Suddenly she was swept off her feet and carried into the bright light. It made her squint. The smell of stale sweat made her wrinkle her nose. Cold air blasted from the ceiling and she shivered.
"Put-put," she stammered, stumbling over her words in her panic, patting the arms holding her. "Down."
"I'm taking you to the sick bay," the person holding her said. "We'll get you cleaned up."
Stacey looked up and realised it was a man. She looked at the arms carrying her and twitched her nose. No wonder they were so hard. They were full of muscle. His shoulders were as big as boulders.
Stacey was sat on a bed and told to take off her stockings while the man turned around. She blinked at him and her stockings on her legs. Spotting a pair of scissors on the bench on the side, Stacey leaned over to pick them up.
"Are you done yet, little lady?" the man asked, only to hear the sound of something being cut. He turned around to see her cutting the ends of the stockings off, so that her feet were bare from the ankles down. "That works too," he nodded with a chuckle.
Stacey passed him the scissors and then carefully tried to pull the bloody stocking off out of her wound. She hissed when it pulled. The bin skidded over, kicked by the huge muscled man and Stacey threw one stocking end into it. The other stocking had become glued to one edge of the open wound and made her eyes spangle with tears.
"You have bandages on both feet. You've injured them before recently," the man observed, preparing a basin and a squirty bottle that read 'saline solution'.
"I do?" Stacey looked at her feet again and then nodded, agreeing. "Yes, I guess I do."
"How'd you hurt them last time?"
"Last time?" Stacey frowned, staring at the dirty old bandages. "I think I was asleep?"
"What are you looking at me for? If you don't know, how would I know?" the man laughed at her.
"Then I don't know," Stacey told him solemnly.
"Hey, Boss, Grices, what's going on? Why'd you carry a little chick in? Is she lost?" a lanky man leaned on the doorway.
"You have a bug on your face," Stacey told the lanky man.
"It's a mole," the lanky man touched the side of his jaw.
"Oh. Sorry," Stacey twitched her nose and then concentrated on getting the second stocking off her foot.
"That's a lot of blood," the lanky man told her.
"Yeah," Stacey agreed. "I think it's mine. I'm sorry to intrude. I didn't mean to fly in here. My feet disappeared for a moment."
The lanky man coughed and exchanged glances with the big man sitting on a stool in front of Stacey.
"I think she was being chased," Grices told the lanky man. "She had the look of someone being chased when I saw her stop outside our gym. Go and keep an eye on the door for me and clean up any blood."
"Sure thing, Boss."
Stacey finally got the stocking off and she dropped it into the bin with a sigh of relief, swaying as she sat.
"Hey, kid. Are you alright?"
A hand reached out to stabilise her.
"There are two of you now," Stacey breathed. "I'm tired."
"No, kid, don't go to sleep yet. You need to tell me who your family are so that I can contact them for you."
Stacey recited her parents' address, leaving Grices confused.
"That's not - I don't know where that address is. What about a phone number?"
Stacey recited her father's mobile number and Grices looked even more confused.
"Who's been looking after you then?" Grices shook her a little, patting her cheek to keep her away.
"A bastard," Stacey spat and then said solemnly. "A mean bastard. He won't let me go home. Says I'm disobedient and naughty and I owe him. He's always hurting me. I'm going to kill him one day," she said and then paused. "But if I did, I'd end up starving on the streets again. I should have just died, rather than joining them. He's just like that big balled centaur. Big pricks, all of them. I'd have killed him like I killed the centaur but he's much stronger than I am. Killing the centaur was just luck. I actually don't know how to fight. I wish I did. Then those shiny black high heeled shoes wouldn't keep pinching me either."
Stacey sighed.
"Name," Grices told her, patting her cheek more firmly. "I need a name. Do I call the ambulance for you?"
"Ow," Stacey sat up straight and touched her cheek. "What happened? Who are you? Ow, my feet hurt."
"I'm calling an ambulance," Grices told her.
"No need. Just look for Dr Jin," Stacey yawned. "Dr Sun Jin. Here." Stacey pulled a necklace out of her dress. "I can't undo it."
Her bloody fingers were slippery and she couldn't seem to find the clasp. Grices briefly glimpsed the medical disc containing Stacey's information.
"Hey, have you seen a girl in a fancy blue dress without any shoes on?" a voice was heard from the front door.
At the sound of that voice, Stacey's eyes widened. In the next moment, she had hidden under the bed and curled up in a ball. Grices lifted an eyebrow.
"No, sorry," replied the lanky man's voice.
"Thanks."