Wars and Lies

Chapter Eight

"Ashton? Ashton wake up. Please." I said as I felt myself tearing up. We're sat in a cage on the ship and have been for the past twenty minutes. I've spent the entire time trying to wake up Ashton, we've managed to stop the bleeding using Stephanie's jumper as our stuff was taken. Ashton slowly started to move about and mumble. "Ashton, you're alive." I said as I hugged him.

"What happened? Where are we?"

"We're on the ship. We've set sail to god knows where." Stephanie stated.

"The guard took you on the ship and threatened us saying if we didn't come, they'd kill you," I explained. The room is dimly lit, there's no windows and it smells like death. The room is huge and full of cages and in each cage there's at least three people so there's way too many people to be just from our tribe so whoever these guards are must've raided other tribes. I scanned the room and spotted someone I really needed to see right now. "Dad?" I quietly said, he's sat in the cage next to mine. I'm so happy to see him. He's okay. He's alive. He has a few bruises but other than that he's okay. "Don't talk to me." He whispered. What? Why can't I talk to him? Stephanie and Ashton look just as confused as me. This doesn't make sense. I slowly scooted back to lean against the cold, rusty bars. "Careful miss," a small voice from behind me said.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"You were about to put your hand on a nail."

"Oh, thank you," I looked down and flicked the rusty nail away. The young girl, who helped me, looks around eleven, she has long, ginger hair in two plates with her side fringe pinned back with pink glittery clips, sparkling green eyes and is covered in filth. "I'm Katie, this is Ashton and Stephanie. What's your name?"

"Charlotte."

"Nice to meet you."

"Do you know what's going on? The bad people came to my house, they took my mummy. I tried to help but they grabbed me too. I can't find her. I can't find my mummy. I want my mummy."

"We don't know. We'll find your mummy. You'll be okay." Stephanie replied. "How are we going to get out of here?" I took a look around the room and realised there's no guards. There's not a single guard in sight.

"Charlotte can I borrow your hair clips please?" I asked and thankfully Charlotte handed me two, "they're very pretty. Steph think you can use these on the lock?"

"I can try." Stephanie took the clips and got to work.

"We'll figure out what's going on and we'll come back for you, okay?" I said reassuring Charlotte. I don't really have a plan but we need to find out what's going on. We won't be able to escape but we can do our best to hijack the ship.

"Got it. I'm a queen," Stephanie bragged. The door opened and we all shot out.

"There," Ashton shouted as he pointed towards a door at the far side of the room. We ran as fast as our legs could carry us.

We were a meter from the door when it flung open and guards come flooding in. They surrounded us. A guard grabbed a hold of each of us and twisted our arms behind our backs. All of a sudden, a women walked into the room and everything fell silent. It's like the life was sucked out of the room and the air turned into ice. This women's hair is as black as death and her eyes are light brown but, in the light, they look almost red. She has a dark purple bruise around her neck that looks as if she's been strangled with thin rope. She's wearing a black lace dress that goes down to her feet and drags behind her.  "What do we have here then?"

"This lot were trying to escape Sinead. Sorry. I mean Boss." One of the guards said.

"Good luck to them. Where are they going to go? They can go swimming with the fishes if they like," Sinead laughed.

"You're a straight up bi..." Before Stephanie could finish her sentence, Sinead slapped her across the face leaving a bright red mark on her cheek. I can feel the rage building up inside. This women's clearly in charge, the guard called her boss. This is her fault. She's the reason these people have been taken. She's destroyed lives. It's her fault. My rage went way past its limits and was released onto Sinead. I used all my strength to stomp on the guard's foot then charged at the monster. I back kicked her in the stomach. Sinead gagged as she clutched onto the corset covering her stomach. The corset's thick so it added some protection. The guards immediately reacted and pointed their guns at me. I stepped back and put my hands in the air. "You little brat!" Sinead shouted. She deserved it. "Take the rats back to their cage but take this one to the lower decks, I'm in the mood for some fun." The guards took Ashton and Stephanie back to the cage, they tried protesting and I was escorted, at gun point, out the room.

I reached what looks like a boiler room. The guard sat me down and handcuffed my hands and feet. The second I entered the room, the heat from the boiler consumed me. It's a small room with no windows and the only light source is from the roaring fire. There's a small table in the centre of the room with a sofa on either side. Sinead came in carrying a box. She had a massive smirk spread across her face. She carefully placed the box on the table and opened it. I looked inside and my heart sank. It's a box of torture. There's so many different types of torture devices like a wrench or a prodding stick, there's many I don't know and I don't think I wanna know. They look terrifying. "Like my toys?" Sinead laughed as she pulled out a long metal pole and walked over to the boiler. "My guess is you're the ringleader of your little group, right?" I remained silent. "You seem like a troublemaker. I heard before you boarded my ship, you released a women so my guess is she was your mother so where might your father be?" I again stayed silent. I'm not telling this women anything. "Let's start with something simpler. What's your name? No. Fine then." Sinead put the metal rode into the fire and held it there for a minute. She started laughing as she pulled the rod out. "Finally, I can play." She suddenly placed the hot rod onto my exposed arm. It hurts like hell. This is the worst pain I've ever felt. "What is your name?"

"Bite me." Once again, my skin is burned.

"Your name," Sinead demanded.

"Ellie Mills."

"You're lying." This time the rod is on for skin for longer. I did my best to hold back my tears and screams. I'm not going to give in. I'm not giving anything to her. Sinead placed the rod down and pulled out something that looks far worse. It's a ball at the end of a stick and the ball is covered in nails. "If you don't start talking then things are only gonna get worse."

"I'm not telling you anything."

"Wrong answer you little sh..." Sinead used the weapon and smashed it down on my hand. All the nails went into my hand. This is much worse than the hot rod. I can't hold back my screams anymore and let out bloody murder.