Survive

The Evaluation

The voices were what woke me up. Then it was the pain flaring up in my head, an irritating pounding in my temples. The pillow beneath my head felt like heaven, but I pushed away the thought as memories came flooding back. I clearly remembered what happened, and chose to stay absolutely still as I listened to the voices talking back and forth casually. With my eyes closed, I couldn't see who was speaking but the two male voices sounded familiar, as was the language they were speaking. Concentrating, I thought back to when I'd first heard the language on the train. Living with so many different people from so many different countries, I'd picked up a few things over the years. I think I'd heard a few families speaking it and had decided to try pick up the language. The light bulb went off as I finally remembered. Sitting up quickly in the bed, ignoring the pounding in my brain, I glared at the two men before speaking.

"Unde naiba sunt?" I growled in Romanian, not missing the shocked looks on their faces. "Raspunde -mi!" I shouted, hardening my glare. The younger of the two took a step forward to speak, but the older man put a hand on his shoulder and muttered something to him, too quiet for me to hear. The younger man glanced at me for a second longer before turning and exiting the room. The man in front of me crossed his arms over his chest and continued to stare down at me from the foot of the bed. I returned the intense look he was giving me while also examining his features. Thinning hair with shots of grey, thin pale lips set in a firm line surrounded by a short graying beard that extended up his jaws. Small wrinkles forming around his stern blue eyes clearly showed that he was well past middle age. Mid to late fifties was my guess.

"Where is he?" I demanded, this time in English. The man simply raised a grey eyebrow in false confusion. "I know you can understand me. So, tell me where he is!" I shouted and stood up quickly from the bed, ignoring the jab of pain that shot through my ankle.

"I do not know what you mean." he replied stoically, his rough accent intimidating even though he wasn't showing any emotion.

"Oh, you have no idea who you're dealing with." I laughed bitterly, taking a cautious step forward. "I'm not gonna say it again. Where is he?" My weapons were stripped from me, as was my coat and boots. But, if it came to it, I would beat the living shit out of the man in front of me to find Curtis.

Suddenly, the metal door behind the man creaked open and the woman from the woods walked in with the younger man who had left.

"Hello again." she said, flashing me an apologetic smile. "Sorry about the...you know." she added, gesturing to her head. My hand flew up to my forehead and I felt a small bandage beneath my fingertips.

"Move out of my way, I'm leaving." I snapped, taking a couple steps towards the door.

"You can't." The younger man finally spoke up, his accent the same as the older man's just slightly higher in pitch. He put a hand on my shoulder to stop me, but I quickly snatched it before it could touch me.

"You gonna stop me, pretty boy?" I snarled, enjoying the way his blue eyes widened a little in fear.

"Let him go, curvă." The older man spat, finally showing some emotion on his dull face.

"Fraser." El, I remembered was her name, said with controlled authority. "Take Dorin and leave us." she ordered. Dorin, the younger man, ripped his hand from my grasp and glowered at me as he and Fraser left the room.

"Nice friends you've got." I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Yes, well, Fraser is very protective of his nephew. And you weren't exactly looking for friends." she chuckled, running a hand through her unruly dark hair. She seemed too cavalier about the whole thing.

"The other person you found, where is he?" I asked, trying to control my anger so I could focus properly.

"Your husband's fine. So are the kids." she revealed. I didn't bother correcting her when she called Curtis my husband. "They're in the infirmary now."