Crash and Burn

f i f t y s i x: Agony

"You girls are going to be begging for death by the time I'm done with you." 

The words Rick just snarled echo around in my head, bouncing off the tissue of my brain over and over again in a painful cycle. My hand falls limp in Isabella's, and I'm fairly certain that I feel her skin ice over as she processes his words as well.

I don't know if it's the brightest idea for me to even respond to the drastic threat I just received, but I do know that I need to stall time for as long as possible. On the chance that Roman is on his way, I need to give him every ounce of time that I can squeeze out of this terrifying situation. Otherwise, we'll all end up dead and Rick will win yet again. 

"W-what are you going to do to us?" is the only question I can think of to ask, and I feel Isabella's hand twitch. I know it was a risky move, and neither of us particularly wanted to hear Rick list off all of the torture methods that he has in store for us, but it's my only option. 

Rick lifts his lips into a surprised smirk, obviously not expecting either one of us to say anything to him, let alone ask such a grotesque question. 

"You really want to know?"

I weakly nod my head, my face surely sporting a very evident grimace. I didn't really know what I was doing; my brain was going on autopilot mode, my fight or flight triggered. Right now, I was choosing to fight in my own way. I couldn't physically fight, so I might as well do what I can to stay out of harm's way for as long as I can. 

"Very well," Rick says, and I half-expect him to actually list off torture techniques. However, that would be much too simple for Rick to do. Instead, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pocket-knife, the blade popping out with a horrifying sound of sharp metal. 

I squint my eyes shut when my vision goes slightly hazy and suddenly I feel like I may puke. I knew I shouldn't have eaten anything at dinner earlier this evening. I open my eyes once again to see Rick's knife glinting under the fluorescent lights of the warehouse, his gaze trained on the intimidating blade. 

"Does that answer your question?" Rick knows what he's doing when he asks this, his voice dripping with the anticipation of hurting us; the anticipation of enjoying it when he does. 

The urge to stall time a mere minute ago seems to vanish from my brain upon seeing the knife that might end up making contact with my skin. I only nod my head at his question, now finding it hard to breathe. 

"Perfect. Don't fret though, it's not quite time for that yet. We're still waiting on our guest of honor," Rick winks at me menacingly before moving away from the cage, instead, going over to sit on a box next to Logan. Logan smirks at Rick's words, making my skin crawl. What did he mean 'guest of honor'? 

"What do you mean?" I share my confusion out loud, noticing how my voice comes out sounding shaky. 

Rick locks eyes with Logan before flitting them over to me, holding nothing but coldness and absence of emotion. "Roman, of course."

All movement of my body stops and I swear I even feel my heart stop for a second. The air in the room now feels impossibly too toxic to even enter my lungs, resulting in me letting out a strangled cough. Isabella takes this as an opportunity to speak up for me. 

"Why are we waiting for him? Wouldn't that be the opposite of what you want to do?"

Rick stands from the box once more, now pacing in front of our cages while turning the blade of the knife over and over in his palms. "Clearly, you don't understand the game of cat and mouse, do you? Tessa is the mouse and Roman is the cat. The cat will always chase after the mouse."