Chained - Everything you know is a lie...

by Susanne Valenti

Chapter Eleven

  That night everything ached from Laurie's lesson in discipline and all I wanted was the nothingness of sleep but it evaded me. As I was being crushed between Taylor and the bed frame, I heard a noise out in the dorm beyond our security wall. It sounded like something had been knocked over and I strained my ears, listening.

  I was sure that I heard footsteps. Our roommate never made a peep, even during the day, and once we were in the dorms he didn't reappear from his private bunk until morning, so the sound put my nerves on edge.

  "Would you like to allow access to your bunk?" the smooth voice cut into my worrying and nearly gave me a heart attack.

  "No," I whispered very sure that I didn't want to let anyone into the bunk with us.

  "What?" Taylor mumbled, still mostly asleep.

  "Someone's out there," I said, but it was the wrong thing to say. As soon as the word 'out' left my mouth, the walls slid down.

  Grey stood in the gloom at the exit to our dorm. He turned to face us, his eyes shining wickedly as he took in our panic.

  Taylor was up, trying to position himself in front of me.

  "There you are," Grey growled and he leapt across the room.

  He moved far quicker than I would have expected based on his bulk. He jumped over an empty bunk, knocking the mattress away towards the door. Before I could work out how to get the walls back up, he was upon us.

  Taylor shoved me backwards and moved towards Grey with a yell. In his panic, he pushed me harder than he meant to and I tumbled back. I fell out of the far side of the bed, sliding across the floor and my head connected with the edge of the bunk opposite. My vision blurred.

  Taylor aimed a punch that hit Grey in the mouth, but it barely seemed to register. Grey actually laughed at him as his huge fist swung back and connected with Taylor's jaw. He went down on the other side of the bed. I was frozen with shock, adrenaline coursed through my veins urging me into action but I couldn't make myself move.

  Grey's attention shifted back to me and my heart leapt into my throat. I rolled under the bunk I'd collided with and started crawling beneath it. My heart was pounding and my palms were slick with sweat as I tried desperately to drag myself across the cold floor as fast as I could.

  Springs squealed in protest as he jumped on top of my bed. The thump, thump, thump of my heartbeat pulsed in my ears. My elbows screamed with friction burn as I dragged myself forward under the next bed. I was nearly there, if I could make it to the doors there would be a Warden down the corridor and I must be faster than him if I could just get to my feet.

  I was halfway out from under the final bed as I felt his iron grasp close around my ankle. He dragged me backwards. I screamed as loudly as I could and the skin from my arms burned as I tried to claw hold of anything at all.

  My fingers hooked onto some part of the bed frame and I thrashed and kicked at him, screaming again as I tried desperately to break free of his grasp.

  He grunted with effort as his fingers dug into the skin around my ankle more tightly and he yanked hard. I felt my fingernails shatter as I was ripped free and pulled from under the bed.

  Grey tossed me like a rag doll, down onto the mattress behind him and I hit my head again on the bed frame. Blood trickled down my face but I had to keep fighting. He loomed over me and laughed, cracking his knuckles together as he moved forward slowly, taking his time.

  I kicked as hard as I could, aiming between his legs and heard a satisfying groan for my efforts. He flinched backwards, releasing his grip on me momentarily.

  I rolled over the bed, back towards the far end of the dorm and threw myself off the edge, hitting the ground on my feet. I started running instantly but he was just as fast. He caught hold of my hair and ripped me backwards, throwing me to the ground again.

  "Maybe your boyfriend wants to see what I'm going to do to you?" he growled, as he picked me up and slammed me back down onto the bed. I looked over to the spot where Taylor had gone down, but he wasn't there any more.

  Grey noticed he was missing at the same moment I did and spun to look over his shoulder just as Taylor aimed a kick at his face. Blood flew from his mouth in a shower and his head snapped sideways with a sickening crunch but he didn't pause as he swung around in a circle and propelled his fist straight at Taylor.

  Taylor dodged the first strike but the second caught him hard in the temple and he fell sideways onto the bed next to mine, unconscious.

  I screamed again, hoping a Warden would hear. Grey turned his attention back to me, smearing a line of blood across his cheek with the back of his hand. His palm clapped down over my mouth. My nostrils filled with the foul stench of him as his sweaty fingers pressed down against my face and I recoiled into the pillows beneath me. I thrashed and made all the noise that was possible.

  "Shut up," he snarled.

  I kicked and bucked and tried to do anything I could to get him off me, but it didn't even seem to phase him. In fact it seemed like he was enjoying himself. I did the only thing I could and bit him. Hard.

  Grey yanked his hand away in surprise but swung it back down just as quickly, punching me in the face. It was like being hit with a sledgehammer. I couldn't think. Everything went black for a few moments and a small voice in the back of my head welcomed it and reached out for the promise of oblivion.

  "No," I growled, forcing the blackness away. My head swam. I blinked my eyes furiously, making them work by pure force of will. My vision blurred again before his great ugly face swung into focus.

  There was someone behind him.

  All I could make out was a blur of red hair but I recognised Evander instantly.

  I watched as he hefted something big behind his head - it looked like one of the bed posts - and swung it straight at Grey's temple.

  Grey fell off of me with a grunt and crashed to the floor, making the bed vibrate with the impact. He made a sound like a feral beast and twisted to face us, a look of rage written across his features.

  Evander grabbed my arm and heaved me up, away from Grey, flinging me on top of Taylor on the opposite bed. He jumped onto the end of the bed too as the voice rang out.

  "Would you like some privacy?"

  "Yes!" he snapped, before it could finish asking, and the walls slid into place, closing out the view of Grey charging towards us. I flinched but the wall had already closed in around us.

  There was a crashing sound as he hit the wall but it held. Then a series of pounding noises followed as he tried to force his way in.

  "Would you like to allow access to your bunk?"

  "No!" I shouted at the same time as Evander.

  The noises of Grey crashing about outside lost intensity after a few minutes and eventually stopped.

  "Thank you. I don't know what he would have done to me," I said, taking a shuddering breath.

  Annoyingly, I felt like crying but I bit my lip and kept it together. I was breathing heavily and I tried to focus on slowing each breath down. In through my nose and out though my mouth. Evander reached towards me as if he was thinking of touching my shoulder then thought better of it and dropped his hand.

  "Don't mention it. Is he okay?" Evander pointed at Taylor. I leaned over him, laying two fingers on his neck to check his pulse. He was still unconscious but his breathing was steady.

  "I think so." My hands wouldn't stop trembling so I curled them into fists by my sides. "Laurie warned me to keep away from him, but I didn't think he would come looking for me."

  "How did he get out of solitary? Why weren't the Wardens watching him more closely?" Evander's cheeks flushed and turned the same colour as his hair as anger swelled within him. "I bet if we tried to go wandering the corridors at night we'd be stopped before we even left the dorm."

  "Maybe he killed the Warden on watch?" I suggested.

  "Maybe." He didn't seem convinced but my brain was too foggy to think about it anymore.

  "Evander, right?" I asked, offering him my hand. He paused and the
n took it, his grip was stronger than I had expected.

  "People call me Evan," he replied.

  "I'm Maya-" I started but a smile pulled at his lips.

  "I know," he said, still holding onto my hand. He dropped it suddenly as Taylor's eyelids started to flutter open.

  Taylor groaned, lifting a hand to his head where a swelling had appeared on his temple.

  "I'm here, it's over." I squeezed his other hand reassuringly.

  "What happened?" he mumbled.

  "Evan saved us," I said. Taylor turned to look at Evan who dropped his gaze to the floor.

  "Thanks," Taylor said, sitting up and scooting along the bed to make room so that we could all sit down. He raised a hand to his face where Grey had punched him, wincing slightly as he touched the bruise that was starting to appear.

  "No problem." Evan perched himself on the edge of the bed next to me.

  We sat in silence for several minutes. I could feel the blood still trickling through my hair and I was fairly sure I had a black eye coming on.

  As my heart stopped racing, a hundred little hurts presented themselves to me. I looked down at my fingernails. They were shredded and crusted with blood.

  My knees were visible through tears in my sweat pants. They were red and burnt from being dragged across the hard floor as were my elbows and at some point I must have bitten my tongue. On top of all that, my head had been smacked so many times I had trouble distinguishing the lumps from the unharmed patches.

  I really needed some kind of medical attention but I wasn't about to let those walls down any time soon.

  "Warden entrance imminent," the smooth voice broke the tension.

  The walls slid down and Laurie stood outside with Unibrow, Hook-nose and another Warden I didn't recognise.

  "What the hell happened?" she gasped.

  "Grey," I replied grimly.