Rise Of The Hunters - Chapter 5

Willow watched from between the bars as a man from another compound tried to muffle the cries of a woman who used to live down the hall from her as he rȧpėd her. She had been putting off his advances since they were put together in the same cage and he finally snapped, forcing her face into the floor and ripping her pants down. Everyone else was too afraid to say anything. Taking a deep breath, Willow screamed as loud as she could. Everyone around her freaked, looking at her and she pointed at the man with a look of disgust on her face.

A guard came running, carrying a whip, and when he saw the man scrambling away from the woman, he cursed, grabbing his keys from his belt. As soon as the guard showed up, Willow had stopped screaming, but she continued to point at the man. He glared at her with hatred in his eyes, but the woman crawled over to the bars closest to her, with a look of gratitude. The guard grabbed the man by his arm and jerked him out into the hall.

Everyone turned a blind eye as the guard snapped his whip and the man fell to the floor screaming. A cut ran the full length of his face from one corner, across one eye, his nose, and down to the corner of his mouth. Willow watched silently as the man writhed in pain. No emotion showed on her face. The guard grabbed the man up and dragged him away.

Her father had died a few days ago trying to fight off the Slavers, and she had watched as his arm was ripped off and used as a club to knock him out. Then the Slavers had taken turns drinking the blood that spilled out from the hole in his shoulder until it stopped spilling out.

Their laughter still rang in her ears as they had loaded her into the wagon with bars. Her mother sat in a corner of the wagon hugging the dead baby to her ċhėst and rocking back and forth until the Slavers noticed it was dead when they had arrived here. Willow had sat next to her, in shock. When some of the other people from her compound had tried to console her, she had looked at them dully, not understanding their words.

They had been sorted and sent to these cages she now found herself in. A cup of water was given to each and a bowl of soup with things she didn’t recognize. One of the older women had helped her eat and drink since she was still in shock. Her mother was no where to be found, having been taken away when she fought them over the baby.

“Thank you,” whispered the woman. Willow thought her name was Stream, or maybe River? She couldn’t remember.

Turning her back slightly away from the woman, Willow didn’t respond. Why bother? They were all going to die anyways. The Vampire Lords would come and drink their blood and they would be just as dead as her dad, and maybe her mom.

“Your name’s Willow, right? Do you remember me? My name’s Rain. I used to live just down the hall from you?” Her voice was soft and soothing to Willow, so she turned and watched her lips move.

Encouraged by her turning in her direction, Rain continued talking. “I just wanted to thank you for saving me just then. That was really brave of you!”

Willow looked at the red splotches on the woman’s face and thought she needed to wipe the snot from the end of her nose, but saying the words seemed like too much effort.

“I’m really sorry about your parents. If we can get out of here, I’ll watch after you. Would that be okay? Do you have any other friends or family anywhere?”

Willow frowned at the mention of her parents, and thought this woman trying to take care of her was ridiculous. Wasn’t she the one just then who had needed saving? As for other friends and family, she wasn’t aware of any. They were all going to die anyway so it didn’t matter. They would never escape from this dark cave with the smelly people and the greedy, mean guards. The woman’s voice was no longer soothing as it made her think, and thinking was causing the fog in her brain that had protected her from the overwhelming emotions to fade, so she turned her back on her completely.

“Come on, Willow. Please don’t ignore me!” Her voice was desperate.

Willow closed her eyes and covered her ears to stop the sound of her voice, but it was too late. Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes and a huge weight in the center of her ċhėst started to bubble up. The last of the fog faded from her mind and the horrors of what she had just been through began to trickle out in the form of huge sobs. Tears began to pour down her cheeks and she buried her face into her arms, pulling her legs up to her ċhėst to form as small of a ball as possible.

“I’m sorry…” Rain whispered as Willow’s body began to shake with the sobs.

With a shriek, Willow was in the corner, staring at the old woman with crazed eyes, clutching the bars and trembling.

“It’s alright child!” cried the woman in surprise.

“Willow it’s okay!” said Rain at the same time.

“Don’t touch me!” screamed Willow. “It’s not okay! We’re all going to die and it’s not alright!”

Everyone around, in all the cages turned to look at her. No one said anything, and the old woman got up to move back across the cage. Rain’s face fell and she eventually turned away, too. Willow looked around wildly as everyone who had heard her went back to looking down at their hands or ŀȧps. They all knew they were going to die, but no one had voiced it yet.

Breathing hard, she turned just as a man stopped outside her cage and pointed at her.

“I want that one.”