Black Cloaks

Three - Present

        She could smell their fear. Before there had only been the stench of death and decay, but now the fear and sweat that it caused stood out like a flashing beacon to Jade's enhanced senses. She admired their ability to cast a face of indifference at first glance, but she could see that they were scared speechless. Which was good, she supposed, as if they did speak loud enough, they would receive a shining silver bullet for their troubles. She also noticed they kept glancing hesitantly at the new body on the ground.

        Illnesses weren't uncommon in their underground prison, and with no medicine and limited space, they could spread like wildfire. Jade had been, as the black cloaks said, lucky, and had never caught any, but the fresh faced, blue eyed boy from outside hadn't been so lucky. After the first day of their entrance, he had spaced himself from the others. He had begun to cough through the night, gently first, but then each shudder grew violent, racking through his body. Jade had watched, but did nothing. What could she do? Her pity wouldn't save his life, so she simply didn't give it.

        He died the next day.

        Each day had come and gone until it was finally 'Food Day' as Jade called it even though she had no idea what the actual day was and food sometimes came more than once a week, depending on which black cloak brought it. There were several chutes attached to the walls around the room and every food day, the black cloaks would put bits of old leftovers down it. It was still pitch black though, so with the chains still on their legs, they would have to crawl around to try and find the food.  When she was first brought down there, the black cloaks were still installing the chutes and she had no food at all for a week or so, just dirty water and sneers when she begged for something else.  She quickly realized that trying to appeal to them would get her nowhere, so she traded begging for silence.  By now, Jade had memorized where the chutes were, and always took enough for the next few days. She didn't really need much so she didn't take much, always leaving more than enough for the others. She felt like she needed to give them a bit of a chance, even though it would all end the same.

        "I'm so hungry!"

        Jade snapped her head around towards the voice.

        "Eugh, me too."

        Jade almost growled, but she wasn't stupid enough to make noise.

        "They can't starve us!"

        "We should shout, then they will have to come to us!"

        Jade sighed and opened her mouth, her voice croaky after not being used for months.

        "If you shout, you'll get more than food," she said quietly, and she felt their eyes on her measuring her up.

        "Like what?" demanded one of the girls her blonde hair swaying as she folded her arms tightly across her chest.

        "An early death," Jade replied curtly and turned away. The girl's jaw dropped.

        The screeching sound of microphone feedback pierced the room and the others clutched at their ears. Jade sighed again.

        "Sorry about that!" said a deep, faceless voice that they all recognised as their black cloak captor. "I'm afraid our technology just isn't up to scratch at the moment."

        Jade didn't need to see his face to know he was smiling gleefully.

        "Well my little toys, I trust you're all doing well?"