DOMINO - Eustass Kid x Reader

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX: Lock and Key

Coming to was an absolute bitch.

My head was throbbing, and it took a good while of talking myself up before I managed to roll over and open my eyes. My hands were linked behind my back by something hard and heavy, but that was a problem for later. I had to figure out where I was, and where the others were.

Wherever I had woken up was pretty dark, but I could make out boxes. No, they were cages. Rows of them, some empty, and some with dark, shifting shapes held inside. Were they people?

I, however, wasn't in a cage. I was simply on the concrete floor with a stinking damn headache. Deciding I needed to move, I rolled to my stomach so I could climb to my feet from there, but once I was gut-down to the ground I realised that whatever had been used to lock my hands behind my back was way too heavy.

I am but a lowly worm. It's crawl-time, bitches.

Trying to keep my ungodly grunts of effort to a minimum, I began to worm my way across the building, trying to peer into each and every cell I passed. I had been right when I had thought the dark blobs were people. Dirty, exhausted people, barely even bothering to look my way as I inched by.

I eventually reached the cages towards the back of the space, and I was exhausted. Was I that out of shape, or were these shackles just ridiculously heavy? The moment I spied a shock of red, I scooted even faster, like a worm on a mission, until my face nearly smashed into the bars.

"Kid! Kid, you alive in there?!" I whisper shouted, cheek to cement as the figure almost flew to the bars, Kid's scowling face quickly easing a little into what looked like relief.
"Of course I'm fucking alive! Feel like shit, though..." He really did sound like crap, but I didn't mention it. He would've felt bad enough.

"Thank God...Okay, I'm gonna go get help! Sit tight!" Before I could wriggle away on my gallant wormy mission, Kid's hands, shackled around his front, reached through the bars and grabbed my hair, yanking me back. "Shit! What the hell?!'

I already have a headache! Don't make it worse!

"Who the hell do you think'll help us, huh?! I just need a damn key to these cuffs and we'll be out in five!" He explained in annoyance. I squinted over at his cuffs and realised the problem. They were sea prism stone. No wonder he looked like shit. That on top of being drugged? None of us were having a great day.

"Okay...I'll try to think of something. Man, my head is killing me..." I groaned, feeling Kid's fingertips gently touch the back of my head before he pulled them back into his cell, noticing the deep red.
"You didn't drink...Did they knock you out..?" His voice dropped several octaves, and I felt the chill of his serious tone through my whole spine.

"Yeah, I think so...I'm all good though. Tis but a flesh wound...and a possible concussion, but I'm good!" I tried to smile at him, but there really wasn't much to be smiling about. We were pretty screwed if we couldn't get ahold of a key to those cuffs.

"I'm gonna stuff his guts full of bullets and force 'em out through his skin..." Kid growled, his lip curling back over his teeth. "Killer's in the cell next to this one. He's still out cold. Heat, Wire 'n Boogie are awake, but no idea where the others are."

Even if I wanted to I couldn't exactly look up and check for myself, but I was relieved that at least some of us were awake and functional. Grunting, I turned myself around, starting to scoot a little ways away from Kid's cage.
"Depending on who comes by first, I might have an idea, so just...stay. Not that you really have much of a choice, but stay."

Even as I made my ridiculous getaway, I could hear Kid's teeth grinding, and I felt a little bad. I didn't want to add to anybody's stress right now. I also didn't want to be the one who somehow had to fix everything, but there was no changing that.