Chapter 5: Blood is the Price

Rye didn't dare to do differently as she scrambled to her feet and instantly lowered her head.

She had no idea where the screams came from but the last thing she wanted was for the events of the night before to repeat themselves.

A guard soon appeared in front of their cell and unlocked the door. Rye's chains were also pulled out, giving her free rein to walk out.

The space between the chains on her hands and feet were still too small for her to take full strides without falling but she was determined to do the best she could.

Without being told, she fixed her eyes on the dark material of the guards uniform following behind him without daring to raise her head.

She quietly listened to the sound of the others following behind her until they got to what appeared to be a large swimming pool.

The water wasn't clean, and seemed a little putrid as it stank to high heavens.

Looking around she was surprised to see people from her firm, whom she recognized.

Tina, Maddy's assistant and even Maddy who stood beside her with a horrified look on her face.

"STRIP AND WASH YOURSELVES!" The order rang out just as Rye was trying to think of the reason why they had all been dragged there.

'WHAT! Jumping into the water would be like jumping into Mud!' She thought looking around, satisfied to see that she wasn't the only one that had no intentions of obeying.

We're more than four hundred and they're only about ten! They can't kill us all if we choose to disobey right?' Rye thought to herself trying to make eye contact with Maddy and stand her ground when she felt someone grab her arm.

The next thing she knew she had been pushed into the shallow pool of water that easily got all the way to her chest.

"Wha—" Rye said opening her mouth to speak harshly and glare at whosoever had dared to push her only for her to freeze.

The screams started one after the other and Rye was barely able to follow the movements of the guards as everything seemed to happen all at once.

She watched a guard grab a human woman and snap her neck, digging out her heart with a huge grin on his face.

The next moment, he had fallen on someone else, digging his fangs into her and amidst her dreadful screams.

"They uck—" Rye wanted to speak only to feel a hard jab at her ribs, shocked to see that it was from Shiya who glared at her, with a hateful look in her face before distancing herself away, bathing with the water like whatever was happening had nothing to do with her.

The massacre barely began when people began to jump into the water, but it was only those that were closest to it.

The one who stood the farthest sufferred the most.

"AHH!!! HELP ME!"

"I-I'll jump in!"

"Please-please Don't—"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" another screamed as Rye watched a woman whose neck had a large chunk missing, crawl to the edge of the pool struggling to get in.

Meanwhile, everyone in the pool continued to scrub their body with the water as fast as they could.

Rye's hands shook, but she didn't dare to say a word as she slowly allowed the grimy dark water to slid against her skin staring down at her body until the screams finally died down.

"I EXPECTED MORE PEOPLE TO DISOBEY!"

"IT SEEMS LIKE THIS BATCH IS PRETTY GOOD!" the guards openly discussed amongst themselves.

All Rye could do was grit her teeth, raising her head for a split second to stare at Tina's dead body lying on the floor.

Moving her gaze to Maddy, who somehow managed to make it into the pool with only a small scratch on her arm.

She had seen Maddy push Tina in front of the guard to protect herself, and as much as Rye wanted to blame her, she couldn't.

A few minutes later they were ordered to get out of the pool and given clothes.

The one Rye had in her hands was a dark brown gown that looked like it was made out of grass because of how harsh the material was.

Nothing like the top and pants she still had on.

Rye was still staring at it when she heard a loud booming voice echo in the huge area they were.

"My name is Bladon. I'm the manager of Batch 4. Allow me to welcome the new humans among you to the Kingdom of Hoyen,"

"It's Foolhardy to think you can leave. It's even more foolish for you to Disobey,"

"To survive here, you should remember that—Your Life is a Loan, and your Blood is the price.