But today welcomed a new distraction in the form of violent and colorful shouting. Shey sat up on his bed and listened to the scrambling of rubber-soled feet on the concrete, low grunts of exertion, and the very clear rage of a new prisoner as they brought him in.
After some struggles, a tall, skinny figure came into view. He was being dragged by four beefy guards in full riot gear. The prisoner was fighting with everything he had. They’d underestimated the man, deciding to leave him conscious rather than drugging him into oblivion like they had Shey.
Every step forward was a fight. As they got him to the cell opposite Shey’s, the man leaned heavily on the guards and braced his legs on the bars on either side of the doorway, keeping them from pushing him inside. A small smile of appreciationspread across Shey’s lips. He had to admit the guy was fucking resourceful and fast. If they let go of him for a second, Shey suspected he’d be out of the building and blocks away before they could think of catching him. It was a wonder they’d caught him at all, given how hard he was fighting now.
Of course, Shey had remained a step ahead of his abductors for days prior to his capture. In the end, they had numbers on their side.
The guards went through a lot of sweating, cursing, and fighting for ten minutes, but the prisoner’s energy seemed boundless, and he was not willingly going into the cell. In the end, one of the guards took a club to the man’s shin. The loud whack made Shey cringe as sympathetic pain shot through his leg. A wretched howl broke from the prisoner, and he instinctively lifted his leg, trying to escape another hit. The guards took advantage of his weakness and shoved him into the cell.
They tossed him into the middle of the room in a heap, but that didn’t stop the guy. He was back on his feet, limping as he lunged at the nearest guard. His fingers curled into claws as he pulled at their clothes and hammered them with his fists.
Instead of leaving and slamming the metal door in his face, the guards turned on him and began ferociously beating him with their clubs. Shey lurched to his feet, unable to tear his eyes away from what he was seeing. The man shouted and lifted his arms, trying to protect his head, but he remained standing for only a moment, then collapsed to the floor. Yet they still didn’t stop.
Shey gripped the cold bars with both hands. “Hey! Stop! Stop right now! He’s down! You’ve made your fucking point! Stop, or you’re going to kill him.”
But they didn’t stop. The heavy whacks of the clubs made a sickening sound as they pounded on soft flesh and bone. Moansrose from the man, turning to sobbing. And then, even that stopped before the guards did.
When they filed out of the cell, their uniforms splattered with blood, there was only a rough rattle of air entering and leaving the man erratically.
“Why? Why the fuck did you have to go so far?” Shey demanded, forcing the words out past the lump in his throat.
The last guard, as he left the cell, didn’t bother to close the door. He slammed his blood-slicked club against the bars right in front of Shey’s face, raining blood on him.
“Shut it, or you’re next!” the guard barked.
Shey stumbled away from the bars, his heart hammering and his stomach churning. A chill slid across his skin, digging deep until he swore it bit into his bones. With a shaking hand, he swiped across his face, wiping away the drops of blood.
The door slammed shut at the end of the hall, leaving him alone with Ty and the new prisoner. Rough, wheezing breaths filled the silence. They were growing slower and shallower with each passing second. He was dying.
“Hey! Hey! Come back! This guy needs medical treatment!” Shey bellowed, his voice trembling in desperation. “You can’t leave him to die!”
“That’s the point,” Ty stated in a low voice.
“What? What do you mean, that’s the point?” he snarled. “They can’t do that.”
“It’s not the first time. Won’t be the last.” Each word was low and sullen, as if his soul were crushed under the weight of the dying man.
“Why? Why the fuck would they just leave him? Did they even get any information out of him? He’s new, right? It’s a waste to drag him in, beat him, and leave him to die.”
There was a long silence, and the man drew one last rattling breath, then nothing. Shey’s soul froze in his chest, and he tooka stumbling step to fall on his ass in the center of his cell. Dead. It had all happened so fast. He’d shouted for the guards to come help him, but shouldn’t he have done more? Would it have been smarter to give up the shouting and use his magic to break out? And…what? He didn’t have any medical training. He didn’t even know where they were. Even if he’d broken out, there wouldn’t have been enough time to get the dying man medical attention.
“What was the point?” he whispered.
“To rattle you,” Ty replied. There were sounds of movement on the other side of the stone wall, as if Ty was moving closer to Shey’s cell. “You’ve been here for a few days now. They’re going to come for you soon to interrogate you. This was to soften you up, remind you that youneedto be scared shitless of them. That if you don’t do exactly what they say, you’re going to end up just like him.”
Shey’s gaze strayed to the other cell where there was no sound or movement. Gritting his teeth, he climbed to his feet and threw himself onto his bunk. He kept his eyes locked on that cell and the dead man. No, he wasn’t scared. If anything, they’d only made him more determined to escape and destroy whoever was behind this slaughterhouse. He would uncover the truth and make them pay for all the lives they’d stolen.
It felt like several hours passed before the heavy metal door at the end of the hall swung open. Several guards walked in. Shey’s heart thudded painfully, all of his body going on alert as fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. The door to Ty’s cell opened first, and there was thebamof the plastic tray for their food being dropped on the floor. The door slammed shut. Relief surged through Shey, making him almost light-headed.
They moved to Shey’s cell, and Shey unfolded from his bed. He stood near the bunk, his head up and his arms folded across his chest as he stared down the pair of guards in battle gear.
“Stay back, scumbag, or I’ll beat the shit out of you too!” one of the guards bellowed, brandishing his club while the other dropped the tray of slop.
Shey didn’t budge an inch. He almost smiled. His unflinching glare was more than enough to unnerve these fuckers. Of course, if they had any clue as to his real identity, they would know that he had both the power and the ability to kill them in half a dozen ways. It was so tempting to call on his magical gift from Kaes. To pull together all the water in their bodies and have it coalesce in their lungs. Drown in their own fluids. Or lightning. He was still working on consistently summoning lightning.
But since entering this prison, he had a new obsession. Ice. He wanted to command the storm and water to become an ice storm. Freeze them inside and out.
These pretty evil thoughts played in Shey’s mind as he watched the guards leave his food and quickly retreat, slamming his cell door shut. As they left the cellblock, they paused long enough to drag out the dead body of the other prisoner, leaving a trail of blood behind them.
