I didn’t move, mostly because I didn’t have the energy to.
“Are you getting up or do you need to be carried back?” the one on the left asked, his tone bland.
I hoped their significant others cheated on them.
I sniffled and instantly regretted it when it felt like a knife being shoved up my nostrils, straight into my brain. The sarcasm I kept wrapped up so tight in me loosened, even though every word hurt on the way out. “Depends. Are we going somewhere fun for me or fun for you?”
That got me two glares.
Stupid asses.
They deserved the surprise they were going to find behind the toilet eventually. I had taken advantage of the moments of privacy I’d gotten when they weren’t on the brink of drowning me. I wasn’t about to shit my pants in front of them if I could help it.
“I can walk. I don’t want you guys ruining my dreams of being in the Little League World Series by tearing my rotator cuffs,” I told them sarcastically, my throat filled with glass.
“Get up,” the other man demanded with a flat tone that made me think none of this was new to him. Did they do this a lot?
I thought about putting up a fight, but honestly, I had nothing left but my pride. I could barely talk. I was beyond exhausted. I’d pulled muscles I didn’t know existed. And literally, I never would have thought that it was possible for my sinus cavity to feel the way it did.
Whatever was going to happen… needed to just happen.
I had told them I didn’t have the money. We all knew no one was going to believe that though. They were going to wait me out until I begged, or I’d be back in here for more.
I would take the break they were offering, just like I’d taken every other one.
Gingerly getting up, my knees cracked and my tailbone ached like hell from the hard floor. Even my wrists creaked as I planted my hands to help me up. They’d taken the zip ties off after the last time, and my skin was bruised and tender. The cuff felt twice as heavy. Once I was finally on my feet, I stumbled forward, debating whether to ask where they were taking me, but then I decided it didn’t matter. What was I going to do? Fight them and run away? I’d played a ton ofStreet Fighter, but that wasn’t exactly going to help me. Plus, I hadn’t been paying enough attention when they had brought me in here. I had no idea where to go, and I knew I’d only have one chance to escape, if I even had that much. I wasn’t going to waste it. Not in this condition.
Hunching my shoulders, I watched as one of them opened the door. Only then did I take a step, every movement so stiff I felt terrible for how much pain my grandparents had to have been in at the end of their lives because of their arthritis.
And it was with just thinking about them that I remembered again why I couldn’t give up. Why I had to pay attention and do whatever I could to get the hell out of here.
How the hell could I have forgotten?
If not for me, for them. To make their sacrifice worth it. I had to try my best.
Fuck all these motherfuckers.
I wasn’t going to die in here.
Tipping my chin down, I flicked my gaze up and took everything in as discreetly as possible. The walls were white and smooth, and we went by one heavy, metal door before walking farther and passing by another. None of them had keyholes, I noticed, but there was a knob of sorts on each so they could only be opened from the outside. Sneaky.
I’d tried pushing on the door to our cell, but nothing had happened, so I knew they had some kind of mechanism to lock them.
Not that that should matter to one of the strongest people on the planet.
Once he was feeling well.
I hadn’t let my brain wander too far in his direction. He had to be fine. They weren’t desperate enough to hurt him yet, but at some point, they’d bring his head to me on a silver platter or some shit—or at least they would try, and surprise!
I didn’t see that really happening. But I needed him to get out before then at least.
“Walk faster,” the man behind me barked.
I would have turned to give him an ugly look, but I didn’t want to push my luck anymore. Being a smart-ass had been enough, and I was just so tired.
I kept going, trying not to move my head from side to side as I watched. We went through one door that led out to a long hallway. How big was this place? The guard in front of me stopped suddenly beside another nondescript door and moved his hand quickly across it.
That’s when the guard behind me grabbed my ponytail and shoved me so hard I went stumbling through the opened doorway.
