Hidden Fox

Twenty-Two

A headache pounded against my skull as I came to consciousness. Blinking my eyes open, I was met with more darkness, except for the little circle of yellow an undetermined distance in front of me. The light was just enough that as my eyes adjusted, I could make out tall rods of some kind of metal between the light source and where I laid.

With a grunt, I placed my palm flat on the ground and pushed myself into a sitting position, leaning on my left arm. The surface where my hand was was rough, gritty almost. And it was cold. In fact, the whole room I was in felt damp and icy, and it possessed a stagnant smell. There was a hollow feel to the area, empty like, but my nose could detect the signs of others. I definitely wasn't alone in there.

The pounding in my head hadn't settled, but I decided to test my voice. "Heh," I cleared my throat, not sounding like myself at all, "hello?"

The only response that came was the shuffle against the concrete and a small whimper.

Someone coughed.

My throat closed tight, the threat of tears along my lashes. Where am I? How did I get here?

Mustering some strength, I scooted back until my spine collided with a wall. There wasn't enough energy to stand yet. It was like someone had sucked all the life out of me and hadn't returned it. My limbs were heavy and my eyelids couldn't stay all the way open, no matter how hard I stretched. I must have been drugged, which would explain the headache, too.

Suddenly a section of the wall below the circle of light swung open, bathing the entire room in the harsh yellow. My head screamed at me to make it stop. After blinking into focus, I realized it was a door, and the light from before was coming through a tiny window above it.

A person stood in the doorway, blocking some of the light and making it incredibly hard to see their face. The figure was tall, nearly reaching the top of the door, and their muscles were silhouetted against the flooding light. But I was more interested in discovering my surroundings.

It was horrific.

The bars I could barely see before were now in plain display, caging me in on three sides. They repeated to the sides, boxing sections of the room into little cells. I was able to count ten sections caged in by bars. The majority of the spaces looked empty at first glance, but the slightest shift allowed me to focus in on the tiny bodies hidden in the shadows the light couldn't get to.

There were only two I could actually see: girls that occupied a cell on either side of me, where the light illuminated them and left nowhere to hide. The girl on the left of me looked to be about my age or so, but she was so small I could've just been looking at a skeleton dressed in grimy clothes. Her short dark hair had a slight, unkempt wave amidst the tangles. Her skin was pale, but very well could have once been olive-toned, and her hazel eyes shown from the light, enhancing her sunken cheeks and button nose. She stared straight at the newcomer, a fire of defiance burning around her.

To the right, a tiny human lay curled in a ball against the wall. I couldn't see her face, but the skin of her limbs were paper white, contrasting the fire-red hair that surrounded her head like a mane. She was shaking uncontrollably and hadn't even looked up at the person in the doorway.

When I turned back to the newcomer, I noticed he had been surveying the room almost like I had. When his eyes met mine, a shiver of absolute disgust coursed through me. He smirked.