Page 82 of Only the Small Bones
“Tell me.” He forced his eyes open.
“Nope.” My voice came out shaky as I watched him get sicker by the minute. “You’ll have to wait. Go to sleep, Asher,” I whispered, and when he glanced at the door, I vowed, “I’ll protect us.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea.” Asher said, fidgeting with the shirt sleeves overwhelming his small frame. He was tinier than any six-year-old I’d ever seen. “We’re too small.”
I’d watched over him while he napped, even standing in front of his sleeping bag when the man I now referred to as our guard dropped off lunch. I’d told him that Asher wasn’t feeling well and needed medicine, but he’d ignored me. So I’d come up with a plan to get us out of here.
“We have to try,” I said, slashing the air with the plastic spork we’d been given with our food. “All you have to do is standbehind the door, and after I incapacitate him, you run and I’ll be right behind you.” I kept practicing my moves with my makeshift weapon.
“I don’t know what in-com-pa-tate means.”
“It means I’m going to take him down, knock him out. Or at least take him by surprise long enough for us to escape.”
“He’s too big, it won’t work.” He shook his head, panic in his eyes. “Maybe we should wait for your mom to—”
“Hey,” I crouched in front of him. “Do you trust me?”
“Y-yes.”
“He won’t be expecting an attack. I’ll get him in the eye. He’ll fall to his knees screaming, and we’ll run and lock him in here.”
“Then what?”
“Then we’ll find the other girls, grab anything we can use as a weapon and make our way up. I saw life vests when we got on the ship. Can you swim?”
“Yeah. I learned in summer camp.”
“Me too.”
He seemed to like that. He liked that we were similar.
“But you’re not feeling well, and neither of us are at full strength, so the vests will help. We’ll put them on and jump in the water before anyone else can stop us. Okay?”
“O-okay.”
“Remember the whole plan, right?”
Asher nodded then coughed.
I looked at the porthole. Dinner usually arrived as the sun was setting. It’d be any minute now. I set the bucket we used as a bathroom near me, and waited for the door to open.
Minutes later the bolt whined, and Asher pressed himself against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut. I was grateful, because he didn’t have to see me gag on my fear. I had no time to second-guess, the door opened, and I waited for the guard to step inside before I tossed the contents of the bucket at him.
“Fuck!” he shouted, dropping the tray of food he held and stumbling back a step. I lunged for him, bringing the spork down on his right cheek, missing his eye. The plastic teeth cracked, drawing a little blood but not doing much damage. He recovered quickly, grabbing me by the arms and shoving me further into the room. “You’re gonna fucking pay for that,” he growled.
“Run, Asher!” I fought viciously, scratching and punching as he took me to the floor. I looked over to see Asher staring at us, mouth hanging open, body trembling. “Run!”
The guard glanced over his shoulder at Asher. Asher bolted through the door, and was caught by the other guard. Asher screamed as the bigger man lifted him into the air by the collar of his shirt. “What the fuck is going on here?”
The guard above me pinned me in place by the throat, drawing his fist back.
“Declan, don’t damage the fucking goods!” The man holding a thrashing Asher shouted.
Declan panted above me, his fist shaking. I tried to peel his fingers off me, my feet scraping against the floor.
“Declan,” the other man warned. Declan released my throat and stood, jaw ticking, glaring down at me, the front of his clothes covered in pee. I coughed, sucking in air and reaching toward Asher who still struggled to break free of the other man’s hold.
“Let him go, please,” I wheezed. That was the wrong thing to say. Declan looked between the two of us, a cruel smile forming on his face. He strode over to the lantern and broke it with his boot. Only the light from the hall and the remaining bit of sunlight lit the room now.
