Tears were dripping from my eyes faster than I could blink them away. I could hear my breathing getting thicker and thicker now, my body was quickly recognizing that I had been kidnapped and was certainly heading to my death. I threw a punch at the minute men sitting closest to the door and managed to get the door open, flinging it wide for the world to hear my screams. Knowing full well of course no one would step up to help. It was life or death world where she lived. People say that, but few rarely truly mean it. However out here, it was literally life or death. People like Fortis thrived, stealing time from those who had been starved from it from the time they turned 25. My fingers grabbed the ground before I felt myself being pulled back into the car.

"We have a rowdy one boys." Fortis said switching seats with one of the minutemen and grabbing my arm roughly and pinning it behind my back. I could almost feel the evil that ran in his veins, and it scared me. The look on his face was one of pure malice, jaw clenched and muscles tensed. He had to be at least 75 years old. He didn't look or act over the age of 25 though, like everyone else in this dreaded place. "Stop the car."

The driver pulled the car over in a secluded corner of an alley, blocking the exit so there was no way for me to get out. I felt myself being pushed from the car onto the cold, rocky ground. My lip made contact with a sharp rocking, causing it to split and blood started to pour from it. The door slammed and I heard Fortis' shoes make a connection with the ground. He pulled something from his waistline that reflected. It was a knife; he was going to kill me. All my life I had heard of people dying like this, but never did I think it would happen to me. Babies were sometimes killed out of jealousy that they lived seemingly for free. That is what was happening right now. I scrambled back, my back flat against the fence.

"Please, please don't kill me." I braced my hands over my face when I heard him drop the knife on the ground behind him and bend down to eye level. Slowly I raised my head and looked at him, cautiously. His hands were up in the air, knife on the ground behind him.

"I am not going to kill you now." He said still staring at me. "But if you try one more time to escape, I assure you it will be the last thing you do."

He picked the knife up from behind him and moved closer towards me, a sly sick smile appearing on his face. He held the knife up to the side of my face, and down to where my lip was bleeding.

"We wouldn't want to waste all that precious time, now would we?" he said twisting the knife back to its original placement and placing it in the pocket of his jeans. I watched and thought about grabbing the knife, but he was too quick for me. "Don't think about it Stella."

"Don't call me that. You don't know me." I said at the same being thrown back into the car.

"Feisty." He said sitting on the left side of the backseat, placing me in the middle wedged between himself and one of his stupid friends. We must have been in the car for an hour before it slowly pulled to a stop in front of an abandoned hotel. There were no other buildings around and even the look of the building made me feel uncomfortable.

"Get out." One of the others said, and I listened slowly ambling out of the car and staring up at the building. I felt Fortis take hold of my arm and steer me blindly towards the building. The sky was getting darker and darker as the time went on. Hopefully Adele had eventually listened and locked herself in her room, until Mom came home. I was snapped back into the cold, hard reality of my situation when I heard screaming coming from a room inside the building. My eyes widened as I saw a girl being dragged by one of the minute men into a room off to the side.

"Fortis, 20 minutes." He said before disappearing into the room.

"Okay, I'll be there. Showing this one to her room." His fingers digging into the side of my arm, he pushed me forward up the steps and towards a door on the left hand side of the hallway. There was crying coming from it, but it stopped once Fortis' hand turned the knob on the door. He threw the door open and stepped in front of me.

"Why the crying ladies?" he said walking forward, dragging me with him. "I have to take my leave, but here is your new roommate. Estella Grace Lenox, make her feel right at home."

The door slammed and I looked at all the girls whose faces were streaked with tears. Silence toned the room for a few minutes as I took in my surroundings and stood stunned.

"What is going on?" I said finally breaking the hush and looking down at the girls. I recognized each of them, there was about 6 of them. They were on the news for being kidnapped. "How did he know my name?"

"Girls, I'm going to talk to Estella and you guys just stay here." One girl stepped up, grabbing my hand and leading me over to a bed. She sat indian style on the bed and grabbed my hand in hers. "Well, Estella, I'm sure you recognize the men who brought you here."

I nodded my head in recognition and listened as she told me the story of why I was brought here.

"You're under 25, and you were just taken by minutemen. They wait for us to come of age and take our time." She looked towards the comforter, picking at a loose thread on the comforter. "I'm 6 months from 25 which means I'm next. The girl you heard screaming was the first to go, her name was Ameria ."

It all made sense, that's why babies had gone missing. They were keeping them till they turned 25 and stripping them of their free time.

"No, we have to get out of here." Estella stood up and looked at the other girls who were all listening intently and sitting on their beds.