“Skye, we’re in this together. I can’t have you dying on me.”
“It’s nothing, really.”
He turned her toward the light. “One of the guys hit you today?”
“I don’t know. Everything just went crazy. I’m not making excuses, I just don’t know, okay.” She rubbed at her temple. “I’m so tired.”
“It has been a long day.”
He took her hand, leading her back to the bed.
“I feel like I spend all day on this thing.”
“We really kind of do.”
He moved her over, keeping his back to the door. His focus was on Skye. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close. This was what they did. They were each other’s comfort.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
“Not a lot. About heading home when all of this is over.”
“I can’t think about the future right now.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not exactly optimistic that we’re going to, you know, actually get out of this.” She shrugged, and he saw the glisten of tears in her eyes. “I don’t want to cry.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not. I can feel it, Noah. We’re trapped. There’s no way out, and each day, I feel the fight burning out of me. We’re fighting a losing battle here.”
He took hold of her hand. “We’re not losing. We won’t ever lose. I’ve got you, and you’ve got me. We’re in this together.”
“What do you think other people would say in our positions?”
“I’d like to think they’d be doing the same as us. Talking to each other, helping them through it.”
He stopped talking as soon as they heard screaming, crying out, and moaning. It was so close to their door. He held Skye a little tighter, praying they’d be left alone.
She shook against him, and he’d have done anything for them to be far away right now.
The commotion seemed to go on forever. They’d already been used today, and he hoped they’d pass his room.
He shouldn’t have hoped.
They were monsters, and he, Skye, and the other men and women, were all just pawns in their game. The doors opened, and in moved five men. Within seconds he was pulled from the bed.
“Noah?”
Skye got off the bed, and before he could do anything, she was hit in the mouth. He watched as she collapsed to the floor with a groan but wasn’t out cold yet.
In the next second, one of the guards hit her stomach, and then another blow to the head.
“Leave her alone.”
He couldn’t allow them to hurt her like this. Filled with a blistering rage, he tried to fight back. Ever since his body had been taken, everything had become useless to him.
“Time to go and play, big boy.”