Page 27 of Red Rabbit
The men were still holding me and she pulled out several items used to draw blood. She wrapped a length of rubber around my upper arm and despite my attempts at struggling, a needle slipped into my arm. The vial quickly filled and within seconds it was over. She wrote quickly on the side of the vial and then pocketed it. She wrote something on the clipboard and then dug into her pocket and pulled out a container of pills. She extended one to me.
“Take this—if you don’t do it yourself, I will force it down your throat.” She spoke in a clinical monotone as though this was all beneath her.
“What is it?” I asked. I saw her eyes flash and I quickly reached out and grabbed the pill.
“It will help with your integration here,” she said simply.
That was ominous but I didn’t have a choice and swallowed the pill. The woman stepped towards me and gripped my jaw in her fingers, making me show her I swallowed before she stepped back.
“She is number 178. Put her in Block 5,” she said and was gone.
The two men shoved me through a different door and directed me down another sterile hallway. It was through the next door I balked again but I was starting to feel weird from whatever the woman gave me. I was unsteady on my feet and everything looked fuzzy around the edges so the men were easily able to push me through the door and into a nightmare.
There were rows and rows of cells and about half of them were occupied. Occupied with women. One of the men grabbed my arm and pulled me past the nearest cells where I could see women of various ages all in different states of distress. Some looked way too young and my stomach twisted in disgust as I realized what was going on here and it was exactly what I feared.
Cooper was running a human trafficking operation.
A few of the women watched me with a deep sadness in their eyes that made me want to cry and scream at the same time. We came to a cell along a mostly empty row and the men shoved me inside before they locked the door and left. Whatever drug I took made the cell spin and I was floating on a cloud as I slowly began to lose my motor functions. I looked around. The room was small with three solid walls and bars in the front. The only items were a blanket and a toilet in the far corner.
The drug made my emotions foggy and I took in everything around me with a calm detachment now. I slid down the wall near the door, my legs unable to keep me up any longer. In the cell across from me a blond woman huddled in her cell and stared at me with a vacant, drugged expression.
“What is this place?” I asked her.
“The Warren,” she said listlessly.
“I know that. But what happens here?”
“Terrible things,” she said, her voice breaking..
“What?”
“We’re only rabbits to him,” she muttered. The woman wasn’t making any sense but a heaviness settled over me. My eyes closed and the last thing to cross my mind before the drugs pulled me under was of Graham. I only had myself to blame for my situation. Maybe this was my punishment for getting him killed.
“The auction isn’t until tomorrow.” I heard muted voices and in my drug induced state I tried to open my eyes but I couldn’t.
“He’ll never know.”
The same voice said. I felt my legs get pulled open and the dress was pushed up. I tried to move, tried to get my hand to pull the dress down but my body was too heavy.
I faded out again until I felt pressure between my legs. I barely had the mental awareness to realize I was being raped. Whoever it was slid inside me with a groan and no matter how hard I tried to scream or move, I couldn’t.
I was trapped in my body.
“God she feels good—”
“Don’t do anything—”
Their voices faded out again. Inside I was breaking apart and disgusted but outside I was a shell, a doll for them to use.
He finally stopped and I felt him pull out and pull my dress back down, smoothing it over my legs like nothing happened. As their voices disappeared, a tear slid down my cheek and I couldn’t even lift a finger to brush it away. Then darkness pulled me under again.
The drugs finally started wearing off and with it, the reality of what happened hit me so hard I couldn’t breathe. I sobbed for hours, the blanket wrapped around me as I huddled in the corner of the cell. I was raped. Actually, drugged then raped and I couldn’t do a thing to defend myself. I felt dirty and powerless.
I didn’t see anyone for a long time until I heard footsteps coming down the walkway and two guards stopped at the cell door. I glared at them, wondering if they were the ones who raped me earlier but they didn’t give any indication as they unlocked the cell with passive faces and one of them came in and hauled me to my feet. I tried to rip my arm from him but I was shaky from the drug hangover and lack of food and water made me lightheaded.
They pulled me through the Warren’s passageways and I tried to keep track of all the turns in my mind so I could plan a map in my head for later. It was difficult with my mind still foggy. They took me through a door where I saw twenty or so women huddled against a wall, flanked by a few guards with assault rifles. All of them were naked with a thin copper colored collar around their necks. I was going to pass out.
“Ah, there she is! My shining star—” I looked over and saw Cooper as he approached. He wasn’t in tactical gear this time but jeans and a black button-up shirt. “You’re going to make me a lot of money tonight. Strip her.” He ordered.
