𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞¹ (𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠)

24. the lucky one

I wasn't sure how long I had been here, a day, maybe two. I leaned against the cool wall of my cell as I surveyed my injuries. My leg throbbed in pain due to the large gashes that were present on my upper thigh from sharp blades. My stomach still felt like it was burning from the hot metal that was dug into it, My ribs were bruised and my face, my face was covered in bruises and blood, not near as bad as Murphy's, but bad.

I let out a shaky sigh at the thought of Murphy. I had only been here for a couple of days at max and was already in this much pain, I couldn't even begin to imagine what he had been through.

The hinges on the metal door of my cell squealed as it opened, causing me to lift my head and look at the person entering. Every time that door had opened for the past two days I had begged, cried, screamed, done everything I could think of to try and convince them not to take me back to that room, the room where I knew I would face unimaginable pain. But today, today was different, I had no fight left.

"I'm not going to tell you anything." My voice came out rough, barely there from all the screaming and crying I had done, "Do whatever you want."

The man ignored me, like usual, grabbed my arm and pulled me harshly from my cell, like usual, however he pulled me towards the opposite end of the hall, not like usual.

"Where are you taking me?" I demanded, panic beginning to seep into my blood, "What's happening?"

The man continued to drag me down the hallway, grumbling under his breath. I couldn't understand what he was saying until he turned his head slightly to look at me, "You should be thankful for Lincoln," he spat as we stopped and he secured shakes around my already raw wrists, "He's the only reason you're making it out of here alive."

I was shocked as we continued walking. Who was Lincoln? Was he their leader? Was he the one who called all the shots? Was he—

My thoughts were cut off when a struggle down the hall grabbed my attention. I turned my head to see Murphy attempting to break free from the Grounders that were holding him, "Avery!" he screamed, his voice raw.

"Murphy!" I yelled while trying to stop the Grounder from pulling me any further, "What's going on!?"

Murphy gave up fighting as he let the Grounders begin to pull him away from me, "They're letting you go! I heard them talking and—" He cut himself off as he was pulled towards another corridor, "Just come back for me Avery, promise you'll come back!" he pleaded.

I was stunned at the news he had just delivered but nonetheless I gave him a slight nod of my head, "I promise!"

I was then pulled towards a ladder and forced up it, each step I took caused my leg to scream in pain. As I reached the top, the sunlight hit my eyes and I squinted against its bright light.

The Grounder pushed me through the forest towards a large animal that I soon recognized as a horse. I had never seen one in person before and seeing the animal brought me a sense of peace.

"Let's go." The Grounder ordered, motioning for me to get on the horse, "Anya will be here soon."

---

My limp body bounced around painfully with every step the horse took. Not long after I was forced up onto the back of one of the horses, another horse joined us with a woman on the back who I assumed was Anya. We had been riding through the forest now for whatever like forever as all my injuries burned in pain. I struggled to keep my eyes open, in order to see where they were taking me, Murphy said they were letting me go but that didn't mean they were letting me go back to camp. One of my eyes was almost swollen shut and the other was too tired to want to stay alert.