Running From Lions

It's been a few hours, I think. I tried yanking on the bars, yelling, ramming against them and the most I got was bruises and odd looks from the people in the group cages. After wearing myself out and beginning to start feeling the paid everywhere from both bashing my body against my metal confinement and the stupid amount of beatings I got, I ended up sitting on the floor, staring down the long room at the door I came through. I had so many questions running through my mind.

First was, what kind of police station is this place? I know I don't know a lot about how their society works, but I'm pretty sure police aren't in charge of selling 'pets.' If I remember correctly, there was breeders and stores for people, which is sad and disgusting. Forcing people to get pregnant so you can sell their child to a pet or a store owner. Such...

I'm getting off track.

I also wanted to know what an auction was and why I was going to one. I didn't really recognize the word. I also wanna know why that one officer stopped for a second. Was he really picking out a new pet while at work? That seems odd and unprofessional.

Plus, the people here were....well very odd. The guy next to me still has yet to move or even make a sound, and the ones in the groups keeping looking at me and huddling together and mumbling things I can't hear. They also all look really worried, one or more are always looking to the periodically. Another thing I noticed was, they seemed to be separated according to some order.

First, men and women were not in the same cages. At all. Also, there was absolutely no kids, whatsoever. In fact, it looked like I was possibly the youngest one here, at least from who I could see.
There was the really young ones, seemed to be the most in those groups. Two sets of women, and two of men. Then they got older, and the groups got smaller. Just like the first ones, two groups of each gender. It was odd.

That soon led to me and the guy next to me. The only ones singled out. Twisting a bit, I looked around, feeling like everyone's eyes were on me. He was still in some fetal position, covered in his baggy clothes that basically covered every thing but his head. His hair looked like a matted, muddy mess. What happened to this guy?

“Hey,” I whispered, not sure why I was. “Hey, dude.”

The guy flinched, but didn't look at me. Annoyed, I snapped at him.

“I said hey!”

This time he jumped up into a sitting position and stared at me. He didn't say anything, so I just continued on.

“Where the hell are we?”
“You don't know?” He asked, “We're in the auction room.”
“That word, auction.” I narrowed my eyes. “What does it mean?”
“You don't know what an auction is?” He asked, eyes wide. “Who even are you, you had to of done something big to end up in a single.”
“I'm Jack, I ran away.” I shrugged. “And kinda told off and spat on the guy claiming to own me. That got some shocked faces, why?”
“You spat on your owner?” He asked, seeming surprised. By what I wasn't sure.
“Yup.” I popped. “But seriously, what's an auction?”
“Um, well, basically... They're gonna take some of us to this stage and there will be tons of rich guys there who will try to out bid each other for whoever they want. Basically whoever has the most money and is willing to spend it, wins.”
“Sounds like a waste.” I sighed. “Wait, you said I had to of done something big to end up here, what did you do?”
“Oh, well...” He looked down, looking distraught. “I... I used to be really mouthy and, well, none of my owners wanted to deal with me and one day I ended up here...went up for auction, and caught the attention of,” He swallowed thickly, “Ashton.”
“Ashton?” Jack tilted his head.
“Ashton Withers. He's cruel, more than cruel, he's downright disgusting.” The guy came closer, clutching the bars. “He will break you down no matter what it takes.”
“Whatever,” I snorted rolling my eyes. “I've taken a beating, multiple times from my 'owner.' Look at my damn arm”
“Ha,” The guy laughed humorlessly. “You wanna know what Ashton did to me? You want to know the horrors I went through?”
“What he do, hit ya?” I asked, not believing this.
“Please, that was for fun.” The guy got a sick grin on his face suddenly, his eyes widening even more so.

“His pets are always bruised and bloody. If you're not bleeding, you're dead in that house. Either you were the punching bag, or the sex doll of the week. I can't even count the amount of times I would be unconscious, strapped to a bed and used over and over again by this disgusting creature. He doesn't care where that thing he calls a dick goes and long as it fits. And if it doesn't, he'll make it fit. Not to mention he likes knives, he likes spikes, he likes anything that will leave a mark, and the marks they leave don't go away. He will burn you and laugh as you scream. I watched him toss someone off his roof cause he fucking could. He brands everyone, right on their back, so everyone who will ever see if you if you even live to leave his place will know. They'll know how broken you really are. There's no hospital visits, there's no doctors. You're in pain twenty four sevens and it only gets worse. It always gets worse, until he drops you off either here in a fucking grave. You want to see brutal? I'll show you fucking brutal.”

With that he stood up on shaking legs and undressed right in front of me. I would have been appalled by having a suddenly naked man, but my mouth was too busy hanging open once I saw what was on his body.

His entire body, was nothing but scares and scabs and still yet to heal bruises. There was a giant scorch mark running across his stomach with some word I could barely make out. Amoung out burn marks, some of his skin practically looked black. How was he even alive?

“You seem like one hell of a rebel, kid.” He said, snickering. Definitely was off the deep end when it came to his mental health. “Word of advice, don't show it. Don't talk, don't look up, don't seem interesting in anyway. Or he'll get ya, and you will never come back the same way.

I stared at him as he started laughing crazily, before coughing and falling back to the ground. Still coughing and laughing, as his body shook and slowly morphed back into his previous position. Before I knew it, the laughing was gone and immediately replaced by sobs. Scooting as far as I could away from his in my own, single cage, I stared at this maniac, my chest filled with a new kind of panic.

Notes

Hey y'all, lemme tell ya a secret....


Jack's life is gonna get worse and worse until.... well, you'll see.

Muahahahahahhahahahahaha,