Remember Me (ONC2020) ✔

Chapter 10

As Solara lifted her throbbing head, her neck and back muscles blazed with the heat of an inferno. She flattened herself to the ground and took shallow breaths to work through the pain. Her wrists, lying close to her face, were red and raw with burn marks. Her eyes fought a burning itch to stay open. A large man-shaped lump lay beside her and another was hunched over on a bench in the dark-walled room. Thin strands of light trickled through a small bar-covered window above them. After she closed her eyes, the stink of garbage and echo of slapping feet on wooden sandals meant they hadn't left the centre of Lower-Caldozza.

She tensed. Would they die here or be dragged up to Upper-Caldozza for a public execution?

"Ru," Solara called through her scratchy throat.

"The traitor is still out cold. Should buy us time to get our story straight and escape this horrible mess."

Solara's ribs ached as she exhaled. Perhaps staying still and quiet would convince him she passed out again or was just moaning in a fever dream.

The thwack of sandals on stone reverberated through the cell as the steps grew closer. Her chest throbbed with each rapid breath through pursed lips. It wasn't fair to die when she'd hardly lived, not through anything worthwhile. She'd been too busy processing everyone else's experiences to have memorable ones of her own.

A stone-faced man with bruises under his eyes stood at the metal-gated door. His gait and face looked vaguely familiar in Solara's hazy vision. As keys jangled, Ernesito groaned, and he rocked to a sitting position on the bench. "There's been a mistake," his hoarse voice croaked. "You must let us out of here."

The man chuckled. "I hear how badly you three faired. My family can't afford my death." That gentle voice...

"Mr. Benito," Solara strained through a sandpaper throat.

His shoulders straightened, and he looked behind his head darted in all directions. "Ms. Fumera! What are you doing here?"

"We were investigating a break-in at my friend's home, and we found a precious Upper artifact."

"You should be careful. The people who brought you here are cold and brash."

"Are they still here?"

Mr. Benito looked over his shoulder again. "They said to have you ready for 2 o'clock." He glanced at his wrist. "In thirty minutes. They didn't wish to stay overnight."

Ernesito dragged himself to the door, sending Mr. Benito a few steps back. Her ex's left foot didn't move with the rest of his body. After Solara wiggled her fingers and toes, she relaxed, finding them all following her brain's command.

"I will give you ten thousand dozis to free us."

"I cannot risk my family's lives."

"Ten thousand each." He nodded toward Solara. "Tell them we died, and you disposed of our bodies. Let them have the traitor."

When Mr. Benito sought Solara's gaze, she shook her head. She couldn't live knowing someone had paid for her freedom in blood.

She turned to Ernesito. "We don't know what they want yet."

"What they want? Don't be naïve, Lara. They'll skin us alive in front of our people and harvest the unedited memories from the spectators. They have the amulet. What else could they want besides vengeance?"