There were so many points along the way where she could have given in and not wound up back in this position. But as badly as she wished she wasn't there right now, it was hard to wish she was dead.
Oh, she wanted to be, there was definitely a huge chunk of her mind that knew it was better than what was coming. But how could she fullywish to die when Voodoo was still out there? So long as he wasn't captured, too, there was hope.
Hope was the one thing she’d promised herself after her ex-husband served her with divorce papers and kicked her out, that she would never again allow herself to feel. She’d been happy with that plan, knew it was for the best, knew she could endure more of life’s suffering if she didn't believe anything would ever change.
But Voodoo had changed that. He’d brought hope into her life, and she hadn't realized until right now, trembling with cold and attempting to brace herself in a corner of a truck, just what a powerful thing hope could be.
Sure, it didn't change her circumstances, and it wouldn't provide her with a magic wand to find a way out of this truck and away from these men. But it did give her a purpose, a goal, something to fight toward. Watch, listen, assess, try to find any weaknesses, and then exploit them.
Maybe that wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than just sitting there and waiting for the inevitable to happen. If it happened then it happened, she couldn’t stop it, but she wasn't going to give in, wasn't going to give up. Voodoo thought she was strong, that what she had endured alone, he had only survived because he had a team at his back. Indigo didn't want to let him down, she wanted to be the version of herself that he saw when he looked at her.
And she did have a team at her back now.
Maybe they weren't physically there, but they would come for her. All of them, not just Voodoo. Of course, she’d known that he wouldn't give up on her, but she’d thought there was only so far the fact that they’d all been experimented on by the same delusional man could carry her when it came to the rest of his team.
Only all of them had been there. They’d decided as a team not to go after Dr. Gardner first, even though they’d known before she told them that he was close by. They’d prioritized her over something they had been wanting and working toward for the last ten years.
If that didn't tell her everything she needed to know then nothing would.
So fighting was the only option. Anything else would be disrespectful.
Eventually, the truck slowed to a stop, and she heard the men climb out of the front, slamming their doors behind them and chattering amongst themselves like they didn't have a naked and abused woman trapped in the back of their truck. Like they weren't transporting her to a hell they understood, even if they never truly could comprehend what it was like to be on the other side of the cage.
Thankfully, it was still nighttime when they opened that back door, so she wasn't blinded by sudden light. It was clear from the way they moved, their relaxed attitudes, and the fact that they didn't have their weapons aimed and ready to shoot, that they didn't view her as any sort of threat. If it had been Voodoo or any of the other men on his team back there, she was positive they would have approached with an entirely different outlook.
But it was only her, she was small and weak, always a victim, so they didn't think they needed to worry about her.
Maybe she was weak, and maybe she’d been a victim her entire life, but she didn't want that for herself any longer. She wanted to be different, to live instead of just survive. She wanted to dig deep and find the anger that had almost fizzled out inside her and draw on it, let it strengthen her, prove to everyone, including herself, that she was more than everyone saw, more than a tragic past of abuse.
For now, though, her best bet was to play up being the weak and pathetic little victim, allow them to keep seeing her as nothing, and wait for her opportunity. It would be silly to try to make a run for it, she could barely stand up, and they would shoot her if she tried and then laugh about how she wouldn't feel any pain from the injury.
“Come on, little one, let’s get you settled in your new home,” one of the men said as he jumped up into the back of the truck and came to collect her.
Throwing her over his shoulder, he climbed back down out of the truck and carried her toward another one. The second truck was much larger, one of those huge ones that transported things across the country. As normal as it looked from the outside, as they climbed into it, she could see that inside someone had fitted it out as amakeshift lab.
“Boss thinks no one will be able to find him if he doesn’t stay still,” the man carrying her explained as though she cared in the least about what Dr. Gardner thought or did. She wanted him dead every bit as much as Voodoo and the others did.
Inside the truck, one long wall had been transformed into a row of three glass cages. The space inside each cage was small, consisting of a toilet and a faucet along the back walls, and then two single cots. No chairs or tables, nothing in them to keep them entertained, no TVs, or books, or paper and pens. Why would you bother to spend time and energy on entertaining something you considered to be nothing more than an animal?
Along the other wall of the truck was a row of desks lined with the same lab equipment she was used to seeing at the other facility. There was a narrow walkway between the cages and the desks, enough that someone could easily walk up and down, and since there were no bars or windows on the cages, there would be no reason to fear one of the caged animals grabbing hold.
“Might have to ask one of them to share a bed with you,” the man carrying her joked as he took her down to the last cage. “Bet one of them could be easily persuaded,” he added, slapping her bare backside hard and then balancing her so he could unlock the door.
Inside the room, he dumped her on the bed, shot her a wink, and then walked back out again, locking her inside. The glass would be virtually impenetrable, reinforced and bulletproof, there was no way she would be able to break through it to escape. There was no door handle on the inside or lock that she could even attempt to pick, not that she knew how to do that. No doubt this place was soundproof, so not even screaming for help would garner any attention.
Trapped.
No amount of clinging to hope, assessing, listening, and gathering intel, looking for ways to escape, was going to change that.
Her fate was sealed, and Indigo found herself right back where she’d been at the beginning when Voodoo found her in that supply closet. Coming after her would only wind up with him sharing this cell with her.
He needed to let her go.
To focus on finding Dr. Gardner and hoping that taking him out of the equation would cause his little lab empire to crumble. But even that wasn't a guarantee. Someone else could continue it on, or one of the guards could decide she was a fun little plaything and keep her for himself.
Unfortunately for her, hope was a double-edged sword, and on the other side of hope was hopeless.
Which was exactly how she felt right now, as everything she allowed herself to want shimmered completely out of reach.
