Static Screams

Sasha was dead.

That was a fact my brain was well aware of, but was trying to play off as a falsehood. Sawyer and Cosmic were huddled with me in a corner. Our hands bound in front of us with rope, we leaned into each other for warmth as best we could. Sawyer winced every time he moved. He had cuts on his chest and his face was bleeding from multiple spots. We all were. They’d had us seperated at first, drawing knives along our skin, and throwing fists into our bodies. They wanted the rest of our group. They wanted Lila, Logan, and Peter.

Darren, Seven, and Scarlett weren’t with us in the cold stone room. I feared they were already gone. I shivered, and Sawyer scooted his leg closer to mine. I wanted to lay my head on his shoulder, but knew if they knew what we felt for each other, they’d play off of it.

Hours upon hours passed. Each of us disappearing for periods of time. Meek as I had always been, the more they hurt Cosmic and Sawyer, the harder my heart became.

The next time they brought me back to the room, the door stayed open. “You shits don’t want to help us find your friends out of the goodness of your heart, so how about we play a game.” The man that had done most of our torture stepped out of the room, and came back with his hand on the back of Seven’s neck.

“Seven!” Cosmic shrieked, lurching forward. The man, Fredrick according to his friends, kicked her in the throat. She choked, falling to the floor. I collapsed to my knees beside her. Tears fell down my face. We’d all held out. But we’d all held out when we hadn’t been forced to watch each other in pain. If we had to watch, I’m not sure we could hold on forever.

Fredrick rolled his eyes. “Back to what I was saying.” He shook Seven, who appeared to have been crying for the last two days. He shook as he cried. Fredrick threw him to the ground. “Let’s play ‘who will put the kids life before the lives of the others’ and see what happens.” He rubbed his hands together.

“You’re a fucking psychopath!” My scream fell flat, as my throat was dry and my lungs hurt. It was more of a hoarse yell that dissolved into coughs and tears. Fredrick laughed, reaching for Seven. He picked up him by his throat, holding him in midair and looking at us all expectantly.

Seven’s hands grasped at Fredricks arm, leaving red marks from his nails. His short legs kicked as his air was stolen from him. Sawyer shouted. “Leave the kid alone and pick on someone your own size, you bastard!”

But Seven remained in the air, his face getting redder by the second. Cosmic and I were sobbing. Sawyer was shouting a string of curses.

I couldn’t watch a kid die. I couldn’t watch Seven, little elementary aged Seven die. “The tunnels under the town!” I shouted. “Let him go!” Fredrick hesitated for a moment, as if checking the answer within himself.

“How do we get in the tunnels?”

“Under the furniture in the store! Let him go!” Finally, Seven was dropped to the floor. I immediately rushed to his side, pushing his hair off his face with my bound hands.

“That’s what I thought.” Fredrick chuckled, brushed himself off, and left.

I laid on the ground beside Seven, crying with him as he gasped for air and clawed as his own throat. Sawyer had a look of conflict on his face. “They’re going to get Logan.” He muttered sadly.

Cosmic joined Seven and I, laying behind him and pulling him to her. “I couldn’t let them kill a child.” I wiped at the tears on Seven’s face.

“I know. I know. I was a second from telling him myself.” He rubbed his face with a hand.

“We just have to hope and pray they aren’t there anymore.” I sat up, giving Sawyer a sad smile. “They’re smart, they would have left.”

“No,” he started. “They would have started trying to find us. We have to hold on, we have to try to escape, we have to fight.”

I started to argue that it was going to be difficult with our hands tied, but something hit me. Sawyer frowned at the smile on my face. “What?”

Looking towards Seven’s unbound hands, my smile grew.

“I have a plan.”