The Choosing

Taken

Sophie became aware of the pain she was in several moments before she opened her eyes.  Her brain felt as though it was trying to bash it's way out of her skull. Her spine was sore, stiff. She was lying on nothing but concrete, it's damp soaking through her clothes. Sophie cracked her eyes open and found herself facing darkness. Fear curled in stomach. A sliver of light cut into the room through a tiny window. She sucked in a breath as fear rolled down her spine. Sophie pulled herself upright, moving her hands across the damp concrete, trying to get a feel for the room. It was freezing. Icy air pierced through Sophie's clothes and numbed her skin. Sophie's teeth chattered as she climbed to her feet. She stretched her arms out in front her, using the trembling limbs as buffers as she carefully shuffled across the room to the window. She needed to figure out where she was. Who had taken her. She reached the window and propped herself up on her toes, fingers curling around it's bars so that she could look outside. 

Sophie's stomach dropped to the floor. It wasn't a window at all. It was a door with a small opening. Sophie peered into the empty hallway, it's walls lined with doors. Her hands gripping the bars in terror. The hallway seemed endless, with naked lightbulbs flickering dimly as far as she could see. It seemed like a segment of a horror movie. As if she had woken up in the wrong fairy tale. 

Sophie paced the length of the room anxiously. There was only one way in and out of her cell and it was locked. Even if she could use the door, she didn't know what she would do from there. She didn't where she was. Who was at the end of the hall. She knew there were at least six men somewhere in the building. Assuming that Thaddeus hadn't killed any of them. It would only take one to kill her. Wherever she was it was without her people, without her title. She doubted these people cared what happened to her. She wasn't their Luna. She was just a girl. 

A low thumping sounded from somewhere in the hallway. It sounded to Sophie like someone was throwing themselves against their cell door. She wondered how many people were down here. Maybe they had stolen people from all the surrounding packs to use as leverage as some kind. Sophie put it down to money. Didn't it always come down to money? It didn't take long for the disturbance to spread to the other cells. Soon, the hallway was filled with the sound of bodies hitting wood. 

"Shut up!" A voice boomed down the hallway. The prisoners didn't listen. Instead, the voice seemed to encourage them. An unfamiliar man stormed into view. "Stupid mongrels!" he shouted once again, sending his boot crashing into one of the doors. The sound that came from the prisoner inside the cell turned Sophie's blood cold. She knew that sound. The growling gurgle that could only come from something that was rotting from the inside. Bitten. Sophie knew exactly where she was. All that time spent searching for the Bitten army and she had been taken right to them. Dread filled Sophie, Thaddeus would never find her. They were going to turn her into a Bitten. She knew it. What better way to disarm a pack then setting their own Luna loose on them? Sophie felt sick. A small noise escaped her throat. She watched the man's head snap towards her, a malicious grin spread across his face. 

"Well, well, look who's finally awake. The Alpha will be happy."

Sophie frowned as she backed away from the bars. So they were a pack. Sophie doubted the Bitten were included in that pack. She heard his footsteps approaching before his face loomed in the bars, he grinned down at her. 

"I'll go get him for you."

Sophie returned to the bars as he retreated. Watching as he all but skipped down the hallway. Despite not being able to see the dark room, it seemed to spin around her. Sophie's blood roared in her ears. This was it. This was how she was going to die. Her heart thundered in her chest and tears welled in the corners of her eyes. She didn't even get to say goodbye. She squeezed her eyes shut, Thaddeus' soft smiled face floated through her mind. That was her favourite. That gentle smile. The way his eyes held pure adoration. As if the sun revolved around her. As if no one else existed. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. She loved him. More than words could describe.