Wicked Games

22 - Eliana

Chapter Twenty-Two | Eliana

God, I can't breathe!

"What's your name?" I ask the young girl, crouching down in front of her, and grabbing a hold of her shaky hands. She eyes me cautiously and I can't blame her because when you live in a place like this you have no idea who to trust. "We're not going to hurt you, we're going to help you get out of here, okay." Her dull, brown eyes widen slightly.

"My name is, Ellie." My breath hitches, and I recoil back slightly, making sure I'm not imagining things, and that the little girl in front of me isn't a figment of my imagination.

Unfortunately, the clock is ticking and we don't have time for me to wonder what type of games Baker is trying to play with me, and right now I can't believe what type of question I'm about to ask the little girl.

"Can you shoot a gun?" I question her, and she nods her head eagerly.

"Really good." I smile gently at her determination and hand her one of the guns I have in my holsters.

"You shoot the bad guys, the people who try to hurt you, but not the people who are trying to help. Those are my people." Ellie nods again.

I stand back up to my full height and Ellie looks up at me in amazement.

"You're so pretty." She whispers and I laugh lightly, thanking her, and telling her how pretty she is too. It hurts my heart that she doesn't believe my words and shrugs my compliment off. "We gotta go," I tell Reid who is in a form of shock.

I wave my hand in his face, and he blinks.

"You're still not in the right mindset, are you?" He frowns.

Reid clears his throat and stands with his back a little straighter. "I'm fine, let's go."

We rush down the corridor, and Ellie guides us to where a certain group of children are kept. It's like a prison in here; hundreds of cells surround us, and all types of children stare with wide eyes. I jump at the sound of a gunshot and my eyes bulge at the bullet that whizzes past my face. Another gunshot echoes, and I look over my shoulder to see Reid has now killed the guard that fired the first bullet.

My eyes zone in on a control room and I rush toward it, confused as to why it's empty. "Where are all the guards, Ellie?" I question her as I start to fiddle with the controls, so I can open the doors to the cells.

"These children in this sector are dying, so the guards don't feel threatened that they will try to escape. They don't have the energy to because they're so ill." I trap my bottom lip between my teeth and exhale a shaky breath, hearing Reid curse under his breath, and he glances at me with a pained expression.

"No, Reid," I whisper, shaking my head.

"Dax said not every child will make it out, look at those kids, little butterfly, they're past saving." I listen to what he's saying and get a good look at them. The back of my eyes sting with tears at the sight of them. Most of the children are skin and bone, dying of hunger, some have their eyes closed as they lay on a hard mattress and I'm unsure whether they are alive.

Reid's right.

I grab the radio that Dax gave us to communicate and wait for a response.

"Hello, everything okay?" King's breathless voice speaks through the device and I swallow down the sadness in my voice.

"It's, Eliana. Our sector is...The children can't be saved." My voice cracks at the end of the sentence, and the silence is loud on King's end. "Did you hear me, King? They can't be saved."