Fears on Fire

Chapter Twenty-Three

The whirring sound of the fans created a cold breeze at the middle of the concrete covered room. Metal crates sat on either side of the room, creating walls of cages. People were trapped in these cages, whimpering in distraught. The sound of metal scraping up against metal added to the terrible sound that had awoken me. My back pressed up against the wall of the crate, I shivered from the cool touch of the bars.

I opened my eyes to look around at my surroundings. All different types of people were huddled in the corners of the crates, wrapping their arms around themselves. A majority of them wore the same type of clothes I wore. Luckily, my hair covered my shoulders which kept them warm.

I reached up to touch my face, but hissed in pain at the bruise that had formed below my eye. "God," I said, sighing. I glanced to my right and saw a man curled up on the other side of his crate, he had dark purple bags underneath his eyes. Red lines wrapped around his wrists, almost as if he was chained. I looked to my left and saw a girl around my age, maybe a little older. Her curly brown hair was tied in a bun, but little pieces of hair felt out of the style.

Bruises aligned the sides of her arms, a large white bandage was wrapped around the side of her neck. I could tell she was freezing. Her body shook as she closed her eyes. I turned my head to look at the door of the crate with hopes that I could get out of here. I put my fingers out of the slots, reaching towards the lock that was on the bar. I had finally managed to grip the lock. I pulled tightly onto the item, but it never came off.

"It's no use," the girl said, "I've already tried that." She lifted her head from her knee to look at me, the girls brown eyes met mine as she shook her head. "Why're they doing this?" I inquired, swallowing the lump in my throat. The girl leaned back as I asked the question, she sighed and shrugged. "Something about our blood, I'm not sure," she replied. There was a short pause before she said, "I'm Hilda." I smiled and nodded my head. "Y/N," I responded. She gave me small smile and unwrapped her arms around her knees.

"How long have you been here?" Hilda asked. "I just got her last night," I answered, "With my-my friend, we came...." My eyes widened at the remembrance of our arrival. 'Got to stick together, right' Bellamy's words flew throughout my mind, my heart raced in a nervous tone. I looked out of the cage, scanning over the different crates as I tried to find Bell. "How many sections of cages are there?" I asked, turning to Hilda. "I don't know," she responded, "I've never been out of this part of the cages."

I nodded my head, trying to slow down my breathing. I reached down to fiddle with the bracelet on my wrist, but it wasn't there. "Dammit," I mumbled, "Shit..." Hilda looked up at me and furrowed her eyebrows. "What is it?" she asked. "My bracelet," I answered, holding up my wrist. "Its missing," I added. "They probably took it," Hilda said, "They take anything like that to decrease the risk of new bacteria." I sighed, leaning my head against the back of the crate. "There's no way out, is there?" I questioned, turning to look at Hilda. She shrugged and leaned back as well. "Not that I've tried," she responded. I held my head in my hands, wiping the tears away.

As we sat there a loud commotion was heard from the other side of the room. I turned my head towards the sound, Hilda and I exchanged a look of confusion. "Stop!" a girl yelled. I couldn't see much, all I saw was a girl around my age holding a gun. She wore a light pink shirt, her black hair was down so it rested above her shoulders.

I glanced at Hilda, she shook her head. I gripped the bars and started to shake them uncontrollably. Yelling erupted all around me as I shook the cage. "Hey!" I yelled, "Hey!" My hands started to hurt while the shaking of the crates continued. "Help me get him undressed," someone said, I recognized the voice as Bellamy.

My eyes lit up at the sound of him, I broke into smile. I looked around the bottom of the crate to try and find something to help me. I reached my hand out, waving it so Bellamy could find me. He rushed down the middle of the walls of crates. Bellamy soon appeared at the front of my crate. He took my hand, intertwining our hands.