“What time is it?” she asked her guards to judge the distance of Molina from her prison cell.
“Doesn’t matter,” the older scared man replied.
Arianna leaned against the wall and listened to the footsteps of Molina while the two guards ignored her. She was still far away. Arianna began to quietly tap on the wall as she anxiously waited for Molina to near. When the footsteps were close to the outside door, Arianna heard Molina pause. Arianna stood and walked to the bars.
“Hey, are there any bathrooms around here?” she asked the two men who both turned towards her. “I really have to pee,” she lied, as Molina quietly opened the door behind the two men. The younger of the two men stood and walked toward Arianna.
“Stop that,” the older one ordered. “She’s not to leave the cell.” The younger one stopped halfway between Arianna and his fellow guard. As he began to turn, Arianna noticed Devin also entering the room. I need to buy time, she knew.
“Wait,” she said to the younger guard. Across the room, Devin and Molina quietly moved into position to subdue the two guards. Arianna watched helplessly as a fight broke out between the four people. In the darkness of the room, she thought there was a slight change in Molina’s features as she dove near Arianna.
“Forget these two. I’ll take them. Kill the girl,” the older man said to the younger one. The younger man nodded as he moved his fight with Devin closer to Arianna’s cell.
“Where’s the third person?” Arianna asked. “There were three of you coming this direction.”
“Three?” Devin asked as he neared.
In his slight hesitation, Devin was only able to place his hand in the direction of the knife that was flung by the younger man at Arianna. The knife plunged through Devin’s hand and slightly sliced into Arianna’s shoulder. The blood dripping from Devin’s hand didn’t hinder him as he moved, in one swift motion, to remove the blade from his hand and use it to pin the young man to the ground. At the faint scent of Devin’s blood, Arianna could feel a warmness in the pit of her stomach, and the thirst began to compel her closer to Devin. The pain of the cut on her shoulder dimmed as she felt herself warming up. Molina moved and caught the man she was fighting between herself and the bars. With his face pressed into the bars, Arianna heard the crack of his arm being twisted behind him. He didn’t seem to even notice or care as he stared at Arianna.
“Blue… blue… it can’t be… blue eyes,” he stuttered as he stared at her. In one movement, a hand fell across his head, and the man fell limp to the floor as Devin quickly opened the door to Arianna.
Devin paused as he stared at the cut on her arm. “Does it hurt?” he asked quietly as he gently touched her. Arianna cringed as she finally noticed the pain, but stopped as Devin placed his hand near her face. The dripping blood distracted her. “Take some,” he offered. Arianna shook her head, no. Her blackouts were connected to following Devin’s orders. Devin shrugged and reached for her, scooping Arianna into his arms, he followed Molina out the door. Arianna looked down at her ripped shirt to see she was no longer bleeding. Wasn’t I just stabbed? she wondered.
As they exited the prison cell, Arianna struggled with Devin to put her down.
“We need to leave now,” he explained quietly. “You are in no condition to be walking. If there’s a third person following us, they didn’t come with us and can’t be too far behind. Our goal is to get you out of here safely.”
“Lock the door,” she ordered, grabbing the keys from him. Molina took the keys, and locked the door as Arianna had ordered. “The man that was in earlier told them to leave me there and lock the door. This way if he comes back now, he won’t know I’m not there.” Devin nodded. Arianna threw her arms around him as he began to quietly move through the tunnel behind Molina. Arianna closed her eyes and listened to the footsteps. The third person was still following them. As they came to a fork in the tunnel, Molina began to lead them to the left.
“Stop,” Arianna said quietly. “There’s a group of five men that way.” Molina nodded and began going to the right. “Five more that way,” Arianna explained as the group turned to go back the way they came. “The one person following us is that way.”
“Our chances are better against one than five,” Molina said as Devin nodded and followed her. As they began to backtrack, Arianna heard their follower stop. Arianna opened her eyes and stopped listening to the people walking around the tunnels as they neared the unknown person.