Cage

Nathan thought for a while, he didn't usually have much free time and now that he did, he didn't know what to do.

He thought for a while and finally decided that he would go and investigate the disappearances.

Night fell and Nathan finally gave up. It was impossible to look for something he didn't know what it was, it just didn't make sense.

On his way back to the factory, Nathan found Lira awake and they started talking normally. She did her best to hide it, but Nathan knew she was hurt and sad inside.

Suddenly there was a noise on the first floor of the factory that caught their attention. Lira stood up and started to open the door to go downstairs, but Nathan stopped her before she could do anything.

"Why are you stopping me?" asked Lira, clearly confused.

Nathan looked at her and then at the door.

"There's something strange... be quiet"

Nathan let go of Lira and slowly opened the door to see what was going on. He peered through the door with one eye and saw that there were 6 strange men on the first floor. The other 3 boys who had been left in the factory were unconscious and tied up.

'What is going on?'

"So, you were the one who spied on us this afternoon?"

Nathan was startled to hear a voice behind him and quickly turned to cover Lira, who was looking fearfully at the man sitting in the window frame.

"Who are you?" shouted Nathan.

He hadn't felt the man's presence at all, if the man hadn't spoken, he wouldn't have known there was someone else in the room with them.

"Ah... I'm just someone passing through"

Nathan raised his guard and continued to stare at the man. He was confident in his own abilities, thanks to the year and a half of training with Boreas, but after all he was just a twelve-year-old boy, his physique could not be compared to an adult, let alone seven adults, counting the man in front of him.

Yes, Nathan was of the first rank and had a technique, but he could hardly train it, mainly because Boreas did not teach him how to use the essence.

The man stepped down from the windowsill and began to walk towards them. Lira was trembling and Nathan did not know what to do, he saw no way out of this situation.

Things got worse when he suddenly felt something grab his neck from behind, he was thrown to the ground and before Nathan knew it, he was being held down by one of the men below.

'Shit!'

Because of the man's appearance in the room, he had forgotten that those on the first floor could go upstairs. So, he was caught unawares, unable to do anything.

Nathan tried to break free, but all his limbs were held tightly, so he had no choice but to lie on the floor and watch the other men enter the room.

At some point Lira had been knocked out by the man at the window and was now lying unconscious on the floor.

Nathan glared at the men.

"What do you want?"

The man smiled, picked Lira up and started to walk out of the room.

"Oh, don't worry, we don't want anything from you. I'm just doing my job"

Nathan wanted to speak but felt a blow to the back of his neck that knocked him out instantly.

***

In a cold and dark place, Nathan woke up with a pain in his neck, his head was spinning, and he felt a little nauseous. Looking around in confusion, Nathan rubbed his neck and cursed inwardly.

'Damn it... Where am I?'

Everything was dark and he couldn't see anything, it took him a few minutes to get used to the darkness so that he could make out certain silhouettes around him.

Cautiously, Nathan began to move his arms around, trying to feel something. His right hand touched something, and he felt it for a few seconds before realizing that it seemed to be a cold metal pipe.

He continued to feel around and realized that he seemed to be in a small cage. A little less than a square meter wide and no more than a meter high. Nathan couldn't stand up, so he had to remain kneeling in the small cage.

'They locked me in...'

Nathan finally found out who was responsible for the children disappearing over the years. He figured that since there were so few left, it wouldn't arouse suspicion if they took the last few at the same time.

That was why they were operating at night, and he'd noticed Nathan spying on them. Surely the look he had felt when he arrived at the factory had come from one of them.

Now there was only one question.

'What are they going to do with us?'

While he was lost in thought, a door opened, and light flooded the room.

Nathan glanced at the person who had just entered, then went back to pretending to be asleep. Two of the men he had seen on the first floor were the ones who had entered. 

"Which one do I take?" said one of the men.

The other seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before answering.

"Take those two, they're the ones we were asked for... I think so"

Nathan eavesdropped on their conversation and remained silent as he continued to listen to the men.

He listened as one of the men walked close to him before walking past him, then he heard some keys and a padlock fall to the floor.

Nathan didn't dare open his eyes lest they notice he was awake, so he just kept listening.

''What are they doing?'

The man grunted softly and then spoke.

"You take him, I'll take the other one"

Nathan heard a second set of footsteps and then the other man's voice.

"Right... don't be late" 

The second man's footsteps moved away, and Nathan understood that he must have taken a child from another cage. Then he heard the remaining man's footsteps approaching and then again, the sound of keys and padlock.

Nathan knew this was his chance and waited until he heard the sound of the padlock opening before he opened his eyes.

The door to the cage was still closed and the man was about to open it. Taking advantage, Nathan lifted his leg and kicked the cage, hitting the man in the face and knocking him unconscious.

Nathan sighed nervously, not sure if it would work, but fortunately the blow was enough to knock the man out. 

Nathan crawled out of the cage and stood up, stretching his arms, which were sore from the position he had been sleeping in.

'Right...'

Nathan looked at the man and then around.

There were dozens of other cages around him, most of them empty, but a few with other children in them. Nathan did not recognize any of the children, but they all seemed to be asleep.

Some had visible wounds on their bodies, others were malnourished and only a few seemed to be doing well.

Nathan bit his lip in frustration.

He couldn't stay and risk getting caught, which meant he couldn't help the children.

He had to leave as soon as possible, so he didn't have time to free them. Nathan simply took the bunch of keys and left them in the cage of one of the children who seemed healthier than the others, in the hope that he would manage to get out and save the others.

Nathan quickly left the room and looked carefully outside.

There were stairs leading up, which meant that Nathan seemed to be in some sort of basement.

As he started to climb the stairs, he heard footsteps approaching again and blanched.

'That fast?!'

Nathan turned back into the room and hid behind the door frame, wondering what to do. He had barely a dozen seconds to think of what to do, so he looked around and tried to think of something. Seconds later he heard the man coming down the stairs.

"What's taking you so long?"

The man walked through the door and took a few seconds to see his companion's body lying on the floor. The man reacted quickly to look around, but it was too late, Nathan had already left the room by closing the door and putting the padlock on the outside, locking the man inside.

Nathan took a nervous breath and heard the knocking on the door and the man screaming from inside.

But none of that mattered to him and he began to climb the stairs quickly. He knew that the noise would attract more people and he needed to get out of the place quickly.