Children of Darkness

Chapter 1

Duske's POV

My name is Duske Grayling. I'm the oldest of the twelve in this room, and I'm the goalkeeper of the team. One by one we all went missing. Lucian, the youngest member, was kidnapped first after he left the team. We all have numbers from 101 to 112. No one knows we are here, only those men do, but we don't know if our parents care we are not at home. Sometimes I wonder if they miss us.

~

The lights flickered in the room where cold bar cages stood with twelve youngsters trapped inside each one, wondering their fate.

"This bloody cage is too small!"

"It stinks in this room."

"Its cold as well."

"Heath, I'm sorry I left the team. Maybe if I had stayed none of this would've happened," Lucian muttered in a depressed state.

"It wasn't your fault, we lost the final match ourselves," Heath sighed, trying to calm the youngest member down.

Bud glared at the youngest member. "You wait till we get out of here: I'll kill you myself!"

Lucian looked at Bud with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, okay? You have every right to be mad at me."

Willow patted Lucian's back through the bars. "It's okay, little guy, just take deep breaths... like so."

Takemi took a deep breath in. "When I was brought here by those men, they made me tell them about you guys."

Bud's hands gripped onto the cage. "YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

Lucian cried more. "I'm sorry, I really am! Please forgive me! That's all I beg for."

"Well, we won't get out of here as enemies," advised Heath.

"What else did you tell them?" asked Duske, softly.

Lucian bit his lip. "That's all I told them. Honestly, that's all!"

Suddenly, four men in white lab coats bashed in the door and their eyes met with the other twelve.

"Now, little children, let's make this very clear to you all: no one can hear you cry or scream. And the funny part is - no-one knows you're missing!" one of the men laughed.

"What do you mean no-one knows we're here?" Willow asked in a rising tone.

The tallest of the men walked over to Willow's cage. "This place got shut down long before you were born."

"Shut down? What do you mean?" Heath queried. No matter what these men were going to do to them, he kept his voice calm in hope of negotiation.

Another man walked over to Heath's cage. "You don't want to know the reason, little boy," he chuckled.

Lucian bit his lip harder. "I'm scared... Just let us go!"

The tallest man went over to Lucian and put his hand through the bars, grabbing his face. "You think you're so tough 112? How about we take you first, as you've been here all by yourself for ages?|

Lucian gulped and watched as the men open his door and lead him out. "Now we will make a deal in front of your friends: if you complete your first test, you and your friends get food. But if you fail, you starve."

Lucian looked at his friends then turned his head to the men. "Okay, I agree."

The four men lead Takemi out slamming the door shut behind them.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I hope so, and I hope we get that food - I'm hungry."

The men whisked Lucian away to a solitary room. "You lay on the bed, and we will strap you down."

Lucian braced himself as he walked over to bed, and took a seat on it before laying on his back.

"We don't want you breaking out now do we? So we need to strap you in tight." A sly smile crept on the man's face.

Lucian felt the straps getting tighter on his legs and arms. "That's too tight!"

"Now, now, little one. This pain will only hurt for a short time," the tallest man smiled as he held a needle and started poking it into Lucian's eyes.

Lucian's scream filled the rooms and hallways in the lab. "MOMMY, DADDY! IT HURTS! HEATH, HELP ME!" he cried.

"What are they doing to him?" Heath wondered.

Duske gulped. "I don't know at all, but it sounds painful."

The other members listened on in horror as they heard Lucian's scream.

"JUST HOLD HIS HEAD!"

"COVER HIS MOUTH!"

"It can't be good in there," Willow muttered.

"No sh*t," said Bud.

Oleander covered his ears. "Poor Lucian."

Bud huffed. "That's what he gets for passing us on to those men."

"How can you say that?" Heath yelled. "He's the youngest! You don't know what he witnessed as a child. Do you know why he is in that place with me?"

Metal clunking noises made the team freeze and stare at the door as Lucian was brought back to the room and thrown in his cage. "Good-for-nothing."

"Don't we get food?" Duske enquired.

"No, as your little friend failed."

Lucian huddled against back wall of the cage, hiding his face into his arms. "It hurts... hurts... hurts..." he sobbed softly.