Page 37 of What Doesn't Kill Us

My name is uttered again, but the sound is so far off I can’t place which direction it’s coming from in the darkness.

I force myself to sit up, fumbling around until I twist my body and place my feet on the floor. I hold my breath again, cocking my head in the direction I feel the sound is coming from.

Then I hear it again; this time, it’s my name and a whole string of curses.

Agatha.

I rise, giving myself a few moments to steady myself as the darkness swims before me. Then I turn slowly in the direction I feel the voice is coming from. “Agatha?” I whisper. “Say something else so I can find you.”

She laughs, then rambles out a steady stream of various curse words. I continue shuffling in her direction, eventually running into a wall, so I stop there, listening to the sound of her voice to determine which direction she is in. “Are you against the wall?”

Her voice comes from the darkness, clearer now. “Yes, I think I’m in a corner.”

I move to the left, figuring if it’s wrong, I still have three more chances to find her. I feel my way along the wall for what feels like days, though I’m sure it’s only a few minutes, but then something brushes against my shoulder. I reach my hand out, meeting what feels like an arm suspended next to me. “Do they have you suspended from the ceiling?”

“Sort of. My hands are connected to the wall at such an awkward angle that I can’t lift or put them down, but then they have my neck attached to what I guess is the ceiling in the corner. It’s fucking annoying.”

I slide my hand up her arm until I meet a metal cuff around her wrist. “This feels like a standard lock. Super easy to pick, even in the dark.”

“I figured as much. And I have a hairpin we can use when the time comes.”

“Do you want me to do it now?”

“No. Not until we have some kind of plan.”

I release her arm, then back up against the wall and slide down to the floor at her feet. “Well, this is inconvenient.”

She laughs bitterly. “That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.”

She’s quiet for a few moments, then I hear what sounds like a pained gasp cut through the darkness. I reach my hand out so I’m touching her leg. “Are you okay?”

“No.”

“Yeah, me either.”

I feel numb. Even the ever-present beast in my chest is silent. I don’t dare overthink what happened in that warehouse. Briefly, it’s bad—excruciatingly so.

Her normally authoritative voice is small as she asks, “Do you think they’re alive?”

“They must be. I can’t even entertain the alternative.”

“Same. I keep reminding myself that it would take more than that idiot motherfucker to cut them down.”

I clear my throat, taking a deep breath as I push down the pressure building in my chest. “What the fuck happened? How did we end up here?”

She laughs, the sound broken and brittle. “Oh, it was quite the spectacle. I gotta give you credit, Darius. It took eight of them fuckers to bring you down, and for a moment there, I thought you were going to win. And even after all that, they had to outright tranq you like a giant fucking horse. Of course, then I was worried you were dead. I think they didn’t chain you up when they brought us in here because they thought you were dead, too. Eight big brutes climbed on top of you, and somebody stuck a needle through somewhere, and that was it…you were out like a light. Then it was them fuckers complaining that you’re a heavy bastard.”

“Did I at least take some of them fuckers out?”

“Oh, yeah. You were making easy work of them until you were outnumbered. They couldn’t knock you out with their hands, though, hence the drugs.”

“I guess it’s too bad that I’m not a fucking hand grenade.”

“A hand grenade would have come in quite handy. I feel like if they die, we die.”

I tighten my hand on her leg, unsure of how to respond. She’s not wrong. If either of us makes it out of our current predicament and doesn’t find Antoinette and Lilith alive and well, we may as well be dead. And we will both do our damnedest to eradicate the world of the rats that keep polluting it.

And in the process of this, we will probably meet our own end.

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