Do not cry, do not show emotion, do not be weak.
“I don’t know anything,” I mumble, still feeling the effects of whatever they gave me. I can’t feel my fingers, and my legs feel numb. I’m completely defenceless right now. And that thought alone sends a shiver down my spine.
The world slowly starts to come back as my mind catches up with my body, my vision becoming clearer, my heart beat finally catching up and racing, the fear slowly seeping into my veins. I feel it all rushing back, all at once.
Then there’s a sharp sting on my cheek as I feel a blade pass through. Blood drips down onto my lap, disappearing into the black fabric before my hair is pulled back and my head forced up. A pained whimper escapes before I can stop it.
“Let’s try this again. Who. Is. Cayden?”
“I don’t know!” I hiss this time, feeling a knife being pressed to my ribs.
“Last chance,” Overseer warns. I struggle in the chair, trying to fight him off, but he only presses in harder, breaking the fabric of the shirt.
“Who is Cayden, PX-3?”
“Target 106! No one! I don’t know anything!” I’m screaming this time, pleading for him to hear the truth in my words. I don’t know anything, I don’t. Cayden hasn’t told me a single thing about himself, and I only found out his last name through the auction.
I watch as two metal clamps are placed onto both arm rests of the chair, attached to a switch on the wall. Fuck.
They’re going to electrocute me.
Madam walks over to the switch with a wide grin on her face as her heels click against the concrete.
“Please! No! I don’t know anyth—”
I don’t get to finish my sentence before the electricity starts flowing through my body. My head falls back, my jaw locking and my body spasming, trying to survive the current. As soon as the power is switched off, a pained gasp leaves my lips. Every muscle aches, my heart is pounding like crazy, my eyes are barely able to focus as the room spins again, and my head is pounding.
“Who is Cayden, PX-3?” Overseer asks again, and I almost cry.
I don’t know, I really don’t know. Out of every conversation we have had I never thought to ask why The Academy wants him. I had asked the first night, but he deflected. Was this why? Did Cayden think I would talk if he told me?
“I don’t know.” The words are more of a struggle this time, and my mind goes hazy. I’m so tired of fighting. Maybe if I just close my eyes, I’ll wake up and this will all be a dream. But that thought is quickly cut off when the Overseer pierces a blade through my hand.
“Ahhh!” I cry out, unable to stop myself, watching the blood drip down my fingertips to the concrete floor, mixing with the water pooled beneath me.
“Who is Cayden working with?”
“I don’t know!”
“You’re lying to us, PX-3.” This time it’s a guard who steps forward, placing a towel over my face before water is dumped on top of it with continuous streams of water. I can’t breathe, can’t escape. The one breath I do manage to get fills my throat with water as I begin to choke.
I’m going to die today.
“What is his name?”
“Cayden!” I choke out, gasping for breath. But the water starts again, and suddenly I’m drowning all over again. The water fills my mouth and nose, and I feel my body shutting down. What little vision I do have becomes spotty, and my lungs burn.
Then, it stops. The towel is pulled away, and the Overseer is standing in front of me. “Who is Cayden working with?” He crosses his arms over his chest expectantly, but I can’t breathe. I’m curled over as much as possible, trying to expel the water from my lungs.
I’m coughing and gagging as my body fights to survive, for air.
“I…” I start before another coughing fit ensues. “Don’t know.”
“LIAR!” Madam screams, forcing all the men to look at her as I try to regain some of the breath that’s currently burning my lungs. Everything hurts. Every muscle, every bone. I can’t handle this. But I will, because I have no other choice.
A masked guard pulls out his pistol, pressing it to my forehead. Coward. At least my targets see my face before I kill them. We never see the guards’ faces. Probably out of fear of what we would do if we did, but what can we do being locked up almost every day?
“Last chance, PX-3. Who is Cayden, who is he working with?”
