by Seven Steps
Dorian frowned. “Gomorrah is a small place, Lex. We’re here for a long time.”
Kiln put a hand on Dorian’s shoulder and attempted to get a handle on the situation.
“We respect that this is your prison. And we respect that you probably did something pretty horrendous to get in here. But those women up there are ours. You have to understand our predicament.”
“Well, first off you’ll be happy to know that I am the only innocent man in this prison. But we have to share what little we have here, and that includes the women.”
“They’re not rations, they’re people!”
“Listen, when I walked through that door a year ago, there was war going on in here. You couldn’t eat and you couldn’t sleep without someone trying to put a knife in your back. And that was if you were lucky. If you missed your luck that day, then you became the cherry. Do you know why? Do you understand the mentality of this place? It turns hardened criminals into soulless animals with the worst weapon possible. Boredom. The men had nothing to look forward to. They spent so much time listening to the voices in their heads that they went nuts and tried to kill each other. I came in and I organized - set up fights, made arrangements with the guards for meat, arranged for women when I could get them. And you know what happened? The men settled. Now there was something to do, something to look forward to. I built this. These beasts are my children. I created the quiet in the storm, and you two walk in here, and you think you can keep our brand new cherries all for yourselves? Not going to happen. We rotate the matches, everyone gets a chance with them, everyone gets meat, everyone is happy, and I can sleep at night. Those are the rules.”
“I don’t care about the rules,” Kiln growled. “That’s my Empress up there. If anyone touches her, I will kill them.”
“I’m not taking your Empress from you, Venian. I’m simply sharing her gifts with others. If you two continue to win, you can count on having her a few more times. In the meantime, I still have a prison to run.”
“I don’t care about your prison. No one is touching Nadira. Or Arees.”
Dorian let out a breath and squeezed his lips together in a tight line.
“Look, you’re painting me into a corner. Everyone has to play ball here. You see these guys? What’s keeping them in line is a very delicate system. I can’t allow you to upset that. You either work with me, or I can’t work with you. Now what’s it going to be?”
“No deal.”
He locked eyes with Kiln for a long moment before he smirked, shook his head, and looked away.
“Have it your way, Big Boy.”
With his hands on his hips, he turned and walked back into the crowd of inmates.
Lex looked at Kiln. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know,” Kiln said. “But I know for certain that I don’t like it.”
~()~()~()~()~
Lex and Kiln reached the top of the stairs where Nadira and Arees were being held.
Nadira threw herself at the bars, desperation coloring her voice,
“Please tell me that you have a plan!”
Kiln knew that wide-eyed, breathless look that drained the life from her caramel skin. She was in full panic mode.
“Not yet, but we will.”
“Kiln, if any of those animals try to touch me-”
“They are not going to touch you.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I won’t let them.”
Lot opened the door and let the men into the cell.
“You get a few minutes, then you gotta leave,” Lot said, keeping a watchful eye on the two men. “I’m going downstairs for a while. I’ll be back.”
The odd man slammed the cell door shut behind them, locked it, and jogged down the staircase.
Nadira wrapped her arms around Kiln’s neck and clung to him. Her lips trembled, her body tense beneath his.
He ran his fingers down her back and buried his face in her shoulder. Kissing her beneath her ear, he pulled away and looked into her eyes, willing her to be calm.
“It’s okay. It will all be fine. None of them are going to hurt you.”
“How can you be sure? We don’t have our tomas, and there are so many of them.”
“Lex has his powers back,” Arees chimed in. “I saw him use them. He can get us out.”
“No. I only had them for a few minutes and then they were gone again.”
“What happened right before that? What triggered them?”
Lex paused and thought back. “Rory was choking me, and I started to black out. Then, I saw you. That’s when I felt them.”
“But what does that mean? How can we use that to get out?”
“I don’t know.”
Arees’ dark cheeks reddened. “That’s not good enough, Lex. You have to know. You have to remember.”
“I said that I can’t!” Lex snapped. “It was there and then it was gone.”
Arees stood face to face with him, defiant, challenging. “Find a way.”
“I am not the enemy here, Ar. Remember that. I’m not the one trying to hurt you here.”
“But you are the one with the power to stop it.”
“That power is gone. We’ll have to find another way. I know you’re scared. We all are. But fighting amongst ourselves is not the way to fight that fear.”
“Lex,” Arees voice turned low, trembling. “If those men come in here, I swear that I will take my life before they take my dignity.”
“It’s not going to come to that.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No, I don’t, Ar!” Lex exploded. “I don’t know anything. I just know that we have to find a way out of here or we are all going to die.”
“No, not all of us,” Nadira said. “They’ll keep me and Arees alive for as long as they can. As long as we can... as long as we...”
The cell filled with heavy silence as they examined their collective fates.
There had to be something that they could do.
Some way to get out.
Some way to escape.
Some way.
~()~()~()~()~
Black mold grew like stalactite down the grimy walls. The mold flew through the air, settling in their lungs and darkening their skin. Coughs echoed through the prison as the men’s weakened bodies tried and failed to expel the poisonous flakes.
Kiln itched at the dark particles that gathered on his arms. Below, Lot used a flat stone to carefully carve the dead bodies that Lex had left behind. Everything from teeth to bones to skin to hair were separated and carefully set in piles to be used in who knew what.
Visions of his own bloodied body lying in a heap on the floor as the strange man picked him clean sent shutters down Kiln’s back, and he forced himself to look away.
To his left, several men gathered around a dark spot near the wall. Some faced it, spraying it with streams of urine. Some faced away, squatting against the wall instead. No water came to wash the mess away. As the squatting men moved away, Kiln spied a body lying on the ground beneath them, its face half eaten away, its body covered in waste. His stomach turned and he choked back the dry vomit that threatened.
A vile stench hung in the hot, humid air. A mixture of stenches that Kiln forced himself not to focus on. A bead of sweat trailed down his arm, wiping away the mold before it settled on him again. When he yawned or coughed, the mold flew into his mouth, small flakes of awfulness that made him gag.
His fingers slipped along the grimy bars, and he sighed, bringing in more of the mold through his nose.
A group of men sat in a circle on the floor, playing a game with two small rocks that they shook in a cup. Upon closer inspection, the dice were teeth, and the cup was a hollow knee bone.
This is a nightmare, he thought.
Biting his inner lip, he finally looked to the spot that he’d been avoiding. A knot of men who leered up at them from below. Some stared at Nadira and Arees. Some stared at him and Lex. Th
eir looks were not friendly, nor welcoming. They were murderous, full of hatred and lust. From time to time, Dorian’s shape caught his eye. He’d been going from man to man for hours, saying a little something before moving on. Once he left, the men always looked back up at women’s cell.
He’s planning something, Kiln thought. I can feel it. Something horrible.
“Time’s up,” Lot said, appearing at Kiln’s left. He wiped his blood stained hands on his pants and licked a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth. “Time for you men to be hitting the road.”
“Lot please,” Kiln said, turning his intense gaze to the man. Something inside of him screamed that he needed to stay close. If he left, who knew what would happen to Nadira and Arees. “If you could just let us stay the night.”
“Dorian asked that you be placed back in your own cells.”
“Lot, we can’t leave them up here alone.”
“It’s Dorian’s orders.”
“Lot, we are going to die here,” Lex said, his voice coming softly from Kiln’s left. “You are, too. Whether that be today or tomorrow, we’re all going to die here. Please. Just let us stay with them for one night. Please.”
Lot pressed his lips together, and looked from Lex, to Kiln, and back again.
Kiln felt his heart bang in his chest. If Lot said no, then he would be thrown to the mercy of the men outside of the cell and the only good thing left in his life would be left unprotected. They would have to convince Lot to say yes. There was no other option.
Finally, Lot let out a long, foul breath. “Just tonight,” he said. “After that, no more favors.”
Kiln breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Lot,” he said, holding out his hand to the man.
Lot looked down at his hand like it was made of gold, and quickly reached out to shake it. He kept his hand there, his eyes focused on the fingers that wrapped around him.
“No one has touched me in a long time,” he said, his eyes finally raising up to Kiln’s. “Not a long time.” His eyes turned glassy and, after a few more shakes, he finally let go of Kiln’s hand and took a step back.
“Go ahead and stay,” he said. “I’ll be sorry to see you go.”
And with that, he disappeared again from the cell, leaving them behind to wonder what he meant.
CHAPTER 11
It was lights out in Gomorrah.
There were no snores, no heavy breathing. Just a hush that put Nadira’s nerves on edge.
Kiln lay next to her, his chest rising and falling in a quiet melody. She loved to watch him sleep. He always looked so peaceful. Full lips slightly parted, blonde hair falling over his eyes. One strong arm wrapped around her waist. They were never more than a breath apart during the night. Years together had synced them in ways that Nadira never thought possible.
Then, the cell door creaked open.
She turned sharply.
A large shadow stood in the doorway.
“Dorian?” she whispered. Raw fear reached a hand into her chest and tightened her lungs. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t move.
“Just think. If Big Boy here had listened to me then we could all have had a nice time. But, he doesn’t want to be a part of the solution. So...”
The door creaked louder. She wanted to run, to scream.
Under the cover of darkness, men had come in from the far side of the cell.
Fear immobilized her. Her body shook like a leaf.
Kiln, wake up! Please, wake up!
Four inmates grabbed Kiln, metal pipe in hand, and slapped it across his sleeping face with a sickening ding.
Nadira’s scream echoed through the cell, as Kiln’s unconscious body was passed backwards, lost in the crowd.
She looked around for Lex, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Arees stood in front of Dorian, every inch the defiant Czarina.
“Dorian, don’t do this. Take me instead. Let the others go.”
“Oh, don’t worry, sweetheart. We’re going to take all of you.” Dorian turned back to the crowd. “Bring the men down to the circle. We fight to the death!”
The crowd cheered, turned, and funneled out of the cell.
Arees threw herself to Nadira’s side, and held on to her hand.
“What do we do now?” Nadira whimpered.
The two women pressed their backs to the side of the cell as the men passed.
Kiln and Lex would fight.
Kiln and Lex would die.
Then, then men would come for them day by day, one by one, for the rest of their lives.
Nadira tasted bile rise in her throat.
Oh, Mother Goddess, please! She begged with every ounce of strength she had left. Please don’t let this happen.
“We have to find a way to get out of here while the men are distracted,” Arees whispered.
“How? Arees, there’s nowhere to go.”
“We can figure something out when we get out of the doors.”
“But what about Lex and Kiln?”
“They’re dead.” Arees body stilled. She looked as if she might shatter then and there, but straightened her shoulders instead. “There’s nothing we can do to save them now. We have to get out.”
Grabbing Nadira’s arm, Arees flung herself into the thick crowd of smelling bodies, desperate to hide herself within it and escape from her cell.
“Stick close to me,” someone whispered.
A hand went around Arees waist, pulling her close to a body no bigger then hers.
“No, me,” another hand pulled away the first, snaked around Arees body.
“I’ll take this one.”
“Hands off. She’s mine.”
Nadira felt a million hands upon her, each pulling her in a different direction. Touching her. Groping her. Making her skin crawl.
“Let go, she’s mine.”
“I’ll share with you.”
“Hurry, before Dorian comes back.”
The men descended upon them like a plague, anxious to get a taste of them before their leader found out.
Nadira pushed, scratched, punched, and kicked the men off of her, but it was no use. Each time she dislodged a hand from her body, ten more replaced it. Someone grabbed the back of her shirt and ripped it off of her.
“No!”
Someone picked her up, threw her over their shoulder, and tried to run with her. He didn’t get far. A mightily blow dislodged her from his grip, and she fell from his narrow shoulders, slamming her head into the cement. The world around her blurred.
I’m going to die here.
Her heart sped up, her breath turned to desperate gasps.
Please, Mother Goddess, kill me before they touch me again.
She heard Arees scream somewhere in the distance, and a tear slid down her cheek.
The indomitable woman had succumbed to fear.
We’re all going to die here.
Another man jumped on top of her, and tried to rip her pants away. Then another man. And another.
The weight of them crushed her.
Then, they stilled.
A disturbance started somewhere below. A rustling, like the murmur of bees starting to agitate.
“What’s that?”
A scream echoed through the prison.
Nadira looked to the left. Someone’s body hit the ceiling with a smack. The jail grew warm.
Another yell. The prisoners turned and charged at something.
Someone flung her back into her cell, as if protecting her. When Nadira looked up, she saw Lot looking back at her. He disappeared in the crowd again.
“Get them!” Dorian’s voice cried out.
A torrent of fire appeared in front of her, scorching nearly twenty men who stood near the cell doors. Their charred bodies collapsed to the ground. With the way partially cleared, Lot reappeared with Arees in tow. They raced into the cell before locking the doors behind them.
Another whoosh. More flames.
Bodies hovered off the grou
nd, before being pitched off the ledge.
The crowd that had assembled in front of their cell thinned, and scattered.
Nadira stepped forward, her heart pumped wildly.
Lex came into view, levitating men by the dozens and dropped them over the ledge.
Flames flew from Kiln’s powerful hands, vaporizing whoever was in his path.
Nadira raced to the bars, Arees hot on her heels. More men ran in from their left, sprinting up the stairs at the men who would dare kill their cellmates and steal their women.
Kiln caught her eye immediately, his gaze sweeping over her. Her hair was a mess, and she was covered in scratches and bruises. Both her and Arees’ clothing was mostly gone.
His brows lowered on his face as he jerked his head at her, motioning her to get behind him.
Lot unlocked the door.
Arees was out of the cell first, positioning herself firmly behind Lex as Nadira arrived at Kiln’s side.
Behind them, were hundreds of men. In front of them were hundreds more.
There was no way around it. They were trapped.
Dorian pushed his way to the front of the crowd.
“So, you two are something special?” he said, the same fake smile on his face that he’d wore before.
“We’re leaving Dorian,” Lex growled.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Venian. No one leaves Gomorrah.”
“That changes today.”
“No. Unfortunately not. Look around you. There are only four of you against hundreds of us. How long do you think you can keep this up?”
“As long as we have to.”
Nadira peeked behind her. The men pressed in close, some with stone and bone shanks in their hands. All it would take would be one slip of attention and they were done for.
Her heart raced and she pressed closer to Kiln.
“Last chance, Venians,” Dorian said. “Give up the girls, and we’ll go back to the way things were. I’ll tell you what. I’ll even give you twice a week rights, and you don’t have to fight. Now that’s more then fair.”
“Never.”
“So be it.”
The crowd roared, and charged forward.
Then, a loud buzzer sounded above them. The lights blazed on and the room filled with thick, white smoke.