Page 8 of Alpha Chained
I grit my teeth to bite back a retort. It’ll only earn me another backhand – or worse. Once we pass through the fortified entrance, any hope of escape withers. The interior is all gleaming marble and polished wood – opulent but cold and impersonal. Like a museum more than a home. Not that there’s any pretense at that in this place. This structure may house people within its walls, but it is a home to nobody.
We move through a maze of corridors lined with ornate vases and sculptures, but the lavish decor can’t mask the chill that seeps into my bones. Grim-faced guards stand at every intersection, fingers poised too close to the triggers of their rifles for me to feel like there’s ever going to be a chance to make a run for it.
Then, our surroundings change. The hallways grow narrower, no more artwork now, and the marble floors shift to sterile white tile. Fluorescent lights buzz overhead, adding to the sense of being trapped in a hospital psych ward.
At last, we reach an imposing steel door, its surface crisscrossed with heavy reinforcing bars. A red light blinks ominously above the entrance. I eye it warily – whatever’s on the other side, it’s clearly something immensely strong and dangerous. Something they don’t want escaping.
Something like me.
One of the guards swipes a keycard, and the door groans open with a shriek of metal on metal. A wave of stale, musty air washes over me as I’m shoved into a dimly lit cell block.
Row after row of barred cells stretches out before me, most occupied by hunched, miserable figures. Some look human, others…decidedly not. I don’t get much chance to examine the occupants of the cells, however. My shoes scuff the bare concrete as I’m frogmarched by the guards to a cell near the end of the row.
Parker stops beside the door of the cell and jerks his head at it. One guard unlocks it and swings it open while the other shoves me inside. The heavy door clangs shut behind me with a boom of finality. I whirl around to find Parker’s flat gaze boring into me.
“You…you can’t do this!” I choke out. It seems inconceivable that anyone could do such a thing to another living creature. Then again, looking around me, the man in front of me does this all the time.
“I just did. Get used to it,” he says coldly. “This is your home now.” He glances down at a heavy silver wristwatch. “But there’s no time for more chit-chat now. I have things to do.” Without another word, he turns on his heel and strides away, leaving me standing with my mouth hanging open. You’d hardly think that he’d just turned my entire world upside down for all the importance he seems to give this incident.
The guards stand impassively for a moment or two before following in Parker’s footsteps.
Still standing, the silence bears down on me oppressively, broken only by the occasional snuffle or groan from the occupants of the neighboring cells. In some instances, they’re more like cages…holding creatures in captivity.
I stare in a daze at the heavy steel door to the cell block as it clangs shut behind Parker and the guards. The finality of it rings in my ears as I turn slowly to survey my new home.
It’s barely more than a concrete box – featureless gray walls, a bare floor, and a bunk with a thin mattress in one corner that I can only assume is meant to be my bed. A rusted metal toilet squats in the opposite corner, no privacy partition or anything.
This is freaking unbelievable!
I suppress a shiver as I look around at the other cells lining the hall. Some are occupied by strange, twisted shapes – beings that could have crawled straight out of a horror movie. Others hold magnificent, exotic creatures – a regal white tiger paces behind one set of bars, oblivious to my arrival. A flash of black and white catches my eye from further down the hall, and I stare at the bear that’s slumped on its haunches.
Is that…?
I shake my head in astonishment.
It can’t be!
“A freaking panda?!” My voice is hoarse. I can’t comprehend the kind of influence that could net these people such rare and endangered species. But for me, the most chilling of all are the cages that hold creatures that were once human. Werewolves and other shifters, seemingly locked in their animal forms.
“Like Cedara’s family…” I whisper to myself. I think back to how the she-wolf had been trapped in her beast form until everyone thought she’d never be human again. Now, I stare at a huge gray wolf that lifts its muzzle and regards me with dull eyes as I stare into its cell.
That could be me one day…
I shudder and look away, my stomach churning. This can’t be real. It has to be some sort of twisted nightmare. But the cold reality of the bars surrounding me tells me otherwise.
I’m trapped. Caged. Just another rare, exotic creature to be gawked at by whatever sadistic people are behind this hellhole.
God! How can this be happening?
Just this morning I was going about my regular routine in Steel Lakes, looking forward to the outdoor market this weekend. Now…now I’m locked away like a common criminal. Or worse – an animal on display.
Nearby, the wolf whines softly, as if echoing my despair. I sink down onto the hard bunk, chest heaving as I fight back the tears that threaten to spill over. I can’t lose it, not now. I have to stay strong, have to figure a way out of this nightmare…
I turn my gaze to the cell next to mine. It’s empty but incredibly tidy – the thin blankets are folded with military precision at the foot of the cot, and the stainless steel toilet and sink gleam as if they’ve been polished daily. There’s a small table and chair to one side. Whoever lives in this cell clearly has a few more comforts than the rest of us.
It has to be a human or someone…like me.
Who, though?