Power of the Omega

Chapter 3 - It begins

    After that short conversation, my neighbor turned away and curled up on a small mat in her cage. I glanced about my own and saw nothing at all within, except a bucket. I glanced closer and the smell that had permeated the plastic gave me a clue as to its intended use. My nose wrinkled in disgust and not only at the smell. No privacy at all? My cage had a walkway on one side with the other three sides sharing a wall with the adjoining cells. As evidenced by the empty space next to me, not all were full, but from my earlier glancing about, I'd noticed that most were occupied. Even now, I could see that the one in the corner between the empty cell and the naked neighbor held another huddled naked form.

    I was still wearing my clothes from the nightclub, though they were now bloodstained and filthy from everything that had happened in... however long it had been since Jess and I had stood in our dorm room preparing for a fun night. Tears filled my eyes as I thought of my friend and roommate. Try as I might to only remember her before the nightclub, her dead eyes kept popping into my head. I had to think of something else. Anything else! But what? There was nothing to do but sit here and wait for whatever was going to happen next, which was another rabbit hole my brain didn't need to go down.

    Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for something to happen that I could watch and distract myself with. Another guard came walking down the aisle, but this time it seemed different. The last guard had been slowly walking, glancing into each cage and pausing here and there to mock and tease the captives. This guard seemed to have a purpose and moved more quickly down the aisle. More movement out of the corner of my eye had me turning to see my neighbor standing, her head tipped downward and eyes on the floor. And then the guard was at her cage door, keychain rattling for a moment as he opened the lock and door.

    My neighbor stood still until the door was open, then walked slowly forward and out, then followed the guard back up the aisle and away. Wait! Was I losing the only friend - or well at least the only person who'd spoken to me besides the guards - I had here? I frantically looked around and spotted a couple more girls being retrieved in the same manner. I chewed my bottom lip in worry once I lost sight of them all between the cages, other captives, the other guards, and the general dim lighting of the huge room.

    My brain jumped about, trying to figure out just where we were. I had no idea how long we'd traveled to get here, nor what direction. For all I knew, we could be states away from where the nightclub was or only blocks with lots of extra driving. Somehow, I doubted the second was true. Everyone I'd seen well enough to guess age on in the other cages seemed to be close in age to myself, early twenties or so. One or two older ones appeared to be closer to 25 or 26 but I'd always been bad at guessing age to begin with. All I knew was that I knew no one here. I was alone, though in a room with many others, still alone.

    Before long, my neighbor was returning, pushing a cart. She and the guard paused at each cage and as they got closer I could see they were placing food inside each cage. The guard was carrying a large stick while my neighbor delievered the food to each prisoner. They finally got to my cage and the guard raised his stick at me. "Back." He poked one end through the cage and I could hear sizzling from it. It was a freaking cattle prod!! I scrambled backward and the guard stopped my neighbor. "Water only," he commanded and she nodded, picking up only a cup and placing it just inside the opening in my door.

    The guard didn't remove the prod until my neighbor was back at the cart and ready to push it to the next cage with a captive inside. I waited until they'd moved on before stepping forward and carefully picking up the cup. It wasn't very big or very full and my throat was crying out for every drop of that precious liquid. As much as I wanted to gulp it all down at once, I forced myself to sip slowly and roll the first few mouthfuls around my parched tongue and cheeks.

    It was warm, plain tap water, but it was liquid gold to me right then. I sat and nursed the small cup of precious water while watching the aisle. Before long, my neighbor was returning, the cart empty now. I watched as she continued back where she'd started. My stomach was grumbling at being denied food and the water wasn't enough, though I was grateful for it as my throat was feeling much better now.

    I had long finished the small cup of water before I finally saw my neighbor again, pushing the cart once more. This time, she was collecting all the bowls and cups so I put my own cup just outside the door like I could see the others doing and backed up again. The guard looked way too eager to zap everyone.

    My neighbor glanced briefly at me as she picked up the cup. I thought she looked a bit sad, maybe at the fact that she hadn't been allowed to feed me? But it wasn't her fault. I'd save my hate for the guard, well all of the guards. Before long she was passing me again, her cart filled with used bowls and cups. And then another long pause before the guard finally escorted her back to her cage beside me. I felt some relief that she had indeed been returned to the same spot. While I still didn't know her name or anything about her, she was a friend. Or the closest thing to a friend I had in here, at least.

    It seemed that I'd been knocked out for a good portion of the day as several of the veteran captives seemed to be settling in for the night. I'd noticed that several others nearby also had sleeping mats, but not all did, including my corner neighbor. And not all of those who didn't seemed to be newbies. At least, assuming that the newbies were the only ones not being fed like me. And the guards all seemed to be gone. My best guess was that it was evening then. Had I really been out for almost a whole day?

    I started to notice more differences between the other captives now that I was looking beyond my own cage and that of my neighbors. All of the cages had a bucket, but for some, like my own and my behind neighbor, that was all. Others had the sleeping mat and I thought I saw one girl with a blanket!

    As the guards all seemed to have disappeared, I edged closer to the wall diving my cell from my neighbor's. She saw me and slid her mat over to lay close, but not too close in case a guard did come by again, I guess. "I'm Amber," I told her quietly.

    She gave a little smile. "Christie," she whispered back.

    "So... where are we and what is all this?"

    Christie's smile disappeared into a scowl and she seemed to hesitate before answering me. "Well... we call it Hell, but I don't know anything else about it. Even the guards will refer to it as Hell, when they do talk..." Another pause. "It's... complicated," she finally added.

    Though our conversation hadn't lasted long in words, Christie's hesitations had drawn it out in time and I could hear some of the other captives moving restlessly in their cells. Even my neighbor seemed to be a bit restless, tapping a foot and shifting how she was sitting on the mat.

    "Look, we'll talk tomorrow. You'll understand more then," she finally blurted out in a rush and slid her mat away from me again.

    I frowned, confused. What could she mean by that? I mean, granted, I'd only been awake a few hours of this day but how confusing could this all be? We were prisoners. We're being held someplace. Are they ransoming us? Not that my family had any money to pay a ransom...

    The thought of my family had been something I'd pushed away and now it came rushing forward. Did they know what had happened to me? Were they looking for me? Would I ever see them again? Tears welled in my eyes and I reached up to hastily brush them away. I'd see them again, I just knew it. I had to see them again.

    Something shot through my body like a sharp jolt of pain and I wondered what that was. Had I touched the walls? But I wasn't that close to them. Confused, I saw motion from Christie's cell and glanced over, only to blush and look away. For some reason, my neighbor was taking off her clothes!! But the pain jolted through me again and I couldn't stop the cry I let out at the pain.

    My whole world became pain and I wondered briefly if there'd been something in my water, but thought left me before long as I huddled in the middle of my cell. My world was nothing but constant pain, even my bones were aching, feeling as if they were breaking from the pain. And then, nothing but black.