1 Dark Rose

When I wake I'm cold and it's dark. My head is throbbing and my hair is plastered to my face, blinking, I look around and note the red glass covered light and the door to my right, and the three steps that lead down to the dirt floor that looks like it's been planted with uneven rows of very lumpy cabbage heads. Looking closer I find that they are just that: heads. I try to scrabble backward but I can't move; for a moment the thought of paralysis passes through my mind but hard on its heels the correct answer comes: I'm buried to my neck, I am buried alive.

I force myself to look closer and see if I recognize some of the faces, once I realize that the heads are like me buried to their necks. Zane is the closest, only a few feet away. I almost didn't recognize him under the mud and the still bruising boot print that marked his cheek.

"Zane! Zane! Zane wake up!" he groaned and rolled his head to the side.

"Where are we?" he asked trying to look around, "and why do I feel like I just played a zombie that gets his head literally stomped in Resident Evil?"

"You've got a nasty boot print that seems to have become very attached to your face, and my guess is that we are in a basement. Look around and see if you can wake up any one you know. I'll do the same."

"Okay" and after a moment "Dawn! Hey, hey shorty wake up! We're in some old creeper basement."

I spotted Alice and called out to her, she blinked sleepily as I filled her in.

"Any one got wiggle room?" I asked

"Nope"

"Ditto"

"Oh, wait, I got something." Zane grunted his shoulders working and the soil around them rising.

We all heard the distinctive clicks of a key sliding home and froze for an instant before lolling like the others. A figure entered, it was male, I could tell from the narrowness of the hips and the set of the shoulders he walked over to where a shovel was leaned up against a wall. He had his hood up so I couldn't see his face, but I could feel the twisted smile on his face as he walked up and down the rows, pausing at one head before continuing over to Zane and using his steel toe to tap the injured cheek. Then he turned to me. I worked to keep my breathing even as he kneeled down next to me.

"You're next Ro, right after this it will be your turn." The voice was familiar but I just couldn't put my finger on it. "I'll be back, my dark angel." I felt his cold fingers skate from temple to jaw before he returned to the head he paused at earlier and began to dig. After filling the hole he left with the poor soul and I was shaking as hard as was possible for someone who was buried.

"What the hell was that all about?" Dawn asked clearly freaking out.

"I don't know and don't want to find out." I said unable to see her because of a couple of heads. Zane set to work wiggling out of his hole. "Zane wait, we don't know where he is, if he is coming back, and if he sees you out who knows what he will do."

"Rose, he said you're next, if I could get out then I could get us all out and then we could take him down."

"And what happens when you get out and he comes back? He clearly has it in for you, and he had to of either drugged, you making you weaker, or he could take you, judging by the boot print on your face I think it's the latter. What happens when you are either dead or out cold, hmmmmmm? How do we escape then? Because it's fairly clear that you didn't just walk willy nilly and say "Hey random dude, let me jump into that handy dandy Zane sized hole while you fill it in and by the way give me a good kick in the face before you leave and lock your creepy basement door." Now you tell me which option is better: stay in your hole and wait or get out early."

"Damn your good." he muttered before saying, "How long do we wait?"

"Until we know how long the intervals are." Dawn interjected.

"Nerds."

"What if we can't escape?" Alice asked quietly.

"We can't think about that. We need to focus on the plan. If Zane can get out quickly enough he can dig out Dawn and then Alice and any others that are... responsive. Safety in numbers, then you move up and hopefully out."

"What if he isn't the only one doing this? What if they're armed?"

"I think he is working alone because of how possessive he is, but it is very possible. That's one more reason to get out as many as possible. Always remember if you have a weapon then they could take it and use it on you, it's the same both ways. If someone is threatening you then hold still, act like you will cooperate then charge at the last second. They will let their guard down eventually and you have surprise and numbers on your side."

"What about you?" Zane asked.

"Don't worry about me, just focus on escape."

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It felt like a couple of hours until he came back, this time I kept my eyes completely shut. He dug me out to the waist before shoving the blade of the shovel into my back six inches below the kidney; it was everything I could do not to scream. The blood was running down my back and soaking through my shirt as he pulled me out by my belt and laid me on my injured side causing black spots to cloud the vision of my now slightly open eyes.

Once he filled the hole he looped one of my arms around his neck and slid his under my knees and back. I lolled as best I could given my back, and as we passed through the doorway I kicked the frame to signal the time for action. We headed down a hall with concrete floors into another room that was also dimly lit but that was all I would see of it because he laid me down onto my already agonizing back making me black out.

ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ

"Rose, Rose, wake up my darkling." Todd's face filled my vision and I jerked back sending pain shooting through my back. I was on my stomach now my hands tied to a post at one end of the table I was on. "There we go, that's my angel. Now stay calm, everything is going to be fine. I've been working for a long time just so I could do this for you." I couldn't speak due to a satin gag that had been carefully tied behind my head. "Now you're going to love this, all of those pictures you drew, the angels that had fallen; you were trying to tell me weren't you? That you were an angel; my angel. So I found the stuff you liked then it hit me, I could show you that I understood by doing this, I could use the surgery and anatomy you're so interested in and the art you created to make you just like them, the pictures.

"So, I started reading up on anatomy, and birds, oh, and wings, lots on wings. At first they all just looked ugly and scarred, but after more practice- finally I figured it out... You're going to be so happy Ro, I promise. It only hurts for a little bit. I even did it to myself; but mine isn't as great as yours is going to be. I'll even show you." he turned around and lifted his shirt up to his neck, exposing the pale scars to the light. It looked like something had clawed him, leaving two rough lines down his back; just touching the end of his shoulder blades and about every three inches a line came out and slid its way over to a point in the center of his upper back on either of the side of his spine. I heard a sob coming from somewhere, and when I realized that it was coming from me the tears spilled over and I could see no more.

"Shhh--Shhh-- yours will be perfect." I shook my head as he gently pet my hair. "Don't worry. It will be perfect." He picked up a knife from a hot plate and made a small slice in the back of my shirts just before ripping them open and unhooking my bra. The anger that showed on his face scared me even more than his plans.

"Who did this to you Ro? Who scarred you? You are mine! Mine! You hear me?!?" He raised his hand as if to hit me, but he hesitated and lowered his hand. "That's alright. It means you can handle this." He turned and grabbed another knife from the hot plate and began to cut. He cut right where my neck hit my shoulders. The pain was almost unbearable and I pulled at the restraints until I felt more blood run from my wrists, and then it stopped. He stopped cutting into me. "You did great Ro, you were perfect." He pets my hair again but I was too weak to pull away. "It's time to start the next part. You're doing great." he wiped off the blood from the knife with a rag and put it back onto the hot plate until it heated up again. Then he came back and began to slice deeper and deeper, black and red came across my vision until I was blind again.

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"Ro! Rose!" I jerked awake and the past few hours flooded back to me. I tried to pull away jerking at the ropes and reopening my already raw wrists. "Rose, it's alright. It's me, Zane." I stopped pulling and he untied me.

"How is she?" I heard Dawn ask.

"I don't know yet. Just keep watch."

"Fine," then to me, "we're gonna get you out of here Ro."

I ripped the gag out of my mouth, "Where is he? What are you guys doing here? You should have left already!" My voice was so hoarse that it was barely a whisper.

"It's alright, he's working alone and he went upstairs. Alice found the key to this room." Dawn said quickly.

"Oh sh**!" Zane said as I stood slowly. "Ro, you're back..."

"I know." I could feel the dried blood and scabs flaking and the cuts were reopening. "Let's go." I took one step forward and the room started tilting, Zane caught me before I hit the floor.

"Sh**! Sh**! Sh**! How are we gonna move her?" Dawn asked.

"Hey, give me your arm. Now lean on me." Zane said and put his hand on my waist taking most of my weight. "Let's go, I got her." We started down a hall and had just turned to an open door that led to a living-room area when we heard a door slam at the top of the stairs that dominated one wall of the living room. "Back up! Back up!" We half crouched, peering around the corner to see him clomping down the stairs, his hood still up, before jerking open the refrigerator door grabbing something and turning to go into the adjacent room slamming this door as well.

"Go! Go! Go!" Then to me, "Come on Ro, just hold out a little longer."

"Okay." I gasped every step shooting pain through my back and sending vertigo to my head. When we got to the stairs Zane practically carried me up the steps. Dawn, who was at point, was the first through the trap door.

"What the? It looks like an old tool shed."

"Dawn take her." He grabbed me around the knees and lifted me up to where Dawn was waiting. "Alice your turn." He knelt and stabilized her as she pushed off his knee with a grunt. When Zane's turn came he put one foot up on the rail and jumped while the other girls hauled to get him up. Alice gently let the door down and Dawn helped me back up.

"Let's go." The shed door opened and we were blind.

ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽͽ ͽͽͽͽͽͽ

I couldn't see for the spots of red and black and the sun's blinding light. My eyes adjusted a little and I could just make out Zane to my right and Alice to Dawn's left. Then she was gone, Alice just disappeared.

"Alice," I puffed out barely audible. "Where's Alice?"

"She was just here! Where could she be?" Dawn almost yelled in exasperation

"Down here!" a voice from below said, so I peered over the side of the pit it came from. It was lined with concrete and had very steep sides that were streaked with blood and had about two feet of coagulated blood and severed limbs in the bottom. Three times we tried to get her out before she fell and spotted the tunnel. It was only about 100 feet long and daylight was on the other side, so we went for it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't remember much for a while because after Zane dropped down into the hole Dawn tried to lower me down, by now I had lost so much blood, and when Zane caught me the pain that spiked through me was so bad I passed out. Someone carried me into the Warehouse. I woke up shivering next to a fire in a building that the ceiling was so far above that initially I couldn't figure out what kind it was.

Zane was watching me with a scared look in his eyes, I would later find out that I had been unconscious for nearly twenty four hours, and at times I had screamed for hours, terrified of something in my dreams.

"She's awake." he said, and Dawn nearly dropped the water bucket she was carrying as she came barreling over, Alice hard on her heels.

"Don't you ever scare us like that again! You hear me?! Never!" When I tried to sit up she pushed me back down and I didn't resist due to my dizziness. "Cool your jets, you're not going anywhere." Dawn put the bucket next to the fire and Alice helped me upright slowly.

"Drink this." Alice said as she handed me a can full of clean cool water. I sipped at it, enjoying the feeling of the cool water playing down my hoarse throat.

The water was hot now and Dawn began to tear some cloth into strips and soak them in it. She made me lay on my stomach as she laid the strips across the cuts and wiped the blood from the edges, she didn't make a peep. Even though she tried to hide it, when she rinsed the strips I could still see the heavy tinge of red in the water.

"I saw him." I said quietly breaking the tense silence.

"What? Saw who?" Dawn asked.

"Him, the crazy who did this."

"Who was it?!" Alice blurted loudly.

"Todd."

"Todd? Why would he do something like this?" Dawn was clearly surprised by the tone of her voice.

"Because he is obsessed with me. He studied the subjects that I liked and my drawings so he could do this. He has been practicing on people for a while; he even used himself. He mutilated himself."

"Why?"

"Who knows? I don't want to." I said and after a moment, "Is it still bleeding?"

"Yes, on and off for the last eighteen hours or so."

"We need to cauterize it soon." I said pushing myself to a sitting position. "If I lose too much more blood I won't be waking up."

"How?" Zane asked.

"We need something that will get hot but not totally combust, metal preferably but wood will work. It needs to be red or white hot..."

"Not that, how did he get us down there? And why did he capture us if you're the one he's after? He didn't use us for practice. So there must have been some other reason." Zane asked a look of profound vexation on his face. It would have been hilarious if I weren't dying of blood loss.

"I don't know, maybe he felt threatened by you all, he got very angry when he saw my pre-existing scars. That's the most logical explanation."

"Why? It's not like any one here is claiming you as theirs and saying 'no one but me gets her' or anything, so why would it matter?" Alice asked.

"Who knows? But she's right, if we don't stop the bleeding she's gonna die, then it really won't matter.

"Now what do we have?" Dawn asked, "Any metal? And she's gonna need a new shirt." Embarrassment washed over me as I realized that I was still in the torn burnout shirt as before and completely exposed on my back, I was that girl who changed in the bathroom stall for gym, so this exposure nearly killed me right then and there. The only thing holding my shirt to me was the collar and hem that somehow ended up unscathed.

"I snagged a knife from the room we saved Ro from, and she can wear my hoody." Zane said.

"Okay we need this fire perked up so Alice and Zane go get more burnable stuff and hand over the knife. I'll go get some water and clean up an area and the tools. I don't want any infection, and Ro, don't you dare move from this spot." Dawn gave me a stern look.

When they all parted I looked around trying to figure out our location. High windows were tinted heavily and the ceiling looked to be at about 100 feet tall with concrete floors and metal walls, this was a warehouse that at one time had housed heavy machinery that was used to make wheels, my dad had worked here. A few of the pieces remained here and there and a big hole gaped in the ceiling letting the smoke out from our fire. Zane and Alice returned quickly and Dawn came back soon after. It took them three hours to bring the fire up to heat, and another hour to heat the blade to the right temp.

I took my belt and put it in my mouth the keep from biting my tongue. Alice held my feet and Zane took my wrists and Dawn took the knife. She gently placed the hot blade into the thin slices along my back and neck. At the first touch a scream bubbles up my throat and I jerk against my friends restraining hands, but thank goodness they held strong, half way through I passed out yet again.

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When I woke up next, my back was on fire and Dawn had a hand over my mouth and a finger to her lips. 'He's here,' she mouthed as I sat up slowly. I tried to look around, a large piece of left over machinery blocking the view but I could hear footsteps and heavy breathing coming from the other side. Zane was over on one side of the machine peeking around the edge; Dawn rose quietly and joined him. Alice was on my right and helped me lean against the wall.

"Ro! Rose! Where are you I promise I won't hurt you if you come out?" I could hear the desperation in his voice. "Rose, please, just let me know where you are." Alice scooted back and over hitting the bucket causing it to fall over and clang loudly.

"Ro! Thank goodness I found you, I was afraid…" he rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. "You, I should have just killed you when I had you contained. I knew you would try to take my Rose away from me."

He took two steps toward us when Zane came around the other side with a pipe and slammed it into the base of Todd's skull with a sickeningly wet crunch. He hit the ground two heart beats later his eyes already glazing into the eternal stare. Zane dropped the pipe with a clang before kicking at Todd's face. He paused and continued to kick it repetitively. The other girls tried to stop him but he just ignored them so I stood and stumbled the few paces to where he stood and put my hand on his shoulder and simply said "Zane, it's over." And he quit. He turned to me the anger still in his eyes as he pulled his hoody off and helped me pull it over my shaking body.

"Come on. She needs a doctor, and he needs a body bag." The others just followed silently. I passed out again halfway to the road, and woke a day later in the county hospital's ICU with a detective outside my door and the others at my bedside.

The doctors say that the scars are permanent but they could do some surgery to fix it, I just told them no thank you. I keep them so that I will never be called a liar and I will never forget the ties that now bind me to the friends that endured the horrors with me. To this day we stay close together.

Zane was let off free for killing Todd due to the defense of the rest of us.

Dawn became a lawyer and is now prosecuting on behalf of torture victims; dead and alive.

Alice was never quite the same; she settled down and became a school teacher.

Me, I became a pilot in the air force, a member of a special brigade that flies spy missions around the globe. My plane has been named the Fallen Angel due to my two successful emergency landings, once when the engine blew out and the other a wing was shot off by high altitude artillery, my fellow pilots just call me The Dark Rose.