43
SIX YEARS AGO
Gianna (20 years)
“Lily.”
“Shh, go away,” I muttered, refusing to open my eyes. I was too exhausted to move.
Something shook my shoulder hard. “Lily, get up, we need to go.”
Opening my eyes, I blinked to focus, the dark making it impossible. And as my eyes adjusted, a face morphed from the shadows. I vaulted upright. “What the—”
A hand covered my mouth and I squirmed against the hold. “Lily, shh. It’s Lotus,” she whispered in my ears. “I’m going to lower my hand now, okay?” I nodded.
“What the fucks going on,” I reacted on instinct.
“Shh,” Lotus warned. “We need to go. It’s time.”
I had no idea how she’d gotten into my cell, but I wasn’t about to ask any questions. Almost fourteen months we’d planned for this night, and I intended to go full steam. We began the day after we chatted about her training me. She’d set up rigorous training sets that some days left me so tired, I could barely keep awake long enough to eat. But as the months flowed into the next, I got better, my skills got sharper, my agility quicker. As for my Japanese word skill. Gold.
“Here.” She handed me a jacket, jeans, a t-shirt, and shoes. Again, I didn’t bother asking her any questions, I quickly dressed. “Come on, follow me and keep close.” She opened the cell door, waited for me to slip out then locked it. Keeping close to the darkened walls, we hurried down the passages until we reached the bathrooms. I kept watch as we practiced, and she worked the grate that led down into the laundry below. “Lower yourself slowly and use your feet to find the metal storage units below. Once you do, climb down but be quiet. There are lots of loose items lying around. Trip on one and we’re dead. Go,” she whispered.
I followed her instructions, landing right next to large bottles of stuff I didn’t recognize. My heart pounded hard in my chest, my eyes shut tightly as I worked to keep from toppling over. When I righted myself, I moved to one side. Lotus dropped next to me, a few seconds later.
For the next half an hour, we ran through dark passages, in between large pipes, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what they were for and dropped through a couple more grates. We’d just made it into the sewer that led out of the prison when an alarm sounded high above us.
“Move,” Lotus nudged my back. “Run but keep to the wall.”
Using the wall as my guide, I maintained a steady stride and breathing pacing. Somewhere along the way, we made it out of the sewers and broke through a small gate into woodlands but our legs kept moving. I was grateful for the hours of endurance, Lotus had put me through, or I would’ve probably caved by now. She wasn’t lying when she said we’d need at least a year to train, to get out of that prison. Even a month’s worth wouldn’t have been sufficient. Judging by the deep forest cover we maneuvered through, the prison was well hidden and civilization far.
Just when I was beginning to feel the strain on my calf muscles and my lungs burning from exhaustion, gunfire erupted somewhere in the distance.
“Fuck!” It was the first time I’d heard Lotus swear and it wasn’t without fault. “We need to pick up the pace, Lily,” she breathed her words and I nodded.
Another sound thundered behind us, and I recognized it as trucks a second before a bullet whizzed past my head. “Fuck!” I cursed.
“That way!” Lotus shouted, pointing to her left. “Jump and roll!” I followed her as the ground fell beneath me. For just a second, I felt weightless, I was floating then I was falling. My feet hit the ground a split second before my knees then I rolled. Sand and leaves blew past me, filling my mouth, stuffing my nose, and burning my eyes. Then I was falling again. My body hit water. My gasp swallowed by the churning swirls pulling me down and the ice-cold burn hitting my chest.
I struggled to swim, hands flailing and kicking out my legs to get traction. Then I was floating, the water beneath calmer. I coughed and spluttered as the water eased into a stream. Dragging my tired aching body onto an embankment, I dropped to the ground and rolled onto my back, breathing hard.
I could hear Lotus coming up next to me, her breath just as hoarse. “You okay?” she asked.
Turning my head, I looked at her. “Yes. That was fucking intense,” I spluttered, coughing some more. “Where is this place?”
