Page 67 of Caged

My title is Marine Raider. I will never forget the tremendous legacy and sacrifice of those who came before me. At all times my fires will be accurate. With cunning, speed, surprise, and violence of action, I will hunt the enemies of my country and bring chaos to their doorstep.

The alarm cut out after what felt like forever but was probably no more than ten minutes given I’d recited the creed twenty- three times.

I wonder what Maxwell thought about.

A foghorn sounded before the door opened and light flooded the space. We stood and walked towards the front of our cage. I instinctively moved closer to Maxwell, wanting to protect her for as long as I could.

The last guy in closed the door behind him, throwing us back into darkness until two weapon mounted lights shined in out faces.

Rifles pointed at our heads.Duly noted.

Nice tactic, using the lights to blind us. Not that they planned on letting us live to identify them.

Roman wasn’t with them this time. But I recognized Franks, the fucker who punched me in the limo.

“Mr. Roman thought you might be hungry,” he said. “Walk to the back and face the wall.” The sound of paper rustling filled the air. “If you behave, I’ll give you food and water.”

“What’d you lace it with?” I asked as I walked backwards to the wall.

“Nothing, we want you fully conscious for what’s coming,” he answered with a smile that made my hair stand on end. “Now turn around.”

Turning my back on an armed enemy was not at the top of my list of things I was comfortable with, but I didn’t have a choice. And we needed water.

If it’s safe to drink.

I complied. I didn’t trust him, but there were ways to check the water.

He didn’t open the cage door, but I heard two paper sacks hit the floor before footsteps sounded again.

He called out, “Bon appetit!” and slammed the door.

I clenched and unclenched my fists as I forced myself to take a few breaths and calm myself down. Holding back the desire to choke the life out of Franks, Roman, and his goons, had my heart racing and my eye twitching.

Paper crinkled as Maxwell picked up a bag and felt inside. “A bottle of water, a sandwich, chips, and a cookie.” She pulled out the water. “If we squeeze it, we’ll know if they tampered with it,” she said.

“Exactly what I was thinking.” I grabbed the other bag and tested the water bottle. No leaks. “I think it’s safe to drink.”The test was good but not foolproof, so I said, “Take tiny sips and wait between drinks.”

“I’ll go first.” Maxwell opened her bottle and sniffed. “No odor. Here goes nothing.” She took a small sip. “Tastes clean.”

I took a sip and rolled the water around in my mouth, verifying what she’d said before swallowing. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her; I wanted a second opinion.

“You think we can eat the chips, since they’re sealed?” she asked.

My stomach rumbled at the thought. My last meal was the spiked Chinese food, so of course I was starving.

“Probably, but they’ll make you more thirsty. Might be a ploy to get us to drink more water.”

“That’s what I thought, but was hoping for a different answer.” Her stomach grumbled, rather loudly, at being denied food.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t eat them. We just need to do it with our open eyes.” I took out the bag and squeezed it to see if there were any air leaks. None.

“You going to eat them?”

“I’m debating,” I answered. “I’m starving, so my stomach is screaming at me to eat. But my brain knows it’s a bad idea.”

“We’ll need the energy, so that’s a tick in the eat them box,” she said.

“But if they managed to drug the water or chips before they were sealed, we’d be helping them by eating. Tick in the don’t eat box.”

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