What was perhaps a few minutes slipped by, before a case of water was brought to their cell by an older soldier. He dumped the bottles through the bars and then tossed a package of bandages and salve through after it. He then turned and sat on a chair where he could keep an eye on them. From the way he lay his rifle across his lap, they could tell he was going to be their new guard.

Despite the new presence in the room, Bo didn't give him any attention. After glancing at him once, she ignored him as thoroughly as he was ignoring them. She picked up a water bottle, sipping on it with the thought that she had to nourish herself if she was going to be strong enough to help the Forlorn. You didn't escape from militia custody dehydrated and weak.

The water seemed to bring some life back to everyone, and their self-imposed silence and isolation finally broke. Esme ordered Khan to pull his shirt collar down so she could access his wound, and she poured one of the bottles of water over it. It was still bleeding, and she looked worried.

"It needs adhesive or stitches," she said, pressing down on the bullet hole with one of the bandages to do her best to staunch the flow.

"Just wrap it up," Khan said. "It'll do until we can get out of here." He said the last bit low, so the guard wouldn't hear.

Esme sighed, but followed Khan's orders. She held one of the bandages to his wound in a bundle, and tightly wrapped another around it. Khan clutched handfuls of the fabric of his pants, breathing shallowly and sweating as Esme worked. To distract him, Esme tried to start a conversation.

"What do you think Silver meant by not having an election?" she asked, glancing at Helga and Bo.

Helga snorted. "Who knows and who cares. He's a traitor, so even if his words meant anything, I don't think we should trust them."

"He rambled on about hurricanes, too," Esme said, shaking her head. "None of it makes sense."

As the conversation shifted to figuring out just how many vile names they could call Silver and the militia, Bo silently made her way to the opposite corner of the cell where she could think in peace. She leaned against the wall, facing away from the others and half in the shadows. She crossed her arms and rubbed her lips with one hand.

What had Silver meant by his words. He surely couldn't have just been talking nonsense. She had seen the way he'd been hyper aware, like he was hiding something. There was something behind his words. Something he didn't want the militia to hear him telling them.

An election. What was there to vote on?

Who would be the one to try and escape first from the cell?

Who would be the sacrifice to go out and test the ground?

Was he telling them to sit tight and he'd come back for them?

No, he wasn't that noble.

Bo bit her lips and looked up. What else would they be voting for? Who died first? She came up blank on any other options. There just wasn't anything they'd hold an election for.

Unless. If he was talking about the Forlorn, and not the small group in the cell... Could he possibly be telling them not to elect a new leader? Could he be telling them about Adam?

Her heart soared and she sucked in breath. If he meant that Adam was still alive, then he'd just given them all the hope they needed to escape. In fact, if Adam was out there, Bo would risk everything to get to him. Especially since his time might not be very long. If Aston had somehow been stopped on the ship, he was no doubt chomping at the bit to get at Adam now. Their time to escape was even more limited now.

Bo looked at the guard, noting that he had pulled out a display screen and was watching something intently. The vague sound of talking and other noises came from the screen, distracting him and hopefully drowning out what Bo was about to say.

"Guys," she whispered, casually walking back to stand in front of the others, with her back to the guard. "I think Silver was telling us Adam is alive."

"What?" Khan asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Was the water poisoned or something? Are you insane?" Helga asked, and inspected her water bottle with mock scrutiny.

"Sh," Bo said. "Just listen. I got the feeling Silver was trying to tell us something that he didn't want the militia to know he was saying. If he was talking about an election, don't you think that could mean not selecting a new leader when our old one is still around?"

The others met her with silence. She supposed this was better than them immediately telling her how insane she was.

Khan was the first to speak again. He had finally pushed himself into a sitting position, his hand pressed over his wound. Blood soaked his shirt and hands, even smeared up his neck and onto his face. He looked brutal and tired, but Bo saw hope in his eyes. A spark that she was so relieved to see. It meant she wasn't alone in her forlorn hope that Aston had somehow been stopped on the ship. "Bo could be right. What if Adam is alive? We shouldn't be sitting around when Clayton and his cronies could be killing him right now."

Helga drew in a slow breath and twisted her lips. "Should we trust the word of a man who turned us in to the militia?"

Khan looked up at her. "He turned us in because he's greedy. But he had no loyalty to the militia. Despite what he did, I think he... well, that he might have thought fondly of me. Of us. He loves money more, but he could have wanted to give us a chance."

"So if the part about the election was true, then what about the hurricane?" Esme asked.

Helga glanced around the room, her arms slowly uncrossing themselves as she took in the surroundings. "If a hurricane came through here, and damage was done, he might have been telling us that there's structural damage."

"A way out?" Bo asked.

Helga nodded. "Maybe a piece of the wall is loose. Or the flooring. Something might be moveable."

Bo chewed on the inside of her cheek. As far as she could see, it was all solid concrete and metal bars. But they couldn't exactly test that theory with a guard in plain sight, even if he was distracted. He'd probably notice if the prisoners suddenly knocked down a wall.

"We'll have to wait until dark," she said, already hating that they had to wait precious hours that could cost Adam his life. She would never forgive herself if they reached him, only to find out that he'd been slaughtered just after they'd found out he was alive.

"Can't we just go now?" Helga asked. "If we can get out and run fast enough, it might not matter if he raises the alarm..."

"We don't even know where Adam is," Bo replied. "If we just run out with the whole militia hunting us, we won't get far. Besides, Khan's not in the right condition to be running around."

Khan opened his mouth to protest, but Esme gave him a stern look that clearly warned him against overestimating his abilities. He clamped his mouth shut again, and hunched over, pouting.

"Well, I'm still going to look for weak spots," Helga said. Bo started to protest, but Helga held up a hand to stop her. "Don't worry, I won't do anything about it if I find something. I just want to see if I can find a route, so that when it does get dark, we don't waste time looking around."

"I don't know, Helga. If the guard sees—"

"Trust me, Bo. I'll be discreet."

"All right," Bo said. She had to trust her. If they wanted to get to Adam as soon as they could, they needed to risk being caught to speed up the process. Besides, if Adam had made Helga his third in command, it meant she was competent.

With this, the conversation dropped off and the group broke up. Helga walked to stand against the wall, while Esme tried to make Khan comfortable. Bo sat down and kept a secret watch on the guard, hoping to find any weakness they might exploit when the time came. Not that she got much information out of him. He barely glanced up every so often to make sure they weren't doing anything they shouldn't, and otherwise he did nothing but watch his display screen.

Helga, on the other hand, slowly migrated around the cell so slowly that even Bo didn't immediately realize what she was doing. She moved with great care, hidden by shifting her weight and stretching. It was almost impossible to tell when she pressed against the wall with an arm here, her foot there. She made it as natural as breathing. She definitely deserved her position as third in command. It would still take her a while to make it all the way around the room, but Bo had hope now that they'd find the weakness Silver had hinted at.

In just a few hours, they could be free. Free to find Adam. Free to save him.