The Unnaturals (Discontinued)

Fourteen.

Hey guys! Sorry I've been so bad about updating, life has just been crazy. Hopefully the long chapter makes up for it. As always, I'm blown away by your amazing support. Enjoy!

I was so cold. So, so very cold. They had sprayed me with a hose about an hour ago, saying something about needing to get me ready. Whatever that meant. All I could focus on was the drip, drip, drip of water onto the concrete floor and the clattering of my shaking hands in chains.

A roar sounded above me. The stomping of hundreds of feet and the screams of hundreds of people. It was fight night. Which meant I had been here for what, five or six days? It felt like weeks. They would kill me soon. Heck, maybe they'd even kill me tonight. I tried to be comforted by the though. There would be no pain in death. No broken wings or mother's words that won't stop haunting me. She would have said I deserved this. That I was lucky to die this quick.

But I didn't want to.

I wanted to live my life. Eat ice cream again. Listen to music. Run my fingers along the pages of a well worn book in which the heroine gets a happy ending. I didn't want to die here, in this dark, grimy room.

The cries of the crowd grew and I heard the muffled voice of the announcer. So the first fight had begun.

A thud caught my attention, followed by a groan. Keys jangled. Not a minute later, a figure was standing before my cell. I couldn't tell if they were a man or woman. They were completely clothed in black, with the exception of a white mask. The person unlocked the barred door and slid it to the side. With every step towards me they took, my heart thundered and my breathing sped up.

"Are you going to kill me?" I rasped.

"No." Their voice was mechanical, neither male or female. With the keys, they unlocked my hand cuffs, sending me crashing to the floor. I tried to push myself off the ground, but my legs were jelly and my sense of balance was thrown off with my wings bound. With a hard tug on my arm, I was lifted from the ground. This is my chance. I wasn't going to die.

I rammed my elbow into their stomach, sending them doubling over with a groan. The second they released me I threw myself to the door, escape the only thing on my mind. But I was off balance without my wings and weak from a week of torture. I didn't make it ten feet before I crumpled to the floor once more. Pain exploded in my lip as I bit down hard. When I pressed a hand to it, it came away silver with blood.

I contorted my body until I was facing the strange masked person, but they were quick to recover. They seized me with one arm, while using the other to plunge a needle into my neck. I thrashed, trying to break free, but my limbs turned to lead and my head spun.

"Why are you doing this?" I cried, trying my best to glare.

"I'm helping you. Stop struggling, it will only further your discomfort," they responded. As they dragged me from my cell I couldn't help but think I had gotten out of the frying pan, but was certainly headed for the fire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luke Taylor was, among other things, hungry. Yeah, he could definitely go for chocolate chip pancakes or maybe even a cookie. Or four. Perhaps Sang would have a sweet tooth too and they could all go out for a celebratory dessert after they broke her out of the hell she was trapped in.

"Luke!" North hissed. "This way." Luke nodded, and followed him down a flight of stairs. The fact that they were so far underground concerned him. It wouldn't take the handlers long to discover Sang missing, and he could only hope they had enough time to get her out before they did.

They soon came across a large steel door, guarded by two handlers. Luke squared his shoulders and straightened the guard uniform he wore. If he had confidence in what he was doing, others would be more inclined to believe him. North and he stopped before the handlers, each looking bored and a bit annoyed.