Chereads / Internal Winters / Chapter 9 - Chapter Eight:

Chapter 9 - Chapter Eight:

We've been roaming in the tunnels for hours now, our shoes sloshing on the wet earth beneath us. What surrounds us is darkness, so dark I can't see the silhouette of my hands in front of me. We feel the rocky walls for guidance, and listen for sounds of our stalkers as we do so. It is like a game of cat and mouse, hiding behind walls while the predator lurks against the edges, listening for movement.

We haven't spoken since entering the tunnels, and frankly, I'm glad. I find that both of us wouldn't have anything positive to say.

There's a draft around us, but the coldness of the air shifts. It's warmer, and this tells us we're close to the exit of the tunnel. There's light, but we don't move towards it.

There's a lesson in evading potential captors.

Caution.

I can see Mom's face now, and she looks worse for wear. She's drenched in sweat, and her short hair is stuck to her forehead.

She's dying...

Or she will die if I don't get her help first.

If only I could find that man.

We meet eyes, but she quickly turns away from my gaze. She nods towards the tunnel exit, and I get the hint. I follow her slow steps and watch the trees outside for any movement of life. But it appears absent of life in general, so we step out into the open.

We don't talk.

We just breathe the air in relief. Taking out the map, I look for any clues on what to do next. But I don't find any. It's not like we're looking for resources. We're searching for two people, who may or may not be dead—or worse, captured. It's like finding two needles in a haystack.

"Where-" I start, but stop when I hear the click of a gun.

"Hello, ladies."

I don't have time to react as my head is hit by a heavy object.

Darkness envelopes me into its tight grip.

I wake with a start, my body I realize is soaked in icy water. I choke and sputter, spitting out the water that invaded my mouth and nostrils. My head throbs, and it honestly feels as if I was hit more than once. I open my eyes to find I'm in a room just as cold as the water itself. It's an old bathroom, but one that you would find in a high school locker room. However, it's been refurbished. The showers have no stalls for privacy, and there's chains at each one—meant to detain a person. Or, well, females.

I am completely naked and exposed. My wrists are handcuffed to the wall, but it's higher up. I'm standing on my toes and my wrists feel like they're going to pop off from their sockets. In front of me is a man I've never seen before, tall and lanky, but with an obvious weight to his belly. He's holding a bucket, of which he raises and water splashes from within it.

On to me.

I cry out at the chill, but I don't falter. I give him my best glare and spit at him. He only smirks, looking as numb on the outside as he is on the inside.

"Just thought I'd cool you off," he laughs and throws the empty bucket on the ground.

"Where is my Mom?!" I scream, but he ignores me.

"Little pet, you have such a big bark. We'll have to deal with that, won't we?" He moves to a table in the room and grabs a red collar with a silver heart dangling from it.

"This will suit you perfectly," he strides towards me with intent, and try as I might to avoid him, he's the one in control here. I flinch when the soft velvet of the collar hugs itself around my neck. It feels too tight, like I'm being held in a firm choke, but just enough where I can breathe and it won't kill me.

He moves and holds up a remote, small as a keychain attachment. When I screech at him, I'm suddenly held by a powerful, electric force that violently rips all the way down my neck right to the tips of my toes. As I continue to be vocal about the pain, the experience continues. I have no idea what it is, but every time I make a noise, I feel intense pain all over my body.

"Lovely little trinket, eh?" He smirks, and I can see the success in his eyes. He knows he has me in his grip, and I'm completely at his mercy. I look away from him when the pain stops, not bothering to respond. My chest rises and falls at a rapid pace, sweat drenching my body from the intensity of my physical response. My head feels like its breathing, pulsations flashing over my scalp.

"You're a fine specimen. It's too bad I can't have you myself," he sighs as if sad, moving towards me slowly. I turn my glare on him again, which he responds by giving me another one of his smirks. He raises his hand and trails a finger over the collar on my neck, down over my chest and then circling over my right breast. He shudders in pleasure, while I on the other hand fight the urge to throw up in his face.

"You have such beautiful breasts, it's such a waste to send you off without a little taste," he leans forward, and I feel his hot, disgusting breath over my breast. His wet tongue lathers against my overly sensitive spot, and I desperately try to evade his advances.

He holds me against him as he breathes in deeply, grinding himself against my naked thigh.

"So good," he moans, continuing to pleasure himself against me. He squeezes my breasts with both hands and lets out a long grunt. Tears trickle down my cheeks, but I don't give him the pleasure of hearing my cries. I look at the shower head above me and count how many holes it has.

If only I was free and had a knife, I'd shove it right in his neck. I'd slice him open like a butcher.

If only.

He licks from my right breast up to my neck, and I can feel him smile against my skin.

"Look what you've done," he moves back and grunts, showing me a wet spot on his pants.

I don't say anything, but if looks could kill, he would be dead right now. I've never been so disgusted.

The door opens and another man enters the room, a loud screeching sound echoing from the rusted hinges. "Is she clean?"

My violator immeditately straightens his back at the sound of the other man's voice. He rushes away from me and lowers his head submissively, "Yes, I've done what has been ordered."

The other man, much younger than this one, raises a dark eyebrow as if he doesn't believe a word. "You seem a little close for comfort, Nate, do we need to reprimand you for touching what doesn't belong to you?"

Nate gulps, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously. "No, sir, I did not defile the product."

"If we find out you have, you know what would happen, Nate."

He nods profusely, avoiding eye contact with the other man. "Of course, sir."

The new visitor laughs out loud, shaking his head at Nate in disgust. "I'll take the product now. Clean this place up!"

"Y-yes! Yes, sir!" Nate shouts, moving to grab a mop and the bucket he'd thrown previously.

The other man walks towards me and pulls out a loop of keys from his pocket, his facial expression lacking in depth. His eyes are a pale, dull brown. And his black hair is curly, flowing down to his shoulders in effortless waves. He's wearing a long sleeved, light blue dress shirt and black jeans. He could be considered attractive, but he's only on the outside. On the inside, he's insidiously repulsive.

"Her collar is quite nice, I'm glad I chose the red," he says as if I'm not here. Nate only nods at the man in response and hands him the keychain remote he had earlier.

I stare at the man, trying to see who he is. Is there no sense of humanity left in him?

He catches my stare, but does not scold me for looking at him so intensely. Instead, he challenges me.

"We can do this all day, chickie, but you're needed elsewhere," he laughs as he puts a key into a handcuff holding my wrist hostage.

I say nothing out of fear I'll experience the electrifying pain from earlier.

When both wrists are freed, I want to hit him, but my arms have no strength in them. They are completely asleep. He catches me when I fall forward, not caring about my nakedness.

"Nate, remember what I said," he comments while taking me in his arms towards the other door. How I want to kill both of these men. I can't help but think murderous thoughts. I am so angry and sickened by what's happening to me right now. I can't even comprehend that I'm here. That I've already been violated. I know what faces me soon will be worse. I'd bet my life on that.

The man brings me down a long corridor, and I flinch when his large hand rubs my bottom. He licks his lips and groans, shaking his head. "Too bad."

"You're disgusting," I hiss, earning a loud laugh in response.

"Is that all you have to say to your saviour?"

"Saviour?" I nearly shout, but stop when I feel pain ripple down my spine. I start convulsing, and he lazily pulls out the keychain remote Nate gave him, and holds me with one arm. He presses a button and the pain stops immediately. I cry out, releasing my now bleeding tongue from my teeth. He shrugs his shoulders and then lifts me up so that both arms hold me close to his body.

He kicks a door with his shoe and it quickly opens to reveal a petite naked woman, a thick silver chain wrapped around her neck. It looks as if she'd grown into it, as it's so tight on her neck I can't imagine her ever getting it on in the first place.

"Master," she bows her head.

I look farther into the room and see hundreds of naked women, and about a dozen or so men. The males, of course, all carry guns in their arms; whilst the women are silent and vulnerable against any advances. There is no utterance from their lips, and their eyes completely empty of the fight I've witnessed by those in the catacombs. These women have given up, and this only increases my anxiety by the second.

I take in the rest of my surroundings and come to the conclusion that this is a high school, as this room is a gymnasium. Or at least, it used to be.

"Take her," the man throws me onto the floor roughly, my knees painfully slamming onto the concrete floor. I cry out, my numbed hands not able to help me in the fall.

The woman nods and grabs my hands to pull me up off the floor. I follow her lead and she brings me to where the women are sitting in the room. She does not smile or offer me comfort, and suddenly I feel more alone than ever. Even though there are so many women here, it is as if I am the only one left. The only female actually wanting to raise hell against my captors.

Mom...

I can't imagine what she's going through right now.

I lean my head down onto my scratched kneecaps and use my hair to hide my tearful face. It's the only moment I am allowed to myself, but it's soon taken from me too. I hear shouts from multiple men and look up to find more males leaking into the room. They're like a virus, overwhelming us by their increase in numbers.

But when I catch sight of one male in particular, my heart twinges.

It's him.