I feel the sensation of cold steel on my fingertips, something is covering my eyes in a tight grip as a sense of nausea washes over me. I believe I've just woken up from a long sleep, but I can't really tell as I can't see anything in this darkness.
It doesn't smell, rather- it smells oddly like that 'nothingness' smell those hospitals have, that sterile kind of environment that burns your nose a little.
Suddenly, the grip over my eyes is released and I'm able to see once again.
"You'll be escorted outside once you've been cleared, sit still until then."
A tall man wearing a strange black veil that obscures his face and an equally pitch-black suit had uncovered my eyes, it being a blindfold the entire time. I see that I've been sitting on a bench this entire time, I'm wearing a pure-white jumpsuit but no socks or shoes.
My voice is too hoarse from all of my shouting during the initial duration of the flight to give much resistance- I just give a weak, defeated nod to him as he walks away to the left of the plane, him disappearing from my line of sight as I can vaguely see the outside world from the plane's exit- the ground shining bright under the sun.
It felt like a solid ten-minutes before another person came back to check on me, this time it was a woman- but her suit and veil were identical to the other man before her.
"Resist and I'll use lethal force, otherwise once I've unchained you- follow me." She motioned to a pistol revealed from the inside of her suit pocket, her message clear enough to me as I allowed her to unlock the chains that kept my arms and legs in place.
Walking out of the plane, I find myself on a flat black-top that extends for a considerable distance- on one end to the left there is a big gray building surrounded by a small bunch of palm trees. Ahead of us is a forest that covers what I now know is an island- the island that I've been sent to fulfill my death sentence.
We walk in at a brisk pace to the gray building, my eyes not diverting from the forest to our right- I can vaguely make out what looks like a ring of camouflaged gating that encloses any kind of opening into the forest.
The entrance to the gray building is nothing to note, but when we entered, I was surprised to see that it looked more like a five-star hotel lobby than a prison office.
The woman who had unchained me motioned me to follow her to a steel side-door that was a little out of the way from the lobby following inward to the right, I saw glimpses of fancily dressed men and women with identical veils like the woman's as we left.
I was ushered into the room as the veiled woman who was leading me this entire time left me, leaving me in the strange room that I had found myself now alone.
My jumpsuit didn't help much with the cool chill of the room as I got goosebumps from the artificial cold. There was a single TV mounted on the otherwise white, empty room all the way at the end- it suddenly turning on.
"Welcome." The first face I've seen now in over what I'd imagine an entire day had finally revealed itself, it was that of a beautiful woman- she had fair-skin and a tight platinum-blonde bun; her eyes a piercing steely-gray. She greeted me with a warm smile, but her eyes betrayed her otherwise friendly gesture with a disgusted look; I felt like a bug in her presence.
"You've finally arrived, prisoner thirteen." Her smile curved into a grin as she re-adjusted the black officer's cap that she wore- on it was labeled the title 'Warden'.
"The others have been waiting for you to arrive, as well- today is your liberation day."
She gave a polite applause on the TV screen- I couldn't help but I feel at a loss.
"Liberation day?" I questioned; she rose an eyebrow.
"Why yes, thirteen. Liberation. Liberation from your dull, boring life, that is."
Her curved smile shifted into a twisted sneer, whatever facade of friendliness that she had prior dissolved as her eyes paralleled the look of a demon's.
"Pardon the poor joke, I don't often have many visitors to practice those you see."
"I've read your file, quite despicable of you don't you think? That poor family, they never saw it coming."
I looked away from the TV screen, I could feel my temples throb from the pure anguish I felt over the turn of events I've been thrown into these past few weeks. At this point, I was too defeated to plead anymore- no one here would bother listening to me.
"Let's see- multiple stab-wounds, pre-meditated, two children and two adults." She listed off the details of the crime casually, keeping track of the details on her gloved fingers; I kept my head down.
"No wonder the judge sent you here so quickly, I bet he was too disgusted to even look at you, fufu." She gave a disgusting giggle, her eyes brimming with a perverted glee.
"Well, no matter-"
"We welcome any and all here at Tartarus." She gave a faux bow on the screen, her taunting permeated in every action she took.
"You'll be taken to the clearing room in short notice, and then you'll be welcome into the facility proper."
"Try not to make too big of splash here thirteen."
"As well- let's see, ah here it is." She waved a manilla folder.
"You turn eighteen exactly one month from today!"
"Well, even if your stay here isn't fated to be long-"
"You know what, I won't say."
She gave another sick giggle as she tipped her hat in goodbye, the screen then shutting off just like that.
I felt a surge of vomit build up in my throat, but I held it in.
Who knows if they'll actually clean me up if I puke my guts out.
//
After I was forcibly stripped and given vaccines for certain island-borne illnesses, I was escorted by two armed men wearing tactical gear with the now familiar black veils over their faces as we entered the gated forest.
It felt like at least an hour of walking through the seemingly untouched forest before we arrived at a plateau deep within.
Another gate was erected in a circular pattern, it was too tall to see what was inside of it- as the gate itself was more like a tall barrier than anything like a chain-link.
We circled the gate until we found the entrance, it being a solid metal double-door; they looked to be several inches thick.
One of the guards waved a card on a scanner attached to the door's hinge, an audible ping played from it- and the doors opened automatically.
The other guard grabbed me from the shoulder and pushed me inside, the doors closing behind me as I was once again abandoned in a new place.
From there began the month of hell as I know it, as I found myself in the midst of wolves in the shape of people encroach upon me like a rotting carcass under the island's cruel sun...