Marina Vasquez didn't know how long she'd been chained to the concrete wall in the cold, dank room she was sharing with three other women. Two now that Nicole was gone. They talked about her as if she had been released, but thought about her as if she were dead. At least Marina did. She would never try to bring it up to Vanessa and Sarah. They had enough to worry about without the discussing the threat of death that was now hanging over their heads in an increasingly palpable thickness in the air.
They didn't speak much beyond introductions as it was. Marina had been the third to arrive; Sarah and Nicole had already been chained to the wall when she'd gotten there. Vanessa had been brought in not long afterwards. All had the same story about how they had come to the place – grabbed from behind, restrained, blindfolded, forced at gunpoint into the room they were currently in.
At first only a woman had come to the room. They all agreed that she was the person who had taken them, brought them to this awful place that smelled of oil and shit. Occasionally she brought food and water, but she always came with some kind of weapon. The first time she had beaten them all with a heavy metal rake, the next with a crowbar. Marina had vague memories of a wooden bat, a wrench, glass bottles...everything was a little blurred. She didn't really want to remember anyway. All she knew was that she could barely move without pain.
Marina couldn't be sure of the time frame with no changes in light to indicate the passing of time, but after what felt like a few days, a man had come without the woman. He hadn't said a word, but he'd unchained Nicole and taken her somewhere. She hadn't come back. That was the point when Marina had decided she had to escape or resign herself to death. Her silent prayers reflected only the latter.
She had decided early on that praying was her best recourse in her current situation. It was certainly better than Vanessa's incessant rambling about how she should have taken a later train and Sarah's humming of cheesy pop songs. Marina had the unshakable faith, instilled in her since childhood, that God would provide. If ever she needed to rely on God, this was certainly the moment.
Her faith remained unshaken until the man and woman returned together, bringing food and water only for Sarah and Vanessa. They unchained her and dragged her down a dark hallway into a different concrete room. Marina scratched and clawed at both of them, kicked her legs with all the energy she had left in her battered, weakened body. Despite her efforts, they tied her to a creaky metal bed frame, rope connecting each of her limbs to a different corner, leaving her spread-eagled. She could only listen as they stepped to a table on the other side of the small room and busied themselves with their backs to her. He called the woman 'sweetie;' she called him 'dad.' They chatted casually about the weather and what to have for lunch before the conversation became frightening.
"This one was a good choice, Sweetie. Almost four days with you and she's still got some fight in her. This will be a nice warm up. I'd hate to disappoint Olivia when she comes to visit our little farmhouse."
"Don't worry, Dad, I'll have that Benson bitch here on Monday if everything goes according to plan, and that cocky shit Stabler will be with her."
"Two for the price of one. We'll just kill him, but I think she'll be fun to have around for a while."
"Let's not keep her around too long."
"When you were little you wanted a pet. Now I tell you we're getting one and you're not at all eager."
"I haven't been little for a long time, Dad, and besides, she's not the pet I'm interested in with Andy Eckerson jumping through hoops for her."
"Hm, I'd almost forgotten about the Marshals. Don't let yourself get too distracted by this Eckerson guy. No matter what you may think of him, he's still a cop and would bring us down no matter what."
"Don't worry, I'm as objective as ever." She turned and walked back to the bed. The light from the hanging bulb in the room glinted off a small metal object in her hand. "Ready for the main event, cutie?"
Marina screamed as the man roughly grabbed her head. The excruciating pain in her face where the woman cut her was nothing compared to what came next. After the man climbed off of her, she felt a slight pain across her neck, as if someone were drawing a line with a ballpoint pen. Two sharp pains followed, and she felt a warm wetness on her shoulders, creeping down. Everything hurt, but she felt as if she were falling asleep. Her last thought as her mind faded to blackness was, Why did you let this happen to me, God?