Survive, if you can // John Murphy

//40// New Earth; Hallucinogenic Hellhole

WARNINGS: swearing, violence.

My eyes are opening slowly. I'm laying on a bed. I'm in a narrow room with a few decorations in it. Shelves, tables, dressers. Across from me is Echo, standing next to another bed. I move toward her but my hand is brought back. I look down at my wrist to find that I'm chained to the wall. When my pulling doesn't work to break me free, I let out a laugh. These assholes chained me to the fucking wall.

"Echo!! Open the door!!" Bellamy's voice rings from the wooden door. "We need the tranqs!!"

Echo looks down at a straw woven chair and pulls the tranquilizer from its seat.

"That's right. Follow orders like a good, little spy," I say, shaking my head and feeling a grin on my lips.

"Shut up," she says, staring at the door.

"Echo!! Now!!" Bellamy shouts.

"Listen to master," I say, nails digging into my palms.

"Shut up!!" she shouts before glancing at the ceiling in fear. "I'm sorry, Bell."

She stabs herself with the tranquilizer in the thigh.

"Coward!!" I yell as she falls to the ground.

I sit with my back against the bed, resting my elbows on my knees. I press my palms to my forehead and take a deep breath. My foot starts to tap quickly as the rage feeling decreases to discomfort. How the hell can I get out of here?

"You can't."

I pull my hands from my face to find Marcus standing in front of me. "Dad?"

"I've never been much of a dad, have I? I still don't know why you call me that," he says, sitting on the desk against the wall across from me.

"Because I love you," I say quietly.

"Love?" he repeats, laughing a little. "How can you love someone who abandoned you? You're weaker than I thought."

I feel tears welling in my eyes. "Why are you saying this?"

"Because it's true," he says, nodding.

"I don't understand," I say, shaking my head.

"I'll clear it up for you. Do you see that cabinet?" he asks, turning to his right.

I look that way too, finding a wooden cabinet stuffed in the corner. It has strange carvings in the wood and the knobs are golden.

"Yes," I say quietly.

"Open it," Marcus orders me, shifting a little.

"Why?" I wonder, standing now.

"Do as I say," he says.

I nod slowly, walking to the cabinet and planting my hand on the knob. I twist and pull. The shelves inside the cabinet are covered completely in bottles and bottles of alcohol. I stumble backward and away from the dresser.

"Take a bottle, Camari," Marcus says.

"No, no, I can't," I say, shaking my head and stepping backward until the binds pull on me.

"Look at you. Do you really think you'll be able to quit after years of trying-?"

"I have to at least try-"

"No, you don't. You aren't capable of change-"

"No," I say, falling to sit with my back against the bed. "No, don't say that. Stop, please."

I cradle my head in my hands to block him out. Surprisingly, he doesn't speak again. Unsurprisingly, I'm not alone for long. A new voice joins the silence in the room.