Page 1 of Verses and Blooms
Chapter One
Audrey
“This can’t be happening,” I whimpered as I woke up in complete darkness. The room smelled like damp earth and something oddly sterile. But it was the lumpy mattress under me and the hard cement floor that threw me into a panic.
I was in a fucking cell.
My brain was fuzzy and my body ached. It took a second to remember how I even got here.
The food poisoning, the bathroom, showering, and then… someone came.
Someone picked me up.
I was too delirious to fight back. They waited until I was alone and vulnerable.
Did they make everyone sick just to get to me?
My eyes adjusted as I blinked around. The only things I could make out were four walls, not even a crack of light under the door that I knew had to be there somewhere, a sink, a bucket, and the mattress I was on.
I stood up, my legs wobbling and my body cold as ice. Of course, I was still naked from the shower. The towel that I thought was a blanket was back on the bed. I snatched it up and knotted it around me, taking back what little coverage I could.
“Where the fuck am I?” I whispered in the dark room as if I might get an answer. Of course, I was still alone. Just me, this musty fucking room and my pounding heart.
I couldn’t go back to that life again. I’d been safe for too long.
It might truly break me this time.
My fingers ghosted over the bites marring my skin, a tear leaking free. This was not something I ever thought I’d have to face again. I’d believed everyone when they said this was just in my past.
Something in the corner caught my eye. My feet shuffled quietly across the chilly floor, stopping in front of the dark mass. Crouching down, I reached out, confusion hitting me when I felt the fabric.
It was our uniform here. The dark sweatpants and shirts, worn, but soft enough to endure.
“No,” I gasped in horror, realizing why there were at least five sets here.
The missing patients. Did that mean I was still in ARC?!
“Help!” My raspy scream echoed around me. The way this room was sealed off likely meant not a soul could hear me.
Tears leaked down my icy cheeks as I searched out the door. Dirt and grime scraped against my fingers as I ran them over the cement walls. I shuddered at the feel, wishing I’d wake up from this fucking nightmare.
While searching the front wall, I found cracks in the stone. My fingers ghosted over the crack, following the shape. It was a door. But just as solidly built into the cement that dread pooled in my stomach. There was no escape here.
Giving up wasn’t an option.
I continued searching the room, hoping there was some sort of exit out of here. Though, that likely meant someone could come from the other side like they were picking up a secret drop.
I guess they were, butIwas the merchandise.
“Fuck!” I screamed, my voice raw and rasping as I let out every bit of anger and fear in that.
I’d fucked myself over insisting my pack not bite me. Maybe if I held their marks, one we’d chosen together, then they’d know where I was.
They were probably tearing this building apart. But the guards and staff had done that countless times before and found nothing. Whoever was behind this was good at what they did. I had doubts that my pack would succeed where everyone else failed.
Hope wasn’t something I could cling to. I’d been jaded for too fucking long to try and get my hopes up only for them to be obliterated.
Now, I had true understanding of why Caspian retreated into his mind to protect himself. Blocking out the world and clinging to those quiet moments with my pack might be the only thing that let me make it out of this alive.
