The Black Winter

Chapter 30

Rose's pov
  We've been here now for two weeks and four days. They haven't really touched me, only Joan. And every time, she comes back covered in sweat and blood. Sometimes it's hers, but most of the time it's someone else's. I felt bad for her. She's trying to keep me alive when I've done nothing to her but be rude.

  She was currently out, leaving it to just me in this empty room. I was getting bored so I started doing crunched, jumping jacks, squats, and pushups. I needed to move. As I'm going on with this for about an hour, I can hear voices outside. My curiosity getting to the better of me, I walk over to the door and press my face against the cold metal.

  "Did you hear what their going to do to her?" I hear one voice ask. I could tell that they were a chain smoker. Joan has been teaching me how to tell everything you need to know about a person, just by their voice. Somehow she was able to tell that one of the guards was having marriage problems.

  "No, what?" The other man asks. He sounded young, no older than twenty six, you could tell that he smoked, but not nearly as much as the other guy.

  "Ivans going to make her kill the Avengers," the chain smoker states.

  "How is he going to do that? Didn't she work with them?" The younger one asks.

  "Yeah, he said that he's going to scramble her brain."

  "Like get rid of her memories right?"

  "No, they said that doesn't work on her anymore. They said that instead their going to change her memories. He's going to switch them up then cryo freeze her, that way in that time she's out, all she'll think about is how they betrayed her and how we saved her."

  "That's crazy. We can do that?"

  "Yeah," the smoker confirms.

  "He's, why does Ivan always refer to her as it?" The younger one asks.

  "Cause she's not really a person. She's a weapon. Her only purpose is to kill, nothing more."

  "That's kinda sad."

  "I suppose, but that's how it is."

  I back away from the door in shock and disbelief. My mouth gaped and my back straight. I can't believe it. How does Ivan have so much power over her? I can't let them touch her. Who knows what will really happen to her.

  Then, out of nowhere, the alarms start blaring outside the door. I can see flashes of red from under the door. After about five minutes of the alarms going off, I can hear people outside, trying to open up the door.

  I back away and Ivan walks in with eight soldiers behind him. I can feel my back hit the wall, meaning that there's nowhere else for me to go.

"Hello there Rose," Ivan smiles. Two guards come behind me and cuff my hands behind my back. "This is when the bribe comes in," he smiles.

  As we walk through the halls, all I can think of is if Joan is ok. We end up coming across a wall of soldiers. They were everywhere. We end up making our way through the crowd and that's when I spot Joan.

"I would think wisely about your next step here," Ivan says.

Once we get to Joan, I can see the fear, anger, and hurt in her eyes. Ivan kicks my knees in, making me fall to the ground. I can feel the barrel of the gun pointed at the back of my skull.

  "Put the gun down and the only person getting hurt is you," he says. Joan though, is frozen in her spot. I can see a flash in her eyes as they rapidly scan the room.

  "I said put the fucking gun down or I'll shoot her!" He yells.

Then Joan does something that I thought would be the last thing that she would ever do. She puts the guns down and puts her hands up. She looks so defeated. I could tell that she wanted to him right then and there. Even if that means my death, that's what she should do. If they get total control over her, the entire world could be at stake.

  "Joan, what are you doing?! Just kill him! You need to get out of here! You don't know what their going to-'' I yell.

  "Shut up you bitch!" Ivan yells, then, it all goes black.

I end up waking up back in the cell. The place was different though. It was slightly nicer and this time there was a camera in the corner. Not only that, but there's a little girl in the room. She had bright, blond hair and bright blue eyes. I sit up in confusion and worry. Why is there a little girl here? She can't be any older than six.

"Who are you?" I ask softly. What the hell is a kid doing here? Shit! Where's Joan?

"My name is 4920, but you can call me Anastasia! Joan gave me that name! Do you think it's a pretty name?" She says all gaily.

"It's a very pretty name. Anastasia, do you know where Joan is?" I ask, walking over to her.

"No," she says looking to the floor. "She said that she had to play grown up."

"Shit, this isn't good," I say to my self.

"Joan says that you shouldn't say words like that," Anastasia says.

"How old are you?" I ask.

"Six years old. It will be my birthday in about four months!" Shery says exactly.

She seemed so sweet and innocent. Her voice though, it wasn't just Russian, I could hear a little bit of a British accent. Why would these people take a little girl?

All of the sudden, I can hear the faint sound of screams. I stand up and walk over to the door. I place my ear to it and I can tell that it's Joan. I have never heard her scream, not like this. I could tell that she was in a lot of pain. I feel a tug on my shirt, making me turn back around to face Anastasia.

"Is that Joan?" She asks worried.

What do I tell her? That Joan is probably being brutally tortured? That she might never see her again?

"She'll be fine. Hey, do you like to play games?" I ask. She looks back to the door with a look of worry.

"She's not ok," she says, wrapping her arms around herself.

"She'll be fine. She's a tough cookie to crack. Do you want to play tick tack toe?" I ask.

She looks up to me and smile. She nods her head and I lead her over to the corner of the room and we sit down.

After multiple games of tick tack toe, rock paper scissors, and hangman, the door finally opens up. I quickly stand up, making sure to keep Anastasia behind me. Ready to fight anyone who tries to touch her. But then, I realize who is in the doorway and my heart drops.

Two soldiers have Joan by the arms, her body limp, yet tight. She's covered in sweat and has blood pouring from her hear and nose. Her shirt was off, leaving her in just a bra and black cargo pants. her entire abdomen was black and blue, not only that, but you could tell that some of her ribs were broken.

Joans breathing is out of control with weak screams barely coming out. I have never seen anything like it. Not only that but her eyes were bloodshot red and tears are flooding down her face like a waterfall.

The two soldiers throw her to the ground and leave, slamming the door behind them. Once they leave, Anastasia and I both rush to her side. She was crying hysterically, I have never seen anything like it. Someone so strong just, breaking down.

"Oh my goodness, Joan," I breath. Joan was clutching the side of her head with a handful of hair. it looked like she was going to rip her hair out of her scalp.

I go to pick her up but the moment I touch her she winces and pulls away. I needed to get her onto the cot though. I look over to Anastasia who's face is covered with fear and dread. I can even see tears start to well up in her eyes.

I go to pick up Joan and she tries to squirm away, screaming at the touch. "I know, I know," I hush. I gently place her on the cot and look over to Anastasia who starts balling her eyes out. I walk over to her and grab her. Hugging her and trying to get her to calm down. After about fourth five minutes, Joan ends up passing out, either from over hyperventilating, or from pain. Anastasia on the other hand was asleep in my arms. What the hell did they do to her?