Chapter 62
Flynn peered out through his bedroom window into the darkness of the hospital’s corridor. It had to be late enough. The only light came from the moon. Everyone had to be sleeping by now. It had to be late enough.
The Queen hadn’t called Flynn to her room that night, but she would one of these evenings soon. And she could still beckon him now. The crazy bitch got drunk on her power, so it wouldn’t surprise him if she saw fit to call on him in the middle of the night. Wake him up just so he could fuck her.
Flynn needed to find Rose. He owed her. When she’d been hidden in a secret location miles from where he stayed, he could pretend nothing could be done. But now, with her in the same community as him, he had to find her and he had to help her. When he did, they could both get out of there.
In the still of night, even the creak of Flynn’s door handle went off like cannon fire. Would the Queen have someone watching him? Were they waiting for him to go to Rose so she could cut his cock off in front of everyone? He couldn’t second-guess anyone or anything. Rose needed his help and they both needed to get the fuck away from the twisted community.
Up until that point, Flynn had turned right when leaving his room. Right led out of the hospital. This time he turned left. There had to be more rooms to the left.
Fortunately, the moon shone through the dark corridor’s skylights. Bright enough to make shadows of obstacles, Flynn managed to avoid the things in his path with relative ease.
A glance through each round window as he passed them. Flynn found most of the rooms to be empty. Maybe he’d see the Queen in one of them.
The next door benefitted from being directly beneath a skylight in the corridor. It lit it up enough to show him the difference between this room and all of the others he’d seen. This one had a lock on the outside. A cell rather than a bedroom.
Flynn’s heart pounded as he looked both up and down the corridor. If he returned to his room now, no one would be any the wiser. But he’d have to remain in the royal complex. He’d have to turn his back on Rose after she’d saved his life. He couldn’t do that. Now he’d left his room, he couldn’t ever return.
When Flynn got closer to the door, he peered inside. Unlike his room, this room had mattresses spread over the floor. Each mattress had a sleeping form on it. They looked like women, but he couldn’t be sure. It could have been small men. Or children. He hadn’t seen any children in the royal complex. He’d have to go in to find out.
While holding his breath, Flynn pinched the cold bolt securing the door, his hand shaking. He bit down on his bottom lip as he wiggled it up and down, easing the stiff lock gently free.
Every few seconds, he looked both ways along the corridor. From what he saw, it remained clear of people. Yet the skin on the back of his neck crawled as imagined eyes burned into him. A spectator in the dark waiting for the right moment to reveal themselves.
The lock let out a light click as it came free and Flynn released his breath. One last look up and down the corridor and he slipped into the room.
Chapter 63
The rain had stopped a few hours previously, so the only noise Flynn heard in the dark room came from the rhythmic breathing as the women slept. At least, he assumed all of them were women. It felt like a room full of women.
Still too dark to tell if Rose lay amongst them, Flynn had to check one woman at a time. It made sense to start with the closest to the door.
Flynn’s body still ached from the exertion of the past few days, so when he hunched down next to the first sleeping woman, pain groaned through him.
She slept with her back to Flynn. Her shirt rose up a little, revealing her brand. Over her left kidney, Flynn saw the number one. First time! He’d found her on the first time of trying.
Flynn gripped Rose’s shoulder and gave it a gentle shake. “Rose,” he whispered, “it’s me, Flynn.”
Despite there being very little light in the room, Rose squinted as if blinded by a glare. The confusion of sleep quickly left her when she looked at Flynn and her face fell. She shook her head and sighed. “Oh, Flynn, I wish you hadn’t come.”
Because he’d been so focused on Rose, Flynn hadn’t seen the movement around him. When he looked up, he saw every other woman in the room had risen to their feet. Each one of them brandished a sword.
The slow sound of clapping came down the corridor towards the room and Flynn shook to hear it. It cracked in time with her heavy-booted steps.
What seemed like an age passed and the repeated clap chipped away at Flynn’s resolve. Each sharp snap wound the muscles in his back a little bit tighter.
Then the Queen appeared in the doorway. Her head cocked to one side, she sighed as she said, “What a shame. I was kind of hoping you’d be different. All I want is someone to adore me, Flynn.”
“Why the fuck would I adore a murderous maniac like you? You’re fucking mental.”
Silence seemed to sweep through the entire building as if the old hospital itself had drawn a breath. The Queen let it hang before she looked at her guards. “You know what to do.”
The women closed in around Flynn and Rose.
Chapter 64
Flynn spent the entire night rubbing his wrists together. The rope had been tied so tightly he didn’t get any movement from them at first, and his hands throbbed from the circulation having been cut off. But the more he moved them, the more his bonds loosened.
The process had rubbed the skin off his wrists and they stung with an aggressive buzz, but he had to keep going. He’d already been through plenty of pain, a little more wouldn’t stop him now.
Neither Flynn nor Rose spoke to one another. They seemed to share a fear that someone would be listening. At least that was what Flynn assumed to be Rose’s reason for remaining quiet. He could only guess at what went through her mind at that moment.
At least they’d been trapped in the summer. Had they been left in what equated to a human birdcage in the winter, they would have probably gotten hypothermia from the first night.
Although summer brought its own challenges. Every time Flynn swallowed, his dry and swollen tongue damn near choked him. The rain had stopped quite a few hours ago, and he hoped it would start up again soon; both his wrists and his throat could do with the wet relief.
The cage hung from the branch of the only large tree in the royal complex. It stood close to the barn, and when the people of the community woke up, Flynn and Rose would be in plain sight.
The silence chipped away at Flynn, so he finally said, “I’m worried they’re going to cut my dick off.”
Rose frowned at him.
“She did that, you know. She had me lined up to be her fuck toy. The last guy who didn’t make the grade had his penis cut off in front of everyone in the barn. The spectators loved it. They’re fucking savages in this place.”
“Fuck,” Rose said as she looked at the large wooden structure close by. What else could she say? No doubt her mind spun like Flynn’s. If the Queen would cut his dick off, what would she do to Rose?
Not only had Flynn’s and Rose’s wrists been bound, but they’d been anchored to a large metal ring in the middle of the birdcage. The angle Flynn had to sit at—hunched over and leaning forwards—set his shoulders on fire with a deep ache. Although he rolled them to try to ease his pain, it had little effect other than sending the birdcage swinging.
Some of the royal complex’s early risers woke with the sun. Some completely ignored Flynn and Rose, while others stopped beneath the cage and stared up at them. No one spoke to them. And why would they? The wrong question at the wrong time in this place and the consequences were severe.
The first hunter Flynn saw came over to the cage and stood beneath it. It seemed to make the other people braver, many of them joining him in looking up at the pair.
About fifteen people had gathered by the time the hunter did something. After looking on the ground, he bent down and picked up an object. So tired from his sleepless night, Flynn
didn’t react as he watched the hunter’s rock spin through the air at him. It cracked him straight on the forehead, sending a flash of white light through his vision. A hot line of blood ran into Flynn’s right eye from the wound and he rubbed his head on his shoulder to try to stem the flow.
“You horrible fucker,” the hunter called up at Flynn.
The hunter’s actions gave the others permission, and in a few short seconds, the people below all launched rocks at the pair.
Flynn lowered his head as pain dashed his body. Each time a rock hit, the sharp sting of it felt all the worse for the surprise of where it crashed into him. His shoulder blades, his spine, the back of his head … Insults flew up at the pair with the rocks.
“Cunt,” “Faggot,” “Traitors,” “Arseholes …”
Chapter 65
The stoning lasted for about five minutes before the hunter called out, “Enough!”
The people stopped and Flynn opened one eye to look down to be sure they weren’t tricking him. When he looked at Rose, he saw cuts and marks on her head and face. He balled his fists, clenched his jaw, and continued to rub his wrists together. They’d fucking pay. The lot of them would pay.
The hunter pointed up at the pair and said, “The Queen has plans for these lovebirds, so we can’t be too harsh.” The crowd around him were animated with their excitement. Their eyes as wide as their grins, they stared bloodlust up at Flynn and Rose.
“I can see you want to kill these two,” the hunter said. “Believe me, they deserve it, but we need to wait. Whatever we can think to do to them, I’m sure the Queen has something much worse planned.”
Of course the Queen had plans for them, but to hear it said out loud sent a nauseating flip through Flynn’s guts. He rubbed his wrists together quicker than before.
When the hunter and the people had walked away, Flynn looked at Rose. The same beauty he’d seen in her clean skin, her long blonde hair, and her brown eyes remained. Despite the welts and lumps from the stoning, her spirit shone through as bright as ever. She didn’t look anywhere near as scared as he felt. “Why did you save me at the end of the games?”
Rose dropped her attention to the ring they were both bound to, her face flushing red. “You seemed like a good person. You seemed worth saving.”
“But you could have saved yourself.”
“I know. And maybe I would if we were to do it all again. I suppose at the time, I couldn’t willingly sell you out. I couldn’t be that ruthless.”
Would Flynn have been that ruthless?
“But it’s paid off, hasn’t it?” Rose said.
Flynn looked down at the rope around his wrists, the sandy-coloured cord stained red with his blood. He blinked against the sweat and blood running into his eyes before he looked back up at Rose. “Um, no. I don’t think it has paid off.”
“You came to rescue me. We’re in this together now. We’ll work something out.”
She’d been kind enough to save him, so Flynn didn’t say anything, but they were fucked. No matter which way he looked at it, they were well and truly fucked. And the look in Rose’s eyes told him she believed that too, even if she couldn’t voice it.
Flynn’s entire body buzzed like an open wound, although no part of it hurt more than his wrists. Even still, he continued to rub them together, each movement ever so slightly loosening the rope’s tension.
Chapter 66
Flynn now wore gloves of blood. They glistened in the sun, slick and red. Yet he continued to twist and turn them, gaining a little more slack out of the ropes with each passing hour. If it came to it, he’d rather lose a hand escaping than have that cunt Mistress cut his cock off.
The pain from the stoning still throbbed through Flynn, and as the day heated up, sweat turned his entire form damp. The saline trickle found every open wound on his body, lighting him up with an electric buzz.
Fuck knew how long had passed since they were stoned. The sun had risen higher in the sky. A lot more people had woken up, walked past the cage, and stared up at them. No one had spoken to them. No doubt they’d decide to stone them again at some point.
A clenched jaw against his pain and Flynn continued to work his wrists. The movement of his hands continued to send the cage swinging. So when he saw the Queen approach, he stopped still.
“Well, well, well,” the Queen said, three royal blue guards on either side of her. “Two little lovebirds. Caged, as lovebirds should be. You know, apparently lovebirds fall in love for life. If they’re separated, it breaks the other one’s heart.”
Neither Flynn nor Rose responded as the Queen evaluated them with her cold glare. “I have plans for the both of you. I expect one of you will end up heartbroken.” She smiled. “But we have a little time yet, so don’t worry.”
Flynn did his best to keep his eyes from his burning wrists. Because the bottom of the cage was made from solid wood, they’d have to lower it to see what he’d been trying to do.
“But before anything else happens,” the Queen said, “we have a community to raid. Isn’t that right, Flynn?”
Still silent, Flynn looked down at the Queen and the ravenous faces of her guards. Hungry for his utter destruction, they looked ready to pounce.
“Home, is that what it’s called?”
The word sent a chill through Flynn. Sure, he’d walked away from the place, washed his hands of it even, but only because of a select few people. Many of Home’s residents hadn’t done anything to him. He’d devoted over a decade of his life to ensuring the well-being of the place; he’d like it to continue to thrive.
And how did she know about Home? He’d told her he came from Biggin Hill, from the shipping containers. Flynn searched the crowd of spectators below, which had doubled since the Queen arrived. A sharp sting sat in his eyes from the sweat and blood that had trickled into them over the past few hours. Maybe someone from Home now lived in the royal complex. How else would she know?
“I won’t keep you any longer,” the Queen said, “but I promise you, even from here, you’ll be able to watch your old community burn. If you survive that long without food and water, that is. I still haven’t decided on exactly when we’ll take the place down.”
Such a dry mouth it felt like his throat would crack, Flynn watched the Queen saunter off as she said, “Ta-ta.”
Chapter 67
It must have been lunchtime, because as soon as the Queen left Flynn and Rose, she headed for the barn.
Over the course of the next five minutes or so, Flynn watched all the people from the community file into the large building. All the while, he twisted his wrists, rested a little to let the pain ease, and twisted again. A pool of blood had formed on the base of the cage from where it dripped off his fingers like melting wax.
“I’m worried about you,” Rose said.
Flynn looked at her to see she had her attention on his wrists. A shrug of his shoulders and he continued to twist his hands. “Anything’s got to be better than waiting up here for that bitch to decide when she’s going to start toying with us.”
The bright glare bounced off Rose’s sweating face. Hotter than it had been in weeks, Flynn almost heard the sizzle of her skin from the sun’s burn.
“So you come from the next community she wants to take down?”
“I did.”
“Why did you leave?”
Flynn wanted to yell out at the pain in his wrists as he twisted them again, but he clenched his jaw, drew heavy breaths, and said, “They were cunts.”
When Rose didn’t reply, Flynn looked up at her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “They were arseholes though.”
Rose shrugged; this world had clearly shown her much worse than the word cunt. “What did they do?”
“I arrived there about a decade ago with a woman who raised me. She was like a mother to me. I was only six when my parents died. Were it not for her, I’d be dead too, a million times over.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was mur
dered. By the people of Home.”
Near silence hung between them, the creaking of the tree’s branch the only sound as they rocked in the wind.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Rose finally said as she reached out two of her fingers on her right hand and stroked Flynn’s. If their bonds would have allowed more contact, Flynn felt sure she would have given it to him at that moment; and he would have welcomed it.
As he looked down at her affection, some of Flynn’s rage left him and a lump rose in his throat. “She was the one who helped set the disease loose on the world.”
“What?”
“Someone used her because she had access to the tower where they were making the disease. She compromised the security of the place so they could get in. They convinced her they would put a stop to the experiments. She thought she was helping. But the people of Home didn’t want to hear that. They only cared that she’d helped set the plague loose.” As much as Flynn wanted to tell Rose he’d been the one who had spoken out about Vicky setting the virus loose, he didn’t. That confession would go to the grave with him.
A kindness Flynn hadn’t seen since Serj died stared at him from Rose’s soft face. “I only found out a week or two back about them killing her, even though they did it ten years ago. She managed to persuade them to let her write me a letter to say she’d left. I was sixteen at the time and she knew if I found out about her being killed, I’d go off on my own. I wouldn’t have lasted two minutes.”
“So she’d rather you thought she left you than know the truth?”
“So I’d stay, yeah.”
“Wow. It sounds like she saved your life, even if she couldn’t save her own.”
For the next few seconds, Flynn worked the bonds harder than before, rubbing and rubbing and rubbing, grinding his jaw against the pain of it. “A man named Serj looked after me once Vicky had gone. He knew the truth of it all, but he didn’t tell me until just recently. He promised her he wouldn’t.”
The Alpha Plague - Books 1 - 8: A Post-Apocalyptic Action Thriller Page 119
