I did. At least until...I fell asleep.
His eye was swollen and bruises spotted his flesh.But he returned.Just that alone meantsomething, that he wasn’t lumped in the same category with her and the rest of the prisoners.
She’d wished for her dad to return, but instead, Gunner had.
He lowered his finger and tapped the metal, making her eyes dart back and forth between his mouth and bar. Their faces were a handspan apart, their fingers barely an inch. She slunk back slightly.
“Don’t.”
She shuddered and stopped, pressing her free arm into her chest. She balled her fingers against her thundering heart. Like her stomach, she couldn’t apply enough pressure to make it stop aching.
“Keep being smart, Ely.”
Elodie stiffened at his words and hated herself a little more for it, knowing he was voicing out loud the same thing that ran through her head a thousand times a day.
She pressed her hand harder against her mouth and took a deep breath through her nose, bringing with it the stench of fresh coppery blood. It pulled her attention from Gunner’s messed up face to what she could see of his body.
He was lounging on his side, not hunched like a man would be if he was in a lot of pain. The old fatigues and undershirt from before were still in place but they were no longer clean, but blood splattered.Nothing stays clean here for long.
“They beat the shit out of me, not literally though. Unless you count blood and sweat as shit,” he told her as she stared at the numerous stains on his clothes. Some spots were still wet and they clung to his body but most of them seemed crusted and dry.
How much time had passed?Losing time was not a good thing.
Gunner’s finger stopped its tapping, bringing her perusal to an end.
He’s baiting me.
“You still won’t talk to me?” he asked.
You told me to stay quiet!She wanted to yell and ask why he cared so much.Baited.Elodie closed her eyes and decided to make him disappear.
“Don’t shut me out...”
She let her hand drop and move back to cushion her head, shifting away from him to lie on her back.
“I won’t tell anyone you’re a girl,” Gunner whispered low enough for only her to hear.
Elodie grumbled and evened her breathing.Bluffer. There was no way for him to know for certain, and no way for him to find out without breaking through steel. The last she checked, men, even those with cybernetic enhancements, couldn’t do that.
The raspy laugh he released fell upon her ears, eliciting a shiver. She shouldn’t be so curious about him, and it troubled her deeply that rather than wane, her curiosity only grew.
She heard him move away and she squeezed her eyelids tighter.
If I talk to him...it would be a distraction. I could learn new information. He’s been outside the brig and came back. He may have seen my dad.Although she knew the chance of that was slim.
If I talk to him and get on his good side, maybe I’ll get to keep my safe place, maybe he won’t touch me like Kallan...
Based on the last two cycles alone, the newcomer hadn’t touched her at all, not even when he had the chance to.
But she knew she could never trust him, right? Elodie curled her fingers under her cheek. She could never expect him to keep his word.
Could she?
Elodie could reach through again and touchhim.She could attack Kallan too, but the negative outcomes were more than she cared to contend with. Was it the same for Gunner?
And I’m far from the only prisoner who keeps to himself.
She hadn’t been able to trust anyone since her dad volunteered like a fool.
