Our Precious Time

Part 3: Time is Up

Waking up is like coming out of a thick fog. My head is pounding and things are a bit dizzy. I blink, trying to rid my eyes of the darkness, but it doesn't leave. I look around and my eyes adjust to the pitch black, and there seems to be a figure in the far corner of the room. I stay still for a moment, and pass the figure off as a figment of my imagination. I lean forward to sit up and my arms are pulled back by something hard and cold. I lift my right hand and squint my eyes, checking to see if what I think is happening is really happening. I'm chained to the wall in a large, dark room. This is not going to end well.

"No, no no no..." I pull against the chains, but nothing is giving.

"Please," a soft but steady woman's voice pleads from somewhere in the room. "Stay calm."

"Where are you? Where am I? Who are these people? Who are you?" I'm confused and panicking.

"My name is Diana. I'm the leader of this group. You're under our town. The electrical plant, to be exact." The woman comes forward from the dark corner where I originally thought there was a figure. My eyes have adjusted enough that I can see the outline of the bones in her face and her long, dark hair. Diana is tall and slender, but she carries herself with such a presence that I have no doubt she could kill me with a flick of her wrist.

"Why am I chained to the wall?" I ask angrily, baring my teeth like a raged, caged animal. "I'm not one of those things, and I'm not an animal."

"I know that, but it's purely for the safety of my people. We didn't know if you'd wake up fighting, and we surely don't need a crazy person running around our Safe Haven killing off innocent survivors. I'm sure you understand, since you've been on your own for so long. You have to do what's necessary to survive. And I have to protect my people." She shuffles into a familiar movement to me, crossing her arms in a stubborn defense.

"Okay, but now you can let me go. Unchain me. What do you want from me, anyways?" I furrow, pulling away from the wall and making the chains rattle to prove my point.

"I think you and I both know that I can't do that." Her voice is stern and cold.

Suddenly, a door opens behind her and light pours in, stinging my eyes. I squint but don't close my eyes, watching the door. There are two large men in the door, carrying another limp body between them. They bring the body in and drop it onto the floor near Diana and chain it to the wall. There's a glow on the side of Diana's face, showing her light brown skin and a high cheek bone.

"I'll be back for you later," she says sternly and stomps to the door. She stops in the door frame and turns, and I can see her hard glare in the light from the doorway. "By the way," she says, resting a hand on her hip, "welcome to Haven. We hope you enjoy your stay. My people definitely will." She smiles almost sarcastically and stomps out into the hallway. The large men follow her and slam the door behind them.

Once again, I'm swallowed by darkness. "Well," I sigh, talking to myself. "This feels oddly like a bad scene to an even worse movie." I can hear the person that's chained to the wall away from me breathing, which is good. It means he or she is still alive. Too much time goes by when the person takes a deep, raspy breath in. I keep my eyes trained in their direction, staying as still and quiet as possible. There's shuffling and then a small light clicks on, showing the battered and bloody face of my cell mate.

The man has fair skin that is clearly bruised by dark purple and blue/black spots. He groans when he breathes, and I suspect that he put up a fight with the brutes that dragged him in here. Not a great choice. His ribs are probably bruised, broken, or worse- bruised, broken ribs that have punctured one or both lungs.

He takes a deep breath in and I can hear him wheeze from across the large, empty room. His lungs are filling up with water. Or worse, his own blood.