Helheim

CHAPTER 7

The cold ground below me shook, and I slowly gained consciousness back, although my head hurt a lot. I opened my eyes but I couldn't see anything; I noticed that I had something like a cloth bag covering my head, and as I tried moving my legs and arms, I realized with terror that I had been tied up. I could also feel the direct contact between the freezing metal and my skin, so I came to the conclusion I was naked, but at least whoever had done that to me had the decency to let me keep my panties. The faint noise of a motor and gravel grew louder, which made become aware of what was actually going on. I was being kidnapped.

A desperate scream climbed on my throat but it never got out; I found myself biting a rope that had been tied up around my head, so I wouldn't be able to make any noise. Hysteria took over me and I began squirming and whining as hard and loud as I could, because maybe someone would listen, maybe someone would help me.

I swiped right and bumped into another body, was it a dead person?! I had no clue and no way of finding out. I moved away as fast as I could while tears started running down my face, but I crashed into something again; this time I felt fingers holding onto my wrist, and I was so perturbed I began kicking uncontrollably.

All of a sudden the van we were trapped in stopped moving, I heard doors closing, whispers and then a click that came accompanied by an air breeze. Afterwards the sound of heavy stuff being dragged and muffled cries. They are taking us out. Alarmed I tried to move to the opposite side, but I felt a hand grabbing my feet and pulling me hard. My head hit the floor of the van, but they didn't care, they still hauled me out, forcing me to stand up. I felt wet earth below my toes. The air was humid and had a scent of wood. They had untied my ankles, maybe I could run, and lose them in the forest, but where would I go? Before I could think about anything else, someone pushed me forcing me to walk, I tried to resist but it was useless, my raptor was stronger. Leaves hit my face every now and then; rocks and branches as small as needles prick and stuck into my feet, as we advanced.

I knew there were at least 6 or 7 people more moving along me; and I imagined at least half of them were victims too, since I could listen to their muffled cries. I tried hard to concentrate into listening, feeling, or smelling something useful. I didn't want to be blind by fear nor alarmed by my own thoughts, but I couldn't shake the feeling that at any time I was going to get murdered.

It felt like we walked for centuries until we finally stopped, and the simple idea of not moving any more brought back all my dread. I perceived people walking past me, and the whimpers grew louder, followed by the noise of splashing water. However, I didn't get to process this information, before I was swiftly pushed forward, not having time to even catch myself before I hit the water.

I heard a couple of laughs as I got on all fours, and then again, to my dismay, I was dragged deeper and deeper into the cold water.

As I felt the water going further and further up on my body, I was convinced they were going to drown me. The water had reached my chest when we stopped once more.

All of a sudden they took off the bag that covered my face and I was blinded for a couple of seconds. When my eyes adjusted to the light I realized with horror that we were far from shore, and to make it worst, the coast was packed with a group of at least twenty hooded people that had a mask covering half of their faces. They stood in the shadows watching; that, as well as the big bright white lights they had hang from the trees that aimed directly towards us, made it very difficult to see their faces.

I perceived movement next to me so I turned to look and found eight naked boys lined up next to me. They all had bags covering their heads, and at least one person holding them still and watching over them. The captors were all hooded too, but their masks were different from the ones on shore, these were like the ones soldiers used during World War II, hiding completely their faces.