How'd That Happen?

Chapter 3

Lani, Alex, and Marcus have been walking for quite a while. Alex has been teaching Lani about the city. He explained that most of the tall buildings are called corporations, and he identified the tiny boxes that move, as cars.

"But that smoke looks like it's hurting the environment. Wouldn't other animals die by breathing that in?"

"Nope! It's perfect for the environment and helps the animals thrive.." Lani takes one more weary look at the cars but does not argue with Alex on the topic.

Lani, Alex, and Marcus walk silently. Occasionally, Marcus glances at Alex and points at his pocket, but Alex shakes his head in small, side-to-side motions. Finally, Alex starts a new conversation. "So, are you excited to be out of heaven for the first time?"

"I am! On my way here, I saw a lot of astonishing sights that heaven doesn't have.." Lani replies in delight.

"Really, like what?" Alex kept the conversation going, trying to see how much Lani already knew.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure what they were called, but there were animals. I've only read about them in books, and heaven has a different community for animals, ones that they forbid us to enter." Alex and Marcus both stop walking while Lani keeps trying to discuss her sightings. "Heaven is very strict on everything. Everyone must obey all orders at all costs, and if we fail to do so, they will throw us down in hell with all the other sinners."

"Do you know why they do that?" Marcus has a deeper tone. Lani realizes that Alex and Marcus have stopped in their tracks, which also causes her to stop walking.

"No, I don't.." Her voice trembles. Alex walks before Lani while Marcus stays put, cornering her between the two. None of them move for a few seconds until Marcus pulls out a small syringe from his pocket. Lani's eyes widened in fear.

"They do that to keep everyone in line." Marcus could see the fear in her eyes, which only made his grin grow wider. "If everyone knew what the world was really like, we wouldn't have beings like you that are dumb enough to get us money." His eyes grew red, and his pupils turned from human to those of a snake's.

Alex grabs Lani by the arm as tight as he can, quickly shoving her to the ground, making her scream in pain, "Stop, please! I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry!" But there was no use. The last thing Lani saw were those blood-red eyes, right before everything faded into darkness.

Her eyes slowly open, and everything falls into place. She tries to stand, but as soon as she lifts her body, she hits her head on the top of a surface. After looking around where she is, Lani realizes she is trapped in a small cage with very little wing and movement space. "No, no,no, no,, no, where am I? What is this!?" She looks around. It's dark and looks like the back of some sort of auction house. There were crates and cages everywhere, some filled with organs and others filled with limbs. It all made Lani want to throw up. The scent wasn't much better. It smelled like hundreds of dead bodies had piled up and rotted in one spot. Lani notices Marcus and Alex, both with smug grins on their faces. "Where did you bring me?" Lani shouts the question throughout the place. Marcus walks over to Lani and bends down with a smirk.

"We brought you to your end, and with those pretty things, we can make quite the penny off of you." Marcus starts toying with Lani's wings, squeezing the feathers aggressively. She smacks his hand away as hard as she can. "It's nice he already paid us just to kill you; now we can make an extra buck off your limbs and organs." He laughs darkly.

"The other angels will realize I'm gone, and they will find me!" Lani shouts again to Marcus as he cackles.

"You think the angels care about you? If they did, you wouldn't be at this damn auction. If they cared about you, they would have taken the time to educate dumbasses like you instead of leaving you out to die." His eyes grow brighter as his bloodlust gets higher.