Survivor

Chapter 9

Julie's POV:

I'm not exactly sure how many days it has been since that day I had my profile made and I was thrown into one of the cells. I know it's been more than a week because they just started giving me food a few days ago. I'm guessing a few days only because of the number of meals they have given me. They give me three a day but they aren't much. I think the food is just to keep you alive but not let you get your strength up because you get a piece of bread and butter, some water, and some kind of meat. The size of the meat is really small. For breakfast, you get a bowl of some kind of porridge or oatmeal or something. It doesn't even fill up half the bowl so you are left starving till they give you your next meal. I don't think I've felt full once since I've been down here.

I can't hear anything in here probably because the doors to each one are solid doors with no windows, so I have no idea if there are any down here with me or not. Considering how big this place is, I imagine there are several more, more than what I probably want to know about.

I'm also not sure how bad I still look but I'm sure I still have some evidence of the beating that I took. They aren't exaggerating when they tell you that you are going to be punished for trying to run. The guard didn't just hit me several times in the face. He also took a whip and hit my bare legs with it, causing welts to form and a few of them broke open. The welts are gone but the few areas that broke open are still healing. I'm not sure if I will have scars there or not.

The beating I took to my face busted my lip open on both sides and made my nose bleed. My lip is still sore so I'm sure you can still see what was done to me. Then, once he was done, I was thrown in here to start my week of starvation.

There's no light in here so each time the door opens I have to squint my eyes just to protect them from the sudden pain from the sensitivity. I find myself sleeping often because I'm so bored and it's so dark. It really makes a person feel like they are going to go insane being left in here alone like this for so long. It made me wonder how long someone is known to be kept in here and if anyone has ever died in one of these rooms.

I sat up quickly when I heard the door open and the light from the hallway shined into the room. I put my hand over my eyes to cover some of the light and squinted to try to see who it was.

"It's time." I heard the familiar voice of the guard who has been keeping an eye on me.

I still had trouble focusing in on him with the light behind him. He came over and grabbed the arm that I had up over my eyes and pulled me up off of the ground.

"Didn't you hear me?" He asked as he yanked me up off of the ground.

"Yes, but I was struggling with seeing you," I told him as he pulled me out of the room.

The light from the hallway was even more bright when we stepped out and I closed my eyes quickly to block the light. I opened them again when I heard the door open and we started to walk up the stairs to get to the rest of the house.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked him.

"You have a buyer and your purity needs to be checked again before the sale is finalized." He told me and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach.

"A...a buyer? Who? Who's checking me? Aren't you?" I asked, my voice almost cracking as I tried to hold back the fear and tears that were starting to fill the brim of my eyes.

"Yes and I don't know who he is other than his screen name. Just that they liked what they saw and they put in a bid. It became a bidding war with others and he came out on top. He's pretty wealthy whoever he is." He told me but it didn't help me with my fear of what kind of man had purchased me.

"He's bought from us before." He continued.

"Are, t-they still alive? The ones he's bought?" I asked him, trying to keep my voice from wavering but my stutter ruined that.

"That I couldn't tell you." He said, causing my fear to start to rise again.

"Please," I started to beg and pulled on my arm.

"Julianne, don't make me throw you over my shoulder again." He threatened me again but that didn't stop me from pulling on my arm to try to get freed.

"Let me go! Please! I won't tell anyone!" I started to beg more and when he didn't listen I kicked him in his leg with my foot.

I hissed in pain from kicking him without any shoes on. While I was being distracted by the pain, the back of his hand came around and hit me in the face, causing me to fall to the floor, choking on my cries. He grabbed me by my arm and I cried out louder as he threw me over his shoulder and started to continue with his walk.

I knew my lip had busted open again because I could see the drops of blood on the floor as he walked away. I was pretty weak from the lack of food that I have had in the last week and a half so, after that kick, all my energy appeared to have drained from my body. I literally laid over his shoulder and cried.

He went up another flight of stairs and down a few hallways before he came to a door and opened it. I recognized it as soon as we had walked in, it was that doctor's office I was in when I received that birth control shot. I was a little surprised to see that he had brought me in here but now that I'm here, it makes sense.

He set me down on the hospital bed and he pushed me down on my back.

"What the hell?" I said and tried to sit back up.

"Down!" He shouted and glared at me.

I slowly laid back down on the bed as he walked around and pulled the stirrups of the bed out. He grabbed my thighs and he pulled me hard towards the edge of the bed and put my legs in the stirrups.

"Please, isn't there any way for me to get out of this?" I asked him in a shaky, pleading voice.

He just looked up at me and shook his head and went back to what he was doing. I took a deep breath and put my hands over my face and rubbed. I was feeling sick, I wanted to cry my eyes out, and a part of me just wanted to die. I took my hands away when I felt something get placed over my stomach and when I looked to see what it was, my eyes widened when I saw a strap get secured down.

"What is that for?" I asked him in shock, considering I'm just lying here and not trying to get away.

"To ensure you don't try to escape. It's happened before." He said as he pulled the strap tight over my body.

He then walked over and sat down on the chair beside the bed as if he was with me for moral support during an exam.

"Why aren't you checking me?" I asked him because honestly, I would rather he did so since he's already done it once.

I didn't want everyone in this whole damn place to be inspecting me. It's bad enough that I'm getting sold to some pervert that has who knows what kind of sick plans in his head, I don't need this on top of it all.

"Because they want to make sure I don't lie to save my own skin." He told me and I just looked up at the ceiling.

I don't know how long I had to lay there like that, feeling exposed even though no one was in front of me looking. Still didn't stop me from feeling the way I did, with my legs open and my skirt pulled away.

Just then, the door opened and a doctor, a different one than the one who gave me the shot, walked through the door. How many freaking doctors work for this man? Didn't they take some kind of oath to protect and heal? Not help with them getting sold on the black market for body parts.

All he did was look at me as if I was just some w***e that came to make sure they didn't have s******s or warts or something. He just walked over and put a pair of gloves on and then pulled a chair on wheels over and sat in front of me. I just closed my eyes and tried to let myself go to a different place. Somewhere more pleasant as I felt his fingers move the disgusting thong that I have been wearing nonstop for the last week and a half, out of the way and then spread me open for his eyes to look.

"Still intact," He said suddenly and stood up and typed on a computer that was in the room and sent it off.

"You've been verified and she's ready to go." The doctor said and walked out of the room.

The guard took the strap off of me and helped me get my legs off of the stirrups. He grabbed my arm again and pulled me out of the room.

I thought I was going to go somewhere where my hair and makeup would get fixed but instead, he walked me out of one of the rear exits of the house and to a parked limo that was in the driveway.

"Aren't you going to let me freshen up before you deliver me?" I asked him and he just shook his head.

"You are sold as-is so there's no need." He told me as if he was talking about some used old junker car that was getting sold from some person's private residence.

He almost pushed me into the limo and grabbed me again quickly and pulled me down to sit beside him, just like Dylan had done when he first put me in the car with him to come here. I had nothing to say, just wanted to sit there in silence with my own thoughts. Thoughts of how I could possibly get away before we reached our destination but as the car drove, I could never come up with any possible way of getting away. Especially once we were out on the open highway, driving at higher speeds. Even if I did find a way to get out, the fall to the road could kill me or I could get run over by a car that was driving behind us.

After almost an hour drive time, we turned off of the highway and several miles down we came to a road that claimed it was closed. Just like that first one when we first got here so I highly doubt this road is actually closed. Just getting used for the airplane that we are probably driving to.

"Where are you taking me?" I finally asked when the plane came into view.

"I'm not sure where you are going to end up but we are meeting the purchaser part way. I'm delivering you to him in Oklahoma." He told me and I couldn't help but feel pain in my chest.

That was quite a distance away from my grandparents and it made me feel as if it was going to be less likely for anyone to ever find me. It was bad enough that I was taken from Kentucky and flown to New York. Now I'm on my way to the middle of the states just to possibly go even farther or possibly out of the country. Just the thought of my future and the fact that I will be lost forever was enough for me to cry a little as we pulled up to the airplane.

At this point, I didn't see much of a reason to fight, especially once we parked and I saw all the guards around the plane, the several that walked over to the limo from other cars, and of course, the one that was sitting with me. All of this just to make sure I don't escape and that the sale becomes final.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me from the limo, using the same tightness of grip as he always has yet anymore, I felt numb to it. My arm has been squeezed so much in the last couple of weeks that I feel like all the nerves involved are no longer working. I even walked as if I just didn't care anymore, at least not at the moment. I'm still hoping for that one chance to somehow get away, I'm just thinking it isn't going to be before I'm delivered.

---

The flight lasted for at least an hour or more, I wasn't really too sure since I didn't have a clock and I didn't know when we had taken off either. I just sat in the chair next to the window and looked out for the duration of the flight.

"Julianne?" I heard my name and I slowly looked over to where the voice was coming from.

My eyes darted down to the guard's hands and saw that there was a rope in them. My eyes widened and I looked back up at him.

"It's the procedure, to tie you up during delivery." He told me as if he was reading my mind about the rope.

I didn't say anything, just stared at him as he glared back at me. I could see him clenching his jaw as he started to get more frustrated with me. He took a step back to give me room and I slowly got out of my seat. I put both of my arms out in front of me and he started to wrap the rope around them. Tying them tight and securely so I couldn't get out of them.

Once he was done, he had me sit back down in the seat. It wasn't long after and the seatbelt sign came on, indicating that we were getting ready to land. My heart really started to beat wildly at the thought that I was about ready to meet my new owner as you could call him. I was just hoping and praying that the man wasn't going to be someone who wanted to hurt me and chop me up into little pieces for fun. I was really hoping that maybe, just maybe he could be someone decent even though in my mind, anyone who purchases someone else is hardly decent.

"I know you said you don't know, but is it possible that the man who purchased me wanted a mail-order bride?" I asked him and he just looked at me.

"I don't know but I know that isn't why he bought you. Those require different paperwork and that paperwork wasn't filled out for you." He told me and I felt my eyes tear up.

The plane came to a complete stop, in another deserted area, and the guard pulled me up from the seat to take me to the door. Once it opened, the hot air hit me hard, causing me to close my eyes. I opened them when I felt him pull on the rope and we started to descend down the stairs.

I looked up once we got to the bottom of the steps and my eyes locked with the man standing about ten feet away with several of his own guards around him. My heart started to beat like crazy in fear of what kind of man he was going to be.