Chapter 33 - Feels like Hell

Chapter 33 - Feels like Hell
Fidelia

Fidelia felt like she was falling into a world of darkness. Her whole body ached and she was all alone, no matter how many times she tried she couldn’t even call out to her wolf. She was in an abyss by herself.

The last thing she could remember was being in the car with Jade, the car broke down and they got out to check what had happened. Jade yelled something and then nothing….She fell into the darkness she was now in. Jade was nowhere to be seen. There was nothing to see, but the darkness that engulfed her.

She thought of many things in the darkness. She wondered what had happened to Jade and where she was. Had she left her or did she hold true to the Beta that she really was and stuck by her Alpha friend? Were they in trouble? How did she fall into this dark abyss? Will anyone save her from the darkness?

One name came to mind when she thought of a rescuer.

Raine…

Raine would come for her, no questions asked. Raine was full of knowledge and Fidelia at witnessed how truly strong her friend was, she had no doubts that Raine would dive head first into this abyss and rescuer her. She would know how and she’d get them out and everything would be fine!

But Raine would have to know she was in trouble…She’d have to have seen her messages…And realised that she was more than delayed, but missing and then she would need to track her and somehow know that she was falling in this eternal darkness. Despite all the variables that seemed against her, Fidelia just had a feeling that Raine would save her. She did it once before and she was sure she would do it again. She believed in her and knew she would not let her down.

‘Fidelia…’ A familiar voice suddenly rang out to her within the darkness.

‘Who are you?’ She called out to it.

‘Fidelia! You can hear me, at last!’ The voice cried out happily, sounding more and more familiar as she listened to it.

‘Blake, is that you?’ She asked, already knowing the answer as her wolf’s voice began to slowly become clearer and clearer.

‘Yes, it’s me! I’ve been so worried!’ Blake replied, still sounding happy to hear Fidelia’s voice.

‘Where are we? What happened?’ She murmured, as she felt her body slowly waking from hearing Blake’s voice again.

‘We were attacked!’ Blake instantly replied, making Fidelia feel immediately alert.

‘What!?’ She exclaimed in a panic.

Hearing these words was enough to spark Fidelia’s memory. They pulled over because the car suddenly burst a wheel. Jade tried to warn her to run but it was too late! Then someone had shot her with something! It was all coming back!

‘I think they were hunters! They hid their scents so well though, it was hard to tell. They injected you with Wolfsbane!’ Blake informed her sounding both horrified and raging at the same time.

‘Wolfsbane?’ Fidelia gulped, no wonder her body was aching all over; she was lucky to be alive! They must have either mixed it with something else so it wasn’t as deadly and would only incapacitate her or they hit her with an incredibly small dose.

‘Yeah, it’s why you couldn’t hear me for so long, the damn stuff blocked me out!’ Blake huffed. ‘But I’m here now and I’ve started healing us! You’ll wake up real soon and then we can figure out what the hell is going on!’

‘Am I unconscious?’ Fidelia asked and instantly regretted doing so.

‘What a stupid question Fi! Yes you’re on unconscious; the stuff knocked you out instantly! But don’t worry; I think I can feel Jade near us, which means wherever you are at least you’re not alone…physically.’ She added, clearly not wanting to be left out.

‘Jade’s with us?’ She asked, she wasn’t sure why but she felt more confident knowing her new friend was with her.

‘I think so; I can’t be sure because this stuff is messing with my senses!’ Blake huffed again. ‘Oh, but I guess you’re about to find out!’

Fidelia was about to ask what Blake meant, when a sudden flash of bright light began to invade her never ending darkness. She tried to cover her eyes, but to no avail, the light was coming for her fast whether she was ready or not.

As it became brighter and more blinding she heard another voice and it wasn’t Blake this time.

“Fidelia!” The voice called out to her.

Jade…She is here! Fidelia realised, she decided to stop fighting the light and instead to try and go towards it.

Before she knew it her eyes were fluttering open. Everything was blurry at first. She could see the fuzzy outline of a person hovering above her. She blinked her eyes and with every blink her eyesight became more focused, until she was able to make out a concerned looking Jade above her.

“Jade…” She croaked in a voice that did not sound like hers. He throat felt so dry and scratchy.

“You’re awake!” Jade cried, slowly helping Fidelia sit up.

Fidelia felt her back lay against a cold and hard surface as she sat up, most probably a wall she thought. She closed her eyes as a bout of dizziness struck her from suddenly being sat upright. As she waited for it to pass she felt Jade’s clammy hand on her shoulder and decided to try for some information.

“What happened?” She asked. She already had Blake’s vague version but she wanted more information.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Jade sighed. “We were attacked by hunters, but they’re not like any hunter I’ve ever seen before! They could tell what we were, not just that we were werewolves but our ranks as well! I’ve never heard of that before!” Fidelia felt Jade’s hand tremble on her shoulder, these hunters clearly unnerved and scared her but she was trying her hardest to hide it.

“They took you out first, I heard one of them yelling to take out the Alpha and then the Beta, so they knew the ranks and they knew ours! I tried to fight but they over powered me and then injected me with Wolfsbane…I think, it all happened so fast!” She sighed, sounding so exhausted.

“When I woke up again we were in this disgusting place and there has been no sign of any hunter since…just others, like us….”

At this statement, Fidelia slowly began to open her eyes. The dizziness was fading as Blake was clearing the poison from her system and once she had fully opened them she wished she had just kept them closed and never had to look at what was around her.

They were in what looked like an underground cell. There was no natural light and no windows, the little light that was available was coming from roof lights outside of their cell and even those were flickering and struggling to stay alive. The cell was bigger than the ones they had at Orion Valley for questioning Rogues. There was the back wall that Fidelia was currently leaning against and the other three were made up of slick, silver bars. The ground was solid stone and Fidelia swallowed nervously when she noticed large stains on the stone that looked a lot like dried blood.

The stench was overwhelming as she felt her senses slowly coming back to her. Blood was definitely one of them! Dirt and grime were rife in the air too, as well as some other smells she would rather not think about. As she slowly looked around she suddenly understood what Jade meant by ‘others.’

The underground they were in was huge and they could make out hundreds of other cells with loads of other prisoners kept jailed inside. As she turned her head from side to side to take in the other prisoners, Fidelia oddly felt like one of the lucky ones. Their cell was against a wall giving them something to lean on, whereas some of the other cells were all bars. There were some she could make out chained to either the floor or from chains suspended from the roof. Some were so thin and under fed that she could make out their bones more clearly than she could their faces. In most cells, the prisoners were by themselves, whereas Fidelia and Jade had been kept together.

“Where are we?” Fidelia whispered nervously, as she continued to take in her surroundings.

“I don’t know…Feel’s like hell though…” Jade replied, just as nervous as Fidelia was.

“We have to get out of here!” Fidelia instantly replied, flinching as she heard a whimper echo through-out the large underground.

“I agree!” Jade nodded, settling down next to her.

“What’s the plan?” Fidelia asked.

She knew that as the Alpha, Fidelia should be the one making the plan and calling the shots but she had no idea what to do. She was hoping that because Jade had been on the run for so long before Orion Valley, that she might know where to start at least.

“First we observe and time when the guards come on shift and do the rounds. We’ll also need to keep a count of how many there are, it’ll be easier to fight if we know their numbers. We’ll conserve strength until we can be sure and we’ll make more accurate plans once we know more. Then we get the hell out of here!” Jade said concisely.

Fidelia was a bit taken aback by how quickly and confidently Jade replied. She had been expecting some idea of what to do, but her knowledge and plans were so well thought of and not once did she hesitate when answering. Fidelia actually felt a bit jealous, she was the Alpha yet she felt so useless and scared; Jade was a full rank below her but was clearly far more experienced and much wiser.

“Okay.” Was all Fidelia could think to answer, as she sat against the wall feeling helpless and overwhelmed.

Every few minutes they could hear someone whimpering from one of the other cells and it was filled with so much pain that Fidelia flinched every time. Chains would clink as others attempted to move or adjust themselves.

It was freezing and Fidelia was quite happy to have gotten dressed in what she had, even though she could still feel the cold she was luckier than some of the others in the cells whose clothes had become so worn and ragged that they were barely covered at all. She could only imagine how cold they must be but realised that they had probably been down here for so long that they had become numb to the cold. The thought made her eyes pool with tears, what had any of them done to deserve this!

“You are both fools!” A strangled voice whispered from one of the cells beside the girls, making them both jump at the sudden contact.

They both whipped their heads round to look for the body that belonged to the voice.

“What?” Jade asked nervously but still braver than Fidelia who kept her mouth shut.

There was the faint noise of shuffling and chains scraping as whoever spoke grew closer to the bars until they could see them. But before they fully came into the light they spoke again.

“No one ever leaves this place!” The voice mumbled, growing closer and closer to the bars. “The only escape from this hell is death!” They grumbled, finally stepping into the light so that the girls could see them in all their glory.