Running From Lions

I would be in that cage for three whole days before anything interesting really happened. To say the least, it was hell. The guy next to me never said another word after his mental breakdown. The people in the other cages only talked to each other in quiet voice I could barely hear, let alone understand. The people here only gave us one meal, if you call it that. It was just a bunch of jun, in buckets. I'm guessing it's their left overs or something.

But that wasn't the worse part, I finally realized what the one guard wanted when he stopped by a cage. Throughout the I was here, I would see people in uniform come in, scan through the cages and eventually pull a person out. Some screamed, some would cry, other's just silently went along with th guards, heads low and shoulders hunched. I didn't understand what was going on, they would come back worse than before. Males often came back barely able to walk, often bloody everywhere. Women weren't much better, they cried more as they were thrown back in.

It wasn't until one time the person came back naked, the guard holding the rags thy called clothes in with them while he laughed. It didn't take much to put two and two together.

This whole trip has been one hell of a reality check. I knew that this was not what I wanted, to be owned. Confined. But I never knew just how horrible being in this system was. Of all the stories my parents have told me, they brought up the torture and rape parts up to this level. It's kinda hard to wrap my head around it.

I was sitting in my cage, far to the left. It's not like they let us out to use a bathroom and honestly holding it for three days is impossible. Thankfully I can at least pee outside the bars...

Anyway, that's where I was, completely shut out from what was going on around me for the moment as I went over everything I have learned in my brain. I had so many questions and not enough answers, and someone it all kept going back to that night. The night that I lost my parents.

~Jack at seven years old~

I remember sleeping peacefully next to my mom. Dad was having first look out for any trouble, though we all needed some rest. We walked all night and day before it settled back into night. Mom was teaching me how to read and said we could move on to writing later, when we were awake and resting. That never happened though....

Suddenly dad was yelling for us to wake up and to run. Not to grab anything, nothing was important besides running.

“We need to go, they've found us. I knew they were on our trail.” He said as he yanked both mom and me up to our feet. “Uniforms. This is bad. Joyce, hurry.”

My mom was quicker than me in this situation, I still wanted to sleep and kept asking why we need to run now.

“Running away is the best we can do, baby.” She always answered, and continued dragging me along as she followed my father.

I thought it would be like the last time Dad claimed we were being chased. That we would run for a couple hours and he'd say we were in the clear. I thought that if I just pulled through this, we would be able to sleep again. That my family would be okay.

I was wrong.

We barely got anywhere before a bright light was suddenly blinding us from in front, while voices were yelling in the background. We were all huddled together for a second, unsure on where to go. Dad said something to my mom, I don't remember what, but next thing I knew he was running straight for the lights, waving his arms and screaming. Mom tried pulling me a different way, but I didn't want to leave dad.

I remember refusing to move to the point she literally had to drag me into a run. I remember looking back and seeing the shadow of my father. I remember hearing his yell. And I remember hearing a sudden silence before there were loud, sharp sounds in the air and my dad was suddenly exploding blood.

All over his body something was hitting him and causing him to scream in agony before falling to the ground. I remember screaming for him and mom trying to tell me to be quiet.

And the next thing I knew....mom was shoving me to the ground and telling me to hide in the bushes. She pushed me again and I quickly did as she said, expecting her to follow after me. Under the brush, I could see her standing, and I wanted to tell her to hide as well. I wanted to save her. I wanted her to run or anything, but my voice was gone.

All I could do was silently cry as the light shone on her as well and there was suddenly these...these things on top of her. I remember her trying to beg for them to stop hitting her. That she was surrendering. I watched one of them hit her with some blunt object and she went silent. I watched my mom's unconscious body get dragged out of my view and soon the light was gone.

The voices were gone, the noises were gone, and worst of all....my parents were gone.

I sighed, looking at another spot on the ground as my memories ran through my head. I think I went through the scene a few times before the door was slammed open, catching my attention. Standing up to look through the bars of my cage, I saw not the usual one or two guards coming in, but six. Two stayed by the door, then the other four, lead by one, started walking up the isle stopping at each cage. They were taking people out, the guy behind everyone hand cuffing them to some chain he had. It was weird, no one did anything. Everyone just complied quietly, and once the guards had about thirty people chained together, he began leading them out. One of the door guards followed behind.

The four remaining started walking back towards me and my crazy neighbor. He didn't so much as react, but I stepped backwards, away from them as they got closer. The front guard unlocked the cage and one of the others started coming in. I brought my hands up, ready to defend myself and maybe et some punches, but another got out some kind of stick from behind him and shook his head.

“No funny business,” He growled, doing something that cause the end of the stick to spark with some kind of electricity. “Or else.”

Glaring at them and wishing for them to die in any possible then and there, I slowly lowered my arms/ Letting one tug me out of the cage, handcuff me, and start dragging me out the door where the other humans just disappeared through. The hall light was a lot brighter than the room and I found myself flinching from the harshness of it.

We moved through the halls, not too far behind the people who had left previously. We were going a different way than before, when they first brought me in. I was always god and remembering things like that, it's made escaping before easier.

Well, before I somehow ended up in some extremist community or whatever.

Soon we were going down some stairs, and it was darker there than is was in the cage room. What the hell was going on? I though about asking, but considering these assholes have been...well assholes this whole time. I doubt I would get an answer. Probably just get hit or something.

As we continued down soon I could see a bit of light, and once the ground evened out, my guards stopped but the ones ahead of us with the line kept going. I watched with curiosity as they slowly entered where the light was, a bit of curtain around the entrance way. The people all stand there, shaking and staring at the ground and I'm just confused as to what the hell was going on. All I knew for sure was that I didn't like it.

Someone else appeared in the lit up area, and suddenly there was the sound of tons of other voices. Murmurs and talking filled the air and the guy who came out seem to smile before beginning to speak.

“Hello everyone and welcome to Baltimore's finest auction!” He yelled. Oh, we're at an auction.
“I think you mean illegal auction.” Someone yelled back and there was a sound of laughter.
“Hey, now. None of that, don't wanna get caught do we?” He laughed. “Anyway, now, tonight we do have our usual showing of pets. But we also have a special item on sale today.” A sound of ohhs and ahhs come up and he shushes them down. “I promise it will be shown at the end of the night, but for now let's move on with the usual.”

Illegal auction? This isn't legal? As in, against like the law? The rules of rules? I thought this place was run by police, why the hell is something against the law happening here? I wanted to know and see more, but I wasn't really in any position to try to move, I had three guards with me still. Watching the scene before me as best I could.

Next thing I knew they were unchain people, one by one and shoving them out of site, and the guy would start talking really fast. Pointing to where excited voices were, and many of them were just calling out numbers. And the guy would repeat them a few times unless something hiher came up.

“Twenty-nine hundred dollars, do I hear three thousand? Three thousand dollar over there on the right! Do I hear thirty-one hundred?!”

Every time a number was said a few more times than the rest and silence would go on he'd yell sold! The person wouldn't come back into view, but a guard would go towards wherever they were and come back. They were...they were fighting over who go these people by shoving more money onto the table? Is that it? This is what happens around here? The entire thing just blew my mind as I watched it happen over and over again. Soon the area look almost empty of humans, the yelling was beginning to slow down.

“Okay kid,” One of my guards said, beginning to move me foreward.

Notes

Wow, there was going to be more but I decided to wait till the next chapter since this was getting long.

How will the auction go for Jack? what do you thinks gonna happen? Where the fuck is Alex? And poor Jack...his family be gone forevsss