Marietta's POV
Eight months passed and my father has not come to rescue me. Gloria was right. Gloria is the name of the elderly woman with hazel eyes. My spirit broke.
When I got here I spent four days surviving on only water because the food was gross, but on the fifth day, my body system could no longer take it.
Gloria told me she had met people who were tougher than I am, but in the end, they all had to yield.
"I have spent almost a year in the hands of these people and I do not know of anyone who has ever escaped," she said. If she said this to shake my confidence she succeeded.
We were held in that room for three days before we were later transported to another location. We were transported in a carriage alongside two other people. One was a little girl and the other was an elderly woman who should be in her fifties.
Their dress still looked neat which means they were kidnapped not long ago. They both looked terrified and the little girl was begging the men to let her go while the elderly woman huddled herself in a corner.
We were blindfolded for most of the journey except at night. This has got to be the worst journey of my life. We traveled day and night for almost a week stopping at intervals to eat and answer the call of nature. The roads were steep from frequent rain and this slowed our journey. The weather was freezing and this made us cold.
Every part of my body was sore from sitting for too long. I jumped at every chance that would allow me the opportunity to stretch my body. I couldn't wait for the journey to end.
At last, we arrived at our destination and the seemingly endless journey came to an end to the relief of everyone including the kidnappers.
Our blindfolds were removed. We were in the middle of nowhere. The place was surprisingly bustling with activities. People were going and coming. I could tell this is not a normal village as there were no regular buildings.
The only building here is a large stone house similar to the one at the location we left only this one is larger. The building is surrounded by tons of small tents which suggest it was a temporary camp.
Carriages that carried captives like we were arriving from different directions. Each carriage had two men with a crude weapon by their side.
I noticed all the captives were women of different ages, races, and social classes.
Thick smoke was coming out from a section of the stone building, I guessed it to be the kitchen area. The weather was freezing, making us shiver. Some men were standing before an open fire warming themselves. They also looked dirty and carried weapons. They were talking and laughing hysterically in a way that annoyed me.
"Barbarians," I snorted. There was a clearing a few miles away from the building. It was empty. As we approached the building I saw a teenage boy roasting a goat beside the building wall. The aroma made me salivate.
The inner part of the building was larger than I imagined. It has many rooms. It is as busy inside as it is outside. People were busy going about their tasks.
Our escort led us to a room. The room was spacious. There was a wooden table and chair at the far corner of the building. A man was sitting there. The man was lanky and well-dressed in a white shirt and black pants. He wore a long boot to protect him from the cold. There was a long black cloak hanging on his chair. He had golden brown hair and his face unlike the face of the kidnappers, looked too innocent for someone who was into the business of kidnapping women and girls.
Our escorts walked up to him and talked for a few seconds. The lanky man walked towards a locker that was standing against the wall on the other side of the room. He opened it and brought out pieces for bands of various colors.
He wrapped the red band around my arm and the arm of the two teenage girls. He wrapped the blue band around the arm of the elderly woman and a black band was wrapped on Gloria's arm.
We were once again led out of the room into the inner part of the building. We passed by many rooms. We came across many women and girls who had a colored band tied to their arms. They were also being escorted by one or two men who were also unkept and had a crude weapon by their side. It's almost as if looking shabby was their means of identification.
We walked for a while before we finally stopped at a door. One of the men unlocked the door. It was a small room with debris littered everywhere.
The room had a small high window. The window was meant for light and ventilation. I could see that this place was built to serve this purpose but what bothered me was the strong odor that came from the room. It gave me a headache.
"Get in," he said with a mean voice.
As I huddled myself into a corner, I heard the lock turning. All of us huddled ourselves to the wall to keep us warm.
I heard the new girl sobbing softly and I couldn't help feeling pity for her even though my condition was equally pathetic
Later in the day, I had fallen asleep when the door opened. One of the men who brought us here was standing by the door.
"Get up now and follow me" he ordered and we did as he ordered.
We were taken outside the building through the back door to a clearing. The clearing which was empty a while ago was now filled with hundreds of people mostly women and girls.
Like us, they all had a colored band on their arms. They looked pale and dirty. And the expression we wore was similar, sad and hopeless.
I noticed we were divided into four sections according to the color of our band. The two teenage girls and I were taken to the section with people with the red band.
The other section was the blue band, black band, and brown band. I tried to guess what the band was for but I couldn't.
We were lined up according to our height. After about the minutes of standing in a row. One of the men announced the arrival of their leader.
The leader is a very tall and bulky man. He was putting on regal attire that made him look like an alpha. He has a deep knife cut mark that runs across his face making him look both ugly and dangerous. His left eye is blinded. His face reminds me of a story I read when I was little. It's a story about a notorious bandit.
His voice was deep and terrifying. I wondered if he had a wife or a kid. There is nothing sexy about him.
From the way he spoke, one could tell he is a man of few words.
"I welcome you all to the land of nowhere," he said as if we had come here of our own free will.
He spelled out some rules and warned us against any form of misconduct.
He told us that an attempt to escape is punishable by death. My stomach growled at the thought of that because I have been harboring that thought in my mind ever since we got here.
He sounded serious but I have a feeling he only said that to discourage us from trying to escape.
From what I understand he is a businessman and the aim of every businessman is to profit.
He didn't bring us all the way here just to kill us. That much I know.
When he was done addressing us, we were led to a stream where we were to take our bath.
The stream was heavily surrounded by these crude men. They were being very careful not to let anyone escape.
We went into the stream and washed ourselves even though the water was freezing.
We had no choice and I have been feeling itchy so I was glad to at least take my bath after so many days.
By the time we were done bathing, it was getting dark. We were led to the kitchen area. The kitchen was warmer and I wished we would be allowed to stay there a bit longer.
We were served porridge. The food looked a lot better than what we were given at the former location.
I sat on a wooden bar, I was about to start eating when I heard a familiar voice call my name.