Love Among The Ruins-Chapter 77

CAINE’S P.O.V

The guards locked me in my room and kept watch outside.

Every minute I spent inside meant potentially more harm coming to Nadine. It didn’t matter how much I tried to explain to the guards, they were under Trent’s thumb and they weren’t going to listen to me.

I could’ve fought them off, but to what end? Trent would only send more and make it harder for me to find Nadine.

If I wasn’t sure before, then I was now of the fact that he had something to do with her disappearance; it was the only explanation that made plausible sense. He had to know where she was.

A knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts and I stopped pacing the room long enough to glance towards it. I expected to see Trent or Nadine’s father, but I was surprised when Joshua stepped into the room. For a long minute, we just stood there staring at each other.

"Where is she?" he asked and I fought the urge to pull my hair from my scalp.

"Are you fucking insane? I don’t know where she is."

"The General says you do. He is telling everyone that you kidnapped her."

"Why the hell would I kidnap her? Where would I even take her to?"

"I don’t know. I’m asking you."

"Look, I don’t want to listen to your bullshit right now," I cut him off. "If you’re here to blame me then you can fuck right off. Nadine is in serious trouble and I need to know that someone is at least trying to find her."

"Why aren’t you?" he asked. "I thought you would’ve broken out of here by now."

"I would’ve if I didn’t know that the exit to the bunker is guarded. I can’t get out without being caught."

He fell silent for a moment, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall. He looked more like a soldier now than he ever had before with his expressionless face and his hard stance.

"Find her," I dropped my voice to a plea. "I don’t give a shit about what happens to me. I need to know that she’s safe, please. If she were in here, we would’ve found her by now."

He said nothing, merely stared at me. I waited, willing him to tell me that he would try but when he said nothing, I turned away knowing it was a lost cause. If I wanted to find her, I’d have to do it myself, even if it meant dying in the process.

"Grab a bag," he said, and I turned to him.

"Excuse me?"

"Take what you need and come with me."

"What are you doing?"

"I believe you." My brows rose at his admission. "I spoke to some guards off the record and they saw Nadine leaving the bunker with some people."

"Why didn’t they say anything?"

"I don’t know."

I wondered if he was bluffing or trying to play a trick on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care at the moment. I grabbed the nearest bag, the one I never unpacked. It was filled with supplies and clothes. I hoisted it over my shoulder.

We went out first, making sure no one was out there before gesturing for me to follow.

He held me down a hallway I’d never gone through. It was dark here and smelled like mold but I ignored the smell and kept moving. A small part of me told me that it was a trap but I forced myself to shove it down. As long as it led me to Nadine, I didn’t care.

We got towards the end of the hallway and I noticed someone else standing there.

"You shouldn’t be here," I said simply but Amy waved me off.

"They lied, Caine, all of them. If they can do that to you, then they can do it to me. I want to help you find her and clear your name."

I gestured to the bag she held. "Why carry a bag?"

"Because I’m not coming back. I can’t live like this."

"What about your son?"

She shrugged, her eyes filled with unshed tears. "He’s safer here. He’ll die outside. I have a cousin, she’s a maid, I signed everything over to her."

"Are you sure?" I asked and she nodded.

"It’s the best thing for him."

I wasn’t going to tell her what to do, it wasn’t my place. She was the mother and I trusted that she knew what was best for her child. It was obviously hard enough as it seemed, I wasn’t going to make matters worse.

I turned to Joshua. "Why are we here?"

He didn’t say anything, merely stepped forward and lifted a part of the wall to reveal a keypad. I watched as he punched in some buttons. For a second, nothing happened and then the ceiling above us split open, revealing lush green trees.

"There’s another exit."

He nodded. "And they already know it’s been activated. It releases an alarm once used. We have to leave now."

I didn’t wait for another second. I grabbed a hold of the drop down ladder and pulled myself out. Amy was next. I helped her up, pulling her beside me. Joshua hesitated, glancing back at the bunker for a minute before muttering a curse under his breath and dragging himself out.

Once we were out, he slammed the door shut leaving us in the cold quiet. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The sun was already starting to rise.

"Where do we go from here?" Amy asked and for once, I didn’t know the answer. "Is she even still alive?"

Nadine could’ve been out here for hours. I wasn’t sure of her state of mind when she was left out here, but I chose to believe that she was still alive.

"She has to be. She’s a fighter."

"Let’s just head towards the river," Joshua added. "That’s the first thing I’d do if I was out here."

I figured he had a point so I let him lead.

I wasn’t sure how long we walked. It felt like hours, but the sun still hadn’t risen by the time we came across a river. The first thing I noticed was the dead monster lying there. Blood pooled around it, its entire front torn open from what seemed to be repeated stabbing.

"Have they resorted to killing themselves now?" Amy asked, her face scrunched up in disgust.

I shook my head. "Nadine did that. I’m sure of it."

Joshua didn’t seem convinced. "It looks too brutal to be done by a person and the kill looks fresh. If it was done by her, she’d still be here."

He was right about the kill being fresh. The blood hadn’t even dried yet. If I were to guess I’d say it happened less than an hour ago which meant that she was close by.

Seeing the monster would’ve spooked her and she would’ve run for cover.

"Is there a cave around here?" I asked.

"Why?"

"Just answer the fucking question."

"I don’t know, but from my experience, there’s always a cave down by the river."

She’d barely finished speaking when I started moving.

I heard them call out to me but I ignored them.

I searched around, trying to find anything that even remotely resembled a cave. The others had given up trying to get me to stop and just followed behind me. My heart was pounding wildly in my chest, my hands shaking at the possibility of finding her hurt.

That kind of kill was brutal. It reeked of desperation. It was an up close kill and I feared the worst. If she’d been scratched-

"A cave!" Amy called out and I looked up.

Sure enough, a small cave lay up ahead and right in front of it lay a body.