Page 9 of The Rise

“Yeah. Sitting in the corner of the cage. I didn’t know what to do with her,” I admit.

“You put her in the cage? What the fuck, Hunter?”

“Well, what the hell do you suggest? I’ve never had a woman come in with kids, Rylan!”

“Is she trying to run?”

“No.”

“Then let her ass out of the cage,” he laughs.

“What if she’s one of them?”

“Then why would she be there?”

“I don’t fucking know! I’m not letting her ass out of the cage.”

“Hunter. You can’t handle a woman in Chaos? You kill people for a living.”

“No shit. But not women unless I have to.”

“Then don’t kill her. You want us to come by?” he asks. Shit, I don’t know.

“Yeah. Come by on your way,” I tell him before hanging the phone up. I watch her as she watches me.

“They coming?” Hoax asks as he types on his phone.

“Yeah. Ry doesn’t think we should keep her in the cage.”

“What should we do with her then?”

“I don’t fucking know.”

“She isn’t pulling up on any of the lists,” he adds. That’s a good thing. She isn’t a missing person, but it’s also bad because we don’t know if anyone has reported her missing. She could have been taken. Maybe they’re trying their hand at adults now. Either way, I don’t like it. I run my hand through my hair as she stares at me with big brown eyes. She’s cute. Not bad looking at all.

“Do you need to use the bathroom?” I ask her. Hoax looks up at her, too, but she doesn’t move. “Hungry? Can you talk? Nod?” Still nothing. I sigh as I walk out of the room and into the main room with Hoax behind me.

“Think she’s mute?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she just doesn’t like talking.”

“Or they’ve hurt her,” he adds. There is that too.

“What are the fucking odds we get anything out of the assholes who had them?” We still have two of them to torture tonight. The kids are gone now, off to another location where they will get them back to their families, but we still have two of the men.

“Let’s chain them up and find out,” he says with a shrug. I nod in agreement, and he walks off toward the other room to get one and I walk back into the room we were just in. I walk over to the cage and open it, knowing she isn’t getting off the compound anyway. Not now the wall is finished and I put codes at the doors and gate.

“I’m going to leave this open for you. There’s a bathroom in there, and if you’re hungry, I’ll be out there,” I tell her, pointing toward the doors. I wait for a response but I don’t get one. She just watches me. I sigh when I hear the man yelling Hoax has ready.

“Don’t mind the noise. He isn’t a good guy,” I tell her when her eyes move to the door and back to me. When she still says nothing, I nod my head and stand, walking back out of the room to find one of the assholes chained up and ready.

“You stupid fucks!” he roars as I laugh.

“How are we the stupid ones?”

“You don’t know who you’re fucking with.”

“Losers. Assholes. Child predators,” I tell him as I walk closer to him.

---