“I cannotwaitto spend more time with you. But…” He paused and looked at the hanging form of the woman beside her. “I have more pressing matters to attend to right now. You see, thanks to your boyfriend back there, I’vefinallybeen promoted. He was so distracted by that lowlife Michael that he didn’t see me escape with you. I captured you forhim. And now I get the pleasure of being one of your guards.”
He jingled the keys in front of the bars again. Then, ever so slowly, he picked a key and watched Seda as he pressed it into the lock. The door creaked as it opened, and he slowly approached her. She pressed her body as far as it could go against the rocks behind her. He bent down to breathe in her hair. “Mmm, just like I remember. You smellso fucking good.” He licked up her cheek, leaving clammy wetness behind, and ran his fingers over the soiled fabric covering her breasts.
Seda cried out and pressed her bloody fist to her mouth. Her arms shook violently, and her lips trembled. Her deepest fears were resurfacing. The metallic taste of blood from her soaked hand covered her lips, and she couldn’t stop a strained sob from escaping.
“I’ll be back with some food and to give you some…fun. I’m really looking forward to this. Maybe I can help you get out of this place. You know,babiesand all that,” Alexi said with a roll of his eyes and stood up, adjusting the bulge in his pants as he looked at her. He gave her a wink and walked over to the hanging woman, pulling out a small knife. He cut the woman down, and her lifeless body fell to the hard ground with a loud thud. He dragged the body out of the cell, locking the doors behind him and leaving a streak of fresh blood behind as he walked. The sound of the woman’s body dragged down the hall took away the only source of light she had.
Shrouded in darkness, Seda was left behind, her body tightly curled into itself. She clutched her blood-stained hands to her face and sobbed.
The faint sound of crunching bone echoed through the cell.
She wasn’tsure how much time had gone by. She thought she heard a mouse scurrying and listened for it. She began counting quietly as she lay on the hard, sticky floor.
“Five thousand, five hundred, and sixty-three”
“Five thousand, five hundred, and sixty-four”
“Psst…” a whispered voice echoed through the darkness. Seda’s head jerked up, and she looked around the dark room. “Are you awake?”
“W-Wh?” Seda hesitantly replied with a raspy voice, forgetting the number she had left off while counting.
“I’ve been here for…” The voice paused for a few seconds. “Shit, I don’t know how long I’ve been here. I don’t remember. I tried counting at first, too.”
“You sound…” She thought she recognized the voice, as if it belonged to someone she had spoken to before.
It couldn’t be.
“Esper? Is that you?” She jumped onto her knees and quickly shuffled to the bars. Esper. Her old coworker, who was taken to the Camp for misbehavior during a Wyrd over six months ago.
“Seda?” She heard Esper move toward the bars lining her cell, her chains dragging along the floor. “How are you here?”
“Esper, are you okay?” She firmly held the bars. “There has been unrest in Joro. Our food supply is limited, and the Jotnar have been attacking us more frequently. They held another Wyrd, within six months, due to misbehavior around the city. I was selected.”
“It’s been six months…” Esper paused and then continued, “You must be careful here, Seda. They took…” Esper cried out with a choked sob. “They took Diantha from me. I heard herscreams.” She struggled to say the last word.
“No… Esper.” Hot tears burned behind her eyes. “How is this even the Camp? I thought we were supposed to be rehabilitated. Where are the doctors? How have you survived this?”
Silence encircled them for a long time. The scurrying mouse squeaked somewhere up the hall.
Seda thought Esper had fallen asleep when a small voice replied so softly she almost didn’t hear it, “Because I’m pregnant.”
Chapter 17
Cahir
The door shook violently as Cahir banged on the wood, the sound rattling against the loose hinges. “Open thefuckingdoor, Benny.”
He heard shuffling from inside the apartment, and the door quickly swung open. Benny stood in the doorway, his face swollen with bruises and his brown hair a disheveled mess.
“They took her,” he said to Cahir and walked back inside, leaving the door open for Cahir to enter. He slumped into a chair, his head sinking into his palms as his leg trembled with nervous energy. “I barely made it out. I had to fight my way through Orience to get back here.”
“I need to know what you know, Benny,” Cahir said to him as he held up the red piece of paper. He walked over to the window and opened it, allowing the warm air and sunlight to fill the space.
Benny looked at the paper, and his face paled. “I knew when you saw the tattoo that you would put two and two together eventually.”
The Corvids flew into the room, blowing over items on a table, and Benny jumped up. “Those things were attacking the Rozzers! Why did you just let them in?”
Roya, Ferona, and Feich shifted forms, and Benny fell back into his chair as it skidded across the floor. “What the flying-fuck!”
