Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I open my eyes and find at least five seemingly irritated men staring down at me. I sit upright and move so that my back is against the hard cement wall. I almost hit my head on the stupid wall while I’m trying to get away from the stares of the men looking down at me, sitting on a cot, a thin blanket wrapped tightly up around my shoulders.

“Well, well. look who just woke up. The one and only professional troublemaker in this complex, Tatum Marie Catilin.” One of them announces. His words reverberate through the whole building, making me shudder. Mere seconds later, more men come to see me, the professional troublemaker. I’m terrified now, thanks to the number of men dressed in high-ranking military uniform staring down at me.

“Get away from me!” I yell, shaking at my very core.

“Looks like this one has a bark and a bite!” 

“Stop! Leave her be, men!” A gruff male voice calls out. I stare, shocked, as all the men who were gathered around me step away and make room for a tall man who looks to be about twenty-six or so. “All right, men, get back to work. Leave me and the girl alone for a little while.”

“Sir, yes, sir.” All the other men shout in unison. Then, to my relief, they all leave the building one at a time.

“Now that they’re gone, what do you say we go to my quarters and have a nice, quiet chat?” The seemingly kind man says to me.

“Okay, sure.” I respond, trying to judge whether I could actually trust this mysterious, tall man. I didn’t understand why all the other men had responded the way they did when this man walked in the room. 

“Well, are you coming or what?”

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He leads me into a large room. This one is different than the one I was in before. There’s a real bed, a desk and a chair, a couch, a flat-screen tv, and what looks like a restraining chair.

“Sit down in that chair.” He motions towards the restraining chair. When he sees me shrinking back into the corner of the room, he smiles a mean smile. 

“Why must I sit sit there?” I’m shaking uncontrollably now. I don’t understand why this man was behaving so much like the other men.

“Come on, girl. I won’t hurt you. At least, not too much.” He whispers in my ear. I vigorously shake my head no. “Okay, Tatum Marie Catilin, I’m done playing Mr. Nice Guy. Sit in the chair right now or I’ll let the men harm you in ways I’m sure you won’t enjoy in the least.”

“No, I won’t do anything you tell me to do!” I yell, right in his face.

“Nice try, brat.” He roughly sits me down on the couch, then he grabs two belts and slides one on each of my wrists, hooking them tightly so that they almost cut off my circulation. He places the other ends on coat hooks on either side of the couch.

“Let me go!” I say, struggling against my restraints.

“Now, you little brat, stay here. I’ll be back.” The man leaves, shutting the door behind him. I hear footsteps then a door opening and words shouted to someone outdoors. Moments later, I hear more footsteps and the door opens again, this time, though, there are four of the men who were bullying me earlier instead of the tall man who had left. 

“Come here, you rascal.” One of them says to me. Next thing I know, two of them slip the ends hanging on the hooks off and yank me to my feet. The other two men go behind me and start pushing me forward, toward the open door that leads back into the larger sleeping area.

“Lay her down on that cot. And grab two more belts for her ankles.” The one on my left says to the others. 

“No, no! Let me go!” I scream, fighting the bonds holding me. They unceremoniously put me laying on my back on one of the numerous cots in the room. One of them gets on top of me, pinning me to the cot. I squirm, trying to escape, but to no avail. The man on top of me notices, unfortunately, and presses me down even harder. I finally give up and look to see what the other men were doing. Two men were tightening the belts that went from my wrists to the two legs of the cot against the wall. The third man was securing the ones on my ankles.

“Now you can’t hurt us, girl. Or should we call you by your nickname, Troublemaker?” The one on top of me growls, right in my face. I try to squirm away from him and find I can’t.  Then, they pull off my shirt and start to hit me repeatedly with a belt. It wasn’t the end that had holes on it, either. I writhe in agony, unable to escape the horrible pain of the buckle hitting my bare chest in the same place over and over again.

“Look at her, she’s in pain, aren’t you, Troublemaker?” All four of them laugh and the one welding the belt increases the strength he puts behind the blows.

“Please stop, you’ve hurt me more than enough.” I scream, crying from the pain. Then, all of a sudden, the beating stops and once more my vision begins to lose focus. 

Oh no, not again…why does this al- I passed out before I could finish my thought.