Blood In The Shadows

Chapter 2-

The underground garage  only two miles from the church passage can be found behind the large painting dedicated towards the lord himself which allows secret passage in and out of the church without being seen by the towns people and the camera's that scan the streets. Our town has been named "The Wailing Mary" because the public claim to hear cries coming through the streets all through the hours  of the night but to them it is a myth. A fantasy their parents told them as children but little do they know the screams and cries are real. Not for "The Wailing Mary" who cries out for the children she lost in a horrendous fire as the people believe but from the children who are being reshaped, reformed, resurrected. 

I stand by the black Audi vehicle we will be using on our mission when a limp Selma Adasm makes her way to me "We shouldn't be going out there, We aren't strong enough" i nod my head to her subtly not wishing to make my discipline known to The Mother who always appears to have a watchful eye on me.  

"No we shouldn't but that's never stopped them before so why would some experimental drug stop them from shipping us out" I remind her thinking to the past. 

I pull up the black high waisted jeans i was ordered to put on and make sure my black high knee boots are sitting in the correct position. With every movement i make i feel under scrutiny, i try and ignore it by adjusting the low cut green body suit that clings to my top half before putting the black leather jacket over the top to cover my bare arms. Warmth i tell myself, how good it feels to have it. 

"Is everything okay girls?" Mother questions us from the bonnet of the car, her eyes piercing into mine, the unknowing of our conversation driving her crazy. 

I nod my head at her knowing this is not my place to speak. Once upon a time when i was ten i wondered what could possibly be the worst thing to happen to a person who speaks out when they have not been given the rightful permission. But i soon began to regret the idea of thinking about it because when we came to The Church after school we found Trent Woods strapped to a wooden chair in the basement of the church. A stray jacket wrapped round him with his head secured to the head of the chair like a man on death row about to be electrocuted but his eyes were pried open with tape. His burning stare went right through us as he tried to scream from his open mouth. A mouth that couldn't be closed due to the clamps that were forced inside. 

Forced to watch as they pulled two teeth from his gums, ruthlessly breaking them so that they had a reason to cut into him to make the torture longer. Two teeth for his objection against his master. But the most horrifying part wasn't that it was being forced to watch as they burned the inside of his mouth. You could smell the burning of his flesh, you could see the tears  drop off his face before he passed out from the pain. They burned him because when his master claimed he had seen his child, Trent made it known this was lies. But to accuse a master of lying is a sin in the home of God. Lying is a sin against The Organisation itself and to lie is to be punished. He was left in that chair for three days, his infections grew scarce and one day we were brought to the room and the chair was empty. And just like many others he vanished off the face of the earth and his disappearance never question again. 

"No one feeling chatty today?" Mother continues on as she walks towards us. Salma lowers her head unable to look at Mother while i raise myself to the proper stance. "Lift Your Head" i keep telling her in my mind hoping that for some reason she can hear the words i am praying. I could see by the look on Mother's face, she felt disrespected by this action. She grabbed a hold of Salma's jaw and forces her to lift her head until she is looking up into the Mother's eyes. "Is this a sign of delinquency Miss Adasm" to which she doesn't respond. The Mother takes her hand away from Salma's face but even from the corner of my eye i can see the marks left there from the hard force. As Salma begins to relax as the idea of Mother's hands no longer being on her fills her with relief Mother raises her hand and slaps salma's right cheek. Her hand only inches away from mine before catching Salma, a slap that echo'd through the garage resulting in the two boys to glance over their shoulder. "Just remember who the master is" Mother spits in Salma's face before walking away. "Get in the car!" She yells in anger.