Red Planet Dragons of Tajss by Miranda Martin

Author:Miranda Martin [Martin, Miranda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

10

Riley

A ten by ten room with a single table, one window, two chairs, and a bright overhead light. My mouth is dry, there are butterflies in my stomach and heavy metal cuffs on my wrists connecting me to the single, metal table.

My heart pounds so hard it might explode, sweat runs down my back, and I want to scream but I can’t. The one window is reflective, showing myself and the wall behind me. I’ve no doubt someone is on the far side of it, waiting. Waiting for me to break?

I want to break. I want to cry. I want to die. Anything to get out of this. Is this what happened to Zjolt? Is he, maybe, held somewhere close? I want to hold on to that, believe it, but some part of me knows it’s not true.

I don’t know how long I’ve been here. They dragged me into this room and left. No one has spoken to me or entered the room since. I’ve waited, as patiently as possible, but nothing is changing.

When the door opens at last, I jerk up, causing the cold metal cuffs to dig into my wrists tighter. I wince, but most of my attention is consumed by the two men who walk into the room. One of them is huge, so big he almost has to turn sideways to walk in the door. The other is tiny in comparison, especially for a man. He’s not much bigger than me.

The smaller man has a wrinkled, pinched face with stormy gray eyes. The big man looks younger, maybe in his twenties, but his eyes are dead as is the expression on his face. It’s not bored, or empty, it’s dead. Nothing. As if there’s nothing there but a massive, walking mound of muscles. The butterflies in my stomach go wild, and bile rises in my throat.

“This can go one of two ways,” the small man says, taking the seat opposite.

The big man crosses his arms over his chest and stares straight ahead. He doesn’t even look at me, as if I don’t exist. Somehow his inattention is colder and worse than if he was making direct threats. I can’t take my eyes off him, even though the smaller man is the one speaking.

“Ye-ah?” I ask, pausing to swallow mid-word.

“Of course,” the small man says. “Pleasant, or unpleasant. It’s really up to you. We need to know things. You tell us those things and then all is fine. You lie or hold back or try to evade the answer…”

He trails off and glances at the big man, who grunts. My head is spinning and my stomach is in full revolt. I’m going to lose it. I can’t speak for fear of more than words coming out, so I nod. The small man smiles.

“Who have you spoken to?” he asks.

“About?” I ask.

“This is not a good start,” the small man sighs.

The bigger man moves forward. He’s so big he doesn’t lift his feet, he shuffles. His shoes make a ‘skff, skff’ sound across the concrete floor that is crazy-loud in this tiny room.

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