"Look!" Avery shouted. "What's that?"
Umbreon leapt back into the rocks. I tried to hold still, hoping that they'd seen her and not me. Either she was creating a distraction or running away.
Grock squinted. "It's a kid!"
I groaned. No such luck.
"Hey, you!" The muscular one continued. "Com'ere!"
I looked down. In a split second, I'd determined that there was no way I could get away. If I jumped, I'd get seriously hurt. I looked back up to see the slim one grabbing my wrist. I gasped.
"Get down here," he snapped. He didn't need to, though. He yanked me off the rock, and I landed roughly on the ground.
"What's a kid doin' on the mountains?" Grock questioned in an unnecessarily loud voice as Avery dragged me over to him.
"None of your business," I snapped, wiping dirt off my face.
"Got an attitude, huh?" Grock said in his explosion of a voice. I yanked against Avery's grip in response, my heart pounding in fear that I wasn't about to give into.
"Answer me," the tall one hissed, his icy eyes boring into my own. "Why are you here?"
I simply glared at him until he squeezed my wrist even more tightly.
"I'm traveling," I begrudgingly responded.
"Traveling? There aren't any towns for miles. You lie."
"I don't," I responded, clenching my fists. "I didn't know you were here."
"I don't believe you," Avery sneered, inches from my face.
Grock, who had been watching me, turned back to his comrade. "What should we do with her?"
"Let me go." I jerked my arm roughly.
Avery glared at me, then met the other's eyes. "Put her in one of the cells," Grock decided.
Avery nodded, taking a step forward. I didn't move. He looked back at me. "You had better come with me, little girl. In the case of your disobedience, I have means to kill you."
I lowered my eyebrows and followed him. Grock chuckled behind me.
With a crash, the old door slammed shut. I landed on my hands and knees, dust clouding around me, in my nose, on my eyes, down my throat. I coughed, squeezing my eyes shut. I turned to hear footsteps fading down the hallway.
I was in a cell, like the kinds you see in old movies. Cracks reached across the floor in all directions, and a layer of black filth blanketed the floor. I looked up at the ceiling, covered in cobwebs and hanging with insects. I found my feet, standing up and walking to the hallway. I ran my hand along the thin, vertical bars that held my door shut. Rust and grime fell, filling my fingernails and raining down on the concrete. The long hallway was dark, but clean and spacious. I looked down at the tile floor. How on earth could an old - fashioned jail cell be preserved in such a fancy place? Maybe it added to the desired atmosphere.
With a grunt I fell back onto the floor. It wasn't until now that the stench hit me. I'd inhaled deeply, filling my lungs with decaying flesh and mold on the dark walls. I gagged, covering my mouth with my arm. What was this place?
"I can't believe you abandoned me, Umbreon," I muttered in anger. I snarled in spite of myself, and could feel pressure building in my mouth as my teeth tightened against each other. She could have protected me. There was nothing I could do about it now, though. There was no point in wasting my energy getting all worked up. I breathed deeply, through my mouth this time, and closed my eyes.
Suddenly a thought hit me. Avery had come in and thrown me in this cell - my cell - and gone on in the same direction. Where had he gone? Down that hallway.
I got back up and put my left hand on the bar in front of me. It was thin and looked old. It wiggled a little when I moved it. I frowned. Although it was old and rusty, it was made of something strong. That one wasn't budging. But maybe…
I gingerly touched the next one, and a bit of rust shifted under my fingertips. I shook my hands off and touched the next one. It creaked. I wiggled it. It shifted, and I pulled it. Hard.
With a snap, the bar disconnected from the ceiling and the floor. It fell out onto the tile with a resounding clank.
Once I had finished my flinching, and was sure that nobody had heard it, I eased my head through the opening and peered down the hallway. It was dimly lit a ways off, and the corridor was incredibly long. There didn't appear to be any doors in the fuzzy layer of darkness, and it was safe to assume that he was long gone. Hopefully he wasn't coming back soon, I thought to myself. In the mean time, I'd better not let this sit here.
Kneeling down, I slid my arm through the gap I'd produced and reached for the cell bar. "How'd it roll that far?" I wondered audibly. With a flustered grunt, I leaned against the bars and stretched my arm. Finally a cold, sharp tip grazed my finger. I grabbed it, pulling the long column back into my cell.
There, I thought. I dropped the poll on the floor. There's no evidence. I won't get in trouble. Maybe I could even get out later if there were more weak spots. After this, though, I couldn't risk any more noisy activities for a while. I sat back down in the dirt and covered my nose.
"I'm gonna get out of here," I murmured to myself through my sleeve.
"I don't think so." A voice suddenly said, cutting through the silence like a knife. It was followed by a click that sounded... disconcertingly like the hammer of a gun.