She's Too Naive

Chapter 39

I woke up with my cheek pressed against cement. I felt sore, my whole body screaming in protest as I tried to make sense of my surroundings. Wherever I was, it was dark. Only one light illuminated the small room, enough to see but not enough to keep the shadows at bay.

"Ellie?" Lifting my head up, I saw Rosen sitting across from me on the floor. His hands were cuffed and chained to a loop on the wall behind him. He must have been struggling as the skin on his wrists was rubbed raw.

When I tried to drag myself upward, I realized I was also restrained. Although, only my right wrist was shackled and bolted into the wall. My hands were still red with blood that had long since dried and been caked on.

"Where are we?" I croaked, my throat dry and scratchy. How long had I been out?

"One of the Defaecatio's bases. We are still in America, but I overheard them say we are going to be transferred back to the home base." Rosen's voice was was rough, like he had been yelling for the past hour. I didn't want to know where home base was.

"Is Cole..." I trailed off when my gaze landed on Cole's limp form in the corner. Like Rosen, he was chained to the wall.

"He's okay. They came and knocked him out again because he was struggling earlier."

I finally glanced around our cell, noting the crumbling stone walls and dank smell. We most likely were in the basement of the building. A thick door without a window was a few feet from me, but there wasn't even a handle to open it from this side.

"You've been out for two days," Rosen explained. "It took us a day of travel to get here. I'm pretty sure we are in the North Carolina base." I nodded, taking in this information. I must have been continually drugged up to stay out for two days.

"What's our plan?" I asked, positioning myself so I could comfortably lean up against the stone wall. When I stretched my legs out, Rosen's feet almost touched mine. I wanted to reach out and grab his hand, but the chain was only about two feet long. It was just enough for me to be able to rest my hand in my lap.

"There is none." Rosen shook his head, looking away from me and towards Cole.

"What?"

"Ellie, we can't win anymore. Not being stuck here."

"But you've escaped before," I argued.

"Yeah, but we were walking free. Now, there is no way they will let Cole and I go without close supervision. And you probably won't be let go at all." Rosen said, his face pinched together. I felt a tightness in my throat. So this was it.

"Please don't give up," I whispered, my voice hoarse with trying to hold back my emotion.

Rosen lifted his hand as if to reach out to me, but the chain grew taught. He made a low growl in the back of his throat and pulled at the cuff roughly, trying to break free. But the metal shackle only dug further into his already raw skin, and he hissed in pain.

My teeth clenched tight to stop the tremble in my lips.

Cole groaned and Rosen and I both snapped our heads toward him as he slowly sat up.

"Guess it wasn't a fucking nightmare," he grumbled. His eyes lifted towards mine and he shot me a sad smile. "At least you are in here with us, but I doubt that will be for long." Rosen glared.

I rubbed at my sore wrist. Cole watched me, and his brows suddenly furrowed.

"Ellie," he started. "I think you can wiggle out of the handcuff." He looked at Rosen who glanced at the cuff and suddenly seemed to sit a bit straighter.