Chapter 98

Ashlynn POV

I could not believe what I was seeing. This was like some sort of underground laboratory. It was clear though that terrible things had happened here. There were dead pups in bottles of formaldehyde, human hearts and even eyeballs. The entire thing made me sick to my stomach. I began to look through the cabinets, only to find more frightening things. There were bottles of different types of acids, tubes filled with coagulated blood sitting in a blood spinner, bottles of medication and, the worst of all; wolfsbane. Some of the tables held shackles and on closer inspection, what I had thought was rust, was actually dried blood. The entire room had a stench to it that, even with a handkerchief over my nose and mouth, I could smell. Death.

I turned towards the skeleton that was still chained to the wall. I walked towards it and stood about a foot away. I had seen plenty of dead animals and had worked with cadavers before. The smells here were far worse than anything in those labs I had been in. I ran my eyes over the bones, noticing the shape of the pelvis, the smaller skull, the petite bones. This had been a woman. I stepped closer and inspected her only a few inches away. Whoever she had been, she had long brown hair once, the strands clinging to the skeletal remains, some of it in a dusty pile on the floor. I could take samples, check DNA, maybe discover who this pile of bones had once been. I made a mental note to do just that, but not right now. Right now I am trying not to be sick from the sites and smells accosting my every sense.

I was suddenly vaguely aware that I was the only one still in the room. I turned towards the door and abruptly Natalie appeared. "We need to go, Shawna ran down the other direction." I nodded and followed her out of the room, leaving the lights on. I switched on my flashlight and we ran down the tunnel in the direction that Shawna had run.

"What the hell was that anyway?" Natalie asked.

"I think a laboratory or a torture chamber, or both. I know that whatever it is, it's horrible. Did you see the death in that room?" I shivered as we slowly jogged down the tunnel.

"Yes I did. It's disgusting." Natalie stated. "Shawna," she hollered down the tunnel as we saw a beam of light come into view ahead.

Shawna must have heard her because she stopped and turned back towards us. "Yes I'm here, but can you please hurry. We are almost out of time."

We caught up to Shawna quickly and the three of us made our way down the other tunnel. "Shawna, had you ever seen that room when you were held prisoner here?" I asked.

"No," she shook her head. "Never. And I am glad. It's the scariest and creepiest thing I think I've ever seen."

"Yeah, it was pretty awful," I admitted. The tunnel suddenly veered to the left and we followed behind Shawna.

"It's just ahead I think," she said. "I can smell it." She wasn't wrong. The distinct smell of urine and body odor was wafting down the tunnel from somewhere ahead. I was probably the wrong person to be on this mission, as my stomach continued to roll with the smells.

"I'd say you have about forty minutes before your boyfriend comes looking," I told Shawna as I checked my watch. "I will be glad for the time to be up, because my stomach is ready to launch my lunch," I joked.

"I'm sorry Ashlynn, I didn't know it would be this bad or of your condition when I asked initially."

I waved my hand, "It doesn't matter, I'm here for you. If I didn't think I could handle it, I would have said no. I do deal with funky smells coming from animals all day long," I admitted.

Natalie laughed next to me, "Do you mean the men you work beside? Or the actual cattle and horses?"

"Funny," I chuckled. "Sometimes both."

We were suddenly in the opening of a large room. Shawna came to a stop, focusing her flashlight on a cage in the corner. "That's it. That's where they tried to break me in all ways possible."

We stood quietly as she moved forward, taking tentative steps. "They did terrible things to me here. Not just me, others too. Sometimes I couldn't even sleep, because the cries of agony all around me were unbearable. The fear that grips you every time you hear a sound that could be someone coming for you, to torture you or make you watch them torture others, it was enough to drive you mad. I just kept thinking that I would get out of here. I'd kill one of them if I had to. I'd do whatever it took to survive." Shawna paused and looked around. "They used to chain me up on that wall over there, they would make the other prisoners watch as they raped me. Sometimes the men would beg them to stop, sometimes they would just close their eyes and say nothing. At first, the others were volatile, threatening to cut off their balls for what they were doing to me. That was until my captors started to hurt them for talking, cutting them or burning their skin with acid. Once, I told them all to just say nothing so that they didn't have to be subjected to further torture too. I could tell they didn't want to be quiet, but they were. When they stopped begging them to stop, they eventually got less out of the whole ordeal because their visits of that nature became less and less over time. I don't think I'd ever felt so much relief and fear at the same time as I did the day I was rescued from here." Shawna turned to look at Natalie and I, tears streaming down her face. "That was just the beginning though. Ashlynn, you were such a help to me and you have continued to be. I don't know if I could have even been as strong as I was without your friendship. You never judged me once."

"How could I judge you? What happened to you was not your fault, Shawna! Not even a little bit. They did not break you. Look at you now, so brave and strong. Not many women would seek this out, face this and be okay. But you will be okay, I know it." I walked towards her and threw my arms around her, pulling her in for a hug. "You're so brave. So amazing. Don't you ever forget it."

Natalie came to join us in our hug, putting her arms around Shawna too. Shawna broke down into sobs, crying so hard her body shook. "Thank you," she whispered. We stood there for I don't know how long, letting Shawna cry out her feelings. When her body stopped shaking, she pulled back and wiped her eyes. "I needed this. I feel somehow completely unburdened now."

"That was sort of the point, right?" Natalie asked.

"Yes," Shawna gave a sad laugh. "It was."

"I look around this place and cannot believe how much you went through. This place gives me the creeps," Natalie said. "I'm a warrior and I've seen some seriously gruesome things, but this, just hearing you talk about what you endured, makes my skin crawl."

I nodded in agreement. "It's pretty creepy down here. I wonder why they didn't just blow the whole place up."

We heard footsteps approaching at a fast speed. I lifted my head and caught a scent in the air. My mate was near. "The guys are about to join us I think," I said quietly. A few moments later, three large men flew into the room and skidded to a stop.

"What the hell," grunted Michael. "This place was far down in here," he stopped and looked around, his face growing dark as he took in his surroundings.

"I told you it was bad," Dawson grumbled as he walked towards me. "Are you okay babe?" he asked me as he pulled me close. "The stench down here is bad, your stomach okay?"

"I'm good. I'm just glad we brought handkerchiefs, or my vomit might be added to the smell down here." I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around Dawson's waist and drew in his scent.

"Did you figure out what you needed down here?" Michael asked Shawna as he took a step towards her.

"Yes, I think I did," she admitted. "Beyond that, we think we found something that wasn't meant to be found." She gave me a pointed look. I nodded, giving her an unspoken consent to tell them about the strange lab we had found.

"What's that?" asked Dawson and Michael at the same time.

"A lab. There are bodies and bones and the goddess knows what else. I ran out of there," admitted Shawna. "Not Ashlynn though, she looked around."

All eyes turned on me, waiting for an answer. I sighed. "We are going to need to get someone with forensics down here. There's a complete skeleton of a woman. There are pups in jars. The council needs to know."