Page 40 of The General’s Captive (The Rift #1)

W alking down the Old Penitentiary Road in the arms of a ten-foot Minotaur wouldn’t have been my first guess as to how I would arrive here. My plan had been to drive close enough before leaving Riley’s truck somewhere out of sight before sneaking in.

As for now, well this wasn’t exactly what I would call inconspicuous. I even found myself tensing at the few Myths we passed, which were all clearly different to what I had been used to seeing.

The dark myths had made the world seem like a nightmare, but this was more like entering something out of an enchanted fairy tale.

The creatures were beautiful and majestic without the darkness clinging to them.

The sun gleaming off feathers, golden fur, and glittering scales of whatever creature we passed.

And not a single one of them looked at all shocked to see Aster carrying a human in his arms.

Did they think he had just found another human to take prisoner? Because we were clearly headed that way… To a prison that had obviously once been a tourist attraction before the Rift. It likely hadn’t been used as a prison by humans for decades. That was before The General got his hands on it.

The pale-yellow stone blocks made up most of the buildings, as well as the wall that surrounded the whole site.

The scenic, sand-colored mountains in the distance contradicted what the building used to stand for.

How could something that used to house some of the most evilest people in this state be surrounded by such beauty?

And now it most likely only held the innocent.

Those collected by The General and his army of people, that had gone missing over the years.

Yet I still didn’t know why. I had tried to get this out of Aster a few times, but he would always answer in the same way…

“The General will explain, I am sure.”

This seemed to be his answer for most things, as if he was under strict instructions not to discuss anything with me.

As for the prison, we continued on the road that wrapped around to the other side. The direction he took quickly made me wonder why we were not yet heading toward the entrance and inside the main walls.

“Where are we going, I thought we were going inside the prison?”

“I am taking you to Riley first.”

I shook my head at this as if trying to make sense of it.

It was as if we were heading away from the main prison itself and toward a smaller, separate building instead.

One that was surrounded by its own walls.

Surprisingly, no guards patrolled this part, and I was growing more confused by the second.

My heart raced and my hands began to sweat profusely. It wasn’t just because I was about to break into a prison to try and steal Riley back, it was about what I would first have to do before that.

“What is this place?” I asked as he put me down and nodded for me to walk through a metal door. One that led into a small courtyard, toward a single-story building that held a stone plaque above the door that said,

1920

Women’s Ward.

“This is where we keep any prisoners we have.”

I frowned up at him after he had squeezed himself through the door, having to go at it sideways.

It was such a small building, with only two barred windows either side of a metal door.

A door that Aster would struggle to get into.

But as I approached, I started feeling uneasy, like something bad was going to happen.

“Aster, where is everyone?” My stomach fluttered with trepidation when he looked as if he didn’t understand my question.

“No one can escape from here, so there is no need to guard this building,” he replied, unlocking the main door with a key that hung on a hook embedded in the wall.

I swear that none of this made sense. It was as if I was missing something huge here… surely, they had more prisoners than this?

He nodded for me to go inside alone, and when I looked hesitant, he took it for something else.

“I will wait outside in the courtyard and give you some privacy.”

I took his beefy hand and gave a single finger a squeeze.

“Thank you.”

He nodded before walking away and what I was hoping, was out of earshot.

I stepped inside, taking note of the patchy, painted concrete floor, the duck egg blue color worn away by decades of footsteps.

The walls half painted mint green with the yellowish cream above made me feel like I was in an abandoned hospital.

Well, had it not been for the barred metal cell doors that lined the walls.

That, and the information boards that hung on the walls telling visitors of the many infamous murderers these cells had once housed.

There were only seven cells in total and each only big enough to hold a bunkbed and a toilet. Again, I didn’t know why I was surprised to find all but one empty, because Aster had already hinted at this.

I continued on, until I got to the very end, gasping at the sight of Riley lying on the bed. A single arm thrown over his eyes as if he was trying to sleep through his unknown sentence.

The doors made it hard to see a lot of details, as they were covered in an old rusty wire mesh, with only a small square cut out of them. I quickly rushed against it, calling his name.

“Riley! Oh, thank god you’re okay… it’s me!”

His head shot up before he was up out of the lower bunk, coming over to me.

“Alex!” His hand quickly going through the hole so I could grab it. It was like he needed to touch me to ensure this wasn’t just all a cruel dream.

“How did you get here?” he asked.

I looked toward the door where I knew Aster was.

“It’s a long story and not one we have time for right now. But we have to keep it down or he will hear us,” I said, looking to the entrance.

“Who will?” he asked, making me shake my head.

“A friend. Look, we don’t have much time,” I replied quickly.

“You shouldn’t have come… The General wants you Alex, and coming here is too risky,” he reprimanded, making me roll my eyes.

“Yeah, well you can scold me later once I have bust you out of here,” I said, stepping back and looking at the door. It was so old that it was only locked by a padlock, and I look around the room for a potential key.

“Listen to me Alex, you need to go… you need to get out of here before you get discovered!” Riley pleaded with me, but I wasn’t going to listen.

“Ssshh, okay, I just need to think about how to get this lock open.”

“It doesn’t matter, it’s still too risky, you need to leave!” he tried again, which was when I took his hand again and gave it a squeeze.

“Remember what you said to me?”

He closed his eyes and whispered my name.

“Alex.”

“You said, you would always come back for me. And what did I tell you in reply?” I asked, his forehead going to the mesh on the door in frustration.

“You said you would do the same,” he replied after a shuddered breath.

“Exactly. Now I am getting you out of here and arguing about it is just wasting time.”

He finally let out a sigh of defeat, knowing he wouldn’t win.

So, he told me, “The keys are hanging up by the door.”

My eyes shot to the door before looking beyond it, seeing that Aster was still hanging around beyond the courtyard.

“Okay, so I have a plan, but you’re going to have to trust me,” I told him, making him narrow his eyes before asking me,

“Tell me it doesn’t include any Harpies or Goat Bombs.”

I grinned before pulling the two syringes out of my backpack.

“No, but it does include some screaming on your part,” I replied, winking.

He rolled his eyes before finally conceding.

“Alright, out with it, what’s your plan?” he asked, making me grin, before going on to explain in hushed tones what I needed him to do.

“Okay, there is a lot to talk about when we get out of here, starting with how you got those,” he said, nodding down to the drugs in my hand.

“Sure thing, let me just go deal with this ten-foot Minotaur first.” I winked at him and started walking away just as he started shouting for real.

“ALEX! DAMN, GET BACK HERE!” he shouted, which was of course part of my plan, I had just wanted to give him a little extra motivation. And well, he was going crazy enough in his cell for it to sound convincing.

I went running just as Aster was squeezing himself back through the doorway into the courtyard. Which was when I had my own performance to put on.

“ASTER! Quick, I don’t know what is wrong with him, he’s going crazy in there!” I shouted, panicked, feeling bad with every lie I told.

He frowned down at me before getting closer to the door as I backed away to allow him space. Then as soon as his back was turned, I pulled the caps off the syringes with my teeth and stabbed both needles into his ass, pushing hard on the plungers.

“Argh… what the fuck was that?” he questioned, turning around, twisting his body to yank them out, holding them in his large palm, as his features twisted into betrayal.

“I am so sorry, Aster, I just can’t trust The General to keep his word,” I told him as he started to stagger to the side, using the building to hold up his giant weight. And for a minute I didn’t think it would be enough.

“Alex… w-w-what… h-h-have you… dooone?” he asked, his words coming out murmured, telling me it was taking effect.

“What I had to do. I hope you can forgive me one day, my friend,” I said, before I jumped out the way as his body gave up the fight and fell to the unforgiving ground with a loud thud. I then pulled the note out of my pocket and tucked it into his hand.

I ran back inside, grabbed the keys, telling Riley, “Okay, you can stop shouting now.”

I then stuffed the key in the lock and turned, yanking it free of the latch. My shaky hands pulled open the door and a second later, I was in his arms as he held me to him.

“Christ, I have thought of nothing else but getting to hold you one more time.”

I absorbed these words like some elixir for my ragged soul before forcing myself to let him go.

“Yeah, and it won’t be the last, come on, I don’t know how long we have before he wakes up.”

“Who?” he asked, making me wince.

“It’s a long story,” I told him as we ran out the door and he noticed the great big Minotaur on the floor. One of his large horns embedding in the grass from his fall.

“Yeah, I will say… Jesus, Alex, like I said, me and you are having words.”

“Yeah yeah, come on, we have to get out of here,” I said, looking around, happy to find that the coast was clear.

Running in broad daylight wasn’t ideal, but neither was wandering the streets of the city in the dark.

Thankfully, there was enough things to hide behind until we reached some of the building I had seen on the side of the road.

So, we ran from tree to tree, using our training as we navigated our way around the road.

After that, we kept using buildings for cover, keeping the road within sight so we knew which way to go to get us back into the heart of the city.

“So where did you park my truck?” he asked as we made it off Old Penitentiary Road, onto Granite way. A route I remembered from this morning.

“How did you know I took your truck?” I asked, unable to stop myself from tensing, knowing what was coming next.

“Because I know you, so come on, where did you park it?”

“Er… about that,” I said, after we took a minute to catch our breaths, my hip already causing me pain now the adrenaline was waning.

He reached behind me and took my bag as soon as he realized I was still limping. He swung it on his shoulders and after one look at my guilty face, he changed his min.

“Actually no, I don’t want to know.”

“Good choice, because it’s toast,” I said, making him mumble under his breath,

“Of course, it fucking is.”

“Come on, let’s get off the street, we are too open here,” I told him, pointing toward a park that had some woodland off to one side and what looked like a bike path running through it.

Although we soon discovered the woodland wasn’t thick enough for permanent cover, because it quickly gave way to open fields.

“We are too exposed out here,” Riley told me, and I had to agree with him.

“Should we head back?” I asked, wishing I had found a map of the city because I had no clue where we were.

Riley stopped and looked around.

“I don’t know but we need to find a car and…” Riley was quickly cut off as the sound of a Gryphon was heard overhead, making us both look up in horror.

And there it was, in the distance… But that wasn’t the only thing my eyes focused on.

Nor was it the sight of the huge black horse galloping toward us, nor the army of Myths either side of it.

No, it was the horse’s rider.

The General who…

…Had just found us.