Freedom in Fire - A LotR Adventure

Prologue

A dark, small figure darted across the barren courtyard surrounded by tall, metal fences, lined with barbed-wire at the top. A light shimmer in electric-blue eyes was the only thing visible of the child but not one that anyone even with the keenest eyes noticed. Her footsteps were light as a feather, though caused her tattered cloak to dance with every step she took. She stalled momentarily behind a litter of crates to glance at the guards in the watch tower just west of where she hid. The men there with guns and rifles were ready to burn anything they saw moving without their consent, be it human or animal.

Spotting a thin opening, she sprinted towards the metal fence, slickly revealing the wire-cutter concealed in her clothes. Seconds felt like minutes for her as she ran, tasting the freedom she so desperately desired that had been stripped from her along with innocence and love and a childhood just a year ago.

A shrill scream resonated through the courtyard following a bright spark that emanated from the collar she wore around her neck. Gasping like a fish out of water, she fell to the ground, her wire-cutter falling with a thud that sounded much louder than it was in her sensitive ears. She clawed at the collar continuing to scream at the shocks it rewarded her with for several agonizing moments. When it stopped, the child stilled.

Her breathing had been reduced to short heaves and she had no energy to even swallow her saliva. Her lids quivered, blurring out her vision more than what it had been reduced to because of the shocks. If she had any strength remaining, it would have aided her body in tensing instead of shuddering at the sound of boots approaching her on the sandy ground.

"Another failed attempt at escaping," came a smooth but sinister voice. "I'm baffled that you are yet to understand that there is no escaping from here, rat."

The child couldn't stop the hostile glare she gave the man. She feared him, feared him more than anything she had feared in her entire life of seven years, even more than her father who had done nothing but beat her black and blue for being born, for merely existing. But she also hated him with every fiber of her being.

"That look isn't going to get you anywhere or anything except for this."

He held up a small remote and ran his finger over the thin tapering bar on its surface. Sparks more powerful than before surged from the collar and the child screamed again. It resonated through the courtyard and the facility at the far end, rousing the sleeping inmates. Several looked out of their windows at the sight now in the spotlight from the watchtower. One in particular, another child of the same age but taller and thinner, had gone pale.

"Leah," she whispered into her hands clasped over her mouth. Shutting her eyes, she turned away unable to bear the torture her friend went through. The screams could not be shut out even by covering her ears.

[A/n: Leah is pronounced as Lee-ah]

As Leah had been punished several times before, after the intense shock to her body, she was dragged by her dark hair to one of the many dark prison cells just beside the facility, and thrown in there to repent, as the warden put it. For how long she would be there was unknown – it depended only on the warden's mood more than the facility's scientists' orders – and so was how much she would be starved or beaten as punishment so she didn't attempt another escape.

Knowing Leah's determination though, the brutal punishment would be soon forgotten by thoughts of another possible escape plan.

"Please, Leah, no more, please," Hannah whispered into her hands, tears brimming over her eyes to leave streaks over her nearly hollow cheeks.

Leah had not heard her but felt her plea in her bones. She had not given up though, she would never give up trying to get out of this hellish place, but for now she had to rest. She needed to, her body numb from the high intensity shocks and swelling bruises left from the iron pipe.

But she wasn't sure if she would be able to rest. With her hands and feet bound, a dark cloth over her eyes shutting out even the brightest light, and a gag in her mouth, she felt suffocated, afraid, and vulnerable. She was vulnerable. She would not know if someone came to kill her while she was in this pitiful state – even if she did hear someone, she could not see anything besides endless darkness. She could not move. She could just be killed or rot away if she was forgotten.

Still, with her heart aching from the fast pace it beat, her heaving threatening to choke her, she was overcome with overwhelming exhaustion. Her eyes darted quickly behind her closed lids, the fright of falling asleep tormenting her. But she could not stay awake. She could not, even though she expended long, muffled screams till her lungs burned.

Choking momentarily, she curled up into a ball trembling in fright, convulsing under the invisible pressure she felt crushing her from all sides.

Just as she succumbed to unconsciousness, a single tear fell from her closed eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~

Phew! What an intense introduction, huh? Leah has quite a tormenting life, one which she cannot escape from. But she is strong at heart and not ready to submit to it. She wishes to find a way out...but can she?

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