The Price of Humanity

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Eight

"We're looking for our friend." My brother finally speaks up. I give him an angry look saying, 'shut the fuck up'. Or something to that effect. These women are barely talking to me they won't be any happier talking to him.

"My brother." Mia pipes up, looking up with puppy dog eyes at the old woman. Mia seems to make the old woman forget about Zane and she smiles down at her with adoration. Then Mia's words register in her mind.

"Hermano?" Mia looking confused, thinking, then nods enthusiastically. The woman's face however turns dark, sad even, and she shakes her head at Mia. "Why does your Grandma look sad?" Grandma? How is Mia so good at Spanish? The granddaughter, the escape artist, turns to Mia.

"I'm sorry honey, but the brother you know will be gone by now." Mia's eyes start to water but I stare at the girl confused by her choice of words. What in hell does she mean by that?

Nobody gets the chance to probably react and bombard the women with questions however because loud, deep voices outside snap everyone's attention to the door.

The women start to panic, muttering about how we, the unexpected visitors, need to leave otherwise we're going to cause more trouble than we're worth. Everyone stops however when a voice sounds from just outside the door. Right outside.

"Let's see how our lovelies are doing shall we?" And then the handle begins to turn.

The girl who likes to jump fences immediately presses her body up against the door, blocking the two men who are trying to get in.

She gives a strained look to her Grandma who looks very reluctant to help us at all. However, when the curses and shouting start outside she decides it would be in her best interest to help us.

She ushers us into the back corner of the room and starts shoving me down to the floor, when I realise what's she trying to do with her weak strength I stop fighting her and crawl under one of the beds.

"What's going on?" The first deep voice complains as the door continues to be pushed from both sides.

"I think the door's jammed." A gruff voice comes from outside, I can't see anything now that I'm under the bed. Just Mia, who is clutching my side, and Zane who is under the next bed along.

"Oh, stop being such a bitch, let me." I hear footsteps and the door swings open, the heavy footsteps make it clear that whoever just walked in definitely put too much force into the opening the door and stumbled into the room loudly.

"Hello ladies." A sadistic voice greets and loud footsteps echo around the room. Silence greets him and I peer out from under the bed to see all of the woman looking at the floor, the children hiding behind the others.

"Decided to jam the door, did we?" The other man says, the one that couldn't get the door open. He turns on...I really need to get her name, he turns on the girl I will now refer to as Fence Jumper.

Fence Jumper doesn't seem as scared as the others, but still keeps her head down. Her stance looks ready to fight though, as if any second she'll launch herself at the two men.

I don't think that would go very well though. I think she agrees since in response to the man standing in front of her she only balls her fists.

"Now which of you lovely ladies will be joining us tonight?" The man says, looking Fence Jumper up and down. He shakes his head when she walks forward to the door. "Not you tonight."

This makes her look up, fear in her eyes that I can only assume is not fear for herself, but the others in the room. At this new piece of information, the other women push their children far behind them.

The man moves on from Fence Jumper, taking a girl by the hand at random. She tenses at the touch and is flung like a ragdoll over to the other man, who is obviously of a lower status then the one who has just picked out another girl.

He grips the second girl by the arm and drags her with him, moving through the group of women. He starts heading towards the back of the room towards where the three of us are hiding under the beds.

He's distracted however by the scary old woman.

She's the only one that keeps a level gaze with him, looking up at him in rebellion. I think this makes me even more scared of her, since she's crazy enough to stand up against them while all the other women are hoping the ground will swallow them up.

"Why are you even still here?" The man sneers, the old woman glares back, pure hatred in her eyes.

"Todos ustedes son bastardos." Now bastardos I understand, I'm very familiar with the English version. The man smirks.

"If you're going to insult me in Spanish, you may want to use words that don't easily translate to English. It'll be much more effective."

With that he smacks the old woman, who I was actually gaining respect for since she faced the two bullies, she falls to the ground quickly and I seriously debate jumping out from under the bed and tackling the bastardo who doesn't respect his elders.

A quick look from Zane stops me however, but the old woman isn't alone since her granddaughter – Fence Jumper – rushes to her side and cradles her Grandma.

After grabbing two more girls the men leave. The tension dies from the room when the door shuts and everyone turns to Fence Jumper and her red faced abuela. The three of us get out from under the bed and stand awkwardly to the side.

"Where did they take them?" I ask, looking towards the door, I suddenly realised the lack of windows in the room, and the unlocked door. "And why haven't you all escaped yet? And for the love of God what is your name?"