Caged

Chapter 7

Shade moved closer to Cage and placed a hand on his arm. He looked down at her and gave her a small smile, hoping it would reassure her. He looked back at the man who belonged to the taunting voice, then let his gaze wander the room. There wasn't much to recommend it, the walls were stone like the rest of the tower and it had been painted black. There was a window to one side of where the man sat that had been bricked in. The man sat before a table with an array of computer monitors on it. Several showed the room they had just climbed out of, the rest were various corridors and their previous prison.

His eyes slid back to the man. The guy wasn't remarkable in any way, he was simply a man. Middle-aged, with deep brown hair, and dark eyes. He was, quite simply, average.

"Done with your perusal, boy?" he asked with a little chuckle.

"Who are you and why are you doing this?" Cage asked.

The man let the chair rock forward. He waved a hand at the far wall. "Sit down over there and no funny business."

Cage turned and looked at the wall the man indicated when Shade made a small, distressed sound. Two sets of shackles were firmly chained to the wall. The bastard had known they would eventually attempt to escape this way and he'd planned for this. He spun back to glare at the man. "You expect us to lock ourselves up?"

The man smiled and waved a hand at the wall. "You'll do it or I can simply shoot you and get this over with." He patted the gun that sat on the table beside him.

"So comply or die?" Cage asked bitterly.

The man laughed. "Not quite, my boy." He picked the gun up and turned it so Cage could see it clearly. It was a Taser, not a gun. "I've heard it's quite painful but I can't say for certain since I've never been shot with one. Now, get over there or I will shoot you and you can find out how it feels."

Cage cursed and led Shade over to the wall. They sat beside one another on the floor. He lifted the shackle and locked it around her right ankle before he grabbed the second one and locked it around his left one. "There, happy now?" he asked the man.

"The wrists too, boy." He gestured to the second set of chains.

Cage emitted a small growl and snatched up the manacle. The chain for the manacles ran through a ring bolted to the wall between them. If one of them moved, the other would have no choice but to move as well or be dragged. The chains on their ankles were bolted down separately. The man wasn't a fool. They might get one free but not the other. It would make it much more difficult for them to escape.

"Happy now, asshole?"

The man set the Taser aside with a grin. "Yes, indeed I am. Now we can continue our little talk. I've spent too long planning this for you to foul it up. I watched and waited and I won't allow you to screw it all up. Not now."

Cage could give a shit if they screwed up the man's plans. In fact, he'd love to screw up the bastard's plans. "I don't give a crap about whatever sick little games you're playing."

"You never have cared about much of anything, have you? Nothing matters to you except whatever it is you want. You're an ungrateful little bastard, all of your kind are. Selfish and uncaring."

Cage frowned and looked at Shade. Her look was confused and fearful, when she saw him looking at her she shrugged. Neither of them knew what the man was rambling on about. He looked back at the maniac. "What are you talking about, what exactly is our kind?"

The man snorted. "Teenagers, of course. You don't give a shit about anyone but yourselves. You take and take and give nothing back." He grinned. "And you two are just the beginning."

"Beginning of what?"

The man cackled. "The end, my boy. The end of selfishness and the end of your kind."

Cage knew his look had to be disbelieving. "You can't murder every teenager in the world. That's impossible!" The man had lost his mind.

"I'll do whatever it takes to end it. I'll do what I need to and it begins with you."

"If you murder every teenager then eventually there won't be anyone left. You do know we eventually grow up into adults?" It was a reasonable reply but Cage could see the man wasn't in the mood to be reasonable. He considered his plan solid and nothing was going to change his mind.

He pointed at Cage. "I will do what I need to keep you away from her."

"What are you babbling about? Keep me away from who?" He glanced at Shade.

The man laughed. "Not her, you idiot."

"Who the fuck are you?" Cage shouted at the man.

"Don't worry, you'll remember soon enough. I see no reason to keep your memories from you any longer."

The chains rattled when Cage leaned forward. "What have you done to us?" He was tired of the games this bastard was playing.

The man stood with an indulgent smile for them. "I'll leave the two of you alone. You'll need some rest I suppose after your harrowing little climb to ... semi-freedom. I have a few things to handle before we can continue this conversation. Plus, you need to clear your brains of my fancy little memory drug. Once your memories are back in order, we can speak more. Until later."

They watched as the man crossed the room and exited through the door and carefully locked it behind him.

Cage cursed. There was nothing in the room that would help them. The window was bricked up and the trap door would only lead them back into the cell below. The rope ladder piled beside the trap door explained how the man had gotten their trays of food down to them. He shuddered as he thought about the man climbing down that ladder with Shade. A rope ladder was precarious in the best of situations, carrying dead weight? He shook his head. The guy really was nuts.

"Cage, what are we going to do now?"

"I honestly haven't got a goddamned clue."

"Any clue who he is?" she asked.

"Not a single one." He sighed.

She leaned back against the wall. "Well, we know he's been drugging us now."

"Yeah, it was probably in the food, it would be the easiest way to dope us. He could have been having some trouble with the amount of the drug, it may explain why the memories came and went. There were also a couple of times we were too tired to eat." He gave the chains a yank. "These are solid. I doubt we could break free." They weren't getting out of here. The bastard wanted them dead.

Shade sighed and began unwinding the fabric from her hands. "Why is he doing this? It can't simply be because he thinks teenagers are selfish and stupid."

The chain clanked when he raised his hand and rubbed it over his face. "How should I know? As far as I can tell the guy is simply loony." He rubbed at his temples. "God, my head hurts."

She tossed aside the pieces of fabric with a sigh. "Mine hurts too. It could be because of the drug. After having it in our systems for so long it could be creating withdrawal symptoms." She stared at the computer monitors. "Do you think our parents are still looking for us? I mean, we don't have much of an idea how long we were down there."

"No idea, like you said we have no idea how long we've been missing. We could have been gone months." He rubbed at his temples again.

"They wouldn't just give up though, would they?" she asked

"I don't think so. I'm pretty certain that my mom wouldn't give up that easily."

She nodded. "I don't think my parents would either. But I can't be completely sure, it's just a feeling."

He leaned back against the wall beside her. Exhaustion dragged at him. He was hungry too, they hadn't stopped to eat because they wanted to climb as high as they could before the lights went out. "Maybe we should take a nap. It might help us to remember something important."

"Like who that guy is?" she asked. She yawned and snuggled against his side.

"Yes." He wanted towrap his arm around her and hold her but the chains prevented that. Instead, hetwined their fingers together and kissed the top of her head.