Bitch

Chapter One: The Beginning of the End

The night was dark and dreary, the streets practically barren on that uneventful Tuesday. The only sound was the echo of heels clicking on the concrete sidewalk as a tall black haired woman, bundled up in a long black coat to cover up her bare legs made her way home from work. As much as she tried to get out of the office on time, Marilyn somehow always ended up spending the late hours of the evening typing away at her desk.

Typically, the short walk from the office to home didn't bother her but there had been a rise in disappearances all across the state. Men and women alike seemed to be going missing left and right. That night, her nerves left her gripping her keys in her palm, one key between each knuckle. Her bright green eyes swept from one end of the street to the other and her ears perked up at every little sound.

Little did she know that she stood no chance against what hid in the shadows. The sound of footsteps running behind her was the only warning she had before her world went black. A pair of hands reached out from the alley as she passed, swinging a bat at her temple as another set of hands caught her from behind.

The pair of men, with Marilyn in their clutches, loaded the woman's unconscious body into a dark SUV that had been laying in wait in the alley. It was a long drive from the empty streets of Marilyn's hometown to where she would learn just what had happened to all those other missing people.

Marilyn was still out cold as the SUV pulled up to what looked to be an abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Inside was row after row of cages housing men and women in various states of hysteria and injury. The sounds of sobs and pleading echoed in the large space, met with the sound of clanging metal and laughter as a patrol of armed guards silenced them by smacking batons against the bars.

Marilyn was taken to a row towards the back where most cages were still empty, laid inside the small container with her back slumped against one of the iron walls. Dawn was breaking in the world outside by the time her consciousness started to slowly return to her. A splitting headache drew a low, pained groan from her mouth as she tried to will her eyes to open.

Hardly any of the light from outside made it into the windowless warehouse, which Marilyn was grateful given the killer migraine she had. Her body aches horribly as she shifted uncomfortably, her heart sinking as her feet and hands hit the boundaries of her container. Panic settled in quickly as her eyes strained to make sense of her surroundings, her hands searching the iron bars for any means of escape.

All she found was a thick padlock she had no chance of breaking loose, hopelessness seeping into her quickened breaths. Behind her, she could hear the quiet sobs of God knows how many others sharing a similar fate. Marilyn didn't have long to dwell on her thoughts before a large man dressed in all black approached.

The man was built like a mountain, towering over the much smaller woman even as he crouched to get closer to her eye level. He smiled as he eyed her up and down, nodding and beckoning someone wheeling a dolly down the aisle of cages.

Marilyn stayed pressed fearfully against the opposite side of the cage, her heart practically beating out of her chest. His gaze felt suffocating, nauseating even.

"No, no, wait-" Marilyn finally found her voice as the dolly lined up under her cage and tilted, throwing her into the side of the container. "Where are you taking me? Who are you? What do you want with me?" Once the words started tumbling from her lips she couldn't stop the flood of questions swimming in her brain.

Her questions fell on deaf ears, or rather uncaring ears. No one said a word to her as they wheeled the cage down the rows of suffering victims to the docking area of the warehouse. A trailer with dozens of others already loaded into it sat in the docking bay, Marilyn being one of a few others to be added to the collection before the doors were swung shut and locked.