jinwoo
"GET UP."
I open my eyes and look over my arm to see a man standing there.
I quickly sit up and jump back a bit, my heart rate increasing.
Then I see that it's Arjun and I remember what situation I'm in.
He steps toward the cell, my handcuffs and the chain attached to them in his hands.
"Wh-where are you taking me?" I stutter. My voice is rough with sleep.
How long did I sleep? How was I even able to get to sleep?
Arjun doesn't answer. He opens the cell door and steps inside. "Stand up."
My stomach growls a bit. I'm so hungry.
I swallow and do as Arjun says, standing up. He moves toward me and quickly snaps the handcuffs onto my wrists, pinching my skin as he does it. He does it so quickly and effortlessly that it makes me wonder if he's had to do this before.
I'm sure he has.
He starts leading me out of the cell and up the stairs.
"How long has it been?" I ask. "How long did I sleep?"
Arjun doesn't answer. He pulls me up to the top of the stairs and then we begin moving down the hallway toward the front door.
"Please, just tell me how long it's been since you put me in that cell."
We move through the front door and I glance at the kitchen. It's empty.
I see Ms. Stanley's truck right outside, with the cage in the back, partially covered by the big blanket. The skies are darker than they were yesterday, and small drops of rain are starting to fall from the clouds.
"Please..." I beg. "Where are you taking me?"
Arjun forces me over to the back of the truck. "You know the drill."
I pull myself up onto the back of the truck. Arjun jumps up there with me and then pushes me toward the cage.
I crawl into it and then he feeds the chain through the door of the cage, attaching it to a hook on the side of the truck.
"Do you enjoy doing this?"
Arjun stops for a moment, looking down at the truck bed. Then he looks up at me.
"No," he says. "I'm here just as involuntarily as you. But it's worse for me."
"Worse for you?" I whisper.
He glares at me. "I mean more than you do. I shouldn't be doing this shit, serving that woman. People like you should be the ones doing it."
I stare up at him, shock and confusion probably written all over my face.
After that, Arjun throws the blanket over the cage and I hear him get off the truck.
I drop my head in defeat.
What is any of this supposed to mean? Why am I here? And why am I being taken somewhere else again?
"Ah, Arjun, you already got him loaded up?" Ms. Stanley's voice.
"Yes, ma'am," Arjun answers. "Have a safe trip."
"Oh, thank you, Arjun. I'm sure it'll be wonderful."
"Good luck."
"We won't be needing any luck."
My thoughts begin to race as I hear Ms. Stanley get into the truck and start the engine.
Where is she taking me? Why did she take me from that place and put me in a cell, only to take me back in the truck? What is going on here? Why won't anyone tell me what happened to me?
We drive for a while and the entire time, I worry. I can feel myself getting weaker with each passing minute. I'm not sure if it's because I'm worrying, because I'm hungry, or because of something that happened to me before that I can't remember.
It's probably all three.
The rain drops start to get heavier and I hear them hit against the heavy blanket above me. None of the water comes through, yet, because of how thick the blanket is. But if the rain gets any heavier, it'll start soaking through the blanket.
Before the rain gets heavy enough to soak through, the truck stops and the engine turns off. I listen as Ms. Stanley gets out of the truck and greets someone.
"Hello Jones!" She says excitedly. "I've brought a new one today. Isn't that exciting?"
Whoever Jones is doesn't answer.
I hear someone jump up onto the truck and then pull the blanket back.
I feel raindrops hit against me.
There's a man standing above me. He's not very tall, but he's heavyset. He has a scowl on his face.
He doesn't say anything but he doesn't have to.
He gets me out of the cage and then pulls me off the truck bed.
I look around and my heart sinks.
In front of us is a large warehouse building, but not like the one I was taken to before. This one is way bigger, seemingly ten levels or so, and entirely made of wood. There are tons of cars parked around it, some trucks with cages exactly like the one I was in.
The worst part, though, is that this warehouse is in the middle of nowhere. All around us is open space and dirt. I can't even tell which direction the city is.
The man pulls me along and walks with Ms. Stanley. We head toward a door on the building that's illuminated by a small light above it.
Once we get to the door, Ms. Stanley tells Jones to "be extra careful with me" and then she continues walking around the building.
Jones takes me through this door and as soon as we enter, I feel as if I'm going to lose my hearing.
It's loud. Extremely loud. People are yelling and screaming and shouting and all the sound is bouncing off the wooden walls around me.
Jones takes me down a hallway area. On the left side, there is a wooden wall. On the right, there are cells. And there are people in all the cells.
Some of them are facing away, some are just sitting calmly, and most are screaming and holding onto the bars.
As I pass the ones screaming, I see that some of them have messed up eyes. Their eyes look black, almost.
They look crazy.
My heart is beating wildly in my chest as Jones takes me past all these people. He opens a cell and throws me into it. But he keeps holding onto the chain, so when I fall onto my back, my wrists are yanked upward.
A sting moves through my wrists and forearms.
Jones cackles lowly and then closes the cell door, attaching my chain to the side of the cell, out of my reach.
"Just a few minutes, boy," he says in a deep voice. "Then I'll be coming back for ya."
After that, he leaves.
I stand up and move to the bars of the cell, watching Jones continue walking toward the right and then turn right around a corner, disappearing.
All around me are wooden walls, except for the cell-bar door in front of me. But the walls don't block out the noise of the others screaming and yelling around me.
"Help!" I scream, almost ripping my throat. "Help, please! Someone help me! I don't belong here!"
I rest my forehead against the bar.
How did I get myself into this mess?
If only I could remember my past.
What if this has happened to me before? What if I was in a place like this and that's how I lost my memory or something? I mean, who knows? I don't. I don't remember anything.
I let out a small sob. No one can hear it over the screaming.
After a while, I decide to sit down. I face the hallway, resting my head against the bars on my cell.
Cell.
Cell after cell after cell.
When will I be able to be outside of a cell?
Out of my peripheral vision, I see to my right that Jones is walking back this way. And he has someone else behind him, pulled by a chain.
I quickly stand up.
As Jones pulls the person around the corner, I see that the person is lying on the ground. He's being dragged by Jones.
Jones drags the person behind him past my cell. I look down at the man and see that he's unconscious. There are bruises all over his face and arms and bare chest. There are bloodied cuts all over his body, too.
My anxiety rises after he passes and I try to step as far away as I can from the bars of the cell. But I can't get far enough away. The chain is keeping me too close.
Jones walks back over in front of my cell, grinning at me.
"No, please."
He can't hear me over the screaming, though. My voice is only coming out as a whisper.
Jones gets the door open and starts pulling me by my chain. I trip and stumble after him, begging and pleading but not even being able to hear myself the whole way.
I try to pull back on my chain but Jones just keeps yanking me forward.
We turn right at the end of the hall and descend one level on some metal stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, there is a path forward and a path to the right. Jones takes me to the right. Then we stop in front of a door on the left.
Jones opens the door, pulls me forward, quickly takes off my handcuffs, and then throws me through the door he just opened.
I land on my hands and knees on the dust and hay covered ground.
I quickly turn around to see Jones closing and locking the door.
I stand up and throw myself against the door.
"Let me out!" I scream. "Please! Let me out of here!"
But no one lets me out.
So I turn around in the small room and see there's another door on the other side of the room.
I can hear massive amounts of screaming coming from the other side of that door.
My heart is beating rapidly in my chest and my breathing is getting heavier by the second.
No. I can't be here. I can't do this.
I move over toward the door and pound against it, trying to get out.
Suddenly, the door is swung open and I stumble out of the small room.
The screaming and yelling gets louder as I'm blinded by bright lights from above.
I shield my eyes and look around to study my surroundings.
Once my vision focuses, I see that I'm standing in a large, open space, dirt and hay covering the ground everywhere. Around this area, there are stands with tons of people standing up and cheering wildly.
This isn't a warehouse. It's an arena.
I step backward and then look straight across from me.
I squint at first to see what it is, but once I know what it is, my eyes widen.
It's a man. He's moving toward me. But he isn't normal. His eyes are black, like some of the other people's I saw. They're black where the whites should be and dark violet where the iris and pupil should be.
I turn around and try to go back into that room I was in before but I see that the door is now shut.
I'm stuck here.
I have to fight this guy, don't I?
I look back and see that the man is running at me now. The people are cheering loudly. It's deafening.
My heart feels like it's going to burst through my chest.
I feel like I'm going to pass out.
And then the man is right in front of me, his arms out wide.
He slams into me and we both sprawl onto the ground.
I roll to the right and he slides toward the left.
I try to get up but he comes over and kicks me in the stomach, sending me flailing backward.
He moves over to me and gets on top of me. He stares down at me with those eyes. I can feel tears forming in my own.
He traps my wrists to the ground and snarls at me. "Some Noctura you are, huh? Can't even fight."
What? Noctura?
He takes his right hand and slams his fist into the side of my face.
My head jerks to the right.
The man punches me on the right side of my face. Then he nails me right in the nose.
Pain erupts in my head and I can feel my nose starting to bleed.
I stare up at the lights on the ceiling.
"Come on!" The man shouts as he stands up off me. "Get up and fight!"
I roll over to my side and spit blood out of my mouth.
"You gonna fight?" The man screams at me.
He kicks me in the side, sending me over onto my back again.
I can feel bruises forming on my body already.
I move to my side and force myself to stand up. I spit some more blood out and look over at the man in front of me, his eyes still wild.
"You ready to fight now?" He asks.
He moves toward me and punches me right in the gut, then swings around and knocks me on the left side of my head.
I stumble back and almost lose my balance.
Then I look up at the man.
I can feel the rage burning inside me, fueling me.
Now my eyes feel wild.
I ball my hands into fists and glare at the man in front of me.
Everyone around me is screaming come on or fight.
I can feel the pain in all the areas this man has hit me.
My jaw clicks.
The man comes at me again, but this time he doesn't get to punch me in the stomach.
I grab his hand and twist his arm, hearing a loud snap.
The sounds of the crowd disappear in my mind as I grab the man by the throat and slam him down onto the ground, getting on top of him.
He reaches up at my face but I slam his arms down onto the ground.
He snarls at me again and tries to push me off of him.
I bring my right hand up and then down, directly onto his nose.
His nose starts bleeding as I punch him in the side of the head, over and over.
He gains some strength and shoves me backward.
I end up on my feet, crouching down a bit, glaring at him.
My hair is sweaty and falls into my eyes a bit, but it doesn't block my vision. Not one bit.
The man lets out a loud yell as he races toward me again.
I bring my leg up and kick him square in the gut, sending him flailing backward. He lands on his back and the air is knocked out of him.
He scrambles to get up but I walk up to him and grip his shoulders, pulling him up.
Then I throw him hard, watching as he slams into the side of the arena.
He falls into a large pile of hay. He squirms to get up as I calmly walk over toward him.
The man gets up out of the hay and glares at me.
"You're dead!" He screams. "You're dead, you bastard!"
He rushes toward me and gets his hands around my throat.
I dig my fingernails into his arms and slam him down onto the ground.
The rage inside me grows stronger.
Beat him. Beat him, Jinwoo. Beat this man.
I sit on top of him and wrap my left hand around his throat.
He grabs my arm with his hands, his eyes widening.
Beat him.
I can feel the adrenaline and energy running through me. I can feel the fire in every part of my veins. Rage.
Burning rage.
Kill him.
I bring my left hand away from his throat and he chokes for air.
Kill him, Jinwoo.
All the parts on my body where this man hit me burn. They burn with rage. Every inch of my body burns with rage.
I open my mouth and bring it down on his throat.
I don't hear him scream. I feel it.
I feel the blood seeping into my mouth as I rip away part of his flesh.
My heart is beating rapidly. I open my mouth and breathe heavily. His blood is still on my tongue.
The people around me are cheering wildly. Half of what I hear is enthusiastic. The other half is anger.
I stare down at the man beneath me. His eyes are open, still black and violet, but now dead. Blood drips from his throat onto the dirt beneath him.
His body is limp.
Dead.
He's dead.
I killed him.
The adrenaline starts the fade and my body starts to ache. The fire behind my eyes seems to go away and I realize what I've done.
I just killed this man.
I quickly back away from him, scrambling backward on my hands and feet.
I get away from the man and continue to stare at him, my eyes wide.
He's dead. I killed him.
More angry shouts rise from the stands.
I look around and see people lighting matches. They start dropping the matches from the stands, down into the arena.
Then I look around at the arena. At all the hay in here.
The hay.
It starts to catch fire from the matches and the people in the stands start screaming and scrambling to get away, to get out.
Fire. There's a fire. Get out.
The hay catches quickly and begins burning so fast, flames are rising higher and higher. There's smoke curling upward as I look at people running away as fast as they can.
Fire! Jinwoo, run!
I quickly get to my feet and look around.
Where? How do I get out?
I cough as the smoke starts to fill my lungs. There are flames everywhere around me.
I try to see through the fire and smoke.
Where are the people going? Where's the exit?
There's a loud cracking sound as pieces of the wooden building begin falling toward the floor.
The building is collapsing.
I watch everyone move toward a certain spot.
There. That's the exit.
I run toward the place where everyone is going, but there's a large wall of fire in front of me.
I let out a loud scream as I quickly run through it, feeling the heat searing my skin.
My screaming doesn't stop as I jump up onto the side of the arena and pull myself into the stands.
People are still running out, wildly, in a panic.
I step forward toward the exit as the people file out, and this section of the arena is empty.
Then, a large piece of wood comes crashing down, directly in front of me.
Smoke rises up into my face and I cough.
The piece of wood in front of me is on fire.
I dive underneath it and crawl toward the exit. I can feel the flames burning through my shirt, hitting my back.
I scream in agony as I get out from underneath the wood.
Once I'm out from underneath it, I force myself to stand and move out of the arena as fast as I can.
I move through the exit and then go through a hallway. The walls are beginning to burn. I have to jump over a piece of charred wood to get to the exit.
But then I finally get to the exit. I can finally see the outside.
As soon as I step outside, I inhale the fresh air and welcome the pounding rain on my face.
I stumble farther away from the building, getting soaked by the cold, soothing rain.
I trip over my own feet and fall to the ground. I move onto my back and welcome the rain on my face. Then I look over at the building as it caves in on itself.
People are still scrambling away from the building, racing to their cars, getting away from the building as fast as they can.
I'm on the edge of unconsciousness. I can feel myself slowly drifting away.
There are bruises and cuts and wounds all over my body. I can feel every inch that has been badly burned by the fire. I'm still choking on smoke in my lungs.
Suddenly, amidst all the chaos, I see a face. It's standing over me, seemingly yelling something at me.
Pink hair. The guy has pink hair.
But I can't hear anything.
My eyelids get heavier as the face gets closer, screaming something at me that I can't hear.
His arms wrap around me and pick me up.
My head falls back as I allow this stranger to take me.
And then I let unconsciousness take me.