what we'd seen: the strange white leaves and abandoned supplies. There was a grim atmosphere in the room since then, fueled by unspoken suspicions about what had happened to our friends—and fear that the same fate might be coming for us.

If what Jason said was true, our worst fears of what had become of Jade and Jessie were confirmed.

"Why?" Kyle whispered through pale, chapped lips. My head snapped back around.

Jason smiled defiantly as he stared Kyle down. "Maybe you should ask them yourself."

I had to bite my lip to hold in laughter; it was hilarious that Jason would only stand up to Kyle when he was incapacitated.

Dorian stepped forward, looming menacingly over him—a silent threat to answer seriously.

Jason rolled his eyes, though there was a flash of nervousness in his gaze. "Who knows. I would guess that their motivations are as alien to us as their species. We know nothing about them, really."

Now I stepped forward, staring scornfully at him. "You know, you talked big talk like you had actual intel to spill. This is it? We could have guessed as much ourselves."

I turned to face the crowd. "I suggest we have a vote right now—on what to do with him." I gestured toward Jason, pointing my thumb over my shoulder. "He's the reason we were captured and our only home was stolen from us. He admitted it. He and Doc were willing to give us all up to save themselves."

Jack spoke up. "What do you propose we do with him?"

"Make him walk the plank!" Soren called out through cupped hands.

"Quiet," Rosalie commanded, prodding him in the back. He burst into raucous laughter.

"I say we get rid of him for good," Dorian growled behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see him cornering a cowering Jason, sneering in his face.

"No..." I trailed off, planting a disarming hand on his shoulder. "I was thinking we'd just drop him off somewhere—"

"We can't just leave him alone..." Kole interrupted, stepping forward. His eyes were pleading, meeting the hard stares throughout the room. He wrung his hands. "What would stop him from turning us in? Tipping off the guards?"

"Nothing. Which is why we should take him out. I'll do it myself," Dorian said with an eager smile, cracking his knuckles.

"That would make us no better than him. He's killed at least twice," I said, the memories flooding vividly into consciousness—a pool of crimson blood and the sharp crack of bone.

"I'll go down kicking and screaming," Jason spoke quietly from behind Dorian's imposing frame. "You try to take me anywhere, and I guarantee the whole damn block will hear."

There was a piercing silence.

"How hard do you have to punch a person to knock them out?" Dorian drawled. "Let's find—"

"No," Kyle said firmly.

Dorian's eyes narrowed. "What, then?"

"A show of hands," Kyle stated. "The right to...well, a fairly biased trial."

"Fine," Dorian said, crossing his muscled arms. "Who thinks we should end him?"

Only Soren and Dorian thrust their hands into the air. Jason stared ahead with a disdainful glare.

I drew in a deep breath and faced the attentive crowd. "All in favor of dumping him in the middle of nowhere? Preferably far outside the city so he can't betray us again, of course," I said.

Half a dozen hands slowly raised. Kyle, Ana, Shaun, Zara, Jack, and me.

"Better hope the aliens get him," Soren muttered.

"And who says we should exercise some forgiveness," Kole said softly, "and let him stay?"

Kole raised a hand. Rosalie followed, nervously biting at her lip.

"Guess it's settled, then," Dorian muttered, sounding disappointed. "Now, how do you intend to get this fool out of here?"

All eyes turned to Jason, whose desperation had seeped to the surface, hands trembling and wide eyes searching for the exit.

____________

The Unknown reached 50k reads on March 28th! absolutely amazing, inconceivable...and many other adjectives!

for making this possible.

I am a nerd...so I made a graph in Excel, in case anyone's curious:

(The story was first published in 2017, so it was under 900 reads for a long time before the graph starts. Basically, it would've been a nearly flat line for over two years before it received any attention. So if you're a fellow writer...you never know what might happen.)

P.S. (shameless self-plug) I put equally as much work and love into my other stories, so you could check them out if they happen to interest you. ;D

P.P.S. I was thinking of adding a small preview to the description, so if any scenes/lines/ paragraphs (in the entire story) stuck out to you, I'd love to know! I might use them.