AN: Thank you for taking an interest in this story!


The smell of dirt woke him from his unconsciousness. Not the smell of the fresh soil after a rainy day, it was the stench of deterioration of raw materials, like the earthly filth surrounding a rotting corpse. He was the corpse waiting for his transcendence into the ground below. Yao's eyelids fluttered open as another bump sent his body back against the rusted steel. His head collided with the hard metal and he winced in pain as he felt the tight fabric around his mouth. Not only around his mouth, but also around his ankles and hands, Yao soon realized. Fear seeped through his bones, and he blinked restlessly trying to make out his situation all the while screaming into the dirty cloth tied to silence his noises.

This couldn't be happening to him. He was blocks away from home. This wasn't supposed to happen. No. No! Yao struggled uselessly, twisting and turning; his screams were muffled by the rag, but rolls of tears slid down his cheeks. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see his mom.

It wasn't hard to figure out that he was trapped in the trunk of a car. It also wasn't difficult to guess what had happened to him. Yao could faintly remember the events that took place a few hours ago…he had promised to help that man, and they were searching on that street when- And then what? Then a blow to the head and he fell into an ocean of darkness.

Another bump on the road, another unheard scream in the back of a car, he trembled uncontrollably curling into a fetal position. He begged for this to be a nightmare, pleaded with whoever was listening to let him go home. Please…Please let this be a nightmare. Please let me be dreaming.

Abruptly the car came to a stop, and before Yao realized what was going on. The trunk of the car was opened, and the glaring sun infiltrated his sight rendering him momentarily blind. Searing in pain, he shut his eyes quickly.

"Stop struggling, it's useless," a man's voice sounded from above.

Slowly opening one of his eyes, he stared in fear at the ragged stranger standing with his hand supporting the trunk door. He wore a plaid shirt with ripped jeans loosely hung around his hips. His skin was pallid and sickly, and fainted tattoos depicting skulls and guns travelled on all visible parts of his body.

"Hmmm-Mmmm!" Yao shouted into the rag, legs moving frantically trying to free himself. He looked at the man desperately, hoping to invoke any response of sympathy from him.

"No one's going to hear you this west of the county," the man said passively. "Give it up."

"Hmm!" Let me go. His words were lost in the confinement of the cloth, but even if he was able to utter the words out loud it wouldn't have made a single difference. Coming to accept his fate, Yao's agitated screams turned into pitiful whimpers as wet tears formed root-like trails on the side of his face.

"Atta boy," after seeing that the boy no longer made any significantly loud noises, the man pushed the door down and it was darkness all over again.

Biting on his tongue until he tasted iron, Yao shivered despairingly in the dark. The rags were digging sharply into his flesh as he continued to twist and wring out of the tight knot. He had seen the movies, heard about this on the news, but never had he expected this to happen to him.

This couldn't be real.

He didn't want to die.

His mom was going to cook his favorite beef stew. He promised his little sister that he will watch her favorite show with her. He had a piano recital on the weekend. He was going to attend his friend's birthday party next week. He- It didn't matter anymore did it now?

Screaming once again into the rag, Yao's vocal cords were straining as he wriggled to break free. He screamed until his throat was dry and his consciousness faded into a land he never wished to wake up from.

The next time he opened his eyes, the first sight he saw was the slow rotating fan on the top of the ceiling. It was hypnotizing. It made him realize that he was not in his bedroom.

Images from the day before flashed in front of his eyes and his heart sped up at the recognition of his dire situation. Testing the numbness of his body, Yao slowly commanded his fingers to move and they quivered slightly sending shockwaves through his spine. Then just as he was about to lift his hand, Clang, the metal handcuff permitted only fifteen centimeters of freedom. Clang, clang, clang. The trembling hands were reined back again and again, still they rose up tenaciously only for the outcome to be a loud clang. After it had become evident that both of his hands were bounded to the bed, his feet moved cautiously until they too, were pulled back by the metal chain. Yao closed his eyes. His brows were knitted tightly, and his expression was set in an unconvincingly calm mold. Eventually, the cold hard metal broke through whatever form of delusion he was trying to conjure up, and reality hit like frostbites that nibble and corrode away the remaining warmth.

Grunting softly, he pulled himself up as far as the handcuffs permitted and supported his weight on his elbows. The restless eyes searched the room for any familiar signs, and landed on the woman sitting in a rusted chair by the foot of the bed. She seemed to be asleep with her eyes shut and her arms crossed. Her face was plump yet ghastly, features that were once beautiful now appeared ragged and out of place. Sanguine veins travelled through the drooping skin- making her look older than she actually was. Few strands of flaxen hair fell over her brows, and the rest of her hair was neatly cut above her shoulder. Sitting slightly hunched over the chair, her breasts sagged forward in clothes that resembled a lab coat-one that was too big and fitted in all the wrong places.

The woman's eyes faintly moved and blinked a few times before directing her gaze at Yao's childish struggles against the unbreakable. The pale light from the flickering lantern on the table seemed to act as a veil over her ocean blue eyes, masking any recognizable emotions. She stared long and hard at the boy.

"You're okay," she said.

Yao observed her with frightened eyes. "No…" he started. "No please help me. I need to call my mom." Then as he began to realize something, his voice increased in intensity and desperation. "Please please, please! I don't know where I am, I need to call home, I need to tell my parents where I am!" The women stood up from her chair and moved to the table where she slipped on a pair of gloves and removed a syringe from a plate of what looked like surgical equipments. "No, no, no," Yao struggled against the handcuffs.

"You're okay," she tapped the tip of the syringe, slightly pushing up the plunger causing liquid to ooze out of the needle.

Yao started to cry as the woman approached the bed. "No! I don't want this, no-" His voice broke and he backed up alarmingly. "No, no, no," his words played like a broken record while she grabbed his arm and pressed the needle on the soft skin.

"Shhh," she cooed. "This is only going to be harder if you resist."

"Ahhh-" Yao yelled harshly, tears continued to stream down his face.

Soon the drugs kicked in, and he felt his body plunge into the hard mattress. He opened his mouth, yet no words came out. His eyes blinked to fight off the anesthetics even though he knew it was a one-sided battle. Despite of his unwillingness to admit the truth, he was glad that he was taken to the dream world once more. He remembered thinking that she had such pretty eyes as his own sealed close.

The middle-aged woman wiped the tears from his face and rubbed it on the mattress; she then disposed of the needle in the garbage can along with her gloves. After this tedious routine, she sighed.

"Kat, that boy's not giving you any trouble is he?" Raivis questioned, entering the room.

She did not look at the mouse-like man. "No, he's going to be asleep for the next few hours. Let's get him cleaned up…Braginsky is coming soon."

That name seemed to strike a nerve in Raivis as his faced formed an unappealing frown. "Damn it, F' damn it! Why does he come here anyways, it's not like he does anything other than making my life miserable."

"Quit bitchin', if you have any problems with him say it to his face," said Kat at the scowling man.

It appeared as if he was going to say something more, but stopped when he realized that this conversation could likely makes its way to Braginsky's ears. "I aint' got no problems with him. Boss is a wonderful man."

Kat rolled her eyes. "Help me get him up to the shower room." The conversation came to an end, and the two dragged the unconscious boy out of the bed and into the hallway. Somewhere in the building, another light went out.


The children waited in the compacted room. Some sat on the benches, while others stood. Some were older in the pre-adolescent and adolescent stages, while others were in elementary school. Used to. School seemed so far away from their reality now. Another division that set the children apart was their experience; the 'new' batch consisted of those who were newly imported from other locations and those who were newly recruited.

Yao was one of the newly recruited.

His fingernails dug deeply into the wooden bench he was sitting on. He held his gaze firmly on the concrete ground below his shoe-less feet, refusing to look at his surroundings. The other children paid him no attention as they too waited silently for judgment day. Still not fully comprehending what had happened to him, Yao deepened his fingers into the wood as if it was the only thing keeping him from floating away. His uniforms were replaced by a white tank top and shorts, and the scent of cheap soap on him revealed what had happened while he was unconscious. The loud pounding in his head matched the beat of his anxious heart making it more difficult to focus. He wasn't sure what they were waiting for, or even who they were waiting for, still he didn't dare to ask the guards standing by the door. They were the ones who led them into the room and told them to wait. The large men with heavy pistol holsters hanging on their cartridge belts guarded a group of children, for bullets lacked eyes if anyone dared to step out of the line.

The moment came when a loud voice broke through the silence. "Ahem!" Raivis cleared his throat, and looked nervously around the room even though he was the one in charge. "Well well well. Guess we're not in school anymore." His weak attempt at humor with met with more silence and dead eyes. "Sheesh tough crowd…Well listen up boys and girls, I hope by now you have an idea of why you are here. For those who are transported here from locations E and F, welcome to location R. The rules are still the same. For those who are new, let me make it as straight-forward as I can. From today on, you will be sex workers." Yao's heart plummeted. "That's right. And I know it doesn't sound nice and all, but hey we all got to make a living somehow. And just like everyone else, you and the person standing next to you, we all gotta work. It doesn't matter if we like our jobs or not. Ah yes, think of this like a job. This is a job. If you work well, we give you food. If you don't…it goes without saying that you won't get any. And if someone here is brave or foolish enough to think of escaping-" He motioned to the guards standing by the door. "She or he will have to be dealt with according, and if that still isn't clear enough for you cuckoo heads, it means I won't hesitate to kill you. So don't even try to think of escaping, um for your information we're in the middle of nowhere, don't cross me, don't piss off the customers, and we'll all get along fine. I'm a nice man." He seemed rather pleased with his speech.

"The rules," Kat reminded him.

"Oh yeah the rules," his confidence faltered as he realized the imperfections in his speech. "The rules are simple and easy to remember. This is a clean facility, which means I won't allow any indecencies. You are to immediately shower every time after your time with the client. If you have one client that day, shower once. If you have ten, then shower ten times. Simple math. After every day, you are to report to Kat. See that woman over there? Yes, her. Go to her for daily health checkups, we don't want anyone spreading any disease around here. And lastly, since we are a co-ed facility, avoid any form of relationship with the opposite sex. If you are caught….well you can figure out the consequences for yourself." He glanced at Kat for signals if he had missed anything, she shook her head. "That is all, now before I forget, a very very important person is coming here today. You will be led to the inspection area shortly, now take off your clothes, every single piece."

"E-everything s-sir?" A little girl's voice sounded in the crowd.

"Yes everything, isn't that what I just said?!" He answered impatiently.

When both Raivis and Kat had left the room, the children began taking off their clothes, stripping down their shirts and undergarments. Yao sat petrified on the bench. He heard the whole speech, yet only a few things stayed in his mind. What was he supposed to do from now on? Have sex with men, a little voice whispered. Despite not eating anything that day, his stomach hurled and his insides threatened to spill. An intense ringing vibrated within his ears, and the world spun beneath his feet. He was just about to ask someone for help when he was faced with the naked bodies of girls. Face blushing slightly, he immediately looked away. The guards saw the little Asian boy being the only one who had not yet obeyed the orders, they looked in his directions and brought their hands above the pistols.

Yao gulped down his dread, grabbed the hem of his tank top and pulled it over his head. Then with hands trembling severely, he took off his shorts and proceeded on doing the same with his remaining piece of clothing. He took a deep breath and tried to control his shivering, yet his body shook as if there was an internal earthquake within his body.

After everyone had followed through with the orders, they were escorted through the hallway to a room located furthest down. They were led like cattle to slaughter, and once they entered the butchery the smell of blood became apparent.

Yao stood in the middle of the line shivering. The stones below pricked at his feet and the cold air inappropriately caressed every part of his body. Voices echoed outside the room, and footsteps pounded grimly throughout the hallway. He recognized one of the voices, however the other one was unidentified. Soon enough, the voices came into view as the two men entered the room.

The man from before seemed to have shrunk since Yao last saw him, both physically with his hunched back and psychologically as his voice was borderline pitiful. He scurried like a rat around the other man and heeded to his every word as if his life depended on it. The other man was the complete opposite to Raivis. Composed and smiling, his dark suit and shinny shoes looked out of place in the run-down place. He was tall, very tall even for a man, and despite not being as intimidating as the guards, his aura gave off something more to be feared. His cheekbones were high and wide, and his jaws were angular, connecting his pale face with his thick neck. His nose was long and wide, and before Yao could see the color of his eyes the man glanced in his direction. Yao quickly looked down.

He stared at his feet and hoped that his hair covered his face. Silence ensured and the only sound came from the drip-drop of the ceiling leakage. For what seemed like an eternity, Yao slowly raised his head, and for better or worse, cruel fate or villainous luck, their eyes met.

The shivering stopped, and the fear seemed to briefly dissipate. Yao looked deep into his amethyst eyes, and in those eyes his own face was reflected. For the first time since he was kidnapped, someone saw him…he didn't look past him, and he didn't look through him. Instead this man seemed to directly look at him. Anger spread through his body like wildfire, hungry to consume all in its path. In that moment, Yao knew that this man was the one responsible for his miseries. He was the one who took him away from his family, he was the one who chained him up and locked him in this wretched place, he was the cause and reason for all of his misfortunes present and future. How dare he look at him. How dare him remain this emotionless at others' pain. Yao wanted to scream at him, he wanted to lunge at him and tear out his black heart. Yet they continued to look at each other with silent unspoken emotions. The man broke away from the gaze first.

The two men muttered to each other for a while, and then as he glanced at the row of children one last time he avoided looking at the particular Chinese boy. They disappeared away from the view, and footsteps were heard until they too disappeared into a blank state. Left with the sound of his own heartbeat, Yao stared at the spot where that man stood. He had the strangest feeling that he didn't want to see him go.

TBC.


AN: I hope this chapter wasn't disappointing. Please review! Hugs and Kisses.