The Strong Will Survive

Chapter Thirty-Nine - Lilith [EDITED]

 After a beat of silence, I turned to Benji. "You need to get yourself under control," I ordered, my stern words undermined by my shaking voice. I was obviously in no sort of control over myself, either - at least, emotionally.

"They kidnapped and tortured my little sister and you expect me to control myself?" Benji snapped, and I flinched. Blinking back tears, I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak without crying. I wished KC and her calming playlist were here - I could feel my panic rising, constricting my throat and making it difficult to breathe.

I kneeled beside Jared. "Is there anything that needs immediate attention?" I asked, my hands hovering above his bruised body hesitantly. I didn't want to hurt him more than he was already in pain.

"No. I don't think so. I'm still breathing, so I'm good."

I tried not to feel too put off by this strange side of Jared. This side that was sarcastic and morbidly humorous, the side that talked back and seemingly didn't feel fear.

"First thing's first. We need to get out," I said after another moment of tense silence. "We know that Dr. Morte has Lydia, Reggie, and Daisy. We know that he doesn't want us to get the cure to the zombie disease, maybe because he wants to take credit for it or something." I felt sick with the thought of a man so power-hungry that he was willing to kidnap, torture, and harm others to get the information that would lead to his hypothetical fame.

"Who is this guy?" Jared asked with a note of...not awe, but close to it. "He has this huge lab...thing that's built in a cave, for Christ's sake. He has people - healthy humans - working for him even after the zombie apocalypse has been raging for months. He's obviously very skilled at what he does, whatever it is that he does, and there is no way that his real name is Dr. Morte."

I remembered Benji's incredulous translation - Dr. Death? "How do you know Italian?" I thought to ask him.

"Believe it or not, an old video game I played a while ago." Benji frowned. "Couldn't remember the title to save my life."

The words "to save my life," although they were a common enough phrase, only served to remind me of our dire situation. I nodded, breathing slowly, and attempted to calm myself. I had to focus on the task at hand - escaping.

I rattled the door handle, to no avail. I hadn't truly thought that it would be that easy, but it was worth a shot. Glancing around, I took stock of the room. I hadn't been paying full attention when we had first arrived, for many obvious reasons.

There were four cots. So maybe they had been expecting to capture KC? The fact that she wasn't here with us gave me a spark of hope.

"Help me," I ordered the boys as I moved to one of the cots and started tugging at it. Benji came to help, glancing confusedly at me, and Jared moved to another cot, not seeming to care about my motives.

There was nothing underneath our cot. I hadn't honestly expected something as useful as a trapdoor or some kind of tool, but there had to be something.

Nothing underneath Jared's cot.

Nothing underneath the third cot.

My heart beating fast, crossing my fingers, I watched as Jared and Benji yanked the cot away from the wall.

Nothing.

I sighed, my spirits sinking even lower. I sank to the floor and buried my face in my hands.

The door opened and I shot to my feet, pressing an arm over Benji's chest instinctively to hold him back.

One of the men who had carried us stood there. He ran a hand over his short, cropped, black hair and set his jaw tensely. I could see the nervousness in his eyes.