Escape with My Heart

V. Just Close Your Eyes

Maddy had fallen asleep at some point during the night. She still felt exhausted and absolutely drained by the time she woke, but golden rays of light shined through the windows and made it impossible to keep her eyes shut. She had never felt the sun before, not like this.

It felt warm as it illuminated the dark room, ascending somewhere beyond her sight and she wished that she could enjoy the feel of it for the first time. She had always wanted to just sit beneath it and let the warm light warm her skin without the fear of more than just a possible sunburn, but it felt almost tainted as it would have been back in Chicago under these grim circumstances.

Outside of the windows there was not all that much to see.

It was a sheer drop all the way to the ground, so even without the bars in place she would either need one of those rope ladders to get down or she would risk breaking her neck attempting to climb. She had never climbed more than stairs before and she was not exactly the most physical person in the world, even before her health scare months ago. She doubted she would be able to get down on her own just yet.

The foliage limited her range of sight as well, making it difficult to see anything beyond the leaves and the branches. It was frustrating, like being blindfolded all over again because she had no real feel for where she was outside of this room. She could, however, fit her head between one of the windows and could see part of the catwalk to her right. It was the space where the floor opened up, the one she had been pulled through the night before.

Maddy decided after studying it almost all morning that she could probably hold on to the exterior wall and make it to the platform if she could just get out of the window. of course it was a rather long way down and considering she was still having a bit of trouble just standing on her own, she would have to wait until the opportune moment to attempt it. She needed to recuperate first and the time it took her to recover should give her sufficient time to figure out how to get the cuff off of her wrist.

An odd whooshing noise reached her ears just as Maddy was testing the strength of the bars. She now attributed the sound to the pulley mechanisms that volleyed people up into the trees and immediately tensed. She tried to see who it was, peering outside the window, but all she saw was a large, dirty hand releasing the rope before footsteps made their way toward the door. She slowly inched her way back toward the cot, reaching it just as the door opened.

"Morning, Kitten," Carter greeted her gruffly, lifting an eyebrow at her as she slumped down onto the cot with a huff. He surveyed her carefully, his dark eyes lingering on her wrist which had been a little torn up last night when she had been struggling to get to her sister and on the bruising around her neck after her near strangulation. He grabbed the chair from the table and plopped it down beside her. "Here…"

Maddy silently accepted the tin cup he extended to her. She had already reconciled the fact that she would have to resist subtly from now on rather than to their faces if she wanted to keep her sister safe. And if she planned to escape she would need her strength and for that she would need sustenance. It was either accept what they gave her or possibly go without anything… and it was impossible to know how long they would remain hospitable enough to keep her from starving.

Peering in to the cup curiously, Maddy noted that the broth was different than what he had given her the previous day. Instead of pale gold, it was a light brown with fresh herbs, but it smelled just as good. She sipped at it carefully, grudgingly admitting to herself that it was delicious. The warm liquid felt particularly good going down her sore throat.

As if reading the direction of her thoughts, Carter spoke. "I bet your throat hurts like a bitch," he said, leaning back comfortably in the chair as he watched her. "I made a balm that you can put on it to reduce the pain." He reached inside of his pocket and produced a small jar, as well as a few other items that she recognized—more bindings and another salve. "Plus, I wanted to check on your leg."

"… You were a doctor?" she asked quietly, swallowing another sip of the broth.

Carter paused at her question, his eyebrows lifting up. "Nope," he denied, saying nothing more on the matter as he gestured for her leg. She scooted further back onto the cot and extended the injured leg carefully onto his thigh as directed and watching as he methodically removed the bandages. He nodded to himself in approval as he studied the wounds. "It's healing nicely. You should be fine in a few days."

Maddy curled one arm around her stomach as she watched him apply the cooling salve over the cuts and expertly rebound her leg with deft hands. He reminded of her mother when she was concentrating on a patient and there was something in the intent way he moved on to the next injury, repeating the same method of cleaning and applying salve to both of her wrists, that assured her that he had at least some medical training. He was too efficient not to have any.

Who were these people? She wondered what they all did before they defected. If Carter had medical experience, what did Reynolds and the psychotic woman do before they came here? Her initial thought was that they were all just a bunch of mercenaries for hire and that someone truly had rigged the lottery to bring them here. For all she knew though they could have been well respected citizens who had been recruited, perhaps only with ulterior motives in coming here. She had struggled back and forth all night and could only hazard a few guesses even still.

Carter finished working on her neck a few minutes later. She watched him carefully as he began disposing of the ruined bandages and putting away his supplies. She sighed inwardly swallowing the last of her meal in one large gulp, offering the cup back to him when he returned. She licked the flavor off her lips, her throat feeling much better from both the soup and the balm.

"Your sister likes my cooking too," he mentioned casually, seemingly unaware that her entire body seized at his words. She watched him now critically, riveted by the offhand comment. He seemed oblivious to just how deeply his words affected her, but his dark eyes met hers and she knew that he knew exactly what he was saying. "She had five cups yesterday."

Maddy wanted to cry in relief at the news. They were not starving her sister. Zoe was even smaller than Maddy was, so much younger and her body needed the nourishment more. She had been so fearful to even question how her sister was being treated, uncertain she wanted to know the answer, but this news actually gave her some comfort even if it was only just the slightest piece of mind.

"It is doing her some good too." He continued almost nonchalantly, observing his dirt laden fingernails as he did so. "She is a tiny thing, much like you are, but you Shannon girls have a lot of violence for such unassuming little girls." He chuckled slightly, his eyes flashing in amusement as he rolled back the sleeve of his shirt.

Maddy felt a twinge of guilty pride when she noticed the deep crescent ring of adolescent, gapped teeth imprinted into his skin. She had almost forgotten that Zoe had bitten him last night. She was glad to see he was taking it in a stride, much like he had with his broken nose, instead of taking it out on her sister… or her, for that matter. If anything, he seemed entertained by their little acts of hostility.

"You know, she even tried to get me again an hour ago when I brought her breakfast," he smirked, and she was very hard pressed not to smile at the admittance. She didn't quite succeed, because he snorted at her with a roll of his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… I see that evil smile. You two are vicious."

Maddy bit her lip slightly, giving him a hopeful look. "Can I see her?"

Carter observed her for a moment before he released a heavy sigh. "Sorry, Kitten," he replied, and to be fair, he did sound genuinely regretful as he dashed her small hopes. "Not my call." He stood up slowly, stretching a bit and putting the chair back. "You'll have to take it up with the boss."

Maddy inwardly cringed. "… The boss… is that woman?"

"That's her all right." Carter nodded, his eyebrows furrowing momentarily. "She should be here later this afternoon. Try not to antagonize her too much. She has been in a foul mood for the past month and I'd hate to see her take it out on you again."

"… Okay."

Carter nodded sharply, his lips twisting into a half smile. "See you later, Kitten." He moved toward the door in a quick, confident stride, though seemed to falter once he cleared the threshold. She almost shivered as his expression unexpectedly grew dark. He looked quite menacing as he frowned severely at whatever it was he was looking at.

Maddy winced slightly as he abruptly slammed the door shut behind him. She was tense for a moment before she stood at the quiet murmur she heard beyond the walls. Moving closer to the window as quietly and quickly as she could, she shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation.

"—and didn't your shift end four hours ago, Reynolds?" she heard, catching only the tail end of Carter's demand. There was an odd pang in his voice; it wasn't exactly anger, but something more akin to exasperation. "What happened to Curran?"

"There was a little mix up with the duty sheet." Reynolds replied evenly, his voice clearly unaffected by the fact that he could be in some trouble. "You mind if I check on her?"

Carter was silent for a moment before he scoffed. "Sure there was," he said scathingly. "And no, you are not allowed inside her cabin. You're lucky I kept my mouth shut about that stunt you pulled back in the cave, 'cause you're already on thin ice as it is."

"… Would you have followed those orders either?" Reynolds demanded "You would have let her go without water for—"

"Doesn't matter what I would have done," Carter interrupted roughly. "You keep disobeying orders and people are going to question what use you are here. Quit digging your own grave, kid, 'cause I ain't going to be there to dig your pansy ass out."

Reynolds sounded grudging when he replied. "Fine…" he said. "Now can I check on her?"

Carter released a frustrated grunt. "No, you little shit. I don't trust punks like you in her room. No one goes near her except for Mira and me… and Lucas."

Maddy frowned at the sudden shift in his voice. She had no idea what to make of it, but she was guessing Mira was the woman in charge. It was only an assumption, because she had only interacted with a handful of these people and hardly had much to go on.

"… Lucas?"

Reynolds sounded almost… unnerved as he said the name or perhaps even… fearful. It made her feel anxious, because anyone who could instill such intimidation in a man that had willingly carried her through the heart of nykoraptor territory yesterday without even blinking was clearly someone to be reckoned with.

"What the hell does he want with her?" Reynolds asked, though his voice was low and demanding, as if he were trying to contain his own emotions. She felt an unpleasant chill go down her spine, something telling her that she would not like this mysterious Lucas person either.

Carter sighed heavily. "Fine," he said shortly, ignoring the previous question. "You can stand guard, but if you fall asleep on the job after pulling something like this, it's your ass on the line. Got it kid?"

Maddy listened a while longer, but she assumed Reynolds must had nodded because all she heard was a bit of shuffling before everything fell silent outside. She frowned in confused frustration as she wondered back toward her cot. She planted her chin in the palm of her hand with a huff, trying to sort through all of the dialogue se had overheard.

No wonder the saying was eavesdroppers seldom hear anything good, because she hadn't heard a thing she could understand. It was impossible to decipher their conversation without more information. She felt more confused now than before.

Mira arrived a few hours later wearing her customary scowl across her features. Though for someone who looked so severe and intimidating, the woman could be deceptively pleasant when she wanted to be. She had simply walked inside the room and asked Maddy to take a seat at the table before she introduced herself.

It was… positively unnerving; the change was startling from how ruthless Mira had been before, to have her speaking in civil tones for this second round of interrogation. She went through the same inane questionnaire as she previously had, though it seemed as more of a test, to see how far she could push the questions with adequate responses rather than a chance to embarrass or humiliate her.

Maddy for her own part was as cooperative as she could manage. She dutifully answered everything thrown at her in a monotone voice, unwilling to give her captor more ammunition from her own reactions. They hardly needed more ammunition against her anyway, considering they had all they would ever need in the form of a five-year-old girl. She was essentially at their mercy now.

By the time the interrogation was over, Maddy felt emotionally exhausted. Her mouth was dry from speaking so much, her back ached from sitting in the uncomfortably chair and her head was throbbing in a telltale sign of the impeding heading as well. But Mira was finally rising to leave, so she just waited for the moment she would finally be alone.

Mira paused just at eh door, turning back to look at her. "Do you know why you're here?"

"… You want me to do something for you."

Mira nodded, studying her with cool, dark eyes. "Have you figured out what yet?" She sounded as if she wanted something confirmed, as if she were expecting a positive answer.

Maddy had honestly given it very little thought since that first night. She had been too out of it yesterday to reflect on anything, much too worried and upset to even consider logical thinking. Her emotions had been haywire and this morning she was too busy trying to familiarize herself with this room to bother analyzing it.

And to be honest, Maddy was actually disinclined to know what they wanted from her. She had the most foreboding sense, certain that whatever it was would leave her upset and unwilling. She would need to know eventually of course, but she may not be able to fake cooperation so well if she knew. She was a horrible liar and if they ordered her to do something terrible… she doubted she could convince them that she would.

"… No." Maddy answered quietly, giving her a questioning look. "Will you tell me?" She doubted she would get a real answer, so there was no harm in asking. She could pretend for a while longer, keep up the presence for as long as it took for her to find a way to escape from this prison.

Mira smiled sardonically at her, the expression void of any actual humor. "You'll find out soon enough. He should be here within the next two weeks, after all."

Uncertainty swelled in her chest as Maddy watched the woman leave without another word. She felt a chill go down her spine, gooseflesh appearing all over her arms and shoulders that had nothing to do with the weather. She pulled the jacket closer to her body anyway to try and stave the feeling. Her mind was reeling with more questions and she felt uncomfortable not knowing what was going on.

Maddy hated feeling this out of control. She hated feeling this hopeless and unclear about what was to come. This was just as bad as living in that dismal wasteland. At least there she knew what to expect. Here… she had nothing.

Days passed without anything of consequence happening.

Maddy had developed a bit of a routine, though it was more out of necessity than anything else. She would wake up just in time to watch the sunlight flitter through the barred window. She had discovered on day three that, other than the constant guard stationed outside of her door, everyone else seemed to sleep during this hour.

After taking her medications with the small canteen of water they provided her with daily, would walk along the walls of the room to attempt to regain some strength in her legs. It would be a while before she could run again, but she was beginning to feel steadier on her feet each day. She also used that time to search the room, trying to find any weaknesses she might be able to exploit as means of escape. So far she was unsuccessful and everything seemed to be built sturdy and strong, but she had to try.

One thing that Maddy found intriguing was those locked cabinets. She was almost positive that there could be something useful inside at least one of them. Why else would they have locked them all? She just had to figure out a way to get them open. It was a bit frustrating to realize that all of her knowledge of picking locks from a mechanical standpoint was essentially useless when she had nothing to pick them with.

Usually about an hour after she woke, her guard would rotate with someone else and then two hours after that, Carter would arrive with her morning meal. He had brought her different flavored broths for the past few days, though they were all just as good as the previous recipes. He seemed to be diluting it less and less with each mean, which could only he was trying to gradually work her up to consuming richer foods eventually.

Maddy was being served four to five cups of broth a day, so at least they were no longer actively starving her. It made it easier to think when her stomach was not constantly paining her. She felt better with that knowledge at least. Her injures were healing now too, the slashes nearly completely healed and leaving sensitive pink skin in its place and her wrists had finally scabbed over.

Carter would assess her condition in the morning and adjust her bandages if needed. He seemed pleased with her returning health, informing her that she could actually eat more if she could stomach it but she was not quite ready yet. He would usually do the majority of the talking while he visited, though she was grateful for it because the subject of interest was often her sister. He kept her informed on how Zoe was doing and in turn she was more responsive when he asked her questions.

Not that he actually needed to ask, especially considering he likely knew her entire life history.

Mira had visited again the day after her second interrogation, but had only come for all of five minutes before leaving and had been absent for the days following it. She had not been seen since, Although Maddy was not exactly complaining about that. No matter how pleasant that woman could be when she put in the effort, she still felt dangerous and Maddy would rather not be around her unless absolutely necessary.

Maddy was actually under the impression that Mira was away for at least a few days. Everyone else seemed to be deferring to Carter as their default leader recently, interrupting his daily visits with questions or information that she would eavesdrop on unabashedly through the window. Not exactly a baseless assumption, but she figured it was only a temporary arrangement. He seemed to be trying to shoo everyone away from her, but she could recognize a handful of the others by name now.

A man with short dark hair named Curran and redheaded woman named Ashe seemed to be the most frequent to visit her, usually delivering her water or soup in absence of Carter or to deliver a message to him respectively. They never really spoke around her or introduced themselves… but they spoke to each other. It was actually surprising at how easy it was to gather information through spying.

During those unabashed observations, Maddy had managed to learn quite a bit about the people holding her captive. They never truly spoke of anything too important where they could be overheard, but she had learned that they were indeed deserters from the original colony. They seemed to go by the adopted moniker of the "Sixers," apparently due to the fact that a majority of them were all from the Sixth Pilgrimage. It was a bit startling to think that someone had enough power to completely assemble a whole pilgrimage of hand selected recruits or lottery winners with a singular reason for coming here.

Oddly enough the only guard who ever seemed to be outside of her door for more than three hours at a time was Reynolds. He would leave when someone came to relieve him, only to return a short while later to resume the rest of the shift. She honestly had no idea what to make of his behavior. He had earned himself quite a few exasperated looks from Carter when he saw him standing watch by the door, but the other man never said anything about it beyond that one time that she knew of.

Reynolds could not be getting more than six hours of sleep a day at three hour intervals. She was a bit apprehensive as to why he was doing it, but other than constantly knocking on the door and peeking inside to ask her how she was doing or if she needed anything, he had been… nice. He was oddly attentive for someone holding her hostage. She was willing to accept it for now, because who knew how long his kind façade would last.

Whatever the motivation, Maddy was skeptical and not stupid enough to trust it. She still had to assume that it was some kind of deceptive technique. Traumatic bonding… she knew it happened often. Victims in situations such as hers could develop empathy or sympathy for their captors, especially if there were aggressors to counterbalance the kindness. She refused to fall for it. He could pretend all he wanted, but she would not be fooled. He was the enemy… all of them were. Carter and Reynolds both might treat her decently, perhaps more than she would have expected given the circumstances, but she would never trust either of them.

The only people Maddy could trust were her family.

Today was over and tomorrow it would begin all over again.

It had been a long day of searching through the room with little success, but Maddy was determined. There had to be something she was missing and she needed to find a way out. She had to, because staying here indefinitely without some exit strategy was simply not an option. She would pretend as much as they wanted her to, give them the illusion that they had her complete cooperation, but she had not survived one hell just to endure another.

Maddy would fight them from within. She was too much like her father, too stubborn to just roll over and be a puppet. She needed to figure out why she was here. Even if it was as bad as she was envisioning, she could not allow her emotions to control her in this instance. Knowledge was power and right now they held all the cards. She could not expect to regain any control if she remained ignorant. She had known that from the beginning, even if she hadn't wanted to acknowledge it at first. She would just have to control her reactions once she figured it out to ensure they would not suspect anything from her.

Mira seemed to expect her to have at least some kind of idea of why she was here the other day, although Maddy was not exactly certain why. She started with the portal, since that was when all of this began. They had somehow manipulated it to separate her from the rest of the pilgrimage. She already knew they were perhaps more clever and capable than she had initially given them credit for, but the degree of provision it took to do something of this magnitude... It must have taken several months, perhaps even years of development to create the technology to influence the portal terminus to begin with, but they had also chosen her out of everyone else.

There must have been at least one hundred recruits assembled for this pilgrimage and everyone went in at random, even she did despite the fact that she was told she could go first. How had they managed to single her out? She had not even been the first pilgrim through and no one after her had come through either. That must mean… what? That there was something wrong with her? She was just like everyone else… except… she had been chosen. She had not been recruited or won the lottery like everyone else present the other day. She stood out… because she had won a prize. She had won a contest.

Maddy drew in a deep breath as the realization came to her, lying down on the cot with her eyes closing briefly. It was the only thing truly unique about her in comparison to the strangers of the Tenth Pilgrimage. There had to be a connection to from the contest to her being imprisoned here. She could not be certain of anything; at least not without confirming it somehow, but... why else would she be the one standing here instead of her brother, even when he was the one to walk through first. At that thought, she wondered where Josh was right now.

It was difficult to think of, but she could never stay thinking of one subject for long before her mind was distracted by thoughts of her family. She had been actively pushing thoughts of them out of her head since she got here, if only because it was so painful to contemplate their fate. It helped to try to remain optimistic and envision that they were safe and sound within the protective walls of Terra Nova. She imagined that her parents had already found ways to occupy their time somehow. Maybe her mother found work at the hospital and her father… perhaps there was an opening in agriculture since she was sure there was no real work for detectives here.

An image of her father trying to remove enormous weeds popped into her might and Maddy released a tearful laugh. She figured her father had the opposite of a green thumb. He lacked the patience for gardening, so for him to work with plants would be a recipe for disaster. He probably wouldn't last more than a few hours doing a job like that. She figured he would be much better off trying to find work among the security force.

Maddy missed them all so much. She even missed Josh and his overprotective tendencies. She would give anything right now to have him just sit beside her and play his guitar. She tried to recall some of the songs he had played for her in the past, but for all she understood about mathematics and science and a lot of other things, music were something that had always eluded her. She just had no talent for it. She remembered the beat of one comforting song and tried to recreate it in her mind in an attempt to aid her in sleeping.

Bringing her out of her thoughts a few minutes later, there was a gentle rap of knuckles across the door before it opened slightly. She sat up on the cot, twisting around and pressing her back against the wall behind her as she watched the familiar face peek inside. Her shoulders relaxed minutely and she pulled her knees to her chest while she watched him step inside.

"Hey," Reynolds said softly in greeting, the same usual brightness in his eyes that gave the impression he was smiling even as his lips remained flattened. He shuffled inside a little and closed the door behind him, taking a step back until he rested against it. His hands were clearly visible and unthreatening at his side, just as they always were.

Despite having no trust for him, Maddy at least believed he meant her no physical harm. She was a bit unsure what he was doing here right now though. It was already dark outside and a stillness in the air that signified everyone was already sleeping. He had never entered this late before that she could remember.

"… Were you singing just now?"

Maddy frowned at the question, not quite sure what he meant at first. She then winced slightly as she realized she must have been humming the tune out loud rather than just inside of her own head. She was ashamed to admit that she felt embarrassed by the fact that he had overheard, her cheeks tinting pink in a blush without her consent.

"… It was beautiful." He told her gently, the genuine note in his voice not exactly helping with her predicament. She only ducked her head slightly to hide the effect his words had, trying to will the heat in her cheeks away. It was stupid to allow anything he said to affect her—it only gave him more control. He was silent for a while longer before he spoke again, his voice sympathetic. "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

Maddy really wished he would stop being so nice to her. It was more difficult to dismiss the kindness when he presented it to her so genuinely. She understood exactly how they thought this cruel deception might work on her. He was very convincing and she had to remind herself that she was being kept against her will. Even so… it did feel nice to have someone listen occasionally, if only to keep her from thinking herself to death. Loneliness was something she was accustomed to, but she needed a distraction.

"… Yes." She agreed reluctantly, folding her arms atop her knees and resting her chin on them and finally looked back up at him. He looked as if he were having trouble sleeping as well, because now that she actually took a moment to study him, she could see the discoloration beneath his eyes and the overall sense of tiredness that seem to radiate around him. His long days seemed to be catching up with him.

Reynolds shuffled his feet a bit, his eyebrows furrowed slightly as he reached up to rub the back of his neck. "Do you…" He sighed, cutting himself off. "Can I come closer?"

Maddy narrowed her eyes at him distrustfully. "… Why?" she asked in a wary tone. He pushed away from the door without moving forward, but instead of closing the distance, he lifted his hand for something that was hanging from his neck, hidden beneath the tattered olive shirt.

It was a small chain that had two small, strange shaped objects dangling from it.

Uncertain what they were at first, Maddy studied them curiously as he held them out for her to observe. He gestured toward her before tossing the chain in her direction. It landed on the cot beside her and she gave him a guarded glance before picking it up. She noted the small button on the widest part of the small, rectangular objects, deciding to place her thumb there.

A moment later a soft noise filled the silent room.

Maddy gasped in surprise as the unexpected strumming of an instrument emitted faintly from the device, creating a lovely and calming melody. She stared down at it as she listed, recognizing the instrument as a guitar. There were no lyrics and she could not identify the tune, but it was rather comforting.

With the music it was so easy to visualize that Josh was right beside her, his guitar held in his lap as he absently strummed some song. She felt the pang of longing in her chest as she envisioned it strengthen, her eyes unintentionally closing as she rested her cheek down on her forearm. She opened her eyes only when the melody ended, smiling softly as another one resumed in its place a moment later.

"It helps me sleep sometimes." Reynolds said gently, his voice low enough that she almost had trouble hearing it. He shrugged slightly when she met his eyes with hesitance, a half-smile on his face as he pushed his hands into his pockets and shifted so his back was once again against the door.

Maddy inhaled slowly, feeling unexpected comforted. "… Thank you." She said, watching as the smile grew a bit larger at her gratitude. He just stood there and let her listen for a while longer. She pressed back down on the small button after the next song ended and carefully extended her arm out so he could take it back.

Reynolds only studied her briefly before giving her a slow shake of his head. "No." He protested softly. "You keep it. You… need it more than I do."

Maddy bit the inside of her cheek as she retracted her arm uncertainly. There was something in his tone she couldn't discern, but she wasn't about to argue with him. She nodded and held the device close, watching as he finally moved away from the door in order to open it. He hesitated briefly and turned back to her for just a moment.

"Goodnight." He said quietly.

Maddy only nodded instead of returning the sentiment. She released a breath she had been unaware she was holding once the door was shut and she was alone. She brought the chain close to her face, studying it closer with curiosity and something tugged at her memory. She thought she might have seen one before, but she couldn't recall where she'd seen it or what it was.

Decided she would contemplate the matter another day, Maddy pressed her thumb down against the button, smiling involuntarily as another melodic tune began to play. She uncurled her body and spread out on the cot until she was comfortable, leaving the chain on her pillow as she reached for the thin blanket.

As the music played, her eyes drifted closed.

It was the sound of raised voices arguing that drew Maddy out of her slumber a few nights later. She blinked slightly, peering up at the thatched roof with a considering frown as her mind slowly came into awareness. She could hear someone speaking loudly but could hardly make out anything that was being said. She sat up on the rigid cot, listening for a moment to discern where the noise was coming from.

Maddy swung her legs over the side of her bed as the voices seemed to be coming directly below her. She slid down onto the floor on her hands and knees and pressed her face close to one of the large gaps she had discovered between the floorboards. It was large enough that she could get at least an inch of her slender fingers through, but unfortunately it wasn't loose enough for her to even try to pry up.

"—specifically told you she was not to be harmed!"

It was a male voice that was the loudest though not someone she could place among her limited knowledge of people here. It was a deeper pitch than Reynolds possessed, though not quite as deep or rasping as Carter. He sounded extremely angry, whoever he was. She peered down through the gap, spotting someone with dark hair glowing the in the light of the torch he was carrying.

Maddy could see a dark skinned woman walking beside him and groaned to herself. Judging by the colorful fathers in the hair, Mira had finally returned from her long absence.

"You said to make her cooperate," the woman said, sounding irate and defensive. "She'll do want you want now."

"You weren't supposed to touch her…" He countered, voice brimming with rage. "They brought her here for me."

Maddy exhaled a short breath at the admission. She was brought here for him? Who was he? She recalled Mira mentioning a mysterious man would coming within two weeks and wondered if this was him. She quickly calculated just how many days she had been here for. It was difficult to believe she had been held prisoner for that long, but she felt unease settle in the pit of her stomach as she became aware of the fact that she had definitely been here for almost that length of time.

"Where is she?" He demanded.

Mira seemed to point above them at the cabin. "We cleared out the lab and put her in there. She's probably asleep right now, so why don't we go discuss the situation I mentioned."

"… Fine. Were you able to…"

Maddy wanted to listen further, but their voices grew distant all too soon as they walked brusquely toward their destination. She tried to listen for several minutes before giving up and rising from the floor. She was disappointed as she crawled back onto the cot, settling back down with a resigned sigh.

Feeling strangely uneasy, the young woman stared up at the ceiling and willed herself to fall back asleep. Her mind was being uncooperative though; it was too busy trying to dissect the conversation she had overheard. Eavesdropping seemed to be the only way she ever got any viable information here, but once again nothing she heard had given her much.

Maddy had a foreboding sense about what tomorrow might bring though. She was unsure if it was just the return of her warden and tormentor or the arrival of someone unknown that seemed to believe he had a claim on her, but her stomach was in knots and she dreaded what was to come.

Sighing heavily as she shifted on the bed, Maddy reached beneath the pillow and enclosed her hand round the small objects hidden there. She closed her eyes as the soothing strum of a guitar drifted through the room, filling the silence and calming her frazzled nerves in a beautiful cadence.

Tomorrow would be dealt with when it came. For now she would sleep.