This chapter should hopefully explain the direction of this story! Hope everyone is enjoying it so far :) Reviews are always welcome!

Chapter 3

Morning came all too soon, or at least what Allison felt was morning. Three men dressed in black swung open the door to their cell, starting both women from their fitful slumber. "Please just let us go!" Remy cried out as two of the men came walking specifically over to her.

"If I had a nickel…" One of the men laughed, revealing his accent to be American; or perhaps Canadian. The two men motioned for Remy to stand up but she shook her head furiously at them and clung to Allison.

The blonde was watching the third man. He seemed familiar; perhaps he was the man who had carried her into the room the day before. "Remy…" She hushed, quickly turning to face her. "You want to give them an excuse to hurt you?" She assumed the brunette was given the same lecture on speaking as she'd been given.

Remy stopped whimpering and tugging on her friend and sat opened mouthed staring at her. "You want to make it easy for them to hurt you?"

"Shut up, both of you!" The man nearest Remy barked. Both women jumped and turned their heads up to look at him. "You're coming with us." He pointed at the brunette who's eyes widened like saucers.

Allison gripped tightly to her friends hand as she felt her being pulled up off their makeshift bed. It was no use and the frail girl was easily tossed over the man's shoulders. "Put me down!!" She could hear Remy shouting from around the back of the man.

The third man, who'd been staring at Allison, finally made a move towards her. He extended his hand out and made no motion to grab for her. "Where are you taking us?" The blonde whispered as she gripped the man's hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

Instantly her wounds began to ache and begin to bleed once more. She winced and bit her lip, trying to hide the pain. The large man gripped her around the torso and hoisted her onto his hip the way he had the day before. Instinctually, Allison wrapped her legs and arms around him and held on as they were all led out of the cell.

Being at the back of the group, Allison could barely see Remy's back swinging helplessly over her captors shoulder. She could certainly hear her shouting and screaming all sorts of vulgarities; some she knew and some she'd never heard of before herself.

Remy had tried beating the man's back, clawing at his exposed arms, even trying to bite through the fabric trying to get some skin, but he would not put her down. This was how they had taken her through the forest the day before. She had fought then too, but this time shock wasn't a factor and she knew she really needed to get away.

"In here." The lead man said, directing the man holding Remy into a side room. "Her too." He pointed at the large man who paused, startled.

"My orders were to take her to Dell." He spoke in a low tenor. If he wasn't holding her naked and abused body in his arms she'd also say his voice was charming.

"After. First Boss Man wants to see them." Without another pause, Allison was carried into what appeared to be a luxurious room. The textures ranged from fluffy, to shiny to crinkly and were all shades of white and black. If not for the monochromatic color scheme, she would have thought she were in the Big Brother house.

Remy was placed down first and as soon as her toes hit the carpet she yanked herself away from the man holding her and glared at him angrily. Big man, as she'd labeled him in her head, slowly lowered Allison to the floor.

The woman winced as her feet touched the carpet, but the texture of it was a lot less painful than the solid, cold concrete of their cell. "What is this place?" She whispered, glancing around.

"Well that depends on you. If you're good, then this is you're new home. If you're worthless well…" This new man dressed in a suit made entirely of white silk entered the room from a doorway at the back. Both girls immediately gathered that this was the 'Boss Man' mentioned earlier.

"Good how?" Remy scrunched her nose in the air at him as he walked towards her first. "Are you going to fuck me too? Or just ask you're goons from yesterday how I did." She let the last word roll off her tongue spitefully.

The Boss Man raised an amused eyebrow and looked her barely tainted body up and down before making contact with her brown eyes again. "Hit me."

Remy blinked. "What?"

"I said hit me. As hard as you can. Right here, in the face." He stuck his chin out mockingly. Remy's face turned red and she pulled back her right arm and struck forward, only to have her attack blocked and her arm now bent in a painful position.

He let her go after a few moments and she recoiled, stretching her arm in an attempt to lessen the pain. The Man now walked over towards Cameron but before he could even address her, she knocked him hard in the cheek with as much force as she could muster.

This sent the Man reeling to the carpet while the big man held tight to Allison's shaking shoulders. She was confused, angry and in pain. She didn't want to be playing games; she wanted answers.

"Bravo my dear." The Man pulled himself to his feet and clapped his hands. "This one here's got intuition; no hesitation." He nodded at Allison who only glared at the red mark she'd left on his cheek and chin.

"This other one…" He walked towards Remy and cupped her chin in his hand. She tried to wriggle away but the two other men gripped her tightly. "Pretty, very pretty." He rubbed his thumb across her cheek. "Too old to trade, but too exotic to give away."

Remy had no idea what he meant by 'give away', though she was fairly certain the trading he was talking about was the sex trade. She closed her eyes and pleaded that she wouldn't be chosen for that.

"I think I can train her." Big man spoke up, startling Allison who stood still in front of him. "She's got the looks, the tone. Give me a month and I'll have her fighting like the best of 'em."

"Fighting?" Allison asked, turning to look up at the big man but he didn't meet her gaze. The Boss Man removed his hand from Remy's chin and thought a moment. "She is a thing of beauty." Now he looked at Allison. "And you said the two were together at the airport."

All three men nodded. "I see. So you two know each other then." He didn't ask as much as deduce. "That's good, very good." He began to pace. "Alright, take my little tiger to Dell and the gazelle into the cell with the other trainees. They can answer all the questions I bet are burning in that pretty little head of hers."

Allison felt herself being lifted again and was soon whisked out the door. "Who is Dell and what did he mean about fighting??" She asked, hoping he would show a little sympathy in this respect as he had in handling her. He didn't open his mouth, he simply opened a door and lead her into what appeared to be a makeshift hospital room.

She was set down on a hospital bed and then the big man was gone. "Wha-?" She looked around the room and felt a twinge of pain as she realized how similar the room looked to one of the clinic exam rooms back at PPTH.

Of course! Her colleagues and friends knew she and Remy were going on a vacation; when they didn't return on time, they would have to conclude something was wrong. Unfortunately their vacation was set for two weeks. Her and Remy had to wait at least two or three weeks before anyone missed them. She thought maybe she could do it… but Remy?

"Hello! My name is Dell and I'm gonna be taking a look at these nasty wounds of yours." Allison snapped out of her thoughts at the thick Australian accent that wafted her way. She turned and saw a young blonde woman bumbling about the foot of her hospital bed. "Crickey." She exclaimed as she began to unwrap her left food.

"Hey, hey!" Allison waved her hand at the woman, getting her attention. "Wait! Can you please tell me what the hell this place is and how I can get out of here?"

Dell continued to unwrap the woman's bandages. "Only way t' leave is in a body bag." She answered. Allison took in a deep breath at this and let it out slowly.

"What about this fighting.. this being 'a Chosen One'?"

This got the petite woman to stop her fiddling and look up at Allison directly. "Ooh so you're not heading for the trade then? Good on ya. You look like a fighter." This was making no sense to the older woman and now she had to add the pain of chemicals being poured onto her wounds into her train of thoughts.

"Just tell me what it means." She gritted through her teeth at the disinfecting.

Dell didn't look up this time, she simply opened her mouth and explained. "Ever hear of Gladiators? Well this is the same thing, sorta. You and a partner live together, train together and fight together. In the end you either win together, or die together. You better pray you're being paired with a good partner."

Allison's face turned completely white as images of lions and chariots and armor and swords flashed before her eyes. This was all too surreal. "Remy…" Her eyes opened wide at the last words Dell had said. Remy was going to be her partner! And after what she'd seen in the previous room, she knew she was screwed.