Page 1 of Perilous Healing

Chapter1

Silas

Ten years ago

Sweat clings to my damaged body like a second skin. There’s not a single part of me that doesn’t ache. I can’t even feel the still-healing stab wound in my shoulder anymore, thanks to the bitter cold spreading through me.

Has death finally come for me? Has the end to my torment finally arrived?

I think of Sierra. My twin sister. She’s who I’ll miss the most. But at least she’ll never see me as haunted as I surely am now. The screams of my murdered teammates echo through my mind on constant repeat. I wish I could drown them out now. There’s a part of me that yearns for the torture River Culvers enjoys sending my way, because at least then my own screams eclipse everything else.

Lately, in the small moments of sleep I catch, I dream of the farm back home. Of my dad out working the cattle and my mother tending to the garden. I dream of running through fields with my sister. Of sitting on a porch swing and drinking sweet iced tea.

Why couldn’t I have just been content with that life? Why did I feel this burning desire to find more? Look where it got me. Tortured in a country I probably wouldn’t even be able to find on a map.

The door scrapes open somewhere behind me.

Where I used to feel fear at their arrival, now I feel nothing. I’ve grown numb. What more can they take from me when they’ve already stolen everything?

“Come back for more?” I sneer, my voice hoarse and unrecognizable.

The new arrival doesn’t speak, and when he comes around in front of me, I note that I’ve never seen him before.

“Who are you?” I demand.

“Someone who is here to help you.” He reaches up and undoes the shackle around my right wrist.

I fall, unable to support my own weight. He catches me though, holding me up as if I weigh nothing while he undoes the shackle on my left arm.

The stranger takes my full body weight and guides me over toward the chair River sits in whenever he comes to watch me bleed.

“This is a trick.” I try to squirm against the man’s hold, but he keeps me upright.

“No,” he insists. “But you need to keep your voice down. Let’s not make this more complicated than it needs to be.” The man pulls back and grips my face. “Look at me, Silas.”

They call me SEAL here. Or Williamson. Never Silas.

“Whoareyou?”

“I’m here to help you. Now listen to me. You are going to leave this room and head left down the hall. There are some turns you’ll take as the hall veers off, but there’s a door at the end that will lead you out of here. It will be unlocked for you. Get out, go right. There’s a tunnel under the fence. Use it to get to freedom.”

I narrow my gaze on him, feeling a bit of my strength return with each passing moment. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because there is more for you to do in this life,” he replies as he pulls me to my feet. “Get out of here. Move fast. Remain quiet.”

I nod, still unsure if this man can be trusted. It wouldn’t be the first time River has toyed with me like this. Last time, he set his dog after me. What if this is another trick?

Go.

The word echoes through my mind.

“Go, Silas. If you don’t, you will die in this place. I will make sure the door is unlocked and the path clear.” He smiles softly at me, then slips out of the room.

I stare after him a moment, trying to figure out just how I’m going to get the strength to walk out the door, when mere moments ago I thought death had come to collect me.

Go.

That word again. I stand, putting one foot in front of the other until I reach the door. Then I slip out into the hall and head down the left side just as the stranger told me to. I don’t let my mind wander on worries, I just focus on that one silent order.

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