Entry 124: Eytjangard part 3

"Are you awake?"

Consciousness came slowly, as if she were swimming through muddy water, trying to reach the shimmering light above the surface, following the sound of the woman's voice.

She heard the question again but couldn't tell where the voice was coming from or who it belonged to.

As she blinked open her eyes, a trickle of blood slithered down her forehead, wetting her lashes. Pain shot through her as she lifted a hand to wipe it away.

She couldn't quite catch her breath. Her vision was blurred, distorted images, shadows, and beams of light melded together.

Her body ached all over, feeling heavier than it should. As she tried to move she realized she was trapped beneath something.

Or someone...

"Oh god!" She started to panic as she struggled beneath his weight.

"Be quiet," the whisperer commanded. "And for the love of Junip stop moving, don't worry about him, he is dead."

Shalee went eerily still after resting her head against the back of the cage.

"He wouldn't leave you," the voice whispered to her. "He tried to protect you. They called him a hero... before they murdered him."

"He died?" Shalee gasped as tears streaked through the smeared blood and mud across her face. "Oh gods he died because of me? But how did we get here? Where are we?"

"You're in a slave prison camp."

"And who are you?" she asked as the memories slowly started to trickle through the fog in her mind.

"Doctor Lora Wells, from Otellen Prime. Part of the Amity Project. My team had been here for a few weeks...." she went silent for a moment, "...until the massacre."

She could hear the pain in her voice even if she couldn't see her in the darkness. "I'm sorry."

"I had went for supplies..." Her voice was soft, older. Compassionate. "I...when I got back, the entire hospital..." Her voice cracked, "They were all dead."

Lora explained in a tight voice, "They have no use for the sick, and I can only imagine that my team tried to fight back, tried to defend them. But they are doctors, not warriors, goddammit."

"I'm so sorry." Shalee apologized , feeling it were somehow her fault. If she would have arrived sooner, maybe she would have been able to rescue more. Done more.

"There was no one left. No one." Lora responded in a dull voice. "They slaughtered every single person there, struck them dead in their beds, left their mangled bodies across the floors. Some had tried to fight back I think, sick as they were. And I came back to it, walked through the carnage and wondered ...why not me? Why was I spared? Why..."

Silent tears snaked a steady path across her cheeks, dripped onto her filthy shirt, wetting it. "God must have a purpose for you still," Shalee whispered.

"You think I still believe in God?" Lora whispered grimly.

"You're angry. But God didn't kill those people. Men did. Evil, sadistic men."

"God didn't save them either." Lora said in a higher pitched voice, as if she were on the verge of hysteria.

"Maybe he did. Maybe that was his way of saving them...now they are with him." Shalee hesitated, "We are all meant to die eventually."

"How can you even say such a thing, being a capsuleer..."

"I know, I haven't the right to say anything. I'm sorry."

Lora sighed softly, "No, you're right, I shouldn't lose my faith. They can take everything else from me, but that's one thing I shouldn't let them murder. God damned savages."

"How long have you been here?" Shalee whispered.

"About a week. They caught me a few hours outside of Camp Louella, I was trying to get to the space port."

"Do you know how long I've been here?" she asked.

"A day or so. They brought you in with him. He was still fighting them when they brought you both in."

"Darg." Shalee shifted again, wincing as she tried to pull her leg out from beneath him. "He was a volunteer, he was....I don't know anything else about him." she said remorsefully.

They both fell silent.

She listened to the sound of rushing water nearby, the constant droning of insects, peppered with the occasional far away scream. She offered up a silent prayer.

"I'm Shalee, by the way."

"I know. You talk in your sleep....you've been pretty out of it. That's why they put you in here with me, told me to 'make sure she doesn't die'. You're obviously worth a lot of ISK to them." She gave Shalee a long speculative look. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"Why are you here? Not in the camp I mean, but..why does someone from the Amarr militia fight to enslave people, then turn around and secretly try to set them free?"

"I didn't fight for Eytjangard. I'm in the militia to defend our sovereignty from invaders, terrorists. There's a difference. Most in the Knighthood only fight defensively...we are not part of the reclaiming. But we will defend what is ours by right."

"Do you own slaves?" she asked.

"No, of course not." Shalee said with frustration.

"Sorry, stupid question."

"It's alright. Most people hear an Amarrian accent and just automatically assume slaver. But slavers represent only a small faction of the population. The Fed's and Matar like to spread their propaganda and people just eat it up."

"I shouldn't have said anything, really sorry." Lora gave a sigh of exhaustion as she looked forward, peering through the bars of their crude cage. "I wonder what they are going to do with us..." She sounded afraid.

"I don't know..." Shalee replied. "But surely AP must know what has happened...surely they will send somebody..." Her brows furrowed, knowing that it would be impossible for the Project to get involved, technically Amity Project did not exist.

"Yeah. They will send someone. Surely." Lora agreed, knowing it was a lie but needing something to believe in.

A Vherokior slid two trays into the cell as the doors swung open. Moonlight spilled across the floor. Shalee blinked, her vision still blurry, her head aching. She looked to her captor, "I know you don't expect me to eat while I have a dead man laying across me." she said sharply.

"You will eat," he said matter of fact as he stooped over and shoved the body off of her. Two armed guards came up behind the Vherokior, smirking, leering.

He grabbed her by the ankle and slid her forward, towards him. She struggled frantically as raw fear seized her. "Please! No!"

He laughed as he grabbed her other foot, pinning her down, "She's a spirited one." He said to the two laughing behind him.

"Don't you dare touch me! I'll kill you I swear to God I'll slit your throat open!" She screamed, struggling as he climbed across her.

He shoved her bound hands above her head against the blood slicked floor. "That's it, fight me little Ni Kunni, makes it all the better," he said loudly, as if enjoying it.

She spit in his face.

Shalee squeezed her eyes shut and rolled her head to the side as he leaned his head down to hers. His mouth was on her ear, "The Commander is coming. He said you'd know what to do."

The scarred Vherokior pressed something into the palm of her hand as he climbed off of her, laughing.

The door slammed then locked, the Vherokior chuckled, pretending to threaten her, "I'll be back for you, little one."


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(((OOC note. Check out Kuan Yida's blog, Eytjangard Blues 3, he is writing the Eytjangard story from his character's perspective. Also, the story is dedicated to SilenceIKillYou♥, since he is the one who asked us to write it.)))