Chapter 5

Brittany sat on her bed and cried. Today her family and Santana's family were going to the Police Station to report a kidnapping. She picked up her phone, hoping to see a text waiting for her from Santana, but there was nothing.

She decided to text Santana.

What she said was- Maggie is okay. Your mother is worried. I am really worried about you San. Please text back.

About 5 minutes later her phone buzzed. It was a text from Santana!

I'm fine. I'm happy and I don't need anyone to save me! I love it here. Bye Britney.

Brittany sighed. That wasn't Santana. It didn't sound like her. Plus, Santana knew how to spell her name. The fake police officer must have stolen her phone and texted back from it.

Santana waited until the assembly was over and she was back in her cell. She missed having the company of Colette to help her sleep. She had been a good friend.

Now she needed a plan to escape. She needed to get home to her family and to Brittany. She missed them so much. She decided that the only way to escape was if she jumped out of the moving car that she was going to be put in when men from the larger industries come. She knew it was risky, but if she jumped out by a gas station or somewhere where there were people, she would be able to escape. She wasn't going to be trapped in the kidnapping industry forever. She couldn't be moved to anywhere but another industry in Ohio. She'd never find her family if she was in California.

Suddenly she saw Ricardo who was pulling the hand of another girl. She was 16 like Santana and had dark brown hair. She looked terrified. Ricardo threw her into the cell and walked off.

The girl saw Santana. "Hello, I'm Rachel. Where are we?"

Santana looked around and whispered back, "You have to be quiet. They'll punish you if they see you talking. Right now we're in what they call The Concrete Building. You will be assigned a master who will make you do a bunch of chores and then cut a logo into your arm so that everyone knows you belong to this company. I've been here for a week. It's not a fun place and don't ever try to escape or talk without asking. They have cruel punishments. I should know since they made me kill my only friend here."

The girl looked shocked. She spoke quietly. "Why do you look so frail? What are they going to do with us?"

Santana giggled which sounded raspy, since she hadn't had anything to drink in two days. "They don't feed us much. They haven't given me water in two days. You'll have to get used to it though. They're going to be sending us to bigger industries tomorrow to be slaves for bigger men. I'm going to escape though. I've decided to jump out of whatever vehicle I've been placed in. I don't care if I get hurt. I need to get out of here!"

Rachel sighed. "Where do I sleep? There's no beds!"

Santana curled herself up in the corner of the room. "We have to sleep on the floor. It's been a busy day and I need as much sleep as I can get. You should enjoy it while you can. Goodnight."

Rachel curled up in the other corner and sighed again. She didn't want to be here! She let her tears put her to sleep.

Morning came fast. It was 4:00 am. Santana had trained her body to wake up at that time. She saw Rachel who was still asleep and nudged her. Then they both waited silently until Ricardo came by. He was followed by a large man who looked mean and wouldn't stop staring at Santana's chest.

"Girls, this is Mr. Barnes. Mr. Barnes is here to take 10 girls to his compound building in Detroit. He is coming through to look at all the girls that are 16. His compound needs more 16 year old girls."

Mr. Barnes looked at Santana and smirked. "I want that one. She'd be good. Also the one with the dark brown hair. What's their names?"

Ricardo grinned. "Santana is the latino one and Rachel is the newest looking one."

They were discussing her and Rachel like they were animals in a zoo! Slavery was illegal. She was pretty sure that everything these men were doing was illegal!

"I'll take them both. They look like good material."

Ricardo unlocked their cell and the man took them to a bus-sized truck with large animal cages in the back that looked like they were for tigers or lions or something.

The man stuffed both the girls into two cages. So much for escaping! Santana and Rachel were doomed. They were on their way to Detroit to become slaves once more. Plus the cages were VERY stuffy and didn't have much room.

It was about an hour before Santana heard the man yell from the cab of the truck that they were ready to go. The truck engine started up and they were off.