Captured

Chapter 7

It had been almost a week since I was tossed into the cell in Kane's office. I was starving and weak and on the verge of passing out when he paused his work and met my eyes.

"You would really rather starve to death than talk?" He barked, surprise etched across his features. He clearly wasn't expecting a woman to be that strong.

I didn't answer him and instead readjusted how I was sat, my legs numb from the concrete.  He shook his head, his jaw set and his fists clenched on the desk.

"Fine," he seethed, finally raising to his feet. "Then I guess I'll try another tactic." He rounded the desk and leant against it, eyeing me for a moment. "For every day that you don't give me the information that I want, one of your fellow prisoners will be killed."

I frowned, feeling a stabbing feeling in my chest. "What?"

"You heard me," he said, a smug grin forming beneath his beard as what I'm sure looked like defeat settled on my own face. "If you haven't talked by the end of the day, one of your friends will be dead."

With that, he moved to sit back down, suddenly much more chipper than before. I felt my gut clench as I thought about the decision I was left with: protect the rest of the girls at the facility or protect the ones locked away with me.

But I had to hope that Rose and the others could protect themselves because I couldn't be the reason one of the girls here was killed. We had to take care of each other because we were alone and outnumbered.

"What do you want to know?" I muttered, not daring to look up at him.

He was silent for a moment and when I glanced up, I saw him staring back at me in triumph. He smirked before clearing his throat. "How many survivors are there?"

I could feel tears pricking the corners of my eyes but I swallowed down the lump in my throat and blinked them away. "There's around 100 of us," I told him.

He nodded slowly and folded his arms. "And where can I find the rest?"

I bit my lip, shrugging my shoulders and daring to meet his eye. "I don't know. I have no idea where we were."

"You're lying!" He accused, his eyes dark.

I shook my head. "I swear, I have no idea where to find them."

He glared at me for a moment before turning and snatching the gun that was resting on the surface of the desk. I flinched for a moment, predicting the bullet would land in me in a few moments - obviously I'd outlived my use.

However, instead of aiming the gun at me, he stormed out of the room. The realisation sank in just before the door slammed shut and I screamed for him to stop. I staggered to my feet, throwing myself at the cell door in hopes of breaking through, however it didn't even shake under my weight. Kane was already gone but I continued to scream, pleading with him to come back. I screamed until my throat was raw and the tears soaked my face.

When my legs finally collapsed underneath me, too weak to support my weight, I curled my arms around my knees and allowed myself to be weak and vulnerable for a moment, crying at the possibility that Kane was killing one of my friends.

I prayed that whoever it was, they didn't suffer. I hoped with everything inside of me that he showed mercy and made their death quick and painless, no need to torture the girl for my mistakes.

I choked on the pain in the back of my throat while I waited for him to return. If Rose had have been here, she wouldn't have let this happen. She'd have handled to situation and done whatever she could to protect the girls.

It was our one and only demand from her.

Protect each other. Always.

By the time Kane returned, the tears streaming down my face had dried and I had curled up as small as possible in the corner of the cell. He stormed in, throwing the gun on the floor and turning to me, revealing the blood stains on his clothes.

"I answered your questions," I muttered in a growl, my eyes lowered to the ground.

"I warned you," he hissed, "now tell me where I can find them!"

"I don't know!" I yelled in hysteria, desperate for him to believe me.

He slammed his fist agains the bars of the cell. "Liar!"

I shrank back, hating how scared I was of him. But I couldn't anger him anymore, I couldn't risk someone else's life. "Please," I said softly, "you have to believe me. I have no idea where the facility is, I don't know how to read a map, my sister was the one that guided us there and once your men took us from the woods I was completely lost."

"But you know your way from the woods?" He asked, straightening up a little.

I shrugged. "Not really, it took us a few hours to get there from the facility, I think we entered from the south but I'm not really sure."

He nodded. "Then I'll send a team to search the area," he said, causing a pit in my stomach. He took a step forward, tilting his head slightly and staring down at me. "Now that wasn't so hard was it?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "You didn't have to kill someone."

His eyes narrowed and he regarded me for a moment before shrugging. "Apparently I did," he said before turning away, "I'm sure you will be more cooperative in the future."

With that, he left the office, leaving me alone with my thoughts. We'd lost an ally today. A friend. A fellow survivor. All because of me. And now my efforts to protect the other girls may have been in vain. If Kane found the facility then there's a chance he would kill them all - my sister included.

Or he would lock them away and strip away all our freedoms, leaving us as slaves to our male superiors once again. And after everything we had worked for, I was certain that we would all rather die than go back to being treated like dirt.

But somehow, I didn't think I would be that lucky.