Rehabilitation: Romantic Dystopian (Unbelief Series Book 1) by C.B. Stone

know it, I’m being dragged away in another direction. There’s something else that looks built into the ground, but this one is round instead of square and no one else is going into it.
    “You’re here until you learn something,” one of the men dragging me growls, and I can detect the slightest hint of sick pleasure lacing his voice.
    It’s the last thing I hear before I’m released from their hold—only to be dropped like a sack of garbage into a dank, freezing hole.

XII

    I tumble into the hole, colliding hard with the cold ground before I realize what has happened. I land on my arm, a cry escaping my lips as pain shoots through it. It hurts so badly my vision goes black for a moment. It takes a long time, with me just lying there, waiting for the pain to ebb away, before I’m able to pull myself together and sit up. That’s when I start to look around.
    The walls are curved, made of stone and mortar, so they give off no warmth to speak of. What’s worse, there’s a puddle of water at the bottom covering most of the ground, which is hard beneath the water. Some of it has just frozen over altogether, and that’s where I landed, which explains why it hurt so much.
    Looking up, I see the hole I was dropped through. It’s nearly twenty feet above me and part of me can’t help but wonder how I survived at all. I could have landed on my head and broken my neck or something.
    Had they intended for me to survive it?
    The soldier had said ‘until I learned something’, so I have to assume that when they threw me down this hole, they knew I’d be alright. Otherwise, it means they just don’t care if I die.
    I shiver, feeling shaken and confused. It’s freezing down here between the rocks and the water and ice. I’m dressed for the cold, but just barely. Boots, pants, my warmest coat and a sweater, plus my scarf. But I’m not sure it’ll be enough. It depends on how long they’re going to keep me down here.
    “Hey!” I yell out, aiming my voice upwards toward the mouth of the hole. “ Hey !” My voice bounces along the interior of the walls, echoing around me but not achieving my goal.
    I try several more times to call out, but it’s clear no one’s listening. Feeling defeated, I place my hands along the wall, following it all the way around as I walk in a circle. I’m hoping to find something that will help me get out of here, but I think I knew it was useless even before I started. By the time I’ve finished, I know there is no hope for escape. I sigh, fear, tension and the freezing cold weighing on me, making me feel suddenly exhausted.
    Clearly I’m stuck here until they’ve decided ‘I’ve learned something’ however long that takes.
    Pulling as tight into myself as I can, I crouch down, propped against one of the walls, unwilling to sit in the freezing water. There, I wait.
    I wait as the light from the hole above me fades.
    I wait as the water starts to soak through my boots.
    I wait as my body becomes so cold, it might as well be numb, and the darkness is like a thick black blanket around me.
    I try not to fall asleep, worried if I fade out when I’m this cold, I might not wake up. That’s one of the things to worry about, right? Except I can’t help it. My eyelids droop heavily, in a desperate attempt to protect my stinging eyes.
    Though I’m trying my hardest, I’m about to fall asleep anyway. Until something hard and sharp hits me on the head. The sudden pain makes me jerk awake and lose my balance at the same time. I fall over into the half frozen water with a splash, crying out against icy cold as it seeps into my clothes.
    I pull myself out of it immediately, stepping into the shallowest part I can feel, but it’s no use. I’m soaking wet now, and freezing even more.
    Wondering what hit me, I look up, thinking it came from the hole. “Hello?” I ask, but hear nothing. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
    Still nothing. I start to think no one will answer, but then a male voice