It was later that day, as the weak light was fading once again, that Ruth felt the communicator on her wrist buzz. She had almost forgotten about it, she was so used to wearing it by now. She looked quickly towards the door, hurriedly pressed the button which switched the sound on, and spoke quietly with it close to her mouth: "Hello?"
"Ruth? Are you ok? And Patrick?" It was Will's voice, speaking quietly but sounding loud to her frightened ears.
"Yes, we're ok," she whispered back, her eyes meeting Patrick's as he came over to her. "Are you alright?"
"Yes. But listen. They'd disabled the ship when they let us come back here, but we've managed to fix it. We've got a plan, we think we can get out of here." Ruth's heart leapt for a moment. "But we can't work out a way of rescuing you." It sank again, and kept on sinking.
"We'll fly to the nearest friendly planet, and we'll be back with help as soon as we can. But we thought we should check with you two," Will said. "There's a danger that they might punish you if we leave. What do you think?"
She looked up at Patrick. "Can you give us a minute to think about it?" she asked.
"All right. But be quick."
Ruth switched the communicator to mute so they could talk without being heard. "What do you think?" she asked.
"They're right, aren't they," Patrick said quietly. "We will be punished if they escape."
"Yes, I think so," Ruth said in the same calm tone. "Maybe even killed, given what the snakes' leader said earlier. But the others are right that it's better for them to get away if they can. If not, we'll all just have to sit here and wait, and the snakes are loosing patience already. Soon they might imprison the others again, or if they decide there's no money coming- they might just kill us all."
"Whereas if the others escape, only the two of us can be hurt," he replied slowly.
Ruth looked at the floor. "If it means my friends can escape, if it can help them- I guess I'm willing to suffer," she said. "If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here."
"Even...to die?" Patrick asked hesitantly.
"Yes, if that's what has to happen," she said quietly. She didn't want him to know how scared she was, in case it made him afraid too, made him decide against letting the others go.
Patrick spoke slowly, as if he was admitting something against his will. "I know we should tell them to go," he said. "It's not that I don't want to. It's just that..." He stopped.
"I know," she said gently. "Do you think I'm not scared too?"
"You're thinking of the others, not yourself," he replied. "I wish I was as brave as you."
"You're braver," she said. He shook his head and looked away. There was a moment's silence.
Ruth reached out and took his hand. Her communicator vibrated. "We need to decide," she said awkwardly. He looked up.
"Tell them to go," he said quietly.
Ruth's communicator vibrated again, and she switched the sound back on.
"Have you decided?" Zoe asked. Ruth looked at Patrick. He nodded.
"You go," Ruth said. "And good luck."
"You're sure?"
"We're sure," Patrick said.
"Thanks, guys. Hope you're ok- we'll be back as soon as we can with help. Goodbye!"
"Goodbye! Thank you!" They could hear the voices of others in the background.
"Goodbye," Ruth and Patrick said. The communicator went quiet. Soon, if their plan worked, they would be out of range of the transmitter, and they would hear nothing more until the others returned with help. They looked at one another. "Well done, Sydney Carton," Ruth said, trying to smile. He shook his head, smiling back, but neither smile was genuine. Ruth tried to fight back tears but it was no good. Patrick took her hand. "It'll be ok," he said. "Maybe they'll come back before anything happens to us."
"I wish I had your optimism," Ruth replied.
It didn't seem long before they heard slithering in the corridor outside. The door opened and two guards came in, followed by the leader.
The snake leader reared up and looked down at them. "Your friendsss have essscaped," he said. "They have abandoned you, left you at our mercssy. And we're not feeling very merciful at the moment. With them gone, any hope of getting our money isss gone too. Now you give me one reason why I ssshouldn't have you killed inssstantly."
Neither of them spoke. Well, that was it then. Ruth gave up any hope she had been clinging on to that they would get out of this somehow. Villains in real life were much better at it than they were in stories. There would be no easily-distracted guards, no crawling undetected through ventilation tunnels, no improbably successful escape attempts.
"Do you have sssnakes on your planet?" the leader asked mockingly.
"Yes," Ruth said.
"Asss large asss I am?"
"No."
"Do they bite? Isss it painful? Can they kill?"
"Yes."
"Well then," the leader said, "You get the idea. If sssomething ssso much sssmaller can kill and cause pain, how much more damage can I do?" He moved forward quickly, his huge fangs reaching towards her.
Ruth had never considered herself brave. And snakes were probably the thing she feared the most- her room 101 nightmare. She shrank back, shivering, but the giant snake kept moving forwards, the mouth now almost touching her. She closed her eyes and tried to brace herself for the bite of the sharp fangs.
For days before the creature struck she had been tense, afraid. Now this was too much- far beyond any pain she had felt before. Suddenly she screamed, a long, high pitched, loud scream.
She collapsed to a crumpled heap on the floor as the creature drew out its fangs and moved back. She writhed in pain, unable to keep still, yet the movement brought no relief. There were tears in her eyes. Through them she could see Patrick looking at her, worried and afraid.
The creature laughed, and turned to leave. "Three bitesss it'll take to kill you, I ssshould sssay," it said. "I'll ssspread the poison out. It'sss more fun that way. For me, that isss, not for you." The door clanged shut as he slithered off.
The story continues...
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