38. the enemy itself

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I awoke sometime in the middle of the night. 

It was a mixture of pain and fear that had pulled me out of my slumber. My face ached and my heart raced. 

My mind had been consumed by a nightmare. I hadn't had one this bad since we were last on the ground. While on the Ring, there was rarely anything that upset me enough to warrant such a nightmare, but now we were back on the ground which meant there was trauma to be ensued.

I sat up in my cot, looking around as my breathing caused my chest to rise and fall rapidly. I tried to count in my head, hoping that would calm me down. 

"You okay, Collins?"

I felt my body jolt in shock as I turned toward the voice. Murphy sat toward the back of the room, his eyes fixated on the window.

When I didn't answer, he titled his head and nodded me over. 

Quietly, I pulled myself out of bed, my body screaming in protest as I moved my muscles that were surely bruised and strained from the earlier attack. 

Murphy kept his eyes locked on the window until I finally joined him. Silently, I lowered myself into the seat next to him and looked over at him. "What are you doing up?" I wondered, my voice quiet. 

"Couldn't sleep." he muttered, still looking toward the outside. "Trying to think of the best way to break out of here."

I nodded, although he wasn't looking at me. "What are you guys doing here?" I finally asked. "I thought you two made it to safety."

"It's all part of the plan, Collins." Murphy smirked, finally turning to look at me. "But let's not talk about that right now."

He fell silent for a moment as his eyes roamed my face, taking in each cut and bruise. Wordlessly, he reached out and lightly grazed a finger across my eye that was swollen and bruised. 

Instinctively, I flinched away from him, my hand shooting up to pull his hand away. He didn't take offense to my sudden movements, but instead wore a sad look.

"Avery," He asserted, his voice hesitant. "When that man attacked you, did he..." Murphy trailed off, not wanting to say the next words. 

But he didn't need to, I knew exactly where he was going. "No." I answered, my voice breaking slightly. "He didn't get the chance."

My stomach churned at the thought of what that man could have done to me if Diyoza hadn't have walked in. I felt physically nauseous at the notion.

"Good." Murphy declared, his worried eyes still locked on me. "Just so you know, I will kill him if I get my hands on him."

I shook my head, looking down at my hands. "Let's just worry about all of us getting out of here in one piece."

Sighing, Murphy took my hand and gave it a quick squeeze. I looked over at him in surprise. Despite the fact that the two of us had grown to be friends, we didn't have the typical friendship. Complimenting each other and showing our platonic affection rarely, if ever, occurred.

Murphy didn't seem to want to comment on it, instead he just let go of my hand and looked at me once again. "So, are we going to talk about it?"

"About what?" I whispered through a wavering voice. "I already told you--"

"--Not about that." Murphy interrupted. "You don't have to talk about that anymore, okay?"

I gave a small nod. "Well, then what do you want me to talk about?"

Murphy gave me a small smile as he tipped his head to the side slightly. "Bellamy."

A small scoff flew from my lips as I shifted in the chair. "What is there to possibly talk about right now?"

𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞²Where stories live. Discover now