I spit in his face. His head jerked backwards, and he looked at me in shock. For a long moment, he just stared at me before he hit me again, only this time, he backhanded the other side of my face. I felt my lip split and my nose started to bleed. I struggled to keep a hold of myself, but eventually, I swallowed my yells of pain.
Fucking bastard. I was going to make him pay for that one way or another.
“You know, in a different world, we may have once been allies,” he growled.
“Fat fucking chance,” I spat back.
He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him.
“You’ll learn that it’s unwise to displease me,” he said.
I didn’t reply. Instead, I just stared at him with hatred, thinking of all the ways I would kill him if I had the chance. He released my chin and dragged his fingers down my body.
I wanted to throw up. His touch was revolting. I wanted him to remove his hand from my flesh that very second. His skin on mine felt so terribly wrong. When he finally took his palm away, I sighed with relief, but not before he slapped my face once more. My body pitched forward with pain and I struggled to draw in a breath. When I regained control of myself, I lifted my head back up, courageous and defiant.
I hadn’t made a sound. I hadn
’t cried out and I could see the frustration glimmering at the corners of his face. Good.
He wasn’t going to break me. He never would.
“Where are your sisters?” he asked.
I scoffed. He didn’t know. All his Vakarran technology and he couldn’t find the revolution building up under his nose. Fucking idiot.
“You can’t find them on your own?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow and casting as much possible judgement into my tone.
“I know where one is, and she’s on my ship, under the protection of the First Battalion. Where are the other two? Tell me now or I’ll make you rue the day you were born,” he pushed.
So, Kira was still safe. Fantastic news. I grinned.
“You want Alaina and Danika?” I pressed.
“Danika preferably. She’s the little bitch that did this to my face,” he growled, his anger so palpable that it made me shiver. Whatever I did, I had to ensure that Danika was never in his presence, ever again. I’d protect all my sisters with my life if I needed to. So, I decided to goad him instead.
“I think she missed a spot. Should have put a bullet right between your god damned eyes and straight into that useless thing in your head they call a brain.” I laughed, ignoring the fact that my body still throbbed with pain.
“Fucking cunt,” he yelled, his disfigured face turning from a dark purple to a mottled blotchy scarlet, which made him look even more foreboding. He was getting angry and I didn’t care. He leaned toward me, bathing me in the putrid scent of his breath and grinned. I watched as his tongue licked what was left of his lips and I shivered with revulsion.
“I’m going to enjoy slitting your throat as your sisters watch. I’m going to revel in the moment when they see the life fade from your eyes and I’m going to treasure the moment when I can slice their pretty little necks too,” he whispered threateningly.
“Fuck you. You’ll never find them.”
I didn’t say another word. He stared at me for a long time then, toying with the knife on the loop of his belt, likely contemplating whether to end my life now or later.
Eventually, he scoffed and turned away.
Frustrated with the lack of information, he left me then and he didn’t come back, not for several days at least. I was left tied to that pole, alone. No food. No water and no place to relieve myself, I was forced to survive in my own filth. At night, the building was cold. During the day, it was very warm. I was wet with a layer of sweat constantly, only to shiver it away in the darkness. I tried to sleep in order to pass the time, but soon, the dryness in my throat began to keep me awake. I felt sluggish and weak from lack of food and tried to rest as much as I possibly could in order to keep my strength. My tongue felt like cotton.
I wondered if he’d left me to die here.
Eventually, he sent someone to deliver a cup of water. Thankfully, his lackey must have been instructed that I drink the entirety of it, because he dribbled it into my mouth, slowly enough so that I could drink it all. Maybe he was feeling sympathy for me, because he fed me a hefty piece of jerky too. I’d never tasted anything so delicious, and I savored every bite. It could have been terrible, but I didn’t care. I was so damn hungry. The Vakarran soldier wouldn’t meet my eyes and I didn’t try to speak to him either.
It didn’t matter anyway.
Another day passed, and Nix finally came back to visit me again.
When I saw him walking toward me through the glass wall, haughty as ever, I wanted to punch him in the face. He’d left me here to rot, while he went off to make plans to destroy me and my sisters and the rest of those who inhabited Earth. If there was anyone in the world who was better off dead, it was him. I wished I had a knife, so I could slit his throat, just like he’d threatened to do to me. I’d settle for any manner of gun too, be it a 9mm, a laser gun, or a flamethrower. Anything would do.