Free New World Ashes by Jennifer Wilson Page A

hellhole with no one to help me. I knew that keeping my sanity was the only way I might survive, but it didn’t matter. I needed him anyway. Lifting my good hand, I laid it on the mattress next to his, not quite touching what I knew wasn’t really there.
    “You’ll stay with me?” I asked the specter. He nodded, smiling sadly. Unconsciousness began to claim me again. “As long as you’re here I will never give in to him… I’m trying to keep my promise…”
    My sanity was slipping away and I was letting it. He and Mouse were my only reasons to survive, but I knew the truth. No matter how strong my will to survive, no matter how much I loved them, if help didn’t come soon I was going to die in here.

9. ALONE
     
     
     
    THERE WAS NO telling how much time had passed when I finally awoke, but based on the stench of my own body it had been at least a few days. My arm was throbbing and by reason, the heat radiating from my skin meant it was safe to guess I had contracted a fever. I buried my face in the mattress, breathing in the mildew stench. Tears were still clouding my vision. I pressed my eyes harder into the mattress, trying to staunch the unwanted waterworks.
    I had been dreaming of Triven again. Every time I closed my eyes it was either his face or Mouse’s that laid in the bed next to me, their patient eyes watching as I slowly slipped further and further away from reality. Every time I awoke it was torture knowing that none of it was real, that I was still here.
    That they weren’t coming for me.
    No one had been in to see me. No torment had been inflicted, but there had been no food either. My stomach had stopped growling, knowing its meager protests were futile. Every once in a while I would awake to find a small glass of water, but those moments were few and far between. It seemed I had finally pushed the old man too far, and now he was going to let me rot.
    Maybe I had been wrong. Maybe he didn’t need me after all. Maybe it was better this way.
    Even with those thoughts rattling in my brain, something within me refused to give up. It was as if there was this minuscule flicker, this tiny, persistent ember that refused to be doused. And the only thing keeping that teeny spark still burning was the thought that despite what pain and torture The Minister could inflict on me, I was still defying him. Better than that thought, was the knowledge that the two people I loved were doing the same just outside of his reach. With Triven’s and Mouse’s triumphant evasion lingering in my mind, I managed to pull myself up a little straighter. If I died in here, at least I could die knowing my current life’s mission was still being upheld. That somewhere out there people were fighting The Minister. People he could never touch.
    The lights flickered to life, blinding me. I drew away, cradling my head against the assault. The light was painfully over stimulating after days in the dark, like tiny needles stabbing my eyes. Instantly, my head began to ache. The cell door opened, but I didn’t move.
    “Get her up.” A cool voice barked from the doorway.
    I lifted my head with curiosity. For the first time since my arrival, it wasn’t Ryker who had come to retrieve me.
    Gage stood in the doorway with a mingled look of pleasure and disgust. Two silver clad guards hurried past the young man and stooped to pull me to my feet. I hung limply in their arms at first, my feet barely working beneath me. It took what little strength I had left to stand, however shakily, in the soldiers’ arms.
    “What’s today’s torture? Babysitting you?” I muttered, my voice was like gravel.
    Instead of the explosive reaction I had been hoping for, a wide smile spread across his pallid face. My skin prickled. The result was much more frightening than any threat he could have spouted.
    “Let’s get going. This is one appointment you don’t want to miss.” Gage turned, leading the way back down the hallway.
    Someone shoved me face