The Trail

Chapter 11 | Canis lupus

I hit the ground with a thump, and as I tried to ease my fall using my hands, I felt the skin on my hands tear open against the grit. The fabric of my checkered shirt ripped just below my left shoulder, revealing a small wound. My head still throbbed and my left temple stung as dried blood had made its way down the side of my face. I heard a rattling sound behind me, and as I turned around I saw the door to a rusty cage close shut.

"Hey!", I yelled and threw myself against the bars of the cage.

I reached my hand out in an attempt to grab the large man's shirt, but he stood just out of reach. He had an amused look on his face as if he felt a menacing joy towards my struggle.

It was the same man who had drove the truck. Up close, he was huge. He was nearly as tall as the door to the cage and his arms were twice as large as his own head. He had an enormous jaw and a big, flat nose that pressed against the middle of his face. His eyes were dark, almost black, and his bald head shone of sweat. He wore a dark, green tee shirt, that was way too tight for his large chest, and a pair of cargo pants. There was no way that I would be able to put up a fight against him, at least not based on raw force.

"Open the fucking door", I growled and grabbed the bars with my bleeding hands.

"Sorry, love, but I can't do that just now", he said with a crude smile on his lips and waved the keys in front of me before he stepped away from the cage.

"Don't you fucking dare leave me in here! Hey! Asshole!", I yelled as he turned and walked away.

He didn't look back, only spun the keys around his finger as he disappeared behind a low building.

"Do you really think that I would still be in here if it were that simple?", I heard a voice to my left.

Blinded by rage, I had missed the fact that I was not alone. As I turned my head, I saw multiple cages lined up in a nice, neat little row. They were all inhabited, except for one.

In the one closest to mine, a young man sat with his feet apart and hands resting on his knees. He was thin, with cheeks sunken in and a jaw that was as sharp as a blade. He had long, protrusive veins running down his arms and hands that almost made them look ghastly. With his dark hair shaved, a long, white scar was revealed on the right side of his head. A tattoo, that I couldn't make out what it portrayed, spread across the right side of his neck. The only thing that gave away that he was still alive, was his sunburnt skin.

I did not reply, instead, I turned my back to him in order to examine my surroundings. I had been passed out for most of the way in the car and had no idea how far, or where, they had taken me. It looked like an old suburban neighbourhood, oddly placed in the middle of the desert, with overgrown backyards and old, rusty fences surrounding low buildings. The air was still a bit chilly and the sun hadn't yet made it to the top of the sky; it was still early morning. How long could we have drove for? An hour?

I just hoped that Juniper was okay.

"I will find you", I whispered and rested my forehead against the bars keeping me prisoner.

"You might as well make yourself comfortable", I heard the man's hoarse voice again. My guess was that he hadn't been drinking anything for a while.

I turned to look at him as he had got up to his feet, leaning against the bars closest to mine. There was a gap between the two cells, and as I met his gaze through the rusty bars of what held me captive, I noticed that he had warm, amber eyes. As the sunlight reflected in them, there was a slight hint of yellow.

It was the second thing that took away from his dead-looking shell; his eyes glowed with determination, with fighting spirit. I did not know for how long he had been sitting in that cage, but if it was one thing that they hadn't managed to do to him; it was to break him.

However, I had no interest in talking to him. With a blank glance, I turned my back to him. I had to focus on my escape.

"Like you were shouting a minute ago, I'm pretty sure you're not mute", he said. "Not everyone is like old Joe. Ain't that right, Joe?"

There was no response.

"Joe was a bit of a wisecrack, you see. Wouldn't stop yabbering. So they cut out his tongue", I heard him say with a short laugh that held no humor, "just a bit of advice if you feel like yelling your lungs out again."

He was silent for a while, but it didn't take long before he, once again, pursued conversation.

"So, you got a name?", he asked, and for some reason, I pictured him with a large grin on his face. "Of course you do, everyone's got a name. Even those who don't have a name have a name."

"That makes no sense", an older man, maybe in his fifties judging by his smoke cracked voice, yelled from one of the other cages on the far side of the row.

"Yes, it does. Think about all the animals, they have names, don't they? If it's not in english, then it's in latin. Take a wolf, for an example. In the common tongue known as a wolf, but in scientific speech, its known as—"

"Canis lupus", I said and turned my head slightly.

In the corner of my eye, I saw him looking at me with surprise.

"Exactly", he said.

I turned my back to him again, and slid down against the cage wall. Somewhere in the distance I could hear the ongoing conversation about the scientific names of animals. My ears had, however, shut off, and even though I didn't want to admit it, I was exhausted. My head hurt from where the red headed man had hit me, which made me feel light headed. My throat was dry and my stomach had begun to hurt from hunger. I had been stupid enough to not stop to eat for the whole night as I had been too determined to find a safe place to make camp. The situation was quite ironic when you thought about it.

I did not know the purpose of my capture or why they held other people here. I sensed that I didn't wan't to know, and that it was best to not stay long enough to find out. After June 12th humans had resorted to strange activities, finding the rights to other people's lives. There was no longer laws to hold them accountable, allowing people, who were already disturbed before, to now roam free without hindrance. I knew what people were capable of, which sadly held no consolation. 

In other words, I had to find a way to escape, and that soon. I had to find Juniper.

***

As the sun made its way across the sky, I grew weary. There was nothing to provide me with shade, instead I was pestered with sweat finding its way down my back, despite the fact that I wasn't moving.

When I could no longer find the strength to keep my head up, I lied down onto to the rough ground. While I tried to find a comfortable position, I heard an eerie tune being whistled behind me. I lied on my side while my eyes stuck to the rust that clung to the metal bars. It looked as if it would decay and fall apart any second, yet it was dead solid.

The more I thought about it, I realized that there was a high probability that I would be stuck in this cage for the rest of my life. The rest of my life, which was without water calculated to approximately three days. Below direct sunlight it was probably even less than that. I had to find a way to escape by nightfall. If I didn't, I might never see Juniper again. If I didn't have Juniper, then-

"Then you have nothing", the voice that was heard was cold and fragile, as if it spoke through the bars of the cage.

I could still hear the ominous whistling from behind me.

"You have already failed. You failed to protect her, and now—"

"Quiet! I won't listen to you anymore", I pressed my hands against my ears to try and shut them out.

"You will defy us? Us, who have done nothing but to help you? To be there for you?", the hissing woman spoke with rage, spitting out the words as if they were poisonous.

They kept punishing me with their harsh words as if they tried to inflict guilt on my conscience. I already knew that I was useless, even more so as I was trapped in this cage. A cage, which by the minute, felt as if it was shrinking around me to the point where I could not breath. It clung to my skin, pressed against my chest and left me engraved with rust in the colour of bronze. All of which I was left with was a metallic smell and the uncanny tune which originated from dry lungs.