When I wake up the next morning, Cinda is already gone. I hope that she makes it back. I sit up and swing my legs over the side of my cot. Instantly, blurriness crowds the edges of my vision and black spots dance mockingly across my line of sight. I wait for the sensation to pass, then I get up and slowly make my way to the cell door.
"Matt?" I whisper into the darkness.
"Yes?"
"Good, at least you're still here," I say. "do you know what happened to the boy the guard beat yesterday?"
I hear Matt sigh. It's not a good sign.
"He stopped moving after a while. The guard dragged his body somewhere. Probably to the dump," he says.
A guard enters the hallway dragging an unconsious person behind him. Squinting against the darkness, I try to see who it is. Cinda. Seeing her bruised, unconsious, and being dragged across the floor makes something inside me snap. There has to be a way to fight back.
I sit down on my cot and think. Slowly, a plan begins to form. It's crazy, and has a very small chance of succeeding. I reach under my cot and pull out the fork. I start grinding the end of the handle on the rough stone floor. It may be small, but it may help me escape.
***
It takes me a month to grind the fork down to a sharp edge. In that time, I went into the room ten times. Each time, there were needles. Seven more prisoners are dead. Luckily, Matt and Cinda are still alive.
Across the hall, a cell door grinds its way open. I shove the fork into my boot. I get up and walk to the front of my cell, my muscles tense. I watch as the guard drags another prisoner back to the room. Sighing, I collapse onto my cot, the small weight of the fork in my boot providing a sliver of will to live. Now all that I have to do is wait for my turn.
YOU ARE READING
Ruby
Teen Fictionin a futuristic world, sixteen-year-old Veronica has been abducted, had her memory of her old life taken from her, and she's been tortured, all by an evil group with rubies for pupils. when she manages to escape, she must learn who she is and what s...
