Faint screams of pain and terror came from the dark room on the left. Blood was all over the door down in the basement of the warehouse. Inside they tortured her, bled her and make her scream so loud that the windows could crack spilling the glass all over the floor.
The words "This won't hurt you, I promise!" hung in the air surrounding the 11 year old Leena like a clouded air bubble as she screamed. The smell of burning flesh lingered around the tiny cupboard of death. Blood dripping from both of her arms as they branded her.
Hours and minutes passed. Leena's screams wailed loudly through the night until morning.
"STOP PLEASE" her voice was hoarse and her eyes were filled with tears that weren't going to run down her cheeks.
She could barely see or speak yet the screams kept coming out. SUDDENLY they stopped.
2 days later
"Did she survive? If so where can I find her?" Silvie walked up to Michael demanding to see her star pupil.
"Madam Silvie you told us to brand and prepare her for immediate action, so we did. Where she is right now is none of my business I think Jason and Smitty knows her whereabouts"
Silvie grabbed Michael by the neck and threw him against the Iron wall "I NEED HER NOW! If she isn't found in the next 20 minutes I will kill whoever is responsible for not finding her" her stare itself was more frightening than the threat of killing someone
"OK Madam Silvie" said the wheezing man who was currently struggling to breathe under her death grip. "Smitty will find her right away!"
Smitty ran off to find Leena who was being let out of the branding room ready for inspection.
Later on that day
"Leena" George asked politely "where did they take you last night? You weren't at dinner or breakfast"
George's eyes looked with worry towards Lee who failed to give a detailed response to his questions; she just sat staring at her food eating all of her eggs and bacon on the china plate that was painted with flowers.
"I'm not sure, I kinda passed out. It's all a blur now. How come my plate is different to yours George?"
"Oh ok, don't know maybe they ran out" he looked around seeing that no one else had the same plate as her "Well it's time for our training sessions I'll walk you there my lady"
Training in Romania isn't what anyone thought it was. For hours these two groups of boys and girls would be separated and the first sessions would include a torturous task.
First off the girls were throwing knives, at each other, and had to duck them elegantly. The key to this was concentration. If they got distracted they could be seriously injured or possibly killed. Their balance would be terrific and in time it would allow them to dodge them without even knowing they were being thrown at them. Some more experienced warriors, like Leena and Kat, would wear blindfolds.
After throwing the knives they would be taken in to the active fighting rooms, the task was simple; they had to fight each other. First up to fight was two of Leena's bunk buddies, Melanie and Susie. They both were fighting first.
As the group of girls were doing this, across the camp to the other side were the boys reading tiny passages from famous books, including The Odyssey and The Hobbit, with these texts they had to translate them into 5 different languages in which they know fluently.
These 5 languages could be
Russian
German
Italian
Morse code
Greek
Or an 6th option if they had time to spare
Korean/ Japanese or Chinese
Everyone had to do these same training sessions every day to be strong and independent physically as well as mentally. For some their weakness in the head would overcome their strength and make them mad.
As George decoded the scripts, Melanie and Susie started to fight. George used his best ink pen which would create the world's most beautiful calligraphy ever seen. For minutes he prepared the best piece of writing just as he ends his writing; Melanie would knock Susie down and in an instant second grab her in a death grip and snap her neck back killing her best mate immediately.
The brutal unintentional murder didn't cause anyone to fuss. The teacher Madam Claudette strolled right over to Melanie and nodded approvingly at her letting her know she supported the victory of the fight.
Pretty soon it would be Leena's turn to fight and George's and Bianca; wherever she is in the world.
Tea time that night was a drag; everyone was silent after the recent death of Susie. Leena was sat at the lunch table with Kat, Melissa and Melanie, who was crying.
"Lee how was your day?" George came over concerned for his girlfriend. "Mel what happened?"
"She killed Susie" Lee so bluntly put it "In Madame Claudette's class today"
"Leena: that's not something to say out loud like that. See you've made her worse" Kat's explosion of furiousness towards Leena caused Mel to stop crying
"She's right though I killed my roommate she shared a bunk with me and now she is dead. SHE IS DEAD Kat!" Everyone in the dinner hall turned to look at Melanie.
Mel saw them all staring and ran out of the dinner hall and went straight outside; she hit a pole and slid down it starting to scream out crying for her recently deceased friend. Madame Claudette saw this outburst and got hold of her: Mel was taken away.
"Well I hope you're satisfied with yourself Leena? She did fine not knowing that she had killed Susie before you opened your big gob"
"Kat I am happy with myself. Why? Because A) I don't give a shit B) I'm eating and C) Mel will get over it she will realise that Madame Claudette would have punished her by now if she had done something wrong you big great bloody tit"
"Lee" George piped up "I know you think that but don't you see what's wrong with that sentence" he looked straight at her as she ignored him and ate her spaghetti
"Not to be rude but I can see where she is coming from Madame Claudette would have punished her by now and she is the strictest teacher here" Melissa weighed in on Leena's side as usual
"Yeah but why hasn't she been punished yet she has just killed someone" Leena said curiously
"What's that?" George discovered her brands on her wrists
Leena, knowing he'd seen the mark, hid her arm "It's called pasta or Spaghetti Bolognese if you want to be fancy"
He just shrugged "Ok" and went back to eating his food
Melissa was curious "What does Spaghetti Bolognese even mean? I have often wondered but now because of OCD reasons I need to know the answer"
Leena rolled her eyes and both she and George said at the same time "IT'S PASTA!"
Lee continued just to act smart "its spaghetti served with a sauce of minced beef, tomato, onion, and herbs not that hard to figure out Lissa"
"Ok thanks you guys I just thought it was Latin or French for something"
"No just pasta with sauce" Kat finally spoke
"Kat look Mel knows we are here and we're going to support her no matter what. Leena is right though Madame Claudette would have punished her by now." George smiled at his girlfriend and she smiled back knowing he was on her side
"I guess so guys. Look I'll meet you back at the dorm rooms." Kat left the table and put her plate in the washing up area. Melissa walked after her back to the dorm to comfort her friend
"George you know the way point line room?"
"Yes I know the place" he looked up from his plate "what about it?"
"Well apart from lunch hall and some training sessions we are only allowed in that room together even after dark."
"Right; I'm not seeing what you're trying to ask me here or tell me"
"Meet me there at 2300 hours!"
"Why what's going on?"
"Just meet me there, you'll find out at 2300 hours" she winked and walked back to her dorm dropping her special plate off as she walked out the hall
2300 hours that night (11pm)
"Leena?" George walked in looking around
"George I'm over here" she pulled back a curtain "come here"
"Oh hey what are you doing in there, I didn't even know we had a den place in here"
"No one knows it's here because I made it now hurry up asshole"
George got into the den.
An hour later
They both emerged from the den. George zipping his trousers up and Leena doing her blouse buttons up ready for going back to their dorms; George grabbed Lee's hair and kissed her.
"George can we talk please"
"Sure we can sweetheart"
"Why haven't you got marks on your wrists and I have. They haven't done that to you yet"
"No they haven't and what happened you suddenly have the brands that Michael, Smitty and Jason have"
"That's what I was thinking. Why do I have them? What do they want with me?"
George hugged Lee tightly and kissed her forehead "I'm not letting anyone hurt you, I love you Leena Carter"