Rose's thoughts drift, lazy and cloud-like, through her mind. Distantly she knows something's wrong, that she should be worried about something, but the endorphins from her last feeding are lingering, clouding her thoughts and bringing a smile to her lips. The fact that this haze is lasting longer and longer every time the group of strigoi visit her is another thing she knows should worry her and yet every time it takes her just a bit longer to be able to bring herself to care. She can't even remember how long she's been here. Days? Weeks? Certainly not months yet?

The troubling thought is the first thing that tugs at the corners of her smile, turning her lips down in a slight frown. The warm summer air had just been finding it's autumnal chill the last time she could remember being outside but she couldn't recall if there'd yet been snow on the ground the last time she'd looked out the one window her room here possessed. Her head lolls to the side to glance at the window, but the glass is too dark, the angle not quite right to see from her spot on the bed, and she doesn't think her legs quite have the strength yet to carry her.

Dimitri will be worried if it's been weeks. Rose's frown deepens as the thought occurs to her slower than it should. The next, that he'll worry regardless because she's missing, comes even slower. Her chest aches at the thought of the worry she's no doubt caused her boyfriend, her friends, the rest of her family.

"Shit," Rose murmurs, rubbing a hand over her face. But when she drags it down her neck, her skin comes away slick with blood. She can't even remember how many strigoi had fed from her, two? Three? More?

She gets something of an answer a minute later when she tries to push herself up from the bed, and her knees all but collapse out from underneath her, landing her in an uncoordinated heap on the floor. More, definitely more than a couple strigoi.

Rose groans a bit, trying to force her scattered thoughts into some kind of order or plan. This feeding was their way of toying with her, she knew that much. Playing with their food while they decided to turn or kill the 5 guardians they'd managed to capture and haul back with them. She knows she should try and find the others who had been taken along with her and see if they can all band together to fight their way out. But if they're in the same kind of shape that Rose is in, she has serious doubts about their ability to walk, let alone fight.

If they're even still alive.

The thought is a chilling but unavoidable one, given what Rose had heard the other night. They must be keeping them in rooms all off the same hall because she's heard doors opening and closing at all hours, usually around the same time the strigoi come to feed off her. And what she'd heard the other night was the sound of terrified screaming that had abruptly cut off. Rose had known with a sinking feeling that it couldn't mean anything good.

The sickened feeling that the screaming had brought on had only lasted until the strigoi visited her room again and the endorphins from the bite had washed it all away. But now, with the return of that memory, the feeling also returns, and Rose forces herself into movement. Even if she has to crawl, Rose is getting out of this place.

It takes her entirely too long to get to the door and then when she does she has to lean on it heavily just to raise herself up on her knees. It's unsurprisingly locked but the lock looks cheap and breakable so Rose slips a bobby pin from her hair and sets about picking it like Dimitri taught her to. Her vision is still swimming, even worse now with all the movement, so it takes her longer than usual but finally she hears the tell-tale click.

But she doesn't open it right away, sinking first onto her heels then sliding onto her back, dizziness making her head pound and stomach churn. Weak, she's too weak for this. She wants to just curl up on the hard ground and wait to feel better but by then the strigoi will have returned for another feeding, setting her right back again. She knows it has to be now or never.

That fact is cemented by the sounds she can suddenly hear in the distance.

Scuffling, yelling, an alarm being raised as something or someone tires to break in. Hope that it's Dimitri and more guardians propels her into action and Rose rolls herself on her hands and knees, slowly forcing herself into a standing position. Her vision and stomach swoop in tandem but she manages to get the door open and herself across the hallway to the room opposite.

"Hey," she calls out even though it makes her head pound even harder. The door locks from the outside so she flips it and shoves the door open, catching sight of one of the guardians stirring on the bed.

But when she tries to make it to the next door along, she trips over her own feet and lands heavily on the ground and this time she knows she won't be getting up again. So she musters what little strength and coordination she has and crawls on, mostly relying on her arms to drag herself forward.

If she can't help them fight their way out then she has to do her part getting the others freed and ready. She has to. She can hear the sounds of the fight getting closer so Rose keeps moving until she's splayed out on the ground in front of the next door, awkwardly shifting around until she's on her back with her feet propped up against the wooden door. Then she draws her feet back and starts to kick. Her strikes feel like there's barely any power in them, but like the locks, the doors are cheap and weak and creak under each blow until finally splintering open. A low groan sounds from within and Rose flips herself back over fighting the dark spots now clouding her vision.

But every inch of her is trembling now, her body too weak and overextended to carry her, and her arms give out when she tries to push up, leaving her to fall back onto the ground, cheek pressing into the rough carpet. She's done her best, she tells herself, even as she thinks of those remaining three doors, their occupants still locked inside.

But then the sound of thudding feet reach her ears and she doesn't even have the strength to lift her head to see who has found them. She can only pray that it's not the strigoi when she hears a familiar voice.

"Roza!"

The others with him don't pause, some stepping over her to get to the doors she's managed to open while still more kick down the others. But Dimitri comes straight to her, hands tender as he shifts her onto her back and brushes the hair back from her face.

She doesn't want him to see the bites on her neck but doesn't have the strength to cover up either. She can tell when he's noticed them because something in his eyes hardens, whether it's in anger or because of the memories the sight is surely bringing up she's not sure. All she knows is his hands remain soft as they slip under her and lift her into the air and that she finally feels safe enough to give into the dark unconsciousness that's racing for her.


I'm not super in love with this one but I'm a day behind and I have a headache so here you go.