Dynasty (Boys of Winter 1)

My attackers don’t make a single sound, and as my feet are bound, I’m pushed right over, my hip slamming into the ground with a hard thud. While it hurts like a fucking bitch, my fall allowed me just a brief second to pull in a sharp gasp of breath, and with no hands on me, I scream until my lungs give out but not a damn person comes to help me.

I’m on my own.

Tears stream from my eyes, soaking through to the black bag that’s shoved over my head, and as the hands start grabbing at me again, I desperately try to squirm away, but in this position, I have no hope at all. It’s useless.

I hear the familiar sound of the window being pulled open before the men in my room drag me across the floor, scraping up my arms and stepping on my hair.

My body slams into the wall under my window, and just as someone starts pulling me up, something heavy comes down over my temple and my world falls into unconsciousness.

Cold water is thrown over my body and I gasp as consciousness is violently brought back to me. There’s nothing but darkness and my reality instantly comes rushing back. I need to get out of here.

I still have a black bag covering my head, and my wrists and ankles are still bound, leaving me laying on a hard floor like some kind of fish out of water. The floor beneath me is rippled, and judging by the sounds around me, my guess is that I’ve been tossed into the back of some dirty van and brought to Dodge Alley.

My hip aches as the side of my body screams for relief, but when the van shifts down under someone’s weight, all thoughts of aches and pains are gone.

I’m a fighter, always have been, so sitting back and doing nothing is not in my nature. As soon as the hands start pulling at me, I kick up my legs and instantly connect with something. A loud groan tears through the van before a fist slams down against my stomach. “Fucking bitch.”

I gasp for air as the blow knocks the wind out of me but I don’t dare stop. Like hell I’ll be going easy. This is my life and I refuse to live it as someone’s pet. I don’t know who’s behind all of this, but I have a good guess, and there’s no way in hell I’m about to go willingly. I’ll die before they sell me into sex slavery.

A second set of hands start grabbing at me, and within a moment I’m thrown over some burly guy’s shoulder. A thick arm curls over the back of my legs, holding me down, and for a brief moment, I see the sunlight shining through the black bag over my head.

How long was I out? How far have they taken me? And who the hell is going to realize that I’m gone? Irene and Kurt sure as hell won’t do anything or raise any alarms, they’ll just be pleased to have me out of their house. The guys won’t come looking, they’ll just assume that I need a bit of space to myself after climbing into bed with Carver, and Ember? I don’t know about her. She’ll probably think that I’m just chilling out somewhere and hope for the best.

I’m screwed.

The sunlight through the bag disappears as a chill sweeps over my body. The smell of mold hits my nose, and the further the man walks, the darker everything seems to get.

I hear the sound of metal doors clanging, girls whimpering, yelling, crying, screaming. There are scuffles around me, the sound of heavy chains falling against a hard floor, and then the loud screeching of a metal lock sliding out of place with a violent, chilling BANG.

I jump in the guy’s arms and instantly start panicking when I hear the metal door dragging open. Fear rattles me and I squirm, desperate to get away but the hands grab at me, and just as the bag is torn off my head, I’m thrown down to the cold ground, my wrists and ankles still bound.

The heavy metal door is slammed shut and I’m locked into darkness with nothing but my senses to guide me.

I curl into a ball on the ground, listening to sounds, screams, and pain coming from the other cells and the insistent drip, drip, drip that slams down onto the cold concrete beside me, each drip somehow getting louder and louder.

I bring my knees into my chest and curl my arms tightly around them, struggling against the bonds that tear into my skin. I duck my head as low as possible and try to become invisible before letting the tears flow heavy and free, and wishing that I could be anywhere but here.