"Please Prince," I sighed. "This isn't the time for blind accusations. I need you to help me get out of here and-"
"And you thought crawling back to the enemy was the best way to do that. Well done Pinks, you've become the most useless coward I've ever met. At least normal cowards make good distraction targets."
I flinched. I needed to pull myself together if I was to get through to him. I bit the inside of my mouth and spoke quietly. "I didn't betray you. I thought it'd be useful if you had a Runner on the outside." I stared him down, a small smile pulling at my lips. "Tell me I'm wrong."
Suddenly, Prince leapt forward and kicked me in the stomach. Before I could double over in pain, he pushed me over and I fell on my back. He came down and leaned his weight on me. I tried to push him off but I had no energy. I could only lie helplessly, hoping he wouldn't crush my lungs.
"First off, let's get some things straight," he whispered, his face dangerously close to mine. "I don't need any attitude from you. You're a coward and a traitor and I don't owe you anything. I owe your little friend who is under my care. I could easily say you were killed in crossfire or you wanted to stay with your baby brother."
I wriggled an arm free and tried to surprise him with a punch. However I was too slow and he caught it before it could collide with his face. He shifted his position so his knee was pressed against my stomach then grabbed my left arm and twisted my wrist. I bit down on my lip, trying not to scream.
"You're weak. I don't need you. I never needed you. You're more trouble than you're worth." He twisted it further and I gasped. It was so excruciating that it took a lot of willpower not to yell out. Prince grinned evilly, enjoying watching me squirm. "Still not going to scream? Are you afraid of your friends outside the door? If they saw you here, you'd be slaughtered like a lamb just like the rest of us."
My body went cold at the thought. I could feel my face go pale. I stared up desperately at Prince, a single word escaping my lips.
"Please."
He watched me a little longer then sighed. Reluctantly, he released my arm. Relief washed over me but I knew we weren't done yet.
"Pinks," he snarled. "Admit you're a coward."
"I'm a coward," I mumbled.
"And a traitor," he continued
"I'm a traitor," I agreed quietly.
"But you swear your loyalty to me and won't act on your own again unless I say so. If you defy me again even just once, I will personally make your life a living hell or make sure you end up there. Understand?" He said harshly. I nodded, ashamed I still couldn't stand up to him.
"Good," he muttered then stood up. I sat up, cradling my stomach. We had elapsed into silence. I nursed my wounds whilst Prince paced around, thinking hard. Finally, he cleared his throat.
"So," he began. "Why have you come to me? Why didn't you run off to Dogs?"
I looked up at him briefly then reached a shaky hand into my pocket. I withdrew the papers and found the translated letter. I held it out for Prince to take.
"Prince," I whispered. "Is Stevie really alive? You said he was under your care."
Prince scanned over the letter before replying. "Huh, so he doesn't trust me," he muttered. "Where did you get this?" He asked.
"From my brother, Alex." I replied.
"Your brother?" He said suspiciously. "I see. And I'm guessing you wanted to take him with us, correct?" I hesitated then nodded. "Yeah. It's just, he might take some convincing if you know what I mean."
Prince stared at the letter for a bit longer. Iwasn't sure if he really heard what I said. Finally, he spoke. "Yes, he's alive and well, I can guarantee youthat."
I sighed in relief. "Then why did Dante lie to me? He told me he was dead."
Prince laughed sarcastically. "Ahaha, oh Pinks, he's lied about a lot more than you think. Remember when you became a Runner and you were tied up and pretty much forced into joining us?"
"Because of you," I muttered under my breath. Prince narrowed his eyes and I shut my mouth. Now wasn't the time to get on his bad side.
"Because of me? Because of me? Oh dear, you really are stupid aren't you? Didn't I say earlier that I didn't need you? Why would I force you- or anyone for that matter- to become a Runner? That's the worst way to go about something like this. There's no such thing as forced loyalty. Besides," he said nonchalantly. "If I was really going to force anybody, it'd be Steven. He would've made a much better Runner than you."
I flinched. I felt so useless. "Why am I here then?" I mumbled, hanging my head. "You obviously despise me and Stevie's way more qualified than me."
Prince sighed. "As I said, I'd have to force him and that wouldn't work well at all. He wanted something I didn't have so I was going to let him go. However, Dogs pushed me to make a deal with him and so I did. We agreed that if I got him what he wanted, he'd become a Runner."
"What did he want?" I asked half-heartedly.
He snorted. "Funnily enough, you. He wanted me to bring you to safety. In my mind, it was tempting. You see, Stevie and I are pretty alike so I figured this could work out but I decided to decline. He would've been so perfect for that last position too. That's when Dogs argued with me and eventually I gave in. He got along well with Steven so I assumed he was doing this for him." Prince kicked himself. "I should've seen the stars in his eyes but all I wanted was to have Steven work for me. Besides, one little girl should've been a whole lot easier to deal with than half a prison right?" He chuckled. "Boy was I wrong."
"So as you can imagine, as soon as we got here, Dogs put his own little plan into motion. Unluckily for me, he succeeded and now you know way too much." He leaned against the wall, rubbing his eyes. "Looks like I'm stuck with you," he yawned.
I shrunk into a ball "So Dante told you to make me a runner." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Yes. Glad we finally got that through that thick skull of yours," he said cruelly.
"But...why?" I asked.
Prince walked over and sat down in front of me. He ducked his head momentarily then looked up at me. His face had completely changed. There was no sign of the hostility he had shown me earlier. All that was left was an understanding smile. "Pinks," he chuckled quietly. "It's called love. Despite the fact he has terrible taste in women-"
"Gee, thanks," I muttered.
"-he loves you. Every time you tried to get away from us, he reeled you back in however he could. Even if it meant lying or forcing you to do something you didn't want to do."
I was confused. Dante had betrayed my trust on multiple occasions, done things that if anyone else had done, I would've hated them beyond forgiveness. I should've been so mad at him. But I wasn't. I could only feel awful for wanting to leave him again and again. Prince placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I know I have no say in this but if I were you, I'd forgive him," he smiled. I nodded. With that, he stood up and walked over to the door of the cell. I stood up as well but kept my distance. A chill ran down my spine and I knew that the kind Prince was gone.
"Now, we'd better start planning. Dawn's not going to come any slower just because we need time."
I agreed. "Will I be spreading the word of the escape to the others?"
"No," Prince said. "This is a pretty normal escape for us. We've done it plenty of times before. You're the only one who needs to be... enlightened," he finished with that blood-curling grin. I shivered. Something wasn't right about this.
"Before the execution, I'm going to need to you get your hands on a firearm. Doesn't have to be a machine gun; a pistol will suffice. Hide that somewhere on you. Then I need to you set up a remote-controlled bomb that'll affect the entire base. Don't worry, we'll only use it if we have to. Keep that remote on you as well. Once you've done that, find something bright like our bandannas and hang them on places that have either supplies or sensitive information. Are you following so far?"
I was somewhat disturbed by the bomb but if I spoke out, he'd kill me. I nodded slowly for him to continue.
"Okay, at the execution, you'll need to be at the back of the crowd but still able to see all of us clearly. I assume it's going to be an anonymous firing squad so this part is crucial. I want you to take out the guard in the centre of the firing squad. Everyone will be distracted by it which will give us the chance to run. You'll need to be thinking too or else you'll hit the ground faster than I can insult you. You, Wings and Drifter will get supplies, find a vehicle and keep as many soldiers out of the offices. Dogs I will be dealing with the information inside. We will come out in our own time. Then we'll escape out the East gate. Understand?"
It was a pretty vague plan and I didn't want to have to shoot anyone. I looked at him with uncertainty. Before I could argue, he stared pointedly. "Understand?" He repeated.
I shuddered. "Yes."
He returned back to normal. "Good. Now, there's no time to waste, off you go."
I didn't move. Something still wasn't right. In fact, something was very, very, wrong.
"Prince," I murmured.
He folded his arms. "Yes, Pinks?" He said in a warning tone.
"When do you decide 'you have to' use the bomb?" I asked, my eyes on the floor. I didn't have to look; I knew that blood-curling smile was on his face.
"Why do you ask?" He said slyly.
"Well, you said this was a pretty typical escape. And I've heard a lot about explosions in all of your previous plans. In fact, I remember Alex telling me that Bravo base 9 was destroyed by an explosion. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
I could hear his footsteps coming towards me. I shut my eyes and cringed as his hand found its way on top of my head.
"How surprising. You can actually be smart sometimes," he said condescendingly. "Why, of course I know about the destruction of Bendigo base 5 or whatever you called it." Suddenly, he seized a handful of my hair and pulled my head up to look me dead in the eyes. "My subordinates set it up after all."
I was trembling all over. "Why?" I managed to squeak. "Why would you do that? There were innocent people on that base."
His smile widened. "I only did what was necessary. There were a lot of people on that base that Steven was quite friendly with."
"Stevie gets along with everyone," I gasped. "You didn't. You couldn't have-"
"Oh Pinks. So naïve. A person who gets along with everyone is the hardest to obtain. I don't think he would've gone along so willingly if he couldn't take his buddies with him. Of course I had to make it look like an accident; he could take two people and the rest just couldn't get out in time."
I gritted my teeth. "So that's your answer to everything? Kill it if it doesn't have any use? Do you even value human life? There's a war going on and people are dying and you're just picking off the ones that dodge the first wave. All for what, so you can play favourites? This isn't about you Ferris! I thought being a Runner was about trying to reach the end of the war with minimal casualties!" It was so hard not to shout at him. He was ruthless and selfish and I started to wish there was some other way out of here other than through him.
"You think this is easy for me, Rose?" He murmured. His voice was dangerously quiet, I had to really listen to catch his words. "You think I like watching people die? I'm not a hero; I can't save everyone. I can only save those who are in the right place at the right time. People are trying to kill me- kill us- just because I'm not playing by their rules. People like you or me or Steven or any of the other Runners, we want to help people see the end of this war but in order to do that we need to be flexible. If we're too tied down by people we love and care about, we won't be able to put ourselves in danger for the people we spent our lives saving. I did what I had to do. I needed him on my team but he wouldn't agree. He won't agree unless I do something about you. Things were going to plan until Dogs messed everything up. Even if I bring you back alive, I can't ask him to be a Runner because you've taken that spot. You know way too much. That bloody Dogs, he wasn't even meant to tell you our names." His tone was so bitter. It was as if Prince actually really hated Dante.
"If Dante is so much trouble to you, why keep him around?' I asked.
He sighed. "He's useful. I hate to admit it but I can't do anything without him. Luckily for me, he was the easiest one to obtain."
I didn't quite understand what he meant but I didn't dwell on it. There were pieces in my head that were slowly falling into place. From what I'd heard, Dante spent most of his life working with the dogs he caught. I couldn't imagine his family really cared about him if they had him doing something like that at such a young age. Therefore when Prince swooped in and took him, Dante didn't have much to let go. The others, Gabriel and Elijah, they each had someone. Someone who conveniently died just when Prince needed them.
"Prince, about the others..." I began but stopped. I couldn't ask him. I was certain he'd done it but I was afraid of confirmation. He watched me patiently, waiting for me to continue. When I didn't, he laughed. "The truth is scary Pinks but sometimes you really just have to know. Go on," he sneered, pulling harder on my hair. "Ask me anything."
I gulped. "Did... did you kill Vera and Elijah's little brother?"
Prince tightened his grip on me and pulled me forward so his mouth was next to me ear. I could feel his breath on my skin and it took everything in me not to shudder.
"No," he said dramatically. Instantly, I pushed away from him and he let go.
"What?" I said in confusion.
"I didn't kill them," he smiled. "They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, I may have had a little conversation with Drifter's brother about the outside world and the great things Drifter could do if he could escape. People like Drifter are very selfless so I knew that the right words could allow his brother to... let go," he said with a flourish. "On the other hand, Wings' girl was just stupid. I told her we had to leave and maybe I was relying on her to follow us. But, she didn't have to. That was out of her own volition. Wings and Drifter blamed themselves for what happened but that's where I stepped in. I comforted them and assured them that the people they loved sacrificed themselves so they could do the right thing. I filled the gaping hole their loved ones left." He chuckled lightly. "Well, maybe not so much me as Dogs. He's better at the whole 'friend' thing."
I backed away slightly. "You're awful," I whispered.
He shrugged. "I did what I had to do. These guys now make the perfect Runners. They don't have anything to keep them from flying."
"You're awful," I whispered again. "You're a monster. You killed the last thing they had left... All for what, exactly?"
He rubbed his eyelids in exasperation. "Come on Pinks, I hate repeating myself. I do this to protect the people I spent my life saving. I have around a thousand people waiting for me in the safe country. I organise everything from supply ships to protective arms. We can't make anything from nothing. When we're done here, I'll send people to Steven's base to retrieve anything useful." When I didn't respond, he glared at me. "Go Pinks, don't just stand there. You have places to be."
My hands tremored. "You... you can't destroy this base," I said shakily. "You can't. There's nothing useful here, okay? Just leave everyone here alone."
Prince folded his arms and narrowed his eyes further. "As I said, I won't use it unless I feel it is necessary. Besides, I don't kill anyone. Believe it or not, I have no blood on my hands. Now," he said, walking towards me once more. "You must go now if you want to beat the sun."
I clenched my fists then relaxed them. Without another word, I turned and went to climb the rope hanging from the window.
"Oh and Pinks?" he called out to me. I turned my head slightly to show I was listening but wouldn't look him in the eye.
"If that bomb isn't planted, it's your life on the line. Do you understand?" He said firmly. I hesitated then gave him a small nod. We turned our backs to each other. If anyone had seen us at that point, they might've sworn they saw daggers between us.
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