Restore (Sequel to Purge: Larry au)

Chapter 9

TW: violence, substance abuse, panic attack

--------

The clang of metal against metal jolts Louis awake. He sits up on his bunk, rubbing his eyes and trying to ignore the aching in his entire body. 

"Wake up!" a trooper shouts. "Time to get to work!"

He continues to hit his rifle against the bars of the prison cells, waking all of the victims of the concentration camp. 

Louis slowly climbs out of bed, if you could really call it that. It's nothing more than a slightly soft piece of fabric stretched over a slab of metal on the wall. Around him, his other cellmates are waking up. 

"Do you think the Resistance is ever going to find this place?" Ella asks.

Louis sighs. He's been there four months already. So far there's been no sign of help, and he's still months away from being able to execute his escape plan. 

"I don't know," he tells Ella honestly. "I really hope so."

Louis's imagined the Resistance coming to save them so many times. All of his fantasies follow the same plot though: 

He's working in the yards with the other prisoners. The troopers are yelling at them about something, but then suddenly, the walls are blasted apart. Through the smoke and rubble, gunshots are fired and ever guard crumples to the ground, dead. 

That's when Scarlett appears, holding her rifle against her chest, declaring freedom for all of the prisoners. Standing right beside her is Harry, with his beautiful, long, curly hair blown out of his face and his green eyes wide and happy to have found them. He drops his weapons and runs to Louis, kissing him and telling him he loves him. He promises that they'll never be separated again. 

Somewhere behind Scarlett and Harry, Niall, Zayn, and Liam are there too, helping to get everyone to safety. They take Louis home and Harry never lets go of him. In the end, he always gets his family back.

But it's getting harder and harder to remain hopeful as each day goes by. Louis isn't sure if Harry will ever find him. He's not sure if he's ever even going to see Harry or the rest of his friends again. 

The grating of the cell doors stirs him from his thoughts as he and his cellmates are ordered to go to the mess hall for breakfast. There, they're served a small portion of sludge-like oatmeal. It's just enough to give them energy, but not so much that the Purge would be wasting their resources on pathetic prisoners like them. 

Then, they're sent to the yard, where they stand out in the sun for hours, helping to manufacture weapons and gunpowder that will be used against them eventually. Louis hates it, but he knows that he has no choice. He has no strength to rebel and he can't escape yet. He also can't die. As of now, he's the best chance the people at this camp have to be freed. Besides, he can't die without seeing Harry again.

Halfway through the day, a young girl near Louis, maybe twelve or thirteen years old, collapses from heat and exhaustion. Two Purge troopers immediately go to her, and they look fully set on beating her for "being so lazy."

As the first trooper raises his rifle so smash down on the girl's crumpled body, Louis shouts and jumps in front of her, grabbing the weapon with his hands, forcing it out of the way. He stands over the girl, refusing to budge. 

"Get out of the way, scum," the other trooper growls. 

"No," Louis says. "She's done nothing wrong. She's exhausted. We all are. We need breaks or we're all going to collapse like her."