Beauty in the Beast

I wasn’t by myself for long before a guard came to visit me. How nice of him. He was tall with dark tan skin, but also slightly burnt like he had been in the sun for too long. His hair was almost as black as night, he was attractive but the permanent frown on his face really put a damper on that. He stood across my cell, leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. For the first few minutes I just stared at him, waiting for him to do something before I realized he was just a babysitter.

“Do you have a name?” I asked him, hoping he was going to open up to me. If I could make friends, maybe I could convince him to help me escape. Unfortunately, he ignored me. Maybe he just needed some more convincing. “I’m Emma.”

“Bitch.” He muttered.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re the bitch. That’s what they refer to you as, so that’s what your new name is.” He turned his head to ignore me again. Great. Making friends was not going to happen.

“I have to go to the bathroom.” Plan B.

“Pick a corner.” He responded.

“Do they refer to you as ‘Asshole’? Cause that’s what your new name is.” Asshole ignored me. Derek definitely wasn’t in charge of the guards. If he was, he wouldn’t allow them to speak to me this way. And if the guard was babysitting me, it meant that Derek wasn’t watching the cameras right now. I needed a Plan C, and maybe a D in case that one goes down the shitter too.

I watched my babysitter more than he watched me. It was awkward, but I couldn’t be picky at times like this. He had a cell phone in his pocket that he checked every few minutes. I wasn’t sure who he was texting, but he would occasionally respond. I figured he was checking in with the boss to make sure I wasn’t trying anything stupid. I wasn’t fed or given water since I had been in the cell, and thanks to Asshole, I wasn’t getting any bathroom trips. Luckily with the lack of refreshments I didn’t have to go. If I played with the chain for too long, Asshole pulled a gun on me. I could tell it was only a tranquilizer, but it was definitely not something I wanted in my system again. But that did tell me that Derek wasn’t the only one who wanted me alive.

Asshole pulled his phone out again, but this time I assumed he was given an order because he looked up at me and told me not to do anything stupid before he left. With his warning, I knew no one was watching the cameras and without my babysitter, I could do something stupid. I went right back to the bar on the cell I tried to loosen before Derek used it to bust my head open and went right back into the same position. I pulled on the bar as hard as I could with the chain until I heard Asshole’s footsteps approaching again. I could tell I loosened the bar, but it wasn’t enough for me to break it yet. I just needed one more try. I pulled once again until it creaked, and I pulled my chain out silently and stepped back from the bars just in time for Asshole to come around the corner.

“What are you doing, bitch?” I shrugged at him. He was carrying a metal food tray with scraps on it. He watched me for a second, looking around the cell to see if he could notice any differences. Thankfully, the bar I loosened looked no different from the ones that were tightly secure. Asshole came up to me and dumped my food onto the floor and dropped the tray between the bars. “Eat up, bitch.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“You won’t be alive long enough to see.” I didn’t lose eye contact with him as I threatened his life. He only laughed at me.

I don’t know how long I sat in that cell with Asshole across from me, but it felt like forever. The food scraps I was given on the tray still laid on the ground beside me. I had my Plan C, but I had to talk myself into it. I wasn’t leaving this cell without blood on my hands, and I had to be okay with that. If Derek wasn’t watching the cameras, that meant he was out making his own plan come to life. Which could only mean death for Nick, so I had to do this. Now or never. I looked up at Asshole, but he was on his phone again. I stood to my feet and walked over to the metal tray on the ground. As I picked it up and walked to the bars of my cell, I had Asshole’s full attention.

“What are you doing, bitch?”

“I told you not to call me that.” I braced my back leg and flung the metal tray as hard as I could through the bars of my cell. My perfect aim had the corner of the tray plunging into his chest, piercing his heart. He made little noise as he fell to the ground. I turned and kicked the loosened bar as hard as I could, and it popped off. With my small frame I was able to squeeze myself between the other two bars now. I pulled the tray out of Asshole’s chest and stepped over his body. I needed to find a way out of this maze. As I rounded the corner, another wolf approached me.

“Hey!” He tried to stop me, throwing a punch, but I used the tray as a shield and his fist connected with the metal. I swung it back into his face and he fell backwards. I slammed my foot down into his throat, his neck breaking under the force of my shoe. I took my tray with me as I continued to run down the hall, only to be met with more wolves. I took out three more wolves with the help of my tray down the hallway. I came to a stop with three doors, but no idea where any of them would lead me. Either I would have to fight off more wolves or I would open a door to freedom. I opened the door to my left and poked my head inside. It looked like the room where Derek was using his cameras, but it was empty now. I opened the door beside that, and it opened into what looked like a bunker. This was probably where the wolves slept and ate, but right now it was empty too. Time for the last door. I pushed it open and found another hallway. I had to take my chances with it because I saw no other way out through the other two doors. I was expecting to find more cells down the hallway, but it was just empty. I was met with another guard and I had to fight my way away from him, but it wasn’t as quiet as the other hallway. More guards came to his aid, but I didn’t quit. It was either them or me and with me being dead, I wouldn’t be able to save Nick from whatever plan Derek had for him.

I killed the wolves in my way and took off running down the hall. Suddenly, I was forced to stop as I came into view of a new enemy.

“Drop it.” He said. I had no choice but to drop my tray and put my hands up in surrender. In front of me stood Jackson, clear as day pointing an arrow at me with his bow. At this point, I had no doubt in my mind that Jackson was the wolf I saw in the woods that day. Jackson was the wolf who shot a wolfsbane arrow into my chest.