15. Della

CHAPTER 15

Della

M y chest is tighter than it's ever been. My lungs feel like they're on fire, and my body is weaker than I thought possible. I can hardly move my head to look around the room where I'm chained to a wall.

I don't know how long it's been since I've been taken. It feels like weeks, maybe months, but I don't think it's been more than a day or two.

Dr. Graves keeps shooting people and forcing me to heal them, which is taking its toll on my body. Especially with her drawing enormous amounts of blood after each healing. I'm not sure how much more I can take.

My mind is fuzzy, and my ears constantly buzz. I haven't been fed, and I've been given only enough water so I don't get dehydrated.

As my legs shake from the effort to remain standing, otherwise my weight is too much for my arms and shoulders to take, all I want to do is lie down.

"Dr. Graves?" My throat is parched, and I can hardly form a coherent thought.

I hear clanking and metal banging on metal before the door across the room is finally opened. "Yes, Della?" Her phony smile makes me want to kick her teeth in…when I get the energy back.

"Please let me down."

"Sorry, dear, it's part of the testing to keep you like this." I'd cry at her refusal, but I have no tears left.

"Please, I can't stay up much longer. I need a break."

Her head tips from side to side a few times before she finally snaps her fingers, and two of her guards bring in four more captives. It's obvious what she's going to do before I can protest.

Four shots ring out, each making me flinch before one guard comes over to unbind me and shoves me towards the fallen bodies. "He's dead." I point to the one closest to the door. They shot him right in the heart.

Dr. Graves yells at her guard as I crawl across the floor to the other three victims, recognizing that this time might kill me. There's not much left in me to give to them.

"Heal them, and I'll have someone bring a bed in here for you," she explains as they all leave. The dead body remains where he is. A reminder of a failure that isn't mine, but I feel to the depths of my soul.

"Let me die," one man pleads. He looks to be in his thirties or forties. "Don't let her win." I already feel the rattle in his lungs as fear washes over him.

"I can't," I cry as I grip his hand tightly. He's the direst. The other two were lucky, with one shot in the shoulder and the other in the side.

"No." The man rips his hand from mine and pushes himself away. "She's killing you, and I won't be part of it." I could cry at his compassion.

"I don't have a choice," I whisper as I grab him again. "She'll kill me if I don't." It's a losing battle for both of us if I'm honest.

* * *

I feel my body being lifted, but I can't summon the strength to open my eyes. My senses are dulled to the point I can hardly feel the hands on me. When I'm lowered to a soft surface, I whimper from the agony washing through my veins. I saved all three men before passing out.

Each begged me to stop. Their voices echo in my head, telling me she's only going to kill them and, eventually, me, so why prolong the inevitable.

It's impossible for them to understand, though. They don't have a Holy Sinclair in their lives. If they did, they'd never give up on him. They'd do everything in their power to remain alive because he's coming for me.

I hope he still is.

"I'm surprised, Della." Dr. Graves' voice intrudes from a distance. She's the biggest coward in this building. "I didn't imagine you had it in you. But you did as I asked, so the mattress is your reward. Rest up, tomorrow will be a big day."

The tension drains as I hear the door being locked after they've gone. I ache and want to cry. I want to sob for the things being done to me, what they're doing to others. I don't know how much longer I can take this.

"Please come for me, Holy." I need him more than ever.

A loud explosion rocks the building, and from the corner, limestone and concrete crumble to the floor. Fighting to sit up, I push against the wall, making myself a smaller target if possible.

Hearing the rampant sounds of gunfire makes my body break out in uncontrollable shivers. The expectation of death is what I've been enduring, and the gunshots only amplify that feeling now. As they get closer and more explosions occur, I can't stop how I react. The whimpering and shaking grow worse with each passing minute.

My heart pounds so hard I fear I might pass out. Despite my belief that Holy is searching for me, it never crosses my mind that this could be him. The assault is too destructive for what I'd predict would come from him.

Holy is like the boogeyman. He comes when you least expect it and never shows his cards until he's ready to strike. What's happening now is a full-on firefight, and I wonder if I'm going to be left alone to die.

Another explosion, much closer this time, knocks more pebbles of concrete loose, falling to the ground around me.

"Get up, Della." It takes minutes for me to convince my body to move, and when I finally get to my feet, a more powerful eruption blasts from beneath the room I'm in, creating a huge hole that opens to the floor below on the other side of the room. "Oh shit."

What the hell is happening? This can't just be from Holy. He's too subtle for this sort of assault. Especially if he thought it could hurt me.

The rapid gunfire is louder now because of the opening in the floor. Shouts and screams are followed by moaning and crying. I have no idea where Dr. Graves' other victims are. The people I've saved, I don't know anything, and I have to wonder if they're caught up in the violent crossfire of this attack.

I debate dragging the mattress with me to a corner of the room as a shield, but with whatever is happening around me, it won't do any good. Slinking to the ground, I try breathing steadily to calm my heart and get a read on the people invading the building.

Closing my eyes, I lay my head on my raised knees and reach for the center in myself that allows me to transport into my mind and feel those around me.

Immediately, I'm assaulted with agony. A fiery burning through my flesh twitches my nerves, and I desperately desire relief, but I keep following the thread until I'm able to latch onto someone. Until I can find what I'm looking for.

Amusement…

Determination…

Glee…

Death and more death.

Bodies lying in pools of blood and the stench of their lives being extinguished makes my stomach revolt.

"Keep going, Della." Whispering to myself is the only way to stay sane in this world of uncertainty I find myself trapped in.

Sifting through the feelings of helplessness and fear, I keep searching for a familiar tug in my mind. I know that if this is Holy, then Malice is with him. So would my father and likely Cowboy. I can read the four of them better than anyone else in the world.

Another blast, followed by more gunfire and a scream so loud and guttural that I don't think the person could be real, leaves me sweating.

"Holy, where are you?" I force myself to believe this is him now. It has to be.

The building shakes again, and smoke begins to billow up from the hole in the floor, and the heat of fire can be felt from below.

As I get to my feet, the door being my destination, a blast of pain shoots through my body and slams me against the wall with such force that my skull cracks off the concrete. Dizziness assaults me, and I'm left with the need to collapse and close my eyes.

Running my hands across my torso because the shot felt so real, I find nothing. "Holy." I only have this kind of connection with him. I would only feel his wound if he were here.

Drawing on that strength, I do something I've never tried before and forge a mental connection to heal whatever wound he's suffered through. Immediately, I begin coughing up blood, and my body weakens as I slither down the wall. A surge of fresh agony washes through me so forcefully that I see blood blossoming on my chest.

"Oh god." Whenever I've healed someone, I've always taken on their pain, the feeling of the wound, but never the injury itself. It would appear I might be doing that now.

Weak and drained of energy, I lean my head back and wonder if this is where I'll die as I feel my lungs filling with blood and my life draining away.