The Wounded

I’d never seen five armed men so terrified or move so fast before. They were all silenced, some of them falling backwards and swearing.

“Dumb animal,” one of them muttered as he dusted the dirt from his pants.

I couldn’t help myself. I put my hand to my mouth, but that only caused the laugh to fly sideways from my lips. I shook with it, pointing at the men on the ground. “Ha, well, you deserved that,” I said between giggles.

“Rosa… no!”

But it was too late. A chunk of a gun butt approached my face. I gasped, but I didn’t have time to react, and then darkness.

I put my hand to my temple.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” Joseph’s face hovered in front of me.

I groaned, rolling over to look at the ceiling, expecting hard rock, or metal bars and restraints. Instead, I was faced with the canopy of a four-poster bed draped in red velvet. The luxurious fabric cascaded from each corner, pulled together with thick gold rope and neatly trimmed tassels.

I closed my eyes, sure it was a dream, opening one and then the other. No, it was still velvet, and the bed was still dark mahogany. And I still had mud all over my shirt and bruises on my skin.

“You know that was pretty stupid, Rosa. You could’ve gotten yourself killed.”

I sat up on the bed and nodded somberly. “I know.”

Joseph reached out to touch what I was sure was a brilliant purple bruise and chuckled. “It was pretty damn fu

I smiled warily. This was way too creepy. It reminded me of the underground facility, where everything was an apparition.

“Where are we?” I asked, taking his hand in mine and putting it my lap. Joseph shuffled up so he was leaning against the headboard and sighed. I focused on the carved, brown cherubs draped on either side of his face, narrowing my eyes at the blue paint that had been dotted on their round, wooden eyeballs.

“After you passed out, they made me carry you. We went a really strange way, backwards and forwards. When we got to the gate to Estes’ compound, the soldiers stopped, each one tapped the symbol on the gate three times, turned around in a circle, and jumped. I swear I nearly ended up like you, but I managed to stop myself from laughing.”

“You’re joking, right?” I smoothed the thick, satin quilt that lay over my legs and frowned.

“I’m serious. It was like that all the way into her home. Knocking this many times, spi

“So where are we now?” I surveyed the room, looking for the chinks in the projection.

“We’re in her house. The soldiers threw us in here and locked the door. Someone came in with food and water, flanked by guards, about an hour ago, but that’s it.” He stood up and moved towards the table in the corner. “Here, eat something.” I eyed the food suspiciously. “Just eat, Rosa. I already have, and I’m not dead yet.”

I shrugged and took a bite of the flaky roll. It was delicious, sweet, and buttery. I finished it quickly.

“Do you think he’s here?” I asked carefully, wiping crumbs from my mouth with the back of my hand as my mind turned to Hessa, and then Orry. The aching pain etched a new wound across my insides. I missed them so much.

Joseph shook his head, looking up at me with intensity, his eyes swirls of muddy gold. “He has to be.”

The heavy, wooden door creaking opening interrupted us. We stood to attention, bracing ourselves for violence. Our eyes widened, and my mouth dropped a little as two guards dressed in black marched into the room with clean clothes, towels, and toiletries in their rigid arms.

They laid them on the bed carefully. The one with dark, bushy eyebrows and brown eyes stated, “Este will speak with you tonight. You are required to shower thoroughly using the… er… antibacterial soap provided and change your clothing.” He cast his eyes critically over our dirt-encrusted jeans and not-so-white-anymore t-shirts. “You’re clothing will be laundered and returned to you if they are acceptably free from contaminants.”

Both of us nodded slowly in dumb shock. Were we being toyed with? The room, the food, the clothing… it all seemed like trick. Surely, any minute now, the guards would shake off their cool and pleasant demeanors, like a cicada kicking off its skin, and throw us in a cell. I didn’t understand it or like it.

The soldiers stood rigidly, waiting, until we picked up the clean clothes and nodded. The tall one bent down to whisper, “You’ll do it right? I mean, you’ll take the shower and change?” His face was all kinds of nervous.

I raised my eyebrows, watching them shift back and forth on the balls of their feet uncomfortably. “Oh ok,” I said, understanding they needed confirmation we would follow the order. “Yes, we’ll do it… as soon as you leave,” I said brazenly, my eyes moving to the door. They didn’t react and, once assured we would follow their request, they stepped out of the room calmly, almost respectfully, which creeped me out even more. The bolt slid back into place with a final, metallic click, just to remind us we were prisoners, not guests.

Joseph threw me a look as if to say ‘Just roll with it,’ and shrugged, pulling his shirt off as he walked towards what I assumed was the bathroom door. I watched his muscled back covered in fresh bruises, the perfect match for gun barrels, moving away from me. It didn’t make him any less perfect. I found myself wishing, yet again, that I could take just one tiny part of his attitude. But I felt like a bird in an invisible cage, flying up again and again, only to hit the bars and lose more of my feathers. Soon I’d be picked clean. Nothing felt right about any of this.

“You coming?” he threw over his shoulder.

I blushed, sitting on the bed with my arms wrapped around my knees. I let the thought tick over for one second, and then my body reacted before my brain could stop me. Quite honestly, what did it matter? We were in as much trouble as we could possibly be in.

I sprung from the bed a little too enthusiastically and ran to his side.

He looked down at me in surprise and smiled. “I never know what you’re going to do.”

I grabbed his chin and pulled his mouth towards mine, stopping just short of kissing him. I gri

He chuckled and held out his arm. “After you, Sleeping Beauty.”

I rolled my eyes and walked into the bathroom.

We’d been sitting in the bedroom for hours. I’d paced the four walls. I’d pulled back the plush curtains, only to find the window bricked up and a projected image of a garden with a single bird flickering in the fork of a stupid, plastic-looking tree wavering across the space. It gave me shivery flashbacks and reminded me why we were here—save the babies, and create a distraction.

Slumping in a chair, I exhaled heavily. I reached my finger up to trace the gold-embossed wallpaper. It was a bird, swinging on a seat in a cage. How fitting. I let my shoulders fall even lower, until I started to resemble a triangle of flesh and bone.

Joseph lay on the bed with his arms wrapped behind his head. He could have been relaxing at home for all the worry he was showing right now. I pursed my lips, trying very hard to keep the insults inside and glued to my tongue.

The clothes they’d given us were simple and elegant. A clean, white, button-down shirt and dark pants for Joseph and, to my dismay, a similar shirt and fitted skirt for me. They gave me tights, but I decided they were optional.

I scowled as I scratched at the paper with my last useful fingernail, seeing if I could remove the bird from the cage by erasing the bars. Gold dust fell in my lap, and I brushed it off violently with a humph.