Hope you're enjoying ;)
You better hurry up, Morgan.
Time's running out.
Only three more days 'til your precious
Rebecca dies…
And then we'll come for you.
Macey hears my scream, and comes running into the bathroom, a pen in her hand.
"What is it, Cam? Why did you yell?" she practically screams.
I swallow, and point to the note on the mirror.
"We have to find that Disk, and fast!"
Macey rips off the note and reads it, a disgusted look on her face.
"You have a shower, and I'll continue working on our next hit, okay?" she says, trying to keep calm.
After a long shower, I'm still freaking out about Bex.
Worried, I brush out my hair and join Macey in the kitchen.
She's not cooking today, just crunching on some cereal and pouring over a book titled 'Organised Search and Recovery of Items'.
"Morning," I call to her.
She doesn't look up, only raises a hand in recognition of my words.
I'm still sick with worry, and I can't bear the thought of eating anything right now.
"What is that book going to help with, exactly?"
Macey shrugs and dog-ears the book, before placing it to one side.
"Can't help to read it, though?"
With nothing in the cupboards, Macey tells me she's going to the shops. She asks if I want to go with her, but I decline. I think it'll be better if I can start working on our break-in to John Smith's place; I need to do something to help Bex! She tries to change my mind, but I determinedly tell her I want to stay, and she eventually leaves, shaking her head.
Once I'm alone, I pull out a piece of paper and try to work out the best route into the building. After half and hour of unsuccessful attempts, I decide to leave it for later when Macey returns.
No doubt she'll be a long time at the shops, since she always manages to somehow see something in a window somewhere and want to try it on.
Usually something unbelievably costly.
So I'm a little surprised when the lock on the front door begins to turn.
"I thought you weren't going to be back for a long time, Mace!" I joke.
But it's not Macey.
It's a thin man and a bulky woman, both wearing expressions of determination.
Immediately, I jump to my feet and stand, read for any attack.
"Hello, Cameron, would you mind coming with us?" the man asks, in a scarily polite voice.
"Get out!"
The two snigger, and approach me, cautiously.
I wait for their attacks, but they don't come. So, we're left standing just feet away from each other. I wonder if they can feel the hate radiating from me…
Finally, the woman lunges towards me and lands a punch directly to my stomach, winding me. Then the man grabs me in a headlock, before I can do anything, and holds a rag over my mouth. I struggle and kick, a few times my foot connects with skin and I hear swearing.
The drugs are starting to take effect, and my vision blurs. I feel strangely lightheaded and limp – unable to control my body.
The two attackers take advantage of the drugs, and drag me outside to a large car with tinted-windows. They throw me in the back, where my eyelids droop and close; I fall asleep.
Upon waking up, I notice several things. The light in the room is poor – I must have been out for hours! The room is the same one the Circle threatened me in a few days prior, and that Bex is slumped against the wall, over in the corner.
"Bex…" I mumble, feeling groggy.
She doesn't raise her head, so I assume she's asleep, and I can't get any closer to her because one of my wrists is chained tightly to the wall.
But I move as close as to her as the thick chain allows, then there's only several feet between us.
"Bex." I try again.
She stirs gently, mumbling undistinguishable words under her breath.
But before I can say anything more, a man enters the room, smiling evilly.
"Ah, you're awake."
He takes three large strides over to me and grabs my shirt, dragging me off of the ground.
Shoving me ahead of him, we travel to a thick, wooden door and go through it. We emerge into a strangely cosy-looking room, and I see the woman who threatened me just days earlier sitting on one of the plush, squashy armchairs.
"Sit," she commands, not even casting a look our way.
The man forces me into the seat next to the woman's, and then leaves the room.
She finally turns her head to face me, looking almost nice…
"Dear, Cameron, you see, we just wanted to check if you have decided to give us the Disk yet? It really is important to us." She speaks to me like I'm a five-year old, talking slowly and precisely, enunciating clearly.
"Look, I've already told you I don't have it! If I did, I would give it to you! My friend's life isn't worth your stupid Disk!" I practically yell in her face.
She just continues smiling eerily. "Oh, but we knew you would say that. After all, you'd do anything for your precious little friends."
As she sneers the last part, a wave of anger rushes over me.
"At least I have something to live for!" I snarl back at her. "Whereas you, you have no one. Your lives are full of hate and revenge and… and… murder! But I have love, I have happiness, I have friends!"
Her forced smile slips off her face, and is replaced with a look of sheer anger. Her fists ball up, tightly. She's literally seething.
"Don't speak to me like that!" she screams. "You are worthless! Your friends wouldn't give a damn if you died right here, right now. Your dear, stupid boyfriend could find someone twice as good as you, twice as pretty, within an instant. Your rich snob of a friend could simply replace you with someone with way more importance than you. You are worth absolutely nothing to them. You, my darling Cameron, are disposable."
Her words pierce through me like shards of glass, and I flinch, but pull my blank, indifferent expression back on.
"Yeah, right! Let's hear them say that."
She just jumps to her feet, as do I, and laughs. "Well, if they cared so much, why aren't they here, trying to save you? Why didn't they try harder before, when they suspected you of actually being one of us? Why isn't your precious father here?"
I don't actually know which father (or step-father) she's talking about, but I don't ask because I don't want to know.
For a moment, I struggle with words, but nothing comes to me, so I shove her backwards.
She lets out a cry of outrage and punches me, hard. I kick her shin in retaliation.
"You bitch!" she shrieks, losing control.
Lunging towards me, she pushes me backwards into the glass cabinet, which cracks against my back and I feel actual bit of glass pierce me this time.
Lashing out with one hand, she catches the side of my face, leaving what I'm sure will be a bruise later.
Obviously hearing the commotion, other people come bursting into the room.
"What is going on, Gina?" asks a bulky man, in amazement.
"Our pathetic prisoner, here, is getting what she deserves," is all she replies, as she grabs my hair and drags me to the floor.
I try to kick her, but she dodges out of my way. I struggle, but her grip is far too tight to escape from.
She kicks me in the stomach, causing me to cry out in pain.
None of the people who have entered the room try and pull us apart, I assume it's because they're afraid of Gina.
Gina drags me off the floor by my hair and, with one final, extra hard, punch, she releases me. I collapse, in immense pain, back to the floor, as she and her cronies leave the room, chattering quietly.
Tears roll down my bruised, sore face and onto to rough carpet, and I wonder what the point in everything is.
Too sore to stand up, I stay on the floor, wishing my life could reverse a few years so I can do them over.