Life After Champion

June

I continue racing down the damp and dimly lit hallways. I'm determined to find out where I am. To find out what they're planning. To escape.

My heart is beating rapidly as I turn around another corner. I stop dead in my tracks. Two guards are aimlessly walking down the hallway, deep in conversation.

Until they notice me.

They look from my face then down to the handcuffs still clamped around my wrists. Realization washes over their faces as their expressions change from one of confusion to anger. After only a seconds delay, the guards start running towards me.

I turn around to go back in the opposite direction, only to see the men from before just yards away. I desperately try the door to my right.

It opens with a click.

A guard pounces on top of me.

I shriek as I'm pushed to the ground, my arm cracking harshly as it makes contact with the edge of the door. Pain instantly floods through me and I cry out again.That's it. I'm captured.

I whimper as the man jerks me back and whispers in my ear, "You thought you could get away didn't you? Well, think again, because you, Ms. Iparis, aren't escaping." He throws me to the ground as he stands up. "Besides," he grins,"you're the main component in our new plan."

My heart races and my mind runs wild as he pulls me up and rams me into the wall. The guard I kicked in the jaw is coming up to me now. He's furious.

As the steps between us dwindle, I close my eyes. I fall to the ground again as he slaps me across the face. Hard. "I'd recommend you don't try pulling that stunt again," he sneers. He yanks me up by my bad arm and I cry out. "Broken a bone have we?" He laughs. "Serves you right."

They gag and blindfold me again, then drag me down the halls. I struggle against my restraints, but it's useless. They haul me into a dark room where they toss me in a chair in the corner and tie my wrists to the wooden and splintered arms.

A vaguely familiar voice echoes throughout the room.

"Ms. Iparis. From what I've gathered, it sounds like you were trying to spy on us the other day until one of my men caught you." He pauses, then starts again. "That, I must say, was not very smart on your part, and I know, as well as everyone else, that you're a very smart girl."

I hear his footsteps coming closer. "So, I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer truthfully and wisely with that little brain of yours.

"To start," he spits, "Tell me what they know of what we're planning." At the last word, he rips the gag out of my mouth.

I groan as he impatiently waits for my response.

"I don't know," I manage. "They didn't know anything before I came. Honestly, they didn't." Fear runs through me as I hope he accepts my answer.

He doesn't.