I hear the door creak open again, and Doctor Langdon walks inside with a bottle of water. My eyes widen like he’s just brought me a puppy or something actually meaningful. His brows knit when he sees I’m still laid on the ground in my dress.
“Does the jumpsuit not fit?” I shake my head.
“Can’t…Move…” The words hurt considerably to say, my chest protesting even the single syllables, my body protesting being alive. Every part of me apart from my mind wants me to give up, and until they manage to take that, too, I won’t.
“I see. I will send a guard in to help you change. I need you to sit up to drink, do you need assistance?” I nod, and his hands are on me. My body screams to fight him off, to scream, to yell out for Cayden.
But Cayden isn’t coming, and right now I need water to survive.
“Thank…you…” I manage to say weakly. Doctor Langdon opens the water bottle and holds it to my lips, tipping it until a small stream of water passes through my cracked lips and hits my throat. I drink faster than I ever have before, and within seconds the entire bottle is empty. I spilled some water down my neck and chest in the desperation, but I don’t care. I honestly couldn’t care less.
I will not die here.
“I will send in a guard to help you change, then we will prepare you to be moved back to The Academy. Congratulations PX-3, you have officially finished your re-education. I’m so glad we managed to get you back. I’ve heard such wonderful things about you, it would be a shame to have lost you. But we shall not dwell on it, for you my sweet child, are going home.”
Home. The Academy is not my home.
I don’t have a home.
The doctor leaves, walking out of the room without saying another word and leaves me alone to process his words. I survived.
I survived.
I’m going back to The Academy, and Bella, I’ll get to see Bella again.
And Cayden…do I even want to see Cayden anymore? He’s the reason all this started in the first place, isn’t he?
My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of the door opening and two guards walking in. The dark haired one I’ve come to learn is named Thomas, while the blond is called Damon. They were friends before the new regulations started.
“I’ll hold her up while you take off the dress,” Thomas says, and Damon nods. I feel arms move under mine, holding me still while Damon pulls the dress up, forcing my arms up with his rough movements. I don’t hold back the sharp cry from pain it earns.
“How the fuck is she still lucid?” I’m not sure which one asks that; I can’t focus on voices with the pain radiating through me, it’s blurring my vision, my eyes switching between focused and unfocused.
“Beats me,” the other voice says. The room is spinning, every muscle in my body is screaming at me and I can’t take it. It’s too much, it’s all too much.
“She looks really pale.”
“No shit, she’s been tortured for three weeks, dumbass.”
“Nah bro, look at her.”
I look down, seeing myself in the white jumpsuit, my knife sheath thrown aside like it means nothing. Slowly, I inch my fingers towards it, ignoring the way they tremble. I keep inching them forward, until I feel the familiar leather strap and bend my finger around it, hooking it around the leather and slowly bringing it in closer.
When I’m finally close enough to reach for the handle, I use the last of my strength I have left to remove my military knife from the sheath before slicing the backs of one of the guard’s ankles. I watch as he falls back down to the ground, screaming in pain just like I have every day for three weeks. His blood spills onto the white floors, coating them red. Only then do I pierce the knife through his chest, hitting his lungs. I could’ve gone for the heart, but he didn’t deserve the quick death.
The other guard backs himself into a corner. I’m too tired to move, turning the knife so the blade is pointed towards me. I throw the blade, hitting the last guard in the side. Shit, not a kill shot. Despite the fact, the guard screams like he is dying. He will survive as long as he leaves the knife in his side.
I actually smile for the first time in weeks as he pulls out the knife. That was dumb.
Loud footsteps make their way down the hall towards my room as my head finally falls down to the ground. I’m going to die today, I know I am. There’s nothing left for me anymore anyway, apart from Bella. But I know she will survive.
I let out a manic-sounding laugh. Maybe I’m going crazy, maybe this place made me crazy. They kept me alive for four weeks, just to kill me anyway. But I got two of them. I guess in a way, I won the game we were playing. They tried to break me, but I still managed to fight.
I fought.
I survived for as long as I could.
But I feel lighter, like in some way I succeeded in my plan to leave The Academy. They may have taken my life from me, but at least I decided to go on my own terms, taking down two of their own before giving up.
