Chapter 59

MARK OF THE UNHOLY

ELENA

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 instead of going in it, we went around it into a tunnel that seemed like a bathing hole and they threw me down it. I went down, hitting my head and slamming my face against the 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 screws 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 buttercream color and was not covered in dirt. I smelt of something close to human and afterward, 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.

***

I woke up to the smell of sterility. And my upper arm was bandaged and it didn't seem to hurt much as I lifted it. I looked around and I was like in an infirmary already dressed in a clean black vest and combat trousers and boots, lying on a stretcher.

I looked around and there was a face staring down at me. I blinked and his face began to register.

"You are not dead. If that is what you are wondering" he was dressed in something similar but he had a stethoscope around his neck. He looked young but much older than me, maybe with three to four years and there was no smile on his face. I sat upright slowly and he rested back on a cabinet, arms across his chest staring keenly at me. He was tall, about fifteen's height, and standing there he seemed like a Greek god. "My name is Atom. What's yours?" But I was mute trying not to stare him in the face.

Seeing my expression, he came close "here, when I ask a question, you answer and you look at me when I talk to you" his voice was stern and slow, I raised my lids to look him in the face but withdrew immediately. "What is your name?"

"Twenty-two" he was silent then he scoffed

"From Dome?"

"Si" it meant yes. He nodded and retrieved a medicine patch from his drawer, tore it open, and stamped it on my hairline where I had received a jab earlier.

He lifted my chin so I look into his face then, he whispered. "Look at me when I talk to you." His face was gentle but if there is something I've learned from Dome, is never to trust the ones with the gentle faces. He let go of my chin and moved backward. "It is ready!" He yelled across the room and two guards emerged from the doorway. And I was taken away.

***

I was taken to one of the long buildings at the end of the line. It was lined with bunks like one of the dorms in an army barrack and was filled with both males and females. "This is where you'd be staying after everyday's work" the guard only said. I looked at the spacious place that looked much better than the dumpster that I slept in at Dome.

They took me to my bed space, showed me a little locker where I could put my stuff, and the toilet and I was handed a routine to go through. I looked at the sheet of paper but did I tell you I didn't know how to read or write and my use of the English language was really poor? I didn't talk much and I wasn't like some of the domites that were transferred from English countries.

I literally spent my whole life learning and mastering the Dome language.

I nodded and they left me to my own.

I stared at the white sheet for quite a while "twenty-two..." I said to myself. That was the only thing I could assimilate from the routine and that was because it was written boldly on my vest while I was still at Dome.

"Hey, boots!" I heard someone yell and simultaneously, an empty can flew across the room and struck me at the back of my head. "Didn't you hear me call you?" I looked across the space and on an upper bunk sat a huge Redhead. She looked the eldest of the other three women that occupied the bunks at that corner. She had a huge grin on her face but I was blank. I always was.

"What? You don't understand English?" I guess she saw that I was struggling with reading the routine. "Let me help you" she got down from her bunk and snatched it from my hand. "It says..." She began, clearing her throat "dear twenty two. You would die tomorrow and we would hang your head..."

"Don't listen to her!" Someone came over and snatched the paper from her. Like her, he had red hair too but he was much younger.

"Hey, jerk!" She wanted to take it from him but he was quick enough to dodge.

"Stop being a bully Ruth!" He snapped at her and with a frown, she settled back in her bunk.

"Sorry about that. Don't be intimidated by her. She's just a big teddy bear" he said with a smile. He was the first person to smile at me at Elsewhere. I didn't get all that he said but I nodded anyways. "What is your name? Do you understand English?" But I was mute. He went through the paper and looked at me. "You are from Dome?" He raised a brow "oh, your English must be terrible"

"Tell me about it" Ruth added

"Shut up Ruth." He shunned "your name is Twenty-two right?" And I nodded in response. "That’s awful" he sighed. "Well, Twenty-two, this paper..." He raised the sheet "is what you..." He pointed to me "are to do every day. Got it?"

"Yes"

"Cool. We wake up at three, we go to bed at eleven. You will work at a slaughterhouse..." He paused and a frown pulled on his face. I heard gasps at the background and everyone began to gather at my bed.

"She is an S?" Ruth came over and lifted my sleeve to reveal the inscription on my upper arm. "Omigod. She is an S". I didn't know what that meant so, I turned back to the Redhead-boy.

"It means, you'll work at a place where killing happens..." He paused and pressed the paper in my hand. "You'll figure out the rest." He exhaled again and took a step away from me. "Alright everyone, lights out." He announced and people started to return to their beds with rumors and grumbles. I was dumbfounded. What was going on? What was an S?

I was left alone to wonder what was going on.

"Slotter-aws," I said to myself as I sat on the bed then, I lay down to rest my eyes. Slotter-aws.

I rolled over. The sores on my body made it uncomfortable to close my eyes. Then I shot to my buttocks and sat upright. "Slotter-aws," I said touching the S mark on my hand.

In Dome, we just stood under letters but here at elsewhere, we were marked with it. What could this mean?

Not being able to sleep, I stood to my feet and paced the corridor between each bunks till I got to Redhead's bunk. He was rolling over, tossing and turning, trembling from the cold. I watched him for a while and it reminded me of Teen. I hoped he was okay and was doing very well without me but who was I kidding? Dome was do or die.

I went back to my bunk and pulled out the thin sheets that covered the hard bed and strolled back to him. He was still shivering so, I draped it over him and subconsciously, he clutched it tightly to himself.

I should be sleeping, savoring the little time given to us for rest but Slotter-aws kept me awake.

Redhead had said it was a place where the killing took place. What killings?

Well, there was only one way to find out.