Chapter 3: Life of a prisoner.

Third person POV:

The following days weren't much better for the poor girl.

Emily didn't know how much time has passed but once she woke up it wasn't out of her own volition. The first thing she saw after opening her eyes again was something possible to describe as a 'person'. They didn't appear to be human, something made apparent by their scaly skin of bluish and greenish coloration that resembled that of a fish and their see-through eyelids. Their lips were much more pronounced, their ears resembled fins and the head was bald with one big fan-like-looking fin of red color, which resembled a mohawk.

The strange creature put some strange metallic and futuristic-looking handcuffs not connected by anything on all four of her appendages, while also putting a similar-looking choker on her neck.

She tried to resist but between the assailant's strength being much higher and her still feeling weak, it was for naught. While their skin seemed slippery and cold to the touch it didn't seem to matter.

They were apparently able to control how sticky it was, literally gluing their hands to her.

When they were done, the assailant simply left the cage and locked it again.

Now that she was able to move again she could see that she wasn't the only one cuffed and collared.

In the cages surrounding her, people were either still sleeping, as if unable to hear all the commotion around them, resisting being cuffed by similar creatures, or already cuffed and trying to understand what was going on just like her.

When they were all done, one of them left the warehouse and after a moment returned with a much taller and more muscular-looking creature that seemed to be their boss.

While most of the creatures seemed to average around 170 cm, the one that just entered was at least 190 cm tall. He wore the same kind of skin-tight suit that resembled a diving suit as the rest of the creatures, but his skin instead of being green, blue or a mix of both was yellow and his mohawk-like fin was much larger and blue.

After a small exchange between the two that was closer to gurgling than real conversation the yellow humanoid touched himself somewhere on his neck and said, "Listen here, your ship sunk during a storm, so for the outside world you are dead. We took you out of it while it was sinking, at least the ones still alive, so now you belong to us. Either you will behave or you will experience some pain." they said, the gurgling-like sounds mostly suppressed by a synthetic voice coming from the translator on his neck.

Instantly, after realizing they could communicate with the yellow humanoid, the people started to shout and protest, while also asking questions. It started with only a few but soon many others followed in their steps, influenced by the mob mentality. They didn't seem to care that they weren't talking to a human, nor what the strange creature said about them being dead for the rest of the world, which meant they could do anything they wanted to them.

"So you don't want to behave…", the yellow humanoid said with annoyance and looked at his wrist Then he clicked something on a device attached to his wrist, and soon after the warehouse was filled with even more noise.

This time it didn't consist of people arguing and demanding to free them. No, this time it was filled with screams of pain as every person that yelled previously got electrocuted.

Seeing it all Emily felt a bit relieved that she didn't join them. As coldhearted and selfish as it was, she was glad she didn't scream together with the others.

One of the reasons she didn't scream was that she wasn't dumb and properly considered her situation aided by the medallion's calming effect. Another one was that she was too tired mentally to do it.

The moment one of the creatures put cuffs on her, and she had the time to look around, she realized that until she gets more information about their situation, doing anything impulsive wasn't wise.

She still felt despair hard to put into words after losing her parents, but the survival instincts and the medallions influence helped her clear her mind enough to think. At least for the time being…

"Why do humans have to be so dumb…", he said to himself in irritation, not expecting an answer. "Now that you had a taste of what awaits you if you misbehave I hope you won't do it again. If this pain isn't enough we will just kill you. I have some clients interested in human meat so even if we can't sell you alive there is that option as well." he said with a creepy smile that showed his pointed teeth, and then touched his neck again likely to turn off the translator.

His two rows of sharp teeth and creepy smile had even more impact than his words, resulting in most of the people present feeling weak and getting shivers down their spines. They felt the most primordial kind of fear, the one towards a predator that saw you as an easy target.

After that, the creatures brought them some water and low-quality food, which some people refused to even try, and left them alone for the rest of their first day of enslavement.

***

The next week or so passed by without other events.

It was hard to tell how much time has passed exactly since they couldn't go outside.

Their phones and other devices broke together with the light on the ship but even if they didn't they would after getting exposed to the water. The only thing that allowed them to measure time was the meals they received.

After the rush of adrenaline ended Emily again succumbed to her depressed self.

It wasn't strange by any means. After all, any normal person would feel like this in her situation.

At first not wanting to accept the reality she even gathered enough courage to ask one of the creatures looking after them if they saw her parents. She concluded that they likely were able to understand their language but not pronounce it. As such, she showed them a photo of her and her parents that she kept in her wallet.

Unfortunately, after turning on their translator the creature replied that there was no one like that in their possession. It surprised her a bit that the creature was willing to even talk with her, but the words it uttered were too painful for her to show it.

Now there was no hope. They were gone. She couldn't think about any way to gain her freedom back. She could only wait for what was to come, which left her in a state of apathy…

The only thing she did was look at the medallion she got from Art from time to time. She still questioned how it was able to help her stay sane, and even more so how Arteziar was able to get it.

Remembering the last message he sent about her not jinxing aliens an idea popped into her mind.

Considering how elusive he was about his current location, the present, and what he told her in his messages, it was very likely he would be able to recognize these strange creatures and maybe even save her.

This left her some hope, but not much as it sounded more like a dream than a proper conclusion.

When later that day, the yellow Fishman entered the warehouse with a bigger number of underlings than usual she didn't even realize that until one of them dragged her out of her cage, just like another 49 people, mostly girls.

Then they took them to another room where they told them to bathe and wear clothes that covered so little there wasn't even much of a reason to wear them, yet they didn't take away her medallion.

'Are they taking us to some kind of human auction…?', she asked herself, as the clothes they gave to her were similar to something she once read about in a novel, a mix between a bikini and a dancer's clothes, just a lot more plain. They exposed most of their bodies to the eye, likely to allow the potential buyer a better look at the 'goods'.

She didn't care much. In the past, she would feel shame but right now she was in too much pain to care. While some of the women seemed to still have some fullish ideas as they looked around nervously, probably waiting for a moment to run away even if it meant experiencing an electric shock from the collar on their necks, Emily just lifelessly followed in line.

After some time they were brought to another big room that based on the sound that could be heard from the door opposite to those they entered through was a room adjacent to a stage. Then, they were split into 5 groups, 10 people each, and the groups were taken out one by one.

Emily was part of the fourth group, and once she was taken to the stage the last bit of hope left her.

The spectators consisted of many humanoid races as well as some that looked more like monsters from legends, but none of them were human…

'I wonder what they are going to do with us…', she thought while looking at the audience.

The yellow Fishman was on the stage as well. He promptly gave a short description of each person and the price. He also forced them to pose in certain ways while making sure they showed anything there was to show. However, the moment it was Emily's turn and yellow Fishman was about to grab her…

*Boom*, the door in the back has been blown away, while something shot straight from them towards the stage.

"You are soooo dead." said a young, around 16 years old man in casual clothes, while holding the yellow Fishman up by his throat. His voice was stone cold yet the fury that could be felt from it seemed like the flames of hell itself.

Not long after, while the commotion started to take over the audience, a group of men in white uniforms with yellow-gold and black accents came from what was left of the destroyed doors and all the other entrances, making it impossible for anyone to get out unnoticed.

When Emily saw the man's face, her eyes become as round as saucers due to the shock as she never expected to meet him in such circumstances…

"Art…?"