AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My nose clogged up and my eyes stung.
Don’t cry, I told myself. Don’t cry. Not here.
I lacked the same level of control I had if I was upright.
I could blink the tears back and force them not to fall.
But I was upside down and the tears seeped not just from the corners of my eyes but between my eyelashes.
They trailed down my forehead and into my hair.
I didn’t want to be here on my own.
I didn’t want to be surrounded by these prison guards.
I didn’t want to go back to Ikmal and take up my previous occupation.
That was, if they even let me return.
They might think I’d tasted the forbidden fruit of freedom and might infect the other Prizes.
It was a very real fear, I realized.
My time outside the prison walls had changed me.
He had changed me.
I wasn’t the same person I had been before we escaped.
I knew that.
I wondered if Egara was the same prisoner he’d been.
I didn’t think so.
“Let’s load up and get out of here,” a tall figure said.
It was difficult to distinguish the guards from each other as they all wore the same uniform and were of a similar height.
But one stood out, and it was the guard that just spoke.
He was taller than the others, broader too.
Were they assigned their rank by size? I wondered.
The guards climbed into the back of the van and took a seat on the benches that ran down either side.
It reminded me of typical military transport ships for US soldiers.
One guard pressed a hand to my back and pushed me forward.
The drones rose automatically so my head didn’t hit the side panel.
I was small enough to fit in the back, still hanging upside down.
I took a moment to peer up at the sky and noticed no metal lump, no sign of Egara anywhere.
The last guard climbed on board and sat opposite me.
