"All of this," I laughed again, the sound loud and harsh as I began the painful pull on my thumb. I let out a soft scream from the pinch of my thumb against the ring, the bone aching as I tried to dislocate it. It didn't take, it just sent wires of red-hot pain up my arm, everything seizing as I tried not to let out a holler.
It was clear I had screamed, but the guard didn't move. If he hadn't snapped and sworn at me when he arrived, I would have questioned if he was even alive.
"What did you do? Fall asleep?" I didn't even laugh, I breathed with a harsh gasp and attempted to push on my thumb more. I knew how to dislocate thumbs, but doing it on yourself was a different story.
It fucking hurt.
"I hope you did, then you won't hear this..." I howled as I pressed hard against the joint, the pop of bone sliding out of bone covered by my scream.
It was then that the guard jerked, his sharp exhale echoing through the large prison chamber in the bowel of the ship. My eyes burned as wet tears flooded them, my jaw tight as I bit my tongue and, in turn, the screams and tears that were threatening to boil over.
"Damn it!" Years with Myro had turned me soft. I couldn't fight off my father's pathetic men. I couldn't fight off pain. What had become of me? A fool who was enamored body and soul for a human—a human I had willingly sacrificed myself for.
"Damn it!" Okay that one was more in pain, although the guard still did not shift. Did not turn. He didn't even breathe.
He... wasn't... breathing.
"What the hell," I hissed as the guard, who had stood like a stone for hours on end, sagged against the bars. Sagged and toppled to the side like a boneless sack of grain, revealing... Kylie. She stood with a grin, blood on her cheek as she cleaned even more of it off of the knife in her hand.
"Oh, I'm far from hell," Kylie grinned, sticking the knife in the sheath at her side with too much flourish.
"Says the girl who has left a trail of bodies behind her," Myro grunted as he appeared behind her. He was even more covered with blood than she was. Probably from the multiple bodies that he was hauling behind him.
"What are you guys doing here?" I tried to make my voice sound as normal as possible, even through the pain from my thumb. But my pain and surprise combined, and my voice cracked. Kylie's face spread into a smile at the sound. Myro was too busy dropping the bodies he had been carrying, lifting the one Kylie had killed instead.
"Do you mean ‘what are you doing on the ship of the aliens who want to kill us in the middle of space?’" Kylie asked, helping Myro to lift the massive guard. "Because that was all my doing."
Myro chuckled, "Well, she is rather good with a knife."
"You bet I am." She grinned at him, Myro leaning over to place a peck on her nose and then on her lips. My stomach swooped at the contact—at seeing him kiss her. I should be the one kissing those lips. I was the one locked in this room and being beaten by these bastards.
"Well, use that damn knife and get me out of here!" I shifted, fighting against the rings and the chains and the general starvation that my father had deemed necessary. My mangled hand slid through easily, but I couldn't use the thing to get my other hand out because my thumb was flopping around like a dead Clobberfeesh.
"A knife? Were you raised by Cradiak Snow Dogs?" Myro laughed, finally flopping the body in the right direction and using a hand to unlock the cell. "We didn't kill the bastard for no reason."
"No, we killed him just like we are going to kill the rest of them on this ship." Kylie ran her finger over the hilt of her blade, still smiling as she raced into the room and into my arms. Or rather arm, seeing as my other was still restrained by the rings.
Her body was like a cannon ball against my sore bones, the pain that was already shooting up my arm turning into lines of fire. I gasped and grunted, but nothing more. I wouldn't. Just as her body slamming into mine hurt, the touch of her flesh against mine was the medicine I needed. One was fire, the other was ice, and together they filled me with the energy I had missed since the last time I had held her. The last time I had kissed her—which I did. Over and over I kissed her, despite the fact that each kiss ached and burned against the still-forming bruises.
"Now, tell me what you are doing here," I said between kisses, giving Myro a side-glance as he began dragging all of the bodies he had with him into my cell.
"Rescuing you, dummy," Kylie said with a kiss on my nose, another spark of pleasure moving through it.
"Yes, that is what I am doing here as well... rescuing you," I gave her a look, but she kept smiling. "Getting myself dragged onto a ship and prepared for death, to keep you safe from a similar demise. Yet here you are."
I glowered at her, but she was still grinning. "You can't expect us to have fought them all back in that space station. Then we would all be in here with you."
She had a point, but still, she wasn't supposed to be there.
"You are spoiling all my goodwill, Kylie, and I may never do anything nice like this again."
"He has a point," Myro said,
