Puppet {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 49

The one good thing Vinet has ever done in the time I've known her is help Dakota, although the only reason she does it is to keep me compliant, at least he lives. He stayed unconscious for a long time, so long that by the time he started to wake up we were both locked in my old room. We'd been alone for hours now, Dakota was lying on the mattress mumbling and wincing, so I ran over from where I was standing at the opposite wall looking at all the drawings and knelt beside him.

"Dakota?" I put a hand on his head to discourage him from getting up, relaxing when his eyes finally opened, showing blatant confusion when he looked at me.

"Wh.... What the hell happened?" he asked, and I sighed, bowing my head.

"We, um.... Got recaptured."

"Fer-de-Lance?" he rolled his head to look at me, and I shook my head.

"You swerved. Why?"

"There was someone in the middle of the road," he explained, rubbing his eyes, "Hit my head I think."

"Yea, pretty badly. You were bleeding a lot, but you should be fine now. Just don't move too much. You blacked out almost instantly, it's lucky you woke up at all."

"Great," Dakota mumbled, "So where are we?"

I didn't answer at first, just bowed my head more, "Con Rồng," I said finally, looking at Dakota's shocked expression, "I'm sorry, I couldn't fight them when you were hurt, I.... completely screwed up. I let them take us."

"Shit," Dakota struggled to sit up, holding his head and looking around the room, "That's bad on a lot of levels. We're still stuck, but everyone at home will think the Fer-de-Lance have us."

"Yea," I stood up and turned, starting to pace and holding tightly to the scarf around my neck, "So if they ever try to find us they'll just waste time and resources on the Fer-de-Lance, they'll have no idea we got recaptured, and if they do figure out we got away, they still won't know. We're on our own."

"What do you think the odds are of escaping this place three times in a row?" Dakota asked, inching to the edge of the mattress, and I shook my head, raking my fingers back through my hair.

"Slim. The first time I got away was because Carter made some scheme to get me captured during a mission, but they won't make that mistake again. The second time was basically Carter's doing as well."

"So, we need the Irish guy's help?" Dakota asked, and I shook my head.

"Welsh, and probably, but I didn't see him when they brought me in," I pressed my head against the wall, "Damn it he could be dead for all I know. The only good thing is they haven't made me leave the room yet, I haven't seen Blu, they just dropped us both here and left."

"Speaking of which, where is here?" Dakota asked, standing up. He wavered on his feet, somehow staying upright with a hand holding his head, brows furrowing when he noticed all the paper taped to the walls.

"This was.... My cell," I explained, pushing off the wall to look at the drawings.

"This was?" Dakota breathed, "Did they take stuff out while you were gone or something?"

"No. It's the same as when I left," I turned and slid down the wall, holding my knees against my chest, "I don't want to be here," I admitted softly, unable to hide the fear as I started to shake, "I thought I was okay, I thought I'd be fine with the rebellion, I'd be safe, why did this happen?"

"Hey, easy," Dakota shuffled over to me and sat down next to me, "We'll get out of this. You got away twice before, we can get away again no problem. Just stay strong, okay? We have to get out, you can't leave Kailas like that."