To Be A Rebel

Chapter 21: Step Into My Office, Baby

I shift, my chains rattling as I lay against the wall. I can hear someone screaming from a few rooms over. I think it's Adam. It sounds like Adam.

"I said so, didn't I? Didn't I say so? When do you ever listen to me?" Moonchild laughs, almost bitterly. "When have you ever thought I was anything but a stupid chakra-obsessed aging hippie mind-controlling probably-not-even-real voice in your head, Five?... But didn't I say so?

"Too good to be true. So which of them was it? Who trapped you in here? Was is Steve, who sent that message to trick you? Was it Sigrid or Ian who tried to tempt you here? Is there someone in Noah Base who's out to get you?"

"I don't know," I answer.

"Is it luck?"

"I don't-"

"What happened?"

"I don't know!" I yell, and I now realize the pain in my scalp has been from me pulling at my own hair. Moonchild sighs as she looks at my chains.

"I wish I had my copy of I Ching. I'd throw some sticks, we'd work this out. Monkey mind, Five. Got to watch out for it."

"What does that even mean?" I ask, and suddenly she's too close, even for a probably-not-even-real voice in my head. She leans over me where I sit, and while she's the one that's almost translucent, I feel as if she can see right through me as she stares into my eyes.

"You've been alone in here for five days," She says, adding my name in at the end of that sentence. "Are you going crazy?

"Again?"

I stare at her, and once I register what she's said, I bare my teeth in an angry snarl, ready to spew out words of hatred and malice.

But then the door opens. The screams become more clear as I push myself up against the wall, my chain rattling as in steps two figures. I suck in a sharp breath, trying to reign in my fear, gather my courage. For once, I'm glad the Torrencers trained me to never break.

"If you're going to kill me, you might as well go ahead and do it now," I say, and I try to hold back the tears because I know I'm going to die. "No matter what you do to me, what you put me through, I won't tell you anything. Janine De Luca may be dead, but the rebellion lives on."

Sigrid looks down at me, her gaze neutral and her tone professional.

"Oh, Runner Five, what have they done to you?"

I blink. "W-what?"

"Ian, I thought I said Miss Glover should be fed properly, not these slops." She kicks the bowl that contained my 'food', and the contents spill everywhere.

"Someone must have been stealing the rations I sent down," Ian says, and I notice a certain haughtiness in his voice as he looks at me, his eyes gleaming. "Haven't you been getting the fresh breads and vegetable soups, Five?"

I look at them both in confusion. Is this some kind of mind trick?

"This is terrible. It's so dark in here. How long did you say, Ian?"

"Only... two days in here."

"Five," Moonchild yells. "It's been five! Ha, Five! Five! Oh, Gaia, maybe you're sane and I'm the one who's gone crazy."

"Two days is still too long," Sigrid says, sneering at the shackles around my wrists and ankles. "And all chained up. Someone undo these chains at once."

I stay perfectly still as a guard comes in and undoes my shackles. They took away my lock picking kit after I passed out from being tased for three minutes straight. I honestly think Ian was wanting Steve to kill me.