I glanced at the huge prison gates some distance away and paused as I tried to gather the courage to continue walking.
There was no going back now.
The black steel gates that clashed against the snow white mountain were huge and intimidating.
I shuddered and pulled my coat closer to my body as I felt a chill course through my spine.
I sighed.
I need to hurry before the weather gets worse.
My boots were almost sinking in the deep snow, I had lost sensation of my arms and face due to the cold and the fierce wind that slashed constantly against my face was cold and painful.
There was no one near.
Eerily morbid and no sound could be heard other than the howling, screeching wind and the sound of my footsteps.
I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth as I willed my body to keep moving forward despite the pain.
"......"
I paused near the gate wondering what I should do next when I saw some guards approaching me with rifles.
"Identify yourself!" The no nonsense tone of the prison guards ordered harshly.
"D...Doctor Kaysar B..Brind." I stammered raising my hands up to show I wasn't a threat.
My hands and voice were both shaky but I didn't know if it was due to the cold or fear.
The guards lowered the rifles and nodded.
"Follow us!"
Not like I had any choice...
One of them walked ahead leading me while the other had a firm grip on my shoulder, pushing me forward.
The huge metal gate opened and there were several other gates that we had to walk through before reaching a narrow passageway with several highly secured gate.
The cold silence of the guards leading me was domineering.
I felt that my heartbeat was louder than the sound of our footsteps on the steel passageway.
They paused and dragged an inconspicuous bag lying nearby.
"Put this on." The tall one said as he shoved it to my face.
"Huh...clothes?" I asked confused, looking at the content of the bag.
Prison clothes.
"But.... I don't understand.....No!....I am not...p..prisoner. I am doctor Kais..This is a misunderstanding...I swear... Please believe me...." I panicked.
"Put this on." The guard repeated the instruction coldly.
"Here? Right now? I mean..." I felt affronted that I had to change in front of the guards.
My voice wouldn't come out and I felt a lump in my throat as they looked at me without any change in their expressionless faces.
"I u...understand." I stuttered as I quickly changed into the orange prison jumpsuit.
"Hands!"
I immediately put out my hands out of reflex at the quick harsh order.
I suddenly felt terror coarse through my veins and my blood go cold as the guard roughly twisted my hands behind my back and I felt a cold metal latch on to my wrists.
Handcuffs.
My hands were handcuffed behind me.
"No! Let me go! I am not a prisoner!" I squeeked like a scared mouse as I struggled to be free.
"Stay still!" A harsh voice hissed in my ear and I started to tremble, cry and beg.
.... But my pleading fell to empty ears as they ignored me.
A metal ring was attached to my right leg and a leather strap around my midriff made me unable to move my hands.
"Please...let me go... I don't b...belong here. P...please...believe me... Why are y..you doing t...this?" My voice hitched as I pleaded tearfully.
"We will blindfold you now." The guard explained in a calm tone of nonchalance.
"What?!" I felt sick as I realised that there was no way I could escape.
Strong and rough hands tied the blindfold over my eyes so tightly that it hurt.
All I could see was darkness and I felt like retching.
I felt fear.
Fear like I had never felt before.
Fear that completely consumed me and ate me alive.
I couldn't see anything, I could barely move and the firm arms that guided me were leading me to a place I knew barely anything about.
Alkabatra prison.
I would be a prisoner here now....
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
I felt like doing both right now.
I was scared.
Really scared.
I may not know much about the prison but I knew this...
It was a place of no escape.
No return.
I would never go back home or see the light of day ever again.
I would never see my family ever again as I spend the rest of my life rotting in a prison where almost everyone had a record of the worst and most heinous of crimes that would get them executed.
I would never see it coming when I get murdered in my sleep by my cell mates.
I knew this much at least.
There was no way I was going to survive.
Suddenly the blindfold was removed from my eyes and I blinked in confusion trying to take in my surroundings.
"Stay close." The bulkier guard spoke in his usual dismal bored tone.
Before I had time to think about what he meant, I heard the sound of loud and coarse jeering.
We entered another passage with bars on both sides of us.
Prisoners.
They all looked at me like I was an insect or something even less significant and there was a sudden burst of howling, whistling and callous remarks.
There eyes were bright and their faces filled with excitement as they tried to reach out to me through the bars.
I felt weak and scared.
I had never felt so vulnerable and frightened like this before.
Suddenly a hand almost touched me and I flinched violently trying to stick closer to the guards.
A rough bulky man covered in tattoos from head to toe looked at me and licked his lips.
"Found new toy to play with." He grinned at me with half rotten and yellowish teeth.
"Ya always break yer toys ya cur! Letchme ave em inst'd! Imma gonna train it t' be a good doggy!" A massive muscular figure dragging another prisoner on the ground by their hair roared and laughed jeerily.
I whimpered and they all burst out laughing.
"Back off 321!"
"Too close! Back off 321!"
Two guards ordered simultaneously.
The prisoner smirked and tried to push himself even closer so that he actually touched my arms.
"Whatchu gonna do bout it eh? Gov'mnt dogs! Woof woof-" He challenged as he sneered at the guards.
Two shots rang out simultaneously and the man fell to ground lying down in a pool of his own blood.
I retched as the oppressive metallic scent of blood filled the air.
I couldn't breathe and my knees felt weak.
"Defying orders results in death." The guard spoke in a voice that one uses when talking about the weather.
There was an oppressive silence and the prisoners obediently stepped back but their eyes were filled with defiance and hatred.
The prisoner who spoke to the dead man moments ago glared at me and silently moved his thumb horizontally across his neck without blinking as he looked in my eyes.
At least I now know who would kill me here tonight.
I knew I was going to die and I didn't even take a step in my cell yet.
I kept on seeing the body of the man as we kept on walking. I couldn't stop thinking about how the guards did not hesitate to kill him at all.
I kept on imagining myself being shot in his place and I felt sick.
I shouldn't do anything to make these guards angry.
They won't hesitate to shoot me.
I felt broken and empty.
I was lost and alone.
Walking closer and closer to my death with each step I take.
I shut my eyes and tried to block my mind. My head was hurting and my heart was throbbing. I wanted to get out of here already....and I was barely in.
"We are almost there." A guard informed me.
I looked around me and saw an ordinary looking room with other guards.
"Searched him?"
"Not yet."
They all spoke in the same empty tone that made me shudder.
My restraints were removed and I was patted down and searched.
I tried to be as still as possible and not make any sudden movements.
I was afraid of death.
I knew that if I didn't behave, they would kill me.
So I behaved.
I went through a scanner and had my fingerprints recorded.
There was a retina scanner that examined my eye.
"Confirmed identification." A robotic voice spoke.
The guards nodded and spoke to each other quietly.
"Follow us!" one of them barely glanced at me and said dismissaly.
I was a bit surprised at not being restrained this time.
Only the location detector remained at my ankle and the guards just walked either ahead or behind me without holding my shoulder in a firm grip.
I was confused at first but then realised it must be either because they knew that I wouldn't resist or because they were confident that they would be able to easily incapacitate or kill me if I do resist.
I gulped and obediently followed them without any resistance.
They lifted a rug on the floor and I was startled to find a hidden latch that opens up to a dimly lit staircase underground.
It felt eerie and haunting and I had a foreboding feeling about this.
There were many twists and turns but the guards knew exactly where to go.
"We are here." The guard near me said simply as we stood near a huge door.
I shut my eyes and stood still. I didn't want to part from the guards because I knew the prisoners were worse.
The guards could only ensure my safety upto here but beyond that door there was no way I could survive.
"We are here. You have to walk alone now. Walk straight ahead. You will find another door." He explained to me glancing at the door.
"You aren't coming?" I asked in a mixture of fear and hope.
"We aren't authorised to go beyond this point. You are on your own now."
"Just walk straight and open the door ahead. You will be told where to go next." another guard explained slowly as if trying to make a child understand something exceedingly simple.
"Any questions?"
I froze.
"That man you shot.... Do you always do it like that here? Won't there be...questions....?" I stopped talking suddenly as my question was met with silence and cold gazes of all the guards present.
Stupid me and my loud mouth.
Why do I keep on digging my own grave?
I mean...Wont there be any questions?
What if they take it as a threat?
I was just about to apologise, beg for my life and plead for mercy when a guard replied in a cautious and guarded tone.
"I assure you there is no one here who hasn't killed before. Every single one of them deserves death."
I wonder if this applied to me too.
Did I too deserve death because I was mistaken as a prisoner? What if there was someone else beside me who went through the same thing as me? Should they die too?
The guard must have seen me frowning as I was lost in thought so he clarified.
"Whether it be from execution or from my rifle, they all have to die either way. The method makes no difference. All of it is justified. Everyone here deserves to die...some deserve even worse than death."
Another guard nodded and glanced at me.
"Don't worry about questions being asked. We are authorised to kill, use them as we please, experiment and do with them whatever we desire. In Alkabatra there is no such thing as human rights. No one here deserves to be treated as humans. It won't make a difference if such....objects were to die."
I shuddered and felt a chill course through me as I looked into the cold, empty and dark eyes of the guards.
No human rights? I won't even be treated as human? Nobody would even care if I was to die here. It would be like I never existed. It would be easy for them.....I was just an object to them after all.
"We are here. You can go ahead now." A monotonous voice reminded me and I slowly opened the door and walked with slow and heavy steps towards my execution ground, ignoring the burning gaze of the guards behind my back.
I gulped and slowly opened the door ahead of me with trembling, sweaty hands that wouldn't stop shaking.
I froze as I looked at the sight in front of me.
I heard the guards shut the door behind me with a loud thud but I stood rooted at the spot without looking back.
My eyes were wide and I stood as still as an unmoving statue as I took the sight before me.
I couldn't move or speak.
I just froze and gaped with open mouth still rooted to the same spot when the man slowly turned back and looked at me.
His dark eyes met mine and I felt time stand still.