"You didn't have to hit her..."
"Cry me a river, Brooke."
Voices... those were voices—familiar voices. One belonged to the scary person with hollow green eyes; the other came from the person who attempted to suffocate Marie.
Marie was on the verge of tears after realizing everything that happened was not a nightmare. But she was too out of it to actually cry. To add insult to injury, a blitzing pain pounded her head; She couldn't focus on anything other than the words coming from her captors.
"They're just kids, Finn." The soft-spoken man reminded.
"If you had just put her to sleep like you were supposed to, I wouldn't of had to step in!"
"I told you I was trying! But she was squirming too much–I-I didn't want to hurt her!"
"THAT'S what you were worried about? Cod, give me a fuckin' break!"
Marie felt her body moving as the two bickered, but she wasn't the one moving it. If she had been, she would've ran and screamed for help. But alas, the pain pulsating throughout her body was restricting, making it painful to move a single inch.
Occasionally, she'd feel painful bumps due to her body moving involuntarily, making her want to yelp. But it would've hurt more to do even that. The only thing she could manage without inciting pain was opening her eyes halfway.
When she did, she was greeted by dirt, the backside of some pitch-black entity, and her arms dangling at her sides. Was she being carried? It was hard to tell. Everything was incredibly blurry, plus it was dark. And as much as she wanted to focus her vision, the strain that came from concentrating was too much. It took everything she had just to stay conscious.
Right when the throbbing pain began to settle, Marie was hurled onto a cold and smooth floor, sending shocks of piercing pain further throughout her body; but not a sound escaped her lips.
The way Marie landed allowed her to see the outline of three figures. One was black with green covering where their eyes should be. Another was mostly yellow, and the last was pink—being draped over the yellow figure's shoulder.
"You didn't have to throw her either."
The black figure turned to the yellow one. "What's your issue, huh? I'm doing what we were commissioned to do."
The yellow figure gently placed the pink figure next to Marie; It was Callie!
"I-I don't have an issue! I'm just saying you don't have to go so hard on them... They're kids, man! Not trained soldiers."
"What difference does it make? Either way, once we bring them in, they'll just go to some bloke out in the boonies."
"Wait, they already have buyers?"
"Of course. Did you not hear them sing at the contest?"
"I did, but...so soon? The contest literally ended a few hours ago!"
"Yeah, well, what can I say? Those voice clips Okoy sent out really impressed the boss's usual buyers. Enough to make them pay more than usual, which means more money for us." The black figure grabbed the edge of what appeared to be a door. "The commander sure has quite the hunch for this type of stuff."
"When do I not?" The new voice made the black and yellow figure noticeably jolt out of surprise. Even Marie hadn't realized a new bright blue figure was there until they spoke.
"Okoy!"
"O-oh! Commander Eeli! We were just getting ready to contact you..."
"So why haven't you?"
"Brooke's gettin' sentimental again."
"N-not true! I was just saying we shouldn't be so rough with kids..."
"I don't like it either, Brooke. But in the end, it won't matter. They'll probably be pawned off to someone who'll break them anyway."
"All while we do the dirty work of securing the rascals for them. The lucky bastards."
"Do you enjoy hurting people?"
"Hey, it's what I do best!"
The black figure chuckled before an arm lightly slapped his chest. "Pierce, move your freaky ass and tell the others we're leaving."
"Right." The black figure walked away.
"Call Mr. Wale, tell him we got the client's...items of interest."
"Ok..."
Before the yellow figure turned, the light blue figure grabbed their shoulder. "Hey. Just a few more missions, then we both can leave this behind us. Alright?" There was a slight hesitance in the yellow figure's movements, but they would eventually nod. The light blue figure tapped the yellow's shoulder a few times before walking off.
The yellow figure then shut the doors to whatever Callie and Marie were in.
It got completely dark after that, the only thing in Marie's vision now being her cousin. She weakly stretched out an arm, which hurt like hell, but she didn't stop moving until her hand was securely around Callie's. After which, she finally allowed the bombarding pain to take her out of consciousness.
A warm and fuzzy sensation awoke Marie a while later. Without opening her eyes, she could tell she was being suspended in air by something. And her limbs... she couldn't move them.
The pain hadn't gone away, and she was quite sleepy. But she wanted to know where she was. With a hushed moan, her eyes gradually opened. Her vision was still blurry, but the area was lit well enough for her to see. She noticed her body had been tied to a wooden pole, same as Callie, who was tied to a separate one right next to her.
Where were they? That's all she could think. It hurt to look around, but from what she could see, they were inside of a closed tent. Sounds of laughter and chatting came from outside, as well as the rising and falling of the sea.
Sudden movement coming from the side alerted Marie. She looked to see the yellow figure sitting on the side with a blaster lying on his lap. What was his name again? Brooke? That's what the black figure called him. He didn't seem to notice Marie was awake, so she took the time to analyze her captor.
Brooke was an inkling with smooth yellow hair. She couldn't quite distinguish the color of his eyes, but he wore mostly yellow. He looked... sad? She couldn't tell.
Before she could make out any other features, the tent flapped open. The black figure, who was actually wearing a black jacket and leggings, walked in, taking off a green visor that Marie had mistaken for their eyes. "Looks like we'll be camping out here for tonight. And guess who's on guard duty." The figure pointed at himself and Brooke.
"Carp, you serious man?"
"Don't blame me. Wasn't my fault that storm decided to roll in."
Brooke seemed none too pleased that the mission was prolonged. "I'm not a babysitter..."
Marie watched as the black figure's gaze drifted over to her; she quickly closed her eyes, pretending she was still asleep.
There was silence for a moment before the black figure spoke up again. "Say, Brooke, how 'bout you go enjoy the beach, and I'll take the first watch?"
"Really?"
"Yeah, 'course. You've already been here for a good minute anyway."
"Wow. Thanks, Finn!" There was some shuffling after the two finished speaking, and the tent entrance flapped open, then closed. She could still feel the presence of someone near, so she assumed it was the black figure, Finn.
The atmosphere became awfully quiet, even with the loud chatter from outside. Marie could feel Finn burning holes into her. "Well... I'm sure the client won't mind receiving a 'used' product."
Suddenly, Marie felt a hand grip her thigh, giving it a light and unpleasant squeeze. Immediately, her eyes shot open, and she saw Finn standing directly in front of her. He gave her thigh a few more squeezes; she didn't like how it made her feel.
She started squirming, which ended up hurting her more rather than loosening his grip.
"Oh, you're awake?" Finn grabbed her chin, forcing her head to look upward at him. "Good. This'll make things a lot more exciting."
Marie's eyes widened, and her pupils dilated in panic. She didn't like what that implied, and she definitely didn't like the horrid grin Finn gave her. But the more she struggled, the more worn out she grew. It was like multiple thousand-ton weights were holding her down.
She felt herself wanting to fall asleep. It took every ounce of energy she had left just to keep her eyes open, and when she tried to scream, the only noises that came out were scared whimpers.
Right as Finn started to slide his hand up to forbidden places, a deafening scream not belonging to Marie startled him. "WHAT IS THAT THING?!" A new voice shouted, coming from one of the many people outside.
"OPEN FIRE! OPEN- ARHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Another voice shouted, only to be cut off by a bloodcurdling scream and sputtering sounds.
In an instant, the sounds of happy chattering and laughter turned to noises of weapons firing and terrified screaming.
"What the? What's happening out there?!" Finn yelled, getting no audible response. "Dammit, just when it was getting good."
Thankfully, Finn finally removed his hands from Marie. After putting his green visor back on, he hurried outside.
The relief that came with Finn leaving was enough to put Marie to sleep.
From then on, she kept shifting in and out of consciousness, always being met with pained screams and struggling grunts with each moment she spent awake. She couldn't tell how much of it was real and how much of it came from her sometimes vivid imagination.
Whatever was happening outside probably lasted for a good while. But for Marie, it was only a few moments. Before she clocked out for good, she noticed her tent opening.
A new figure stepped in.
By now, all had fallen dead silent, the only noises being the calm ocean waves and the labored breathing of whatever stood in front of her. She couldn't make out any features of the creature, other than that it was extremely tall.
Her eyelids became unbearably heavy to force open any longer, so she inevitably closed them, falling asleep shortly after with a single thought in mind. Who was that?