The Apostate Trials

Chapter 19

Noah remained immersed within that hollow sensation for several seconds, as if his body had been released of all its worldly tethers and began to drift off somewhere. He couldn't move, couldn't stop himself from floating higher. His muscles remained rigid until reaching the highest peak of that sensation─pain had laced his drink, and now his body. He felt the poison coursing throughout his viens; his head felt like someone had placed several drums within, each pounding away profusely, earning them a wince.

His eyes opened to greet only darkness, his ears only silence. He immediately thought he was dreaming, or dead, or someplace far away from all the confusion that simultaneously struck him. It was weird. He remained positive in having awoke, but that binding sensation still remained. He was still unable to move his body.

Noah's vison gradually adjusted to the darkness, and the damp, musty air that hung so dryly over him. He propped himself up, began to make out the silhouettes of at least twenty other figures. He spotted the smirk of one directly at his side.

"You sure it's a good idea to be up," Rylan questioned. "Your highness?"

For a moment Noah thought that he was still dreaming. The sarcasm behind Rylan's words wasn't made apparent until many seconds after. "I feel like two million dollars. Thanks for asking."

"Anytime."

Noah painfully shifted his body until his back had been neatly pressed against cold metal, his eyes carefully scanning his surroundings. The darkness had almost faded entirely; he sat completely still in a small, boxed room which held nothing aside from the other silhouettes, all male, their arms roughly shackled behind them. Noah assumed the same could be said for him.

Rylan had been silent at his side; the boy heaved a transitory sigh as he sat back. "We're in a trailer. Elliot's men put us here."

"Elliot?" Noah felt his memory begin to jog itself─it all felt so surreal, knowing they so carelessly walked into a trap. "What about the others? Are they okay?"

Rylan nodded.

"And Elliot? W-What does he plan on doing with us?" Noah's voice was growing shaky, the pain replaced with strident waves of fear. Everything he'd done up until that point, all the kills, all the death─it was catching up to him. He needed to move and keep moving. He couldn't afford to stop.

"Look, I only know about as much as you─"

"He's going to kill us!" A boy's whispered shout cut Rylan's statement short. "He comes in here every day around noon and selects which one of us he wants to die next! Then they drag you to their slaughter house where they kill you and use your flesh as food! I saw it with my own eyes! They're cannibals man!"

Rylan laughed. The boy sounded completely out of his mind. "Cannibals? You really expect us to believe that?" And for literally the second time since they've met, Noah actually agreed with him.

"I don't care whether you believe me or not," The boy countered. "I had heard mention of a rogue group of renegades who managed to get free of their collars somewhere near Times Square, preferably underground. My group and I went out looking for them when we encountered Elliot, who said he could help us. Next thing I know, all my friends are being cannibalized right before my very eyes! He sent me back, saying he wanted to fatten me up bit more. I've been here ever since!"

A few other eyes had trained in on the boy, some of which shuddered. It was becoming more apparent by the second that there was truth behind his words.

Rylan began to furiously tug away at his shackles. "Then that's all the more reason we can't stay here any longer. C'mon. Help me try to get free of these things, Noah."