55. Crew
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
CREW
T he hours bleed together, and I’ve all but lost track of time.
I’ve been lucky over the years, never finding myself in the hands of the enemy while I wait for the rest of my family to rescue me, but clearly my luck has run out.
Camilla’s head lolls to the side as she sleeps restlessly. Her eyes started drooping closed after the outside halls fell silent and there was nothing to keep us awake, but I fight against the fatigue. I need to protect her in any way I can, even if push comes to shove, and there’s no way I’ll be able to do anything while chained to the ceiling the way I am.
I have no way of knowing how long we’ve been here, or even where here is, but the pain in my shoulders and toes is enough to keep me on high alert despite how tired my body and mind are.
I shift slightly, trying to outmaneuver a cramp in my calf, but it takes over anyway, and I bite the inside of my cheek to keep the groan from falling from my lips.
As much as I want to know what they have planned for us, I don’t want to bring them in here unnecessarily when the others need as much time as they can get to find us.
“You okay?” Camilla murmurs, her eyes flicking open to meet mine.
I nod, my neck protesting against the movement after being trapped between my biceps for so many hours. “You?”
“I’m fine,” she assures me, but the fact her light gray sweatshirt is covered in her blood and that she winces every time she moves makes me desperate to protect her, to care for her. She tugs at the chain on her wrist, and her brows furrow. “How long do you want to wait to see if they find us before we take matters into our own hands?”
“They’ll find us,” I promise.
“I know they will.” Her features soften. “But there’s no telling how long it’s going to take them, and I don’t know that time is on our side right now. At what point do we stop waiting and save ourselves?”
I watch her for long moments, indecision warring inside me. On one hand, I’m certain that Bishop and the others are doing everything in their power to find us. By now, I imagine our allies are descending upon the city, they’re probably following every lead they can find and getting closer to our location. But I’m not so naive to forget that Caleb has had the upper hand this entire time, and there’s still so much we haven’t been able to figure out about his life in the years he spent away from us, so there’s no telling how long he’s been preparing for this moment.
“Let’s hold off for a while longer. We don’t know what’s on the other side of that door, we have no weapons, and although I don’t want to underestimate your ability to fight your way out of here, we have been immobile for a long fucking time, meaning we won’t be at our best.”
She nods. “I agree. It’s better to hedge our bets for a little longer.”
We fall into silence once more, and her eyes drift closed, but she’s not asleep. How anyone could get any kind of rest in the positions we’ve found ourselves in is beyond me, but Camilla has managed it, and I don’t want to think about the training she keeps referring to.
A yawn falls from my lips, and I allow my own eyes to close, imagining the hours before all hell broke loose. The way Camilla took each of us without hesitation or question. How she allowed us to care for her. How she snuggled between us and let out the most content little sigh I’ve ever heard as she allowed her body to relax and fall asleep.
There have been many moments in the time since we met the little menace that solidified how I felt about her and the future I wanted for the five of us, but as I fell asleep, I could see it playing in my mind like a movie. I saw a home and kids. I saw a ring on Camilla’s finger that told the whole world she was ours. I saw her swelling with our babies. I saw it all, and there’s nothing I won’t do to make that happen.
I will get us out of here.
I will get her to safety.
And I will give our family the life I never dared to hope we could ever lead.