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I thought about pushing it a little farther with her, but Penny moaned behind me and I whirled around to help her.
I kneeled next to her, and as I helped her sit up, the adrenaline rush of the fight subsided and left aching muscles and possibly broken bones in their place. I’d done it, though. I’d held my own against girls more seasoned at this than I was.
There was a glimmer of hope if I could remember the way this felt. How good it was to feel power in my veins and watch my enemies bleed.
CHAPTER5
Ryker joined us shortly after,still breathing hard and hyped up, looking ready to fuck more than he looked like he wanted to help Penny with me.
I put my hand on his shoulder and ran it down his arm. His clothing was torn and his tattoos almost glowed through the rips. There was a sheen of glistening sweat covering his entire body, and the way he was breathing made him really fucking hot.
I was insane. Clearly, that was my problem. Only I could get beaten half to death after being kidnapped and want to get down and dirty with Ryker.
Maybe green-eyes had a point. Maybe this was why the Organization created such elaborate ritualistic violence and sex. Maybe at the end of the day, millionaires and billionaires needed it to get hard.
I shook myself out of the distracted line of thinking and tugged at Ryker’s arm. “We need to get Penny back inside,” I said as I watched the other crews hobble and stumble back to their quarters. “She needs to lie down. She needs help.”
“Here, let me take her,” Ryker said, focusing on me at last. “I’ll help her up.”
Penny groaned and held her knee with one hand and her ribs with her other.
“What’s wrong with them?” she asked, tears streaming down her face. She looked so gaunt. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her normally shiny, pretty blonde hair was dank and dull. She’d lost her spark, and I was sick with worry for her.
By some strange luck, this adversity had unlocked something inside of me. A genetic memory, perhaps. Generations of impoverished fighters barely surviving on the scraps that the world had tossed them. I guess in the end it proved to be a good thing I came from the trailer park and not the boarding school.
“They’re all fucked in the head,” I told her and moved out of the way so Ryker could hook his hands under her arms and help lift her to her feet.
Behind us, the dusty prison yard was empty. Everybody else had gotten back to their buildings by then.
Thackeray still watched us with eager, beady eyes. Like he was observing an exhibit at the zoo, and not three kids struggling to stay alive and comprehend what was happening to them.
I hated him at that moment. And the black masked guard who watched with such obvious intent. A guard dog for the machine, one of the cogs Thackeray had spoken of, but one that could kill.
Penny whimpered as she took to her feet, and I stood next to her to offer her some support. Ryker did most of the lifting, half carrying her back to our spot. We were flanked by two guards with white masks, both holding their black batons in a threatening way. Menacing us into compliance and overseeing complete obedience.
For once, I wasn’t ready to give in. Despite the overwhelming odds stacked against us, seeing Kingston gunned down in front of me, and the knowledge that I might lose my life to the animals running the Organization. Despite all of it, or perhaps because of it, I was ready to fight even harder. Having nothing left to lose had given me a unique kind of freedom. And I was going to use it until I could say I was truly free.
Penny stumbled, and we stopped so she could regain her footing. The guards crowded us and tried to edge us along.
“Leave her the fuck alone,” Ryker snarled as one of the guards snaked his hand out to prod Penny with the end of his baton. It didn’t have a zap of electrical charge at the tip, but it was bad enough on its own. Ryker blocked it with his hand and turned around to shove the guard hard.
The guy fell backwards onto his ass and the other one hit Ryker with the end of his baton. This time the electric zap struck him in the neck and the guard pressed harder as Ryker began to sag.
“Leave him alone!” I screamed and kicked the guard’s calf from behind, almost succeeding in knocking him to the ground to join his friend. The guard yanked the baton off Ryker and turned to me, his expressionless white mask gleaming in the sunlight. “Leave us alone,” I said, my voice softer now. “We’re going back to our cells. Just leave us alone.”
And something must have gotten to him, because I saw his eyes behind the mask flicker with the slightest movement, the smallest light of emotion. He cared about me, and I was going to exploit the hell out of it if I could.
“Please,” I said and reached to touch the back of his hand with the tip of my finger. “We just got here, we don’t even know what’s going on.”
His friend climbed to his feet and Ryker rubbed his neck and glowered at the guard with a look that would have exploded the guard’s head, if he’d been able to.
Penny leaned against me and seemed like she was going to fall. “Please,” I said again and finally the guard motioned for us to go inside.
I pushed open the door, helped Penny through, and waited for Ryker to help me get her the rest of the way.
We walked back to where we’d been, got Penny settled into her bed, and went back to ours. The guards locked the doors and left us alone again.
The only sound that filled my ears was of my blood rushing as my rage rose and my anger carried me through the pain. My body was slowly catching up as the adrenaline wore off, and man, I hurt. I hurt so badly.
