Page 113

“No! You can’t take me!” The skinny man in front of her lunged to his feet, only to collapse back to his knees, trembling uncontrollably as he clutched the metal bracelets encircling his wrists.

Despite the Dealers’ attempts to subdue him, he writhed and struggled with every ounce of strength left in his body.

“I’m not going into that building!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

One of the guards responded by bashing him across the face with a baton. The prisoner slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Dr. Strauss’ glare narrowed with pulsing fury. He marched right up to the guard with the baton and slapped him across the face, the crack echoing around the cavern.

“I’ve told you not to touch their heads, you imbecile. Do that again and you’ll be taking his place,” he warned, and the Dealer went white as paper.

“Yes, Dr. Strauss.” He lowered his head in submission, his left hand trembling at his side.

“Take him.” The doctor flicked his head, and two Dealers hoisted the unconscious man under his armpits and dragged him away. Every prisoner stayed completely frozen and silent.

Dr. Strauss clenched his fists as he stared at the empty spot the man left in front of her.

Then, his gaze flickered to her.

She tensed on instinct, her heart battering like a drum. The mysterious doctor kept an eye on her, and she held her breath, silently praying to turn invisible, but without another word, Dr. Strauss turned and walked toward the austere black building.

“Stand!” the Dealer with the golden stars on his uniform yelled.

The prisoners scrambled to their feet, and the collective sighs of relief were audible. The young man to her right blinked, tears streaking down his cheeks as he stared at the empty space the prisoner had occupied.

Like he knew he’d never see him again.

Initially, Khalani had thought the camp was for rebellion sympathizers, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something more sinister was at play.

“Report to the tunnels!”

The prisoners started shuffling to the left of the cavern, flanked by a dozen Dealers. Khalani caught Takeshi’s eye. His face was set in ruthless determination, but his body remained rigid, as if he were just realizing how much danger they were truly in.

“Let’s go.” He nudged her forward.

“What do you think’s in there?” she whispered, her gaze fixed on the black building.

“I don’t intend to find out.” Takeshi’s voice took on a hard edge. “We need to focus on locating Jack and getting the fuck out of here.”

They followed the crowd of prisoners into a large tunnel with mining tracks running along the rocky floor.

The ceiling was about ten feet high, illuminated by sparse yellow headlights hung at various points. When they passed a large metal bin, prisoners reached inside and grabbed pickaxes.

Khalani pursed her lips but grabbed one too, noticing that the guards tightened their grips around their guns.

“Get working!”

With a collective groan, the prisoners lined up and swung their pickaxes at the orange rock wall.

No.

She had to be living in a sick cosmic joke.

God hated her. That’s what it was.

She barely escaped Braderhelm Prison only to find herself back in another underground prison, doing hard labor in tunnels.

Why didn’t they believe in tasks like cleaning dishes?