My head aches. That's the first thing I notice. It is a dull, throbbing pain in the back of my skull.

My eyelids are heavy, but I force them to open. At first my vision is blurred. And I'm afraid. Slowly it clears, but that doesn't quell my fear.

Iron bars surround me, a good two inches in diameter. It's dimly lit in the cell, and freezing cold on the bare concrete floor. My eyes adjust gradually, and I see Izzy sitting across from me in the same cell, her legs hugged to her chest, chin resting on her knees. She's muttering to herself, her eyes frantic as they dart around the room.

Mara is sobbing in the far corner, practically curled in on herself. Kat stands at the cell door, white fists wrapped around the bars, glaring out at the nothing.

I slowly sit up, which makes my head hurt all the more, and a groan escapes my lips.

"Wynne, you're awake," I hear Doyle's hushed voice from somewhere behind me and turn to see him reaching through the bars to me.

I clasp his freezing hand, taking in his situation. He is locked into a neighboring cell, along with Seth, who is pacing the length of the cell, and Hudson, who lies on the floor, a makeshift bandage on his head, but he appears to be awake.

"Where are we?" I ask, fear constricting my chest as I stare at Doyle, wide eyed. "Where's Rogan, and Pirate?"

He just shakes his head, whispering, "I don't know."

"I know where we are." Izzy's voice startles me.

All eyes turn to her. She exhales slowly. "I've been here before."

"What?" Seth said, halting right near the bars.

Izzy buries her face in her knees, nodding. "Yeah," her voice is muffled, "but I got away. So we can, too."

"You think?" Kat spits sarcastically, slamming the bars with her palms, a dull clang echoing off the hard walls and floor.

Izzy lifts her head to glare at Kat. "Yeah, I think. So you can just shut the fuck up, okay?"

"You don't tell me what to do, bitc-"

"Okay, okay!" Doyle raises his voice over theirs, surprisingly getting them to fall silent. "We don't have time for this, okay? We need a plan, something."

Kat scoffs. "A plan? Really? There's no way out of this cage without a key or something to pick the lock with, and they already took all we had."

"Yeah, and just getting out here is one thing, but they have an entire compound we've gotta get out of," Izzy adds, "when I was here it was relatively small, but from what I saw on the way in, they've spiced the place up a bit."

"Our weapons are in here somewhere," Seth says, "in this building, I think. Maybe we can find them."

Izzy shakes her head. "No time for that. Once we get out of our cells, we've gotta just make a run for it. There's no time for looking around."

"I..." Mara's voice shakily joins our conversation, "I have a knife."

Izzy groans. "That would've been good to know, Mara."

My eyes widen in surprise, and Seth asks, "how did they not find it?"

"It's...just a tiny pocket knife, and I'm good at hiding things," Mara replies quietly, holding out her pale, shaking palm that cradles the weapon.

Kat snatches it up, prompting a cry of protest from Izzy. Kat rolls her eyes. "I'm gonna try to pick the lock with it, shut up."

As Kat heads to the door, I force a smile, aimed at Mara. "Good job, Mara."

She simply nods, tears escaping her eyes as she curls back in on herself. Giving Doyle's hand a soft squeeze, I release it and cross the small room to Mara, and wrap her up in my arms.

Her head falls against my shoulder, her body beginning to shake with sobs.

"I...I don't know wh-where they are," she cries, and I hold onto her tighter.

"They'll be okay," I say, though I'm not sure if I believe my own words or not, "they probably got away, they might be trying to get us out of here."

She shakes her head. "He's only one person...there's-there's too many...."

"Shh...." I stroke her hair, trying to calm her, "all you need to worry about is you, okay? I'll make sure you get out of here. Everything will work out."

Oh, I hate lying to her. But one thing is true, I will do anything within my power to make sure she makes it out of this place, even if I don't go with her.

"Damn it!" Kat spits in disgust, "I can't get it to work."

"Here," Doyle says, reaching through the bars, "let me try it on ours."

I watch from my spot on the floor as Doyle takes the knife and begins fiddling with the lock on his cell door, and as the minutes pass, and nothing happens, he steps back, shaking his head.

"I don't think it's gonna work."

Seth and Izzy groan, and Kat slams the bars again, like that's gonna do any good.

Suddenly, a loud slam sounds from somewhere out of sight. We all flinch, and my first instinct is to pull Mara as far away from the door as possible. Doyle slips the knife into his boot and moves further away from the door.

A man rounds the corner. The only word that comes to mind about his appearance is "greasy". His hair, his clothes, his face, all filthy. In one of his hands he holds a ring of keys, jingling them, an evil smile playing on his cracked lips.

He comes to a stop right in front of our door. I put Mara behind me. If he takes one of us, it won't be her. It will not be her.

Swinging the keys, his smile grows wider, revealing yellow teeth. "Well, well, well, looky who we have here," he says, his voice rough and horrible, his dark, menacing eyes falling upon Izzy.

She is no longer huddled on the floor, looking helpless. She has risen to her feet, arms crossed, a glare upon her face that could kill any she gave us before.

The man laughs, a horrible, dry, wheezing noise. "You're gonna pay for killing one of ours," he sneers.

I would say I'm surprised, but honestly, it's Izzy. So it's not all that shocking to find out she's killed someone before. Especially if it was one of these scumbags.

A key is stuffed into the lock, and he opens the door. Kat backs slowly away from the door. My thoughts are consumed with keeping Mara away from this disgusting monster. But he seems focused only on Izzy.

She doesn't flinch when he approaches her. His eyes travel up and down her body, like a wild animal appraising a piece of meat, and he laughs again.

"You're even better than last time," he says, licking his lips.

She spits in his face. "Go to hell, you ball-less circus monkey." Her voice is steady, low.

For a moment he is quiet, wiping the spit from his face. And then he slaps her. She staggers sideways, into the bars.

I leap to my feet as Seth bellows from next door, something I don't quite understand. And then the miserable excuse for a human being starts dragging Izzy with him, out of the cell.

I lurch forward, not thinking, my judgement clouded by fear and blind adrenaline, and grab onto Izzy, trying to pull her free from his grasp.

Of course, it doesn't work. In the midst of the shouts from Doyle and Seth, and the creep's cackling, and Mara's crying, my mind is overwhelmed. All I can think to do is pull her free, pull her free, get her away from...it.

But all I get is backhanded across the face, and go flying to the side, my grasp on Izzy broken, and I hear Doyle's voice, hands pounding the bars. Stinging pain, spotty vision. I try to regain my balance.

I blink rapidly, shaking my head slightly, my hands cupping my screaming skin. I see him take Izzy outside the cell, slam the door shut, and lock it. He takes her away, but she doesn't fight. I know Izzy; she's not giving him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.

He strides past the boys' cell, and through my watering eyes, I see Seth grab the creep's shirt. Then Doyle steps into my line of vision, blocking Seth and the beast from view.

I sink down to the floor, and Mara's hands are on my hands, gently pulling them away from my face. I look down on them and see blood. So he broke the skin. But who cares about my skin?

He took Izzy. She's gone.

+++++

Woohoo! Long chapter!! So that's good.

Also, cool stuff is happening! This book is Featured in Adventure! It's in second place! I'm kind of freaking out right now, because, just, whoa! Never dreamed I would be featured! 

So thanks guys, I couldn't have done it without you!