Hinterland (The Aftermath #2)

Chapter Two

I was awoken in the middle of the night by someone's snoring. I didn't care enough to find out who it was. It could've even been from a separate cell.

Instinctively, I lifted my arm to see what time it was, but my wrist was bare. They took my watch.

"Hello." The quiet voice startled me.

"Hello?" I crawled down from the bunk-beds. The voice didn't come from anyone I knew. I walked toward the cell door, then the snoring strengthened. I peered to the left as far as I could and found a guard fast asleep in a chair. Whoever was speaking must've taken note of that as well.

"I'm in front of your cell," the high voice said. It belonged to a girl... a young girl. It was hard to make out features because of the dark, but some dim lighting allowed me to see her soft features.

"Hi," I said in a whisper, worried I'd wake the guard.

"Have you been here before?"

"Wha-well, not really. We came yesterday. Uh, six days ago, actually," I said. I'd forgotten that I'd been unconscious for five days.

"I've been here for two years," the little girl said. Oh, crap. So it wasn't just the night we were staying. Two years... I couldn't imagine living in a cell for more than a day.

The guard grunted, and we both fell silent. When the girl turned her head, the light reflected off of her hair, and I caught a glimpse of the colour. Dirty blond. That's when I remembered the moment before I was shot with the tranquilizer-a little girl clutched in the arms of who I assumed was her brother.

"Adelyn," she said. "That's my name. But I only hear it sometimes... when my brother says it. The guards never say my name. Never ever."

"Oh. I can call you Adelyn," I said. "I like that name."

"Mom named me. That's her middle name, you know. I don't know where she is now. She's probably worrying about me, but I am never going home."

"You'll go home one day. Where... where is your home?" I asked.

"I don't know," Adelyn said. "I was at home playing with my brother. Mom and Dad were out and then somebody knocked on the door. One, two, three. Terri went down to open it and then there were these people. Big scary men with big arms. They took us away, into trees, under a tunnel, into a flying machine and then up and away into the sky. Then we came here. I was sad."

I couldn't help feeling sorry for Adelyn. If I thought my life was cruel, then I was overestimating it. This innocent little girl was stolen from her family and shoved into a cell for two years.

"We're going to get out," I said. "I promise."

"Thank you. Who... who are you?"

"April. Like the month. January, February, March, April."

"I know some of that. I didn't get to learn very much in school because I was only in my First Year. Terri teached me some stuff. Like... taught. Terri taught me." Adelyn chuckled, which caused me to as well.

"Is Terri sleeping?" I asked.

"Yes. He shakes when he's sleeping. Crying. Sometimes he wakes up screaming." That made me think of Zenon when he screamed in the hospital, then woke up covered in sweat and tears.

"He'll be okay. When we get out, I'll make sure that we bring you two with us," I said.

"I'll... you... shut up..." I turned my head toward the guard who just spoke and fought the urge to dive into my bunk bed. Oh, good. He was just talking in his sleep. The guard flinched once and said something else unintelligible.