Annihilation

Harm

It felt like Shelby and I were spies in the night. I already had ten more questions for her but I needed to prioritize getting to Jungkook and Taehyung first. Two men stood guard at the doors, bowing to Shelby with looks of confusion on their faces as we approached.

"Is there something we can help you with?" One of them stepped forward. I was sure Shelby didn't make many late night visits to this building.

"I need a moment with the two fighters." She answered, uncrossing her hands from the delicate position she typically held them in to fold them over her chest, cocking a brow at them. The guards looked back and forth to one another, their conversation unheard as they debated whether to let us pass. "I'm hearing a lot of discussion when your queen has made a request, one that shouldn't be questioned." She stepped forward with the same boldness I witnessed her use against anyone who wronged me during our friendship.

They separated quickly, nodding to each other before opening the door to lead us inside. The area was small, file cabinets, a few desks, and two office doors making up the first floor. He escorted us to a door at the corner of the building, using a key to unlock it and grabbing a match from his pocket to light the lantern that hung against the wall. It barely provided any lumination, the dark, creaky stairwell similar to those I remembered from horror films.

My heart raced as Shelby put her hand up to the guard's chest, grabbing onto the door handle at the same time. "We'll take it from here." She stated, pushing against him and slamming the door behind us before he had an opportunity to follow.

I skipped down the stairs ahead of her, the room pitch black and completely silent. She trailed behind me with the lantern in her hand, placing it on a shelf that barely allowed the light to shine through the room. Both halves of the room had been barred off with small cells, a tiny prison that trapped Taehyung and Jungkook inside.

I spotted Taehyung first, my instinct leading me to pull at the door that held him inside as hard as I could despite knowing it'd require a key. When it wouldn't open I sank to my knees next to where he sat against the far wall.

"Tae." I breathed past the lump that was forming in my throat, reaching through the cold bars to grab his hand.

"Crap, I bet Jungkook that he was hallucinating when he said he saw you." He complained, but I could see his smile more than anything else in the room.

He turned toward me, wincing when he shifted his body. "How hurt are you?" I asked, rubbing small circles on the back of his hand.

"I'm okay but you should go to Jungkook. It was his turn to get his ass whooped tonight." He confirmed, giving a slight nod to the other side of the room.

I grabbed the lantern from the shelf near where Shelby stood at the bottom of the stairs, her expression laced with bewilderment and concern. I moved to the opposite side of the room where Jungkook sat, leaning against the bars of his cell with a hand on the ground already held through the spaces between as far as he could reach.

"Hi, I'm here." I held onto his hand, the concrete floor cold even through the thick fabric of my dress. I reached my other hand inside, touching his already swelling cheek. Tears poured from my eyes as he reached his hand up to hold it there, turning his head so that his lips rubbed against my palm. "I'll get all of us out of here I promise."

"Are you okay?" He questioned, my surprised giggle bouncing off the walls. His hair was a flop of oil and sweat, blood from his busted knuckles dripping onto my hand and his bare rib cage was so bruised that I worried some were broken. Yet here he was making sure I was okay.

I nodded. "Don't worry about me. Just worry about being ready when I come back for you." I vowed, already calculating every task that needed to be fulfilled so that we could escape without more harm.

I stood, Taehyung on his feet in his cell. He reached for my wrist as I passed, stopping me in my tracks. He leaned as close as possible to the bars to whisper in my ear, the words that provided the understanding I needed and that would be the first thing I'd addressed once Shelby and I were alone again.

It was torture to leave them behind again in that chilly, unlit basement, but the faster I could talk to Shelby the faster I could devise a plan for leaving this dreadful town.

"Let's go." I grabbed her hand, hauling her up the stairs behind me. We practically blew out of the doors past the two guards who flinched at our reappearance, in the middle of speculating about our business with their prisoners.

"So you're just going to leave?" Shelby asked as soon as we were back through the doors of her house.

I didn't stop moving, holding on to her arm as I climbed the stairs and burst into her bedroom. You couldn't have counted a second between the time I released her wrist and started digging around the room, jerking open the drawers to the bedside table and shoving the mattress off the bed.

"Does Gideon keep a weapon in here?" I turned to their dresser, digging past their underwear to the back of the drawers.

"I don't think so." Shelby replied, her voice trembling with confusion. "Will you stop and talk to me about what's happening?"

My heart hammered and my hands shook with adrenaline. Every one of them would have told me to slow down so I could think logically. I stood by the window, peeking out at the building next door. There was a small window in the same room where Taehyung and Jungkook were being held that faced the house.

"Yes, we're leaving and you need to come with me. Taehyung told me about Gideon, that he hits you." I turned around to find her putting the drawers and mattress back into place, her eyes widening with my revelation.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about." She retorted too quickly.

Through the denial her eyes filled with tears that confirmed the truth. She sat on the edge of the bed, apologizing as she wiped at her eyes. I was livid and hurt all at once. Usually the pain lived under the anger but it was all there, bundled together with the rush of emotion flooring through me.

"I should have known. I knew there was a reason why he made me uneasy. It's the over the top charm. I should have seen right through that." I rambled, sitting and taking her hand when I realized my ranting wasn't helping. "I'm sorry Shelby. Listen, we'll get out of here. We'll find somewhere that's actually safe."

She stood suddenly, brushing away the distressed wisps of hair that hung in her face and shaking her head. "Carolus is perfectly safe. I can't leave." She sounded like a robot. When she saw the puzzled look on my face she explained. "I love him."

"Whatever bullshit he's fed you isn't real." I started up, ready to tear him apart in every way. "You're with a complete narcissist who has two people locked up and is forcing them to fight for entertainment. And those two people are really important to me, just like you are." I held back on sharing my desire and intent to kill him.

"It's not just about him, Alena. I'm a leader here, a queen. The people here need me." She reasoned. "You of all people should understand that."

I smacked my lips. "I should understand?"

"You're basically their queen too. I see the way they are over you, and I know you wouldn't leave them." She clarified.

"It's not the same. They would never harm me." I tugged at her arm so that she sat next to me again. "Shelby, if the people here care about you as much as you think they do, they wouldn't want to see you hurt either. Do you remember after we finished school, when I started working at that non-profit for domestic violence?"

She sighed. "Alena don't. It's not the same thing."

"It is, and not just the physical stuff. It's him controlling this entire place and keeping you vulnerable by not teaching you how to protect yourself in this new world. Tell me, have you ever seen anyone leave here?" I asked, her silence the answer I needed. "Listen, everything you've done so far, submitting to him, putting on the mask, and keeping quiet, I get it. It's what you've needed to do to survive. That takes impeccable strength, but I'm here now and I can help you do something even braver. I don't want to leave without you."

I gave her time to think, to process my words, pushing down the urge to jump into the plan that'd been developing in my head. The truth was I'd need her help too, her knowledge of Carolus to get us out. She seemed to understand that, her gaze packed with fear as she gave her response.

"Okay, how can I help?"