Love Is Weakness

Captured

My body swayed in time with the figure carrying me over their shoulders, my world tipping with every step they took. I squeezed my eyes shut as the motion sent my head spinning, unable to see anything in the near darkness that surrounded us.

My head throbbed from the blow I had been dealt from the Grounder earlier, not that I had any concept of how much time had passed since then. It was still dark so I could only assume that it had been at least a few hours.

My arms were tied behind my back and I could feel the rope tightly tied around my ankles making my chances of escaping very slim. I struggled to make sense of my swirling thoughts, the blow to my head having left me somewhat confused.

The movement beneath me stilled and without any warning the Reaper dropped me roughly to the ground, a quiet groan escaping my lips at the impact, my already aching body acquiring a new set of bruises.

I heard him move away and cracked my eyes open to see some horses tied up nearby, three Reapers gathered next to them. My captor shared a few words with them, gesturing in my direction a few times. None of them seemed overly worried about keeping an eye on me so I chose that time to test my restraints, not that I was rewarded for my efforts. The ropes remained tightly bound and didn't show any signs of coming loose.

Even as I desperately tried thinking of a way to get free or even just escape my captors, a soft crunching of boots alerted me to a presence behind me. I immediately stopped my futile battle with the restraints and remained still but it was far too late for that now. The Reaper pulled me roughly onto my back and glared down at me, aiming a sharp kick to my head which sent me into unconsciousness once more.

-----

I dipped in and out of consciousness for some time, unable to decipher anything from the strip of cloth that had been placed over my eyes, for what purpose I did not know. I suppose it made any attempt to escape far more likely to fail if it ever came to that.

Clearly I was slung over the back of the horse from the jolting motion beneath me and the steady pounding of hooves that did nothing to ease the pain blossoming in my head from the recent assaults.

Time had no meaning as we continued on at a steady pace through the landscape, our speed never altering from what I could tell. Not only was my head causing me trouble but my entire body was beginning to protest at the odd position at which I was situated on the horse. Despite this I remained still in case any of the Reapers felt it necessary to knock me out once more. Any future plans to escape would be useless if I wasn't even conscious.

After what seemed like an eternity, I felt the motion below me come to a stop and at first thought I was merely imagining it or had lost all sensation in my body. This possibility was quickly proved wrong when I was dragged roughly from the back of the horse and left to fall the rest of the way to the ground, landing heavily when I was unable to catch myself due to the restraints.

The cloth was ripped away from my face in quick succession and I lay stunned on the ground for a moment, squeezing my eyes shut against the sharp light that pierced them. Only when the pain became more bearable did I risk opening them once more, lifting my face slightly from the ground to stare at the dusty shoes before me.

My first thought was that they were hardly practical for the terrain, looking more suited for fancy evenings than trekking through the forest. As my mind caught up with what I was seeing and tried to understand what was going on, I managed to scramble somewhat awkwardly to my knees and lifted my gaze to identify the owner of such shoes.

'Hello Clarke' a familiar voice spoke, the same untrustworthy smile that I remembered so clearly lifted his lips in a satisfied smirk. His eyes still retained the gleam of cruelty that was always present in his gaze, no mercy for those he felt did not deserve it. I had no time to take in any further details or even formulate a response when Cage lifted the gun in his hand and pulled the trigger without even the slightest pause.