Desperation in the Cell

The lock clicked again.

The sound had become a grim refrain—third time today, maybe fourth. Time had blurred at the edges, dissolving into a haze of pain and shadows. Adeline slumped against the wall, her breathing shallow. Her shirt was torn at the shoulder, dried blood rusted into the fabric. Seraphina knelt nearby, gown filthy and ripped, hands trembling in spite of herself.

"I think… we try when they come again," Seraphina whispered, eyes fixed on the door.

Adeline didn't look at her."Try what, exactly? You're barefoot. I'm bleeding. And there are two of them."

"Do you have a better plan?" Seraphina snapped. Her voice was quiet, but barbed.

Adeline said nothing. Her fingers curled tighter around the small screw she'd worked loose from the cot frame—no longer than her thumb, but pointed. Sharp enough.

Then, the door groaned open.

Two men entered—not guards. Worse. Enforcers. The one in front wore a grin like a scar.

"Just the Wynn girl today," he said lazily.

Seraphina recoiled instinctively, inching back.

Adeline stood—slowly, painfully—placing herself between Seraphina and the men."No."

The man tilted his head, amused."That's cute."

He reached for Seraphina.

Adeline moved first.

The screw drove into his arm with a sickening crunch. He screamed, more from shock than pain, and backhanded her savagely. She flew backward, her skull cracking against concrete. Light exploded behind her eyes.

"Adeline!" Seraphina cried, scrambling forward.

Blood filled Adeline's mouth, metallic and hot. She gagged on it, coughed—but saw him coming again, and still, she rose. Stumbling. Defiant.

She threw herself between him and Seraphina.

The second man joined in—brutal fists, steel-toed kicks. Her body folded beneath the weight of them, but she didn't move aside.

She couldn't.

Pain became the air she breathed, but she clung to one thought like a lifeline:

They won't take her. Not while I can stand.

The world tilted, the edges frayed.

Then—darkness took her.