The despair was a physical weight, crushing her, and pulling her under but she was helpless.
The leader's sneer widened as Shuyin's tears fell endlessly. "Looks like we're starting with the face after all." She gave a sharp nod to the woman holding the shiv..... But then...
The cell door suddenly clanged open with a deafening crash.
Two guards stood there, their faces cold and blank like stone. "Lin Shuyin. On your feet."
Tank stepped back instantly, and the shiv disappeared somewhere into her clothes.
"Lights-out over already?" she grumbled, but there was something knowing in her eyes. Like she understood something Shuyin didn't.
Shuyin stood frozen, confused and trembling. "What... what's happening?"
"Move it!" one guard barked, before Shuyin could even react, rough hands grabbed her arms and yanked her forward. She stumbled, her legs weak, and nearly fell. The guards dragged her toward the cell door.
"Wait... where are you taking me?" Shuyin's voice came out high and panicked. She had just gotten into prison; were there any other rules she didn't know of? "What did I do? I just got here!"
They didn't answer or give a care about her panic. One guard pulled out heavy metal chains.
The cold steel wrapped around her wrists with sharp clicks, the cuffs biting into her skin. Then they bound her ankles with shorter chains, just long enough for her to shuffle along but not run.
"Please, where are we going?" Shuyin begged, looking back at her cellmates. But Tank, Razor, and Blade just watched in silence. Their faces showed no emotion nor did they have any desire to help.
One guard pulled out a black cloth hood. Shuyin's eyes went wide with terror.
"No.... no, please don't...."
But the hood was yanked down over her head, plunging her into complete darkness. The rough fabric pressed against her face, making it hard to breathe. Panic exploded in her chest uncertain of her situation.
"Please! Please tell me where you're taking me! Please!" She tried to twist away, but the guards' grips were like iron.
They dragged her forward, uncaring, and she stumbled over the chains on her ankles, nearly falling, but they just hauled her up and kept moving.
The cell door clanged shut behind her with a final, echoing boom. She was being taken somewhere else...
"Help! Someone help me!" Shuyin screamed through the hood, her voice muffled, but no one answered and no one was going to come to her help.
They marched her through corridors she couldn't see. The sounds of the prison grew distant, the screams she had been hearing and the metal clanging fading away.
The air around her grew colder and her bare feet on the concrete floor felt like ice.
But soon, she heard new sounds now, they were of a low rumble. Like... voices? Lots of voices... Growing louder.
The guards suddenly stopped.
Shuyin heard the heavy scrape of metal on metal, a big door being unlocked. Hinges loudly groaned. Then she was shoved forward hard.
She stumbled through the doorway, barely keeping her balance with the chains on her ankles.
The rumble of voices tu bed and became a huge roar.
Hands grabbed the hood and ripped it off her head, setting her free in her new world.
Light, harsh, flickering industrial light suddenly hit her eyes, blinding her. Shuyin blinked, her eyes watering, trying to see.
When her vision cleared, her blood turned to ice, and she stood there shocked beyond despair.
She was standing in a massive underground space. The ceiling was high and dark, crisscrossed with rusted pipes and exposed beams.
The walls were rough concrete, circular, forming a huge arena.
All around the walls, rising up in tiers, were hundreds of inmates, and not just inmates, even men wearing immaculate suits... Maybe even more. Their faces were twisted with excitement, scarred and brutal, eyes gleaming with savage anticipation.
They were screaming....
Cheering....
Chanting....
"Fresh meat! Fresh meat! Fresh meat!"
"Look at her! She's gonna die!"
"Rip her apart!"
"Make her bleed!"
The sound was deafening, echoing off the concrete walls until it felt like the noise itself was crushing her.
In the center of the space was a circle. The concrete floor was stained dark, brown, and rust-red... Blood. Old blood that had soaked in over time.
Shuyin's legs gave out and she dropped to her knees, the chains roughly rattling. "No... no, this can't be..."
A guard grabbed her arm and hauled her up. "Get into that ring."
"What? No! I don't understand! What is this place?"
" Why am I here?"
The guard's face showed no remorse and actually didn't dare, from this fun fact, they earned their own tokens...
Only a few inmates and rich people showed up in such places to watch such a kind of fanfare....