I undid the heavy iron cuffs and she slumped against me. Gently I laid her over onto the carryout suit bag. She was so cold! In a panic I felt for her pulse again. It was there. Not strong, but still there.
The insulated bag would keep her secure and warm, while we moved through the night. I began to zip it up, as I found no major injuries that needed immediate attention. I tried to skip over the rest of the very evident abuse, but my mind couldn't divorce it from my eyes. I hated all who had done this and the desire to kill was heavy upon me like a remembered bloodlust of my warrior heritage.
As I neared her head with the zipper I noticed that her eyes were open. "Grandpa?" She choked out roughly in question, as if she wasn't sure of reality.
"Yes honey it's me. We're going to get you out of here! I promise!"
Her bruised face was emotionless, as she looked up at me and flatly said, "I want to die!"
I knelt over her face my fingers framing her bruised features tenderly my eyes not leaving her probing gaze. "I know you do honey, but that's not going to happen. You're going to live. I'm going to live. Trent's going to live."
Her eyes flashed at the mention of Trent. "He came!"
"Yes."
"I don't want to see him!" She whispered, as tears streaked down the sides of her face.
I wiped a tear away. "Now is that the truth honey?"
"No." She whispered her lips quivering.
"He loves you and he's walked into hell to rescue you."
I finished zipping up the carry bag and whistled softly. Moments later Trent stepped into the cell and her eyes went to him. He slung his rifle behind him and knelt down on the other side of Deshavi. His arms scooped her up tenderly, as he held her close to him.
"You left." She accused softly in the darkness of the cell.
"Never again!" He said deeply in response.
In this hellhole of a place I had a brief glimpse of a ray of hope that things could be good again, if the way they were speaking volumes of information between each other with just their eyes was anything to go by.
It was time to leave. I un-slung my rifle and headed out of the cell, as Trent followed with Deshavi. The corridor had gotten darker. It must be night outside now. On second thought I re-shouldered my rifle and pulled out my pistol with a silencer instead. Let's see how long we could stretch out not alerting anyone to our presence.