I woke up with my cheek pressed against cement. I felt sore, my whole body screaming in protest as I tried to make sense of my surroundings. Wherever I was, it was dark. Only one light illuminated the small room, enough to see but not enough to keep the shadows at bay.
"Ellie?" Lifting my head up, I saw Rosen sitting across from me on the floor. His hands were cuffed and chained to a loop on the wall behind him. He must have been struggling as the skin on his wrists was rubbed raw.
When I tried to drag myself upward, I realized I was also restrained. Although, only my right wrist was shackled and bolted into the wall. My hands were still red with blood that had long since dried and been caked on.
"Where are we?" I croaked, my throat dry and scratchy. How long had I been out?
"One of the Defaecatio's bases. We are still in America, but I overheard them say we are going to be transferred back to the home base." Rosen's voice was was rough, like he had been yelling for the past hour. I didn't want to know where home base was.
"Is Cole..." I trailed off when my gaze landed on Cole's limp form in the corner. Like Rosen, he was chained to the wall.
"He's okay. They came and knocked him out again because he was struggling earlier."
I finally glanced around our cell, noting the crumbling stone walls and dank smell. We most likely were in the basement of the building. A thick door without a window was a few feet from me, but there wasn't even a handle to open it from this side.
"You've been out for two days," Rosen explained. "It took us a day of travel to get here. I'm pretty sure we are in the North Carolina base." I nodded, taking in this information. I must have been continually drugged up to stay out for two days.
"What's our plan?" I asked, positioning myself so I could comfortably lean up against the stone wall. When I stretched my legs out, Rosen's feet almost touched mine. I wanted to reach out and grab his hand, but the chain was only about two feet long. It was just enough for me to be able to rest my hand in my lap.
"There is none." Rosen shook his head, looking away from me and towards Cole.
"What?"
"Ellie, we can't win anymore. Not being stuck here."
"But you've escaped before," I argued.
"Yeah, but we were walking free. Now, there is no way they will let Cole and I go without close supervision. And you probably won't be let go at all." Rosen said, his face pinched together. I felt a tightness in my throat. So this was it.
"Please don't give up," I whispered, my voice hoarse with trying to hold back my emotion.
Rosen lifted his hand as if to reach out to me, but the chain grew taught. He made a low growl in the back of his throat and pulled at the cuff roughly, trying to break free. But the metal shackle only dug further into his already raw skin, and he hissed in pain.
My teeth clenched tight to stop the tremble in my lips.
Cole groaned and Rosen and I both snapped our heads toward him as he slowly sat up.
"Guess it wasn't a fucking nightmare," he grumbled. His eyes lifted towards mine and he shot me a sad smile. "At least you are in here with us, but I doubt that will be for long." Rosen glared.
I rubbed at my sore wrist. Cole watched me, and his brows suddenly furrowed.
"Ellie," he started. "I think you can wiggle out of the handcuff." He looked at Rosen who glanced at the cuff and suddenly seemed to sit a bit straighter.
"I think he's right," Rosen said. "These are made for men so they're naturally bigger. They don't usually chain up girls, and your wrists are probably small enough you could squeeze out of it."
I brought my hand up and examined the metal contraption keeping me contained. I could see what they meant, the cuff was big, and when I pulled it easily slipped up to the joint in my thumb.
"I think I can get it off," I said, gripping the piece of metal with my other hand. I curled my fingers to make it as small as possible as I started sliding it forward..
I gritted my teeth and wiggled my hand when the cuff got stuck on my joint. But it didn't seem to move any further than that. Exasperated, I looked to Rosen for help.
"Keep going. Use the wall and spit on it if you have to," he urged.
Nodding, I propped my foot up to the wall so my back was to the boys and used my full weight to try and slip off the handcuff. I had to bite down on my lip hard to keep from crying out when it moved a centimeter.
If I could just move it another few times then it would be off.
Although my throat was as dry as a dessert, I managed to muster up some saliva. Spitting into my hand, I rubbed it on my skin just in front of the cuff. I prayed, and pulled.
I couldn't help the small gasp of pain and whimper that escaped past my lips as the shackle finally pulled off and my wrist was free.
"I got it," I smiled, turning to Rosen and Cole who both were grinning at me. I flexed my hand and winced as a sharp pain shot through it.
In my relief, I flung myself at Rosen who caught me with a small laugh. His arms were just able to wrap around me as the chains pulled tight.
I breathed him in, already feeling better about the situation by simply being in his arms. Before, he had seemed so unattainable but now he was right in my hands. It felt like anything was possible.
"Do you think I can get yours off now?" I asked, leaning back and suddenly becoming all too aware that I was basically sitting in his lap.
"I'm not sure, but it won't hurt to try," he said. He was smiling at me, but a small part of me felt it was only for my sake. "Let me see your wrist first," he ordered, growing serious as he grabbed my hand. His chains clinked as he examined it.
"Well doctor, what's your verdict?" I joked halfheartedly. The skin was bruised and red from all the pulling, but looked no where near as bad as Rosen's.
"I think it's just strained, maybe a small sprain but it's not out of socket or broken," he said. His fingers prodded the bruising and I refrained from pulling back my hand.
"They didn't happen to leave the key laying around, did they?" I asked, changing the subject to focus on how to get the boys out of their cuffs.
"Don't think we would get that lucky," Cole spoke up from a few feet away.
I looked around the room to see if there was anything I could use to break the metal. The chain was heavy, but the metal looked like it was old and starting to rust. If I had something heavy I might be able to break it.
"Let's just see if we can pull the bracket out of the wall first," Rosen offered. I nodded and took ahold of the chain. Rosen grabbed it as best as he could with the cuffs still on his wrists. Together, we braced ourselves on the wall and pulled.
I held my breath and threw all my weight into my arms as I tugged. The bracket didn't even make a sound.
I say back, my arms aching. Rosen kept pulling though, growing frustrated. I could see in his eyes as his strength turned into desperation.
"I don't think we are going to get them off this way," I said quietly. Finally, he sat back also and sighed. The muscles in his arms were flexing, and I laid my hand on his cheek so he would look at me. "Don't give up," I ordered. "We'll get out of here."
"Ellie, your optimism amazes me," Cole said.
"Shut the fuck up," Rosen snapped, surprising both Cole and I. My hand drew back as I flinched from his raised voice. "Sorry," he deflated. "I'm just stressed right now and upset with myself. I didn't mean to lash out." I nodded, but stood up to take a breather. I had to think.
Pacing the small room, I looked around for anything useful. When I saw the crumbling stone on the corner, an idea occurred to me.
Crouching down, I examined the stone wall and ran my finger over the cracks that had already began crumbling.
This could work.
I stood back up and faced away from the wall towards a curious Rosen and Cole. I ignored their questioning glances and brought my heel down hard, catching onto the rock. I heard a crack, and turned around to see a big section of the wall had broken off just like I had wanted.
I heaved the big rock into my arms and walked back to Rosen, who now understood what I was planning.
"I don't think I'm strong enough to actually hit the chain with this so I'll drop it on it." I explained. Rosen nodded and positioned himself so the chain was resting on the ground.
My arms were already going tired of holding onto the heavy object.
"Ready?" I asked.
"Go for it," Rosen said, turning his face away. "Just don't miss and hit my head." I knew he was being partly serious, because if I missed he would probably either have a crushed hand or a crushed skull.
Swallowing, I let the rock drop and it thankfully landed right on top of the chain with a loud echo. I prayed nobody was standing outside our cell and could hear us.
"I think it broke," Rosen said. I moved the stone and saw that the link on the chain was bent but hadn't yet cracked.
"I'll try again." The second time I dropped the rock the links broke.
Rosen looked like he couldn't believe it had actually worked and dragged me down into his arms. I smiled widely and he grinned back. He pulled me closer by the strings on his hoodie I had borrowed and pressed his mouth to mine.
"Do the other one now," he said, giddy now at the thought of being free.
The other chain broke on the first try.
Rosen broke Cole's and then all three of us were free.
"Now, what is the plan?" I asked, a grin on my face. Rosen smiled, but Cole didn't look quite as excited as we were.
Rosen looked at me, "I've got that already figured out."
☾
Rosen and I sat next to each other directly behind the door, while Cole sat where he had been chained up a few feet away. Our plan of attack was that as soon as someone came back, Rosen would use the rock to knock them out and then we would take whatever weapons were on them.
According to Rosen the door opened inward, so we would be hidden as whoever first walked inside the cell.
The plan was far from foolproof, but it was the only shot we had of escape. To be honest, I didn't think any of us were completely sure what our next step would be once we actually bad the ability to leave the cell. For now, we wanted to keep it one step at a time.
It took an hour for my body to begin shaking, the cold was seeping into my bones but Cole and Rosen looked fine. A hand on my shoulder startled me and I turned to see Rosen watching me with a worried expression.
"You okay?" I nodded, my chest felt tight. Constricted. I don't think I could have spoke if I wanted to. My eyes strained to focus on the dull walls, but always ended up glued to my hands.
The blood on my hands. It was under my nails, and lined my knuckles. I couldn't help but think about how this blood used to run through a man who was alive and well. He most likely had a bright future ahead of him. I had played a small part in his demise.
The bloody hands were pulled out of my line of sight. Rosen was rubbing his palms over my fingers, attempting to rub some warmth into them.
"I feel nauseas," I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut to stop my head from spinning. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, and I was still shaking. But I didn't feel cold, I felt numb. I must be getting sick.
"Open your eyes Ellie," Rosen suddenly prodded, gripping my chin and turning my face to him. I complied, staring back at him as his eyes searched my face. He looked alarmed.
"Shit," he cursed, dropping his hand from my chin.
"You are swearing more than usual," I murmured, my throat still dry. I needed water.
"I think she's just going into traumatic shock," Cole spoke up. So that was why I felt so off. Everything was just beginning to hit me full force.
"She is," Rosen confirmed. He cupped my face in his hands, leaning so close to me that our noses almost touched. "Just breathe Ellie. Don't focus on what happened at the hotel okay? You're here with us right now and I promise I will do everything in my power to keep you safe." his voice was so low, I was sure Cole couldn't hear any word that was being spoken to me.
"I just... How do they kill people so easily," I wondered out loud, thinking back to all the bodies in the hallway. I flinched when I heard the squelching of blood echo in my ears.
Rosen didn't answer me. "They'll be coming in any minute and then we can get out of here. I swear to you that this is it. I'm taking you home."
I nodded. Home sounded good. I missed my family and my friends. My senior year was starting next week and I couldn't miss my first day. I had already missed almost the whole summer.
My thoughts switched to my family and I realized I had calmed down and the shaking had ceased.
Rosen squeezed my hand and gave me a small smile, kissing the temple of my head. Since my thoughts stopped being so erratic, I started focusing more on the dryness in my mouth. as soon as we were out of here I was drinking a gallon of fresh ice water.
We sat in silence for the next ten minutes until we heard a jingling and the sound of a key being inserted into a lock.
Rosen stood and held the heavy rock, while pushing me back into the corner of the door and the wall.
It was go time.
Thanks to all of you who are reading! :) Hope you continue and enjoy the story! Don't forget to vote and leave a comment. Every comment I get gives me more motivation to write!