Chapter 12
Liz wakes up feeling better than she has in a long time.
Between the refreshing shower, the full night’s sleep, and all the food given to her, she feels ready to put a plan into action.
She is excited to start training, which will get her closer to the men holding her captive.
She reminds herself that they may treat her well, and it’s easy to slip into feeling comfortable, she is still their prisoner.
Liz sits up, arms raised above her head, bruising healed enough to finally stretch.
The sharp knock from the door across the room causes her to jump out of bed.
She quickly walks over to the door and throws it open, peering up at Riley.
She follows his eyes down to her body. The loose robe nearly exposing her chest sends a wave of panic over her.
She slams the door in his face, thinking it’s only a matter of time before he comes in after her.
She grabs some clothes and quickly gets dressed. Shocked at how well they fit.
She buries her embarrassment and channels the person they want her to be.
If she has any intention of getting out she needs to push everything down.
She has been hurt by too many men, endured too much at their hands.
If nothing else, she is strong and has plenty of practice ignoring her feelings and pushing on like nothing happened.
A fake smile spreads across her face as she prances back to the door.
“Damn,” Mikey says with a low whistle. “I knew you were hot, but I didn’t expect you to be this hot.”
Riley stares daggers at him before going back to his cooking, not happy with his friend’s shameless flirting.
“Thanks, sweetie,” Liz says, practically skipping over to Riley at the stove. His jaw drops, having no idea what has gotten into her. She leans on the counter next to him— “Good morning,” she says with a smile, batting her eyelashes up at him.
“Is that all I needed to do to get on your good side? Buy you things?” Riley asks, looking over her.
Mikey was right, he realized, she looks amazing.
A week of meals and hot showers brought some of the color back to her cheeks.
She no longer looks so sickly. Something stirs in his chest at the sight of her, all cleaned up and acting like a person, not just a corpse going through the motions.
“Rude,” Liz says, pushing off the counter and sitting at the table. “That’s why you’re my favorite,” she says to Mikey with a wink.
“HA!” he barks, looking at Riley. “I’m the favorite.” He beams with pride as he joins Liz at the table.
“I’m sorry, princess,” Riley says, flipping the eggs he’s frying. “Good morning.” He loads up a plate with food and brings it over, placing it in front of Liz. Trying to shake the guilt she’s feeling, she quickly thanks him.
“Maybe this will make you like me more, I have therapy sessions set up for you starting tomorrow.”
“Oh, um, no thanks. I don’t do therapy,” she says, forcing herself to start eating.
“What do you mean you don’t do therapy? You can’t go through everything you did and not talk to someone about it.” A deeply concerned Mikey says.
“Well when you cry about being raped and your therapist says it seems like you would be better off dead, it kind of makes you never want to do it again,” Her shoulders slump, really not waiting to have this conversation.
Liz knows they mean well, no one could have known that she doesn't trust therapists and her reasons why.
“Again, I won’t force you into anything, but therapy can really help after something traumatic.” Riley says, wanting to push the matter more, quickly thinking better of it.
“And being raped wasn’t traumatic?” Liz sneers, “I will get through this the same way I have gotten through everything else in my shitty life, with my winning personality and can-do attitude.” If her eyes rolled any harder they would tumble from her head.
They finish breakfast in silence, unsure of what they could possibly say to one another. Liz excuses herself to brush her teeth, when she comes back, Riley is nowhere to be seen. She tries and fails to hide her disappointment.
“Ry had some work to take care of. I’m in charge of training today, darlin.
” Mikey reaches for the door and undoes the three locks.
Liz cranes her neck hoping to catch even the smallest glimpse of the numbers being punched in.
Holding it open, Liz steps outside, the Nevada heat making her sweat.
Mikey leads her down the narrow hallway, just as empty as the first time they brought her in.
She doesn’t see another person during their short walk to the main door, just more doors on either side. Mikey opens the main door leading outside and Liz almost runs to get through it. For the first time in months, she is outside, and she can’t even enjoy it because the sun hasn’t come up yet.
Liz looks around, trying to take in as much of the small military base as she can.
Even the smallest details will help if she's planning to escape.
The door leads to a small parking lot with not much beyond it.
The whole base is surrounded by a giant, concrete wall, guard towers every fifty feet or so, and right in front of her, across the parking lot, is a large metal gate, presumably to keep their enemies out, and her in.
She makes a mental note to ask if it ever gets opened.
“Ready?” Mikey asks, getting in a few stretches. “I’ll start you slow for now; we will just start with running the perimeter of the housing unit twice and walk it once to cool down.” He takes off, sending Liz running after him, trying to keep up.
He looks behind him to see Liz throwing herself onto the lawn where they run, fighting to catch her breath. He turns around and jogs back to her. “You good, darlin?”
She looks up at him, desperately trying to catch her breath. “Do I… look… okay?” she says in between gasps. “I thought you were teaching me to fight?”
“How are you gonna fight if you can’t even run?
” he asks through a laugh. “It’s been just over a week since we found you.
I know you felt great after some sleep and food, but that’s only because your body was deprived for so long.
We need to work on building muscle and gaining stamina or you will be winded after a few swings. ”
Mikey reaches out a hand and she takes it, letting him pull her up.
Liz thinks over each word he said. It all makes sense, how will she ever get free if she can’t even jog around a building?
As long as they continue to treat her the way they have, it won’t kill her to build strength, biding her time.
She stands, breathing finally steady, and starts again, this time at a much slower pace, more power walk than jog.
They stay silent the whole time they walk, when they finally reach the parking lot by the door for the second time, they slow to a relaxed pace.
Liz fights to catch her breath, not used to this much physical activity.
Every muscle in her body is screaming at her to stop.
They continue their walk, not speaking to each other, Liz just silently observing.
She makes a mental note of all the other buildings.
Three large ones off to one side, and what looks like two airplane hangars to the other with parking lots and small fields sprinkled in between.
Lots of places to hide once she finds a way out of Riley's apartment, assuming the whole place isn’t swarmed with soldiers.
“Ready to head back?” Mikey asks, heading for the glass door.
She nods her head and follows him, feeling like she can finally breathe when she steps inside the cool hallway.
She follows Mikey back to the room, surprised to pass a few people on their way.
Each one goes out of their way to avoid looking at her.
She wouldn’t be surprised if word of whatever Riley did to the two men who escorted her got around, making everyone wary.
It's better to know now that they won’t help her when she escapes.
Stepping into the apartment, she finds herself looking for Riley again, a little disappointed when she doesn’t see him.
“He’ll be happy to know you were looking for him.”
“I wasn’t looking for him,” Liz snaps, a little harsher than she meant, still refusing to think about whatever feeling she gets in her chest at the sight of Riley.
“I’m going to shower.” She walks to her room and closes the door behind her.
She gets into the shower, warm water washing away the ache in her muscles. She lowers herself onto the floor and just sits, allowing herself to enjoy the small luxury of hot water. Liz starts to think about her escape. It will never work if she doesn’t get herself in shape, and fast.
Right now she is only allowed so much freedom, and being watched makes for a horrible escape.
She runs through everything she can do in the privacy of her room.
If she can be quiet enough: pushups, sit ups, crunches, or even just pacing in circles will help her build stamina.
A weight lifts off her shoulders. When she is alone, she will spend all her time doing simple workouts.
Any time spent with one of the guys her focus will be on gaining trust, doing whatever she has to in order to get it.
Top priority is figuring out if the alarms are real, and if they are, she needs the door code.
It will take time, being patient will be the hardest part.
Liz smiles to herself, knowing soon enough she will finally be able to do what she has dreamed of doing for so long.