Hours later, the man still had not woken up and Lucy was growing impatient. She snatched a jug of water from the counter and emptied its contents on the sleeping man's face. The man woke up with a start. He stared wide at Lucy with his red eyes. Something was off, the raging pain in his arm had calmed. He turned to look at his injured arm and in place of his dirty cotton fabric bandage was a well dressed wound treated with methyl alcohol in clean white medical bandages. He knew because the scent of methyl alcohol still lingered in the air.
"Who are you? How do you know my name? And how did you get past the guards at the gate?", Lucy questioned the man who was still about to notice his environment.
The room was dimly lit but Darko could see Lucy just fine. Living in the village trained him to see in the dark. He also realized that he was tied to the chair he was seated on, more specifically, an electric chair.
"You've noticed it. Good, now answer me."
"My name is Ampem-Darko. A Gajan soldier if you will. I specialize in martial arts and stealth in the army..... You can check my badge. It is in my back pocket."
Lucy looked past him and motioned with her head. Soon enough, warm dainty fingers starting to feel his pockets. It seems the badge wasn't there so the fingers slid into his side pockets.
"You're lying to me."
"I swear. I am telling the truth. See, I know you're Lucy because the Commander told me to find you."
"And of of all the women here, how did you know I was the one?"
Lucy was poking the electric chair switch playfully. Every poke seemed harder than the previous and Darko was quaking in his crop top. He never thought she could be this unbelieving.
"Please... Don't flatter yourself. You command the others around. Anyone would know that you're Lucy plus the Commander kinda described you before he died.", his gaze fixed on the red button that could potentially off him at any moment.
The mention of the Commander's death plucked a string but Lucy was skeptical at the moment. What if he killed him and watched him die? What if the reason why the Commander wanted his family out of there was because they were next and this stranger had come to do just that.
"If you want me to answer the third question. I'll do it. It's either you like the rules so much or you haven't been here for long. There are many ways to get in and out of this barracks and I just happen to know one. That's all.", his gaze was still fixed on the cute red button but he glanced once in a while at Lucy.
Her face was lit dimly but he could see that she had a straight face, pondering whether or not this stranger was an ally. She was only a finger's extension away from rendering the man numb but she had her concerns. Have they been looking in the wrong place for clues. No, it can't be. Ampofo found a match. Was this man taking them for a fool?
By then Darko's face was sweaty from all the possibilities of the button being pushed. A small part of him assured him that it wouldn't but it wasn't enough when he could see it for himself.
"This is not a joke, mister." Melanie interjected from behind. She was also thinking the same thoughts Lucy was having.
Does this mean that Pete was innocent? If it did, it could also mean he abandoned her. She was having her own warfare in her headspace.
Darko completely ignored Melanie. She seemed rather insignificant to his situation right now. Lucy's ferocity was prepossessing and this man had fallen prey to it already. He began to scan her for signs of reluctance, maybe a sudden heave of breath or persistent swallowing but Lucy was unreadable. Damn this woman. Darko didn't really have a preference in women but now he knows what he wouldn't like. A cold and emotionally unavailable woman.
He kept looking and noticed a pendant hung lightly around her feminine neck. It looked familiar but where had he seen it before.
His eyes widened more, "Wait, that pendant around your neck. That's half of it right? Check in my boots. You will find the other half."
Melanie followed. She found the other half that was carelessly shoved into a corner of the right boot and gave it to Lucy. She stared at it. It was the other half of the pendant. Her nineteenth birthday gift.
"Let's say I believe you. For now. But you're stuck in that chair until your identity is confirmed.", Lucy after a long silence.
The fear in Darko's eyes dissipated. The hanging emotions of fear blown away by the breeze that just rammed through the stagnant room. His thoughts were now clear. Clear as the light that illuminated the room as the two girls left.