36
Gianna (18 years)
Up until the moment, the van stopped, I’d done well to keep my wits about me, now as I followed the woman through a building that either had no or limited lighting in certain passages, fear sprinted through my body. My thumbnail stayed permanently between my teeth, and I jumped every time the woman’s hand touched my lower back to guide me. At least she wasn’t dragging me. The longer we walked, the darker it seemed to get and walls that looked like they were made from buckets of sand thrown at it now and then, didn’t settle the nerves lining my gut.
It was getting harder to keep from peeing in my panty and for the first time in my life, I was truly shit scared. Not even meeting Salvatore or Zayne and knowing they were killers, had made me feel this desperate to run and hide under a bed.
We rounded a corner and stopped in what looked like a dimly lit office, a very dilapidated one with overflowing filing cabinets and over stacked shelves. A woman with two large front teeth that overlapped her bottom lip and dressed in the same brownish uniform sat behind a single wooden desk. Her gaze traveled the length of my body, she stood to salute the woman next to me before she spoke in a language I didn’t understand.
The woman next to me, who I now labeled captain because I could think of nothing else, replied before walking off. And as strange as it sounded, I wanted her to stay. She might’ve not smiled but there was just something about her that made me feel a small measure of comfort. Once she was gone, the other woman gestured for me to follow her. She entered another room off to the side. Dark, damp, and windowless, it sent a chill through my bones when I stepped in puddles of standing water, wondering what disease I would pick up. Grasping my arms to rub my elbows, I shivered uncontrollably.
“Off.”
She pointed to my dress, and I startled, my eyes going wide. When I didn’t immediately comply, she took a step closer and reached for my mid-thigh hem. Slapping her hand away, I crossed my hands over my chest and clutched the material of my dress in tight fists. Tears already welling, desperate to fall.
Grinning, she shrugged, and I had no idea what that meant until she stepped away. A moment later ice-cold water-powered out of a hose in her hand and slammed into my chest.
“What the—” I screamed, staggering back against the onslaught, my hands snapping upward, palms out, to protect myself. I twisted and turned, running from side to side to avoid the hard spray. It was futile and I collapsed to the floor in a shaking mess, grabbing my aching shoulder. Turning my back on her, I hugged the wall. Still, the water continued to rain down on me, in torrents, hard and icy.
When it finally stopped, my teeth were chattering so badly, I feared I’d shatter them. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, shaking like that last leaf on a windy fall day, hanging on for dear life and hoping spring would come soon. The woman walked out and returned just as quickly.
“Come,” she gestured with her hand, and I decided her English was limited.
Grabbing onto the wall for support, I slowly lifted my shivering body. Between the cold and the pain endured during the ride here, I wasn’t sure which was worse. Every inch of me ached including my heart, body, and soul. Outside that room, she stuffed a bundle of clothes in my hand and waited. Numb from the cold, modesty went out the door as I quickly slid out of the wet clothes, dried myself with the piece of rag that passed for a towel, and slipped into grey drawstring pants and a matching tunic. Also in the bundle was a pair of rubber sandals that I exchanged with my heels.
When I was done, I rolled my wet clothes and shoes into a ball and followed Rabbit Teeth. Yeah, sue me. Once more, darkness descended the passages I was led down. Cells tapered off to the left and right of me and with the dim lighting, all I could see were feet unless a woman or two chose to near the door and gape at the newcomer. The silence, however, was unnerving. I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting something to jump out at me. The smell of stale piss, vomit, and things I didn’t want to dissect, burned my nose and I covered it with my wet clothes which helped me breathe better.
Rabbit Teeth shoved me to keep going because I was too busy observing my surroundings instead of walking. At the end of the passage, she unlocked a door and held it open for me to enter. There was just enough light to make out the other four women in the tiny cell. Mattresses lined one side of the wall and a hole in the ground directly opposite the door. I shuddered at the thought of it being used as a toilet. Rabbit Teeth snapped her fingers for me to move, pointing to the vacant mattress snug between two of the other women. I walked over and dropped my bundle on the floor. The door creaked as she pulled it closed, bringing with it a sense of finality and I forced myself to act brave.
This wasn’t a cell, a dungeon maybe. The lack of windows and dampness from the floor had me sinking into further despair. A cold breeze passed over me and I shook, remembering my hair was still wet. I lowered myself to the mattress and with my back against the wall, I drew my knees to my chest and hugged them.
The woman on my right held out a blanket. I took it and offered her a smile. She didn’t return the gesture, her expression, however, told me she was pleased that I’d taken the blanket. It wasn’t the warmest or softest and the smell made me turn up my nose, but I welcomed the additional warmth it gave my chilled bones. The other three women were already asleep and didn’t bother to wake up and inspect the newcomer.
I didn’t know how long I’d sat in that position until my muscles began to complain with a biting tightness, begging to be stretched. My eyes straining to stay open, my stomach grumbling with hunger. Rolling my neck from side to side, I stood and paced from the wall to the bars to get my circulation going. It was on my third stretch when I caught movement in my periphery. Freezing, I glanced toward the hole, certain I’d seen movement. I stared, waiting. The only sound came from one of the women snoring under her blanket.
Then I saw it. Two black eyes staring back at me. Its pink nose twitching, a fat body thick with gray fur. Behind it, another twitching nose appeared at the edge of the hole followed by two black eyes.
Rats!
I couldn’t move. Every muscle froze in fear. Panic began in a slow swirl from the tips of my toes, working its way upward. The shiver followed in its path, first in the legs, my knees, my thighs...and then those black monstrosities scurried toward me. The scream bellowed out first, followed by my legs pumping in perfect steps before I climbed up the bars, hanging on with a white-knuckle grip, begging for someone to help.
Pandemonium erupted, first in my cell as the women woke, jumping around the room to escape the unseen terror, then the cell next to mine and the one opposite. And like the Mexican wave, screams and yells resonated through the passages. With all the chaos going on, I was sure either the rats had been squashed to death or escaped but I wasn’t taking any chances of dropping my feet to the floor.
Several uniformed guards came rushing down the passages, batons raised trying to figure out what the commotion was about until one of the women from the opposite cell, pointed at me. The guard turned to me, her expression murderous, rapid words fired out her mouth in a language I didn’t understand. She beat her baton at the bars, still, I held on, vigorously shaking my head from side to side. Chest heaving, she stalked to the door, opened it, and entered the cell.
“You bitch. Make noise, huh!” she spat charging me like an angry bull.
My heart leaped into my mouth, dread running rampant in my blood. Letting go of my grip, my feet finding the floor, I threw up my hands in surrender. “Please, please...” I cried out, trying to back away. She grabbed me by the hair and shoved me to the ground. The back of my head slammed against the bars. White spots tasered my vision, the popped shoulder burned. Shaking violently, I swallowed down nausea lining my throat, wrapped my hands around my body, bowing my head in surrender.
She was having none of that. Grasping my throat in icy cold fingers that were skeletal in their grip, she brought her face close to mine, the repugnant smell of garlic hit my nostrils. I retched. “Make noise. You die,” she sneered, released her hold, and backhanded me across the face.
