But he wasn’t a hero, that’s for fuck sure.
My mom wasn’t a lot of things, but she was my mom, and whatever she lacked, she made up for in love.
I think of that now, of all the times her love brought her through another beating. I don’t love Bunny, but I-I feel something, and it’s strong enough to pull me through.
Exhaling, I run my own nails across my scalp, digging deeper than my mom would have before picking myself up. The black spots are once again stars, and the worst part of my dizziness has subsided. It’s not a mission to walk again, but my wounds don’t leave me without a challenge.
“Bunny?” I call out, but no one responds. The hope I felt in finding her diminishes with every step. Thirty-five cells downand nothing, but on number thirty-six, I finally feel someone looking back at me.
Standing still at the bars, I peer through the dark, trying to make out her delicate features. Unable to make out anything in the pitch blackness, I take the keyring from my waistband and struggle to fit the right one inside. When I hear the click of the lock unlatching, I swing the gate open, praying to meet her stare. Instead of soft doe eyes and a grateful smile, a hand raises, a rock held tightly in a trembling fist. That’s how I know it’s her.
“Don’t,” I exhale, out of breath from exhaustion and relief. “Fucking. Do. It.” I stumble into her just as quickly as she rushes into me, fitting against her so perfectly.
Dancing her fingertips across every inch of exposed flesh, Bunny asks with a choking breath, “How did you get in here? How-how… Are you okay? What’s going on?” One question blurred into the next, each unfinished but full of confusion, sorrow, and worry.
Weakly, I grab ahold of her wrist, counting each beat of her racing heart. They bring me comfort enough for me to lean on her a bit. Funny, I’ve never trusted anyone enough to do that with.
“How are you here?”
Coughing, I clear my throat of the congealed mound of phlegm and blood caught in my esophagus, trying not to let her feel my shivers while she explores my body. “It was easy when there were just two of 'em.” Three, technically, but one was asleep, so he doesn’t really count.
Anyway, they don’t matter. She does. The wounds on her neck, face, and chest do. I glare through the darkness, ignoring her question, “Cade, what are you doing?” searching for them all. There’s one particularly brutal lesion on her collarbone, freshly scabbed, but still, there’s that puffiness surrounding it.
I shouldn’t, but I need to touch her, to replace whatever monster didthis.“Never again,” I vow, biting off the tip of my tongue. “I’ll never let you bleed again.” Staring into her swollen, red eyes, I implore her to see it, to feel my words as strongly as I do.
Trust me, I want to scream, but I reach for the gun instead. “Here,” offering her protection instead. “See someone, just aim and shoot.” When it’s secure in her hands, I turn toward the exit, pulling her out with me.
“What are you doing, Cade?” Bunny asks in a harsh whisper, peeking around my shoulder while I glare through the shadows. I can feel her watching me as I study the space before me, but there’s no time to fill her in. I don’t know how far behind me they are.
“Clara?” I call, putting us at risk, “Clara!”
“She’s right here,” Bunny spits, poking me in the shoulder blade to shut me up. “She’s next to me.”
Expertly, she leads me through the dark into the next cell over, taking control while still being in tune with the sounds that echo all around us. Her head whips around when a noise clanks particularly close, nervous twitching in her fingers. I move as quickly as possible, fighting and cursing beneath my breath when the key gets stuck in the lock.
“Clara?”
Silence.
“Is she here?” I ask, struggling to remove the twisted key.
“I—” Bunny stops, uncertainty lacing her tone.
That doubt feeds the fear coursing through my veins, making me swell with unbridled terror. “Bunny!” I snap, “Is she here?!”
“I don’t know!” she hisses in return, scorching my back with venom. “I was brought here after you jumped the ring. I didn’t see her! I-I haven’t seen her since yesterday.”
Panting through the anxiety wrapping around my chest, I breathe, “Fuck,” knowing that my patience and time are running out.
Bunny all but confirms that when she whispers, “Cade.”
“I know.” Fuck, I know! I know! I’m—there’s notime. I need time. I need time. Please,God. Fuck! Give me time.
When the lock finally flips, I throw the cage door open, rushing inside the pitch-black holding. “Clara?” I call in a rushed panic, racing toward the slumped, lifeless figure in the corner. Bunny is right by my side, prodding her gently. “Clara? Clara?”
“Hm.” The pain in her voice is stronger than it was when I saw her earlier. It’s guttural and deep.
I can see the pieces of her throat spewing from her lips as she turns to fall on her side, bile puddling beside her. I dive in after her, losing my footing while saving her head from colliding with the stone floor.
