Little Bird

Worse than Public Transport

Sickness threatened to rise in Lucy's throat when she first began to gain consciousness. Her position was awkward, slumped against a strange, hard, coarse object on her right. The first thing she noticed was the stale, dusty smell, and the strange muffled guttural noise that filled the air. Her whole world jerked and vibrated, and it took her a while to decide that it wasn't due to how poorly she felt. Full consciousness was returning piece by piece at a steady rate, until she felt the object she was resting move with a grunt, it was then that the adrenaline helped speed things along.

Sitting up straight, opening her eyes, Lucy began to acknowledge the ripping headache behind her eyes, and visibly winced. Not processing much else, she turned to look at the thing she had been resting on, and with the poor light and her slow brain she just about made out the face of a man. Without much hesitation, his hand slowly reached out for her, causing her to yelp, jump backwards and notice something else. Someone had been sitting on her left too.

A desperate, primal fear coursed through Lucy. As the new man quickly grabbed her waist, she began to shriek and flail about wildly. It was then she discovered that her ankles and wrists were bound tightly by something, which only caused her to panic more.

"Shh, shh! It's okay, we won't hurt you!" The man who wasn't holding her, that she happened to now be facing, desperately tried to calm her down, with little success. "Please! It's okay!"

While still acting like a wild cat that had been picked up for the first time, she managed to get a glance of the man speaking to her, it was the man from the scaffolding.

"Please! Please! Let me go!" She wailed desperately, tears now spilling out her eyes wildly. "I don't have anything! I won't say anything! Please!"

The man looked a little sad, pursing his lips in what looked to be frustration. He softened his voice and spoke again, "shh, it's okay, we won't hurt you Lucy."

Lucy froze, paling. The man visibly relaxed, his once tense shoulders dropping a little.

"How..." Lucy paused, gulping, before whispering, "how do you know my name?"

The man tensed again, his own eyes widening in horror. His hand nervously went to his hair, gripping it in thoughtful desperation. "I... uhm.." he mumbled helplessly.

"You idiot."

This new voice came from a different part of the area she was in. It was now that she finally began to take in the rest of the room, if it could be called that. It was made entirely of a dark grey metal, with two benches either side facing each other, illuminated by one light that barely filled the area. One wall contained two unusual doors, which made her realise that she was most likely in the back of a van.

Her main concern was the five total men who were all facing at her with various expressions. Two on her bench, the man who used her name and the man who held her silently. Three on the opposite bench, who she eventually recognised as the men from the cafe earlier, with the red head having spoken.

"We'll explain later, for now you just need to calm down," the red head said dismissively, waving his hand carelessly at her.

Lucy tensed slightly, how could she calm down? Why should she? She felt the man holding her pull her a little closer, almost as if he had felt her anxiety returning and was anticipating another round of fighting.

"Should we drug her?" The man holding her asked, his voice flat and cool.

She gasped, and began fighting again. "Please! No!" The tears were almost coming back for a second run.

The red head laughed coldly, leaning back casually. "Only if she continues fighting you like that, can't have her hurting herself!"

Lucy did stop for a moment, furrowing her brow. Why did this man care if she hurt herself a little?

The man holding her craned his neck forward so his lips were by her ear. "Are you going to behave nicely now, or do I have to hold you for the entire trip?" He whispered softly.

Lucy blushed, humiliated by the way she was treated. She lowered her head and forced herself to say, "I'll be good." Which earned herself a small noise of approval and her partial freedom, returned to nestle equally by the two men who acted as her bookends.

"Good!" The red head exclaimed cheerfully, which only added to Lucy's frustrations. "Here's the deal, you sit there calmly for the rest of the journey, and you get to stay conscious!" He spoke with a jolly tone. "Then, when we arrive we'll begin explaining things to you, but not before, understood?"

Lucy raised her head slightly, peering upwards at him. "Arrive where?" She questioned nervously.

"You'll see, not important!" His answer made Lucy scowl, it was important to her. "Understood?" His voice was a little colder as he leant in to ask her again.

Hesitating, Lucy replied with a quiet, "yes." Her only response was a big smile and a bit more distance between them as he went back to a comfortable sitting position.

"Need anything?" The man on her left, who had held her, asked.

Finally able to, she looked at him. His skin was pale, almost deathly so, with a chalky sheen. He had wispy mid length dark hair that seemed to wave off with no control. His face was gaunt, with dark patches under his eyes and slightly sunken cheeks. His eyes were very dark, she would almost call them black. The whole collection made him seem very ill, but strangely somehow handsome.

"My legs and arms hurt..." she replied softly, gesturing her head towards the rope binds.

"Hmm," was all he said at first, looking at the red head quizzically. The red head seemed to shrug and nod lazily, not seeming to care much.  As a result, the man pulled out a pocket knife, causing her to flinch nervously. Before Lucy had much of a chance to react, the man moved with the knife, swiping easily through the binds before she had a chance to jump away from him. She relaxed when he immediately pocketed the knife afterwards.

With more freedom, Lucy tested the sore joints, before her eyes travelled to the door. It was in that moment she did something she rarely did, she acted immediately on her needs. Jumping up awkwardly, she tried to half run, half bound for the door.

Barely two steps from her staring point, she felt two sets of arms somehow painlessly grab her and subdue her to the cold metal floor. Screaming, she fought tirelessly, with the energy of an Olympian rather than a small girl who was barely conscious. Her eyes darted wildly around as the was pinned down by her bench companions, rendering her essentially still. Panting from exhaustion and over exertion, she could barely fight the new, chemical soaked cloth, that a strange hand shoved at her.

As she lost her vision again, she felt a gentle hand in her hair and could make out more than one voice trying to reassure her that she was safe and would not be harmed. None of it mattered, as moments later she was completely out again.