Louisa's POV
When I woke up again, I was lying on the ground, facing up a leaking roof over my head.
It must be raining outside because I could hear the rumbling of thunder from a distance and there was water dripping down from the leak on my face.
I tried to move my arms and legs, but I couldn't feel them.
The drops of water kept falling on my face, so I had to turn my head away to take a breath.
I tried to roll away from the spot, but my back must have been dislocated. I couldn't move at all.
There must be some internal hemorrhage in my abdomen, which exacerbated whenever I tried to move.
I couldn't remember what happened to me.
There was a void in my brain.
I made another painful attempt and eventually rolled away from the spot.
Lying on the ground, I could see a dim light coming out of the barred door.
Am I... locked up in a dungeon or something? I thought to myself.
There was some buzzing sound in my ears. But after a while, it was gone.
Then, I heard someone groaning dissolutely in a low voice.
"Oh, fuck. This fucking whore is so good..."
"Take it out. It's my turn now. Lucian will be here at any minute to check on that girl," another voice said.
I gathered my strength and concentrated on healing my back, but their voices were so salacious, which was very distracting.
After I finally managed to get my vertebra back to its position, I rolled up.
The vision in my left eye was gone, but the sight in front of me was shocking.
Two soldiers were taking turns torturing a man.
I recognized his lean but muscular figure.
"Darren..." I opened my mouth, but there was no sound coming out of it.
The inside of my throat was burning as if my vocal cord was torn.
One of the soldiers pulled up his hair and I saw his blood-covered swollen face.
He saw me and suddenly turned petrified.
The soldiers got angry and punched him in the stomach.
"What are you looking at, you fucking slut?!" He shouted and followed his sight to turn back.
"Fuck, it's the fucking girl. She's awake!" One of them spat and cursed.
"And she's wearing nothing." The other one stared at me and grinned with malice.
"Please don't hurt her..." Darren pulled one of the soldiers and begged in a low voice.
His lips were chapped and ruptured, which made his speech a bit slurred.
A soldier slapped him across his face and said, "Who the fuck told you to stop?! Did I tell you to stop?!"
"No!" I tried to scream, but there was still no sound coming out of my mouth.
I felt that someone was stabbing me in my heart repeatedly. My body shivered, and so did the world in front of me.
At that moment, I heard the sound of steps coming from outside. I used all my efforts to bat on the barred iron door to make a clanking noise, trying to raise people's attention.
"Hey, fuck you, bitch! Stop doing that! We're trying to have some fun now." One of them yelled at me.
The other way approached me with unbuckled pants and said, "You just can't wait for your turn, right? I'm watching you, you fucking bitch!"
As the sound of steps getting closer, the soldiers seemed to hear it as well.
They quickly buckled up their pants and threw Darren into the cell next to mine.
Then, they went back to their position as if nothing had ever happened.
"If you dare to say a word, we'll fuck your brains out before cutting off your tongues!" They threatened Darren and me in a low voice.
I crawled toward Darren and stretched out my arms, trying to hold him.
He didn't look at me. Instead, he just sat in the corner, slowly putting up his ragged pants. His face was completely numb as if he didn't want to recognize my existence.
Looking at the wounds spreading all over his back and chest, I cried out his name in silence desperately, but he just wouldn't seem to notice me.
Then, the door of my cell opened. Lucian stepped inside, holding my baggage in his hands.
He saw me trying to reach Darren in the other cell, so he grabbed my arms and pulled me away.
"No... No!" I shook my head violently and shouted in despair.
No sound.
Not a single sound came out of my mouth.
Tears and blood immediately blurred my sight.
I tried to struggle, so Lucian held me tightly in his arms.
"Stop. You're hurting yourself," he said.
I don't care! I want Darren! They're hurting him!
I looked desperately at Darren, but he just sat there quietly in the corner of the cell, holding his knees without looking at me at all.
Blood kept dripping from the corner of his mouth. He just let it fall on the ground. It seemed that he didn't even bother to wipe them out.
I tried to push Lucian away, but I just couldn't do it.
I tried to beg him to help Darren, but he couldn't hear me.
"Louisa, listen, you have to help yourself first before helping him. I've brought your baggage here for you and you can treat him as soon as you've recovered. Do you understand what I mean?" Lucian stared down at me and said in his soothing voice. "All of your ribs are broken. So do the bones of your limbs and back. Your voice is gone because you broke your vocal cord. Half of your face is deformed, you have to focus on fixing yourself. It's very important."
I stopped struggling. Some horrible scenes flashed past my mind and hit me like bolts of lightning.
I saw Lucas' outrageous face.
I saw him swinging his arms and punching me over and over again.
I saw him pushing my head against the wall.
I saw him stomping on me in his giant boots...
No...
I closed my eyes and tried to get rid of all these bloody and violent scenes out of my mind.
But I couldn't.
In the darkness, I could only see Lucas' ruthless dark blue eyes, filled with greed and anger.
Lucian's voice softened and said, "Louisa, don't panic and stay calm. You're stronger now. You've been through a lot of more challenging situations in your life. Take a deep breath and you'll get over this nightmare."