The coppery tang of blood filled my tastebuds, my face stinging with the impact. Keeping my eyes downcast, I waited for her to leave and only when the door creaked close, did I rush across to the mattress and pull the blanket over my trembling body. I clutched my face, letting the tears pool in my palm. I’d never been hit before, not with that killer intent force. Every few seconds, a shudder exploded, and I bit my tongue to hold back the screams, yet the whimpers persisted. Swiping the relentless tears, I eventually gave up and let them fall.
It took the guards several minutes to get all the women back in their beds before they disappeared down the passage. The woman who’d handed me the blanket smiled at me before screwing up her face and putting two hooked fingers in front of her mouth and nodding. It took me a few seconds to understand she was referring to the rats. When I nodded, she reached behind her and handed me a silver plate. I stared at the plate then at her and frowned. She hit the back of her fingers across the other palm then pointed to the plate. After two more attempts, I laughed through the tears and nodded.
“Thank you,” I sniffled, looking down at the weapon she’d given me to attack the rats. Weapon or not, I didn’t think I would ever be brave enough to take on those ugly things.
“Hana,” she murmured, pointing to her chest.
I figured she was telling me her name and I replied, “Gianna.”
She tried to pronounce it then giggled. “Anna?” she nodded.
Smiling, I nodded, too exhausted to correct her. “Anna.” My mouth was dry, and the word came out on a rasp. I licked my lips and winced, touching them. My lip was swollen and burned under the pad of my finger.
Hana twisted away to search for something behind her and when she looked at me again, she held out a bottle of water. My eyes widened in surprise and my tastebuds danced in anticipation.
“Thank you.” I put my hands together in gratitude then took the bottle. After the first sip, I inhaled deeply. Water had never tasted this good. “Thank you so much.” I handed her back the bottle and she shook her head, gently pushing it back to me. Smiling I set it aside and watched as she rolled herself in the blanket like a sausage roll before her head disappeared under the blanket. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and it immediately zipped to the hole. Somebody had covered it with a board and placed a bucket over it. Sighing, I leaned my head against the wall and massaged my shoulder, closing my eyes.
37
Gianna (18 years)
I must’ve dozed off from sheer exhaustion because the jangle of keys brought me awake with a moan. My muscles screamed their agony as I sat up and rolled my shoulders. It did nothing, the aches were there to stay. The sudden bang of the guard’s baton against the bars had me scrambling to my feet. Desperate to pee, I glanced over at the hole which was now uncovered. The idea of squatting to pee didn’t sit well with me knowing rats lived down there. I tried to hold it in, my painfully full bladder complained.
Hana gestured to the towel which I picked up and followed the line of ladies to what I realized was a shared shower block. Biting my thumbnail, I glanced around. About fifty women of all ages and sizes either stood under multiple showerheads, leaned against cracked white tiles waiting their turn, or used toilets which dishearteningly, had no doors.
“Bath.” A guard shoved at my back, propelling me toward one of the vacant showers.
The only people who’d seen me naked apart from my mother when I was younger, were Ishara, Zayne, and Salvatore. Now in a space of two days, I was forced to strip in front of, first Rabbit Teeth and now these women. While they seemed uninterested in whether I had a slim body or a big ass, their gazes stayed riveted on my face. As if the idea of a newcomer brought hope.
My fingers hesitant, I swallowed down the ball of nerves, removed the clothes I wore, and tossed it on the pile the others seemed to be doing. Preparing to meet the same iciness from the previous bath, I stepped under the spray and hid my gratitude. The water wasn’t hot, but it was warm enough to wash away the stiffness, the aches, however, would need a serious dose of painkillers. Overcome with the desperate need to pee, I glanced around before releasing my bladder, not caring that the warm piss ran down my legs along with my etiquette.
Used soap bars littered the floor and the window ledge that added some brightness to the place. While I was against sharing soap, I figured after sleeping in a rat-infested cell, the soap was far less likely to give me an infection. I’d just rinsed the suds out of my eyes when a series of whimpers caught my ear. My heart jackrabbited when I turned, and my eyes fell on a man.
Oh, God what is a man doing here among all these ladies?A huge scar covering half his jaw on the right, from ear to lips, he stood just inside the shower block. Wearing the same uniform as the captain, he had Hana up against the wall, one hand around her slim neck, squeezing, the other between her legs.
She was clawing at his fingers and tightening her thighs to stop his probing fingers. The smile on his face told me the sick bastard was enjoying himself. I opened my mouth, the word ‘stop’ sitting on the tip of my tongue then I remembered I was just as vulnerable as Hana. The other women cowered where they stood. They wouldn’t save me.
