TIGERLILLY- THE BRAVO BOYS [book two]

Chapter SIXTY

Frankie Xiao

My neck aches terribly and a sharp pain crawls it's way up my spine as I lift my head in the dank, ill lit room.. There are no windows and no signs of where I am.. For a second I completely forget about the events that had taken place back at the airstirip, until the memories come flooding back, along with a piercing headache..

Tension thuds behind my eyes and there is a bitter taste burnt into the back of my dry throat.. I blink rapidly to allow my eyes to adjust with a miserable groan.. "Ughh.. Where am I?"

"Feng-" A wheezing sputter has me turning my pounding head to see my father, bound to a chair beside me, but when I try to move to tend to him, I feel the stiffness of something cold and steely wrapped around my wrists, locking them in place behind my back..

"Father? Father, what is happening!? Are you hurt?" My heart hammers in my chest and fear finds its way into my heart..
I am no stranger to this feeling of helplessness, but that doesn't make it any easier to bare..

"You must listen, Feng-" His voice is pained and whisper-quiet, as if he is having trouble breathing and that is when I notice the blood pooling on the floor beneath him..

"Where are we!?" I rasp, struggling against the cuffs and chains that hold me in place, attached to one of the posts that supports the second floor above us..

Am I in a basement?
No.. Not again..
Please, no.

"Sssshh!" He hisses, insisting that I hear him.. "Qīn'ài de, zǐxì tīng wǒ shuō.."

Resisting the urge to scream or shout and remembering all it was that had kept me alive once before, I take a deep breath and begin to assess everything in the room, looking for a way out.. "Shì de, father?"

There must be a way out..
There is always a way..

All I can see is a small folding table with a paper cup sat on top of it is placed at the far corner of the room.. There is a black plastic bucket on the floor beneath it..

A length or rope hangs on the wall by the stairs, beside it sits a shovel and a small pile of bricks.. The floor is dirty concrete and the walls are waterstained a disgusting yellowish green.. The smell of damp makes me wonder about the intergity of the drywalling..

My fathers head lolls forward, his shoulders hunched as the drip, drip, drip of his blood splattering the concrete echoes in my ears.. "Whatever may come, xiǎo húlí.. Whatever they do to me, you must never show them weakness.. Do not cry for me.. Make no deal to preserve me, daughter.. Protect yourself and nobody else.."

"Father, I cannot sit quietly and watch you die!" Inexplicable anger burns inside me.. This is not fair! I have waited so many years to see my father again and now he will be lost to me forever..

No!
I refuse..

"Shh! Listen, Feng.." He snaps, lifting his faintly cold and wisely fearless brown eyes to mine.. Obligated and frightened I fall silent, unwilling to argue with the man at this moment afraid to go against him or to break his bleeding heart.. "When I am gone, everything I have designed will become yours.. This is why Li Jun conceived to take you for his own.. The rule of old will be obeyed by those who remain loyal and you must be strong enough to lead them, Xiǎo Húli.. You will be fierce, merciless and fearless, but above all else, Feng, you must be clever.."

Blinking back my tears, I take his words and use them to prop up my crumbling courage.. "I am strong, father.. I will not disappoint you.."

"You must not break, Bǎobèi.. Do you remember the story I would read to you.. Every night before you would fall asleep." He murmurs, so softly I almost can't hear him..