Heartbeat

Chapter 29- Meg

Meg was confident she was running a fever. She wasn't sure if it was from hunger, dehydration, stress, or if she was legitimately sick from lying on a damp floor while being bound to a chair all day. But she was not well.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed, she only periodically got glimpses of a window, and it appeared to be raining the whole time.

Meg had only woken up what she presumed to be hours after she and Sal were first taken and were knocked unconscious. Her head ached; she had a moment's panic, thinking she had gone blind, but then realized there was a blindfold wrapped around her head. Her second realization was that there was a horrid, continuous ringing in her working ear. She could hear nothing beyond it. She tried calling for help and thought she had heard a voice reply, but she wasn't sure. She struggled at the bindings and yelled repeatedly, but no one came to untie her.

Her mind raced, trying to understand what had happened. She had a Widows tattoo and thought it was unlikely that it was a random slaver. Everyone knew Widows retrieve their dead, even with the recent disappearance of the Wraith.

Meg's mind went to a rival gang. Maybe the Razorgulls got bold and wanted to send a message. Again, Meg thought this a feeble answer. Meg wasn't even the most coveted member; Granny would only do a rescue out of pride, not out of loyalty. No one really knew she was an Alkemi, not anyone of importance. Even if some Pigeons had spotted it, most Widows hadn't bothered to learn Hand, couldn't understand them if they tried to tell it, and wouldn't bother giving them any attention.

Meg considered the stadwatch, but the men kidnapped them weren't uniformed. She didn't get a good look, but she'd recognized the purple uniform.

When hands finally grabbed her, she couldn't help begging for help desperately. She had no dignity and no sense of pride. She knew it would make no difference but couldn't help it.

She could feel the chair she was bound to be lifted and carried somewhere. Her blindfold was removed. She blinked and tried to regain control over her sight.

The room was dark; there was a single high window. Meg thought she recognized the design to be like the windows in the Warehouse. The smell was familiar to that of the Weft, dank and nauseating.

Looking around more, she thought she was in an office similar to hers. What would be the foreman's office? She was seated at a desk with papers in front of her. She recognized them immediately. Contracts to sign away herself as an indenture.

She looked at the men in the room and saw they were in a merchant's liveried uniform. She didn't recognize their colours; blue and purple. She didn't think she saw any of these men when she was taken.

Their lips moved, and Meg could tell immediately that it would be impossible to hear what they were saying. Her slightest ability to hear was completely gone. She tried to focus on their mouths, but they must have had accents with which she wasn't familiar. She could only catch stray words; even then, she wasn't confident.

'Now. Problem. Here.' Meg thought she understood that. They then put a pen down on the desk in front of her. Meg understood this immediately.

Never. I can read you scum suckers, and there's no way. I already owe a debt, and I am not going to you." Meg screamed it with as much force as she could. Snarling and pulling at the ropes. One of the men laughed, but the other two remained severe. They said more things, but Meg was too angry to focus on their mouths. They shoved the pen at her several more times, and Meg continued to repeat herself.

"No, never, never, no. No matter what. Never!" After several moments of this, they looked at each other confused. The third guard, who was the smallest, kept shrugging, and the other two seemed to convince him to do something, and he ran out. They placed the blindfold back over Meg's eyes and carried her to another location, possibly where they had initially taken her from. It took two minutes of moving, so it could take one moment of running to get out. Meg thought, trying to assess the possibility of escape.