Captive Shadows-Part II

Chapter Three



Saige was beyond words, beyond anything comprehendible. She stood silently frozen, barely acknowledging the instant increase in fear and gut wrenching screams that erupted around their now declared personal hell.

No escape...

The words echoed in her mind, as she imagined they did in everyone else’s. Pure fear tied a knot in her stomach, threatening to drag her into a helpless heap with no escape.

She couldn’t fathom anything, why and when everything happened. She still felt partially fresh with the joy of being accepted to medical school, but now, she felt an icy dread shrivel any hope of life beyond this dark cold menacing hell.

Would she ever see her mother again? Or any of her family?

Thoughts flew through her mind of her now inevitable certain death. Her eyes trained on the headless corpse of that poor Sudanese boy,  blood that pooled around his body threatened to drench everyone with a taste of what would be.

Will I die like that too?

Good god, but Saige didn’t want to die. She had barely lived.

With that thought on her now semi clear mind, adrenaline responded, now coursing through her blood and returning some feeling to her body. She took a deep painful breath, tasting more blood on her dry tongue.

“...bastard!”

Saige glanced to her left where the voice took off. Bad Boy was standing tall, his fists clenched high in the air as he stared into the camera’s that he must now have noticed too. His face was twisted in fury, a flush of red in his cheeks, stark against the dry brown blood on one.

Looking around now, she could see many were doing the same. Her eyes widened as she saw that people were banging on the walls, just as the headless boy had done before he had coped a face full of lead.

People screamed at the top of their lunges, yelling for mercy and to be let go. They screamed for their families and jobs and loves. They voiced everything Saige felt before her own words left her lips.

They began taking their anger out on each other, pushing and cursing at their fellow kidnapees. Saige watched as fights began taking place, boys and girls alike.

Anger began seeping throughout her, not just anger for the sick son of a bitch that had kidnapped her and all these pleading teenagers, but anger at the stupidity being carried out around her.

Are people that stupid?

Although she could certainly understand the emotional reactions that this situation could cause everyone. But it was irrational and after what nearly everyone had just witnessed and heard, she felt that someone certainly had to voice their stupidity.

Her feet carried her to the centre of the warehouse, her moves sluggish in her raw state of fear and determination. Bad boy was a step behind her, the little English girl remained attached to her arm.

Saige threw her hands in the air, demanding attention.

Barely ten noticed her, as they carried on cussing, screaming and trying to fist their way out when it was no use. Those who saw her, looked at her with large fearful eyes and others frowned at the crazy girl she certainly appeared to be.

“Stop!” she yelled, another few turned to her attention. While others seemed unconcerned or too far into their own balls of fury they could hear. 

Saige sighed and took a long pull of stale breath. “STOP!” she screamed, astonished by the power in her voice.

The almost feral and bloodied faces of close to thirty sets of eyes rested on her. She swallowed at the sudden lump in her throat, meeting the wary looks of all different faces and forms.

So many people... so much death..

“We all have to calm down!” she explained, conscious that her voice was more than shaky. She tilted her chin up and tried to ignore the outbursts of protests that sounded around her.

“We have to get out of here!”

“I don’t want to die!”

“I’ll kill the sick fuck!”

On and on the voices continued, Saige tried to raise her voice against the angry mob but it was no use. All eyes that were trained on her, now focussed on the onslaught being carried out around them.

The little English girl looked into Saige's eyes with her blue gaze, questions in her eyes that she couldn’t answer. Beside Saige, Bad Boy still remained, holding a perceivable calm even in their situation.

She shook her head, meeting both their eyes.

“What are we to do?” came the English accent.

“I don’t know” Saige admitted.

“Everyone’s going AWOL” Bad Boy stated.

Saige cast her eyes about, seeing that things were getting worse by the second. She couldn’t think of what to do, what was there to do?

Were they all going to die? Or end up killing each other?

Sweat dampened her brow, anxiety knotting amongst her fear. She raked her shaking hands through her damp hair, trying to think.

There was no escape, even the voice of their kidnaper had said that much. But it was obvious now too, the way everything was sealed up proved as much.

Each bang of fists echoed her throbbing head, vibrating through her frail bones. She couldn’t bare looking towards the sound, for fear of seeing that same lethal point of steel unleash another killing blow.

She put her hands to her head, trying to block the sound. Trying to think. She sank to the cold wet concrete below her, closing her eyes and murmuring to herself. Anything to not hear anymore.

She felt damp hands pull her hands away from her ears, she opened her eyes and focussed on the two sitting by her, in obvious panic and fear. She felt the same.

“Lets state the obvious” Bad Boy began, avoiding Saige’s almost break down.

Saige nodded, “There’s no escape” she began, looking pointedly around her. The two murmured their agreement.

“He said there are rules, that being one of them” The English girl put in, rubbing her hands against her bare arms.

“I don’t understand though, does he want us to sit tight while everyone tears each other apart?” Bad Boy said in disgust, the little English girl cast a quick scared glance around them.

Saige shook her head, “I think this is only the beginning”

Both sets of eyes shifted to her as soon as the words left her lips. But it made sense to her, although she didn’t want to admit it. But by what they had heard from their kidnaper, she had reason to believe it.

“He said there are ‘rules’ meaning more than one. And he also said ‘welcome to your new life’ I just don’t think this is it. He killed that boy back there for breaking a rule, why isn’t he killing everyone else?”

“Because he’s expecting it...” Bad Boy chimed in, clicking on to Saige’s thoughts too.

They all sat in silence for a few minutes, sharing anxious looks and thoughtful expressions.

Although what they had concluded sounded almost right, Saige couldn’t help but think there was still much more to it.

How long will he take it before he starts killing?

“I cant believe any of this, or understand it... One minute I’m at school, the next I wake up in this place...” English girl began, more to herself than anyone, “I just want to go home..” tears spilled over her vacant eyes, she wiped at them absently.

“We all do” a thick Russian voice put in.

Saige looked up to meet the new voice. It was the boy she had spotted earlier, with the girl in his lap. Now at closer range she could make them out more clearly.

He was tall and sturdy, with gray eyes and black hair. His features were exotic looking, somehow dark. His clothes were torn and bloodied like everyone else, his blazer barely still covering his sweat and blood dampened white dress shirt.

Under his arm, was the small blonde beauty he had been comforting. She was so petite and fragile looking, holding herself the same way as the little English girl seated next to Saige. Her blonde waves fell past her shoulders, cascading around what looked like a school uniform. Her tights had holes in them, grazes covered her knees and hands like many others.

It was her eyes that drew Saige in.

They too, were the same dark gray of the one two heads taller than her.

Saige knew before she asked, “Are you two related?”

The boy nodded his head, un-levelling his dark tawny hair. “Yes, Roza is my little sister” he answered in his thick Russian accent.

Roza stepped out of her brothers arms and took a step towards the three gathered on the ground. She looked to Saige pointedly, then back at her brother, a question in her eyes.

Saige felt more than uncomfortable being looked at like that.

“We saw you, over there” he lifted his thumb behind him, pointing to the centre of the room. “You know something”

He didn’t say it as if it were a question, but more so a fact. His strong gray eyes seemed scrutinizing. His sister looked expectantly at her brother, her fine eyebrows lifted in question.

He said something in Russian to her quickly while she listened intently. There was an air of hope in her soft face, which didn’t make Saige feel any better.

“We don’t know much more than anyone else” Bad Boy started, filling the strange silence, “Just that these people are being stupid” he looked at the crowds of people arguing and still failing to break the wall with their bodies. A frown formed between his eyes.

The Russian nodded his head in thought, scowling at the mobs of violence. His arm went protectively around Roza again.

Unexpectantly he pulled himself and his sister to sit in a now formed circle, on the cold concrete floor.

He looked uncomfortable, yet resolved as he held his hand out. “My name is Nikolai”

Saige shook his hand gently, glad to find two more rational people amongst the crowd, as dark as he seemed. “I’m Saige. Its nice to-“ she snapped her mouth shut and shook  her head.

“Not so nice of occasion” Nikolai finished with a hard nod, he held his hand out to Bad Boy.

But he wasn’t looking at the Russian, he was staring incredulously at Saige.

“Saige huh? You introduce yourself to the Russian before the guy who saved your life! Oh, my ego” he joked, though there was a tad of something else in his eyes.

“You never asked” Saige said stiffly, she held her hand out to the English girl.

“I’m Terri” she softly shook Saige’s hand then giggled as Bad Boy scoffed next to her.

Saige smirked too.

“Well everyone else, my name is Khan” Bad Boy introduced himself with a flourish of hands, he held Saige’s gaze, and “In case you were wondering” he added.

Saige rolled her eyes.

The circle of them fell silent, all eyes fell to the floor. Saige understood, though they had let up on their fear for moments, it couldn’t last. They were helpless and clueless. All vulnerable beyond any comprehension. Unable to understand their beings and what would happen.

Saige sighed deeply, feeling the darkness seep through her bones again. “Can anyone remember what happened before we ended up here?” she asked.

As one, they all shook their heads.

“Ill bet that was intentional” Khan said, rubbing his hands over his eyes. Saige couldn’t help but notice the flex of his big arms as he did so, when he opened his eyes she glanced away quickly, searching for a new topic.

Before she could speak, something else hit her hard. Dread coiled up on her like a snake on hunt, her breath fell short and her heart picked up pace in her chest.

She wasn’t the only one to notice, the others all fell silent too, with wide eyes and fear plain on all different faces.

It was silent, utterly silent.

Then the ground began to shake.

A slow vibration at first, then it became audible, as the concrete below began to crumble.

Everyone’s sharp intake of breath alerted Saige that it wasn’t just her that noticed.

She got to her feet slowly, pulling Terri up gently with her. Everyone followed, watching their surroundings in caution. As the sound grew stronger, fissures began forming in the concrete, the cracks only barely visible but growing bigger.

“Oh god..” Saige whimpered under her breath.

Below her a fissure was forming right between her legs, the zig zagged crevice becoming larger. She stared down at it, feeling the vibration of the quake in her bones.

Time seemed to slow as she met the eyes of her companions, all watching the hole form beneath her feet.

Then the voice came.

“Pleasantries are over” the voice echoed through the warehouse, static following from the surrounding speakers. “It begins”

Saige’s legs began parting further apart as she watched the fissure separate into two island pieces. Below her the hole grew, revealing a dense endless dark pit below her.

Her feet shook in her long black boots, her legs growing farther apart after every new vibration.

People began screaming, screams of nightmares. Fear had her paralysed.

Is this how I’m going to die?

The deep baritone voice of their kidnaper still echoed through the room and inside her head.

‘It begins’

Then Saige was screaming too.

Screaming at the top of her lunges.

“RUN!”



Chapter Four



“RUN!” Saige was screaming over and over again.

The muscles of her thighs began aching as her legs stretched further and further apart. The hole getter bigger, the darkness below growing more visible.

She looked up from her certain death, watching as Nikolai threw Roza over his shoulders and began running away. Khan was frozen, staring at the holes forming all around the room. Terri still clung to Saige’s left arm.

People began running towards the walls, some tripping over the now uneven ground. Metres of the concrete crumbled away, leaving gaping holes.

Saige watched with wide green eyes as the bodies of the dead began falling soundlessly into the black abyss below her. The headless corpse of the Sudanese boy began a slow rolling decent towards the fissure now connecting to the one below Saige.

“Saige!” Terri cried, letting loose on her arm. Her soft blue eyes wide in terror.

Saige couldn’t move, all her focus was on her balance. If she moved, she was sure to fall. If she stayed she was guaranteed certain death. She looked around with panicked eyes, knowing there was no use.

“Terri move!” Khan yelled, taking a few paces back from where he stood, eyes on the floor.

Saige looked to Terri’s wide eyes face, she looked around herself then glanced back at the hole.

“Terri, go to Nikolai and Roza” Saige said calmer than she thought possible right then. Terri shook her tear streaked face.

But Saige could see Nikolai and Roza across the room, they stood in a corner, away from the worst of the holes. Watching as people began falling to their screaming dooms.

“Please... Terri” Saige looked down at the hole again, screams of death sounded from below. She looked back up and saw Terri still standing frozen. “Terri! GO!” she screamed.

With that, Terri began a straight run for the others.

Thank god

The ground began rumbling again, like it was hungry for its victims. Saige swallowed hard as the ground at her feet started flaking away.

She looked up at Khan’s determined face and smiled weakly, “Now your turn Bad Boy” she flicked her head in the other direction, towards the others.

Khan scoffed and smirked, “You ain’t getting rid of me so easy”

Saige watched with a frown as he took a few more steps back, bracing himself for something. “What are you doing?” she asked, more than panicked by the look in his eyes.

“Don’t panic. I’m about to see how good my football skills are” he scuffed his combat boots across the crumpling floor.

Like a bull before charging.

Oh no!

Before Saige could get a word out he charged at her in haste, dust bellowing in his wake. Saige had just enough time to brace herself for a fall, when he hit her hard with a football styled tackle. Knocking her on the other side of the fissure.

With a whoosh, the air left her lunges. Her elbow hit the concrete hard, she cried out in sudden pain and surprise.

Before she could get over that surprise, Khan threw her over his shoulder with ease and raced away from the huge gaping hole.

In blinding speed and effort, she was put back on her feet, in front of Nikolai, Roza, Terri and a heavy breathed Khan.

“Jesus Christ...” Saige breathed, bending at the waist to get her breath.

“Think I could.. Still make the team?” Khan replied, smirking through his heavy panting.

Saige just shook her head incredulously, thankful for being alive and thankful for meeting the smart ass bad boy.

“Is everyone okay?” She asked quickly, checking her companions for injuries. They seemed okay, okay as they were before anyway.

But before they thought the worst was over, another round of quakes began.

They all caught a grip of the wall, to stop from falling. Looking back where they were before, Saige could see the fissure below her had split the room into two.

It made her sick to think she could have fallen to her death, there and then.

People were gathered on the other side, clinging to the wall there like she was. A quick count told her that close to 10 had fallen.

As she watched the rounds of new quakes began splitting the two islands into four. The deep rumble was terrifying, the gaping holes forming even deeper.

Then Saige saw something that caught her eye.

On the other side of their island, one of the unconscious bodies of a small female was slowly rolling into the depth of the largest hole.

“Saige!” four voices called.

But she was already making a run for the body, she wasn’t going to watch as it fell to death in such a helpless manner.

She made a mad leap for the other side, barely keeping her balance. Her name was called over again, but she kept running for the body as it rolled just inches before the hole.

Dark hands met hers as she just caught a hold of the body, helping her drag it away. As they reached one of the four corners of the room, Saige glanced up to lock eyes with the guy who helped her.

Apparently she hadn’t been the only person to notice the body falling.

“Thank.. You” Saige panted, already checking the stats on the body. She couldn’t see any injuries that could have shown why she was unconscious, which was strange.

“The roof is going to collapse any minute” came a rough foreign accent, from the dark skinned boy beside her.

Saige frowned, “How do you know that?” she asked cautiously.

“If these quakes are the same as I think they are. Then trust me they will” he answered, wary eyes watching the ceiling. When he turned back to her gaze, he must have read the question in her eyes, “I’m from Haiti”

“Oh” was all Saige could think to say.

She gripped the ground as another round of rumbling started, the room now officially set in quarters.

She looked up when her name was called again, Khan was watching from across the room, yelling her name with the others.

“I need to get to my friends. Can you help me with this body, she’s still alive. I couldn’t leave her” Saige glanced anxiously at the dark stranger, hoping he wasn’t one of the fist pounding ones.

His dark eyes seemed to appraise her for moment, searching for something she didn’t know. But then he nodded, “Okay”

Looking down at the unconscious girl, Saige thought she looked so peaceful, away from the disaster that surrounded her. She had caramel skin and long auburn hair, her eyes were restless behind her lavender lids.

She forced herself to look away, taking hold of her under her limp arms, while the Haitian took her legs. They carried her as far as the fissure allowed them, careful of their steps over the now rough and uneven terrain.

Khan looked more than anxious as they neared him, he looked like he was silently fuming too.

“Khan, do you think you could catch her?” Saige called out to him, already thinking a plan.

If they could somehow toss her over the gap, then they would be free to make a leap to other side, where her companions were clinging to the wall, watching with fearful eyes.

Khan seemed to have rolled his eyes before answering, “Of course”

Saige dug her heels in as the ground began to vibrate again. She looked to the dark boy opposite her, “Just be careful” she warned him.

He nodded his serious face, “On three” Saige took a deep breath.

She nodded, “One!”

“Two!” he called with her, swinging the limp body by her ankles.

They shared a long look before calling: “THREE!”

They both let the body fly over the huge fissure, watching with relief as she ended safely into Khan’s arms.

Saige turned back around to her partner, relief all over her face.

But something had changed in the Haitian. His eyes suddenly darkened, like shadows passing over him. His dark features seemed to quirk into something worse. His brow was creased in what looked like anger.

What did I do?

He took a step towards her, arms slowly raising to his sides. Saige took a step back, her eyes wide with shock.

The speakers of the warehouse gave an audible static sound, before their kidnapper began speaking.

His words were all that Saige needed to hear, she knew they were pointedly at her.

“Well done to those who have survived thus far” he said, his deep voice in and out of focus from the destruction around everyone. “Before we continue where we left off, I thought it was time for another rule. More advice than anything else” he cleared his throat, Saige’s eyes trained on the menace in front of her.

“Don’t trust everyone you meet”

His words echoed in Saige’s mind as she stared at the dark stranger who was now stepping deliberately towards her with raised hands.

Oh my god, he’s going to push me down

Saige began to panic, stepping as far away as she could. When her feet hit the edge of a long fall, she sucked in air.

He was still coming.

“Stop!” she cried, pleading into his dark soulless eyes.

His lip quirked up into a cold smirk, “Master commands me” he said, his voice almost robotic. He took another step, tilting his head in an animalistic way.

Master? What the hell?

“Khan!” she called, hoping like hell he could come to her rescue again.

Just as she called his name, she was thrown to the ground, the dark body pinned her down with the weight of his own.

She pushed and shoved, kicked out trying to get away. But his body was a vice, not releasing.

“Please.. Don’t do this!” Saige cried, looking into his shadowy eyes.

Something flashed in them, some sort of recognition. But as soon as it was there it was gone.

He began dragging her body over the ledge, Saige’s head was leant over the gap, and she could see the dark decent down. Her heart sped in her chest, audible in her ears.

She screamed, raking her hand across his face. He whipped his head back, avoiding the worst of it and pushed her further up.

Saige could barely hold her head up, her shoulders now hanging over the edge. The gap in the concrete bit painfully into her back. She reached her arms out, gripping for anything she could to stop falling.

The rock of concrete fell apart in her hands, she cried out as she lost her grip and began a further fall towards her death.

“No!” she cried, her voice thrown around the dark pit.

She gripped the ground again, taking a palm full of concrete slab.

With a cry, she threw her hand out to his face, smashing the slab over his brow.

There was a crack and a burst of blood, then he fell off her with a cry.

Saige lifted her exhausted body out of the hole and sprang to her feet, almost toppling over herself from dizziness. She reached her bloody hand to her forehead, trying to calm the worst of her blood rush.

She looked up just as Khan made a leap over to her, his arms free of the body he had retrieved. Once he reached her, his eyes gave her a quick up and down, lingering on her bloody hand.

“What the fuck?” he asked incredulously, staring down at the lifeless body of her assassinator.

I guess he didn’t see me nearly get killed..

Her legs felt weak, her whole body threatening to collapse. She was utterly exhausted and dehydrated.

She felt her legs give way, just as Khan’s strong hands caught her, “Whoa” he said, trying to steady her with his arms. He looked at her bloody hand once more, before throwing her up on his shoulder.

She didn’t complain, didn’t believe she would be able to walk at that moment without the help.

Saige closed her eyes against the ache in her head and body, against the terrible cries and screams around her. She felt Khan leap to the other side, felt when his heavy feet hit the ground below them.

She didn’t open her eyes again until she was near her companions.

“Saige!” Terri’s familiar English accent was good to hear.

“Thank god” Nikolai put in, relief in his Russian voice.

Saige was set on the ground carefully by Khan, she rested her back against the wall and took a deep calming breath.

“Why the hell did you go over there like that Saige?” Khan’s disapproving, angry voice stunned her. “And what the fuck happened to your hand? That guy too, you just cracked him in the head after he helped you?”

Saige stared into Khan’s intense icy blue eyes, imagining talking to her mother with the way he sounded.

She let out a lithe humourless laugh, “He was trying to kill me” she explained, not surprised to hear gasps of shock.

“Was he one of those ones from the start? The ones who were fighting earlier?” Terri asked in worried tone.

Saige met the serious eyes of everyone, she shook her head slowly, making sure each word counted. “He got a strange look in his eyes, like he changed into something... else. Then he tried to kill me, throw me right into that hole.

“I-I begged him to stop, I think he almost did..” she recalled that look in his eyes, “But then he said ‘My Master commands me’”

Nikolai seemed to absentmindedly pull his sister closer to his side, “I think we know who this Master is, my friends”

Saige nodded her head, meeting all their eyes again, “Just before I was attacked, that announcement came”

Twin amounts of frowns met hers, all looking crossly confused.

“What announcement?” Terri asked, a little V between her brow.

“We didn’t hear anything, the place was too loud with quakes” Khan offered, Saige nodded.

“Right before he tried to kill me that voice came on and said that it was time for another rule. He said it was more advice than anything.

“He said: ‘Don’t trust everyone you meet’”

Everyone looked evenly at each other and those left in the room.

Then as one, they all, including Saige, stared down at the unconscious girl lying at their feet.

“Shit” Khan cursed.

“What are we to do with this woman?” Nikolai asked warily, Roza silent under his protective wing.

Saige stared at the caramel skinned girl in front of her, the peaceful girl who slept through the whole disaster. Some part of Saige wished she too, had slept through it all.

Most of her just wished she wasn’t there at all.

“Guys...” she started, taking a deep breath before continuing. “Guys, I think we have to leave her or... kill her”