Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 114281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114281 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 571(@200wpm)___ 457(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
The community is bustling, but there is no time to ask any questions because I’m immediately shoved forward into a wooden hut with nothing but my own whimpers to keep me company.
After a while, someone enters.
“Hello?”
There’s no reply, and I wonder if this is what all the recruited people go through when they come to this place … or if it’s just me.
If they singled me out for some reason.
“Please, let me out,” I ask, hoping someone might answer.
A woman steps forward out of the darkness and stares me down. “Strip.”
I look at her. “What? Why?”
A hard cane comes down on my butt so fast I shriek.
“Ow! What the f—”
Another blow makes me cry out loud.
“Please, stop. I didn’t ask for this.”
“Strip!” she snaps.
I don’t listen, despite her continuing the painful lashes with the cane. I won’t bow down to threats.
“This one refuses, brothers,” the woman barks, and she leaves me in the dark again.
I shiver as the door is opened, and two men step inside.
My eyes widen.
Before I can scream, a hood is thrown over my head again, and I’m plucked out of the hut and forced to walk across the field. Everyone must be staring at me, the thought making me cry, but not as much as the thought of what these men will do to me once they get me where they want me to be.
I don’t understand what’s going on.
I signed up because of them preaching their love for God.
Because they promised a better life.
But this? This is pure torture, and I don’t understand why they’re doing this to me.
“Please, tell me what I did,” I beg. “Why are you doing this to me?”
“You are untouched. You must be trained,” the man to my left replies.
“Trained for what?” I mutter.
“To submit,” the other one answers.
Chills run up and down my spine.
Suddenly, the hood is torn off my face, the blinding light of the sun making me squint. Until I see the darkness ahead. A damp cell with no light, no windows, no nothing, except the darkness to keep me company.
And when I realize what they’re about to do, I panic and thrash in their arms, fighting them off as best as I can. “Please, no, don’t!”
I should’ve never have done this.
But a hard blow to the head knocks me out.
When I come to, I grunt in pain from being knocked out. Did they just hit me to get me to comply?
“Ugh …” I groan, rubbing my scalp. “My head.”
“Hey.”
The sound of someone else’s voice makes my eyes burst open.
But I can’t see anyone.
Or anything.
I’ve been left in complete and utter darkness.
Oh, God.
“Who’s there?” I ask, a mixture of adrenaline and panic swirling through my veins.
“Me. I’m in here with you.” It’s definitely a woman.
How long has she been here?
“Where am I?” I ask, crawling away because I don’t know if I can trust her. I wish I could see her, but there don’t seem to be any windows in here. “Why is it so dark?”
“We’re locked in a cell.”
“What?” I mutter.
That means what I saw when they tore off my hood, that damp cell in front of me … it wasn’t a nightmarish spawn when I lost consciousness … that thing was real.
And I’m inside of it.
Tears well up in my eyes. “Why? I didn’t do anything.”
“Neither did I,” the woman answers.
“I was just at a meeting, and then—oh, God.”
I’m going to be sick.
Despite my pleadings, I’ve been thrown and locked inside that cell, sealing me off from this world and forcing me to become their prisoner.
A captive inside a cult.
Chapter 10
April
Present
We walk for miles on end through the thick luscious forest. I used to love hiking outdoors, but now the sight of trees makes me want to vomit.
That’s how long we’ve been out here.
And there still doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.
Where we’re going could be anyone’s guess, although I reckon it’s not back to my home.
Not that it matters. We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere, and I’m not anywhere close to escaping. Not with this rope tied around my waist that connects straight to my captor.
He hasn’t looked over his shoulder in about an hour. I’ve been staring at his muscular back for as long as we’ve been walking, and it’s getting tiresome. Especially when he’s not the most talkative person.
I wonder why that is, though. I don’t know if he’s just shy by nature … or if he isn’t allowed to speak to me.
Either way, I know nothing about my situation will change unless I make it happen. But what can I do? I have no power, my arms are tied, the only knife in the vicinity is in his pocket, and there’s no way I’m going to reach for that without him noticing.
I sigh as my feet begin to wobble, my balance unstable. I’ve been running on the high of the adrenaline all this time, but now that we’ve been on the road for so long, it’s beginning to sink in that I haven’t had anything to eat in quite a while.