Nightmares

Chapter One: Eat

I felt around the damp floor before opening my eyes. Many other boys, just like me, were locked up in their cages, as helpless as I was. One of the boys began to mouth something to me as the large steel doors at the end of the hall opened. A broad man, whom I didn't recognize, approached through the shadows. He took large strides to reach my cage at the end of the walkway. He was holding something small in his hands, something I couldn't make out.
"Eat."
He placed what I could now see was a bowl, in front of my cage. As he studied the confused look on my face he pushed the bowl closer and unlocked the cage. This was my chance to escape. I began to pull my body forward but was instantly yanked backwards by a chain attached to my throat and the cage.
"Eat!" he screamed, obviously angry with me for my attempt. I glanced at the other boys to see their view on the situation.
"Maybe this is what the boy was going to warn me about..." I thought to myself. I leaned forward and smelled the glob of an indescribable substance. The man shoved my face into the bowl, expecting me to eat like a dog. I finally swallowed a piece and began to violently throw up. The man became even angrier than before and pushed me backwards into the cage and locked it once again. He stormed out of the room and slammed the heavy doors. The boy who attempted to communicate with me earlier spoke this time, "I was going to say, don't throw up while you eat. Now we'll all be starved for the rest of the day."
"What is he feeding us?" I whispered to the room full of caged boys. All of the boys were silent until a scream sounded from one of the cages. The scream was followed with a heavy sob that continued throughout the night.
In, what I presumed was, the morning, the man came back in. He unlocked the cage of the screaming boy and unclipped the chain that was tethered to the back of the cage. The boy lay limp before but was now attempting to fight off the man, but the man was much stronger than the boy. The man grabbed the chain still attached to the boys neck and dragged him across the wet cement and out of the steel doors.
"Where is he taking him?" my voice shook as I spoke.
"I don't know... but no one has ever returned from wherever he takes them." answered the boy in the cage next to mine.
"How did we all get here?" I was asking many questions that no one had answers for.
"None of us remember. Maybe you have a better memory than us?" the first boy to speak to me asked.
"I have no idea. I just remember sitting in the car on my way to school with my mother and all of the sudden, I wake up here." I replied, still just as confused myself.
"That is similar to what most of us remember. I was walking to school and then woke up here. Gabriel over there remembers the most. Tell him Gabe." spoke the first boy who seemed more confident than the rest.
The boy closest to me began to mutter, "I was walking to a friend's house when a strange car pulled up besides me. I began to walk faster until I was hit on the head. That's all I can remember up until I woke up here. I was the only boy then. I think the man has perfected, or near perfected, his kidnapping technique because every time a boy shows up, they remember less and less."
"Wow. I wonder what my mom is feeling right now. She must be so scared and worried. I just want to get back home to her..." my voice trailed off as I felt tears build up in my eyes and a lump form in my throat.
"What's your name? Mine's Caleb." the original boy spoke once again.
"Dillion. I would say nice to meet you but the circumstances are... they are..." my voice trailed off.
"Poor." another boy finished my sentence.
"Yes, poor. What's your name?" I questioned the boy who hadn't spoke before.
The boy began to answer when a large bang came from behind his cage. The wall behind our cages shifted, but his was the only one to fully move. The wall behind his cage was now gone, leaving all of us stunned. He screamed and disappeared. The look on the other boys' faces signified to me that that has never happened before. The large steel doors opened and the nameless boy was thrown in. He began to foam around his mouth and started to growl. He lept up, but wasn't standing up right. He was on all fours and was hitting other boys cages with his arms. He was acting like a rabid dog. A dog. The man was treating us like dogs. He had us in cages, chained up, feeding us indescribable food! Now he turned one of us rabid to scare or harm the others. The now rabid boy was attacking the cages, attempting to open them with his mouth. He jumped onto the door of my cage but seemed concerned and fell backwards. He lay limp on the floor, lifeless. The man came in and dragged the boy out.
The noise of a loud machine could be heard through the steel doors. A few minutes later the man brought in a large bowl that contained the substance. It was fresher than what he tried feeding me yesterday. It was a reddish brown color and wreaked, worse than before. He opened all of our cages and unchained us one at a time.
"Eat!" that seemed to be the only word he could pronounce.
Caleb and Gabe seemed to have experienced this before and left their cages without hesitation. I, however, wasn't sure how to feel. I definitely did not want to eat whatever that was again. I slowly crept out and made my way, on all fours, to the bowl. I knew that if I didn't follow the man's fantasy in some way, he wouldn't be happy. The other boys had began to eat and I could sense they didn't like it. I leaned forward and looked up at the man. He had a large smile on his face as if he was enjoying us eating this. I sniffed the clump before opening my mouth. I swallowed a chunk and wanted to spit it out instantly but knew that would upset him. I continued to eat, like the other boys. The "food" was nothing I had ever tasted before, and I never wanted to taste it again. The other boys and I made eye contact at the same time and nodded. We all leapt to our feet and attacked the man, knocking him down. I raced through the open steel doors with the other boys following close behind. We found we were in a storage room and eagerly began searching for the way out. I saw a garage-like-door and pulled down on the metal chain that opened it. I had it almost fully open when I felt a large hand wrap around my waist and another cover my mouth.
"Eat." he whispered in my ear as he dragged me back into the room of cages.