Cold Cell 92 (Alex Rider Fanfiction)

WARNING: DARK THEMES AND UPSETTING CONTENT MAY BE PRESENT. READ AT OWN RISK.

DISCLAIMER: THE ALEX RIDER SERIES DOES NOT BELONG TO ME

Everything hurt.

His eyes. His head. His arm, though that was a different kind of hurt. Alex rolled over, even though the action hurt his back. He opened his eyes; another tremendous effort and which he would later found out was because his eye was nearly swollen shut.

It took some more time before he felt well enough to sit up. When he did, he found his arm limp and twisted at an odd angle. He tried to recall. Did he fall on it? Who had twisted it? Where was he? He leaned against the wall of what could only be a cell. Surprisingly, there were windows but they were all boarded shut. Thin slivers of light still managed to penetrate the dark and damp room.

His head hurt but he made himself get up. He tried the windows but his fingers were too weak and the boards had been nailed shut. Alex felt himself swaying. He sat down again.

There was a door at the opposite end of the room. Probably locked, he thought, but it might be worth trying. He stumbled to it, tried it.

It was unlocked.

Alex pushed the door open. A long dim hallway with bare lightbulbs that hung from the ceiling. There was a plastic chair right next to the door but no one sitting in it. For a moment, he stood there, swaying, a little confused. Why would the door just be open? Even if the guard wasn’t there, there was no reason for the door to be open.

Alex took off his shoe, then kicked it hard enough that it crashed into the wall opposite the door. Nothing happened. He was slightly disappointed but also relieved. Maybe he was being paranoid, but if there had been something there, he doubted that it was going to be harmless and pain-free. He grabbed the shoe, then limped down the hallway.

One was a clear dead-end but the other curved around. He listened for footsteps, trying to be quiet. The lights seemed to grow brighter as he went, which he took as a good sign. Around the curve, there was another long hallway that ended at a flight of stairs. A door was at the top.

Alex moved faster now, ignoring the pain in his back. His arm was stiffly held at his side and he could feel himself sweating from the effort of it all. He was close enough to make out a sign on the door, written in faded red letters. Something in Chinese, or maybe Japanese. He was too far to see what it was.

He climbed up the stairs. Now he was close enough to see what it was. Yes, it was Japanese.

DEAD END.

Alex muttered a low curse, glancing back in the direction he’d just come. Was he imagining it or had the lights gotten dimmer? He tried the handle but it was locked, rust coming off in his hand. There wasn’t even a window, so he couldn’t see whether or not it was actually a dead end. He crouched down and bit his lip to stop from crying out. There was blood coming from beneath his pants, somewhere around his knee or ankle.

There was darkness underneath the door. The sign wasn’t lying, then. He pushed the door, then turned back.

As soon as he did, the lights went out.

“Shit,” he said. It just kept getting better and better. He debated what to do. Stay there? Go back? He felt light-headed again so he sat down on the stairs. The darkness was unsettling. Up until then, he hadn’t realized it, but the low buzzing that came from the light bulbs was the only sound keeping him company. Now that they were out, there was nothing.

He shivered, getting up again. Maybe he would go back to his cell. Or try some of the other rooms he had remembered seeing down the hallway. He felt something warm and damp trickling down his leg. It was only when he put a hand to a spot below his knee that he realized he had clearly been cut deeply.

Alex pulled up his pant leg, stretching his leg out. He remembered sunny South of France and Sabina, the Pleasures, and eating ice cream. Salt and waves, sand between his toes and in every inch of his clothes.

This was not the South of France. The odd thing was, he couldn’t even remember who had done this to him. Judging by how horribly he felt, it was at least some part drugs. The rest was from pain and exhaustion.

Alex heard something. He tensed, trying to get up before remembering that he was dizzy and tired and pretty much defenseless, besides one measly shoe that would just about deter a small yappy dog. He felt the world spin and then heard tapping noises. And footsteps.

If he was going to die, this was not the way to do it. He forced himself to stand, leaning against the door for support. Suddenly, the lights flickered on again, filling the air with a low buzzing noise.

There was a girl standing in front of him.

!*!

She wasn’t pretty.

Alex felt horrible for the thought, considering that, right now, he wasn’t in the most presentable state either. But the girl looked awful. Her hair was down to her waist, long and thin. She had blue eyes, kind of like Sabina’s, but the girls were light blue and looked to be in a state of shock. She stood there, swaying. Her arms were so thin he could see the bones, sharply jutting out. Her skin seemed to wrap itself around her bones so that she was just a skeleton in a skin casing.

Alex wasn’t sure whether he was seeing a living person or a corpse.

“Hi?”

The girl’s eyes didn’t move. Could she even speak? Alex shut his eyes and opened them again to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. He wasn’t. The girl was very much real. Could she even hear him? How long had she been here? He had read somewhere that people in total isolation might forget how to speak if they don’t speak to themselves. Or even respond to stimuli, if there were no stimuli for them to respond to.

Alex knew this was a bad idea but he walked closer to her. He made sure his movements were slow, and deliberate, his arms in front of him to show he was harmless. The girl didn’t even move or react.

Alex was close enough to make out her finer features. Even though her skin was withering away, he could see a faint mole near the corner of her lips. He touched her gently on the shoulder.

The girl didn’t react the way he thought she would. She grabbed the front of his shirt, grabbing his head with her other hand and placed her mouth on hers. Alex pushed her away, stumbling.

Had she just kissed him? Why was she kissing him? Even if she found him attractive, this was not the time to be kissing him! Maybe she didn’t realize this. The girl was looking at him. There was a little color in her cheeks. Embarrassment? Arousal? How the hell was he supposed to know?

Frustrated, he tried to ask her a few questions.

“Do you know where we are?”

“What’s your name?”

“Why are we here?”

Of course, she didn’t respond. Alex tried something else.

“If you can hear me, blink once.”

Surprisingly, the girl blinked. Alex was surprised. He tried again.

“If you can see me, blink twice.”

The girl did. Uncertainly, he tried asking her a few more questions.

“If you know where we are, blink twice.”

She didn’t.

“If you know why we’re here, blink once.”

She blinked.

“If you know anyone else here, blink three times.”

She did. This unsettled him.

“If you know where they are, blink twice.”

She blinked, then turned and started walking. Even her walking was tettered and uneven. He saw the reason why a moment later; one of her legs was shorter than the other. She was also barefoot. Alex could only assume that she was taking him somewhere. The girl unsettled him but he could also see something on her.

Trauma. What had happen to her? Were there others like her? Would he become like her?

No. He pushed the thought away. He would get out.

The girl led him down the hallway, but instead of going back all the way to his cell, she took him to a door. She pushed it open. Alex followed her inside, still unsure about what he was getting himself into.

The room was similar to his cell but there were no boarded windows. The room had a single light bulb and a dirty mattress in the corner, something which his room also did not have. There were weird stains on the mattress, some which looked like blood.

The girl pointed at the corner of the room.

“What?”

She kept pointing. Alex limped closer, not too close in case she tried to kiss him again.

It was a rat.

“That’s a rat,” he said, not even bothering to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

The girl looked at him.

“I meant a human. Is there another human being here?”

The girl didn’t say anything. Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair. It wasn’t her fault, he knew. She hadn’t understood his instructions. He couldn’t be annoyed at her. She was his only ally here, maybe their only chance of getting out.

Would she help him escape? They could get out together. She had been here longer then he had. She would know more about the place then he did.

But it would only work if he could somehow make her understand. Was she making any active attempts to get out? It didn’t seem so.

He turned to the girl. She was still staring at the rat. Alex felt a pang of sympathy for her. He didn’t even know her name, and somehow, he figured his new ‘blinking’ method wasn’t going to help him figure it out.

She looked like a Sarah.

!*!

Sarah disappeared shortly after that, walking down the hallway to somewhere, who knows where? Alex watched her go, feeling strangely relieved. Her presence would take some time getting used to.

He was back in his cell. His leg had a large gash and his arm was indeed broken. He peeled off his shirt, making sure the door was closed and Sarah wasn’t nearby. There was some discoloring around his ribs but he didn’t think anything was broken. Alex put the shirt back on. His head felt a little better now but was still pounding.

He tried the windows, trying to pry the boards open. The efforts only yielded him a splinter and a few curses. There was clearly some kind of light outside, but strangely, no noises.

Was he underground? Sarah had said she didn’t know where they were. Maybe she’d know if they were underground or not. He still hadn’t asked her why she was here. Alex had come to expect kidnapping as a part of his routine. But Sarah wasn’t that old. Maybe slightly older than him. There was no reason for her to be here. A darker, more sinister thought appeared in mind.

What if it didn’t have to do with the fact that he was a spy? He’d been told countless times that he was handsome. Even Sabina had given him a twelve out of twenty. Maybe it didn’t have to do with what he did after all. It could be as simple as the fact that he was good looking. That could explain Sarah’s behavior to him earlier. He remembered the mattress from the room and felt a little nauseous at the bloodstains there. She was thin and emancipated and clearly not well looked after and she was a young girl. He supposed that she might have been attractive once, but now he wasn’t sure whether or not she was on the verge of death. If she stood very still, he could imagine she was a cadaver. Who was attracted to dead people, he wondered.

The door opened and he nearly jumped to his feet before seeing it was Sarah. She had something in her hands. An apple.

“Where did you find that?” He wondered out loud. Of course, she didn’t respond. She held out the apple, a clear invitation for him to take it. Cautiously, Alex approached her. Her clear blue eyes bored into her as he took the apple, running his fingers over the smooth red surface. It looked clean and good. He took a bite; tart sweetness filled his mouth.

“Thank you,” he said.

Sarah didn’t say anything. She seemed to be studying him, but not in a way that made him feel uncomfortable. Even though she couldn’t talk, he sensed her curiosity. She was able to understand him, to a certain degree. Maybe he should introduce himself.

“I’m Alex,” he started, “I’m sixteen. I was in France. I don’t know if you know where that is. I’m not sure why I’m here and I’m assuming you don’t know either?”

Sarah blinked. Was that a yes? A no? Did she understand him? He took another bite of the apple, then offered it to her. She took it from him, their fingers brushing briefly. Hers were paper dry but smooth. Cold, too. She was wearing a tattered dress, one that dipped low on the neckline if she bent down, so he could see the ridgy bones that went down. He imagined she must be cold. Was she used to it? The place was cold and damp, but not air-conditioned so they must be somewhere underground. A cave, maybe. Under a body of water?

She opened her mouth and took a bite. Her teeth were yellow and slightly deformed looking. He noticed she had trouble with the apple, biting into the flesh. He let her have the rest. She looked hungrier than him anyways.

Alex pointed at the boarded window. “Do you know where that goes? Blink once if you do.”

She blinked. Surprised, Alex stared, wondering if he had imagined it. “Does it lead outside? Blink twice if yes.”

He got a blank look in return. Did she know what the outside was? Had she grown up her whole life here, not knowing that there was another world, outside in the sun? Alex couldn’t imagine living in the damp prison cell-like conditions for his whole life. He gave up.

“Do you want to get out? Blink once for yes. Twice for no.”

He got no blinks. It confirmed his suspicions. She had no idea where the outside was and had no intention of getting out either.

She held the apple core in her hand, then walked away. Alex wondered if he should follow her. He decided he should. The company wouldn’t hurt, and he was getting used to her, and having her around in this place. At the end of the day, she was just a human being, like him. Confused but still a living entity.

Sarah tossed the core to the rat back in her room. The rat eagerly went to gnaw on it. He studied her room some more.

“Do you sleep here? Blink once for yes. Twice for no.”

She paused for a moment, looked at him, then blinked once. He wanted to ask her more, about what else might be happening on that mattress, but he didn’t. Something held him back. She might not know what it was anyway. Sarah sat down on the mattress. Her feet were covered in tiny cuts. She kept looking at him so he walked closer to her, then took a seat on the mattress. It let out a puff of air, and he could have sworn he saw some kind of bug scuttle out from beneath.

Avoiding the stains as best as he could, he sat close enough to Sarah to see and talk to her but not too close either. He still didn’t trust her enough and who she was. He had no idea who she was or what she was doing here.

“Do you know what year is it? Blink once for-” she blinked twice, giving him his answer. He stopped. “Do you know how long you were here for?” Two blinks again. “Do you know your name?” Two blinks. “Do you have a name?” Two blinks again. “Can you speak?” More unsure on this one, but she slowly blinked once. “Are you afraid to speak to me?” Two blinks. “Then why don’t you speak?”

There was nothing from her, of course. Alex walked back to his room. Sarah didn’t follow him. He closed the door. His head was throbbing. He took off his pants, risking it, and his shirt, opting to sleep in his boxers. His pants were sticky with blood. He balled them up in his t-shirt, making it into a sort of pillow. He tried to go to sleep, but on the cold floor, it was near impossible. He was shivering and his ribs made it hard to get comfortable.

A/N: This is a new side project I’m trying to get finished before summer ends and I go back to school. Regular updates for the other stories will start in the school year.

Remember to read, and review! Any constructive feedback is welcome. Congratulations to cuby18 for participating in SpyFest. I recommend you check their stories out! Anyone else who participated in SpyFest, congratulations to you as well! I haven’t gotten a chance to read any of them yet but I will try to check them out this week.

By the way, sorry Alex. You’re going to suffer in this story :(

Happy Writing everyone!

-Amber