In the face of death

A man was seen walking along the quiet street of the town. Just as he was about to immerse himself in the calmness of the day, he heard shouting and running everywhere. He needed no soothsayer to tell him that the bandits were attacking again. The people in the town might have been strong enough to fight them but they always came in high numbers. The fight would then be useless. He was still running when he heard someone shout his name from behind.

" Luke wait up" the voice screamed "They are just entering the town, they are still far behind"

He finally halted at that. He ran towards a tree and waited till his friend got to him.

"Joshua, we have to keep running. If they get me or you, it will be bad. We don't know what happens to people they catch" he reasoned out.

He was bothered that something bad was going to happen today. His gut feeling was telling him that something was not right. As if today was going to be a bad day for him.

"Why are you still talking? Let's go" Joshua exclaimed.

They joined the crowd and in the blink of an eye, they lost each other. Luke called out to Joshua in the noisy area but he didn't hear him reply. He ran back to the tree side to check if Joshua went back there and suddenly he felt something cold and sharp on his neck. IT WAS A DAGGER!

"Don't act smart. Keep quiet and listen to instructions. You see that house right at that corner, just keep moving towards it" the voice warned.

Luke was scared now. Who would not be scared when they were face to face with death? He approached the door of the house carefully until the man told him to stop. The man led him to the side and pushed the wall open. It led to something like an underground pathway. The moment they entered, the wall returned back to normal. They walked for what felt like hours till he finally saw light.

He was led to a kind of deserted house. The house had a creepy air around it. He wanted to scream when they got inside. There were skeletons all around. The bones on the floor could help in making a successful bone factory. There were skulls and some bones that looked like fingers. What were they doing here?

"What is going on?" he asked tensely. The man didn't answer him. He just threw him into a room.

Inside the room, he could make out some figures with the help of a little light sneaking in through the sealed window. The people inside the room looked very scared. They were skinny and it looked as if they were starved for days.

He tried asking them but they remained mute. They didn't want to talk. He got that message loud and clear. A woman finally pitied him and spoke to him.

"Look, we are all going to die here. There is no escaping. They come in here day by day to take people for their use. Let me make it clear to you. They sell organs of humans and they don't look normal" the woman said with a crazed smile on her lips.

"What do you mean? That we are all going to die. I don't want to die like this" Luke murmured

The woman looked at him pitifully "Whether you accept it or not, it's still going to happen".

That night, Luke could not sleep. He tossed and turned on the cold hard ground. He noticed it was morning when the bright light entered through the little hole in the sealed window again. He looked around. Almost everyone in the room was awake as if they were waiting for something. The door opened and a guy entered. He looked around and then he started walking towards his direction. The lady whispered again "It's your time". He felt goosebumps crawl all over his skin. The man stopped in front of him, dragged him up and they walked towards the door. The door closed with a loud bang and the room returned back to the deafening silence