Chapter 15 #2
My nose flared as I inhaled a shaky breath, my throat closing.
“Don’t you love when they are fresh and new? Scared and horrified?” Another guard chuckled. “Never lasts long, but most of the time, neither do they.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
“Now!” the first guard bellowed. Getting a better grip, he ripped my shirt over my head, along with my sports bra. Ice filled my bones, my eyes burning as the violation poured down on me. Laughter from the prisoners at seeing me humiliated resounded in my ears.
“You want me to do the rest?” The guard rubbed his crotch roughly into my backside, tugging at my thin pants, his hand snaking down them. “I have no problem stripping you naked while everyone watches.” He motioned out to the room, all eyes on me, burning into my bare skin.
Unable to respond, I shakily got undressed, tossing the rest of my clothes in the bin. My jaw clenched so hard to keep from crying, and it sent sharp pains up my face as I tugged off my underwear.
“You can join me, fish.” Some called to me as I strode to a shower, keeping my head level and my gaze on the cascading water, my kit in my hands.
The water hit my skin like needles, the cool temperature tensing my already taut muscles, and I gasped and cried out as it burned against my tender flesh.
Two people moved in next to me, and within seconds their grunts pulled my attention.
Both figures faced the wall. A gorgeous male fae, his hands on the hips of the woman in front of him, pounded into her while his eyes remained fixed on me.
His brown eyes glinted when our gazes met, and he thrust into the female harder.
My body reacted. It was human nature after all, but a swirl of disgust and heat passed over me. The spark of need throbbed between my thighs, to feel a moment of bliss for one second here.
“Yeah, you want me to fuck you next?” His gaze dragged down me, stopping on my breasts, my nipples hardening. “This turn you on, fish?”
“You can join us.” The woman’s eyes slid to me, her teeth biting into her lip, clearly enjoying that I was watching.
I turned away, though I could not block out their laughs and slapping noises. My other view was of two fae males going at it in the U-shaped stall. None of the guards were stopping any of them, as though this was their personal live porno.
I pulled out my shampoo, wanting to wash and get out quickly. Scrubbing my body and hair, the two next to me finally finished and left, allowing the next person to move in.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the fish without her protector.” A woman’s voice came behind me. “Where’s your wife, little fish?”
Dread filled my gut as I slowly cranked my head over my shoulder.
Tess, Mio, and Dee. The three bitches of terror block B stood behind me.
Their nudity seemed to shield them, while mine left me feeling vulnerable.
“What will you do without your girlfriend?” Tess crossed her arms over her saggy tits. Her skin was wrinkled and old.
My gaze darted over her shoulder to the guards. They stayed in position, either not concerned with us or too busy watching people have sex.
“Can I tell you how much I love having your blanket?” Tess smirked. “I use it to wipe my ass after I take a shit.”
Not responding to her taunt, I tried to finish cleaning up.
“Don’t fucking ignore me,” she growled, drawing attention from people around me.
Silently, I got the rest of the shampoo from my hair.
“I said, don’t ignore me, stupid bitch.” Tess slammed a hand into my back, my face cracking into the tile wall. The blood tingled as it rushed out of my nose.
The taste of the copper substance ignited fire in my veins. Whirling around, my knuckles crunched straight into her nose, pain rippling through my hand and up my arm.
Tess hit the ground with a slap, blood spurting out of her nose. Her shrieks echoed off the walls.
Mio and Dee leaped for me.
All emotion shut down; the only thing left on was my survival mode. Anger, frustration, sadness, and grief tunneled together. I’d had enough. The primal instinct to end the constant threat, to protect myself, rushed down my limbs.
They snapped my last fuck.
I heard the feral cry burst out of me, felt the impact of my fist breaking across Dee’s cheek, then punching again into her neck.
She dropped to the ground, her hand at her throat, wheezing for air.
A punch burrowed into my side, which increased my anger.
Flipping around, I rammed into Mio’s stomach with my knee.
Bending her over, my elbow slammed down into her spine, her face slapping against the wet tiled floor.
I saw the guards running for us, yells and whistles blending into white noise.
Tess leaped back up, coming for me. Rage like I had never known before roared up my throat as I barreled into her, taking her to the ground with a smack. I didn’t hesitate as my knuckles broke across her face over and over, her blood turning the water beneath us a deep pink.
“Stop!” Two guards yanked me off her by my arms and pulled me to my feet.
Tess’s head lay limply to the side. Only the slight lift of her ribs told me she was still alive.
I snarled, tugging my arms out of the guard’s grip.
Stunned, they watched me walk back to the shower, wash off the blood, and turn it off.
Snatching up my kit, I took in a deep breath and twisted around, scanning the blur of faces observing me.
The silence in the room teemed with tension and shock. Maybe a little fear.
Without a word, I lifted my chin and walked to the table. I grabbed my pile of fresh clothes, threw them on, and waited for what I knew would come.
The guards were right on me, clutching my arms again, marching me out of the washroom. I didn’t wonder where I was going. I knew.
The notion that I was provoked didn’t matter. “Fair” was not a known word here.
We headed farther down into the earth.
Lynx was right; danger and violence liked me.
And I welcomed it.
Darkness.
Endless night.
They soaked into your mind, driving anyone mad after a time, which wasn’t the cruelty of the pit. Nor was being in isolation. Hell, that was a holiday in my book compared to being with the group upstairs. I actually thought I might be able to get rest in here. Sleep a whole night.
Funny.
It wasn’t the gnawing pain of hunger or your brain tricking you in the pure blackness, the absence of understanding time or how long they would leave you.
No. It was the bouts of noises pounding relentlessly into the tiny space that drove you to the brink of madness.
Then it would stop for a while, easing you into stress-induced sleep, just to drive you awake with more.
Minutes passed like years in which I lost not only sense of time, but of space.
There was no place to go, yet my body still knocked against the walls, my fingers clawing at the surface, trying to escape the torture.
They changed the sounds just enough you could never tune it out to doze off. They reduced me to a sniveling blob curled in the corner. I welcomed death, hoping it would finally give me peace. Finally, for a moment, quiet surrounded me, and I fell into a wearied sleep.
A loud creak sounded as light burned across my lids, popping them open.
Flinching, I scrambled away from the painful light in the same way a terrified animal would. My emotions were torn down to primal responses. Instinct shoved my back into the wall, where I curled myself into the tiniest ball as a looming figure outlined the doorway.
“Learned your lesson, 85221?”
My eyes squinted against the blaring glow, but I could make out the silhouette of a guard, the one who had stripped me in the washroom.
“Get up,” he barked.
I couldn’t move, my heart pattering against my ribs.
“I said.” He reached down, grabbing me by the arms and tugging me up. “Get. Up.” His closeness made my skin twitch. I had the urge to snarl and bite his hands.
“How did you enjoy three days in the hole?” His eyes glinted, a sneer upping his mouth. A deep white scar hooked up his top lip; otherwise, he was very nondescript for a fae. “Want three more?”
My fuzzy teeth clenched together.
“Answer me, 85221.”
“No.” The syllable croaked as if my vocal cords had completely lost the ability to make words.
“No, what?”
“No, sir.” I boiled inside, my lids narrowing on him. This place had fostered hate within me; it was the primary emotion driving me now.
Prisons thrived on breaking people down and rebuilding them. Maybe it worked for others—bad people. But when you broke down good people, we didn’t rise again as even nicer people. No. That’s not how it worked. We rose like a dragon, one that would spew fire and burn everything to ash.
We became the depraved.