Claiming Dias (book 1 of Alpha claiming series)

What is that stench?

Chapter 7

Ana

My wait is over when someone jerks open the metal door and allows it to slam shut again. By the sounds of it, it is another guard coming around. I do not move off the haystack. Instead, I simply listen and count the steps the guard takes from when the door swings open. A wooden stool groans under the guard’s weight, letting me know he is sitting at the guard post. Moments later, the door slams open again, and I start counting footsteps again. This time the person does not stop. Their footsteps grew louder, sending echoes down to my cage. Before long, they were standing in front of my cage. The tang of sterile copper mixed with spice fills the air around me, turning my stomach while bile rises into my throat.

A growl pierces the silence “You will come with me now, 176!” There is a jingle of metal in what I assume is his hand before he seems to grow impatient at my silence. “176 you will answer when you are addressed or do I need to get a guard to come and help you get up and out of this s**t hole?” His voice spikes in anger at the last few notes making my ears twitch at the noise. The acidic scent of anger stains the air that seeps from around this man as I slowly move my limbs to crawl forward before standing as silently as I can.

“Who is 176?” My voice is low and demanding. It is a statement more than a question; I know I will not be staying around for that name to stick. Still, the beta’s scent in the air lets me know it was a mistake talking.

“You think you’re any different from the other little whores around here? Do you think you are special? You're just another number here and will die as one.” He holds no command over me other than the promise of abuse. “Shut your mouth before I do it for you!” The veins pop out of his throat, casting more shadows along his stubby neck while his voice deepens into a violent hiss. A metal object in his hand scrapes across the cage door before finding its intended place and clicking into it. He swings the door open, earning an eerie scraping as the hinges are forced to open.

I stepped towards the opening of the door. Far enough away so that the man would have room to step in should he feel the need to approach me. I don’t talk, instead, I watch his movements and wait for the right moment.

“Stupid wench, do not make me come in there and drag your ass out kicking and screaming!” He shouts as he steps a foot into my cage. He uses his voice to throw a warning my way, but it does not hold a command I care to follow. He doesn’t have the strength an Alpha has or the threat behind his voice.

I allow him to step further into my cage feeling the hatred coming off of him in thick waves, it’s amusing at least. I stepped behind him and quietly replied “I’m right here”. His hand spins around so fast it catches me in the jaw, thrusting my head to the side, earning a groan from my lips.

“You little f*****g c*m bag, don’t think you can sneak up on me!” His sharp inhale made the hair raise on my skin; he was scenting for me. “I knew where you were, you f*****g dirty cunt.” His hand reaches out and grasps my hair yanking my head back in an arch. Pain shoots across my scalp causing me to reach for my hair to hold onto it. “You will learn your place; you are nothing but a test subject.” The hatred that rolls off this Beta is enough to set my blood boiling.

The Beta shoves my head down towards the ground at his feet, causing my hands and knees to slam against the brick. A hiss escapes my lips as I feel my skin tear sending waves of pain through my limbs. He turns quickly and walks out of the cage and back up the hall, shouting commands at the guard. “Gather her ass up and bring her to the lab immediately!”

The guard jumps off the chair to his feet and runs down the hall to my cage just in time for me to recover from hitting the ground. He grabs the back of my head by my hair, yanking me to my feet and shoving me out the door of my cage. “Move your little ass Omega, time to get you fixed up” He sneers as I’m marched down the hallway. I counted my steps until I reached the heavy door, my mind too preoccupied to notice the guard's hand reaching for me. He grabs a handful of my hair and shoves me to the side. My body collided with the brick wall knocking my breath from within my lungs. He opens the door with one hand and yanks me off the wall to shove me outside. My hands are raised to cover my face as the sun temporarily blinds me. Squinting my eyes, I wait while my eyes adjust to the brightness after being in the dark for so long.

“Move it, Omega! Don’t make me get the whip!” He kicks the back of my knees, watching me tumble to the ground. Landing suddenly on my hands and knees clenching my teeth in anger and pain, I refused to let tears fall. All I hear is a round of laughter from several yards off. By the scent of the yard, the men here must be a bunch of betas who are doing the enforcing for the scientists. Their scent is the strongest in this area, but the scientists’ and alphas’ scent lingers lightly in the air.

In the distance, the scientist’s voice carries to the guard behind me “Get her up, on her feet, and moving you imbecile!”

“Stupid w***e, stop making me look bad, get the f**k moving!” A sharp yank on my shoulder has me hissing in pain as it pops. a sharp pain shoots down my arm like shock waves reaching every crease within my arm. With the force, he pulled me up with my teeth clamped shut, gritting my teeth together. I stood on my feet and turned to face the guard.

Growling, I threatened him through the pain “Don’t touch me again!”. That’s all I can say before his fist lands in my stomach, causing me to buckle in half. Sharp pain penetrates my abdomen, stabbing throughout my body. Black dots dance across my sight as I struggle to breathe. A round of whoops and hollers arises from the other guards as they stand and watch the abuse as if it's an everyday thing.

“You don’t matter here omega; you are just a test subject. There have been hundreds before you and there will be many more after you. Just do exactly as you're told, we don’t need your mouth for you to be a cunt to breed.” The guard growls out as spit flies from his mouth, the look of murderous intentions visible on his face. Throwing my shoulder in the direction that he wants me to walk in, causes my body to lurch forward as I stumble to regain my footing. I quickly crossed my arms over my breasts and hurriedly walked towards the building across the yard.

Once inside with the scientist, the guard slams the door shut, startling me. I turn towards him, my heart beating in my chest so wildly I contemplate if it is going to jump from my chest. I’m careful to watch my mouth and keep my words silent as I carefully looked around soaking in my surroundings. A cold hand snakes around my biceps, tugging me further into the building as I struggle to keep myself covered as much as possible with my arms. The walk is one in silence. The only noise is that of footsteps from the scientist and the beta behind me.

The scientist stops all of a sudden in front of a large metal door with heavy clanking and ticking noises before it hisses and cracks open. The scientist waits for the guard to peel the door open. Trudging inside with a bruising grasp on my arm, I was forcefully shoved in the back into the brightly lit stark white room. Stumbling to a halt a quarter of the way into the room, I turned growling at the beta guard and the scientist who had stepped into the room.

“Get her locked onto the table. I want to get this started.” The scientist walks to a small metal table at the side of the table, grabbing a small white piece of clothing. He rips it off to reveal several sets of medical utensils. The fight leaves my body as quickly as it came, as I start to panic, backing away from the guard shaking my head.

“Oh yes, little thing, this is where the fun starts.” The guard sneers as the scent of his putrid arousal fills the air. It's like a thick slim that is covering the air I’m forced to breathe, and my body rejects the scent as soon as it fills my lungs. Grasping at my neck as I choke on the air, I struggle to breathe in the fresh air.

The scientist snaps his fingers at the guard to drag his attention away from me. “Quickly, I don’t have all day for you to play cat and mouse.” At that, the guard jumped forward, wrapping his arms around my tiny torso and squeezing my body against his. He slid his tongue along my collarbone, making my skin crawl with disgust.

“Get off of me you popobawa!” I growled out between clenched teeth. Kicking my feet back, I caught his leg forcing him to move his weight onto the other leg. I shake my shoulders, thrusting my torso forward to get loose. I feel his hands weaken their hold on me as I scramble forward to get loose of his hold. Hope blooms in the chance of escape. I keep my eyes on the door as I finally feel his hands let loose of me. Turning my head, I noticed the doctor all too late. He sticks a needle into my neck as I scrape my nails along his hand trying to knock it away from him. I didn’t stop moving forward towards the door. His screams of pain filled my ears as they reverberated off the surrounding walls. I felt the sting of fluid in my neck making me hiss in discomfort. I'm determined to get out of this place, at all costs. Reality slowly seeps its ugly head into my mind as I flee down the long hallway. My mind is slowing, the edges of my vision are beginning to blur, and my limbs start to feel heavier.

Reaching a different door down the hallway, I dragged in as large as a breath as my lungs could hold. I’m exhausted. I need to find a place to hide quickly. I know I won’t be able to make it out of the building and make it away from here. I looked behind to see the scientist hadn’t made it to the hallway yet.

As I stumble on door after door down the hallway, I pull on the handles I see and twist them. Trying to move the heavy metal doors even the slightest inch depletes the energy that I’m already running low on. Reaching a door that is partly cracked open I ram my shoulder into it. Falling to the floor panting like I’ve run under the sun in the Barron lands without water for days. The heavy door opens a few inches more, causing my head to slide down the door.

Turning my head, I started pulling my body along the floor as if I’m a newborn pup learning to crawl for the first time. The stench that permeates from the room is stifling and there is no mistaking it. My vision is so blurred that it's hard to tell what is in the room. I can make out what looks like bodies lying on the floor. I can’t make out any of the fine details, but I know deep down they are not alive. The smell of death is not one that you forget when you live alongside it, but the amount of death to this extent tells me there is a lot of bodies.

Their limbs are in odd angles and there is red everywhere on them. There are so many bodies stacked, that it springs an idea in my foggy mind of a way to chance freedom. I don’t know if it works, and it could very well kill me instead. I use what strength I have left and pull myself into the pile of bodies, the chemicals infused in my system are starting to take full effect as my fingers and feet have gone numb. I try to dig my way down the pile of bodies as much as possible while holding back and bile that rises into my mouth. I’m thankful when the darkness claims me. I just hope that I’m still alive after this.