STRANDED 003

"Hey! Hey wake up!" Whisper filled my head. Am I dead or alive.

"Twenty two!" The whisper was sharp and I opened my lid to see a face staring down at me "here, food. We saved some"

I blinked and then slowly, it registered that I was very much alive and Twenty one was stretching a piece of bread at me. Like a hungry creature that I was, I pounced on it, tearing it into my mouth savoring the juiciness.

"Here" he stretched a bottle of water and I took it from him, gulping it down, almost choking.

"It's okay, eat slowly" he smiled at me warmly but all that didn't register. I ate hungrily like my life depended on it and depended on it by the way.

"Want more?" He stretched another piece to me and I took it. Tears rose to my eyes and I was grateful. It was in the still of the night and the guards were out of sight to do their night watch.

I reeked of something gross but he stayed anyway.

He reached out to hold my hand "be strong" he whispered and a soft smile parted his lips "Twenty says hello too. He is on the look out"

"Thanks to you" my voice broke and I began to eat again. He patted my shoulder and went back to where they were asked to sit. "Thanks to you" I cried within myself and ate slowly.

Time passed and it was only a matter of days when Clang! Clang! Clang! "We are here!" A coarse voice sounded; i didn't have to be genie to know who it belonged to. The cage was opened and I was pulled out roughly.

The sun was up and the bright light stung my eyes. I blinked trying to recover my sight but I wasn't given that much time. Still in chains, I was pushed towards an open space.

Through the dim light of my eyes, trying to contain the bright rays of the sun that stung it deeply, I surveyed elsewhere...

It was huge and flooded.

Flooded with people both workers and guards. Then, the contrast between shade and lights began to harmonize. Everywhere froze like someone pulled the plug; all eyes were on me like I was some sort of strange creature brought from the moon.

I looked around. unlike Dome, Elsewhere was like a big workshop. The land spread out, it had buildings and the people there were in uniforms.

I was still mulling when three huge men, seeming like our commander arrived to meet us.

"Why is this one in chains?" A husky voice queried.

"It is a rebel" commander replied.

"Rebel?" He came over, held my hair and tugged at it so I could look into his face but I looked away. It was the rule. "It is young." The man pointed out "and weak" he raised a frown at our commander "was it fed?"

"Pig food" commander responded flatly. The man nodded and let go of my hair. He turned to the guard beside him and muttered something.

"It survived. That's a good thing." The man walked past me "take it and mark it. It would be good for the slaughter house" then he turned to Twenty and Twenty one "these ones would be good for the games"

What does he mean by that? I blinked but before I could contemplate, two solid hands grabbed me and dragged me to one of the buildings but instead of going in it, we went around it into a tunnel that seemed like a bath hole and they threw me down it. I went down, hitting my head and slamming my face against walls, it was only a matter of time that I found myself at the bottom. Funny enough, the bottom wasn't like a well's bottom, it led into a different tunnel and I landed in a huge bath bowl filled with water.

I struggled with the chain around my neck so I won't drown but there was little I could do.

"A new one" I heard someone talk and before I drowned, I was lifted from the bowl. Three young men stared me in the face, leaving me on the floor to wonder what was going to happen next. "It looks like a wet puppy" one of them snickered.

"No, more like a wet cat" another young man interrupted. "But it stinks" they were still arguing about what I looked like when a smart middle aged woman emerged from behind them. I looked above their shoulders and met her glare and immediately, I looked away.

The young men squealed on seeing her and made way for her to get to me.

"Fools" she insulted them by this time, she was close. "Take the chains off it and clean it!" She ordered and with rapid motion, they brought screw and pliers to get the metal weight off my shoulders.

Then, they pulled me to an open corner of the tunnel and ripped my clothes off me till I was completely nude.

"No!" I tried covering myself but to no avail. I tried hiding the scars that covered my body but they didn't seem to care. The young man that called me a wet cat retrieved a hose from the rack while others grabbed brush and soap. He turned on the water and they washed me till I looked my butter cream color and not covered in dirt. I smelt of something close to human and afterwards, they took me to the end of the tunnel where there was a furnace. The woman wore gloves and told the boys to hold me still.

They pinned me to a metal pole and the woman crossed the room to the burning furnace. Out of the blazing fire, she retrieved an iron rod that had been left in it till it was red and it had a letter S at the end which was already blaring red.

"This is going to hurt a bit" she said without any expression on her face and that scared me.

What was she going to do? But I needn't have to ask. It was glaring what she was going to do.

My heartbeat raced and I felt like swallowing my tongue but without batting an eye, she came over and pressed the red hot S against my upper arm.

I saw death.

I screamed. And blacked out.