Nightmares used to be a thing of dreams. Something you only had to worry about when you closed your eyes. But now, here, every day is a nightmare.

I swallow hard and open my eyes. It was dark but I could see the slightest shadows. My head was pounding and it felt like there was dry blood crusted over my body.

I sit up, feeling around for anything to defend myself with. Nothing. Just cold hard concrete and dirt.

"Sasha?

"Fletch, is that you?"

He crawls out of the darkness and closer to me. "Ahri is in here too, she's sleeping. I don't know where the others are."

"Shit," I mumble, pulling my knees to my chest.

"Do you have any idea where we are?"

I shake my head, looking around. There was the slightest bit of light coming off one of the walls. I stand up and head towards the spot. Fletch follows me. I run my fingers over the corner where the light was coming from.

"Help me peel this back."

We both grab onto the material and start pulling. It was some sort of metal that had rusted off the wall where it was supposed to be attached. We start pulling and the metal easily bends backward.

"Let's see if we can peel it off all the way."

The metal gets harder to pull as we continue taking it off the wall. The piece flies out of my hands and I hear it slam into something suddenly. I quickly turn and see Fletch drop the piece where it had broke off.

He carefully places a finger on his eyebrow but he winces in pain.

"Let me take a look,"

He puts his hand down and I pull him into the light.

He looked way worse than having been hit in the eyebrow with a piece of metal.

"What happened to you?" I ask as I gently trace my finger over the purple bruise that surrounded his left eye.

"They beat me up. Pulled me from the car and-" He flinches.

"Sorry..." I mumble, taking my hand away from his face. "Jesus, where are we?" I turn to look out the window.

It was dead quiet. There were a few small run-down buildings but nothing else.

"Is there anyone out there?" Fletch asks.

I shake my head. "Nothing. It's quiet. Wait-"

A person came out of one of the buildings. They were wearing a big yellow hazmat suit and carrying a tray full of what looked to be test tubes.

"Someone just came outside, they're wearing a hazmat suit and... they're coming this way." We both duck behind the window.

"What do you think they're doing?" He asks as he sits down against the wall.

"I don't know. They were carrying tubes of something though... " I tell him as I go to wake up Ahri.

She sits up slowly, rubbing her eyes. "What happened?"

Then the door opens and in walks a woman in a hazmat suit with a tray of test tubes.

"Stand up, face the wall." She orders.

Fletch stands up against the wall. Ahri and I follow. The three of us face the wall, waiting for further orders.

"I'm taking blood samples from each of you. The needle will go in the back of your arm. Don't move and we won't have any problems." The woman explains to us.

"Where are we?" I question.

"You're in Deluca. Look, I'm just here to take blood samples. Someone else will explain things to you later." She tells us.

"I'm sorry we're just not used to being kidnapped and beat." Fletch retorts.

The woman just sighs. "I'm starting with you." She takes out the first needle and grabs Fletch's arm.

I watch from the corner of my eye as she sticks the needle into his arm and draws the blood, slowly filling the syringe.

What the hell had we gotten ourselves into?

She takes the needle out of his arm and fills a new tube with his blood. She takes out a new needle and grabs my arm.

I stare at the wall, squinting my eyes as a sharp pain shoots into my arm when the needle pierces my skin. She takes her time drawing the blood before removing the needle.

I gently rub the spot on my arm as she moves towards Ahri.

"Hold still." The woman orders.

I watch as Ahri focuses on the needle approaching her arm. "Just breathe." I whisper.

The needle pierces her skin and she tenses up, trying to stay as still as she can. The woman draws her blood and removes the needle quickly.

"Thanks for cooperating." She heads for the door as we all turn around.

"Wait, what is this place?" Fletch asks.

"I told you, someone else will explain things to you soon." With that, she opens the door and leaves.

Fletch walks to the door, trying the handle but it was locked.

"What's going on?" Ahri asks.

I sigh. "I don't know. What do you guys remember?"

Fletch shakes his head. "You and I went to talk to those people and then everyone else was gone."

I nod, we'd been trying to negotiate passage but they took everyone right out from under us.

"Ahri, what happened back there?"

"They came up behind us, I tried to get your attention but they were fast. I don't remember it all very well..." She explains.

"Do you think they chloroformed us?" Fletch asks.

"I don't know what else they could have done to get everyone so quietly... but why? Why did they take us?"

The door opens again and two men holding assault rifles come in.

"Backs against the wall." The first one says.

We move against the wall again, this time still facing the door. Maybe we'd finally get some answers...

A third man comes into the room. He's dressed like he's going to a wedding, in a black and white suit with a navy blue tie.

"Hello," He flashes a smile at us.

His teeth are clean, his face is cleanly shaven and his hair is smoothed down.

"I'm James Deluca. You must be the group from Calgary, my people have told me about you." His voice is level, calm.

"This here is, Moe. And the big man on the left, that's Carl." He names the two armed men still standing in front of him.

Nobody says anything as he looks between the three of us.

"This is the part where you introduce yourselves."

"How about you skip to the part where you tell us where we are and where our people are." I tell him.

He just smiles back at me. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"She didn't throw it." Fletch says.

James Delucan clears his throat. "Look, I'm just trying to get to know you a little better. I get it, you're in a new place and you're probably not sure how you got here. If you tell me your names, we can move this conversation along a lot faster."

"Sasha." I finally tell him.

He smiles again. "Nice to meet you, Sasha." He looks at Fletch.

"Fletch."

He nods and looks to Ahri. "And you, what's your name, little girl?"

"Ahri. And don't call me little."

I smirk a little, proud of the attitude I'd raised her with.

"Well then, Sasha, Fletch, Ahri. Once again, I'm James Delucan. Welcome to, Deluca." He gestures around us.

"Now, you're probably wondering what Deluca is. Well, I know you're wondering what Deluca is. We are a community, built upon strength and hard work. Everyone here is fit to work and keep this community going."

I interrupt him. "No offense, but we didn't choose to be here. Your people kidnapped us and threw us in here."

He nods slowly. "Yes, I am aware of your situation. We're in need of some new workers and well, we've had some... issues... lately. So we had to resort to... forcibly bringing in some people to prospectively... participate in our community."

He chooses his words carefully, trying to cover up the truth of the matter. He kidnapped people and forced them into labor for his community.

"We're not interested in forced labor." Fletch says.

"Oh, no no no, don't think of it as forced labor! It's more like... a test, an opportunity! Just to show if you're worthy of joining our community. As I said, we're built on strength and hard work. This is our way of seeing if you're fit to be a part of that." He continues to explain.

"We're not interested in joining your community." I assure him.

"Well, I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice. Then again... I can think of one way you might be able to convince me to let you guys go." He walks across the room and stops in front of me.

A lump begins to form in my throat as he snakes an arm around my waist and pulls my body against his.

It was sickening being so close to him. His touch was nothing like Jasper's. It was rough and threatening while Jasper's was gentle and calming. I tried to resist the urge to punch him as he held me.

"How about I take you back to my room for a bit, maybe then we can talk about letting you guys go?" He whispers into my ear.

The hair on the back of my neck stands up as his breath blows harshly against my skin. I balled my fists at my sides, trying to resist the anger flaring up inside of me but it was too much.

I'd been holding back so much emotion and it was bubbling over right now, at the perfect moment.

I let my fist go and shove James Delucan off of me, throwing my fist into his face right away.

He stumbles backward and I throw another punch at him before I get tackled to the ground by Moe.

He presses my body against the concrete, holding my fists down as I struggle against him.

"Get her up," James Delucan orders.

Moe aggressively pulls me off the ground and holds me up.

James Delucan rubs his face where I'd punched him before he suddenly balls a fist and punches me in the gut. I go to double over but Moe holds me up. James grabs my hair and holds my head up so I'm looking him in the eyes.

"In here, we have rules." He punches me in the gut again and I let out a squealing noise.

"But don't worry, this is just your warning. Next time, I'll just kill the kid." He lets go of my hair and my head falls but he signals for Moe to hold it up and Moe grabs a fist full of my hair and yanks my head back up, tearing at my scalp.

"Last one." With that, he throws one more punch and hits me straight in the nose.

A sharp pain shoots through my face and into my head as something cracks under the pressure of his fist. My face was throbbing and blood was pouring out of my nose.

He laughs as Moe drops my head again. "I think I broke her nose!"

"Sasha!" Fletch shouts.

I try to say something but I just end up grunting nonsense.

"Let her go you bastard!" Fletch shouts again.

"Drop her, Moe."

"F... fll... fletch..." I breathe out quietly. My vision started to blur as I fell to the ground and hit it hard.

Everything was starting to go dark but I tried to focus on what was happening. My ears were pounding while I listened.

"Someone will be in here later to get you guys started with your work. And if I'm feeling like it I'll have the doc down here to take a look at her." James Delucan tells us before he walks out of the room. Moe and Carl follow him, closing the door behind them.

I see Fletch run to the door, banging on it after them.

Ahri kneels beside me, brushing the hair out of my face. "You threw some nice punches."

I smile weakly. I had thrown some nice punches. Even if I got tackled and punched three times, I said what I needed to but it sure did hurt.

Fletch suddenly rushes to my side too. "That bastard..." He says as he looks at me.

I try to sit up slowly and Fletch helps set me against the wall. "We gotta find the others and get out of here." I tell them.

Ahri nods. "Idaho has to be better than this." She smiles.

I smile back. "I sure hope so."

I take her hand in mine and squeeze it. She was okay, and that's what mattered.

Idaho was still the plan. This was just a bit of a setback... We'd get out of here soon and be on our way again. At least I hope we are.