Athena

Chapter 8

"I thought that I'd been hurt before, but no one's ever left me quite this sore"
-Shawn Mendes

The first thing that I felt when I got my consciousness back was the throbbing pain on my head. The next was the cold and hard ground. The smell of mold invades my senses while the metallic taste of blood is lingering on the tip of my tongue. I sit up with a groan and my eyes still closed shut. I can hear muffled voices around me but my mind is still to hazy to make out what they are saying.

"Sleeping beauty is finally up!" A male voice announces a little louder so that I can hear him.

I master all the courage I can get to open my eyes, only to be met with  darkness.

I blink a couple of times to help my eyes adjust and now I can see four other figures in this room. All males.

We are all in chains, our hands tied together and our feet tied together.

"How are you feeling?" Another voice asks softly. A voice I recognize.

"Peachy" I croak out. "You know, Matteo, I think the hours that I see you at the diner are enough. Following me around and getting kidnapped with me is kind of extreme, don't you think?" I joke tiredly.

"And lose a chance to spend time with my best friend? Nah..." He laughs along with me.

"Yeah, go ahead and laugh, let them know we are awake." The voice from before whispers harshly.

I take a moment to look around the room.

"There is a camera in every corner of this room, see the red dots? I think they know we're awake" I reply. "Who else is here?" I add as an afterthought.

"It's me, Atlas, Ares and another guy over there" Matteo points with his finger at my right side. "He doesn't really talk. Like at all"

"Did he come with you? Or was he here before" I ask while glancing at the guy.

"He was already here when we woke up." This time it's Atlas that answers.

"He has to have been here for a while. Look at his clothes" Ares adds. I take a good look at his clothes and indeed they are torn everywhere. They have lost their color and they are covered in blood.

"He is fucking here and he can fucking hear you. " The guy speaks for the first time. His voice is deep and smooth. If it was a color it would be a really dark red, almost black but not quite.

His comment is followed by silence. No one talks for the next couple of minutes. We just sit there and stare at each other, lost in our own thoughts, when suddenly I gasp.

"Noah..." I breath out.

"What?" Atlas asks confused.

I start to panic. "My little brother, he is alone. He's probably so scared right now. Oh God!" I take a moment to breath. "He doesn't have anyone else. It's just him and me"

"What about your parents?" Ares buts in.

"They're not around" I mumble under my breath.

Ares is about to say something else when the door is slammed open.

"Well, well, well" I tall guy walks in. Grey beard, bold head, about fifty years old with a thick accent, probably Russian.