ROSES FOR RACHEL: EPISODES 31-40
Episode 37
When I sat back up, there was a man in my face. “You’re so stupid you don’t even kno-.” He’d raised a hand to me, but his movement, and his sentence was cut off when he took a blow to the face by Master Pedro.
The man turned his scarred face angrily to Pedro, and swiftly ripped Pedro’s arm clear off of his body with a sick cracking sound. The bI.ood squirted out across Lexton and me, drenching our hair in the cold liquid, as Pedro wailed out in pain.
The guards finally restrained the man, in the corner of the room and I rushed to Pedro. “Oh my god, oh my god, are you going to be ok?” I shouted.
Pedro’s face was crumpled with agony, but he used his only remaining arm to pick up the other from the floor and press it into the socket for a second. “I’ll be fine.” He winced, pressing it harder. “It just burns like a bitch.” He tried to laugh but it came out more strained.
“Let’s go.” A guard called, backing Tessa away from one of the bookshelves roughly. “Pedro.” He said impatiently, and Pedro quickly went to the shelf, pulling out one of the books and then placing a device from his pocket into the middle of the book, and then sticking the book back on the shelf.
Dust floated around the shelf as it began to shake and then push deeper into the seemingly stone wall behind it until a small gap opened up around it, just big enough for us to squeeze through.
Once all of us girls, Pedro, and two guards were on the other side of the shelf a guard handed the little device back to Pedro quickly and the shelf began to move again, blocking us into the cramped, dark hallway, the only light coming from a torch that a guard took off of the wall and lit. “This way.” He demanded and we began trudging through the wet hall until we came to a nice shiny metal door about ten minutes from the secret shelf entrance.
Pedro went to the tiny panel beside the door and pressed his little black device into the slot and the door spilt open down the middle and slid apart while we rushed in.
I stood frozen inside the room while I heard the doors slide shut again behind me.
It was a long, dome shaped room, with awful florescent lights hanging down the length of the room.
There were at least twenty single sized beds lining both sides of the room that reminded me faintly of being back at Drighten, but the walls and ceiling were the same shiny metal that the door was.
In the very back of the room there was an open curtain that could be pulled out to hide the small shower and toilet, and when I spun around to face back to the door I’d come in I saw the large black refrigerator on the wall beside it, and a small microwave sitting on a little table next to that.
“What is this place?” Lexton asked.
The two guards who had come into the room with us were standing on either side of the door, their shields resting at their feet, and Pedro walked over to sit on the closet bed. “It’s the royal bunker.” He said, his voice still holding a little pain in it.
I went to sit beside him, putting my hand on his knee, and he covered my hand with his.
He smiled at me while Greer, Lexton, and Tessa came to sit on the bed across from Pedro and me. “It was built ages ago, back when this sort of thing would happen more often.
Usually the king and the king’s chosen officials would flee to the bunkers until it was safe again to return.” He explained to us. “It’s built to survive a nuclear attack, any kind of attack really, and it can sustain at least 50 people for two years.”
“Two years?” Greer gasped.
Pedro shook his head. “Don’t worry, we won’t be down here that long, darling.” He said. “This is merely a precaution.
Most of the fighting has ended, but there are still a few rebels hiding within the castle and the guards need to go through and make sure everything is clear before you girls are brought back out.”
“Rebels?” Lexton asked, covering her mouth with her delicate hand. “What kind of rebels?”
“Not the good kind.” Tessa said as she pulled her long blonde hair up into a bun, securing it with a band from her wrist, then began rubbing at her eyes with her palms, trying to get all the smeared mascara off.
Pedro chuckled a little. “No, not the good kind.” He agreed with her. “We only found out about a possible rebellion recently, and tonight the king made a statement to them, saying he knew what they were trying to do and blah, blah, blah.
Basically he riled them up, and they mobilized a little over two hours ago.” He informed us.
“But where is the king? Shouldn’t he be down here with us and not you? And Calvin?” Tessa asked.
Just the mention of Calvin made my chest ache. I was trying so hard to remain calm and not think the worst, but thinking of him at all made it difficult.
Pedro cleared his throat and I took that as a bad sign. “Well, the attacks came out of nowhere.” He said. “Men and women we’ve lived with for centuries just began turning on one another.
It was a bI.ood bath.” He said with a shudder. “There were bodies and fires all throughout Castrum de Petra, and the last news we all got officially was that the king had been captured.” He paused as the girls gasped. “I know that Calvin went to find him, but I haven’t heard anything since.”
My calm front was gone. My shoulders slouched forward as I cried out. “No!” I shouted. “Why did he have to do that?” I asked even though I knew the answer. “What if something happens to him?” I asked in horror.
Pedro pulled me under his arm and patted my bI.ood matted hair. “Hush now, you can’t think that way.” He told me. “We will get word soon, I’ve been named the unofficial hand of the king and I will be the first one contacted when there is any news.” He told me, but his words meant nothing knowing my Calvin was in danger.
I stood up from the bed. “I have to go find him.” I said going for the door. “Please!” I said to the guards.
Pedro pulled me back, hugging me to his chest. “It’s going to be alright.” He comforted me. “You know he will come for you.” He whispered to me.
I nodded my head, trying to believe it.
A weird noise came from inside of Pedro’s suit jacket pocket and I leaned away from him as he jumped.
He pulled out an ultrathin walkie-talkie and pressed a button. “Repeat that.” He said into it and we all waited in silence.
There was a crackling sound, then a terrifying two words. “He’s dead.” The voice on the other end said firmly.
ROSES FOR RACHEL: EPISODES 31-40
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