Chapter 3

Freya

Day 19 of Captivity

Tears leaked from my eyes as I sat in silence staring at the empty space across the room where Amy once sat. The smart young woman had been beaten to death over the space of six hours while the man with the long beard held my head in place so I couldn’t look away.

I could still hear her screams and see her blood splatter against the wall as claws slashed through her skin.

They said they were teaching us a lesson. Teaching me a lesson. We belonged to them now, and any attempt at escaping would be met with deadly force.

It worked. The remaining three girls and I hadn’t uttered a word since they dragged her bloody broken body from the room at first light.

Living as a rogue had hardened me. I had witnessed murders, many of them over the years, I had even played a part in taking a life a time or two but always in defence, never like this.

Not a single one of those moments, none of my lessons had even slightly prepared me to witness that.

A shiver wracked my body, and I wrapped my arm around my bent knees as tears slipped from my eyes, crying for the girl I barely knew. The girl I had once wished I could be.

Day 23 of captivity

The days that followed Amy’s death were quiet and sombre. None of us had the energy to fight or to stay strong, after all what were we fighting for. I couldn’t risk making another plan, if I died no one would miss me. Well maybe my uncle would, but that would be it, whereas these girls, they had lives, families that loved them. People who were waiting for them to come home.

It was day 23 when the door opened again, and we all flinched back into the wood of the walls. We had come to learn to dread the door opening, we had learnt our place. I closed not wanting to see what horror awaited us today, but they sprung open as all I saw behind my closed lids was the horror that haunted me.

The broken, lifeless body of the sweet girl with blonde hair, her lifeless eyes, the spreading blood, the screams that still echoed in my head.

No, the unknown was definitely better than facing that. So, I watched in helpless abandon as two men entered the room and grabbed a screaming Chloe and a crying Beth, taking them into the all for inspection, and still I watched the faces, I memorised the features, because one day. One day they would pay.

Day 36 of captivity

Chloe was gone so was Beth. Sold no doubt to what ever scum thought it was acceptable to buy and trade slaves. Leah was still here, so were three other girls, Tori, Hannah, and Lissa. There had been a fourth, Marianne, but she was gone already.

I bit my lip against the urge to shout at the idiotic woman across the room who had been blathering on for the last four hours about how Daddy would get her out here, and that she wouldn’t be here more than a day. She was literally driving me insane, but I didn’t have the heart to clue her in to reality.

I hadn’t tried to escape again although my mind had come up with a plan all on its own. Not that I would likely be able to pull it off, I was half the size I was when I arrived here, I meant I had always wanted to shift a little weight, but this was taking the biscuit I no linger had curves, just bones. I felt weak all the time and the longer I was going without shifting the more depressed Shay became, with only me for company, I couldn’t say I blamed her, I wasn’t exactly a happy soul of late.

Only my mind wouldn’t stop thinking over the whole situation from the moment I was captured. In over a month I still hadn’t managed to figure out who these guys were. It was easy enough to figure out that they answered to someone other than themselves when they bandied the word boss around like it was going out of fashion, though it never seemed to be directed at anyone. So, they weren’t working alone.

I also couldn’t figure out why I was still here. In all the times that door had opened I hadn’t once been dragged out. Not that I was complaining I certainly would never work as anyone’s slave, that was for damn sure, but it didn’t make sense. Leah had been dragged out once then returned before the buyer took Marianne, I had been here longer than anyone else and I couldn’t make any sense of it.

Day 68 of captivity

The days turned into months and the weeks all bled together. There had been a little trouble last night, a fight of some kind outside the cabin, none of us could really work out what was said, they were too far away but the girls had fun this morning making up stories.

Leah, Tori and Hannah had all been bought. Marissa, Kerry and Charlotte had been brought in to replace them, only Charlotte died in the first twelve hours, some sort of medical condition. Kerry, the girl with the big mouth, shut up instantly when the door opened and one of the men entered looking seriously pissed off and deciding to take that anger out on the first thing he came across. Me.

I fought my instinct and relaxed my muscles knowing it would hurt much less as hi boot connected with my side, with enough force to send me skidding across the floor as far as the chains would allow.

“Fuckin piece of shit asshole” The guy muttered to himself as he kicked out again, his boot connecting with my face this time and as much as I tried, I couldn’t help the cry of pain as my nose broke and blood seeped down my face. Bringing my hands up to protect my head he took it out on the rest of my body and I whimpered and cried as the blows kept coming.

Eventually the kicks stopped, and I moved an arm away to see the room empty except for the other girls.

“Are you okay?” Marissa asked from across the room, and I rolled my eyes as I tentatively sat up, what a stupid question. Covered in my own blood, moving like a ninety-year-old and groaning in plain and she asks if I’m alright.

“Yeah, peachy.” The sarcasm was obvious, and it wasn’t her fault, but I didn’t have the energy to apologise. With a deep breath and gritted teeth, I placed my fingers either side of my nose and snapped it back into place, a scream torn from my throat as the bones realigned with a sickening crunch. As I sagged back against the wall, darkness vision my vision asleep came

Day 92 of captivity

The days passed in a monotony of hell, each bringing the same as the last. The girls came and went, the faces changed but the stories remained the same. Innocent girls in the wrong place at the wrong time and all of a sudden, the life they took for granted was gone.

It was just Amelia and I at the minute. She was a fighter I knew that much, and had held out longer than the others had before giving in to their situation. She had been ere about a week, and still fought against our captors every chance she got.

Night had fallen and darkness surrounded us as I heard her chains rattling slightly in the room before seeing her silhouette as she stood up and the breath left my lungs in a rush of panic.

“What are you doing?” I asked in the otherwise silent room.

“Getting out of here.” She uttered stepping towards the door.

“You can’t. We tried once, they beat one of the girls to death n front of the rest of us.

“Well, I would rather die trying.” She muttered before the door pulled open with a creak and she stepped into the hall.

I held my breath as I listened out for any signs of movement, signs she had been caught, but there was nothing. Several minutes later I heard the outer door open and close with a soft creak and still I held my breath.

Eventually morning came and still there was nothing. She did it, she got out. I relaxed a little and let sleep come although it wasn’t long before I was woken.

Day 93 of captivity.

“Where is she? Where the fuck is she?” The beatings kept coming, the same question asked over and over again.

“That’s enough” A different voice stated, one I hadn’t heard before and I forced my swollen eyes open to see a smartly dressed man in the doorway. “We need to move. Bring her with us.” He stated then a blindfold wrapped around my eyes, and someone grabbed a painful hold of my hair before dragging me across the room. I passed out before I left the doorway.