Hero

Chapter 27 - "What are you going to do with me?"

Chapter 27 "What are you going to do with me?"

I awoke to an all-white room, with no doors, no windows; just a fluorescent light buzzing on the ceiling. Was I in heaven – is this really what heaven looked like? My body was crumpled in the corner, covered in bruises. At first the bruises confused me; I didn’t remember getting hit. It wasn’t until the memory of the guards beating me with nightsticks that I knew.

That’s when the memory of killing Robert came into my mind. I felt an animal in my chest purr at the satisfaction of his death. Regret still pulsed through my pounding head; the memory of Robert was dead as well, which was the only good quality of him. He was just a memory now…I tried to remember him as a good person, like when I had met him. It seemed strange just how much this place changed people. Robert turned from a sweet and caring man, who once gave me hope, to a psychotic killer. I turned from a thirteen year old girl to a nineteen year old menace. Justin…

My eyes scanned the room; where was Justin? Where was Piper? My last memory of them was watching Justin run away with Piper in his arms, promising he would come back to help me. I hoped he didn’t; I hoped he just kept running until he found a way out for both him and Piper. I didn’t even want to think something may have happened to them…I refused to think such things. Tears threatened to spill in my eyes, but I blinked them away furiously.

In an effort to distract myself, I began to stand up; I had to find a way out of here. I guided my body up the side of the wall with my hands. When I saw the red streaks smear onto the wall I nearly fell down in shock. I had to look down at myself to realize I was still covered in Robert’s blood, and a little bit of my own. Not only did I have countless bruises, I had a few gashes. If they were able to break through my skin, I knew that they used enough force to kill any normal human being

Standing in the middle of this empty room was maddening. Every time I turned around it just felt like I was standing still. Everywhere I looked, I only saw the same thing; a flat, white, blank wall.

“Hello?” I called out, though it was stupid. There wasn’t a door, no windows, no vents; how would anyone hear me?

My stomach growled loudly; it must have been two days since I’ve eaten. My throat was dry, and no matter how much saliva I gathered, it only felt like I was swallowing, not drinking. My joints ached with fatigue. I may have been asleep, but I was slumped on the floor; thrown carelessly to the ground.

How did they bring me in here if there was no door or windows? I once again came to the conclusion that I was dead and this was heaven. I wondered if anyone knew heaven was just a small white room. It seemed wrong that I should have to spend my afterlife in a small box; I’d spent half my life in one.

“Sit down.” A voice boomed through the room. I jumped and looked around wildly, not sure where it could have come from. Maybe this wasn’t heaven; maybe this was my personal Hell.

“I said sit!” The voice shouted. I didn’t argue; I swiftly sat back down in the corner of the room, the one smeared with blood. If it weren’t for the red marks, I wouldn’t have known this room had four corners; it just looked like the same scene everywhere I looked.

Satisfied with my cooperation, the voice didn’t yell anymore. Instead, I sat amazed as a piece of the wall, across from me, slid open. Three guards walked inside, fanning out around Conner, who slipped into the room quietly. He seemed to age ten years since I last saw him; his face was unshaven, he looked tired, and overwhelmed. He watched me – no, glared at me – with bloodshot eyes.

After a few moments of thick silence, he spoke. “Rhylee, do you realize you single handedly ruined an industry in one night?”

I didn’t respond, since it seemed like a rhetorical question. I simply watched him, waiting for him to continue.

“You’ll be happy to know Robert was dead…there was nothing we could do for him. Same for Dr. Allen; he was dead the second you shot him–”

“Robert shot him.” I corrected him sharply.

“But the gun was in your hand.” He said it like I was a five year old, and this should have been obvious. I saw no use in arguing with him; so what if he thought I killed him? It wasn’t any skin off my nose.

Conner continued, “We spent all this time, money, and resources to find you…when it turns out all we needed was your sister. Well, we got her and you came back. Of course, you went and ruined everything and allowed your boyfriend and her to escape.”

“They escaped?” My heart lifted.

He gave a sarcastic smirk, “Yes, they did…but don’t worry, we’ll find them.”

Not if I kill you. “What are you going to do with me?” My voice was dull and lifeless, trying to hide my happiness that they made it out of here safely. Even if I died, I was thankful they made it out.

Conner shrugged, “I haven’t thought that through yet. I’m thinking about killing you, but then again I’d like to run some tests on you. Since you killed both of the leaders of this company–” I found it funny they still kid themselves about this torture place being a ‘facility’ “–And you also killed the only cofounder left, besides that fucking traitor Justin, I’m now in charge. So, it’s up to me to figure out something to do with you.

“And seeing as every time we catch you, you find some creative way to escape, I’m thinking killing you is the best answer.” He finished with a grin, proud of himself for finding the end to this square dance.

He then began pacing, “But now, I’m left with the decision on how to kill you. I mean, after all, you’ve taken away my source of income for the time being – at least, until I get the banks to transfer the money into an account I can access. You’ve also killed two of my friends. To me, I can’t let you off the hook so easily; so shooting you is out of the question. I could stab you, but from what I hear that could be tricky…” my skin. “And then there’s strangling you.” He stopped pacing and stood in front of me, an evil glint in his eyes.

“As you can see,” he said. “I have some choices to make. I could do all three, for instance, but I don’t want to kill you immediately; I want you to feel the same pain Robert and Brent felt…” He leaned down, supporting himself on his knees. His face was inches from mine, and I could smell his cheap cologne. I wanted to lash out and hurt him, but I held myself back. “I’ll be back in two days; let you starve a little more, maybe come in to…play a few times. On the third day, I’ll have my answer, and you’ll be dead.”

I couldn’t reply or even react to him. Someone came bounding in through the open wall, pushing through the guards. The breathless intruder forced Conner to stand up and look the worried doctor in the eyes.

“They’re coming; they know she’s here. We need to get out of here – we need to get the drugs and go.” He panicked.

Conner frowned, “What on earth are you talking about? Who’s coming?”

The doctor gave a nervous look to me, wondering if he should say this in front of me, but quickly shook himself and looked back at Conner. “The fucking army! Her family knows she’s here and they called them! They told them everything about us! We need to get out of here!”

My heart lifted once again; they were coming, they would get me out of here!

Conner glared down at me, as if I had planned this. “I guess I don’t have three days, then.” He stomped over to the guards and took one of their guns from their hands. My reaction was slow as I connected the dots in my head. As he turned and pointed the gun to me, I screamed and held my hands out in front of me.

It didn’t help.

A loud bang sounded through the room and I felt a sharp pain in my torso. Blood leaked from me as I was sent backwards, hitting my head against the wall and falling to the floor; staining the white room with red – lots and lots of red. Blackness swamped the white and my eyes fluttered closed. The last thing I heard was the men shuffling out of the room, leaving me there to die.