Desolation, J. B. Everett [reading a book txt] 📗

shake my head, wiping my eyes. I don't want to recount what they did to me.

"They are horrible people Ian" I say, my voice trembling with anger.

"But what did they do to you?" he asks, looking at me intently.

"They...they said that they had to remove my memories. And then they put me into this machine, and I don't remember anything else that happened because I blacked out" I say.

"They have machines down there?" I hear Dylan's voice say next to me.

I nod.

"What the fuck?" he says incredulously.

I turn back to Ian, who is still standing and facing me. Hot tears well up in my eyes, blurring my vision.

"I can't do this anymore..." I whisper, my voice failing me.

Right now, all I want is to be with him. I want to feel his strong arms around me, numbing the pain. I want to feel his lips on mine. I reach my arms through the bars towards him, wishing that I could touch him.

"We aren't going to do this anymore" he says quietly.

"What?" I say, confused.

Ian looks at me, his eyes trained into mine.

"We are going to escape" Chapter Eighteen

"What?" I say, my eyes widening,

I couldn't of just heard Ian correctly.

"I said, we are going to escape from here" he says, lowering his voice to nearly a whisper.

"Ian, we are trapped in locked cages" I say.

"Yes, I know that" he replies.

"So what are you talking about?" I ask.

"I'm coming up with a plan to escape. It's not fully developed yet, but I have an idea" he whispers.

I stare at him, dumbfounded. If he can think of a way to escape a locked cage, he must be going crazy.

I guess we all are going crazy.

Since my head is still spinning, I lay down onto the metal floor of the cage, closing my eyes. I never thought that there would be anything more uncomfortable than sleeping on the jungle floor, but metal floor of the cage proves me wrong. I shift back and forth, futilely attempting to get comfortable until I finally give up and lay flat on my stomach.

All that I want to do right now is sleep. Forget about everything going on for just a few hours. I try clearing my mind of everything, and although it is hard, I finally do. And that is when sleep comes.


I am running through the jungle. I don't know where I am going, but my heart is pounding in my chest. I am being chased by someone.

I suddenly emerge into a clearing and stumble to a stop when I see the someone, their back towards me.

Ian.

"Ian?" I call out breathlessly.

He doesn't turn around; he just stands there as stiff as a board.

"Ian! They're coming for us, we have to go!" I shout frantically, panic rising in my voice.

Then slowly, he turns around. And all the blood in my body runs cold when I see that it is not the face of Ian.

It is the face of Hal.

I slowly begin to back up as he stares at me with his piercing blue eyes and his malicious smile.

"Tessa, where are you going?" He asks icily.

I shake my head, starting to back up faster.

"You can run away. But remember, we will always find you..."


I wake up with a start, gasping for breath. The suns streams down from the sky, blinding me for a moment. I I immediately notice that I am soaked in a cold sweat, even though it is hot.

"Tessa?" I hear Ian's voice say.

I sit up, rubbing my eyes then looking up at him. He is sitting in his cage, looking at me intently.

"What happened?" He asks.

"Nothing, just a bad dream" I say quickly.

He nods.

I look next to me to see that both Tristan and Dylan are up as well. Dylan is laying on the floor of his cage, tossing his rock up and down.

"Morning" he murmurs.

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Tristan is sitting in the corner of his cage, a distant look on his face.

"Hey Tristan, you okay?" I ask.

I realize it's a stupid question right after I ask him. None of us are okay.

He looks up, his eyes tired and puffy. I force a small, weak smile onto my face, and he smiles back weakly.

Suddenly, I hear distant shouting. It is coming closer and closer. I immediately rush up to my bars, trying to crane my head to see what is going on. Then, I see what the noise is coming from.

Two of the men is dragging a girl towards the cages. One of us. She is kicking and screaming, but the men have a firm grip on her.

"Let me go you bastards!" she shrieks.

I stare at her, trying to recall her name.

Then I remember it; Nikki.

She screams as the men push her into a cage, diagonal from me. Then, there is a loud clang as they slam the door shut, locking her inside. Then the men walk away.

Nikki bangs on the cage, rattling the bars in frustration. After a few moments, she gives up, collapsing to the floor. She looks up, then says,

"Dylan?"

Dylan rushes forward to the front of his cage, facing Nikki.

"Dylan, what the fuck is going on?" she asks, her voice trembling.

"I don't know" Dylan mumbles.

Nikki then looks at me, Tristan and Ian, who are all staring at her.

"Do any of you guys know what the hell is going on?" She asks, looking at me with wide eyes.

I shake my head miserably.

"Shit" she mutters under breath, running her fingers through her dirty blonde hair.

I glance at Ian, who glances back at me.

That's when I remember what he said to me last night. That we are going to get out of here.

"How's your plan coming?" I mouth to him.

"Still thinking" he whispers back.

I nod, then sit back, leaning against the bars. I try to think of a way to escape, but there is none. We are trapped inside of locked cages. How the hell does Ian think that he can devise a plan to escape?

I think I doze off for a little bit because I wake up to hear everyone shouting. Opening my eyes, I see that four men in lab coats are walking towards us, carrying trays in their hands. Trays of food. My starved, empty stomach immediately growls at the sight of food. I cannot believe that they are actually feeding us.

The men stop in the center of of the clearing, and one of them says,

"This is the only meal that you will be receiving today"

They then walk up to our cages and unlock the doors, opening them just wide enough to slip the tray of food in. Then, in a split second, the men slam our doors shut again and walk away.

I rush forward to my tray and when I see what is on it, my heart sinks. On the tray sits a small bowl of grey, lumpy mush. I knew that they weren't going to give us a five-course meal, but this looks absolutely revolting. But my hunger overtakes me and I pick up the bowl, spooning the mush into my mouth. It is tasteless and has an awful texture, but hey, it's better than nothing.

When I finish my bowl, I look up to see Ian. He has pushed his tray away from him, the bowl untouched.

"Why aren't you eating it?" I ask him.

Chapter Nineteen

The next few minutes are utter chaos.

The second that the man opens my cage door, I lunge forward, pure adrenaline coursing throughout my veins. I force all of my body weight onto the cage door, driving it open and tumbling out onto the ground. Before I can get up and run, I feel the man's arms grab me violently, dragging me back into the cage. I scream, trying to break out of his grip, but he is much stronger than I am.

Just when I am about to get locked back into the cage, the man is suddenly slammed to the ground. I look up to see Ian, tackling him. I quickly scramble backwards, standing up. Ian wrestles the man, pushing him hard onto the ground.

"Run Tessa!" he shouts.

My heart pounding in my chest, I look around. For a few moments, it seems as if everything is happening in slow motion.

Both Dylan and Tristan have broken out of their cages, and are wrestling the other three men to the ground. Nikki and Alyssa are still in their cages. And I am standing there, frozen in place.

"Run!" Ian shouts again.

But I can't move.

I watch in terror as Ian is violently slammed to the ground.

I can't just stand here anymore.

A surge of adrenaline flows throughout my body and I lunge forward, jumping on top of the man wrestling Ian. I wildly punch the man repeatedly until he falls backwards, releasing Ian. Quickly, I stand up, and before the man can attack again, I kick him in the head.

Hard.

He falls backward, slumping onto the ground. Knocked out cold.

I stand there breathlessly, my heart racing.

I cannot believe that I just did that.

I look at Ian, who is still laying on the ground. He looks up at me, blood trickling from his mouth.

"Holy shit" he murmurs, standing up quickly.

Ian immediately runs towards Tristan and Dylan to help them fight off the other two men. I stand there rooted to the ground, still shocked that I knocked someone out cold.

"Tessa, run!" Ian shouts.

I shake my head, unable to move. It's as if all of the muscles in my body have stopped working.

"RUN!"

Finally, I run. But not away from them.

I run straight towards them.

"Tessa, what the fuck are you doing!" Ian yells, right before he is pummeled to the ground.

I jump onto the man on top of Ian, pushing him to the ground. Then, before the man can get up, I shove him into one of the cages and slam the door, locking him inside.

Ian gets up and slams the man who is fighting Tristan to the ground. Hard. I cringe as I hear a loud crack.

Now there's only one of them left.

Dylan is on the ground, trying to wrestle the man. He yells out in pain as the man punches him in the jaw. Ian instantly jumps on the man, wrestling him off of Dylan and aggressively shoving him onto the ground. Knocking him out cold.

I stand there, panting, adrenaline still pulsating throughout my veins.

"Oh my god..." Nikki