Chapter Seven

  Part Eight

  Her eyes fluttered open, letting her remember where she currently was. Darkness was where she was. Luckily for her, she could see perfectly fine in darkness.

  She was in what appeared to be a cell. Hay, stone, and metal bars surrounded her. On the other side of these bars she could see a metal operating table and various saws having on the walls. The smell of iron hung heavy in the air. And she could just make out that the saws and table were rust ridden, and stained a blood red colour.

  Lying next to her was a still unconscious Arasha. At least they weren’t separated. And just past Arasha, there was another cell. Inside that cell was another figure. Line’s eyes widened slightly, she recognised this woman as Nicola Pines. The most recent missing person.

  Line slowly sat up straight, a wave of dizziness and nausea hit her. But she forced herself past through that wave. She first put Arasha in the recovery position, and slowly made her way to the bars between the cells.

  “...Nicola Pines?”

  Nicola looked up, eyes wide and clearly scared.

  “It’s alright, you can talk to me”

  “who is it?”

  “I’m Inspector Line, spelt line but the e is silent ” she didn’t have to say that whole line, but she’s said it so often now that it’s became a bit of a habit for her “I’m with another Inspector now, and there’s more coming. Please, don’t be scared anymore. We’ll get you out of here”

  Nicola nodded.

  Line looked back at Arasha and began to untie the tightly tied scraggly rope that bound her wrists.

  “I-Inspector?”

  “yes, Nicola?”

  “They... they...”

  She looked round to see silent tears flowing down Nicola’s face “it’s alright Nicola. Everything is going to be alright”

  Nicola shook her head “...no”

  Line abandoned Arasha and pressed herself against the bars “Nicola, come here. Follow my voice. Let me untie your bindings”

  Nicola hesitated before following Line’s instructions. Line reached through the bars and very gently began untying Nicola’s rope.

  Nicola shuddered “Inspector?”

  “Yes?”

  “...they’re animals”

  Line’s head tilted “how so?”

  “...they take people over to the table, and...and”

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  “it’s alright. Take a breath”

  “and cut them” Nicola continued “the people who were here before you. I had to listen to them, slowly die right in front of me. And those monsters always talk about...awful things”

  “Awful things? What do they say?”

  Nicola shook her head again “...they...eat people”

  Line looked between Nicola and Arasha. Arasha has definitely found an interesting case for them.

  *

  “well what are we supposed to do now!?”

  Back in the living room of this wood cabin, the entire family were sitting in their usual seating positions.

  The one who had asked that first question was Ma, but seeing no-one answer she continued “we can’t feed three of them”

  Pa was silent, clearly thinking things through.

  It was Jack who responded “we could just eat one of them now?”

  The room was filled with silence, except for that roaring fire.

  Then a small voice rang out “I don’t want to eat anyone anymore”

  All heads turned to the small girl clutching her teddy bear.

  Pa yelled “shut the fuck up! You’ll eat what we tell you to eat!”

  The girl jumped but became extremely quiet after that.

  Jack eyed Pa with an undiscernible gaze. But he too remained quiet.

  Ma sighed “we should do Jack’s suggestion. Get rid of one them”

  Pa thought some more, then “...sure” he looked over at Jack “it’s supposed to be your turn. So you choose which one”

  Jack beamed “the pretty one”

  Ma’s eyebrow raised “and which one is that? If I’m not mistaken, you’ve called all of them pretty?”

  “That doesn’t matter right now” Pa cut in “well eat one today”

  **

  Line had now successfully untied Nicola’s rope, revealing an ugly, bloody bruise on each wrist. And Line had just restarted on Arasha’s, when her eyes fluttered open.

  “Arasha? Are you alright?”

  “no my head hurts”

  Line smiled, it was good having Arasha back with her “I’ve found Nicola Pines”

  Arasha jolted upright “where?”

  Line gesture towards Nicola. Just like Line, Arasha also had no need for lights. So she could also see perfectly well here.

  Arasha looked down at her tied hands and at Line who was currently untying them “you know, it was a good job that you had Ali go back”

  “It was Ali’s suggestion. So you better thank her when she gets here”

  “I will”

  “but we have an even bigger problem than we first thought”

  “How so?”

  “cannibals”

  Arasha hung her head “seriously?”

  “I’m afraid so”

  Arasha sighed “Ali better be quick”

  Once Arasha’s hands were free, she made quick work of Line’s bindings. Now both free they stood.

  “Line, you have a little blood there”

  Line couldn't help but raise an eyebrow “Arasha, you too have a little blood there”

  Arasha smiled and headed over towards Nicola “are you alright?”

  “I’m fine” Nicola’s voice was shaky, and Line could immediately tell that she was lying.

  But it also seemed that Arasha could tell “it’s alright to be scared, it’s just that you don’t need to be anymore”

  Nicola nodded, mostly to herself “I’m fine”

  Line headed to the cell door, reached through the bars and inspected the pad lock “Arasha, can you pick locks?”

  “No. Divan could, so I never bothered to learn”

  “then do you know any runes that could help?”

  “No. I told you I’m still learning” Arasha paused “wait. Does that mean we’re stuck in here?”

  Line very coldly and calmly said “Yes”