The Hotel
Chapter 4
Just like that, Kaito found himself hauled off to a nearby hotel serving as a refuge. Its main entrance had been barricaded with an ambulance — coincidence, or something worse? He couldn't tell. Blood covered most of the first floor, enough on its own to make it clear something gruesome had happened here, and nobody offered an explanation. Kaito filed it away without a word — not the kind of detail you forget to ask about later, when there's less blood in the room and more time to think.
They rode the elevator straight to the fifth floor. He was told not to say a single word.
"Chase, who's this guy, and why isn't he wearing anything?" one of the refugees asked. Her name was Cinna — the chef's daughter, in town on holiday when the world fell apart.
Kind by nature, she took Kaito's hand and asked if they'd hurt him. Surprised, he glanced at Chase and Troy, but said nothing — he could feel Lana's glare burning into his back — and just smiled awkwardly to signal everything was fine.
Stunned by his silence, she smiled anyway. Lana cut through the awkward moment by asking Cinna to help get Chloe checked out medically and cleaned up.
"Don't mind him," Lana added, as she and the others left. "Let the boys deal with him."
Kaito was taken to one of the rooms — stripped completely bare, nothing left but paint on the walls, like it had been set up as a holding cell. For how long, he had no idea.
Despite being treated like a criminal, Kaito wasn't fazed. It wasn't that he refused to give them what they wanted — he simply didn't care, not even a little. In his head he was already turning over what would come next, how long they'd keep playing this game, when none of them even knew the rules yet.
Unfortunately his body couldn't keep pace with his mind. Somewhere between the cracked ribs he probably had and the blood loss from his cheek, the room tilted, and he was out before he hit the floor.
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