Page 224 of Vile Boys

I barely hear anything beyond these walls.

My mind spins in circles, drifting in and out of consciousness as time slips away.

Seconds. Minutes. Hours.

It’s all blending into one giant scream.

But no matter how much I exert my voice, no one comes to save me.

My cell is not just a prison of the body but also a prison of the mind.

There is nothing except my own thoughts to keep me company, and I am lost within them.

When the doors finally open again, I scream for help.

“Please, let me out. I didn’t do anything,” I say.

“Unlock her,” someone beyond the doors says.

A woman?

I hold my breath and wait until the man steps forward and shoves a key into the locks. My ankles are released, and the weight of the metal around them lifts, but I can barely stand.

He unhooks the metal around my wrists, and I nearly fall, but he grabs my waist and chucks me over his shoulder.

“Take her to the main hall. I’m not going to give this one to the Bones Brotherhood. This one could fetch a far bigger prize.”

Prize?

“Wait!” I shriek. “Where are we going?”

There are no answers to my questions.

Nothing but laughter and smug smiles as men force me through a bunch of grimy-looking hallways. But each door we pass strikes fear into my heart.

There are cells just like mine, all lined up, one after the other. Fifty, maybe a hundred.

And the more shrieks I hear, the less I feel like I can breathe.

“Put her with the others,” the woman says.

“Who?” I ask. “Please, just let me go. I promise, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Shut your damn mouth,” the man carrying me barks.

He throws me down in a bigger room with five other people, girls,boys, most my age. But I don’t recognize any of them.

“Don’t make a sound,” the guard warns before closing the door.

Behind it, gunfire erupts.

I immediately crawl to the door to listen while the others huddle in the back of the room.

What is going on?

What’s going to happen to me?

Panic fills my veins as I slam my fists onto the door, desperate to get out. “Let us go!”

---