Cave of Shadows

Strength

Chapter 4- Roxanne’s POV

When all of our numbers had been checked, the guards ushered us into the compound, and once we were inside, and the doors were firmly shut behind us, they led us toward one of the walls of the compound.  There were little metal hoops with chain strung through them on the wall, and they began detaching us from the group and chaining us to the wall.  First went the ones with the really long numbers, and then those of us with one digit numbers.  Once they were finished, they walked away and left us to our own devices.  I was so terrified that I wouldn’t have even noticed who I was chained next to if they hadn’t directly addressed me.

“Are you okay?,” Rachel asked.

I looked at her in disbelief.  “Yeah, sure, Rachel, considering that in the last 48 hours I’ve found out that my best friend was cheating on me with my fiancée who got her pregnant, was arrested, sentenced to fight to the death in the Circuses, got my skin mutilated by a crazy man who keeps calling me Octavia, and to top it all off, I have to spend my last few hours on earth in the hot sun chained to a wall next to the two most confusing people I know!  Yes, Rachel, I’m just PEACHY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

Rachel didn’t seem fazed by my outburst, but Connor then took it upon himself to enter into the conversation.

“Hey!  You leave her alone, Roxanne!  I know you’re upset, you’ve just been through a horrible shock, but that gives you no right to scream at Rachel!  None of this is her fault!”

“You’re absolutely right Connor!  The blame in this situation clearly lies with you!”

He looked shocked.  “Me?  How is any of this my fault?!”

“You – you…!”  It took me a minute to calm down and give a rational answer, since I was really close to reaching a state of hysteria.  “You’re right.  This isn’t your fault, Connor, and it’s not her fault, and it’s not my fault either.  I guess I’m just a little mad about being in the dark all this time, and I took it out on you two because… well, because you both went through it with someone else, and I’m all alone.  Not to mention the fact that you both lied to me about everything you are!  I don’t even know you two anymore!  What happened to the friendly, bubbly girl who ran me out of my room every Saturday afternoon!  I realize that that was all part of your nefarious plan to get me to fall in love with him under false pretenses, but you, or at least the you I knew, and I were friends, Rachel!  And you,” I screamed at Connor, my anger returning, “what happened to the man I fell in love with?  You made me like you, then you made me love you, and now that you’ve finally decided to develop a conscience, how am I supposed to turn that off?  I CAN’T!  I LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART AND SOUL, REGARDLESS OF HOW YOU FEEL!  THAT’S NOT YOUR FAULT, IT’S JUST THE WAY IT IS, AND I’M MISERABLE AND WITHOUT ANSWERS TO BOOT!”  And then, I was sobbing like I had never sobbed before for what seemed like hours. 

When I had calmed down, Connor reached behind Rachel’s back and put his arms around her.

“Well, Roxanne, there’s not much I can do about the fact that the Colony’s plan to have you fall in love with me seems to have worked a little too well.  However, I think we can help with the answers.”

I looked up at him in disbelief.  “Really?”

“Yeah.  What do you want to know?”

Connor’s POV

Rachel and I told Roxanne about the widespread government plot to orchestrate the breeding in the Colony through secret arranged marriages.  She was shocked and horrified to hear that Rachel and I were victims of this horrifying plan, and even more shocked to hear who Rachel had been matched with.