Morning sunlight streamed through the high windows, casting mottled bands of light across the prison corridor.
Calista walked at the front, with Leah on her left.
Carver was half a step behind on her right, his fingers unconsciously brushing the handle of the throwing knife at his waist. It was a habitual little motion of his.
Mike followed a short distance behind them, silent but imposing.
The four of them headed toward the solitary cell at the end of the passage. Bossie, who was guarding the door, immediately straightened when he saw them.
"Open it," Calista said to Carver.
Carver stepped forward, inserted the key into the lock, and pushed open the heavy iron door. Light poured in, illuminating the filth inside and the figure curled up in the corner.
The figure moved and lifted his head.
His once-handsome face was now swollen like over-proofed dough. His eye sockets were bruised purple and split, his nose was crooked, and worst of all, his lips were cracked open, revealing half of a broken front tooth.
His clothes had been reduced to strips of rag soaked with blood and unknown stains, barely hanging off his body.
Lorenzo had startled awake the instant the door opened. Or rather, he had never truly managed to fall asleep.
The agony wracking his body and the extreme filth of his surroundings had kept him trapped in a half-conscious torment the entire time.
He thought Carver and the others had come for another routine check, or to deliver the small amount of water and moldy food that barely kept him alive.
Lorenzo struggled to raise his head. His swollen eyes forced open a narrow slit as he adjusted to the light.
Then he saw her.
Calista Norton.
She stood at the doorway, backlit by the sun, her silhouette sharp and intact. Even her pale golden hair seemed to glow in the light.
Her gray-blue eyes were looking at him calmly, even with a trace of mockery.
In that instant, Lorenzo felt as if an icy hand had clenched around his heart.
How was that possible?!
He had seen the massive horde swallow the area where they had been hiding. He had stolen the car, certain there was no chance they could have survived.
She should have been torn apart, devoured, and turned into one of those walking corpses.
After the shock came a deeper sense of defeat.
But immediately after that, an even stronger, almost sick fascination rose in him, along with a newfound respect.
This woman... she had actually survived a dead end like that?
How had she done it?
Almost by instinct, Lorenzo tried to straighten his unbearably aching back. He wanted to maintain that elegance and composure he used to have, even while at a disadvantage.
He even tried to tug at the corner of his mouth, to show what he believed was still a charming smile, as if to say, I knew you wouldn't die that easily.
Reality was cruel.
The moment Lorenzo tried to move, the wounds all over his body screamed as if they were being torn open again, especially the gums around his broken tooth and the split corner of his mouth.
The pain made him suck in a sharp breath, and his swollen face twisted into a strange, agonized expression. The "elegant" smile he tried to force out turned into a ridiculous grimace.
He raised a hand, wanting to straighten his torn collar, but the movement pulled at his injured ribs, leaving his trembling arm frozen in midair.
Calista stopped at the doorway, taking in Lorenzo's futile attempt to preserve his dignity and its disastrous failure.
Her face remained calm. She even felt a flicker of speechlessness that Lorenzo still had the mind for this nonsense at a time like this.
A prisoner should know his place.
She quietly studied him for a few seconds, then spoke coldly.
"Who is this pig head?"
Calista turned her head and looked at Carver beside her with an expression of pure baffled disbelief. "This is what you meant yesterday when you said you 'knew what you were doing'?"
The muscles in Carver's face twitched slightly. He rubbed his nose in embarrassment. "Emm, Lorenzo needed to pay the price for betrayal. Besides, his value lies in his brain..."
Lorenzo trembled violently from the sheer humiliation and his own physical failure. He wanted to defend himself, but all that came out was a laughable, wheezing sound.
Mike had no patience for this "performance."
He strode forward and, with an arm like a crane boom, hauled Lorenzo up from the floor and slammed him hard against the wall.
"Hey, pretty boy, still don't get your situation? Drop that useless act!" Mike leaned in close, and the heavy smell of male sweat nearly made Lorenzo, who had severe mysophobia, choke and retch.
"Listen, Lorenzo," Calista said, no longer wasting words. Her voice was icy. "I need to enter the core laboratory of the sentry station. I know the security system there is government-grade, but you can overwrite it."
She stared at his twisted face and laid out her terms. "Cooperate. Come with us quietly and help me hack into the sentry station's system.
"As long as you do that, I can set aside your earlier betrayal for now, including stealing the car and leaving us to the horde.
"Not only will you survive, you'll also get a clean room at Rockfort. Your brain should be used in the right place, not left to rot like a rat in a filthy corner."
Words like "clean" and "room" struck Lorenzo precisely where he was suffering most.
His disgust at his own filth almost surpassed the pain in his body.
The reality that Calista had returned unharmed and taken control of the situation made him realize that she might truly be able to provide what she promised.
"If you refuse," Calista's voice dropped sharply, killing intent flashing in her eyes, "or if you try anything on the road again..."
She did not finish, but her gaze shifted once more toward Carver and Mike.
Carver understood. With a flick of his wrist, a cold, gleaming throwing knife appeared between his fingers, the tip spinning nimbly.
He did not need to say a word. The way he stared intently at Lorenzo's joints was threat enough.
Mike was even more direct. He leaned close to Lorenzo's ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I hear you like being clean. I'll break all four of your limbs and throw you into the most rotten pile of walkers I can find, so you can have a nice long bath."
Just then, Leah, who had been silent all this time, spoke up with even more direct killing intent. "Cali, there's no need to waste time. Kill him. We can force our way through the sentry station's security with explosives."
Her hand was already pressed against the dagger at her thigh, as if she would carry it out the moment Calista nodded.
Inwardly, Calista accepted the idea. Leah's thoughts aligned perfectly with her own.
[Once we're done using him, we'll kill him. I'm not forgiving a backstabbing snake like him.]
But right now, she needed Lorenzo's brain.
Leah's suggestion only increased Lorenzo's psychological pressure, as if his value could be replaced by violence at any moment.
The pain in his body, the filth around him, the threats from Carver and Mike, Leah's attitude of wanting him dead, and Calista's survival ability that far exceeded his expectations...
All of it battered Lorenzo's crumbling mental defenses.
His talent was his pride, and also his weakness.
Lorenzo could not accept his genius being utterly destroyed in such filth and pain, especially not in front of a woman who had made him see her in a new light.
He panted violently, knowing in his heart that if he refused to cooperate, he would immediately lose everything, including his life.
In the end, Lorenzo broke.