CHAPTER ONE: STUCK IN THE DARK

A woman's voice kept ringing in her head saying " you must not give up, no matter what happens don't take your own life as it's so precious, run Katrina run, don't let them catch you".

She suddenly regained her consciousness trying to recall what happened and wondering who was that woman's voice.

She tried to see, squeeze and even shout but she couldn't as her her hands and legs were tied with a thick rope, her eyes were tied with a piece of cloth and her mouth was tightly shut with a piece of cloth as well.

Katrina tried to struggle inorder to untie herself unsuccessfully, cold sweat fell down her face while her heart beat racing so fast with fear, the only thing she remembered was being chased by two unknown men.

Despite the fact that her eyes were tied she realized that she was in a moving vehicle, the poor girl had no idea how and why she was wanted and tied, she had a lot of questions which remained unanswered.

'I won't cry she said I must stay strong ' she thought.

Anyways she was kept in trunk of the large truck with some other packed goods.

After a long journey Katrina realized that the vehicle stopped, after sometime she felt a cold wind splashing her face she felt relieved as she was breathing fresh air at last, that feeling came after one of the men opened the trunk of the large truck.

"We finally arrived at last" one of the man said while stretching his arms with relief. " Yeah it was such a long journey" he supported. 'This voice this voice sounds familiar, where on Earth did I hear it?' Katrina wondered.

A voice from a far was heard " Hey you fools, hurry up untie that girl and bring her in" the guy yelled, his voice was so deep and heavy that could even scare the fierce lions. Katrina trembled with fear.

"Yes boss" he replied with a polite tone, " hurry up Tony, untie the girl" he said it softly to his fellow man who was right behind the truck.

The other man didn't reply he just followed the orders and untied Katrina quickly, Katrina eyes were now open, the only thing she could see was a dense forest around that area and a big black gate in front of the truck she was in. she then saw the two men beside her who held her tightly,' these men look dicent at sight but their hearts is as cold as ice, how dare they kidnap an innocent kid and this tall one looks familiar, I wonder where I saw him.' she thought while looking at the two men in turn with a really bad look.

She then glanced forward, she was so terrified seeing the man next to the big gate, he really looked scary as he had a black eye patch, his other eye was so red and his mascular arms were filled with snake tattoos, his face had a big burnt scar, he wore a big black jacket with a combat black trouser with big boots.

On seeing that man Katrina quickly thought ' this place seems dangerous, I have to escape before I enter that gate. ' before wasting time she kicked one of the man so hardly on the leg."Aaaah" the man screamed while letting go Katrina's right arm, by the time Katrina quickly untied the piece of cloth around her mouth using her right arm, by the time the man she hit caught her again more tightly. " how dare you hit me" he said angrily pulling Katrina's hair, "hey, let go off me" she shouted while struggling to remove herself from the two cruel men.

She then bit the hands of both men hardly, they both let her arms free unintentionally due to failure of bearing Katrina's bite. The girl used that golden opportunity to free herself from that trouble, she decided to run as fast as her feet could carry her.

"Look the girl is escaping, let's go catch her." one of the man yelled while running towards Katrina, "Get back here." the other one shouted also heading towards Katrina.

Katrina heart was relieved to have escaped the two men but unfortunately while running she found herself held tightly with that wierd looking guy. Katrina's face was filled with sweat, her heart was racing so fast that she could feel her heart beat loudly, her whole body was trembling with fear, the guy stared at her with a harsh look till Katrina wasn't able to glance at him for the second time. ' This guy was near the gate, how did he end up here? how did he catch me? everything happened so fast, I can't understand' Katrina thought.

Suddenly the two men appeared breathing heavily and sweating while bending their hands holding their knees. " finally you found her" one of the men said while still painting. " You fools, you can't even handle a small girl like this, is there anything you can do?" he yelled at the men harshly looking fiercely almost popping his eye out.

"Sorry boss" one of the of them hurriedly apologized. the other one added " yeah, don't underestimate her, the girl is too....." before he could utter another word " shut up" the boss yelled, " I need no explanation to cover your stupidity." "yes boss" the two men said in chorus while bending down.

"And you did you think you could escape that easily under my watch" he spoke harshly while pouring rain of saliva on Katrina's face who started struggling to remove herself from that man's huge arms while the man kept holding her tightly.

"Hey just leave me alone, I promise I won't escape"she finally spoke with great fear. "shut up" the man shouted. Katrina trembled ' Oh God help me, I guess I have welcomed my own death ' she thought. "Hey tie this girl's mouth and send her inside, then there you will receive your payment." They then did what they were told.

Katrina was taken inside the big black gate, she was surprised to see a big campus inside, there were a lot of men in Black with weapons guarding the area, despite the fact that it was getting dark she clearly saw everything, she was really scared, ' I wonder what they are operating in here, I didn't see even a single woman ' she thought.

After a while she was dragged into a small dusty room which had only a tiny window on top, it was really dark in there with only one wooden chair in the middle which she was tied to. The men left and the door was locked from outside, despite the fact that the room was dusty and had poor ventilation there's nothing she could do about that as she had no say, on top of that her mouth was tied.

" I have no idea what these people will do to me, anyways what do they want from me? I really can't die here all I have to do is escape from here but how do I do it, it's guarded every where, no, that doesn't matter Katrina you have to try at least." she thought, she kept on thinking how to escape from there.

After sometime the door of the tiny room that Katrina was in opened and tall fair skinned man walked in with a plate of food in his hands. " Here is your food" he said softly keeping the plate down gently. Then he turned wanting to leave but Katrina started squeezing her body side by side making the chair to produce some sound also she started producing some sound like indicating that she wanted to speak something.

The man turned and removed the piece of cloth from Katrina's mouth. "What is it ?" he said it seriously looking annoyed. "Excuse me I am so hungry but how can I eat while my hands are tied? so would you please untie me" she said softly keeping an innocent face. He smiled a little "sure, you've got a point, silly me."he said, he then untied her and said "enjoy your meal" ."Thanks" Katrina replied while smiling.

'This man is so kind ' Katrina thought while taking the plate of food. When the man wanted to go, "wait please" she requested, the man turned "can I ask you for a favor?" she added, " I am listening" the man replied seriously. " Would you please help me escape from here, please have mercy on me" she insisted. " I wish I could help you but I can't, as you can see this place is heavily guarded so there is no way anyone can easily escape" the man replied sadly.

"Okay, I'm sorry" she said while standing up. " for what ?" the man asked staring at Katrina, she smiled "for this" she said while kicking him hardly on his legs she then used all of her strength to push him aside then he rushed outside the room door, she ran as fast as she could through the corridor on the way she knocked a young man who wanted to stop her but couldn't, she kept on running.

A few hours later she found herself in the exact same room which she was in earlier, obviously she was caught and dragged back. This time, she was tied double tightly and more security was added, two strong men were kept in front of the room.

" May I go to the washroom please." Katrina said softly looking at the man standing in front of him. " Hey, don't try to outsmart me, do you think I will let you escape again ha" the man said harshly. "But...." before she could go on she was interrupted " shut up, just do your business here but I won't untie you." the man insisted. " mmmh, your so cruel.Anyways where is my former guard?" she asked.

"Boss killed him the instant that he found out that you escaped under his watch, that's the rule here, there is no room for traitors, lazy and useless people" the man said. " "What? you people are monsters, the poor man had no fault at all, I just took advantage of his kindness but you killed him, how can you be so cruel like this? " she said feeling so much pain while tears falling down her soft cheeks. "Hey" he shouted at Katrina while pointing a figure at her " Stop lecturing me, by the way we have been too easy on you, from now on no eating, drinking as well as speaking" he said while closing Katrina's mouth with a piece of cloth then he went away.

Katrina felt like a sharp arrow has struck her heart at that moment, She cried a lot, she felt helpless but had nothing to do about it. Days passed and that man meant every word he said as she was neither given food to it nor water to drink, the hunger and thirst she felt was even worse than death itself.' Why are they keeping me tied up for all these days? what do they want from me? What is the main motive behind all this?' she asked herself without getting any answer.

One day at midnight, It was so silent that even a tiny pin could be heard once dropped. A sound of footsteps was clearly heard despite the fact that the person tried to avoid the sound. The steps were heading towards Katrina's room, then the room door was suddenly opened slowly, by the time Katrina was extremely exhausted and fast asleep so she couldn't notice the entrance of the unknown Person but she woke up suddenly after she felt a cold touch in her skin, she almost screamed but couldn't while her heart is racing so fast than normal.