Retribution

Chapter Four

I wake to hear what sounds like voices, screaming maybe. I slowly open my eyes but everything is blurry. But there's no light above me anymore, I'm on my side now. I try to wiggle my limbs and feel that I'm free from the restraints. Blinking a few more times I realise that I'm somewhere different. It's dark but I can hear other voices. Female. As I try to stretch out my limbs, I feel aches all over, it feels like my whole body is bruised. I can tell that I'm lying on cold concrete of somewhat and as I look around I see that I'm in some sort of fucking cage. I try to sit up but pain shoots to where I was branded as the skin pulls, I let out a cry as I roll back on my side with my legs to my chest. I don't even want to look at what they put on me.

Looking around I realise I'm in some sort of storage cage, maybe 1.5 by 3 meters. There are three concrete walls surrounding me and bars in front of me. Clutching my lower abdomen, I sit up and look around some more. There's nothing in here but a bucket and a single blanket.

"What did you do to land here?" I hear a voice coming from in front of me. Spinning around I see that there are more storage cages lining both walls. All filled with girls, young girls. It appears we are in some sort of large warehouse. In front of me is another girl. She looks young and so fragile. I can see every bone in her body from her collarbones to her kneecaps. Her body is lined with gashes and cuts. Some scabs, some fresh. She's shivering and has large black circles under her eyes. Her cheekbones are so sunken that you can see her gums protruding.

"Well, depends on who you ask. What about you?" I ask, my voice hoarse from screaming.

"My husband. He says I'm not well-behaved and need to be taught how to be a lady" she says with a quiver in her voice.

"What a fucking dick" I snort out. I see her crack a weak smile and it's nice to see. "Do you know where we are?" I ask looking around. I look up and see that there's a single light bulb above each cage and trying to peak through the bars it seems the cages go on forever. I can't see any doors or windows.

"I'm not sure. He said we were just going out for dinner as a reward but as we got into the car he drugged me. Next thing I know I woke up here" she says looking away from me. She's huddled against a corner with her legs to her chest. She's only wearing a thin white nightgown. Compared to her it's in pristine condition. Getting a wave of panic, I look down and realise that they've stripped me down to nothing but my underwear and bra. Reaching behind me I use the blanket to try and cover me but it's nothing but a scratchy thing sheet that's pretty much see-through. "You must be pretty special though," she says with a sigh, like she's disappointed almost.

"Why do you say that?" I ask furrowing my brows.

"You have his brand. Only his 'special girls' have that brand"

"What do you mean 'special girls'" I ask as anxiety rages through my body.

"You don't get sold and the other trainers can have unlimited access to you" she says and I realise that she wasn't sighing in disappointment. She was sighing in pity.

"That doesn't surprise me. So how does this work? Where are the guards" I ask, I need to try and figure a way out of here. I can see that there are cameras on the top of each of our cages so we must be monitored twenty-four-seven.

"I don't know... the only time we see the guards are when we are taken for training. We're blindfolded before we can even step out of the cage" she says looking up at me with sad eyes.

"I take it when you say training it's not some casual strength training," I say, I have a bad habit of using humour in bad situations. The girl just lets a small smile form on her lips before it drops.

"That's good. Hold onto that. Hold onto your humour. Because this place will break you." she says looking at me, she looks like she's pleading with me.

"So when does training take place?" I ask avoiding her statement. Hope isn't something I've ever believed in. I've accepted that death is coming for me, whether at my own hands or somebody else's. So I might as well have a laugh on the way down.

"Again I don't know. There's no routine. They keep the lights on all the time so we have no sense of time. The guards just come and go whenever" she says sounding frustrated.

"I'm Paige" I say, I don't know how long we'll be down here together but if I can comfort her in her last days then I will.

"Daisy," she says with a smile.

Clayton

"Where the fuck is she! I handed Paige over like you asked, I held up my end!" I shout into the phone. This fucking bastard.

"Well, Clayton like I said. I did not expect her to knock out three of my guards and escape" his fucking voice rings out in my ear like a migraine.

"You did this! I don't how you did but this is your fault!" I shout before I hang up the phone. His bullshit story doesn't add up at all. She escaped. She managed to get out a pair of military-grade handcuffs and a straight jacket. She killed three grown men, shot the driver, and escaped into the forest. She's trained, but she's not skilled enough to pull that off. He's done something to her, I fucking know it.

Gage

Everything I did was for nothing.

Nothing.

I handed her over for nothing.

I can hear Clayton yelling into the phone on the other side of the door. We got a message a few days ago saying that Quinn escaped her transport back to Canberra and that she wasn't their problem anymore so they weren't going to go after her. Clayton spammed Alec until he finally called today.

I know what he's thinking, that Quin couldn't pull that off. But he doesn't know her like I do. That would have been like taking a stroll for her. Claytons right though, something is definitely wrong. Alec's played a role in this, I just don't know how. Why would she escape halfway to Canberra where there's no civilization? She's smarter than that. Why would she leave the weapon in the car? The Australian environment isn't forgiving, especially in the summer.