In Sodom's house Astrea still remained tied up.
It had been around 10 minutes since Sodom had left to hunt down Nero. Astrea sat in silence. The fear was oozing off her skin as sweat, Sodom's words still echoing in her head. The seeming inevitability of her fate weighed down on her, her body starting to shake. Eddie had been awake for a while before he spoke. Watching her. Waiting to see if she'd move on her own.
She hadn't.
"You threatened me at knifepoint the day we met," Eddie said softly. "That girl wouldn't sit here waiting to be sold."
Astrea turned to face him. "Since when were you awake?"
"Answer my question. Is this all you're capable of? If so, then just admit it and stay here." Eddie asked, more forcefully this time.
Astrea looked down, startled by Eddie's change in personality. She didn't answer. He looked at her with a feverish intensity like that of a wild animal.
"Look at me Astrea. Look at me and admit that you're weak." Eddie's voice grew louder still.
No response
"If you stay here, then yeah — this is all you are. But if you don't move? That's a choice. And choices matter more than talent." Eddie was shouting now.
"Stop…Please just stop." Astrea begged, almost in tears.
Eddie voice lowered. "Then if you have the ability, the potential, you shouldn't throw your life away because of your own self-imposed limitations. Those with talent should use it, not let it rot."
Astrea looked at Eddie, confused at what he just said.
"I don't even know what I have yet", Astrea started.
"If not for yourself, at least for Holt." Eddie interrupted.
Astrea started to crawl before Eddie finished speaking.
"Nero is still out there," Eddie called after her.
She already knew. But it helped to hear it.
Loose parts of the floorboards tore at her skin scrapping her flesh, biting into her palms. Splinters caught her skin as she pulled herself forward inch by inch. The kitchen felt miles away. She didn't stop.
She made her way to the kitchen looking for anything she could find something to cut her binds with. Struggling to her feet she started to search. She searched three drawers before she found it. A small knife, half hidden under a cloth. Sodom hadn't thought to check the kitchen. Why would he — she was supposed to be unconscious.
"Hold it steady," said Astrea.
Eddie clutched the knife between his hands. Astrea rubbed the ropes that bound her hands against the edge of the knife until they snapped. She took the knife from Eddie and quickly sliced the rest of the ropes on her feet and removed Eddie's binds.
Astrea hadn't noticed before, but Eddie was sweating profusely. His clothes were drenched, and his eyes were bloodshot. He tried to stand but his vision blurred, his legs felt weak sending him tumbling to the floor. He tried to stand. His body refused. He looked at his hands like they'd betrayed him — which, he supposed, they had.
"I can't Astrea," he gasped.
What the fuck…Some kind of poison. Astrea thought. Must have been when we were unconscious.
"Eddie." She stopped at the door. "I don't know if I can do this."
She stepped outside anyway.
That was enough.