3. Auction

When I come to, the noise is the first thing I notice.

“Didn’t that guy from the club take me out?” I rub my eyes, forcing them to adjust to the dim, grimy light. Sitting up, I’m immediately hit by the overwhelming stench of the place.

This is definitely not the club. It smells like a sewer—or worse, like a dunghouse. A rush of panic sets my heart racing.

“Help! Somebody, help me!” I scream, my voice cracking, only to realize I’m not the only one shouting.

There are others—girls, mostly younger than me. And we’re in… a cage.

I try to piece my memories together, but nothing fits. I was at the club, then in a car, and now this? I can’t remember leaving the club or what happened after getting in the car.

“Oh my god, what’s going on? Is this a dream?” I whisper, but the sharp sting in my thigh drags me out of my thoughts.

“Ow!” I snap my gaze down to see a hand pinching me hard.

“Why would you do that?” I glare at the culprit—a woman who looks far too calm for this nightmare.

“Hi, I’m Lina,” she says, her voice steady, almost unnervingly so. “You needed to know if this is a dream? Sorry to disappoint, but this is real life.”

Her words hit me like a slap, but before I can respond, the cage door creaks open. A young girl is dragged out, kicking and screaming, and three others make a run for it before the door slams shut again.

My survival instincts kick in. If they can run, so can I. I scramble to my feet, but before I can move, Lina grabs my arm and yanks me back.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she warns, her tone laced with an eerie calmness.

“Why not? We need to get out of here!”

Her eyes are steady, unflinching. “Watch them.”

I turn, just in time to see the three girls who escaped. Two of them are shot on the spot. The last one doesn’t even get that mercy. A man with a machete brings it down on her, slicing her apart in one brutal motion.

My stomach churns violently, bile rising in my throat. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to block out the sight, the screams, the blood.

The other girls in the cage are screaming now, too. The horror is too much for anyone to process.

Some are throwing up, others are crying but the noise and horror doesn't stop, it spreads jn the hair like oxygen, choking and forcing it's way down our throats.

“What is this place?” I manage to ask, my voice trembling.

“An auction,” Lina says, her tone still disturbingly neutral. “Humans are the items being sold.”

Her words send a cold shiver down my spine.

“Isn’t it better to just die than… than this?” My voice cracks as I open my eyes again.

“You don’t stop being useful when you die,” Lina replies flatly. “There are cannibals who’d pay a fortune to eat you raw. Witches will trade priceless gems to use your body for experiments.”

My breath comes in quick, shallow gasps as her words sink in.

“Witches?” I repeat, barely able to breathe.

“You don’t want to know how viciously they’ll handle your body,” she continues. “But honestly, they’re still better than the monster beasts.”

“Monsters? Beasts?” I can’t even begin to wrap my head around this.

“Just pray you don’t catch the eye of one. They’re worse than the elves, witches, or cannibals.”

Her words twist my insides with fear. “How do you know all this?”

Before she can answer, a number is called.

“My husband was a guard here,” Lina says quietly. “He died this morning.”

I’m about to say something—anything—but she’s suddenly dragged out of the cage. She doesn’t fight. She doesn’t scream. She just walks away with an unsettling calm.

“A female human, not a virgin, but in good condition. Her owner died this morning, so bidding starts at thirty thousand!”

The auctioneer’s voice echoes through the space as the bids climb higher and higher. Lina is sold for a hundred thousand to a female elf.

I watch her disappear, my heart pounding in my chest, I didnt even get to tell her my name, but nased on my survival skills, i doubt ill live long enough to meet her again.

How can she be so calm?

My skin crawls as I look around, desperate for some kind of comfort or escape. But then my gaze locks with a pair of red eyes.

They’re wide and crescent-shaped—inhuman.

The eyes belong to something that isn’t human.

A monster beast.

A wave of cold dread crashes over me, and I quickly look away, my breath hitching in my throat.

Please. Please. I silently pray to every god I’ve ever heard of. Please let me survive this.

But no one is listening.

“Number 2052!”

The sound of the number tears me from my thoughts. My heart drops as I look down at the badge pinned to my chest.

That’s my number.

Before I can resist, hands drag me out of the cage. My body thrashes instinctively, but it’s no use. I’m hauled onto a stage stained with blood, bits of flesh, and shards of bone.

“A virgin female, untouched,” the auctioneer announces, his voice gleeful.

The crowd cheers.

My mind fixates on the word “untouched.” How would they even know?

Horror dawns on me. They must have checked while I was unconscious. Touched me and done things I'd have hated. Disgust feels me and I just want to get away.

I panic, trying to scramble off the stage, but I barely make it two steps before I’m dragged back.

“Let go of me! Please!” I scream, but no one listens.

“Three hundred thousand!”

The bid comes from the human section. A cannibal.

My chest tightens painfully, my ribcage threatening to cave in.

My gaze lifts again, locking with those red eyes. The monster beast is watching me.

And he’s smirking.