The Girl Who Broke Free (Death Fields 5)

“You’re as strong as they are.”

He held up his hands. Red, inflamed welts circled his wrists. He showed me matching wounds on his ankles. My empty stomach turned. “This is the first time I’ve been unchained in weeks.”

“Why now? What do they want us to do together?” It was then that I noticed the crumpled paper in his hands. “What is that?”

“Our instructions.”

It was handwritten and bizarre. My fuzzy, stressed, and malnourished brain may not have even processed it correctly. At least that was what I hoped, but Cole read the instructions aloud and the ball of fear twisting in my stomach since we were captured grew.

“You’ll have one hour of mandatory time in the training room each day. Use it as an opportunity to exert any energy you need to expend.”

“Is that all?”

“Our food, necessities, and treatment of fellow prisoners will be based on our cooperation,” he added.

“No. I’m not playing your sister’s sick games.”

“Then I guess you don’t care if they torture your sister.” Cole gestures to the mirrored stretch of glass against the back wall.

“They’re observing us?” I asked.

“You think they’re not?”

That only made me angrier, and I walked over to the window and tried not to gasp at the sight of my skinny face and wild hair.

“Go ahead and sit back there and watch, psycho. You’ve spent the last year trying to bring me down and I want you to know I’m not going to make it easy. Starve me. Beat me. Do whatever you want. You’ve already taken everything from me. My sister. My father. My family and friends.” I glance at Cole’s reflection in the window. “You destroy everything you touch and I’m not going to play your deranged games! Do you hear that?”

There was no reply. Just me ranting and raving. God knew if she was back there or not. Or if she was already winning the game by making me act like a neurotic fool.

I turned my back on the woman in the mirror and crossed the room to the door, banging on it with my fist until the Hybrid returned to let me out.

“You won’t win,” Cole called as I started down the hallway. Three other guards waited as I passed, one carrying heavy chains. They hadn’t even cleaned the dried blood off the inside of the cuffs.

I blinked back the tears of defeat and squared my shoulders in defiance. Chloe wouldn’t win.

*

They took me back the next day. I’d had nothing but water and a slice of hard bread. The scent of better-tasting food wafted past my door three times a day. My stomach rumbled in protest.

Cole waited for me the same as the day before. Wrists red from the shackles. Face sallow and thin. He stared at me accusingly.

“What do you want me to do?” I finally asked.

“Right now, it’s food,” he said in a flat, emotionless voice. “Next, they’ll come after your sister and those other people they brought in with you. Do you think Chloe will be gentle?”

“How do you know?”

“Where do you think I’ve been this whole time?” His skin was sallow enough and the scabs around his wrists cover scars.

“I know you warned Wyatt.”

“Why?” A crease appeared on his forehead and he looked away. It was clear I wouldn’t get an answer. I rested my hands on my hips. “I’ve fought too hard to just roll over now.”

“For once in your life Alexandra, it’s okay to cave.”

“No, I’m not stooping to her level. I don’t have that crap running through my system. My cerebral cortex is fully functional.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “My humanity is the only thing I have left.”

He glared at me with red, tired eyes, and in a move faster than I knew he could manage at the moment, he stepped forward and punched me in the jaw. My head snapped back and I screamed in pain.