What seemed to be an hour later, yet at the same time it could've been only minutes, I was awoken by a blood-curdling screech. Rubbing my eyes, it took me a few seconds to remember where I was, hoping it had all been a bad dream. It wasn't. I was still here in this dark, unwanted place in these dull gray clothes on this bloody mattress that I was sure more than one life had slipped away on. Right then, I felt like crying all over again.
The bunks we slept on weren't exactly "bunks," as one would like to call them. They were pretty much just a thin mattress set on the ground with a pillow and the thin blanket that they provided you. So when I went to get up, I simply rolled off the mattress. Sunlight blinked through the bars of the cell, as if mocking the fact that I was locked up inside a cage in a concentration camp that was enclosed in high electric fences and littered with guard towers.
"Rainy? You up?" I heard Tom ask from behind me. I turned my head around slowly to see that he was sitting up on the mattress, staring intently at me. Before I could answer, the screeching I had heard earlier continued.
"Yeah," I said faintly, focusing my interest on the screeching. It sounded like it was coming from another cell more to the left of us. "Hey… what's that noise?" I asked Tom, who already was about to answer.
"That," he said, motioning his arm in the direction of the noise, "is what happens when someone with bad ADHD goes days without a medication." There was another screech. The scary thing was is that I couldn't tell what the person was screaming about. Like, I couldn't tell whether the person was scared, hurt, or hungry.
"Oh…" I shuddered at the thought. For a few moments, I sat there silently as I watched another man dressed in black followed by a mutant Minotaur enter the cell where the screams were coming from. I felt my heart skip a beat as a few loud thumps were heard. "Are they…?" I didn't finish my sentence.
Tom nodded. "Yes, they are." The loud thumps continued as I sat against the wall, keeping my eyes covered, trying to clear my head. Every time there was another screech in pain and horror, I would tense up and flinch furiously. So furiously that by the time the pounding stopped, my body felt weak enough to faint. It wasn't long before a limp body was tossed out on the ground. This time, I kept my eyes off of it. Once I heard someone come by and pick it up, I looked up to Tom.
"So… d-does this happen all the time?" I asked him, my hands quivering at the question. He nodded grimly. So much death here, maybe this was Tartarus.
"I'd…I'd like to say that you'd get used to it, the death and all…" Tom began to say. "The truth is, you really don't." He got up from his side of the cell and sat next to me. "It's like, everyday, another life is taken away. Every day, somebody dies here too soon." I could tell he had been alone for a long time, here in Lithium, and he somewhat liked having someone to talk to, someone to share his thoughts with. At first, we just stared into each other's eyes, as if digging through our own thoughts as well as the other persons', and for that one moment, we felt each other's fears, desires, and needs. And for one tenth of a second, I forgot where I was, I felt safe.
"I… I can see where you're coming from y'know, kinda." I broke the awkward silence between us. Tom blinked and smiled faintly, nodding as he turned his sad gaze away, to look into the distance. I let my head rest on the cold, hard wall, letting my eyes close.
It wasn't long before I could hear a blaring horn in the distance, and just like that I was brought back to reality.
"What in Hades name was that?!" I jumped, startled. Before I got an answer, though, a sudden organized line of men in black suits and sunglasses seemed to materialize at the door, coming to each cell, two of them per cell.
"Laboring," Tom mumbled under his breath. I didn't want to know entirely what that was. My heart was racing at the speed of light when two bulk men unlocked our door and came in. One yanked Tom up from where he was sitting, the other grabbed me. Along with the plenty other Half-Bloods, we were lead to a much larger building that was had a solid cement fence wrapped around it. Everyone wore the same gray uniforms; everyone had the same broken look on their face.
The first part of the building was basically a large, brightly lit room, about the average size of a middle school gymnasium. From there, I felt the man's grip release me, just as others had done. I took a good look around the room. What looked to be over a hundred kids, ranging in age from about five to eighteen. Some had soiled, tattered clothing, like they hadn't changed for days. Others, a small amount, had clean, partially smudged clothing. This confused me, but for some reason it didn't bother me much. Every kid had that same confused look on them as the men in black walked around the area with their whips in hand. I held my breath, slowly watching each kid form a single file line facing forward, shoulder to shoulder- as a kindergarten teacher would say. I followed silently.
I hadn't a clue where Tom was. I had lost him in the craziness of getting here. My thoughts were very vague now; they consisted of following and listening. I moved slowly, my feet dragging. I noticed the men whipping other kids with the sturdy whips in their hands, and it wasn't long before I felt a lash in the middle of my back. I turned around, my eyes paned with tears.
"Hey! Move faster!" The man with the whip said, giving me another lash. The second one came harder, which caused me to fall to the concrete ground.
"Ow." I groaned, feeling hot tears roll down my cheek, which was now scraped up and bloody from the fall. In the coming moments, I knew I would regret my actions. The man who had hit me with the whip reached down and yanked me up by my arm so I stood up, looking straight at his hidden eyes.
"What did you say?" His voice was rough and strained, his expression was furious. Even more tears flooded my eyes as I sniffled.
"N-nothing." Was all I could manage to squeak. As of now, some people were already staring, all of them in rows facing the front. It looked like they were taking a huge head count of some sort.
"Don't lie to me!" He yelled in my face, shaking me by the arm vigorously. In the midst of all this, I felt a large hand on my shoulder. The man holding me in his grip looked up ahead of me. "Officer Spealy, we have a problem here," the same man said. Apparently the man who had my shoulder was Officer Spealy. I shivered in fear, feeling the hot tears flow down my cheek.
"I see…" was the man behind me, apparently Officer Spealy's, response. Right now, I had no idea what to think besides oh gods; they're going to kill me. I mean, what else is one supposed to think?
"What should we make of her?" The man in black said. Officer Spealy's grip on my shoulder shoved me round so I spun to stare him down. If I'm going down, I'm not going down pathetic. As soon as I looked upon the officer, though, any bravery left stored away turned to fear. Officer Spealy was a heavily built, pale man that reminded me of a pro wrestler. He grabbed my right hand and bent it back as far as it could go. I didn't dare make a sound, but it hurt.
"Subject D784 is part of the fourth recruit group." Officer Spealy said, closely examining my hand. He looked up. "It'll have to go without it meals today, then," he said, and I figured that this 'it' he was talking about referred to me, as if I were an animal or something.
"Yes, sir."
I sighed in relief. So they weren't going to kill me, at least not yet. Seconds later, I was shoved into one of the rows. I felt a few curious and sympathetic eyes turning my way, but soon I realized that things like that happen every day. Wiping a bloody tear from my cheek, I stood there trying not to think too much, or else I may have broken down in tears again.
After a while, I found out what they were doing: taking a head count. We had been standing around for who knows how long because the person counting kept losing track. People around me shifted uncomfortably. One kid dared to slump his tired shoulders down, but he was smacked in the head with the black rod. I felt the blood on my cheek dry up as we stood in silence. The bright lights gave me a headache, plus my whole body ached from what had happened earlier. Before I knew it, I was shaking again, slightly though.
After the longest wait in my life, the whole groups of half-bloods were brought outside to the hot June day. Well, it wasn't exactly hot, just very muggy. The sun was shining bright on full power. Ya know, that whole destiny of the sun exploding didn't seem too big of a deal now…
Outside, we were split into various chores and tasks. Some kids were told to work in the coal and lumber yard, where they prepared burning fuel. Some helped clean up around the compound (not like it would make much of a difference), others were given the job of sorting chemicals. Lucky me! I got to sort chemicals.
Imagine sticking your hand into a big basin of poison and filling up a pint-sized cup only to throw it in a pipe that lead to the underground showers. Not fun, I can tell you that right now. For half the day, I was sticking my hands in chemicals that burned so bad, the skin around my hands started peeling off. The burning sensation it made on my skin was almost unbearable. I had to keep on, because if you were caught not doing your job, you'd be whipped.
There was one time where a girl, about my age, her hands began to have a spazz attack any time she would place them in the chemical. Her hands were red with white blotches. It got to the point where she couldn't put her hands in the chemical liquid anymore. She sat there, crying in fear, for she knew the men in black would come for her. When they did, it was brutal. I couldn't see her, but the whole camp heard her shrieks for help. What was scary was when the shrieks stopped. It was dead silent for a few scary moments as everybody stood frozen in place. It wasn't long before a mutant Minotaur came out with the cart.
Once the chemical tub was down to about nothing, we headed back to our cells. Although officers didn't escort us, nobody would ever dare to escape. The electric fences were deadly, and there were ten watch towers guarded by mutant Minotaur's.
Once I got to the cell, Tom was already there.
"Hey," he said his voice was filled with exhaustion and worry. He had been working in the lumberyard all day, or so he told me. I didn't answer him at first. I walked slowly to the metal water fountain in the cell and rinsed my hands off in the small spout of water. Although that didn't do any good, it still felt nice to get some water on my body. The sun was just setting, turning the sky pink.
I got down, but soon slowly sat up on the ground. Every position I tried inflicted more pain. I let a few tears escape my eyes before focusing on Tom.
"Rainy, you okay?" Now his voice was weak, but worried as always. He started to get up by me, but I backed up.
"No," I said firmly, but I grew less sure with each word. "I'm fine. I'm fine… I'm…" I was crying, rocking back and forth on my feet, shaking uncontrollably and trying to let it all out. "I'm not fine!" I shouted.
Tom looked at me, wide eyed as if he'd never seen anything like this before, sympathy shimmering across his eyes. Maybe I even saw a tear or two, but I don't know. I was on the ground, hugging myself, trying to calm myself down. Tom clenched and unclenched his jaw, as if deciding whether I was worth keeping alive, and then retired to his corner, sighing and keeping his eyes carefully focused on nothing in particular.
So this is what it's like to not be loved…to be in a Hell picked out especially for you... I rolled over and began to sob quietly, for fear of the men hearing me and thinking I was too weak to keep.
"Zeus, protect me," I muttered into the bars.
Tom seemed to pick this up and turned to give me an odd look like I had just suggested that we should have a prom here at Lithium. "The gods can't hear you here. This place has a boundary, too, just like that camp of yours does, only it's different. It keeps out the gods; only let's in monsters and heroes."
At the mention of camp, there seemed to be a warm spark of air around us, and I could feel everyone in neighboring cells look up from there sorrows and remember a safer time. As much as I reflected on this, something bothered me about what he said.
"What do you mean 'camp of mine'? You've been there, haven't you…?"
Tom shook his head. "No. But I've heard enough about it. Kids round here, they keep themselves from breaking down by talking. And me? I'm the one who listens. I try to help when I can."
"Do you know who you're—"
"No." He answered immediately. "And I wouldn't want to. If I knew, then I'd be angry with whoever they are for letting me be taken to a place like this… For keeping a distance…" he turned to the wall, refusing to let me see his face, and, for a few moments, we sat in silence.
Through my wet eyes I could see him trembling, and there was a small quiver in his voice as he tried to talk calmly. "How do you do it?" he demanded quietly.
"Do what?" I asked.
He sniffed and continued to stare into space. "How did you get me to trust you so much? How did you get me to tell you… everything?"
I just looked at him, not understanding. He didn't seem to be accusing me of anything, just seriously curious. "I don't…" but I didn't have to say anymore. All I could do was feel my heart pumping fast as if I'd just run a mile.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a crack in the corner, and, for the first time, I saw a vine thriving in the little space, and a rose forming at my will, radiating the hope that I felt for the first time in what seemed like forever
A/N- About the flower growing thing, Rainy is a daughter of Demeter ^.^
Thank you Journalist for helping me out with the story, you rock! BTW, this doesn't matter much now, but this story is kind of like a prologue for Journalist's story Band of the Authors, which is another story I am co-authoring with her and a few other people. This is part of the reason why I'm using my penname. To get more info, you may want to consider reading the story. You can find the story and Journalists' profile in my "Favorites" section. Be sure to check my website (link in profile) regularly! I may have a page up for this story soon.
Reviews and flames are accepted :)
~Rainy
