Chapter 34 - No One Ever Leaves

Chapter 34 - No One Ever Leaves
Fidelia

“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.

When they could finally see their new neighbour they were so shocked that Fidelia both gasped and covered her gaping mouth with her hands and Jade’s eyes widened and shiver ran through her. It wasn’t a pretty sight!

Their neighbour was clearly much older than them but Fidelia couldn’t be sure by how much. He was thin and malnourished. His skin was pale and sallow, as though he hadn’t seen a second of sunlight in years. He was thankfully wearing some sort of bottoms; they looked like they had once been a full pair of trousers but had been so worn and soiled that they were barely holding together as shorts at the moment. He didn’t have any trace of a top on; he had what had probably once been a very toned and muscled torso, but from lack of nutrition and available exercise was nothing but a thin and brittle looking body. His hair was long and matted and looked dark blonde, though it was mixed with a lot of dirt and grime so it was hard to tell. He had a long and unkempt beard that looked to be just as dirty as his hair and roughly the same colour.

When Fidelia looked to his face she wanted to cry. His face seemed very aged and just as dirty as the rest of his appearance. But it was the face of a man who had once had a very joyful life; she could see the crinkles at the corners of his eyes and the dents by the corners of his lips from smiling often. He didn’t smile now, she doubted whether he had genuinely smiled in years after being caught and trapped down here. His eyes were sunken into his face but they were bright, like two sapphires staring straight back at them in the darkness.

They spent a long time just staring at one another through the silver bars of their cages, no one daring to say a word. Fidelia was lost in the strangers eyes; there was something about them that felt so familiar but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She knew she had seen them somewhere before, but where? She blamed the damn Wolfsbane still in her system, it was messing with her brain and making it hard to think without a cracking headache.

“What do you mean?” Jade finally asked the stranger, breaking the tension filled silence that was growing tighter between them by the second.

“Like I said.” The man replied, in the same strangled voice. It was easy to tell that he was dehydrated as well as malnourished from how croaky and rough his voice was. “No one leaves and if they do they’re already dead!” He repeated.

“Well, we’re not just anybody and we are getting out of here!” Jade stubbornly argued back with him, rising to her feet and crossing her arms in defiance.

“Look, little girl.” The guy shook his head at them. “Make as many plans and schemes as you like, but they’re not going to work.” He sighed.

“Why?” Fidelia whispered, finally joining the conversation.

The man looked to her as she sat against the wall still recovering from her bought with their captors. His eyes looked pained, as if remembering something.

“Because they aren’t like the ‘Hunters’ you girls know.” The man sighed again, rubbing his head with one of his grimy hands. “They are worse and a lot smarter!”

“We’re smart!” Jade argued, clearly feeling offended by his insinuation.

“I bet you are.” The man chuckled, but it was an emotionless noise, Fidelia doubted whether this stranger could laugh or even talk with any real emotion anymore. “But they have knowledge and strategies even the wisest and strongest of Alpha’s could not dream to possess.” He grumbled.

“Like what?” Fidelia asked.

“What makes you think I would know?” He raised a bushy, questioning eyebrow at her.

“Oh I don’t know, maybe the fact that you just said it like you also know!” Jade huffed in annoyance.

“Is that so?” The man mumbled. “Maybe I do know…then again, I might not…”

“This is getting us nowhere!” Jade threw her hands up in the air.

“You should just give up your silly plans for escape.” The man started again. “It’ll be easier for you if you do.” He sighed, slowly lowering himself down to sit cross-legged on the stone floor near the bars but careful not to touch them, Fidelia noted.

“And why? Why should we make it easier for those bastards?” Jade snarled at him.

“Because they’ll let you stay with your friend…and they won’t restrain you either….” The man mumbled.

“Restrain me?” Jade asked and looked like she was about to say or ask something else, when the sound of chains clinking and pain filled whimpering filled the room and then stopped. Jade gulped but didn’t ask or say anything else as she glanced down at Fidelia nervously, the sound having answered her question about the restraints.

“You’re better off.” The man whispered, looking down at his pale hands folded in his lap.

“What do they do with everyone here?” Fidelia asked nervously.

“Experiments mostly…” The man answered. “Depends on what you are and how well behaved you are…The bad get the painful stuff…the good get the slightly less painful stuff…”

“So it really doesn’t matter whether we behave or not, we’re still gonna be lab rats and in pain!” Jade growled, more to herself than to the man this time.

“Afraid so.” He answered anyway.

“Well, I hate to burst your depressing bubble but we’re not sticking around long enough to experience any of their nasty experiments! We’re getting out!” Jade said through gritted teeth as she looked around the cell.

“Haven’t you been listening little girl, there is no getting out! No one has ever left this place alive!” The man grumbled back at her.

“Until we got here! We’ll be the first and then these assholes won’t know what hit them!” She replied, striding away from them to inspect the door to the cell.

“She’s missing a few screws, huh?” He asked Fidelia, who was still watching the man intently through the cell bars.

“More than a few.” Fidelia chuckled.

“Heard that!” Jade called back and then continued inspecting the door.

“It’s useless, I’ve seen stronger Beta’s and Alpha’s than you girls try and fail to get out of here!” He sighed in defeat.

“You can tell we’re Wolves?” Fidelia asked curiously, cocking her head to one side. He nodded in response. “How?” She asked.

“That would telling, now wouldn’t it Miss…” He stopped and it took Fidelia a moment to realise he was asking her name.

“Fidelia.” She smiled at him. “The ball of sunshine is Jade.” She gestured to Jade over by the door. “What’s your name?”

“Richard.” The man replied and for a moment, Fidelia thought she spotted the ghost of a smile underneath his bushy and tangled beard but it was gone before she could confirm it.

“Nice to meet you.” Fidelia said, making sure to mind her manners.

“Under better circumstances maybe.” Richard grumbled.

“Ah, don’t be such a killjoy Richie!” Jade strode back over to them. “We won’t be here that much longer!” Jade grinned.

“You must be hard of hearing!” Richard scowled up at Jade. “There is no leaving.”

“Oh Richie, we are definitely leaving!” She grinned, not letting his negative attitude affect her. “In fact, I’m so confident that I’ll even take you with us!” She winked and then dropped down to the floor next to Fidelia.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart!” Richard grumbled, turning away from the girls and laying on the hard ground.

~

Unknown

The small screen lit with life as three slightly blurred figures moved around it. The She-Wolves seemed to be speaking animatedly with their fellow prisoner, blissfully unaware of his true identity. No sound came from the monitor; the only indicator of the three communicating was the movement of their mouths and the blonde she-wolf’s animated and big gestures.

All three were unaware of the large man with black eyes and a sinister grin scrutinising their every move on the small screen. He was particularly interested in the girls, for one of them was going to play a very important role in the near future and he had to figure out which one.

A swift and precise knock sounded on the door of the small, bare room he was using to watch the prisoners. He called for whoever was on the other side to enter and heard as they opened the door and clicked it shut behind them; never taking his eyes from the screen.

“Commander.” The young man greeted his superior.

“Speak!” Was the stern response the young man received from his black eyed senior.

“The new prisoners have awoken, sir! They have made contact with the Wretch in the cell next to theirs!” The young man reported.

“I am aware, Smith! I have been watching the little girls since the moment they arrived!” The Commander informed young Smith, indicating to the screens.

“Sorry Sir!” Smith apologised, bowing his head.

“Have you found out which one is to be my bait?” The Commander inquired.

“Not yet, Sir! Neither have mentioned any association outside of the cells!”

“No matter, keep them under constant surveillance! I want to know the moment one of them lets anything slip!”

“Yes sir!” Smith replied, before leaving the room.

The moment young Smith had left, the sinister grin crept back on to the Commanders face as he watched the tiny figures on his screen.

“I wonder which one it’ll be?” He whispered to himself. “The noisy wolf or the quiet wolf? Which little girl will lure you from your castle?” He mused. “Which one did you make the mistake of befriending? I wonder….” He looked intently between the two and then his gaze wandered to the man on the other side of the bars as he turned away from the girls.

As he gazed at the man’s back, the Commanders grin grew even more wicked; a harsh laugh escaping his thin lips.

“I wonder…if your little friend will give herself away…or whether dear old Richard will get it out of her first…” He chuckled darkly.

“Either way, I look forward to seeing you again…” He whispered, as his eyes wandered momentarily from the screen to a picture tacked to the wall above the monitor.

A picture of his true mark; a blue eyed, dark haired beauty that was a long, long way away from home…