Bounty Hunter

Zinnia

“Psst! Zinnia. Can you hear me?” I hear a voice in my subconscious. Perhaps I’m dreaming. Or, I’d finally crossed the line between life and the afterlife. No, the paralysing pain I felt was too real.

“Psst, Zinnia. Wake up! We need to leave now,” I heard the voice again, this time, more clearly. Slowly, I open my eyes, which feel heavy. The first thing I see is a strange room.

I close them again, too tired and worn out to keep them open. The voice speaks again, this time, poking me in the side. I flinch and opened my eyes again, but they threatened to close again.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Dammit Zinnia! Wake up! We need to leave now,” when I opened my eyes, an alien figure hovered above me. Her dishevelled oxblood-dyed hair looked faded. A bluish-dark colour tinted her left eye. Red marks darted her entire face. There was a cut on her jaw and her lower lip as well. Her torn tank top barely hugged her pale body.

She flashed me a smile and I squinted my face at the colour of her teeth.

“Good! You’re awake,” she whispered, her bad breath almost knocking me out. I squinted my nostrils as she looked over her shoulders. At that instant, I couldn’t help but wonder if I smelled like that.

“We need to leave. Now!” She added with panic evident in her voice as her tiny, yet shivering hands tried to lift me.

I was confused. Where the hell was I? The last thing I remember was Westley getting off me. And who was this girl and why was she acting so friendly towards me?

My body felt heavy as I sat upright, the confusion of who this girl was and where she intended to take me wearing down on me.

“I’m sorry, who are you? And where are we going?” My voice was groggy as I spoke. The girl paused, taking offence to my question and looking at me in bewilderment.

“What do you mean who am I? It’s me, Bethel, remember? We spoke briefly through the walls of our rooms,” she explained, helping me to my feet.

Oh, that would explain why she was acting too friendly toward me. But how come I couldn’t recognise her voice? That was perhaps, due to my current state.

“Oh, right! We’ve never properly met,” she stuck out her free left hand. “This is not the right moment, but hi Zinnia, it’s finally nice to officially meet you,” she said, a beaming smile on her face.

I furrowed my brows. How was she so full of life and oozing positivity when she looked like she’d been beaten and attacked by animals? Still, I smiled at her.

“Nice to me you too,” I murmured, taking the first step towards the door. “Where am I? And where are you taking me?”

We were closer to the door. Bethel leaves me and takes a step closer to open the door. She poked her head outside before turning back to me. “I can’t explain right now, but we have to leave. Roman just left and I found a way for us to escape,” she answered enthusiastically, tiptoeing ahead and I sheepishly followed behind her.

“But how? And what if we get caught? Roman will punish us,” I whispered behind her, trying to drag my tired body. Bethel stops abruptly and I bump into her. She turns and faces me with a grinning smile on her face.

“That will be awesome. Maybe he can just take my miserable life as punishment,” she beamed, dozing off for a while. “But, let’s go. We need to get through the hallway without any of his men spotting us. They’re currently in the basement deciding where to take us,”

I realised in that instant that, maybe I didn’t want to die. Not when Roman was still walking the corners of this earth, carrying on with his life as if he didn’t ruin mine and so many others. I was aware that the probability of leaving this place was very thin and I’d given up on Reed ever finding me. He was a resourceful man, but, if till now, he hadn’t come to save me, then, there was no hope.

Bethel, however, seemed hopeful that we could leave this place. She turned through the dark hallway as though she’d been here a thousand times. Perhaps, that has been the case, I wouldn’t know. But she seemed positive about our escape plan, almost as if she’d been planning for a while now.

“How long have you been planning this?” I asked out of the blue. Bethel shushed me, a little too loud for my liking. I rolled my eyes and continued following behind her.

We reached a dead-end. At least, I thought so. Bethel reached for her worn-out shorts, took out a cell phone and powered it on, the light shining through the hallway. My heart drops to my chest, worried that it might draw attention to us.

“Where did you get this?”

Bethel is silent. With the dim lighting from her cell, I can see her furrow her brow as she searches for something on her cell. Then, the phone is pressed to her ear.

“We’re here,” she says before tugging the phone back in the pocket of her trousers. Shortly, a loud thud resonated, almost as if the door was being opened. Then we were hit by sunlight and a soothing breeze.

Bethel stepped outside, smiling at the man on the other end. Whereas, my feet trembled as I took the first step towards the bridge of the door. Tears pricked my eyes as our situation settled in. I was free. We were free. Roman could no longer hurt us.

As I step outside, I spread my arms open, basking in the smell of the air and freedom. The breeze was so strong, it almost knocked me off my feet. But I didn’t care. For the first time in what felt like years, I smiled. A smile that quickly turned into full-blown laughter and then, sobs. I couldn’t believe it.

I was caught up in the moment that I hadn’t realised Bethel was standing next to me. Her hand on my shoulder had me looking at her, shooting her an appreciative stare. When she least expected it, I threw my hands around her. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I whispered continuously in the crook of her neck.

I feel her smile on me. “It’s okay, Zinnia. I know you would have done the same for me,” she says, wrapping her hand over my thin waist. We were both silent until the man who opened the door spoke up.

“I don’t have all day. We need to hurry up. Roman will be here any second,”

Bethel and I pulled away from each other. “That’s right,” Bethel says, walking away from me to stand next to the man. “Zinnia,” she begins, sheepishly folding her hand behind her back and kicking her feet on the ground.

I frowned. Why did I feel like she was about to say something bad?

“You know how I helped you out of the room and he let us out?” She begins, unable to meet my gaze. “I need you to do something for us to be truly free,” she finally met my gaze.

I furrowed my brows. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry, I had no other choice okay? It was the only way for us to escape,” she begins to blab.

I was lost. I couldn’t comprehend a word of what she was saying. “Bethel, why don’t you calm down and explain to me what is happening? I’m sure we can sort it out,” I spoke.

The man who opened the door began to approach me, a creepy smile on his face. He smelled of sweat and days of no shower. His index finger is under my chin. I shrugged away from his touch, and the realisation of what Bethel meant suddenly hit me like a truck.

“What your friend is saying is, she used you as payment to allow you girls to escape. Now, don’t worry about it, I’m sure you’ve done this so many times whilst being locked in here. I’ll be gentle, I promise,” he smirked as more tears pooled in my eyes. I looked past him to Bethel who witnessed our encounter.

“Bethel, how could you?” I barely whispered.

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