Captured

Chapter 6

"All you have to do is speak!" The leader, who everyone referred to as Kane, yelled through the bars of my cell days later. I was starving and feeling weaker and weaker by the day but watching him lose his temper like this filled me with energy.

"No thank you," I muttered, looking up at him wearily, a smile on my face.

"You aren't going to last much longer without food," he stated, a glare crossing his features. "If you tell me where your base was, you can eat."

"I already told you," I said, "I don't know where it was."

"Liar!" He bellowed, slamming his fist against one of the bars of my cell. I couldn't help but flinch, the action taking me back to when I was a child and my fathers fist would collide with the side of my face when I would make him angry. "Tell me where and you and your friends can be freed from your cells."

I shook my head, knowing that we would never be free under the control of a man. At least if he couldn't find them, Rose could continue to lead and fight for women, even if we had to die to ensure she did.

Kane tossed something across the room in rage and I watched it shatter, shards of glass decorating the floor while he paced up and down, his boots crunching the small fractures as he did.

A soft knock at the door sounded and he breathed a few deep sighs. "Come!" Kanes voice snarled before he turned away from me and instead watched as an older man stumbled in, a jagged stick in his hand and a limp in his walk. "Arthur, how are you feeling?"

The man hobbled a little closer and allowed the door to fall shut behind him. "I'm old Kane," he spoke, his voice hoarse and scratchy. "What do you think?"

Kane chuckled and clapped the man on the back, causing his body to jolt. "You'll be fine."

"I've been hearing rumours of women from my chamber and I couldn't help myself, I wanted to see for myself," he responded, his back to me.

With a gesture in my direction from Kane, the old man turned, a grin forming on his face. "So it is true," he said. "Just the one?"

"There are more down in the cells," Kane answered with a shake of his head, his green eyes fixated on me.

"What's so special about this one then?"

I smirked at the question, eager to hear Kane repeat the fact that I killed one of his men. As he did, his jaw was clenched tightly and rage burned in his eyes.

"Really?" The man asked, hobbling a little closer to me. His small, beady eyes were disproportionate to his large stature and they eyed me with suspicion. "She needs to learn her place."

I scowled up at the man who's suspicion morphed into amusement. "Evidently," Kane answered with a nod before turning to face the man. "What would you suggest?"

He chuckled and smiled at Kane, a twinkle in his eye. "I always found that with women, its best to make an example of someone. No matter how strong they pretend to be, they are all weak and easy to break once you know how."

My scowl intensified at his words. I would never understand why a mans drive and desire was to break a woman down until she was weak and submissive. I couldn't work out what they gained from destroying her strength and happiness, other than the feeling of power.

"Maybe we should discuss this further," Kane muttered, his eyes locked on mine. I held his gaze until he turned away, leading the elderly man through the door on the opposite side of the room. Through the open doorway, I caught a glimpse of a small lounge and kitchen space before they slammed it shut and left me alone in the cold, dark cell.

When left alone, my mind had constantly been drifting, recalling all the times when I was a child, scared and hungry in the dark of the basement after I'd made my father angry. It was a fairly regular occurrence but the instance I repeatedly thought of was the last time he'd locked me down there.

I was twelve years old and I'd arrived home from school, a book stuffed in my small bag. I'd seen a boy reading one at lunch time and he seemed so interested, so engrossed in what he was reading.

I couldn't help myself, I dared to approach him and asked him where he'd gotten it from. He'd looked at me with such disgust and told me: "it's from the library. Girls aren't allowed in there."

I'd been so angry at his response that I had visited lost property and put together a boys uniform, changing in the toilets, before sneaking into the library to get a book for myself. Even then I'd known I didn't want to be different from the boys, I'd wanted to same opportunities that they had.

I was so excited to have gotten away with my scam and changed back into my own uniform before carrying on with my day. When Rose and I walked home that afternoon I had told her what I'd done and she'd been so excited to read it with me. We planned to go straight into our bedroom and start our reading.

It wasn't something we were completely clueless in. We had learnt to read basic words when we were young, mostly children's books, and then as we got older we learnt to read recipes and instructions, however never stories.

We had barely read the first page when our father burst in and snatched the book from us. He'd asked us where we had gotten it, swinging his fist into the side of my sisters face when he didn't get an answer.

I was terrified to tell him it was me. I knew the punishment would be painful. So I said nothing. I allowed him to punish the both of us, throwing us into the basement and locking the door, entrapping us for several days without food.

Rose had been so angry with me, her face had bruised horribly and we were locked away for days before finally, I told him it was me. The punishment I then received was far worse than the crime and since that day, I'd never read a book again.