so, you wanna start a war?

003

A stinging slap across my face brought me back to reality. Rusty slammed his hand down,

"Enough stalling! We know you know about the Refuge! Tell me what you know before I break you!"

I continued staring, responseless, at the metal table in front of me. Rusty demanded an answer from me once again. Ignoring him, he hit my face again, causing the crusted-over skin on my lip to break and allow blood to dribble down my chin. I bit the inside of my cheek as he yelled in my face. As soon as he saw that I wasn't going to give him an answer, he moved away from the table and began to pace with his hands on his head.

"We saw you," he said between shaky breaths. "Before you disappeared, you were seen talking to a suspected representative of the Refuge. You can't lie for much longer."

I bowed my head and cracked a faint smile at his idiocy. There's no possible way anybody could've seen me talking to a "representative" of the Refuge outside of the compounds. 

After my continued silence, Rusty growled and grabbed my hair, slamming my head down on the table, making me cry out in pain and causing blood to cascade out of my nose. He leaned over me, daring me to look into his dark eyes.

"See, I told you that this would happen if you didn't talk. Now, speak!"

He leaned over me further, pressing his elbow into my neck. I began to gasp for air when he yelled for an answer again.

"S-Stop!" I stuttered out.

Rusty stood up straight and jerked the top of my head up and against his chest.

"Speak, dog," he commanded, his hold tightening.

"Why."

He looked down at me over the bridge of his nose, questions flaring up in the etches of his face.

"What did you just say?" he said lowly, anger bubbling up behind his eyes. My eyes flickered back and forth between them.

 "W-what are you doing this for? This system kills people. Innocent girls. Girls who have absolutely no control over their genetics. We are losing our lives just because the Superior is afraid of a sickness that we are immune to, bu-"

Rusty interrupted me, stretching my neck back further into my chest, my ears ringing as he shouted, "Don't talk to me about innocent lives being lost! Millions are dead! Dead! because of this damned virus." I heard the sound of a blade being pulled out of its case. Its cool metal met my neck as he leaned down and growled in my ear, "Tell me what you know, before this knife ends up in your throat. 

"You know," he whispered, the tip of the knife tracing my neck up to my jawline, pressing slightly into my skin. "If you don't tell me what I want to hear, I can hurt you as much as I want. They can just patch you up and send you back down to me, and it all starts again. Talk now, and it will never have to happen again. Your choice."

Bite me.

***

Weeks later, I sat in my room, staring through the small observation window and into the hallway, watching the monotonous life of the compound play out before me. I shifted slightly, and the fresh cloth on my side moved, rubbing against my almost healed wound and raw skin.

I slid my hands under my thin gown, running my fingers up and down my side that was peppered with purple, blue, and green bruises. My muscles tender and sore, I rolled out my neck and shoulders very slowly, being careful not to strain them. I knew that I would be entering the Trials soon, as my injuries were fully healed, and I didn't know what to think. I didn't want to think, but I couldn't keep my mind from wandering off and down the dark paths in my brain.