The Underworld

chapter seven

I had no idea how long had passed since they took Hayley. The tears that fell had dried. I could count the number of times they brought us something to chew on, four times to be exact. I could feel my body slowly eating itself from the inside. My head was pounding, making my headache worse. Every once in a while my stomach would announce its hunger. I had gotten used to the stench of our bodies. The back of my legs felt numb after burning for quite some time.

Keira hadn't said anything since before they took Hayley and neither have I. I could feel her stare on me as I held my head on my knees. I felt useless. I am useless.

The anger I held was replaced with sadness. I was losing hope. It was likely that my parents and Dean weren't going to find me. It was likely I wasn't going to see them again. While I wasn't ready to accept it, the longer time went, the more the thought settled in me.

I slowly lifted my head the moment I heard the door open.

Two new men entered all dressed in black. Like the two previous, one stood by the door with their weapon in hand while the other unchained some of us. The one at the door was a brunette and green-eyed. The one with the keys was blonde and blue-eyed.

The first ten had already left the hall and three now stood lined in front of the armed man. They didn't struggle. They kept quiet, held their head down, and stood there.

My gaze kept following the blonde guy. Earlier I asked myself how someone could do something like this, work for something like this. Did someone hurt them so much that they thought hurting others would fix them? They were all horrible people, but people weren't born evil, right?

His eyes landed on me.

He crouched in front of me and unchained me. When he pulled me by the arm, I decided it was best not to struggle, but my body decided otherwise. My legs gave up and I fell against the concrete floor. "Get up," the blonde one spit out.

My body felt heavy as I slowly lifted myself. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head up to face him. I let out a whimper as tears began to fill my eyes. The sound of my heartbeat pounded against my ears.

"Leave her alone!" Keira yelled. "She's malnourished you jackass, of course, she's hav-"

The sound of the hand that held my hair making contact with Keira's cheek traveled down the hall. As he yelled at her, I used the wall to quickly stand. "Listen bitch, I don't care! When I give an order, follow it!" He wanted nothing more than to do horrible things to her, you could see it in his face.

Keira held the same look.

"Now shut the fuck up and line up," he crouched down in front of her and unchained her. I got in line and Keira followed a few seconds later. I could hear her heavy breaths and feel the anger that radiated from her.

The armed brunette lead us out of the hall and into another, but this one had several doors. There were seven — ten maybe. I asked myself the possibilities that would be behind each door. I guessed that at least one of them had another hall like the one I had just been in with other girls. I kept my head facing the girl in front of me but my eyes wandered to our surroundings. I saw four cameras, two down our end of the hall and two at the other end, pointed at our direction. The only other men I saw, besides the blonde and brunette, stood armed in front of an opening at the end of the hall we were walking in. They were identical dark haired and green-eyed twins. Just like everyone that worked in here, they wore all black attire.

As we got closer to the open room they guarded, I realized we were heading into the showers like Keira had mentioned earlier. Her words began to replay in my head. They'll tell you to leave your clothes in the basket and step under a shower head. Everyone has five minutes total. It doesn't matter if you're done or not get out in five. Anyone who doesn't follow directions gets either killed instantly or used by the people that work here and then killed.