Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Remove the sac from their heads and the chains too"  a voice said, it sounded like the owner was a male

I heard muffles and shuffles, the sac was lifted off my head roughly, and my vision was blurry, trying to adjust to the environment

The room had little light in it, the was only a window which was on top of the ceiling, _I was able to see clearly

"Where am I," a voice said, I looked around and was surprised by the number of people in the room_we were tightly packed, there was no space for movement, and people were on top of each other_something snapped in me,

Jenny!!

Where was she?_my heart was beating furiously, my head turning right to left in search of Jenny, and my legs had gone numb putting me at a huge disadvantage

I began panicking, where was she? my gaze landed on her, and a feeling of relief washed over me

I found her!!

Sluggishly made my way towards where she sat, slamming my body with the sweaty ones of the people hindering me, she looked out of place, _ her gaze landed on mine, I forced a smile at her

Slowly opening my arms to receive her,  her body clashed with mine aggressively hugging me tightly

"April," she said with tears, I gently patted her head

"Bring them out" the boss's eyes roamed around looking pleased.

A lot of people both toddlers, old people,  adults and teenagers like me and Jenny were here, even little children.

They were ruthless.

Five guards rushed into the room, picking and throwing people aggressively out of the room, they had no sympathy for the old ones, _the young youth struggled to get out from their grip but we were brutally beaten up

A guard walked towards me, he threw me out of the room, I landed hard on the floor, my back kissing the floor, my breathing hitched, my body trembled helplessly, I knew I was screwed

I watched the beautiful sky, the birds chirping happily, the cool breeze slapping my face, I wanted to stay that way,

I stood up, dusting my body in the process, Jenny was at the other side

I quickly stood up and went to Jenny's side, she dusted herself and stood up.

"Are you okay" I stared at her looking worried

"Yeah....sure I can manage, where are we," Jenny said looking round

We were on a field, a wide one_ remember I said this was the wasteland, for some reason the field had green grasses,  the wasteland had no green trees or grasses, it was filled with metals and chemicals, to find a place like this in the wasteland was out of place, I have never seen a green grass before only in books, _the grasses looked better than the ones in books, they were green and full of life, the air here was also pure, free from chemicals in it, which was common in the wasteland

Mum would love to see this, my mood soiled remembering that mum was no longer here with us.

Over eight hundred people were here, everyone looking around in excitement forgetting they were imprisoned including the old people, we were so happy to have this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

"Don't waste my time move humans"  a grumpy man who looked like he was in his late thirties said,  he looked like a pumped balloon,  he had a bald head and he was the first ugly guard I had ever come across with.

Instead of following his orders, everyone scattered like birds who were being pursued,  including me and Jenny we could not help it,  we were all terrified. The guards looked unfazed as if used to it, he swiftly picked us up one after the other, they said nothing after tossing us roughly into a truck

We were smashed like sardines inside the truck I felt suffocated.

The truck finally stopped, we had been moving for hours, and the door to the truck slowly opened.  a good amount of cool breeze rushed in.

A blue barrier was in front of us, with five elite guards guarding it, 

We all came down from the truck in an arranged order, _we entered into the barrier to the other side, _what I saw was not what I was expecting, we were in a desert, _And I was not able to get a good view of the place, a big sack was placed on my head, again!

The sack was removed, and I found myself in a hall,

A lady stood in front waiting to address us, she was very tall, had pale skin which complimented her plumpy lips, her hair was tied upwards,  she wearing an office suit, it was red, she was also wearing a white gown, she was beautiful.

The hall was rowdy and noisy, a guard pressed a red button, and a loud sound was heard this seemed to calm everyone because the hall was as quiet as a graveyard.

"Before we welcome you into our world we are going to teach you how to live in it" The lady's voice was soft and sweet

"We call our home The Triumph" she paused and wore the glasses she asked for earlier

"We live according to our class and powers, we have the elite which is the lowest, then there is the vanguard and lastly the knights and then the Prince of War,  that is all there is to know," she said with a blank face

"People from the wastelands are entertainment to us, it's still a wonder that you don't fight for your rights, well I don't blame you, people, after up you are up against a strong dimension," she said proudly, I have never felt so humiliated in my entire life

"We get amused when we see beings like us the only difference is that you beings are powerless,  people from wasteland are in high demand in the black market, you are good for business," she said nonchalantly everyone began murmuring,  are we going to be sold off as pets???

"You all are going to be grouped according to your gender" it was hard to take in whatever was going on,  even if we wanted to escape that was impossible everyone felt so tired and hopeless,  there was no shine in anyone's eyes including the little ones who looked the most stressed.

The five guards started separating the males from the females,  I made sure I held Jenny's hand  as two of the elite led us out of the room, they lead us to another large room which looked exactly like the last one the only difference was that this one was a little bit neater, two female guards,

They walked in majestically, what they wore was completely different from what the tall lady wore I thought they dress like each other,  the shorter one left her hair loose which was reaching her waist she had creamy skin which complimented her v-shaped face,  her eyes where round and approachable,  she looked kind,  she had flat red lips which moved elegantly as she spoked. She was beautiful and very skinny she looked like a real-life barbie,  she wore a long straight pink gown which had a very large bow at the back she looked cute in it.

The second lady had an average height she had a white skin that resembled that of snow, that was it she was just white she was wearing the dress as the  short one the only difference was the colour,  her gown was red

"Separate yourself according to your ages," the short one said as she moved around to see what we were doing I felt obliged to do so,  I was only a year older than her so we stayed together,  the adults and young ones including the old ones where divide and the tallest lady began counting us

"Five hundred and sixty,  not as much as the former badge" she frowned

" take fifty of them to market both the children and the old ones also," she told the short one

"And take the remaining ones to the washroom" after saying that she left,  it was so obvious that she was the one at the top

"Okay madam," the short one said

She took ten old women, ten children, ten adults and twenty teenagers, I  just felt so relieved when Jenny and I were not counted among the first badge

She took them out of the room, the teenagers who knew what was going to happen to them starts crying,  the young ones were exhausted from crying earlier they looked like they were going to pass out any moment from now.

Another lady came in and announced that we follow her in a group of hundred to take our bath.

When it was my turn, we were taken into a big bathroom which contained a hundred of us,  we were instructed to remove our gowns and we did as we were told to.

We were moved to another large room, they surprisingly gave us good food to eat, and it wasn't a small portion either, I felt uneasy,  why were we given the special treatment it didn't sit quite well to me,  was it because we were going to be auctioned I thought to myself.

We all ate in silence one lady was causing a commotion.

"Why should we do this" she shouted at the top of her voice

"I want to go home," she said as she tried struggled to exit the room

"My children are waiting for me," she said in a pleading voice,  she was right and she was the only one bold enough to speak up, the hall became noisy

"Yes we demand freedom, why do you people treat us like animals," someone among the crowd said

the elite soldiers said nothing,  they completely ignored them

"Let me through" she tried to push through but to no avail

"Hey, am talking to you let me through I have the right to go where ever I want to" the woman bursted out angrily, they still ignored her which made her more furious,  she rolled her hair up and took the fork from her plate, she rushed to where they stood and tried to stab one of them before she took the fork to execute her plan she was killed by one of them,  the hall was suddenly quiet as if on cue the lady with white skin walked in she looked at the lady who was laying lifeless on the floor and turned to the soldiers

"You broke another one," she said with no remorse

"She broke the rule" he simply said

"Oh well, they would be shipping in the next one by the week, and they got it big," she said proudly,  I felt so humiliated, now I understand how it feels to the fishes in the sea when they get caught by a fisherman, I suddenly lost my appetite I passed my food to jenny in case she wanted some I noticed that she had not even touched hee too now that I thought of it she wasn't being herself, she was oddly quiet I know it would in this situation but I felt it was not because of it.

We were taken to where we would spend the night there was no bed or any soft cloth where we could lay our heads or cover ourselves and the room was exposed,  I was expecting something like this but after the special treatment I thought it was also going to be the same but I was not disappointed.

I quickly picked a good spot for me and jenny, she sluggishly followed me from behind. She sat down on the floor with a hard thump

"Jenny are you alright," I said with a concerned look

"April," she said then began sobbing,  she hugged me tightly

"Mum..mum," she said in between sobs, I knew what she was about to say, I was also sad, but in situations like this we need to be strong, that is what she would want us to do

I don't know how she died because I was knocked down, I did not also want to know, for some reason I was the cause of her death

"Mum is in a better place now" this made jenny cry even more

"........"

"I swear"

"Don't you want to know why she died" Jenny wiped her tears, her voice still trembling

I didn't know what to say, I wanted to know at the same time I did not want to know, it was cowardly of me, I know but I just can't bring myself to accept the truth about mum's death

" mum died trying to save us, she was killed in cold blood" jenny cut me, I felt chills down my spine I could not cry, I could not laugh I only looked at Jenny who was still in my embrace

"B....but....how ? she was at home sleeping,  it's....just not possible" I tried to reason with jenny

"April I was there,  I saw it with my eyes"  She tried to convince me

"But.....how is it possible"

"Maybe because she woke up to find us missing and began searching for us...maybe" she used the back of her hand to wipe her running nose

If only I had known I would not have gone there, its all my fault I didn't think it through before embarking on a journey that had zero percent success, I got us captured it...all my fault I thought to myself as I rubbed my face with my hand

"It's not your fault," Jenny said as if reading my mind

"You tried to help mum, how is that your fault, instead blame the elite we did nothing absolutely nothing to deserve all this,  they took everything from us,  first it was our home then our dad and now..........they also took mum and the want to take our lives is it a crime being human" jenny wailed uncontrollably one could tell she was in pain.

"It could have been avoidable if only I had not gone"

"Sooner or later they would have found us or we would have no choice but to look for help for mum, how is it your fault" jenny said as she moved hair strands away from her face

"Please don't lose your resolve, April you are the only one I have left,  we need to survive this together" jenny pleaded holding my hands tightly like it was her salvation

A guard came in to check in on us, everyone was already sleeping, we were the only ones awake, we pretended to be asleep,

He looked around and went back, I released my breath that I did not know I was holding before.