Filthy Secret

I move closer, directing my attention to the kind woman from earlier.

“Aren’t you going to help her?”

A look passes between her and Travis but neither of them utter a word.

It’s then Travis’s earlier words choose this moment to resurface in my mind, “It’s only a matter of time before I get a turn with you.” Could that be what his intentions are with the woman? If so, I don’t plan on standing by and watching as she’s carried off so he can have a turn with her. I rush over to them, blocking the door, ignoring the splitting headache that builds in my head.

“Get out of the way, Miss Sutter. This doesn’t concern you,” Travis orders.

“No!” I shout and place my hands on my hips. “Wherever you’re taking her, she obviously doesn’t want to go.” My confidence falters slightly when he turns, and I realize at this distance I don’t recognize the woman. After three hundred plus days, I know almost everyone. I should have at least seen her once or twice, but she’s not familiar. I shrug it off. It’s highly possible I haven’t seen or met everyone who’s left here at the airport, but it doesn’t matter because the wild fear in her eyes tells me she doesn’t want this, which is more important than if I know her. It gives me the courage to stand up against this wall of muscle. “Put her down,” I demand.

Travis looks from me to the kind woman from earlier. She nods. It’s still unclear who she is to him and Sergeant Carisi, but now is not the time to ask. “Very well,” he says, and drops the panicked woman to the floor.

My gasp becomes a knot in my throat at his spiteful action, and I crouch down to check on her. “Are you okay?” Her eyes go wide as they drift from Travis to the other woman. With a quick whispered, “Thank you,” she sprints from the room.

I cross my arms as I stand and turn to confront them both. “Someone needs to tell me what’s going on.”

“You want to know what we do here?” the woman asks.

I hesitate, thinking back to the blood they took from me and what the sergeant had said about a reproductive division of the government. The memory sends a chill up my spine and I glance toward the neon exit sign. It calls out to me like a firefly in the middle of the night. But I know running would be the easy way out. “Yes, I do. I think everyone here needs to know.”

“Great, you can take Darla’s place. Show her the way, Travis,” the kind woman says, turning on a heel and heading back toward her microscope.

A grin spreads across his face, splitting it from ear to ear. “My pleasure.” Opening the door, he waves a hand between us. “After you.”

Glancing between them, I pause, suddenly wondering if I should reconsider my bravery until Travis gives me a slight nudge against my back. Knowing I can’t make my way around him toward the exit, I take my chances and move forward, slowly stepping through the doorway and into a dimly lit hallway.

My eyes take some time to adjust to the darker space. When they do, I notice rows of metal shelves on either side of me. Each hold what appears to be medical supplies and it saddens me to think there’s a place such as this when, not but twelve hours ago, my fiance lay dying on the floor.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Travis says, his warm breath skimming across my ear. “None of this stuff could have helped him. Once the toxic fumes settled into his lungs, and the foreign chemical absorbed any oxygen in his bloodstream, it became so severe he suffocated. His airways closing from the inside out.”

The words stab at my heart, and my thoughts drift back to when Elijah took his last breath. I’d tried giving him my own. Breathing into his mouth and pounding his chest had made no difference. He still chose the other side instead of staying here with me. I can’t hold back the tears. They tease my eyes, blurring my vision, and halting my steps just short of entering a large room. Whatever they were about to show me is no longer as important as it once was. I turn, intent on heading back to the terminal where I can properly mourn my fiance.

“Uh-uh. You’re not going anywhere,” Travis warns, catching my arm before I get far. “You wanted to know what’s going on, and you’ve already promised Marissa you’ll take Darla’s place, so…” He shoves me forward, tossing out, “Good luck,” before slamming a door closed behind me.

I spin around, trying the knob but find it locked. “Travis! Travis! Let me out of here,” I shout, pounding my fists against the steel but no one answers.

After several minutes of wasted effort, and bruised knuckles, it’s clear he’s not coming back. I drop to the floor, barely managing to hold my tears at bay. I may not know what they have in store for me, but I know I’m not giving up without a fight. “As soon as I get out of here, I’m going to…” The rest of the threat catches in my throat when I raise my eyes to finally take in the room’s interior.

There, lined up on their hands and knees-restrained by pillories molded of metal and designed to secure them by their heads-is a row of women, naked from the waist down. My position from this angle on the floor is every man’s wet dream. Asses and pussies on display as far as the eye can see.

I can’t even imagine the humiliation they must feel right now. Had this been where they were bringing Darla? Is this their plan for me? No sooner than the thought enters my mind, I see the empty pillory at the end of the row.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Unlocked and separated at the hinge, it sits open and ready for its next unsuspecting victim.