Page 65 of Red Fire

“Of course not,” the woman says. “I’m assuming you are the human female who was abused.” Her tone is filled with pity. It irritates the shit out of me.

“For the tenth time, I wasnotabused. I am not suffering from some stupid syndrome. I’mnotdelusional. I’m perfectly fine.Creed is my friend. He didn’t hurt me in any way. I demand to see him right now!” I shout.

“The colonel is busy questioning him, so that isn’t possible.” The woman takes my arm. “Let’s get you to your room. I’m sure you’re tired and—” Her tone is now condescending, which irritates me even more.

“I’m sick to death of people telling me what I am and what I’m not feeling. I know my own mind. I crashed a helicopter in the jungle and then was pursued by a whole horde of men, but with the help of Creed, I remained unharmed. I am perfectly fine and perfectly capable of coherent thought. I am going to find Creed. Unless I’m a prisoner and under arrest, you can’t stop me.” I elbow my way past them and start walking down the hall in the opposite direction to the one the female just came from.

There is a multitude of footfalls behind me as they all follow.

“Female,” a male guard says, sounding unsure.

“My name is Octavia,” I growl, picking up the pace. I look inside every jail cell, but they are all empty.

“You are not a prisoner but rather a guest,” the woman says. “However, I must insist—”

“Good to know,” I say as I open a door to a closed room. It’s an office. I close the door and walk to the next one.

“But Creed is very much a prisoner. He is not permitted to see guests right now,” another guard says.

“He’s been accused of doing something he didn’t do.” I open the door, but the interrogation room is empty. It looks the same as the one I was in. “The only person who can set the record straight is me. He’s accused of hurting me, after all. Don’t I have a right to be heard? You are being unreasonable. The colonel most of all. I won’t stand for it a minute longer.”

I open the next door and it is a room that looks in on the interrogation room through a two-way mirror.

I keep opening and closing doors. A group of guards follow me. When they try to talk me out of finding Creed, I ignore them. I keep searching, turning down another hallway. This one is mostly empty jail cells.

Toward the end of the hallway, I hear a voice. “Last chance to talk.”

It’s that asshole, Taro. My blood boils just hearing his voice.

I run to the open room, gasping when I see him.

“Creed!” I scream. “I swear to god, if you lay so much as a finger on him, I will see to it that you are thrown in a jail cell. That you are tortured and sent to live in the damned jungle like an animal. What the hell is wrong with you people?”

Creed has been shackled to the wall; his hands are above his head, and his arms are splayed and pulled high. His feet are chained to bolts on the floor.

His face is a swollen mess, with cuts and bruises marring his handsome features. His hair on the one side of his head is sticking to his scalp with what I suspect is dried blood. The whole right side of his torso is a canvas of purple and red bruises. It looks painful, to say the least. He’s bleeding from a gash on his thigh.

“Octavia,” he croaks. His lips are chapped, but he is standing on his own steam and holding his head high. My heart goes out to him, and my throat forms a lump, which I swallow down. He shakes his head. “I’m fine.”

He’s not fine. Not even close. He’s trying to protect me like he always does. It’s my turn to protect him. I got him into this whole mess in the first place.

“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I’m so sorry they did this to you.”

Colonel Taro is holding a short leather whip with a silver barb on the end. I know it is him, even though he is wearing a mask. I see his eyes narrow through the holes.

“What is the meaning of this?” He turns toward the guards behind me. “What is the human doing here? I told you to take her to her room.”

“For the last time, my name is Octavia. You can all stop calling me human or female. I don’t like it. You can stop talking about me like I’m not here.”

“You are both a human and a female.” He shrugs. “I don’t see the problem. Can one of you take her away? I am busy.” He sounds bored.

“You’re doing it again. Talking about me like I can’t hear you. I am not going anywhere. You need to listen to me when I tell you that Creed didn’t hurt me, I mean it. He has done nothing wrong!”

A guard steps up to me.

“If you touch me, I will scratch your eyes out,” I snarl, sounding like I mean it. The guard steps back.

Good!