Chapter 2: The Cell
"Does she ever see her mommy and daddy again?" Vega inquires as she propped her head up on the pillow.
"As I said, it would be four years before anyone would see her again.'
"But why so long?" Lily questions as she sits upright, wrapping her arms around one of the pillows.
"Because, my dear, rescues take time. It wasn't as though she was being idle and not trying to escape."
"Really! Did she kick their tails and beat them up?" Max was very excited over that prospect.
"Did she kill anyone?" Ryan asks, finally coming alive from his fake death.
"Well, she does do a lot of tail-whipping action and no, she doesn't kill anyone."
"Cool!" Max and Ryan exclaim.
"You see, Charley uses her brain to figure out problems and be able to come up with a sensible solution." Picking up my knitting, I work on putting in a new color.
"Does she meet the Prince?" Vega asks with a large grin.
"Do they fall in love as soon as they meet?" Lily, the more romantic one, asks.
"Yes and no. May I continue the story?"
"Yes please" the all say.
"Now where was I...oh yes. Charley had just been kidnapped."
P.O.V.
As Charley started to wake up, she rubbed the side of her head. Rolling onto her side, she felt cold steel. Placing a hand on the steel, she pushed herself up and looked around the cage she had been placed in. No bed and only a bucket in the corner to relieve herself. An overwhelming sense of fear gripped her as she looked past the cage and into the dimly lit room that many other cages were in.
Circling your head contemplating everything you ever said
Now I see the truth I got a doubt
A different motive in your eyes and now I'm out
See you later
I see your fantasies
You wanna make it a reality baby paved in gold
See inside, inside of our heads yeah
Well now that's over
She pushed herself to stand up in the small six-by-six foot cage. Walking over to the door, she touched it with a finger and felt an electric shock. HM, the cage door is electrified. Smart move. What about the other sides? Charley touched the other sections of the cage to test the limits and found that all sides, except the floor were meant to keep their prisoners insides.
I see your motives inside
Decisions to hide
As she looked into the other cells, she saw, what appeared to be anthropomorphic mice. Most seemed to be female and the males were young teenagers. She had heard rumors when she was younger about the population of Mars being all mice. Apparently, a large wall separated Mars from Gaia and it was supposedly due to a major disagreement which may have caused a war between the two races.
Back off I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on anyone
I know that you are wrong
Headstrong we're Headstrong
Back off I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on anyone
I know that you are wrong
This is not where you belong
"Excuse me. Are you from Gaia?" a teenage female mouse asked whose cage was next to hers.
"Yes. I am. My name's Charlene" Charley said as she knelt near her cage.
"Mine's Tempest" she said as she carefully reached through the bars and shook hands with her first human.
"Where are we?" Charley was fearful but maintained hope that there had to be a way out. She grasped Tempest's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Plutarkian slave ship" Tempest stated.
"A what?" Charley asked.
I can't give everything away
I won't give everything away
"It's a slave ship. They're taking to the desert land near the Victoria Crater. Apparently they found mineral deposits there and we're suppose to strip mine it" she said as she sat down on the cold steel floor.
Conclusions manifest your first impressions got to be your very best
I see you're full of shit is not so right
That's how you play I guess you get through every night
Now that's over
I see your fantasies
You wanna make it a reality
Paved in gold
See inside, inside of our heads
Well now that's over
"But why don't they hire people for the job?" Charley asked.
"Because then that means they would have to pay them. Plutarkians are business types and if they can achieve the same results out of slaves as they would for legitimate workers then they're going to use use instead" Tempest sadly spoke.
I see your motives inside
And your decisions to hide
"We're expendable" Charley finally realized that fate had handed out a cruel card to all of them. But, she wasn't about to go down without a fight. She may not have any weapons but, she had her wits and she planned on using them. Placing a hand on her neck, she felt her mother's necklace and it gave her hope and strengthened her resolve to save these people from this horrible fate that had befallen them.
Back off I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on any one
I know that you are wrong
Headstrong, we're headstrong
Back off I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on anyone
I know that you are wrong
And this is not where you belong
Where you belong
She heard heavy foot steps coming down the hall. It sounded like many of them. She could feel her heart pounding against her chest and it was rage. She knew that she wasn't going down without a fight. Grabbing the plastic bucket, she had every intention of using it as a weapon. It wasn't much but, it would have to do. She felt anger coursing throughout her body and it quivered in anticipation of a fight. She didn't know what or whom she was going up against but, she wanted her adversaries to know that she wasn't the human to mess with.
I can't give everything away
This is not where you belong
She watched as several fat, green soldiers marched into the room. Their horrible fish mixed with rotted cheese smell permeated the air. Charley coughed as its pungent odor made her wrinkle her nose. She had smelled many horrible scents in her life but, this was by far the worst.
I won't give everything away
At this point for her, it didn't matter how bad they smelled. They were going down in her mind.
I know I know all about
I know I know all about
I know I know all about
I know I know all about
"Looks like we have fighter on our hands. Pathetic" one of the guards stated as they approached her cage door.
Your motives inside
And your decision to hide
"Leave this one until last" another guard stated when he examined the raging determination in her turquoise eyes.
"Yes sir" the first guard stated, almost fearing to release the red-headed hell cat from her cell.
Back off I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on anyone
I know that you are wrong
Headstrong,we're headstrong
Back off I'll take you on
Headstrong to take on anyone
I know that you are wrong
And this is not where you belong
Charley watched as mouse after mouse was yanked roughly from their cage and tossed onto the cold floor. If they didn't move fast enough, they were whipped until they moved. She watched as they pulled Tempest out by her hair. Her blood-curdling screams sent chills up and down Charley's spine. She flinched, involuntarily, when the whip came across her new friend's back.
Where you belong
This is not where you belong
I can't give everything away
This is not where you belong
I won't give everything away
Where you belong
This is not where you belong
It wasn't long before they finally came for her. She didn't know where the others were taken and she was not up for finding out. Backing up as close as she could to the wall, she prepared herself to fight the first one who came at her.
"Get the Hell Cat out of there!" she gathered he was a higher ranking officer as compared to the others.
Charley watched as her door was opened and the guard just stood there. It seemed to her that he was waiting for her to make the next move. She wasn't going to budge. She wanted him to come to her. Gritting her teeth, Charley seethed and stared at him through her dilated eyes.
"Get her you idiot! She's just a human!" the officer ordered, seeing the hesitation in his soldier's eyes as he measured up his chances of getting her out of the cage.
Charley watched as he slowly and very carefully made his way into the cell. As soon as he was fully in, she took the bucket and swung it against his head. He tried to block it but, was overpowered by the smaller and more lithe female.
It wasn't long before another guard came in and drug her out by her waist. She kicked at her new attacker and her foot made contact with his knee. Which brought him to the floor, yowling in pain. She took the bucket and hit him on the head as well, causing him to fall to the floor.
She attempted to run out the door that they came from but was caught off guard when she felt the tip of the whip strike her back. The pain shot through her, causing her to fall to the floor, gritting her teeth to keep her from crying out. Turning around, she saw two guards come for her. Each of them grabbed her by the arm and drug her to where the others were at. She continued to fight against them as another guard striped her gown from her body leaving her with only her under garments and her necklace.
"Take that as well" the head guard stated as he pointed to the necklace. He knew jewelry from Gaia wasn't worth anything but, the slaves weren't allowed to have anything of value to them from their previous life.
"NO!" Charley screeched in horror as he necklace was ripped from her neck. She watched as they tossed her mother's necklace into a box along with everyone's jewelry. Her lower lip quivered with sadness. It was all she had left of her family and they had taken that from her too. Charley quickly resolved that she was going to make to suffer for what they had done to her as well as everyone else that they had enslaved. Looking at her captors with anger welling up, she became even more determined to escape or die trying...
P.O.V.
Looking around at the children, I could see their interest in the story growing. Smiling at them, I could definitely see that even the boys were curious as to how Charley would escape her captors.
"Wow! She's really tough!" Ryan stated. I watched as his tail switched from side to side. His own way of showing interest.
"That was really mean of them to take her necklace" Vega sadly stated as a tear slid down her cheek.
"I know it was."
"Does she get it back?" Lily asked.
"I guess I'm going to have to finish the story in order for you to find out." I smile as they chimed in on wanting to hear the rest of the story.
"Okay, little ones. Now, it will be four years before our heroine will be rescued..." I start to say as I pick up another ball of yarn.
Well, what does everyone think of how the story is progressing? If you have any questions of comments, please feel free to speak your mind. Trust me, you won't hurt my feelings. I have a pretty thick skin. I do enjoy reading people's comments and questions. It helps me to give better development throughout the story and to clarify anything that may not be making sense. Thank you for all your help. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
