Page 36 (1/2)

Chapter 1

When I first awoke in the darkness that was h fight inby Scar Lip, I learned to hold ue while in his presence After my first taste of torture on the machine, I learned obedience Down in this hell, silence was olden; it was the difference between life and death And where ere, there was a whole lot of death

The sound of a distant door sla snapped my mind back to the present Footsteps slowed and our cell door opened with an oht fro my eyes flinch in pain A small whimper and the rustle of stra otten occupant of irl named Cammie She pathetically tried to scoot away and put as much distance between her and the man about to enter our cell

Myof a man ducked under the too short door fra it was Scar Lip He had a crooked nose, dark unwashed hair and cruel black eyes that hid beneath a furrowed brow He sht at Cammie's attempt to evade him, which made the scar that transected his top lip stand out in paleness

The smell that accompanied him was a mixture of sweat and rot, which permeated from the layers of dried and crusted blood that coated his blacksmith’s apron He had come to take one of us to Raven

Drips of sweat beaded across my forehead as the footsteps drew closer It was too soon, I wasn’t strong enough for another session on thethe back of ht’s experiain, I wouldn’t survive I tried to raise my head from the cold stone floor as he came closer to stand over my prone form But a sudden wave of fear made me vomit what little was left in my stomach

Scar Lip paused over ust When the convulsions stopped, I heard hi as she crawled farther into the darkness of the cell hoping its shadoould hide her froaze It was no use; all she did was back herself into a corner

Cammie whimpered, “Please!don’t,” and was smacked in the face by Scar Lip

“No talking! You know the rules,” he sneered

Her lipped quivered and a small amount of blood appeared at the side of her mouth She tried to wipe at it with the back of her hand, but only smeared it across her chin She bit her botto forth

“That’s better,” he growled “The Raven has a new experirabbed Caed her out into the hall; her feet twisting and fighting behind her, trying to slow his efforts She hadn’t lost her fight, but if she survived the week in this pit, she would

I raised my hand toward them as if by that one action alone I could protect her and stop as about to happen The large cell door shut with a thud, and I waited to hear if the lock turned It did I counted the steps as Scar lip dragged Ca the intricate path they would take until they cae iron door that once opened, would let out a smell of iron, sulfur and death I knew from experience that a table waited behind that door with cold iron shackles and as well as… I shivered at the mental picture that formed of the nameless machine they used to experiment on us

When the sound of the door at the top of the stairs closed, the pain into be tortured and experiain, that I survived one rief pour out ofsobs, as I realized in shame that I was happy he chose Cammie