Limping down the corridor, May and Caleb stuck together like two sheep being herded to their doom. The fact Oliver was one of the guards directing them through the maze that made up the compound they were trapped in did little to settle their nerves and as the walls gave way to glass panels, May closed her eyes. She didn't want to see what was being put on display, her mind damaged enough and as the door beeped open, the smells that greeted her had her stomach churning.

"Help yourselves." Oliver's muffled voice instructed and May took a peek.

The buffet that was spread out along one side of the room made her mouth water and Caleb inhaled deeply, a tiny flicker of a smile appearing for a few seconds before he looked down at her.

"Nothing." He whispered.

She knew what that meant - it wasn't poisoned, but it did nothing to stop the doubts that plagued her mind. Just because he couldn't smell it, didn't mean something else wasn't in there. The last act of kindness had ended with her being used as some assholes punching bag and despite the urge to go and shove as much of the food as she could into her mouth, she made no move towards it.

"You have ten minutes." Oliver warned them. "No tricks."

May glared at him, while the smell of roast chicken was too much for Caleb and he literally sprinted towards the warmer, not even bothering with a plate as he bit into a drumstick - grabbing another in his free hand. The sounds of pure delight coming from him had May inching closer, only she couldn't stop herself from constantly checking behind them, waiting for someone to come and ruin this.

"Why?" She demanded.

"Doctor Brown thought it might do you both some good to have a decent meal."

"May, eat!" Caleb urged, too lost in the moment to think it through.

"Why, what does he have planned for us next?" She snapped at Oliver, ignoring Caleb.

Oliver shrugged. "He'll be here soon, ask him yourself."

Even if May could eat like Caleb, those words had her losing her appetite and sitting at the table, she didn't move. Her bruises were angry and purple, still painful enough to make even just sitting there uncomfortable and the only reminder she needed that nothing here was without a price. She looked for cutlery, and the small display opposite her only had flimsy looking spoons and forks - no knives, no protection. Even the plates were paper, and Caleb dumped one that he'd loaded up in front of her, while hovering over his own as his mouth didn't stop moving as he chewed. Being so close to the assortment of meats had saliva pooling in the corners of her mouth, and her stomach demanded to be fed even though her nerves held the promise of simply throwing it all back up.

It was as she stared at her plate, half expecting the meat to turn into something else that could attack her, Oliver came over and ignoring the growls from Caleb knelt beside May.

"It's safe. Nothing there will hurt you."

"It's not the food I'm worried about." She admitted. "Why do we suddenly have access to a buffet?"

"Our boss is coming next week. Brown needs to make sure you look as though you've been getting taken care of." He sighed before motioning towards the mark on her arm. "That, won't be happening again. At least not anytime soon."

"Why us? There are cells of others that need this more."

"Because he is coming to see you two, not them. Doubt he'd care much anyway." Oliver stood back up. "Try not to piss him off today either."

A few minutes went by and May hesitantly picked up a piece of steak. It was cold now, the natural juices pooling on the plate so that it went soggy and stuck to the table. Unable to stop herself, she tore a strip off and savoured the tenderness that remained.

"Good yeah?" Caleb asked excitedly, acting like a kid on a sugar high. "What was that traitor talking about?"

"Brown is coming." That stopped him and dropping the hunk of beef, he cautiously looked over his shoulder before wiping his hands on his shirt. "He wants to fatten us up before his boss gets here."

"Fuck." He sighed, glancing at the food with nowhere the same interest as before.

It was then the door beeped open and sure enough, their favourite doctor walked in and took a seat at the head of the table. Putting his laptop out in front of him, he barely looked their way as he set up and his posse of guards found a place around the room.

"Don't stop on my account." He smirked, and meeting May's gaze she only glared back at him. "I see you're healing well."

"Fuck. You." She snapped.

"I guess your parents never really taught you the proper way to speak to others." The doctor muttered as he started to type something. "How can they truly look after their young when they are part animal."

Before May could get worked up enough to do something she'd probably regret, Caleb was there - holding her hand and distracting her. "Don't let him get to you. He's not worth it."

Of course he was right and after a few, deep breaths May managed to nod."

"Just, try eating something. Anything." He begged.

Brown looked up as May glanced his way at the same time. The look she gave him was deadly and he visibly swallowed as she stared at him, unblinking, in a way that was purely predator. Caleb awkwardly picked up his steak, taking a bite since the lack of knives meant he had no choice than to literally pull the meat from the bone. May caught the frown as the doctor watched him eat. Then she got an idea of her own and attacking the plate in front of her, she ate like an animal - probably worse than one as she ripped and tore into each piece with much less care than Caleb had shown even in the beginning.

Bones were cast aside as she made a mess of herself, happily smearing the soggy plate all over face as even Caleb watched in a mixture of confusion and disgust. Licking her lips when she was done, May smirked as she looked back at the doctor before biting the air in front of her. To her delight, he actually jumped.

"Delicious." She burped.

"What are you doing?" Caleb whispered, but again she never stopped staring at Brown.

"Is that how you eat at home?" The doctor asked, slightly sarcastically.

"I was raised by wolves, what do you think?" May leaned back in the chair and patted her belly in a rather content manner - careful of the bruising that remained.

He seemed to think that over for a few minutes. "Take them to clean up."

May slipped the t-bone into her lap, keeping her hands together as she stood, she managed to slip it up her sleeve and keeping close to Caleb, again the pair were herded through corridor after corridor until being left in the shower block. May looked for camera's, while Caleb checked the door before investigating each part of the room.

"Why would they just put us in here, unsupervised?" He asked.

"I don't know, but I don't trust any of it." She went and hugged him, letting him feel the bone she had hidden before leaning close to his ear. "It might help to have some kind of weapon."

"Probably won't do much, but good thinking." He let her go and moved towards the closest cubicle to the door where fresh sets of clothes waited. "You go first, I'll watch the door."

May didn't hesitate and as soon as she was done, they swapped spots. Not only that, but in the security of the cell, Caleb shifted. The wolf happily nudged her leg, and patting its head May smiled as he rolled around in the bottom of the shower, clearly enjoying the water as much as the humans had. Caleb had barely got his pants on when the door opened and sharing a secret smile, the pair walked out to whatever was waiting for them this time.

They hadn't gone far when one of the guards jumped into action, grabbing May as two others made a move for Caleb. A door to their left was opened and May was pushed through while Caleb screamed and struggled to go after her. Instead he was shoved into the room beside her, yet they weren't the same as the cells or together. A desk and two chairs were to one side and a window gave each of them a view of each other. Banging on the glass did nothing and eventually they stopped. The doors were locked, the table fastened down while the chairs were plastic and unable to break through the panel because Caleb tried. Repeatedly.

It felt like hours passed before Oliver came into May's room with Doctor Brown and looking between the pair, May refused to be scared. Oliver stood by the door, while Brown sat down - something May noticed he seemed to do a lot. Even his walk was a little, off and the information was put away with pin codes and all the other bits and pieces she'd picked up along the way.

"So, May. I had you brought here for one reason and one reason only. Caleb. For all the research we've been doing, few of our trained werewolves seem to respond to our command. Some break the conditioning we put them through to turn on us, others go the other way and seemed to give into their wolf and we're left with nothing but a feral out of control mutt. Then there are those who lose that connection with their beast and well, I'm sure you can imagine how that ends."

May said nothing, sticking close to the glass where Caleb stood on the other side straining to hear what was going on. While the sounds were muffled, he had caught most of what was said and hearing the doctor say it was because of him May was there, made him numb. Somehow he had found peace that it hadn't been his fault. It made seeing her bruised and bloody that little bit easier, but not it felt as though he may as well have been the one who had hit her.

"I've been working with a few other creatures like you two. Closely bonded ones. Werewolves seem to have a master of sorts, and I think this is the key to our project here succeeding. The advantage of your relationship is you are human." Pulling out a notebook, Brown wrote something in it before tucking it back in his jacket pocket. "Now, I'm sure you're trying to work out why you being human is a good thing."

"No, not really." She answered. "It never has been before, except for that one time it let me go undercover to your stupid Collectors. How are they all doing?"

The almost pleasant look on his face vanished then as his skin started to redden and from his position, Oliver gave a little cough, shaking his head at May as a sign to stop. He had warned her not to annoy the doctor today, but the temptation was too great for her to ignore.

"In any other circumstances, we would have killed you for that. Luckily we want you alive more." He pulled out a tissue and dabbed his brow.

"Lucky huh?" May snorted.

"How did you bond with Caleb? Did he choose you, is it because you are female or simply because you grew up together?"

"I'm not bonded to Caleb." May rolled her eyes.

"Lying is pointless." He pulled out a small remote from his pocket and pointed it at the blank wall. "You see, the only time we have seen this werewolf change, even when using our serums, is when you came along. They thought he was on his way to turning into one those pathetic creatures who had lost the demon inside."

The footage of wolf Caleb attacking guards when May had been brought in was projected before them. Nervously she glanced back at Caleb who watched with a similar blank expression on his face.

"Before we can start our program on him, we need him to be as the animal. That's where you come in."

"I'm not going to help you turn him into one of those, zombies!" May shouted at him.

"I didn't think you would." He smirked. "Caleb, I know you can hear me. Change into your wolf."

"Don't. No matter what, don't change Caleb!" May said instantly. This whole time they'd been getting told not to let him shift, and that wasn't going to change now. When the new guard came in, May recognized him instantly and knew where they were going to go with this and spinning around to Brown, she was furious. "You fucking bastard."

Caleb watched what was going on in the other room closely, the speaker had gone quiet so the only sounds he could hear was May screaming every curse word he guessed she knew at the doctor. Looking around, he saw there were two guards in her room now and as the command for him to change came through again, he hesitated.

'Do it.' The wolf his mind told him.

One of the guards stepped towards May and Caleb growled. They were talking, lower now and he couldn't hear a thing. The man rushed towards May who nearly stumbled backward, and as she grabbed for the chair, he saw her face screw up in pain.

"She shouldn't be doing that." He muttered under his breath, knowing she was only hurting herself even more. Pure, hot rage burned through his blood as all he could do was watch, yet she swung that chair with all she had - surprising the guard as the hit actually knocked him over. "Yes!"

The second guard moved then, wrestling the chair from May while the doctor had the guts to actually laugh and the second his hand slapped May, Caleb roared. It was one thing to see her beaten, but another to stand by while it happen and as she used the wall to stand back up, she spat blood at the guard. Tiny black dots clouded Caleb's vision and strong tremors shook his body as the animal in him wanted nothing more than to smash through the glass to get to her. They were both so focused on what was happening, they barely heard the click of the lock for the door.

'Go. Now!' The wolf demanded and Caleb didn't understand what that meant right away. When he did, he barely fought off the change as he made it out into the hallway. A familiar scent lingered in the air, but he was too distracted trying opening the door into May's room to pay it much attention. The second it swung forward, Caleb lost the battle and shifted.

"I will fucking kill you!" May screamed at her attacker yet his fist hovered in the air as the sound of Caleb's arrival had everyone stopping. Then it was May who laughed. "Or he will."

"How did-" Doctor Brown stuttered, standing at the sight of the pissed off wolf.

The first guard was still down, yet Caleb knew he wasn't as unarmed as he would have you think. Before he had left the other room he had seen him move, almost like he was going to grab the other guards ankle. Caleb didn't want to overthink it as one sniff in his direction told him that was Oliver. The line between friend and foe was blurry, and the wolf wasn't interested in working that out right now. With their sights set on Brown, the animal stalked forward.

"Now Caleb, I know you are in there somewhere-" The doctor stuttered, receiving a growl in response. "Don't do anything you'll regret."

This time when May screamed, it was cut short and as his head snapped in her direction, she was pinned against the front of the guard; his hand covered her mouth and a gun was pointed at her temple. Seeing May's hand move, he watched as she rubbed her leg, and realised she still had the bone. Their eyes met and she gave a little nod, right before she brought her hand up to the guards forearm and with all the strength she could muster managed to get the point through the cotton of her sleeve and into his skin. It wasn't deep, and it probably didn't hurt as much as the surprise of it happening, but his arm swung out and May was let go. As she fell forward, Caleb jumped shoving the guard back against the wall. He grabbed onto his arm, shaking his head as he bit down until Oliver boldly grabbed him. More guards came rushing in then, pinning Caleb down.

"Don't let him change back!" Brown ordered, but that was exactly what happened. Snatching a pistol from the nearest guard, he pointed it at May. "Change back now or she's dead."

Then amidst all the chaos, and despite the freshly opened cut on her lip May stepped in front of Caleb, smirking. "Do it."

Caleb looked at her in disbelief, trembling with adrenaline and the stress of what just happened he couldn't speak. Brown flicked off the safety, ensured the gun was loaded and ready before looking between the teens with uncertainty. His hand trembled slightly, and a fresh row of sweat beaded along his forehead and in that moment Caleb realised he couldn't do it.

"You can't." May mocked. "You made a mistake by telling me how valuable I am. Hurt me all you want, but you won't be killing me and he won't be shifting."

"You're right. I can't kill you, yet. But I can make you wish you were dead." He snapped back.

"Perhaps, but you don't scare me." She kept going, and Caleb knew she must have gone mad to stir him up this way. Hadn't she learnt her lesson last time?

"No?"

"May, stop." Caleb warned, not liking the look on the doctor's face.

"No." May said firmly. "I pity you, all of you. What happened in your life to have you turn out this way? Did Mummy never love you enough and Daddy leave when he realised what a fucking disappointment you'd grow up to be? You think we're monsters, but trust me, you are and-"

"Enough." Caleb growled, making May shut her mouth before she could dig herself in deeper.

"I have been dealing with people much, much smarter than you crossbreed, for longer than you have been alive. I have made alpha's submit to my will and broken enough animal's spirits to know that he will shift by the time I am done here and whether that does involve you or not depends on how long I decide to keep you here for." Brown boldly moved closer, his confidence recovered now he wasn't facing off against a pissed off wolf. "Understand?"

May didn't answer and for a second, Brown saw her as the stubborn, terrified teenager who was too proud, maybe too stupid, to submit to the authority he putting down. Had her parents struggled to keep her in line as he was now? He didn't think, none of the profiling had even hinted that the girl was some kind of delinquent who was a burden on society. They obviously taught her to well to act that way, and what they had trained her to be was standing in front of him now. Of course he would want to pity her and all her human likeness. She was a pretty girl, yet that doe eyed innocence she'd arrived with had beaten from her and if she didn't answer him again, he'd ensure she met the same fate as well as her pet. Brown knew she wasn't just the key to breaking the alpha's son, but he was the way to get to her too.

"I said," He spat, grabbing her chin to force her to look up at him. "Do you understand?"

"Go to hell."

"That can be arranged." He promised. "Lock him in solitary."

The struggle that followed ended with Caleb being knocked unconscious and as the others left them alone, May sucked in a shaky breath, begging the tears to stay away as she braced herself for the attack she was positive she had coming.

"Bring her." Brown ordered, leaving the room.

They didn't go far, the sliding metal door promising May she wouldn't like anything that was going on behind it and here the whines, howls and yaps gave the impression of a kennel rather than the sterile medical facility she had been in. Sure enough, metal cages were spaced a meter apart around the otherwise empty room. Each wolf within in turned to the new arrivals with empty eyes and savage snarls began to erupt from them as though they were having a fit. Twice May jumped as the animals lunged at their doors, the metal locks looking flimsy when compared the high tech doors of her own cell and the others they'd passed. Worst of all, she didn't sense any shifters here - they were literally just wolves.

"Are they..." She started, horrified at the possible answer.

"Yes. We hope to train them as guard dogs eventually for security to develop their own k-nine units of sorts." The doctor practically boasted and May's heart broke for all the shifters that had once been, but were now long gone. "The younger they are, the better they respond to our training, yet finding that balance between controlling the demon and losing it completely is quite a challenge."

May closed her eyes as the went into the next room. The things she had already seen would never leave her, and this time the yelps were also screams - the scent of blood, pain and death hitting her harder than of Kyle's punches ever could. She didn't want to see what went on in here, yet as she heard her name, her eyes flew open.

"David?" She gasped and not thinking, ran over to where he forced himself to sit up against the wall near where they had come in. "Oh my god."

Kneeling beside him, May struggle to look at the boy who had once been her biggest bully. He'd clearly been having a harder time than Caleb, even before May had come in. What weight he had was gone as bones pushed against bruised skin. The same dead look in the other shifters eyes had found her packmate and gently she reached out to stroke his face which was hardly reconisable.

"You're. Here." His boney hands grabbed onto hers, with a strength she hadn't expected from him. "Are we going home?"

There was no holding back the tears now as May tried to sniff them away and the feeling of completely hopelessness had her falling down beside him. She let him hold onto her, his head uncomfortable against her bruised stomach, but she hardly noticed as shock saw the pain go numb and her whole body trembled.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry David." May mumbled, feeling as though she had failed him, failed all of them. Caleb was right. The tracking chip meant nothing; they weren't coming. They were all stuck here until they died or worse.

Her hand busied itself stroking clumps of matted hair, ignoring the still wet patches that marked her clean skin with his blood. Despite all of this, she managed to tell him his parents weren't giving up, that their Alpha was working to find them and help would come. It was hard to lie, especially since she didn't believe a word of what she was saying, but May sensed David relaxing and kept going. Burn marks covered his stomach, his wrists and neck rubbed raw from being restrained making May wonder how any of them would ever recover from all this. So May told him she understood if he couldn't hold on, but was proud of him for being so strong for all this time. May was barely aware of the guards who watched her, or that Brown had gone. It wasn't just the guards who looked at the pair either, it was all the shifters and as David drifted off into the most peaceful sleep had since he arrived, silence filled the room.

"May." Oliver whispered, squatting beside her. "Don't give up. They all need you to keep going."

She didn't answer right away, too focused on making sure David's chest kept moving with each slow, deep breath. "I can't."

"Yes, you can." He pushed. "Five days. You can do this for five more days."

"Can he?"

"Of course. He's lasted this long." May wasn't so sure and slowly untangled herself from David's hold before standing on shaky legs. "There's something else he wants you to see before I can take you back."

The shifters all stared up at her, a few of the wolves managing to stand as their tails gave the slightest twitch of a wag. All around the room they were chained up, in the dim light May could see which ones hadn't made it through the last round of whatever torture they had endured.

"What happens after here?" She asked Oliver.

"The ones that go feral get moved into the other room for processing. The ones that die are removed." He whispered, sensing some of the newer arrivals growing more alert to their presence.

"And the others?"

"We'll see them soon enough." Oliver sighed.

They were nearly at the door when May stopped. A quick look at her escorts told her none of the guards she should fear were here and her stomach sank as she realised those ones had gone with Brown. She made a silent prayer that Caleb was okay and looking around, followed her nose - moving towards a man who had been tied by his wrists so he had no choice other than to stand up. His chin was pressed down against his chest, which looked no better than David's. He was older though, easily her parents age or maybe older and considering the general age of the room which was pushing early twenties, she found this strange.

"Careful." Another guard warned as she reached out to the man.

He was tired, sore, his movements slow and she easily stepped out of reach as he lunged for her. Yet as he focused on her face, his eyes widened slightly before narrowing with suspicion.

"Your children are safe." She told him, not having any doubt this was Eli's father. That got his attention and snapping his head up properly, his bloodshot eyes were soon brimming with tears. "Eli, Selena, Amy and Brock."

"Lies!" He growled, lunging again.

"It's the truth! They are with my pack." He seemed to struggle trying to understand what she said. "I know I'm here, but well, when I was taken, they were safe. They've been living with my family. I'm good friends with Eli, I helped him, all of them. They'd been on the run since you were captured."

"Enough, we have to go." Oliver ordered from behind May.

"You'll see them again." She promised, aware that everyone was listening to them.

"Tell them, I love them." He rasped, clearly not believing her.

When May had told Brown to go to hell, she didn't expect him to actually send her there. Another beating she could handle, even another examination or being passed around like a science experiment for tests would be better than this. Having to look at these poor, innocent people was destroying her soul in a way that nothing Brown could otherwise do to her could. That was until she walked through to the next space where the cages were now filled with people, humans and runts like her. They had no special treatment either and the first sign of deformity had her cringing back against Oliver.

"They do experiments to the ones that don't shift, or can't. There is another room with humans that have no connection to shifters, that were just brought in because. Some of the scientists thought they would try and create us, and the serum they came up with has worked on a few runts that didn't appear to be able to shift." He told her. "When I found out about this, I knew we had to stop it. Our kind kill runts, crossbreeds that shouldn't have been. We don't create human monsters. We don't force the change on those who can not. It goes against nature, the strong survive and the weak-"

"This is your fault." May snapped at him.

"I know." He admitted.

"Killing runts is barbaric. We don't do that anymore!"

"Some still do. Why do you think there are so many angry, unshifting crossbreeds involved here? Revenge against the shifters, the fullbloods who enforce their superiority over everyone else." Oliver frowned. "Some lost parents, some are survivors from where their parents tried to kill them."

"They willingly let you experiment on them?" She asked in disbelief.

"In the beginning, but by then it was too late to get out."

"Like you?"

"Not quite like me. I'm fullblood remember." He glanced at one of the other guards. "The first rounds died. It wasn't until the third and fourth serum that the effects were what they were hoping for. It even works on some full shifters, to make them shift against their will."

May thought about that for a minute. If she had been given a magical pill to let her change when she was supposed to, would she have taken it? Of course. It would have made her pack, she would have been more accepted, she never would have lost Caleb and her wolf wouldn't have been able to reject her only, things weren't supposed to work that way. The magic in the blood, in their history that allowed them to even exist was just that - magic. How could they recreate it? Wolves were another soul, another entity that shared the human vessel. You can't just, create that in a lab.

"There is a reason it only works on certain runts." Oliver answered as though reading her mind. "They have to have a wolf already."

"The ones that don't?" May swallowed nervously.

"That's when this happens." He motioned to a cage where a deformed woman was spread out on her back. Her limbs had thinned down to the bone, her hands curled with thick, claw like nails replacing human ones. May looked away, unable to see anymore.

"They try and alter DNA. One of the serums is a violent, dominant evil that tries to take over as a change would only it never happens. They don't use that one these days, and not only completely human subjects either. There has to be a shifter in the family, but we know that means nothing. It would like bringing in your grandparents and testing them. The wolf is on your father's side, not your mother's so it's not as though they're simply dormant." Carolina's family came to mind, and Eli's cousin. They would be the test subjects they wanted. "Then there are those they've been breeding."

"What?" May felt dizzy at the prospect of what that could mean.

"Human males can not get a female shifter pregnant with a pup. For some reason, only males create runts that will shift. It was one of the first things they discovered." Again May thought about Carolina - who had told them that exact same thing. "So, they started a breeding program of sorts."

"I can't hear this." Running back to the door, she tried to open it. There had to be a way out, yet the door was locked tight. "Let me out. Take me back to my cell. Take me anywhere!"

The guard who had helped Maggie clean her up stopped May, making shushing sounds as he pulled her back from the door. Her commotion had woken some of the experiments who now put arms between bars, making muffled attempts at calling for help. It was too much, there was a line that had been crossed and now it had been completely abandoned.

"Who are you people to do this! Why?" She screamed, not caring who answered.

"They are the monsters May. Not us." Oliver started.

"You admitted to being behind this, you're a part of it! You're a fucking monster, no you're even worse!" May struggled to get free of the guard who held her, the need to rip Oliver apart sending her near crazy. "You deserve everything that is coming to you! I hope you suffer-"

"I already am!" He yelled back at her, and as his wolf pushed to the front May stopped. "Brown wants you to see this, to know what goes on here to scare you into doing what he wants otherwise you will end up in here or one of the other rooms, just like these people. I am not fucking kidding, so stop trying to piss him off all the god damn time if you want to get out of here alive! The pack will need you, these shifters will need you just, be good okay? When they get here..."

Five days.

Give them hope.

When they get here.

"You've told them, haven't you?" She whispered, putting everything together.

"I didn't have a choice. Maggie was right, we can't keep looking for Elizabeth and-" He paused, his voice cracking slightly. "She is probably dead. No more need to die because we value her life above theirs."

"She's your mate?" May asked, finally being let go.

Oliver nodded. "This was my first posting after helping the boss track down a few shifters he seemed really interested in finding. I was only here for a month before I found her. When another guard saw us growing closer, he reported it. At first it was okay. I was in charge of the wing and I was able to get permission for her to live in my quarters. I protected her as best I could and when I finally managed to arrange a safe passage for her to escape, a man called James Baker came. He calls himself Lieutenant, but he is no better than Brown. He is one twisted fuck, no idea where they found him, but he wants to either end us all or complete control. That's their aim here. Create their own super soldiers."

"They want to take over?"

"From what I have been able to find out, that's pretty much it." He nodded. "Come on, we need to keep moving."

May was happy to get out of there, yet realised he never said what happened to Elizabeth. "What happened when Baker came?"

Oliver looked like he was going to answer, but didn't and kept walking. May left it alone, only the guard behind her leaned in close as Oliver unlocked the door.

"They found out she was pregnant." He whispered, and so much of what he just told her made sense. Clearly nothing good had become of Elizabeth or the baby, and it was those thoughts that haunted her as she was left in her cell, while hoping Caleb would be returned to her.  

'He'll be back.' May told herself, hugging her knees to chest. 

Later she was taken back to the same buffet to eat, always under the ever watchful eyes of Oliver and this time, the other guard stopped and searched her in case she decided to take anything with her again. Hours later, the food changed and the more breakfast like assortment of toast, pancakes and bacon with eggs had her aching to be at home with her parents. It might not have been them, but one of her prayers were answered with Caleb being brought in and finding him unharmed as well as clean confused her.

"It was literally a padded cell. That's all." He told her, just as confused when they were taken back to the cell. "Guess the traitor was right, they want us looking a bit better for the boss."

"I don't like any of this."

"Same. Together though, so long as we're together." He repeated like a mantra as the duo curled up in the corner. Despite that, something had changed in Caleb. May felt it. He rarely looked her in the eye now and  he held her just that little bit tighter. So she didn't tell him what happened after they separated, he also didn't ask despite needing to be assured a million times she hadn't been hurt either.

"What's wrong, talk to me." She whispered, leaning her cheek against his. "Together Caleb. You're pulling away again."

"It is because of me you're here. He said it." He sighed, rubbing his nose against her neck. Already he'd put her through so much, and now this - if they got free, he wouldn't blame May for leaving him.

"Don't blame yourself, we've been over this before and now it doesn't matter how I'm here or why, I just am. Stay with me Caleb, I need you. Please don't leave me again, not now." May waited for what felt like an eternity for him to answer her; the feeling of his lips against her temple the first sign of his answer.

"Never."

_______

So I'm sure you get it... They're bad people and do bad, bad things. Just wanted to give Oliver a chance to get his history explained as we mentioned Liz before and needed to move things to a certain point. Five days is going to fly by so next up, let's see how this 'rescue party' goes at rescuing them. Oh and any idea who the boss is?