Ch. 2

Nothing says 'forever' like our very own grave

I woke up shivering and felt completely stiff. I sat up slowly peeling away my face that was slightly stuck to the cold concrete floor and felt pain shoot in every direction, "Ugh..." I grabbed my head and felt my arms being weight down. When I looked at them I saw giant shackles wrapped around my wrists. The end of the giant chain was embedded in the wall beside a giant fish tank. There was something in the fish tank too and it was banging on the glass.

"Cammie?!" My eyes became more focused and I saw the Mermaid girl staring back at me wide-eyed. Cammie looked relieved that I was awake now but she still appeared panicked.

"Cammie, what are you doing here?" I paused and looked around, "Where exactly are we?" There were at least a hundred other people around. Some were in chains and others were beating the ones in chains. I looked to Cammie who was trying to communicate but the glass was too thick.

"What are you doing in that fish tank?" Cammie looked a little annoyed because she couldn't understand what I was saying and I couldn't hear her either.

"Hey you, be quiet over there." A man walked over with a whip, a gun, and a sword at his waist.

"Where am I?" I asked stupidly.

"You're at the slave auction you idiot." The man growled. His dark hair was slicked back and he wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and jeans. He had a dark, menacing look about him. "You must have really pissed someone off for getting sent here." The man was holding a metal collar in his hands. He opened it and walked over to me. He was going to put it around my neck but I pulled back away from him. My hands reached for my swords but they were gone!

"What the~! Where are my swords!?" I yelled. A few other men ran over when they heard me yelling. They carried the same weapons the man with the collar had and also wore the same outfit.

"What's going on over here Eron?" One yelled.

"She's not cooperating. I'm going to need some help." The man named Eron explained. The other men began grabbing at me.

"Back of man! Now! Before I kill the lot of you!" I punched one man in the face knocking him into two others that were behind him then drop kicked a third man that came just a bit too close for comfort. More men came rushing over to help restrain me but I continued to fight them off. I wasn't going to let them take me down so easily.

I saw one man had some keys attached to his belt and I assumed one of them would set me free. The man was knocked out only a few feet away. I pushed a few more men back, who were grabbing my arms, and went to grab the keys. Just when I thought I had the upper hand, BAM!!

I fell to the floor grabbing my throbbing shoulder. I screamed out in pain after realizing I had been shot. Blood pooled on the floor around me. I felt it slowly trickling down my arm and soaking my clothes. I tried to sit up but I hit the floor. The men grabbed me and put something around my neck tightening it so much I could hardly breathe. I tried to pull it off but one of the men stopped me.

"If you keep struggling and trying to pull that collar off it's going to explode."

I stopped struggling immediately and the men tightened the shackles around my wrists and tied some coarse fabric around my mouth. It was so itchy and annoying that I figured after a few minutes it was going to rub my mouth raw.

"That should keep her quiet when she goes out on stage."

The men began moving me into another room. I looked up and saw Cammie pounding on the glass but to no avail. They shut the door cutting off my view of Cammie and slammed me against a wall. I tried to fight back but one man punched me in my stomach and I coughed up blood. It soaked through the fabric, down my chin, then down my neck staining my top. I groaned as they put my hands over my head and attached them to thicker chains.

Eron stomped over in front of me. He had a black eye and a bloody nose and he didn't look happy at all. He took his gun and slammed the butt of it into my shoulder shooting more pain throughout my body.

My vision blurred and I almost passed out again but I just went limp and closed my eyes. I was just waiting for them to continue beating me but they didn't. I opened my eyes and watched as the men left out of the room. I relaxed only for a moment and looked around the room. There were others staring at me with sad faces. I then began feeling a little afraid of what was going to happen. One by one they were being dragged through another door and never came back in.

An hour or so passed and there was only me and one other person left in the room. The other person was a man who was dressed like a pirate. From his three point hat to his worn boots. He stood tall but seemed...broken. He didn't remove his sad gaze from the ceiling even as two men came through the door. They paused a moment and then walked over to me.

"You're up!"

The men made the mistake of undoing my chains from the wall. When I stood up I quickly pulled the chains out of the men's grip and started running, well limping actually because I was still in pain, towards the opposite door which I was first brought through. I saw one of the men pull out his whip and whirled it at me. I tried to jump and avoid it but it got me right around the ankles and pulled my legs out from under me in mid air, which caused me to land face first on the floor. I attempted to crawl but the second man grabbed the chains again and began pulling me back. I grabbed the door frame in another pathetic attempt to get away. The first man jumped over me and stood there glaring down at me. He picked his foot up and slammed it in my face knocking me away from the door. My face was destroyed enough now and it was getting worse. I swore I heard my nose crack.

I put my bound hands to my face and groaned. My eyes were streaming with tears from the pain. The men pulled me to my feet and threw buckets of water on me to get most of the blood off and readjusted my clothes making them a little more revealing. I fought back but I was really weak and couldn't do much so they managed to keep me under control. They brushed my hair, not to kindly though, and let it fall over my shoulders and down my back. My hair was all the way down my back and reached just to my waist. I always took good care of my hair and was always told it was beautiful. I wasn't sure it looked that attractive with the blood stains all over it now though. I finally figured out they were trying to make me more presentable for the auction.

When they finished they pulled me out into a wide open area and adjusted the fabric tighter around my mouth. There was a giant curtain closed in front of me and it was slightly dark. Maybe now I could have a better chance of escaping. I was about to make a run for it again but the men attached my chains to the wood floor, pulled it so tight that I couldn't move my arms, and then left. I pulled as hard as I could but I couldn't break the chains. The floor creaked a little but that was the only result. I groaned angrily and flung around like a chained beast. My hair flew around me and stuck to my sweat covered face.

Suddenly, the curtains began opening and I was literally blinded by the light. I closed her eyes and looked away. Murmurs and gasps filled the air. Finally, I opened my eyes and they came into focus.

"And here we have number 32. Tall, lean, and very hardworking." A man with long blonde hair and a freaky disco outfit walked around me. He must be the announcer. "Starting off at 500 berries..." The man continued talking and I began struggling against my restraints again.

I looked out across the crowd and spotted Hachi, Franky, and some of the others far in the back near the doors. I was trying to yell for them but the fabric around my face prevented that. I pulled harder at my restraints.

"And if not for hardworking manual labor why not as a sex slave? Her divine beauty and strength would of course provide the utmost pleasure." The man walked over to me and ran his free hand along my jaw line. I jerked away from his touch and he laughed. A lot of the men murmured in agreement and laughed along with him.

I glared at the disco man in total hatred and disgust. I began pulling on the shackles and chains with new found determination. I wasn't going to stand here and be treated like this. I could feel my wounded shoulder muscles spazzing and straining. When I continued to fight against my restraints I was making my shoulder bleed more. It started pouring down my back and arm. The disco man continued speaking, ignoring me. The people began to murmur again and exchange looks of disgust from all the blood. I, in a last ditch effort, pulled as hard as I could with both my arms. I was going to be free or die trying. I heard a splintering noise as I struggled and realized I ripped the chain to my right arm right out of the floor. I twirled the long chain in the air for a moment then flung it straight toward the announcer.

"Huh?" The disco man obviously heard the surprised gasp from the audience then turned around just in time to receive a blow to the face. He fell back and everyone in the crowd began yelling. I yelled back using every colorful word in my highly intellectual vocabulary.

Then announcer jumped up and grabbed his bloody face. "You bitch!" He yelled and pulled out a gun.

I threw my right arm back again and pulled the chain with it. I spun it around in the air again then swung it toward him. It wrapped around his arm and knocked the gun away. A few of his workers ran on the stage and tackled me down to the floor but I wasn't going down easy. I punched and kicked and fought. The announcer grabbed up his gun and walked over ready to blow my brains out. I glared up at him and waited. This was it...

Nothing says 'forever' like our very own grave and I wasn't ready for that kind of forever. I still had a dream. I closed my eyes and waited.

"A million berries." Someone yelled over the chaos.

"What?!" The announcer turned to the crowd.