She felt the pain long before she had the strength to sit up. They tossed her like a rag doll into a small metal cage, one she could barely stand up in. After they slid the bars closed, they locked it with an inevitable click that twisted her stomach. Cora heard her captors leave, and she passed out again shortly after. And here she was, some time later, aching all over and feeling a bit nauseous. No one had bothered to remove her handcuffs, which made movement awkward. Dried blood was spattered along the metal floor of her holdings, and she could feel more crusty yuckiness at the back of her head and under her nose.
Someone had left a small bowl of murky water and an old rag in the right corner of her cell. The sudden thirst in her mouth wanted a drink. Thinking better of it, she soaked the rag and started wiping off all the dirt and blood from her body. It was almost healing, just being able to clean up. Cora wrung out the rag and set it by the bowl, freezing the nasty looking water it contained so it couldn't accidentally spill.
The crunch of dirt outside the tent brought Cora's attention to the entrance as its flaps were pulled aside. Vygorns she recognized from earlier walked in, one carrying a collapsed man on his shoulder. They placed him in the cell adjacent from hers, and she finally got a good look at his hat. She could recognize that fedora anywhere. Her first feelings were frustration, it was stupid for them both to come alone. But after realizing the only reason Will was at camp was because he followed her without waiting for the others, Cora felt a kindling of gratitude. Amidst the shame of failing her mission, and of putting someone else in danger, she felt grateful.
A human who looked like a caretaker reached through the bars of her cell, taking the cloth and bloody frozen bowl, refusing to meet her gaze. He left as quickly as he could, eyes down to the ground the entire time.
After they threw Will and locked his unconscious self in the cell, the Vygorns left. No one paid any attention to her. They simply stalked by her cell, left through the entrance, and it was dead quiet again. Of course, she never gave them the satisfaction that she recognized their second prisoner.
Placing an ice chip in her mouth, Cora sucked on it absentmindedly, looking around her new home. The military tent was a dirty beige, cloth roof about ten feet high. It was more of a long tent as it had two rows of cells lined against the walls, maybe ten in total. The cells had metal bottoms since the tent's floor was desert earth. Fluorescent tubes were wired in along the ceiling, flickering occasionally as they gave off light.
"Cora?!"
She scooched closer in his direction, holding onto the vertical steel bars in her cuffed hands. "You're an idiot to follow me, you know." Cora scoffed, meeting his eyes for a moment before looking down at the metal in her hands. Her brows furrowed as she tried holding back the sudden emotion that tore at her chest.
"I've fucked up, Will. There's not gonna be a parade home for me." Her voice cracked, and she pressed a hand to her eyes. "If they don't kill us after torturing every single bit of information we have, we sure as hell won't be seeing the light of day any time soon."
Hastily rubbing her eyes, Cora took a few breaths. She could feel the panic welling up inside her, the uncertainty and weakness that she always bottled away. But already she knew tears weren't an option, just a frustration she didn't have time to wallow in. Plus, the stress headache her emotions inflicted was enough to distract her in calming down.
Cora stared dully at the ground, aware of the aching emptiness weighing on her chest. "Will... Why did you follow me alone?"
The Otter
NoriWasHere
Yankee
Andre Valias
Evil Ghost Note
IAmTheIsland
Atrophy
LanaStorm
Memoria
flux
