Alliance

Chapter Thirty-Six

His back throbbed with pain when Ben woke face down on the bed. Just moving his neck was painful as he turned his head to the other side to see the rest of the room. The stranger sat in a comfortable armchair beside him, a book sat in his hands but his eyes were on Ben.

"How do you feel?" the stranger asked.

Mel. He needed to get Mel. Ben avoided the question and tried to sit up but his arms could not support his weight, he crashed down on the soft bed and pillow.

The stranger sat down his book. "You need to let your body heal."

"Mel," Ben said. He made a promise to her father that he would keep her safe. He knew she was full capable of protecting herself and getting herself out of danger but she was still new. Still did not have much experience.

"She will be fine for a few days," the stranger said. Ben's eyes flickered up the man. "Don't give me such a hateful look Ben, I am here to help." The stranger sat back, one knee cross the other while he explained the situation.

"I know Wilson, the man who took Mel. He is a doctor like I am, but unlike me, he's a sadist. He will not kill Mel right away as long as she is not a threat. He keeps girls with him for months, years even. Don't worry, she won't be tortured either as long as she plays by his rules. She will survive a few days in the hospital. Now I know you want to go racing after her but you can't. Your back is still injured and you have sunburn and radiation burns all over your exposed skin. Before retrieving Mel, we need to get some of your strength back."

Ben laid there quietly. He did not fully trust this stranger, this doctor. But the man had not killed him yet so maybe there is truth in what he was saying. But also the man knew who Ben really was. Not Ben from Alliance but Ben the Prince.

Ben wanted to ask his many questions but his mind was tired along with the rest of his body. His heavy eyes closed and he fell into a deep, restless sleep.

The dream felt so real. It felt as if I was with Ben in that bedroom. But it wasn't real, only a dream from whatever drug Wilson kept pumping in my bloodstream. Ben was back at the caravan with Clark. There was a large probability he was bleeding out and dying from his injuries. And each passing minute, he was getting further and further away. I had to get out of the hospital this time.

Hazel eyes stared back at me when I opened my eyes. I jolted away from him but my wrist and ankles were tied down to the operating table.

"Listen," the man said. He glanced behind his shoulder toward the door. Following his gaze, I was in the same room I started in. "If you are to survive, you must play the part. If you don't, he'll do terrible things. Horrible things."

The man shuddered, his whole body trembling as if his mind took him back to some horror. It lasted a few short seconds before his eyes focused back to mine. "Do you promise?"

"Promise what?" I lifted my head off the table to see him better.

"Promise you will do what the others do? That you will free us?"

I looked the man over. His hands were wrapped around each other. His shoulders and head slumped like he was about to be hit. "Untie me and we will talk."

The man did not hesitate as he undid the straps around my ankles and wrist. I sat up on the table. My fingers itched to push this man away and to escape, but my training told me no.

This man, though I didn't really trust him, seemed genuine as he spoke. He was a man, not a child or a teenaged boy. He had to in his late twenties. On one hand, he was strong enough to fight me and to hold me down; but on the other hand it seemed like he had a mind of a young boy.