Chapter 10

Taken

I sat there with her in my arms. She'd out her cloths back on and then just crawled into my lap. I kissed her hair and she shifted. She'd fallen asleep and her head was against my chest. I stroked her cheek and watched her sleep. I smiled to myself, she was so beautiful.

"Royce?"

I looked at her.

"Hm?"

She moved her fingers over my leg.

"When we get home…what will happen to us?"

I frowned.

"I don't understand."

"We come from different worlds, we do different things….will you leave me again?"

I turned her eyes up to mine.

"I said I would never leave you again. Yeah we come from different worlds, but I'll gladly leave mine. So long as you're waiting for me in yours."

She smiled and put her soft hand on the side of my face.

"Always."

That one word was all I needed to hear. I kissed her hard and she moved so she could wrap her arms around my neck. I pulled away and looked into her eyes. I remembered the way she'd acted at that archway.

"Esperanza….what were you doing before you got here?"

Her eyes widened a bit and she looked away.

"Esperanza…please tell me you weren't-"

"I was. I lost you, I lost the baby and I'd been running away from my old life. They all believed I was dead and I was fine with that. I went looking for you. You were like a ghost. You didn't exist. You were the last thing I loved in this world. It hurt so much and I wanted it to end. But I did find you! Yes I attacked you but I think I had every right to do so, at least once. It's all over now. We'll find a way out of here and we'll go home."

I slowly nodded.

"I-"

"Don't you dare blame yourself!" she said quickly.

I smirked. She was always good at predicting what I was going to say. She smiled at me and I pulled her lips back to mine. When she stopped again I felt her fingers at the chain around my neck.

"Did you…?"

"Yeah."

"Por que?"

I smiled and took it off.

"It made me feel close to you."

"But you tried to kill me."

"If I wanted to kill you then you'd be dead. I shot you where I did on purpose. There was no fucking way I could've ever killed you. I stayed to make sure you were safe. I thought you'd died at the hospital. When I told you I missed I was trying to tell you I did it on purpose. If I didn't do it then they would've sent someone else who would, and they wouldn't 'miss' if you know what I mean."

She looked at the necklace and smiled softly.

"I should've known." she whispered.

I put it back around my neck and tucked it under my shirt. She kissed the side of my face and ran her fingers through my hair. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling. She hummed softly and it made me wonder what life would be like when we got home. My little day dream was interrupted by the smell of smoke. I opened my eyes and sat straight up.

"Smoke."

Esperanza jumped off me and grabbed her bag.

"Smoke!"

Everyone was jumping up from their little corners and looking around. Esperanza started coughing. I took my bandana and held it to her face.

"Just breathe slowly." I told her.

"Where's Noland?" Doc asked.

I looked around and slowly started to put the pieces together.

"He's a scavenger! He wants what we have!" Doc shouted.

I started to cough and I heard Esperanza take a deep breath. I remembered her once telling me she could hold her breath for almost two minutes. She gave me my bandana and I nodded. She jumped up and grabbed a bar on the ceiling. I heard Noland's voice.

"Six more fucking mouths to feed! I can barely stand living with you!"

That was when he saw me.

"Say goodbye to your little friend." I said.

I pulled the trigger, but I was dry.

"Shit!"

"You're in my house now motherfucker!"

He ran off and there was now way for me to go after him. Unless…

"Esperanza!"

She dropped down and I brought her towards the bars.

"You're the only one who can slip through these bars and put out the fire."

She nodded.

"Careful baby."

She squeezed through the bars and quickly put out the fire.

"Alright come on back."

She took my hand but she was dragged away. Noland had her.

"ESPERANZA!"

He held a gun to her head.

"Let her go! Give her back to me! NOW!"

"I don't think so."

He started to drag her away.

"ROYCE!"

She screamed for me and I was useless to her.

"Goddamnit!"

I could hear her screaming and I started kicking at the bars.

"That's not going to help. You can't get to her that way." Scorpion said.

She screamed again and I looked around.

"Get down!"

They all hit the ground and I shot at the ceiling.

"That didn't open up shit!"

"It wasn't meant to asshole! I'm calling in the cavalry."

I went back to the bars and kept trying to find a way to get past them. Then I heard an ear shattering scream. My eyes widened and everyone was dead silent.