Risk: Chapter Thirty
Rose's head was throbbing like crazy when she awoke the next morning. First, her eyes landed on the chair Levi normally sat in overnight; he wasn't there. But upon looking behind it, at his desk, she noticed that the letter Bunni gave her was atop it. Her heart lurched; had he read it? What did he think about it? She had to ask him, wondering what he thought of what her friend said.
"Levi?" she called, her voice a little hoarse. She had cried pretty hard last night.
"He's not here," answered a leering voice near the doorway. "No one is."
Rose recognized that voice, and she shot to her feet the next instant, trying to find another exit. The window? Would she be able to open it in time?
"I wouldn't bother, Rosemary," sneered Nathan, drawing closer to her. He was wearing civilian clothes. No wonder he was able to walk in here so easily; he looked like everyone else, so he wouldn't have drawn any suspicion by the Garrison. "There's no escape."
That wasn't true. If she lunged hard enough, she might be able to make it through the door. With a bracing breath, she did just that, launching herself forward and with as much might as she could muster. Unfortunately, her plan completely failed, as Nathan grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her close.
"There, there. It was a valiant attempt, I'll give you that." He laughed, throwing his head back, but the next second his expression became absolutely serious. "Now, I need you to go back to sleep."
"What—" But she didn't get a chance to finish her sentence; he shoved her head against the nearby wall, crushing her temple, and knocking her completely out again.
She groaned as she came to, her head pounding all over again, turning it slowly as she opened her eyes to assess just where she happened to be. It had to be a basement, reinforced with cobblestone and wood, rather large, with small windows near the ceiling – not large enough at all for her to crawl through, unfortunately – and a single set of stairs that no doubt led to the only exit. She tried to move her arms, but she was tied down on either side; her legs were free, though. That had to be a positive; that may work out in her favor later. She realized then that she was still in her nightgown from her own world; something about that felt like it would put her in a bad situation.
She was laying on some type of wooden table at the other end of the room, opposite the stairwell. So if she did manage to get out of these restraints, she would need to run quickly up and out of here, somehow avoiding Nathan – like she attempted to earlier.
And see how well that worked out.
The basement door opened then, and breathing as evenly as possible, watched with wide eyes as the shadow of a figure came strolling down, revealing it to be no one other than Nathan.
"Ah, you're awake." He smiled, but his brows were knit together, his face menacing. Nothing good could come from someone with an expression like that. "Don't worry, you're just going to be bait for now. But while you're here…" He moved slowly to close the distance between them, looming over her, placing his arms on either side of her. "Why not have some fun?"
Rose had seen that look before, that animalistic look men got when they wanted to feed on a woman, no matter how much they begged and screamed. She'd never experienced it herself, but had to pull Bunni out of some pretty close calls a couple of times – and those men looked so merciless. Just as Nathan did now.
Shaking her head, she warned in as level of a voice as possible, "You'll regret ever touching me."
"You may be right, but it'll be fun all the same." He moved his face a little closer to hers then, as if biding his time for some reason. Whether for himself or to scare her, she wasn't sure. Maybe both? "Tell me, do the women where you come from all dress like you do? Or do you just dress like that specifically for your Captain?"
"Leave Levi out of this," she said in a low voice, feeling a little braver now, pulling at her restraints as if she suddenly had the strength to break free of them just at the mention of her loved one. "He has nothing to do with this."
"I'm sure once he gets word that you're missing, he'll come to your rescue, like he always does." Nathan bent down so their foreheads were touching, and though she wanted to move, to kick him, to do anything to push him back, she found that her body had completely frozen. "Imagine his utter surprise and heartbreak when he sees that you've been tainted by someone else." He chuckled, eyes narrowed. "Who would you rather make time traveling babies with, anyway? Some scum from the Underground, or someone with class?"
It had to be the constant insults that did it for her, as she found herself able to fight against him. She pushed her head back as much as possible, then pushed it – hard – against Nathan's, causing him to reel back and snarl in response. She wondered, if she broke her wrists, could she then pull them through, or was that a myth? She could give it a shot – but before she could, Nathan was back over her, pressing his hands into her wrists, nails digging into her skin.
"That was a very stupid thing you did, Rosemary," he growled, pulling at her light jacket. He tore it off her, tossing it to the floor. "Allow me to teach you a lesson."
"No!" she screamed, pressing her knees against his stomach and bucking hard to get him off of her.
He fell back again, hitting the ground hard, holding his abdomen; how hard had she hurt him? It didn't matter, all that mattered was that she bought herself some time. She started to yank at her restraints again, trying her best to break at least one wrist – but she found that it hurt too bad for her to do it. Tears pricked at the brim of her lashes, threatening to fall, but she blinked them back, trying not to show any weakness right now.
Nathan recovered a little too quickly for her liking – recovering at all was a problem for her, honestly – and stumbled back to the table, proceeding to kick over to the side. Rose had just moments to think of some type of plan, and she looked up at her bound wrists to assess just how she was tied up. The ropes were around a long pole, which with her now on the ground, she could scoot over and off the thing, which would increase her range of motion, at least. She proceeded with her plan, maneuvering the opposite of the now-broken table, the ropes sliding off the pole as she moved. Finally, just as Nathan threw one half of the broken table to the wayside to get to her, she freed herself, and she pushed herself off the cold floor and ran toward the basement steps to run up to the door.
Just then, the door above opened, and many footsteps could be heard coming down them. Were they Nathan's lackeys? She stepped back cautiously – big mistake. Nathan grabbed hold of her from behind, an arm holding both of hers down, lifting something sharp to her neck then. "If you so much as scream, I'll slice your throat."
To her utter relief, Hange, then Levi, followed by Lily, then the rest of Squad Levi, came rushing down the stairs, surrounding Nathan.
"It's over, Nathan," Levi said through gritted teeth, holding what appeared to be a gun in his hands. The others had similar weapons as well; they came prepared. That had to be Lily's doing. "Your guards are incapacitated outside. There's no where to run."
Just as Nathan seemed to give up, loosening his grip on Rose, that familiar pull of a portal hovered in the air, sucking it from everyone's lungs. Then it appeared, blinding white, on the wall to the left of Rose and Nathan. At the sight of it, Nathan tightened his hold on Rose again, the knife just millimeters from her jugular. "There's one place to run. Isn't there, Rose?"
"No –" she began to scream, but the feel of the knife pressed on her skin stopped her.
"Why don't you come with us, Lily?" Nathan asked her sister, but they could all tell it was more of a demand than a question. "Maybe you could protect your sister from little old me, wherever we go."
"Lily, don't –" Once again, he pushed the knife against her neck, but this time it actually drew a little blood.
Then it occurred to Rose: both times that Lily and Rose had embraced, truly embraced, they'd only deadly wormholes, not necessarily actual time portals. If they could just hug, create one of those for Nathan, all of their problems could be taken care of, right?
Lily had read her mind, Rose could tell, as her sister seemed to stand a little straighter, lowering her weapon. Finally, the younger twin said, "Okay, let's go."
"What, no – that's an order, Lily," Levi commanded, glaring openly at Lily.
"Captain, let me get to my sister, alright? It'll be okay." Lily tapped on her head, as if to indicate that she had heard something they hadn't, and though he seemed hesitant – and angry – at the idea, he nodded once to let her go.
Walking slowly toward them, setting down her gun, Lily came over with raised hands. "Let's go, Nathan."
Waiting for Nathan to let his guard down just the tiniest bit, Lily then reached for Rose's wrist with one hand, removing the knife-wielding hand of Nathan's with the other, causing him to drop it, and pulled Rose away from Nathan's grasp. Quickly, the two stepped away from him, but then in the next second embraced, as planned, and waited for the inevitable to happen.
"Hey, what are you two doing –" Hange called, as if asking if they were wasting time.
But after a few seconds, the portal changed, a picture of something green, vegetative, primitive now pictured within it. The girls nodded to one another, using one free hand to grab Nathan and start shoving him toward the portal.
"What – what is that?" he yelled, pushing back against them. He was panicking now, like the wild animal Rose had come to know him to be.
With all their might, they continued inching by force toward the portal, and upon reaching it, Nathan somehow grasped either end, keeping him from falling through.
"You want to go elsewhere so bad, then go!" Rose practically screamed at him, trying her best to propel him through.
Just as it seemed hopeless, the two girls unable to match Nathan's strength, they saw other hands join theirs, thrusting him back. It was Hange and Levi on either side of them, all four of them pushing with all their might along with the gravity of the portal, and Nathan fell back, disappearing into the vision of the trees just before them.
The portal closed suddenly, but then another bright light formed, tearing through the roof of the basement, then the house they were in, reaching to the sky. Lightning and thunder could be heard and seen from the whole that was created, and the girls held onto each other as a storm started to brew all around them. The bright light came shooting down again, then consumed the entire room, leaving a silent explosion in its wake.
Rose blinked her blue eyes open slowly, the setting sun bright compared to the dusty basement she'd been on for the past few hours. Upon further inspection, it appeared the roof of the basement had completely blown off. She rolled her head to the side, where her sister lay, lids closed, but breathing. Rose reached a hand for her sister, and that little electric shock they were used to flowed through them, instantly waking up her sister.
Then Rose looked to her other side, noticing Levi lying next to her, thankfully also still breathing. She forced herself up, glancing around the room to make sure everyone was alright; they were knocked out cold, but alive, it seemed. She crawled over to Levi, uncaring about how she looked in her short nightgown – no doubt disheveled and a little risqué, but she could deal with that. She touched Levi's face gently, not wanting to startle him – she'd done that once, and he pulled a knife out on her; lesson learned.
This time, he awoke slowly, eyes opening one at a time, and upon looking at her, he first asked, "Am I dead?"
Rose blinked at the question, but smiled all the same, glad to see him awake – alive – and being his normal, stoic self. "Of course not. Why ask that?"
"Rosemary," he practically breathed her name, which – like every time – made her heart flutter. "You just – never mind." He lifted a hand, indicating he wanted some help up, and she obliged, both of them stumbling to their feet.
"How is everyone else?" he asked, brushing debris from his hair.
"Unconscious, but alive, at least," she answered. "I think that's the best we could ask for at this point."
"I think you're right."
