Chapter 34 - It's a trap
"MMMMHHH.... MHHHH.... MAAHHUUUMMM" the muffled, tortured screams, whimpers and cries of the prisoners paralyse me to the spot as I stare wide eyed at the gruesome image. Horror surges through me, bile rises up my throat and a sickening shudder runs down my spine as I stand paralysed on the cold slate flooring as the sounds of blood slapping rhythmically against the tiled stones overpowers the muffled screams.
Oh. My. God.
I'm hit by the rotten stench of Rogue mixed with the sharp, metallic scent of blood, mould, sweat and damp. Chains rattle loudly as an outburst of terrified and desperate muffled voices attempt to grab my attention or perhaps snap me out of my paralysis as I stare at the horrifying, gruesome site before me.
Hanging from the old suspended conveyor belts are perhaps more than a hundred people of all ages. Racing along the huge expanse of space on the first level of the large factory. Some dressed in clothes that look newly torn and ripped from a scuffle, others looking as if they've been in captivity for so long - obviously malnourished, caked in years of grim and dried blood as the hang silently like the dead. I can't even tell if they're breathing or have simply given up hope of escape.
I can see children, teenagers, adults; people of all ages desperately trying to escape the chains that wrap tightly around their wrists, suspending them from a small but deadly, for some of the malnourished and weaker prisoners, drop. Each desperately screaming for help.
My heart thuds loudly in my chest and my ears ring with realisation. A realisation I'd previously come to but had moronically ignored.
It's a trap.
I'm somehow drawn to the girl in front of me. Her jeans are savagely ripped at the knees, the bottom of it shredded to nothing and caked in dried blood and grim. Her shirt is torn, and I can just about see an array of swollen and bruised lumps beneath the mangled skin where a Rogue has run its claws down her stomach. Her face is cut down the one side, blood pouring from the wound, one green eye swollen shut, the other wide and terrified as she tries to scream something incoherent at me through the dirty, blood stained rag wrapped tightly around her mouth. Her greasy, dirt caked, blonde hair whips around her face as she furiously shakes head and yanks at her chains that are leaving bluish, blackish marks around her wrists.
My stomach churns and bile rises up my throat as a slow clapping sound catches my attention.
"What a show."
From the darkness Rogues, about forty maybe more begin emerging... I spot a well armed adult to my left.
Scratch that.
Hunters too.
My jaw clenches Melinda Pane I am going to skin you alive when I next see you. I thought you had the Hunter thing under control!
"I almost believed you were Jenkinson, you were so close to getting away with that girl."
That voice.
Shit.
My stomach clenches, my hands release a tremor as my face pales under my hood...
"Valentine Alden."
My fingers curl into fists and the prominent scar on my shoulder burns as a stark reminder of the day I first met Valentine Alden. The day I truly understood what sacrifice is.
"Long time no see." My voice is calm and controlled but inside. Inside it's like a nuclear explosion has taken place; sweat begins to build on the back of my neck, my heart rate pathetically speeds up as panic surges through me with a mix of anger and guilt. Gut wrenching guilt that threatens to over throw me.
