Fifty Shades of Degree

~June~

The cold floor pressed against June's cheek like a cold brick of ice covered in dirt. Her eyes fluttered open, only to find nothing of similarity. Othe"r bodies were scattered about in the same open room as her, but none of them were ones she knew. Slowly and with great effort, she managed to sit up. Her limbs were stiff. Examining the room, she saw decaying wood along with dirt and cobwebs. However, the room was vast, resembling that of a ballroom. It seemed that she was the first to wake up from the odd slumber all of them had been put under. Her solitude didn't last long, though. Other began to open their eyes and look about with obvious looks of confusing plastered onto their faces. A few had locked eyes wit her; whereas, others avoided it.

What was one to say after waking up in a room with complete strangers? Rather than testing the waters with her new companions, she took the time to count the people within the room. Twenty-eight. Eventually, everyone was awake, some talking and others staying quiet such as herself. A boy, one with slightly darker skin than her, walked over to her and held out his hand to her. It was then that she realized that she was one of the only ones still sitting on the floor. "Need a hand?" he asked. She smiled back at him and let him help her stand up.

He led her over to the others without saying anything more. She immediately jumped into their conversation. Most of it was confused questions flying everywhere without anyone to answer them. At last, one of the older men spoke up, suggesting to make introductions rather than asking useless questions. Others objected. "I'm not giving out my name. That would be stupid."

The older male scratched his head, obviously trying to take the lead of the group. "Then use a nickname if it bothers you so much." That seemed to calm the others to a certain extent. "You can all call me Kit. I plan to be your survival kit for this peculiar situation." He smiled, obviously trying to make the situation sound better than it actually was. It was a nice gesture all the same.

After some hesitation, a younger girl spoke up as well. She managed a smile just as Kit had and tried to make a bit of a joke. "In that case, I'll be Gallows. If we have a hero, we need a villain." No one seemed to find it as funny as it was meant to be. The newly named Gallows frowned. "Oh come on. It was a joke. Laugh a little."

Some others began speaking more freely now. "ROAR. I suppose I'll be Lion then. Fearsome and hairy, right?" the man said, stroking his facial hair. He got a few people to crack a smile.

Finally, the fourth to speak, another guy, got a laugh out of everyone. "I'm not good at nicknames," he said, stroking his chin just as Lion had. "My favorite movie was Superbad, so you guys can call me that." The suggestion of such a silly name was enough to break the ice for everyone else. The tension in the room dispersed.

June, unsure of whether or not she should speak up or not, gathered up what courage she had and piped in. "I was born in the month of June so I'll go by June," she said, forcing a smile at her own lame nickname.

~Degree~

~June~

June, after hearing everyone's names, felt the tension build once more between the group. The silence consumed them all once more. The creeks of the old mansion type building were heard in all directions. The creeks though began to get louder and louder. An unfamiliar and young man, one with raven like hair and a grin from ear to ear stared them all down. "Hello my dears," he said with a smirk. No one gave a response. "Congradulations to all of you! You all have the opportunity to partcipate in a game of mine. How lucky are you to participate in the Devil's amusement?"

"You bastard. I will kill you," Kit said with a growl. "You can't just kidnap people like this!" He started inching slowly toward the staircase and the awful man. His face burned with anger.

"Not so fast. You may want to take the time to hear me out. If you kill me, you'll be forced to remain trapped hear. If you don't comply, you'll die." Kit stopped moving. "You all have a partner that you don't know of. Yet. The teams will take turns voting people off the island. The goal is to be the last ones standing. Then, you will be able to leave and go home. Got it?" he asked, tilting his head to one side, cockyness shining through. "You'll have to fend for yourselves though. There are old rooms that you may cram yourselves in if you wish, but food is something you have to find yourself. You'll recieve your partners in a moment. Try not to sleep too long." Out of his hand flew a canister that spewed out gas. Within moments, everyone had blacked out once again.

It didn't take long for everyone to wake up from their second slumber. The number of people inhaling the gas must have reduced the effect drastically. They all woke up in the same ballroom area again to their dismay. If there was any hope that the past events had been a dream, they were now shattered. June, along with a few others, immediately checked for their assigned partner. After a few moments, the girl named Penny discovered a slip of paper in her jacket pocket with a name and number. However, her reaction was peculiar. Rather than sharing this new information, she said it would be better to keep it a secret.

One by one, everyone checked their pockets, discovering their own partners and numbers. June hesitated at first, afraid to get someone that could possibly do harm rather than good. With shaky hands, she managed to open the flims piece of paper. "Lion. Five," she read to herself quietly. She turned her head to look towards the furry faced man and shuddered when they made eye contact. It wasn't what she had hoped. He was older and more intimidating than her. A small, cute girl like Echo, whose stomach was growling rather loudly, would have been her first choice.

"I'm hungry. Can we go find something to eat?" she asked, looking paler than before. Some others agreed and went with her to search the downstairs area of the old, rotting mansion. Another group went outside to explore their surrounding area.

Lion made it a point to walk past the conflicted June, though. "Let's talk. Get upstairs in five minutes," he whispered as he walked on, following the few remaining that were ascending the stairs. June followed a fair distance behind. The stairs let out groans as Lion, Kit, Gallows, Connor, Degree, Len, and June each ascended up the old stairs. They didn't feel stable or safe. With every creek, June froze, wondering if that would be the moment where the stairs would fall out from under her. When she reached the top, she looked around for Lion who was heading into one of the rooms in the left hallway.

"June, right?" a voice asked behind her. She spun around quickly to come face to face with the boy that had helped her stand up earlier. "I'm Connor. Can we talk about something?" Connor had the worst possible timing. "Hello?" he asked after it was apparent that she had no response.

"Sure, but first, I have to..." she trailed off, looking back at the numerous doorways. Connor raised an eyebrow at her incomplete thought. "I have to go to the bathroom so I'll meet up with you in a few minutes, okay?" She forced a nervous smile.

"Right. I'll be over there," he said while pointing toward the hallway on the right. With that, he walked off, humming a tune. June let out a sigh of relief and rushed over to the room she had seen Lion enter. Everyone had gone off in different directions so she took the golden opportunity to slip in without anyone noticing.

The room was completely empty, devoid of anything but dust and cobwebs. The wallpaper was horribly pealing and faded. Some of the floor boards had been ripped up, leaving many chances for someone to trip and fall into one of the exposed, rusty nails. Lion immediately began speaking, leaving June no room for introduction or opinion. "Listen. If we're going to be a team, there are things we need to discuss. For one, we keep it a secret. Any one can be an enemy. Secondly, we don't hang around each other a lot. And lastly, we aim to win." His points were simple and to the point.

"Wait. We're actually going to try to win? There is a psycho out there and you want to play along?" June asked, thinking about the so called Devil's entrance and explanation of him demented game. "Why would he let us vote people off the island? What if he has something else in my?" Her stomach turned and flipped at the thought.

"Look, kid, we don't have much of a choice. If you know what's best for you, you'll listen to what I say," Lion said, scratching his head before reaching for the door handle. "See you around." Slowly, he opened the door and walked out nonchantly. June stuck her head out and followed after she made sure no one was within sight.

Connor came to mind and, she ran over to the hallway on the right and began to open doors. In the third room she tried, she found Connor talking to another boy, Degree. As soon as she opened the door, both stopped talking completely and starred at me. "Am I interrupting something?"