The Wolfe Manor - DISCONTINUED

Chapter Five

Maria

I woke up to feel myself bumping against a cold and metal surface beneath me. The scent of body odor filled the air and it was strangely quiet.

My head hurt and every muscle in my body ached, leaving me feeling bruised and beat up. Hunger gnawed at my stomach and my throat felt bone dry. I was leaning on my right against a cold metal wall and I tried to get into a position that felt most comfortable but no matter what I did, nothing could help. Thick rope dug into the skin on my wrists and ankles and it penetrated deeper every time I tried to move my hands or legs.

Then, all at once, everything hit me like a wave. I remembered what had happened, what had happened the day before. Fear and panic gripped me as I realized what was happening to me. I was in the back of the black van that had been stalking me, in the van that belonged to the old man. My heart started to pound faster and faster until it felt like it was about to jump out of my mouth. I gasped, but the revolting, heavy, and overwhelming air choked me, preventing me to breathe properly. I tried to look around at the surroundings but saw only darkness. If there were any windows, they were covered well. I shut my eyes and didn't open them until my heart slowed down.

I blinked my eyes open after about five minutes and turned my head to the left. I was able to see a figure sitting down beside me and it took me a while to make out that the person's knees were brought up to their head as if they were hiding their face from crying; the person wasn't moving, however, and I felt too weak to disturb them. I squinted my eyes in an attempt to see better and looked around, but failed to see anything else in front of me or past the person on my left.

I gasped again through my dry throat when the van suddenly jerked to a stop.

The figure next to me finally lifted up its head. "Where are they taking us?" I managed to croak. The figure shook their head as if trying to clear a bad memory out. "I don't know." The grating whisper that replied belonged to a girl.

"What do they want from us?"

Before she could respond, the doors on the back of the van opened. "I can't talk now. He doesn't like it when we do." She quickly turned away to face the opening doors of the van.

A man's silhouette stood at the end of the van, a bright light outlining his figure.

I put my hand up to my face to shield my eyes. I looked around the trunk again, able to see more with the light shining; there were about eight other people in the back of the van along with us, all pressed together as the space was very big. Their hands and legs were also tied up with the same thick rope that held mine and they looked tired, defeated, and ill. I glanced at the girl again and could distinguish more features on her face. Her face wore a look of distress; her thin lips were pursed, her almond-shaped brown eyes kept flickering to and fro to the door, her short, brown, pin-straight hair was messy and tangled, her oval face was covered in dirt, and her clothes were tattered. Everybody in the van seemed to look this way–scared and abused.

He threw something to each of the prisoners that made a loud and wet smacking sound as it landed on the floor. As he flung one at me a foul scent filled the air and I held my breath. He left as soon as he made sure that everybody got one then shut the doors with a loud bang. The van started and continued down the rocky road.

All was dark again.

The girl next to me managed to grab the rotten piece of food with her tied up hands, then she took a bite and started chewing it slowly and miserably. I would rather starve. It looked like a decayed carcass of some sort of animal. I pushed it away and shut my eyes.

"You need to eat that." the girl next to me whispered after she swallowed, her voice a little stronger than it was before. "I overheard him saying that he wants us to be in the best shape possible."