ULTIMATE DISCLAIMER IN PROFILE AND CHAPTER 1!

ULTIMATE WARNING IN PROFILE AND CHAPTER 1!

AU, OOC. Kinda graphic.

Okay, guys, the moment I was waiting for. Or more like chapter. Sadie loves me for this one, that's why I could write so much fluff in TUTM.

I will post the URL of Sammy in my profile. I actually found a picture where Jared had shorter hair. YAY! Don't get me wrong, I'm in LOVE with his long locks, he looks sexier like that -drools- but he was unbelievably cute back then!

I saw Season 7's first episode! YAYYYY! -happy dancing- Ah, finally, a dream come true for a sadist... :D

Alright! Enjoy the chappy!

Chapter 2: Preparations

Sam was awakened by the slowing movement of the truck; they arrived to their destination. He started shaking: what's going to happen to him? Why is he even here? What the hell is going on? The backdoors of the truck opened and rough hands pulled him out and up, his ankles were released from their bindings. Sam whimpered fearfully and tried to pull himself away from the people holding him, to no avail. The sack was pulled from his head and he had to blink at the brightness. When his vision got back to normal, he saw a massive building in front of him. In huge golden letters he saw the name of the institution:

STATE INSTITUTION OF NATIONAL SLAVE-TRADE

'Slave-trade?' Sam thought shocked. The two orderlies from before, started to pull him towards the building. As they got closer, Sam noticed a plaque on the wall next to the entrance:

Evansville, Indiana

United States of America

They stepped into the entrance hall that was decorated beautifully. It seemed that this institution was well-maintained, probably for popularization. Sam was dragged through a heavy wooden door and to what looked like a reception desk.

"Newbie?" came a gruff voice from an officer sitting at the desk.

"Yes" the orderly to Sam's left answered. "This morning."

The orderly grabbed the telephone and started dialing. Sam fearfully looked around.

They were standing in a smaller room that was plainly decorated, not worthy of attention. What caught his eyes, though, was the huge iron door that occupied the wall from ground to ceiling.

"Alright" the orderly put down the phone. "Take him!"

Sam was pulled towards the iron door that started to open up. His eyes widened at what greeted him, when they stepped in.

The enormous room was full with giant cages that were inhabited by people. Their clothes were worn and simple: the men had sweatpants and the women had shirts as well. There were no kids, thankfully, but Sam had a guess that they were in a different place, if there were kids at all in the institution. There was a smaller side-door on the right, where he was dragged right now. The people in the cages, probably slaves, too, looked at the newcomer with curiosity. However, they couldn't look at him for too long, because Sam was quickly escorted into a room through the side door.

Sam saw Graven in there, but the man left the suits behind; he wore black slacks, a grey cotton shirt with a V-neck and a black coat. As the trio stopped in front of the man, one orderly ripped the duct tape off Sam's mouth, who cried out from the pain.

"Strip him down!" Graven ordered. Sam felt the rope loosen from his wrists then his jacket, shirt and T-shirt were ripped off of him. The boy saw Graven pick up a pair of scissors.

"No, please…" Sam pleaded frightened. The two orderlies grabbed his arms and started to pull him towards Graven, but he started struggling violently.

"NO! NO! PLEASE!" he screamed and tried to get away from the man.

"ENOUGH!" Graven's voice boomed in the room. Sam started crying softly in the silence. Graven slowly stepped closer to the boy, hiding the scissors behind him. "Why are you fighting now?" he asked.

"Not my hair… Please, not my hair…" Sam begged gasping.

"Just to ease your fear" Graven started, "we have a reputation to keep up. We are the best and most renowned institution in the whole United States. We can't just exhibit some filthy peasants in dirty clothes and shaved head. Did you see a person with bald head outside?" Sam shook his head shakily, tears slowly rolling down his cheeks. "Your hair is too long now, but it will be cut down to give you a little elegance. But it won't be much shorter than this" Graven muttered as he examined the boy's face. "We are the most humane institution in the whole world. You can consider yourself lucky." With that Graven stepped back to a chair and waved at the orderlies. Sam was dragged to the chair and pushed down into it. They strapped his wrists on the arms of the chair, even though Sam surrendered in the matter.

Graven expertly snipped away at his hair and after a few short minutes they were done. Sam felt the slight change in his looks, but knew Graven told him the truth.

"Clean him up!" came the next order. Sam was untied and dragged away to a little shower room. The orderlies shoved him into one cubicle, up against the tiles. Sam's jeans and boxers were pulled down, leaving him naked and vulnerable. His back was towards the orderlies, so he cried out from surprise, when he was struck hard with two buckets of ice-cold water. The coldness wracked his nerves with shivers and to his mortification his body reacted to them: it voided his bladder.

"Turn him around!" he heard Graven's new order. A rough hand made him turn and two more buckets of water was poured on him. Sam started gasping and coughing from the pressure of the flood; his knees buckled from the violent shivers wracking his body, sending him onto the ground. All of a sudden two towels started scrubbing him, their force reddening his pale skin. After they dried him, a pair of sweatpants was tossed into his face.

"Put it on!" came the hard voice of the orderly. Sam slowly obeyed; luckily they waited patiently until he managed his task with shaking fingers. When he finished, he was pulled up and his hands were thrust forward. Opening his eyes he saw an orderly putting a leather strap around his wrists. Tugging on it, the leather painfully cuffed his hands together. The man attached a leash on it and started to lead Sam out of the room, the other orderly following them from behind.

The trio made its way through the cages towards the opposite end of the room, from where they came in. Sam looked around attentively. The inhabitants of the cages stepped forward to take a curious look at the newbie. The cages were big enough for a grizzly bear and three or four individual occupied each of them. If Sam should make an estimate, he would say there are at least two hundred slaves in this room. The place itself was wide and high and, fortunately, the cages weren't crowded at all. His eyes caught an empty area with a smaller stage on it. Judging by the chairs in front of it, Sam guessed that this area was for auctions.

He was startled from his musings by a firm push on his shoulder.

"Move!" the orderly said behind him. Sam immediately quickened his pace, keeping up with his guards. Soon they arrived at a desk where Graven was sitting. The man stood up and looked him over. As Sam stared at him, a hard slap landed on his cheek, tipping him out of his balance.

"Leave him alone!" Graven ordered. "He hasn't learned the rules yet."

Sam carefully stumbled back to his place, waiting terrified for anything. Graven stepped in front of him with a hard stare.

"Now the ground rules" he started. "First and foremost, slaves are not allowed to look into the eyes of their superiors." Sam quickly lowered his eyes to the ground and he caught Graven's approving nod. "If someone buys them, they are obliged to call them by the titles: 'Master' or 'Mistress'. Others have to be called 'sir' or 'miss'. And the last ground rule is: a slave doesn't speak until they are given permission and are spoken to. Understand?"

Sam was confused. What counts as permission? Does this count? Is he allowed to speak?

"Understand?" Graven raised his voice, unconsciously helping the boy in his decision.

"Yes, sir" Sam replied immediately in a soft voice.

"Repeat it!" Graven ordered.

"I mustn't look into the eyes of my superiors. I must call my Master or Mistress by the titles: Master or Mistress. Others I must call sir or miss. I mustn't speak until I'm allowed and am spoken to."

"Brilliant" Graven praised a bit surprised. Sam guessed he was the head of this institution and has the best interest of the inhabitants, on the level of the slaves, of course. "Now" the man continued, "if you disobey an order or the rules, you will be punished. The degree of your punishment equals the seriousness of your act against the rules and orders. These are made by your Master or Mistress. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Excellent" Graven stepped away. He sat down behind the desk and got a paper and a pen. "Your name?"

"Samuel Singer, sir" Sam answered dutifully. His father would be proud of him. The thought brought tears into his eyes, so he quickly emptied his mind.

"What skills do you have?" Graven asked.

"It depends on the definition of skills, sir" Sam answered politely.

"Hm, highly educated" Graven murmured to himself and wrote something on the paper. "Let's go through the list one by one. Cooking?"

"No, sir."

"Maintenance?"

"No, sir."

"Gardening?"

"No, sir."

"Maintenance of order?"

"No, sir."

"Food serving?"

"Not really, sir."

"What do you mean by that?" Graven asked curiously.

"I'm fairly clumsy, sir."

"Well, you're one hard nut to crack" Graven murmured with a smirk. "What about cleaning?"

"Yes, sir."

"Brilliant" Graven checked the appropriate option on the paper and signed it at the foot of the page. He got a little nametag from a box with a number engraved on it. He attached it to a dark-brown leather collar and gave it to one of the guards, who considerably gently put it around Sam's neck. Sensing the boy's humiliation, Graven spoke up:

"This is just temporary, until someone buys you, but necessary, so we can inform the clients of your abilities.

"Yes, sir" Sam replied shakily, as he tried to gather himself together.

"Alright" Graven stood up. "This way" he said to the orderlies and led the trio to a cage. In there was a woman and two big, bulky men. Graven opened the cage and took the leash from the orderly, escorting Sam behind the bars. Detaching the leash, the man stepped out of the cage and shut the entrance, locking it with a padlock.

"For now, the strap stays on him until he learns his place" he said to the orderlies and left. Sam was frozen in place, wary of his cellmates. After a few moments he started to walk towards the other end of the cage, but one of the bulky men spoke up mockingly:

"Ooh, looky, looky. Newbie in town."

"What a nice piece of meat, eh, mate?" the other one chortled amused.

"Thanks to these nice pieces of meat I'm rotting in this fucking place" growled the first one and shoved Sam hard into the bars of the cage. The boy whimpered frightened, as he collapsed then startled, when the entrance of the cage slammed open.

"That's enough, Burt!" a guard shouted. "You're going!"

Sam didn't dare to look up, so he crouched into the edge of the cage, burying his head in his arms. After a brief struggle, the guard spoke again:

"If there's one more assault like this, Dirk, you're going next!"

"Yeah, boss" the second man, Dirk replied. After the echo of the door's slam died away, a smaller hand touched Sam's arm, causing the boy to startle and whimper.

"Shh" a silky, kind voice hushed him. It had to be the woman. "Calm down. You're okay. What's your name, sweetie?"

"S-S-Samuel" he whispered scared to death.

"What a strong name" the woman replied as she stroked his shoulder. "I'm Sylvia. Can I call you Sam?" Sam gave a minute nod. "Hey, don't let those idiots get to you! They're just a bunch of pigs" Sylvia said with a chuckle. Sam lifted his head a bit, so he could peek out with one eye. The woman was older than Sam by a few years, her azure eyes showing tenderness and wisdom. Her auburn hair reached her shoulders in slightly disheveled waves.

"Sylvia!" a guard called out. The woman immediately jumped to her feet and bowed her head. "He's alright?"

"A little bit frightened, sir" Sylvia replied. "But he will be fine."

"Take care of him!"

"Yes, sir. Gladly."

As the guard went to his rounds, Sylvia kneeled next to Sam again and laid a hand on the trembling shoulder.

"So" she started, "why did they bring you here?"

"'Cause 'm different" Sam mumbled on the verge of tears.

"Oh, sweetie" Sylvia sighed and wrapped her arm around the boy. Sam leaned against her side, so she could embrace him. "It'll be alright, hon'. Don't you worry!" Her heart broke into tiny little pieces as she felt quiet sobs shake the poor boy's body. She gently combed through the short, chestnut-brown tresses, noticing that they were freshly cut. Soon Sam calmed down some and pulled away with a weary hiccup that made Sylvia smile.

"W-Why are you h-here?" Sam asked wiping his eyes.

"I can't have children" Sylvia admitted quietly. Sam's eyes widened then he turned away embarrassed.

"'M sorry" he breathed, bowing his head in shame.

"It's okay. This place treats me and the slaves well. And I'm gonna be auctioned in the next month, and there's a family, who wants to buy me, no matter the cost."

"Will I be…?"

"It depends on how long you'll be in here" Sylvia replied honestly. "I heard you're good at cleaning."

"Yeah" Sam nodded. His father always left such a big mess after himself, even though he was an organized man. At the thought of his father, Sam wedged himself back into the corner and buried his face in his arms.

"Are you okay?" Sylvia asked worriedly and sighed sadly, when she didn't get an answer. "I'll leave you be." With a caress of the trembling shoulders she stood up, leaving the boy to his own thoughts.

TBC

So, how was it? Not what you expected? Did you recognize Graven? I'm sure I gave a lot of info about him in here. But I could have gotten the material of his clothes wrong... I'm no expert...

Anyway, Read and Review! They keep the story going. See you soon!