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He brushed his fingers across her cheek, and she cringed. His touch boiled her blood.
“Oh, we are going to have fun with this one,” he said as he strolled away. Ali didn’t like the way he said that at all.
They stopped again around mid-day. They were served the same food they’d eaten for breakfast, a bread roll and some water. Ali supposed she should be grateful they were feeding them at all. She kept hanging on to the fact that they meant to keep the survivors alive. It was the only thing that calmed her nerves. As long as she was alive, then there was hope. If she was alive, then she could fight. She could escape. She could dream. Hope was all she had right now.
Ali found herself next to a line of men. It was the first group of men she’d seen since yesterday and she searched frantically for Eli. It didn’t take long to spot him since he towered over most of the other young men and boys. She moved closer to him and pulled her fellow captives along with her.
“Sorry,” she muttered as their rope tightened. “Eli!”
He looked up, and she’d never seen him look so dreadful. His face was bruised and swollen almost beyond recognition and his light brown hair was soaked in blood.
“Ali.” His voice was hoarse, and she wished she could cradle him and tell him everything would be all right.
“They killed them. They killed them all. I couldn’t stop it.”
His eyes were dark, and she could see the dismal scenes replaying over and over in his mind.
“You did everything you could. You can’t possibly take the blame for this. We were doomed from the start. There were too many of them.” She tried to reassure him, but she wasn’t sure it did any good.
“I…I could’ve done more. If we had gotten there sooner…if—” He was lost in thought. “My dad is gone, Ali.” Tears carved a path down his dirt covered face and his jaw clenched.
“I know.”
He looked up with furrowed brows.
“I saw him. My mom is gone too.” Her voice broke when she recalled her mom kneeling on the ground, waiting for the strike of a sword. “You still have me, though. I need you just as much as you need me. We’ll get through this together.”
“Will we?” He hung his head, and the silence looming over them was suffocating.
Truthfully? She wasn’t sure, but it felt better to hold on to hope than to give up.
They sat in uncomfortable stillness a little while longer, both feeling too weighed down to speak. People shifted around them and rose to their feet. She dreaded whatever would come next. Oh, how she wished she could just stay here with Eli and mourn all that they’d lost in such a short time. They needed time to grieve.
Their journey in the afternoon was just as tedious as the first half of the day. This area had no trails, so much of the path was swampy and overrun with thick weeds and bushes. They had to pass through multiple pools of freezing water. Ali tried not to think about the snakes or other critters that lurked beneath the water and tall grass.
It was early evening when their path turned to crumbling asphalt. Within minutes, their destination came into view. Her jaw dropped when she spotted the stone walls over the tops of trees. The walls must have been two or three stories high. It was a mighty fortress covered in vines. She’d never seen anything like it. She couldn’t see what lay within those walls, but she knew she was about to find out.
“Stop here.” The captors paused at the general’s command and gathered fabric out of backpacks. A chill ran up her spine when she realized what was happening: they were blindfolding them. Her heart raced, and she fidgeted with fear.
One of the men slipped a black bag over her head. It smelled like sweat and must and it immediately became hard to breathe. Her hands were pulled by the rope that bound them, and she followed blindly. Each step was more difficult and more terrifying than the one before. There was no way to navigate her surroundings while her hands were tied. Tree branches sliced at the skin on her arms and caught on her pants.
“Watch your step,” some said, voice muffled through the blindfold.
Ali did her best to feel out the steps with her foot before transferring her weight with each step.
The ground felt slick, like wet stones. Based on the echoing of voices, she thought they must be in a tunnel. She felt claustrophobic even though she couldn’t see anything. The opening wasn’t very large at all. At one point, the person in front of her stumbled and she collapsed on top of them. The person behind her helped her up as they both fumbled around in the dark.
Eventually, they reached a second set of stairs heading back up and she could feel cold air hitting her skin again. The breeze blew around her and that feeling of being trapped in a small space disappeared. Her shoulders relaxed just a little.
Voices rang out. Lots of them. The buzzing of conversation made her feel like she was home again, except she knew this wasn’t home. Her home was gone forever. This was her hell.
The bag over her face was unceremoniously removed, and the daylight blinded her.
“Welcome to Rysburg.”
***
Chapter Six
