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Eli refused to break.
When the guard was satisfied with their cleanliness, he yelled at them to hold their arms out. Eli winced as they clasped a thin metal band on each of his wrists. It was like a bracelet, but one that he could not take off and one that probably signified he belonged to Rysbug. The guard distributed clean underwear and nudged them through another door, where they were guided down a staircase and through a maze of holding cells, most of them empty. There were small windows no more than a foot wide and they were few and far between. It was cold, dark, and damp down here.
One by one, they each got their own individual cell.
How big is this prison?
These cells may have been full at one point. Eli shivered at the thought. How many villages had they decimated before Andus?
The guard forced Eli into his own cell. It was small. There was a chamber pot and sink in one corner and a small cot on the other side with fresh clothes and shoes. Not a single thing to help pass the time. They spaced the prisoners out far enough with empty cells between so they couldn’t even talk to each other. Another form of torture, to have them sit here, in the dark with nothing to do. It was enough to make someone go crazy.
Eli grabbed the black sweatpants and gray T-shirt and threw them on. His hair was still dripping wet, and they hadn’t bothered to give him a sweatshirt. He curled up on the cot that was too short for his height and pulled the blanket up over him. It was incredibly thin as well. His body ached and shivered while he did his best to warm up and relax. It would’ve been nearly impossible, except he was completely drained of energy from the past couple days.
He tossed and turned, his anger fueling him and keeping him awake and alert. He heard other prisoners cry every once in a while, but his own tears never came. Instead, he focused on his fury.
The light in the room blinded Ali and made her head throb again. She felt nauseous from worrying, and it took what little energy she had left to keep from gagging.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been waiting in this room. It felt like it had been hours, but she thought perhaps her mind was misconstruing time. The minutes passed slowly in this eternal hell.
They started with the men. They took them through a door from which they never returned. She dreaded the mystery hidden beyond that door. Ali had always been more afraid of the unknown than anything else. It made her feel powerless, like she didn’t have time to prepare for what lay ahead.
She looked around at the scared faces. Some were vaguely familiar and others she knew well. Every single one of them looked as depressed as she felt. Hopeless. She had lost her mom and she could almost guarantee that everyone in this room had lost someone they loved, too—a parent or grandparent or maybe even a sibling. All the happiness had been stripped from the atmosphere. The light in their eyes had been extinguished.
Tears threatened to fill her eyes again at the memory of everything they’d lost. She pressed her hands into her stomach, squeezing tightly against the pain in her core. She dug her nails into the skin of her palms, distracting her and preventing her tears from spilling over like a waterfall.
After the men were gone, they took the women in groups of three or four. She didn’t know it was possible for the room to feel even smaller than it originally did, but as their numbers dwindled, the walls pressed inwards, suffocating her.
Finally, it was her turn.
A guard cut the ropes from her hands and led her into another room.
“Remove your clothes and toss them in the bins,” he said with a sinister grin. He was enjoying this too much.
Her stomach flipped again, and she swallowed hard. The other women in the room looked around nervously at each other, fear growing in their eyes. No one wanted to make the first move.
The guard stepped forward and grabbed one of them by the chin, guiding it up so their eyes met. “Did I stutter? Take. Off. Your. Clothes.” He released her face aggressively, pushing her back a few steps. She stifled a cry. “Before I do it for you.”
Ali knew he would. He would hold her down, rip off her clothes, and leave her feeling bare and empty. The gleam in his eyes said he would enjoy it, too.
Ali reached down to untie her shoes. Her fingers were shaking so badly, partially from the cold and partially from distress. She fumbled with the strings that were laced tightly on her boots and finally managed to undo the knot.
The man stomped her way and stopped in front of her. The sound of his heavy boots was a threat in their own right.
She slowly looked up and met his dark eyes, and he let out a dramatic sigh. He rubbed his brow and said, “I expected more from this group. I’m not sure what use the scouts thought we’d get out of you when you can’t even untie your shoes.”
He bent down until his face was so close she could feel his breath. His pupils were a black abyss, endless and empty. Then he swiftly put one hand behind her knee and yanked her leg out from underneath her. Ali landed on her tailbone, and pain shot up her spine. He squeezed her ankle, grabbed her boot, and pulled it off in one callous motion, then repeated it on the other side.
He tossed her boots in the plastic bin and turned back to face her. “Faster, faster.” He made a circular motion with his hands, hurrying them along. “We don’t have all day.”
Ali was motivated to keep his hands far away from her, so she unzipped her jacket and shook it off her shoulders. She lifted her shirt over her head and avoided making eye contact. Her jeans were damp from snow and sweat, but she wriggled them off her body, trembling in the cold air.
She inhaled deeply and unsnapped her bra, tossed it into the bin and slid her underwear and socks off in one quick swoop. She felt his eyes crawl over her and it gave her goosebumps. Heat rose to her face, and she stared at her toes.
From the corner of her eye, she caught the motion of the other women, but she gave them their privacy, even if he wouldn't. She held her hands together to keep them from shaking and blocked what bits of her body she could.
After everyone was undressed, they were herded through another door.
“How many more are there?” the next guard asked in a deep voice. He was younger than the first guard, maybe a couple years older than Ali, but he spoke to him like an equal.
