Blindfold

Chapter 10

I woke up in a dark room with bright yellow, blue and purple neon lights. I tried to speak, only to find that I was gagged and strapped to a chair. Wyatt was right next to me, along with many others. Unfortunately, I couldn't see them.

The neon lights were turned on even brighter, blinding my sight. After my eyes adjusted, I saw a tall, thin Chinese man in a black suit and red tie. Two ninjas stood by his side. He frowned at me and snapped his fingers. One of the ninjas did a double front flip towards me and ungagged me.

"Aw jou also from NUG?" the man asked menacingly with a heavy accent.

I think he meant, "Are you also from NUG?"

"Y-yes," I replied timidly.

"I see," he said in a disgusted tone.

"Who are-" I began tentatively.

"Silence!" he yelled, then snapped his fingers again.

The other ninja somersaulted to me and back flipped over me to my right side, cutting my cheek with his deadly looking blade. I winced from the pain, feeling blood trickle its way down my chin.

I looked around the room. Here, I saw my beloved NUG mates. All of them. The room was huge, able to contain all 2,000 of us. Oh, and plus the instructors. Wyatt was among them now with a bandage wrapped around his head. How did he get there so fast?

The evil man who I guess was the leader cleared his throat and announced, "We aw China! We aw de APD! American Progress Destroyaws!"

Huge gasps echoed on the metal room.

"De only way jou will even escep dees wretched pless is if someone can solve dees electricity puzzoll! And is very hard!"

Translation: The only way you will even escape this wretched place is if someone can solve this electricity puzzle! And it's very hard!

That's me, I guess. But I'm not saying anything, and I hope no one does. I want my ability to be a surprise to them. Even though I started hating NUG, there's no way I will let these fools hurt my peers and instructors. They're like my family now, even if the adults are friends with the government that took my real family away from my life.

"Allow me to intwoduce de puzzoll!"

Snapping his fingers (again), the ninjas did their acrobatic tricks and opened a door. Inside revealed a series of intersecting blue electric fields.

Ahem, hello? Didn't this fool (I know I'm starting to say mean words but deal with it) say that it was a hard puzzle? This is a baby game! I didn't let internal my smirk show though. That would let Mr. Hard Puzzle know that it was too easy. He would say, "Oh snap! Make dees puzzoll hardaw!" and snap his fingers to make his ninjas modify it. No way am I going to let that happen.

"Any takaws?" he asked.

Translation: Any takers?

Fifteen seconds of silence.

"Nobawdy?" he mocked.

Then I did my grand entrance. Making a point to clear my throat, I bravely announced, "I'll take a crack at it."

His eyes narrowed at me.