Midnight Fire - Rise of the Dark Angel - Book One (18 page)

             
“Okay Sarge,” Tom said
and
they took her out the door
,
to another
building. “You’
re a real peach
,
aren’t you
?
S
adly
,
it seems the
sergeant
wants you for himself. It could be worse
, little girl. Y
ou could do a lot
worse
than being one of the sergeants girls,” the man said with a laugh.

             
“Man, doesn’t he have enough wom
en,” the other man said
with a pout to his voice. Tom looked around nervously at his
friend's
words.

             
“Are you trying to get us killed
,
d
umb ass?” Tom said in a whisper
,
as they continued to move forward.

             
“Sorry,” the man mumbled
,
then they were both quiet. They took her into a filthy place she would
n’t even have animals reside in
and she couldn’t keep the look of contempt from her face.

             
“You don’t like the
accommodations
, P
rincess?” Tom said with a laugh. She put her head down so he couldn’t
read her expression. She may have looked as if she’
d given up
but
if they knew the power cour
sing through her veins
,
they’
d be shaking in fear.

             
“Strip down
and get in the s
howers,” the other soldier said
and she had to repress the shudder
wanting
to pass through her. She was in no way afraid to be naked with the
men;
she just wanted to get to the place
where she could stage her break
out, without killing them
first
. She didn’t want to blow her cover. “Take them off or I’
ll do it for you,” he said when she hesitated. She could tell by the sound of his voice
he’
d enjoy stripping her.

             
She moved away from th
em
and
began taking her clothes off
,
with
her back to the men. She could
hear
their heartbeat
s
speed
up as her clothes fell from her body. She knew she was perfe
ct, as all
angel
bodies were
.
She coul
d feel how much they wanted her
and
was
disgusted
by it
.

             
“Turn around,” Tom told her with lust in his voice. She slowly did as h
e demanded, her head still down
as if she was completely humiliated
. “Oh
,
you’
re a true gem
,
aren’t you?” he said huskily.
“Damn, I wish we hadn’t
gone
to the
sergeant
first,” he finished, as he gripped his hands
tightly
against his sides.

             
“He wouldn’t know if we tested her out,” the other man said with hope.

             
“I’
m tempted, believe me
,
but
he’
d know. You remember what happened to Frank,” Tom said with fear in his voice. S
he watched as both men shivered
,
then averted their eyes from her body. Tom reached over and started the shower in the filthy, open stall. He pushed her inside, where the water was still cold. It didn’t affect her
but
it would’ve been
agonizing
for
a human.

             
Each of the men poured soap onto brushes with long handles and started scrubbing her as she stood under the c
old spray. They weren’
t gentle
and she could imagine some of the humans walked away bruised and humiliated.
Of course,
the soldier’s
entire purpose was to cause as much pain and humiliation as they could.

             
When th
e men felt she was clean enough
they produced a
towel
that was
surprisingly
clean
and she quickly
wrapped
it around herself. They continued to
leer
at her
as she stood before them, barely covered up.

             
“Man, she’
s almost worth the risk of death,” Tom said, before he dug
into
a box and produced a sack
-like
dress and handed it to her. She placed it over her head, grateful to get away from their prying eyes, though the sack didn’t cover
up much.
It
would do nothing to protect someone from the cold. She figured it was one more
barrier
to prevent
prisoners
from trying to
escape. Keep them starved, cold
and defeated and they wouldn’t put up much fight.

             
The men
marched her back out the doors
,
barefoot
and barely covered
and she had to remember to act uncomfortable because a human would be really miserable at that point
.
The men were snickering at what they perceived as her misery.

             
“Here’s your new home
, P
rincess,” Tom said with
a
laugh she was really starting to hate. She looked around the
horrific
room. She stepped through the doorway
and
thankfully the two men didn’t
follow
. There was a filthy floor
, no furniture
and another door leading into a dark room. It was tiny
but
she knew people
were
in
there
.

             
She didn’t know how many people
but
she could
hear
the silent
tears falling down their cheeks. S
he could practically taste their fear. She knew they were praying the men wer
e
n’
t coming to get one of them
and she understood why they felt that way.

             
“Don’t make yourself too comfortable because I have a feeling the boss will be wa
nting you right away,” Tom said
, then
shut and locked the door behind her. She almost laughed at the pathetic enclosure
but
she needed
time to speak to the women
and she didn’t
want the soldiers stepping back
inside
. She took a deep breath and prepared to head into the other room, feeling the terror coming from the women
,
knowing it was going to take every bit of her convincing to get them to do as she asked.

             
I was really excited since it was another picking day. I was getting good at it. My brother was finally letting me go out on my own. Well, not completely on my own but he wouldn’t be there to babysit me, which was cool. I was fourteen and got sick of him treating me like I was five.

             
I knew there were bad people out there. My parents and John drilled it into my head every chance they got. I was finally beginning to realize the world as I knew it was over. I stopped asking mom when we’d get to go home. She always looked so sad when she thought about everything she’d left behind. I knew she spent a lot of time in the animal area. She got excited when new
animals
were born, even though dad reminded her not to get attached.

             
“Are you ready to head out?” Sadie asked as she joined me at the table.

             
“Of course.
John’s not going to be trailing behind us
all
day.
Ugg, he’s so overwhelming at times,” I told her.

             
“He’s only that way because he loves you so dang much. If I didn’t have you in my life
,
I’d really hate being an only child,” Sadie said.

             
“You’re not an only child because you’re my sister,” I told her.

             
“
Hurry up and cram that
down your throat. I’m anxious to get going,” Sadie said. I piled the rest of breakfast down
,
then jumped up to
go get
change
d
. We rushed back out to the tunnel entrance, where John was waiting, of course.

             
“Okay,
here’s the rules
. You’re in no way to come even close to the perimeters. You’ve picked enough times now to know where you can and can’t go. If you break the rules, you won’t
be able to go out on your own
again
. Do you understand?” John got right to the point. I wanted to make a snappy come back but didn’t think
it
would earn me any points.

             
“I totally understand and I promise to be on my best behavior,” I told him. He looked at me like he still didn’t trust me. He was right to be suspicious, of course, as I got so tired of always being told what to do. Heck, he was only nineteen, barely an adult, yet he acted like my dad.

             
“Well, I guess you can get going but keep your radio on the entire time. If I can’t get ahold of you, I’m going to freak out,” he warned.

             
“I promise we’ll be smart. I love you tons,” I told him. I quickly jump
ed up and kissed him on the cheek
, then grabbed Sadie’s hand and rushed outside. The warm sun shining on my face was positively heavenly. Neither of us stopped running for at least fifteen minutes. The further we got away from the cave
,
the happier we felt.

             
We were grateful for the sanctuary
of the cave
but freedom was unbelievable. I hoped
there was a time in our future
when
we could once again be free. It would be so nice to walk anywhere we wanted. The thought of strolling down a sidewalk and stepping into an
ice-cream
shop was beyond appealing.

             
“I miss ice cream,” I said. Now that I’d thought of it, I couldn’t get the cold treat
from
my
mind
. A Dairy Queen Oreo Blizzard sounded sinful.

             
“Oh, Phoenix, I so wish you hadn’t said that. Now, I’m going to be thinking ab
out ice cream all day long. I’
ll most likely dream about it and wake up crying,” Sadie said overdramatically.

             
“It’s funny,
cause
those little things in life are the things I miss the most. I took such advantage of everything. If we ev
er get back
to the real world, I promise to never take advantage of anything again,” I said, meaning every word.

             
“I agree. I remember when I was envious of other kids at school when they’d get something new I really wanted. Heck, I’d give up computers, phones, even
television for a long bubble bath with music playing in the background,” Sadie said with a sigh.

             
“Well, there’s no use in us crying about it. Let’s get to work or John’s never going to let us come out here again,” I said. John must
’
ve known we were
talking
about
him
cause
he suddenly came over the radio.

             
“How are you girls doing?” he asked. I looked at Sadie with rolling eyes before pushing the button.

             
“We’re fine, John. Gosh, we’ve only been gone for a little while. We’re getting close to our first picking spot,” I told him, making sure my tone wasn’t disrespectful.

             
“Okay, good to hear. If you have any problems, let me know,” he once again had to point out.

             
“Will do.
Over and out,” I told him a bit dramatically. I could imagine he was grimacing at the radio. We picked for about a half hour, visiting and enjoying the sun when we heard a noise from some bushes not far away.

             
We both looked at each other with fright in our eyes. Unexpected noises were
definitely
cause
for alarm. Our area was secure. We had soldiers posted all over the place but what if someone had managed to slip in. I understood a bit more why John worried so much. My hand reached for the radio and I barely managed to stop myself from calling
for
my brother.

             
If I called him up, freaking out over something stupid, he’d use that to say I wasn’t ready to be out on my own. I had to be brave. I looked at Sadie and then the b
ushes. I started walking toward
them. Sadie grabbed my shirt and shook her head at me. She was silently telling me to get the heck away. I knew I should but I wanted to see what was in there.

             
Sadie finally gave up and trailed behind me. She’d have my back even if I was a moron. That was one of those great things about best f
riends. They’d be the first one
to follow you
,
no matter how idiotic you were being.

             
We approached the bush and heard a whimpering sound. We knew it could be a trap but couldn’t turn
away. We’d already gotten close
and if someone wanted to attack us we weren’t going to get away
,
so we were committed at that point.

             
I reached my hand out, starting to part the bush and heard a small growl. My stomach climbed into my throat and I immediately backed up, starting to think I’d really blown it now. Maybe I should call John for back-up. I was sure he wasn’t t
o
o far away.

             
Before I could reach for my radio I heard the whimpering again and squared my shoulders. I’d never be able to rest if I didn’t see what the heck was in there. That old saying about curiosity killing the cat should
’
ve said curiosity killed Phoenix
be
cause I felt like I had to
investigate
.

             
Sadie was so terrified she was shaking. I hoped she’d still want to go picking with me after this. I needed her to help me keep sane. I quickly pushed the bushes aside again, further this time. There, on the ground, growling at me was an adorable puppy.
He
was trying to look fierce but couldn’t have weighed more than ten pounds.
He
looked like
he
had a cut on
his
leg.
He
was trying to back away from us but was too hurt to do so.

             
“Oh, aren’t you the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” I said, talking quietly to the injured animal and reaching my hand out in a non-threatening manner. He was still growling but not in a
frightening
manner and he had nowhere to go so he stayed there
,
looking at us with huge, scared eyes.

             
“We won’t hurt you, Love,” Sadie said.
I finally got my hand close enough for him to sniff. He tentatively put his nose out and took a whiff. When I didn’t try and hurt him, he finally flicked his little, pink tongue out and gave me a kiss. I was completely in love.

             
“We’re going to take you back to my mom. She’ll fix you up as good as new,” I said in the same soothing tone. I started petting his head, eventually reaching his back. My eyes filled up when I realized how skinny he was. He looked as if he hadn’t eaten in a really long time.

             
My mom had taught me
how to behave with frightened animals. I wanted to immediately pick h
im up but I had to make sure I
earned his trust
,
first. He was already terrified and I didn’t want him to bite me out of fear. He was too small to do any damage but it would get him all worked up and he didn’t need that.

             
“We aren’t supposed to have pets,” Sadie said, though she was petting him too. There was no way either of us
could
leave the helpless animal
in the woods
to starve.

             
“Mom will figure it out. I’m sure we can find something for him to do. I wonder how he got all the way out here,” I asked aloud.

             
“I think he came to brighten our day,” Sadie said, finding a positive spin.

             
“You’re so correct,” I agreed. I slowly picked
up
his fragile body and cuddled him close to my chest. He let out a
yelp
when I brushed against his leg but he didn’t try
to
bite me. It seemed he was simply too weak to resist.

             
“It’s okay, sweetie, we’re going to get you better,” I whispered as
we started the walk back toward
the cave. “I’m not going to radio John until we get back and hand the puppy over to mom. I don’t want him to try and tell me no,” I told Sadie.

             
“I think that’s a good idea,” she agreed. We quickly made our way back inside, taking one of the longer routes, hoping to avoid everyone. We really lucked out
be
cause we made it to my room without
incident
.

             
“Go find my mom. I’ll wait here with him,” I told Sadie. She nodded her head and took off. It didn’t take them more than a few minutes to get back. They stepped through the door and mom
’
s eyes zeroed in on the puppy in my arms.

             
“I know we’re not supposed to have pets, Mom, but I found him in the bushes and he’s hurt. We couldn’t just leave him,” I pled with her to understand. She immediately dropped to her knees by my bed.

             
“Oh, you’re just a precious thing, aren’t you?” she said as she ran her hands over his body. When she came to his injured leg, he let out a whimper but didn’t growl at her. “Let’s take him to my work room. Throw a blanket over him so no one stops and asks questions,” she said. I think she was enjoying the forbidden mission
,
too. We got so bored in the caves and it was kind of fun to break a rule.

             
We quickly made our way down the
corridor
and to her office without
a problem
. She placed the puppy on her table and gave him some sort of shot for pain and then began working magic on his leg. His eyes seemed to be thanking her. His tongue flicked out and
gently
licked my hand
.

             
“What are we going to do with him?” I asked her. I was so afraid she was going to throw him back outside.

             
“We can set up a bed for him with the other animals. I’ll talk to your father tonight,” she told me. I knew she wouldn’t let anything
happen
so relief flooded through me.

             
Mom talked to dad, and he wasn’t happy about it but of course our puppy got to stay. I named him Patch
be
cause he had
a dozen
spots
all over
him. Soon, all the kids found out about
Patch and made every excuse to play with him. Dad saw how much happiness he brought to the kids and soon
Patch
was free to run all around the cave. He never went without a warm bed to sleep
in
. He’
d paw on a door and the lucky person would be excited to let him in. It was another
moment
of hope in our lives.