Joseph was right.

7.

"Pratt?" I stepped towards him, shutting the car door behind me, keeping my eyes locked onto Pratt.

My lips formed a hesitant smile and I took another step closer, he did the same but Jacob caught on quickly, Jacob made a short whistle towards Pratt and gave him a certain look. 

Pratt backed down and looked towards his feet like a small dog in trouble, I noticed Pratt was still wearing his officers uniform, had black eyes and cuts about his exposed skin, it brought back a certain emotion that made my gut burn with uncertainty, I doubt Pratt is being treated as kindly as I am.

Jacob ignored me and walked around the car to stand in front of Pratt, my smile disappeared as the taller man threatened Pratt with whispers I couldn't hear. 

pratt stood to the side and Jacob walked forward, not bothering to turn around, he motioned two fingers to follow him.

pratt looked up from the ground to me, I opened my mouth to say something, like 'what's happening here?'. but Pratt lowered his head and kept quiet. 

.

As I followed Jacob through the front doors, Pratt followed behind silently, the smell was constant as we walked through the large building, Jacob turned a corner which leads us to a staircase. 

where was joseph? why have I been brought here, maybe I did something wrong? 

pratt... did the others not leave? are they all here? trapped?

as we got to the second floor, Jacob stopped to talk to a peggie with a clipboard, the peggie handed it to him while discussing something under my hearing level, I walked up next to Jacob and looked back towards Pratt, who had his eyes fixated on the ground, I was about to turn fully around but Jacob put his hand on my lower back, motioning me to walk forwards with him after he gave back the clipboard. 

the sudden touch sent a shiver down my spine as I tried to keep up with jacobs pace. 

he took his hand away and lead us down a hallway, my mind was blown away with how big this place is. much bigger than josephs compound, the hallway smelt like dirt and iron. it was so strong I could taste it on my tongue as we continued to walk.

if my curiosity wasn't so high, I'm afraid my knees might buckle from the atmosphere of this place, suddenly over the barking and movement of outside, a scream and groan came from a room just ahead of us. 

pratt let out a sob but covered his mouth quickly, "wh-what was that?" I turned around to Pratt, he was holding himself from crying. I turned around confused, I motioned towards Jacob, "what is this place? that was someone in pain!" he kept on ahead and continued walking, we neared the door which the noises were coming from, suddenly another cry for help came from inside. 

I went to open the door but Jacob was quick to pull me back and force me to keep walking, "what are you doing? let me help them" I struggled but it was useless against jacobs grip. 

"stop!-" I yelled at him, he pulled me close very suddenly, "do you want to end up like them?" he growled at me and pushed me to keep walking. 

I couldn't keep my breathing straight and my head felt like it was slowly thumping. Jacob returned his hand on my lower back as we turned the corner and he pulled out a set of keys, unlocking the door in front of us, a simple scungy room, Pratt walked up next to me.

"In" Jacob waved his hand towards the room and Pratt made his way past me, Jacob shut the door and locked it before I could try to follow Pratt in there, "Jacob?" he returned his hand on my back as we walked to another door only a couple of rooms down.

"What?" he mumbled, I was surprised he actually answered me, "why- why is Pratt here?" I looked at him as he opened the door and walked in, he had a smirk on his face and a low chuckle escaped his throat, he held the door open for me and I stepped into the slightly larger room then pratts, this one had a bed, desk, and pinboard with maps and the such. 

"Joseph didn't tell you?" he closed the door and locked it behind us. 

I turned towards him confused, swallowing the lump in my throat, "none of your 'friends' left, we have them, all of them. although their not as willing as you.-" he walked around me towards the table in the middle of the room, full of documents and planning of whatever Jacob does -"they have to be taught how to believe, how to see Joseph as their leader"

"why would you do this? you can't just kidnap them, they wanted to leave, -" I pointed my finger towards myself as Jacob leaned back on the table to look at me -"I was the one who wanted to stay, not them!" my head was pounding and I could feel my face getting hot, Jacob tilted his head and gave me this look, "does joseph know? that you took them?" he brought his hand up to scratch his beard, his calm demeanor being me off even more.

"It was Josephs orders, would you have stuck around if you knew the truth?"

.

[sorry this chapter is a bit dry, ill try to make the next one a bit spicy]