Once Upon an Eclipse

~28~

In a flash, Caius leapt up and with a flick of his finger, his friends laid unconscious on the ground. Trevor gave a start and started to charge again, but he was frozen. He couldn't move. It was like something was holding him down, pressing him down on the floor.

Caius stepped up to him and pressed his booted foot against his face, crushing him.

Caius grinned maliciously down at him. "Lights out."

The first thing Lupe felt was a cold. A bone, chilling cold that caused her to tremble violently, so intense it woke her up. Her teeth were chattering. She opened her eyes and saw she was lying on a cement floor, stone walls on either side of her, only a dimly lit torch that looked like it would soon go out hanging on the wall her only source of light.

She gingerly sat up, her arms folded over her in a vain attempt to warm herself. She'd never felt this type of cold before. Ever. It was almost pure agony. Her eyelids kept drooping, wanting to fall asleep and never wake up again.

She tried to stand up, but a sharp pain shot through her leg, causing her to cry out and fall back to the floor. She looked at her leg and pulled up the left leg of her jeans. There was some kind of wooden stake embedded into her skin, stinging as the sharpness protruded her flesh.

Tears streamed down her face in rivers as she felt the sharp stinging. Shifting into a sitting position, she gripped the wood and started to slowly slide the wood out of her skin. Blood trickled slightly from the open sore as she continued to slide the stake out of her skin. She clenched her teeth as the stinging continued to intensify.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the wood was out. Gasping in relief, she threw the stake away from her and pressed her hand over the wound. Fortunately the stinging had dulled down, but it was still freezing, and she was going to get frostbite if she didn't find a way out of this room.

She stood up, ignoring the throbbing in her leg where that stake had been. She wrapped her arms around herself and gazed around the room. The walls were plain cement except for the wall in front of her, where it had a single door.

She immediately limped over to it, her leg still incredibly sore. There was a handle on the door and just as she was about to pull the door open when a low, watery voice stopped her.

"Help me. . ."

Lupe spun around and saw a woman covered in rags cowering in the corner, shivering violently. The skin on the woman's face was stretched over her face, her cheekbones jutting out. It seemed like the slightest motion would cause the skin to tear. Her hair was blonde, streaked with gray and greasy as though it hadn't been washed in weeks. Her eyes were a dull blue and full of pain. Lupe hadn't noticed the woman before.

"Please help me," the woman pleaded in a low, soft, gravelly voice.

While Lupe desperately wanted to get out of this room and get into the warmth, something about the woman's pleading and broken eyes had her walking over to her, even though the warning bells in her head were ringing, telling her to stay away.

Lupe crouched in front of the woman. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm cold. So cold."

"I know. I am too." She held her hand out to the woman. "If you come with me, I can take you somewhere safe."

"Can't move. . ."

"Because you're cold? 'Cause you're hurt? Why can't you move?"

"Cold. . ."