CHAPTER 6
Sofia had ignored the plate of food for hours, but the rumblings of her stomach had become overwhelming. She crawled across the cool floor eying her meal. Despite the fact that the meat and carrots had been sitting there for hours, she still looked at the food with ravenous intent.
And Sofia hated herself for it.
Bringing herself to eat her meals was one of the several insufferable tasks that she endured on a daily basis. Although it wasn’t as physically invasive as her other “obligations”, she found her meals surprisingly unsettling.
She wished she could let herself starve. She wished that she could let herself die and end the misery. It’d been months, months of relentless pain.
But she couldn’t do it. Even if she had the guts, Father wouldn’t let her. He would realize that she’s starving herself, and he would force feed her. He would shove food into her with his grubby hands.
There was something in Sofia that didn’t let her even attempt a stunt like that. She considered that it was the innate human drive to survive at all costs. Even if every day was painful, she couldn’t fathom dying. She couldn’t comprehend the world fading away to black forever. Day after day of Father forcing himself onto her wore away at her will, but she did hold out some hope that things could change. Some days she even believed that they would let her go if she just played along.
Those hopes faded after every outburst from Father. He struck her, something that he hadn’t done in weeks, and Sofia’s dreams became bleak. Her drive to escape and survive can’t be the sole reason why she’s held out this long.
It might have something to do with her overwhelming adoration for Eli.
Eli is special.
The thought floated through her mind all the time. Her experiences with the infant were beyond comprehension for her – especially given her current mental state. She couldn’t understand why she was drawn to the baby.
It must be biology. Even though she didn’t give birth to Eli, she breastfed him dozens and dozens of time. It had to be the intimacy of nursing the child that drew her to the baby.
That explanation didn’t feel good enough. There was more to it. He was a flawless infant. His skin was so smooth, so soft, and his eyes drew you in. There was an aura around Eli that made the baby feel like so much more.
So she couldn’t let herself die; she couldn’t abandon Eli with the three savages. She had to care for him and nurse him. She could sense his potential to grow up into someone special. He could grow into a person that surpasses this godforsaken hell hole.
She was sitting with her back to the wall, one hand still handcuffed to the pipe, and she balanced the plastic plate on her lap. She ate the carrots first, the taste of the vegetable was rich and explosive. She could almost feel the vital nutrients being lapped up by her body.
She reluctantly approached the slab of meat on her plate. The food looked unappetizing, a result of it sitting for hours. Even if it was eaten straight off the stove, there was still something wrong with the meat. It was abnormally tender. It looked like a muscular cut of beef. She knew it wasn’t beef.
Her starving, pregnant body could not resist; she longed for even the disgusting food offered to her. Sofia sank her teeth into the tough entree, and she ripped off a large bite. She chewed dozens of times before she swallowed it. It had an interesting taste, similar to pork, but it wasn’t pork. She knew it.
She tried not to think about it. She had enough problems to worry about.
Without a further thought, she pushed her speculation to the back of her mind and devoured the meat. She needed to eat; she couldn’t help herself. Whether she liked it or not, she ate what she was served.
Within a couple minutes, she tossed the empty plastic plate across the room. Disgusted with herself and her life, she curled up in a ball and hoped she could fade away to sleep.
* * *
Danny stirred from his light sleep at the sound of his name.
“Danny, are you awake?” He heard Victoria whisper then the sound of his tent slowly being unzipped.
Danny blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Danny mumbled. She had finished opening up the tent, and they could faintly see each other’s faces through the darkness. Danny looked to his left noticing that Ryan had rolled over, away from them.
“I don’t know where Thad is.”
“What do you mean?”
“He went to the bathroom a while ago – I’m not sure how long ago, I kind of dozed off – but he hasn’t come back.” She trailed off. Danny let out a half chuckle, but she sounded concerned.
“If Thad went to take a shit then give him a few more minutes. He takes forever when he goes to the bathroom, at least twenty minutes when he’s quick.”
“In the woods? You really think he’s going to squat in the woods for half an hour?” She kind of laughed, but she was clearly concerned.
“I don’t know. It’s Thad.” Danny gave a half shrug.
“There was something else.” She hesitated. “I think I heard someone out there yell, out in the woods. That’s what woke me up in the first place.”
There was a long silence. Someone yelled? Danny didn’t know what to do with that information.
“So you think something happened to Thad?”
“Maybe. I really don’t know, but he’s been gone for a long time.”
“Fuck.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
Danny could see that Vic was shaken up. She was tired and confused, not that Danny was feeling any differently.
“It’s fine. We can go look for him. Maybe he got lost trying to find a place to go to the bathroom. He lost track of what way to get back to the clearing or something.”
“Okay,” she nodded, unconvinced.
Danny sat up from his sleeping bag and grabbed his backpack. He hastily pulled out his flashlight before putting his shoes and socks back on. He tapped Ryan on the side inciting a grumble.
“Ryan, me and Vic are going for a walk. We think Thad might have gotten lost. We’ll be back soon.”
Ryan’s eyes flickered. He nodded, faintly recognizing what Danny said. Danny climbed out of the tent and zipped it shut behind him.
I’ll be back in a few, no big deal. Danny kept himself calm. We’re just going for a quick walk, and we’ll find Thad along the way.
Danny and Vic turned their flashlights on. They looked around the clearing, before Danny pointed the way they originally came from earlier in the day.
“That way?” Danny asked.
“Sure.” Vic said with a shrug, hiding her concern. They had no plan.
They started their walk towards the woods.
* * *
Thad mindlessly wiggled his arms, as he failed to raise his subdued hands towards his head. His whole body tingled; he couldn’t feel the ice cold ground that was lying on. Instead, he felt like he was floating.
As he woke up in a semi-conscious haze, his eyes squinted at the gray ceiling. He was fading in and out, and the little brain power he could use failed to process any of the new information.
What the fuck is wrong with my head?
His first coherent thought was brought about by the searing headache that overcame him. He grimaced then howled in pain. Once again, he tried to rub his head. This time, he became conscious of the fact that his hands were tied together behind his back. He was suddenly aware of his predicament.
“Where the fuck am I?” Thad said to nobody.
Still flat on his back, Thad’s eyes darted across the ceiling. Seeing nothing of interest, he scooted onto his side, and then into a sitting position.
He nearly hit his face on a cold carcass of meat that descended from the ceiling on a metal hook. Thad muttered expletives that conveyed his confusion, and he began scooting backwards until his back abruptly hit a freezing wall.
Thad shivered. Just like the pain had brought him to his senses, the cold wall made him acutely aware of how fucking freezing the entire room was.
His eyes settled on the meat – and it was a lot of meat. It looked like a torso of a large animal, maybe a cow. Who fucking cared?
Thad looked to the side, there was another carcass that hung on a hook, but it was partially cut up. Someone had started cutting up that one. There were several empty hooks; the freezer could comfortably hold ten or twelve more if they had the stock.
Wait.
A freezer.
Why the hell am I in a freezer?
Tied up in a freezer.
Thad’s head ached. He wanted to slam his head back into the wall, he wanted to do anything that would make it stop. He leaned forward and let out another mindless groan. As he opened his eyes, he saw that there was a small pool of blood that had been smeared across the floor of the freezer.
Like he was struck by lightning, Thad remembered the attack. A fucking psycho jumped him, but he had gotten away. He got the fatass off of him by yanking his thumb! Then what happened? That was a blur. And somehow he ended up in a fucking freezer with a bleeding head. He yanked with both hands, struggling against the zip ties.
“Where the fuck am I?” Thad channeled his pain into a shout.
He heard nothing except the sound of his voice reverberating off the walls.
____
Next Chapter: Vic and Danny’s search!
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Tom Chambers 