M-13

Are We Free?

Darrel looks me up and down. "He will not be eating again tonight, but give everyone an extra water bottle."

"Why won't you let him eat? He can't fucking escape!" Jared exclaims, and Darrel moves his ugly glare to his coworker.

Well, probably ex-coworker, because if we ever escape we will not keep quiet. Honestly, my biggest motivation to escape besides seeing my boyfriends is making sure I can land Darrel's ass in jail.

Exactly where he tried to put me.

"I'll be back within the next few days," Darrel says once Beni is chained up with the rest of us. He points at me once more. "Don't feed that bastard until I come back."

I groan and lay back on the cement. "I didn't realize I joined a damn weight loss program!" I whine once the guards have left.

Beni huffs, lowering her voice. "It won't be too much longer," she assures me, all traces of her anger gone and a smile on her face. "Lincoln says hi."

Well, that has my attention.

"Does he know where I am?" I ask, my voice so quiet that Beni can probably barely hear me, but I will not risk someone overbearing me. "Does Atticus?"

Beni pushes her earlobe up and I see a small, beige disk. "They're tracking me right now, and they'll be following with drones," she whispers. "Atticus will be calling in the superiors who work with the OSIU. It took me a week to find a location for The Onyx, but this place was the closest one that had been updated, so I headed here with a tracker so they can find us. Neither Lincoln or Atticus liked that asshole that grabbed me, so Atticus kept everything under wraps."

My heart is pounding in my chest. "Seriously?"

Beni nods.

"You couldn't have come five months ago?" Leo asks, but I see that he's more excited than annoyed. "But you're serious? You're going to help us get out of here?"

Jared fakes a pout. "But... Leo can run away from me in the real world!"

"Of course the only way you can get someone to spend time with you is by chaining them inside of a goddamn warehouse," Aviana says in a joking tone, smiling over at myself and Jared. "Don't worry, Leo. I'm still down to hide a body."

Leo thanks her, and his spirit seems rejuvenated at the idea that we may be able to escape this horrible place.

"You wouldn't," Jared growls.

Aviana rolls her eyes. "I would," she replies, and I believe her.

She's scary.

The guards come back into the building, making all of us go quiet. They give us all water bottles and everyone gets a small bag with food except for me. The guards take special care to watch the people surrounding me so they don't hide any food for me, and once they're done, they take the empty bags away.

I just drink my water, because if what Beni says is true, Atticus and Lincoln should have us out of here hopefully within the next day or so, depending on the course of action they take.

"Here," someone whispers once the guards have left the room.

I turn and see a girl with a collar on, and she looks so tired and broken, holding a roll from the bags out to me.