Page 7 of Nitro

I follow behind him down the stairs and then in the direction of the entertainment area on the first floor. There is a metal door that needs a key code entered before it will open. He puts in the code and the door pops open for us. It leads to another set of stairs into the lower level. The lighthearted mood I was in as I walked around the upper levels disappears the second, I see what he's made downstairs. It's a fucking torture facility. What the fuck is he going to do down here?

“What the fuck are we doing down here?” I ask him and feel my heart start to race. Maybe he figured out that I had been going to see Shepard.

“I told you already, we have business.”

I look around trying to figure out what I’m going to be able to use as a weapon against Rooster if I have to, when the wall we are standing next to starts to shift and open up.

“What the fuck is this?” I reach towards my back for my gun, but Rooster doesn’t move. If he doesn’t feel it's a threat then I guess it’s not. As the wall continues to open, I see a group of people walking in, the opening leads to another underground tunnel. There are five men with leather jackets on, all of them with a patch that says Drift Demons. This must be Bull and his people.

“What the fuck took you so long?” Rooster asks, his face a picture of anger.

“What the fuck do you mean what took us so long, what the fuck did you think was going to happen with us walking underground with a fucking group of tied up women? You thought we would fly?” Bull is a tall man; he has a bald head and on either side of his skull is the tattoo of a bull horn.

“Let me see the merchandise.” Rooster disregards the last part of what Bull says and looks behind him to the other people he is with.

There are twelve more people behind the five members of the Drift Demons all of them with no shoes on and long robes that cover their faces.

Bull and his men pull the robed people forward to pull the hoods off their heads. My breath gets caught in my throat when I realize that these are the women that Rooster had said he was going to bring in.

“Nitro, get over there and check them out.” Rooster orders. I want to argue, but I know that right now isn’t the time. We are in front of mixed company and the last thing I need is for Rooster to think I am trying to disrespect him in front of Bull.

I’m not a fucking doctor, but I know that no one should smell as bad as these women do. Wherever they were before this, they were not taken care of in the least. I walk down the line and one by one shift the women's heads from side to side, look in their eyes, run a hand down their bodies, and basically just make sure that they aren’t dying at this very second from anything I can see.

“They smell like hot shit” I turn and tell Rooster.

“Nothing a shower won’t fix.” Bull replies instead.

I get to the second to last woman to check her over, she’s the smallest out of the group. I’d say no more than five feet tall. Her hair is matted to her skull and her skin is gaunt, but her eyes let me know that she’s not as weak as she may appear. Her eyebrows scrunch in for a second as if she’s thinking about something and then her eyes go wide. She’s come to some sort of conclusion. Though I can’t even ask her what she’s thinking, because of the gag.

I complete the same pass on her as I did the other girls, but instead of shying away from me like I thought she was going to do she grabs hold of my arm just as I try to pull away. She stares at me, trying to communicate something to me through her big grey eyes and body language, I just don’t know what it is. She knows something.

“Nitro, what the fuck are you doing? I don’t have all day.” Rooster barks at me and I shake my arm out of her grasp. She shakes her head and looks down like she’s disappointed. I try to shake off the feeling, but even as I’m done and wait for Rooster and Bull to finish their business, I know I’m going to have to find out what this one had figured out. I just hope whatever it is won’t be anything to get me killed.

Nitro

Bull and his Drift Demons make the transaction quickly, it seems like they just wanted to get these women out of their hair. I know they had expected to hand them over to Yemen, but when he went away it fucked up a lot of peoples' plans.

The girls were all stuffed into individual cages, more like padded cells than rooms. There's a bed bolted to the ground and a toilet. I’ve seen better accommodations in jail. The gags were taken off, but to my surprise even with them off all the women are incredibly quiet. Like they’ve been trained not to make a sound.

By the time Rooster and I push them into their rooms and go back upstairs the rest of the members of the Purged that Rooster invited to stay here had shown up. Now instead of the half dozen of us there are now thirteen of us.

We don’t even have the time to get to know each other before Rooster tells us that we have buyers coming to look in on the women. We’re supposed to have an auction tonight for at least three of the women.

As time goes on, I realize that Rooster is becoming more and more on edge. He's nervous. Why? I haven't the slightest idea, but he's running around making sure that everything is exactly in the right place. Almost like he's trying to impress someone.

"Nitro, I need you to go into the cells and pick out the best three from the merchandise." He barely looks at me when he's talking.

"Oh man, I want to do that. I'll put the whole lot of them through the ringer to make sure they're up to par." Rage jokes. That's the wrong fucking move. I've known Rooster for years and one thing I know for sure is when Rooster gets into these types of moods, playing around is the last fucking thing to do.

Rooster pulls out his gun faster than I thought possible and he presses it to Rage's head. "You think this is a motherfucking game, Puto? Do you know what the fuck I'm trying to do here?" Rooster spits through his clenched teeth.

"Brother, what the fuck I was just playing. I didn't mean anything by it. Of course, Nitro should be the one to choose. I'm fucking sorry Rooster." Rage cowers like a fucking bitch the second that cold steel touches his head.

"Rooster, don't worry about it. I'll handle it. Anything in particular that I need to look for." I do my best to steer the situation towards one where I don't have brain matter splattered all over me.

Rooster glares at Rage for a second more before he turns to me. "They need to be clean, in shape and polite. The people coming for the auction aren't from the states, they expect a certain type of women." He runs his hand through his hair, "Use these mother fuckers to help you with whatever you need." He walks off leaving me with the group of new Purged members.

"I need buckets of hot water in each of the girls' rooms. I want to speak with them so if there are gags in their mouths you need to figure out a way to get them the fuck off. The last time I looked them over I didn't see any problems but, if any of them need immediate attention, let me know. Don't fuck with them more than you need to. Is that understood?" I keep my orders clear and everyone nods their heads before they take off to do what I ask.

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