Page 100 of Us Dark Few

She frowned at his expression. It was the kind of tired that bled past the physical, where your will holds no more power, and your brain doesn’t remember why it’s pushing anymore.

“We’re gonna make it through this,” Khalani insisted, gently squeezing his wrist.

“How do you know?” Derek searched her eyes.

“I know because the alternative isn’t an option,” she said with determination.

“You two!”

Startled, they turned their heads as a bald prison guard charged them. “Why aren’t you working?”

“W-we are working, sir,” Derek stammered, and the guard’s face seemed to harden as he stalked over. “We’re just taking a quick br—” Derek fell to the ground as the guard brutally smacked him across the face with a baton.

“Does it sound like I wanna hear your excuses?” The guard reared his boot back and kicked Derek in the stomach with crushing force.

“Stop!” Khalani yelled as Derek folded in on himself like a fetus.

The guard whipped his head and took a menacing step toward her. “What did you just say?”

She breathed heavily as Derek struggled to rise to his knees. “If you keep hurting him, he won’t be able to work. And the Warden won’t be happy about that.”

The guard narrowed his eyes. “What would a pathetic prisoner like you know about the Warden?”

Her mind scrambled as she tried to stand straighter. Even so, the top of her head barely came to his chest.

“I’ve met with the Warden several times,” she lied through her teeth. “And he voiced his displeasure about the tunnels being incomplete. Hurting another able-bodied prisoner will further slow the work, and I’m sure you wouldn’t want to explain the delay to him.”

The guard closely studied her as he clutched the baton tighter.

Any moment, he could turn his weapon on her and use her skin and bones as a punching bag, but Khalani didn’t shy away from his gaze, projecting confidence as her hands shook.

The cruel guard’s eyes swept over her body lewdly, and he grunted. “You wouldn’t be the first piece of prisoner ass the Warden has taken a liking to. But I can hurt you in ways the Warden won’t notice.”

Before Khalani could react, he pushed a taser into her bony ribs. The voltage was high and hot electricity raced through her muscles as she collapsed to the ground, shaking uncontrollably.

The guard leaned over her and smirked sadistically.

“Talk back to me again, and I’ll find other uses for that mouth. But I won’t kill you. I’ll kill him.” He pointed to Derek, keeping eye contact with her.

She ground her teeth together, imagining taking the steel weapon from his hand and beating his ugly face in. Kicking and scratching and biting, over and over like some extinct animal.

And then she’d stick the taser in every hole in his body—on max voltage.

But she contained those vicious instincts, letting the quiet speak for her. The guard held her gaze with a threatening glare and eventually walked away, cursing under his breath.

After several seconds, her muscles stopped twitching, and she slowly gained control of her limbs.

“You alright?” Derek panted from the ground.

“I’ve had worse.” Khalani hobbled over to Derek. “Are you okay?”

“No.” His face contorted, and she noticed a fresh wound running from the corner of his eye to his lip as she helped him to his feet. “But if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t be moving.”

She eyed him with concern as he gingerly picked up his shovel andcontinued placing rocks into the barrel, low groans escaping him.

“Don’t push so hard.”

He lifted his eyes but kept shoveling. “We don’t have a choice, Khalani. Not in here. They’ll let us rest when we die.”

---