3. Hunger

Continuing from the last chapter

"What are we going to do with her? We can't just leave her there!"
     "Why not? It's worked the past three days. She's dangerous!" Cam's father, Joshua Woods, didn't look like he was ready to change his mind but Cameron was furious about the ordeal, if it wasn't for Max squeezing his shoulder to calm him down he would have screamed a reply, but instead he replied through gritted teeth.
     "Look at her. She hasn't moved in three days, she hasn't asked for food or water, can't you see that the light is hurting her?! She isn't dangerous, she's scared."
     "I think he's right, dad," Max piped in, adjust the arm which hung in a sling, "I don't think she knows what's going, I think we might have gotten the wrong person."
     "No, there is no way in hell that anyone is going in there, now go, the both of you. I don't want to hear any more of this."
     Before Cam could argue anymore Max tugged at his arm and urged him to leave with him, grudgingly Cam obliged only to run into a friend on the way out.
     Tariq Raines stared at the door the brothers stormed out of, which was marked with a plaque stating it was the holding centre.
     "Checking out your catch from the other day?" Tariq questioned the two with an easy grin. Tariq, Max and Cam had all been close ever since they had met after Tariq had been rescued from a containment centre similar to the one they found the girl in; he had been kept in a dark cell for two years before he was rescued when he was thirteen. Cams mind flicked to the girl in the cell and wondered how long she had been kept in the dark.
     Cam forced a grin out but it was obviously strained and paired with Max's look of sympathy towards his brother it was obvious that something was wrong.
     "What's happened?"
     Cam explained the situation with the girls containment and by the end of it Tariq looked disgusted. "We need to help her, we're meant to be the good guys!"
     "Well there's nothing we can do," that came from Max who as usual was the voice of the law, which was sort of ironic, Cam thought. None of them said another word on the matter as they parted ways.

Cameron fell to the cool floor with a thud, jerking him from his sleep.
     "Hurry up and get dressed, and be quiet!" Cam looked up to see Tariq standing on the other side of the bed wearing all black and with a wicked grin on his face.
     "Why what are we doing?" Cam slowly stood up rubbing his shoulder that he had fallen on.
     "Well first we're going to go raid the kitchen," Tariq explained, grabbing a stray pair of trousers and a shirt of the floor and throwing them at Cam.
     As Cam threw on the clothes he questioned what the second part of the plan was and the only response he received was a wicked grin and a familiar key card in Tariq's hand.

Everything was absolutely silent, the bright light still stung Riley's eyes but she was getting used to it, slowly.
     What she wasn't used to was being left so alone, she was always on such a strict schedule where she'd be moving around or with Codas for every waking second, there was no time for sitting around silently, the only spare time she would have would be spent unconscious.
     The lights around her dimmed and the single door to her white cell opened as two boys strolled in and quickly closed it behind them.
     Riley recognised one of the two boys, it was one of the ones that was there when she was taken away, the one that had been wearing the blue shirt. The other boy she hadn't seen before, however she thought she knew him somehow, as if from some past life. That boy had dark blonde hair and bright green eyes that were slightly squinted in what looked like disgust and anger.
     Riley just continued to watch as the two stopped and the one she had seen before pulled a backpack off his back, rummaging through it until he found what he wanted and and offered a spherical green thing to Riley by way of holding it out to her  causing her to flinch.
     "It's okay," the boy assured her, "are you hungry?"
     "Hungry?" Riley questioned, she knew what hunger was, Grigori Popov had taught her the simple things like that, or at least made her remember, she had known what it was before she was taken away, however, she had never experienced the feeling that she could remember. She had the understanding that hunger was for those who ate. So why would she feel it?
     The boy looked as if he didn't know what to say, his hand fell to his side and he just looked thoughtful. Riley watched the object in his hand fall with his arm and tried to figure out what it was, after a few second of silence she recalled a lesson about food she had once a long time ago, one about fruit.

     "Describe the food: Apple."
     The young Riley thought really hard before answering, "It’s a fruit. It's round and red."
     "And...?"

     "Green," Riley whispered, flicking her eyes to the boy, "that's an apple?"
     The boy nodded before shuffling through the bag again and pulling something else out. "Do you know what this is?"
     "Can I hold it?" Her teacher had made her hold many things to know what they were through touch.
     The boy went to take a step towards Riley but she flinched not wanting him to get any closer, he seemed friendly enough, but she still didn't trust him. The boy noticed and stopped, he then crouched down and rolled the thing to her.
     When she picked up the bottle the nails that had been digging into her palms let free droplets of blood from the skin she had broken, Riley hardly noticed As they bled and the split skin stitched itself back to together, Riley held the object in her hands, she squished it and it moved, it was of a cylinder shape but had a little part that protruded up the top, inside there seemed to be a clear liquid. After a few seconds she looked up at the boys, both of them looking on with curiosity. "It's a bottle? It's got water inside, doesn't it?"
     The green eyed boy broke out into a grin and the other nodded looking impressed, "do you want to drink it?"
     "Why would I need to?" Riley was confused and it showed on the faces of the boys that they were too.
     "I'm Cameron," the boy said changing topics quickly, he motioned to his green eyed friend next, "and this is Tariq."
     "Born with a T?"
     Cameron looked confused but before anything was said Tariq stepped forward a look of joy sparkling in his eyes, "that's right, on my shoulder, see?" He pulled his shirt over his shoulder showing a white mark against his slightly darker skin, it had a vertical line with a smaller, horizontal line sitting on top.
     "That's a t? I guess it would be..." Riley looked down and rubbed her wrist, showing a small mark that was on her wrist, slightly darker than her own light skin, "Riley was born with a ducky."
     All of a sudden all the lights flashed bright and the door burst open, causing Riley to scream and cover her eyes, tears spilling out onto her face. "Turn them off!" She cried out.
     She heard angry shouting before a slam and her cell was left empty and quiet once more. Riley stayed still and continued weeping until she felt the edges of sleep pulling her mind in.

When Riley woke up the lights were dimmed and she was alone, looking around she saw the apple laying on the ground in front of her and she realised the bottle of water was still in her hands.
     She thought about what she had been taught and how water and food was essential to life, so why hadn't she needed any? Slowly she recalled what she learnt about bottle and unscrewed the cap before tipping the liquid into her mouth and drinking.
     Riley didn't remember ever drinking water, and she had gotten used to the dry, tight feeling of her throat, she thought it was normal. However, as the water washed down her throat she felt a relief she hadn't felt for a long time   , in just a few seconds the water was gone.
     Still not satisfied Riley crawled towards the apple, picking it up she bit into it almost moaning as its flavour enveloped her mouth. It wasn't long until the entire apple had been devoured and Riley sat there, noticing the aching feeling of hunger deep in her stomach and the burning of her throat as it begged for more liquid, "Someone help me," she croaked as tears fell from eyes once more and on top of the thirst and hunger there was another ache throughout her body that she didn't understand.