4. Mireille

When the light wasn't pure white I knew it was my fault. All those crippled pilgrims writhing in pain were my fault. Are they dead? Am I a murderer?

Kidnapped before I could even apologise to my parents for ruining everything they’ve built here. Now I'm going to die. 

That's what one of the thugs sneered when they grabbed me. "Scream again and it's your throat. You're coming with us either way," my windpipe collapsing into a strangers iron grip. 

Then another, weirdly familiar voice with a sickly sweet fruit scent purred into my ear.

"We'll just keep your body over winter, then let it thaw out in spring." 

"I've done nothing, I have nothing! Let me go!"

"You have everything you spoiled little bitch. Talk over," followed up by a stinging slap across my face.

Dragged around the rear side of the fortress my captors slid across the snow drifts as the slope steepened. Nobody ever used this side. No wonder they just rocked up unchecked.

Someone put the silver cuffs on me. Then another guy, bigger, chunkier, maybe even two of them took over dragging me. I was roughly dumped into the truck. I should have kept track of faces, scents, voices but it was a blur in the dark. 

Every time a gun fired I flinched, certain it must be heading for the back of my head.

Tied onto a flatbed truck their raucous celebrations were merely dull humming to my ears. I just stared behind me for as long as possible, memorising my grey stone home before it was swallowed up by the black horizon. 

The tears fall as I think of my poor parents. They're going to despise what I've brought to their door. Pilgrim-killer, taken by Rogues. Their entire legacy in bullet-riddled ruins.

Some of their devotees will probably say it's what I deserved.

Or that I planned it. People like Vera with her shining grey eyes will soon whisper that I never wanted to do the Ceremony. That I must have a lover on this side who has stolen me away. That she should have taken over from Luna Elvie. 

Even with my thick grey furs I shiver through icy winds. Snow is plummeting, whipped by the wind to sting and lash my face. We’re driving straight into the Freeze. It’s suicide.

"It just needs to hold off another day," one man shouted across to another. "Then we're sorted."

"Think they'll do it? Pay up?" The driver answered, skidding around black rocks and slamming me around the sides.

"We've got their only child. They'll give us everything. Safe from the plague and rich as fucking sin come spring."

I'll find a way out of this. Once my hands stop shaking and the overriding nausea and sense of imminent death passes anyway. My heart sank further when I realised we were definitely heading north. We're going deeper into the cold, not away from it. Longer underground or an even quicker death. 

When a flurry of blazing torches finally came into view dawn was breaking through, shards of light cutting through the white snowstorms. My face was completely numb, my limbs useless after hours exposed to the cold.

A tall man strode towards us. Long-limbed and languid, he seemed to mock my panicked jolting moves. Swaggering, proud as a peacock, chiselled muscles clearly pressing against his black leathers. 

Poking out from the sides of his furred hat were short golden blonde sideburns and vivid green eyes. He studied me before licking his lips and smiling.

"Good work. Let's get her in there and see what the delivery brings."

"Yes, Alpha Raze!"

The metal hatch opened out. Like a submarine with its circular handle and upwards lift. The Light opens inwards. My head tilts to the side as I watch this ancient mechanism creak into life.

That door will be impossible to move until the Freeze is completely over. That is adding weeks onto underground life. Fear grips me however I'm simply too cold to vomit. 

I've been taken by fucking amateurs. 

This place is an abandoned death trap. Somehow I clatter down a rusted metal ladder and immediately gag at the smell. 

Ancient boilers are rattling and clanking, giving off vile, mouldy fumes. But no heat.

Just like my home’s underground system,  there is a central chamber with numerous slim corridors shooting outwards. But home is beige, padded and comfortable. Safe. There are music rooms, warm lighting, meditation chambers and libraries.

This is a prison. An abandoned one at that. There's nothing here to support life. The metal skeletons of bunk beds but no mattresses. Stepping over abandoned oil drums and wooden pallets I'm guided down what looks to be the fourth wing.

"In here if you please," the blonde leader beckoned with a long slim finger. Animated, almost bouncing, this Alpha Raze was clearly enjoying his moment. Aware of the matte, black pistol in his other hand I step inside a silver cage. 

There’s no boiler pipes here for heating even if the boiler was working. I'm so fucking dead.

"ROGUES!" he shouted and a flurry of footsteps gathered. Over a dozen leather-clad rogues stared at me. Hungry, angry people. The four rogue women were all in their twenties, bright-eyed with thick plaits and braids piled high, acting like hats. The men were all chunky, draped in black leather jackets. 

Apart from one. 

Built like a grizzly bear with huge shoulders, maybe a foot taller than the rest. He wore a pelt of thick brown fur, under a thick black body warmer shirt.

All the men had short, buzzed haircuts, the bear-man was no different. His hazel eyes appeared to flicker with gold, not that he really looked  my way. He was studying the path of the piping as it snaked above the ceiling. With his head tilted upwards my eyes landed on his Adam's apple. 

The sheer size of his throat, wider than this Alpha Raze’s head. Who the hell was this guy?

"Her parents are going to cough up the supplies tomorrow. She's behind these bars til I say otherwise. She's not to be spoken to. At all. Understood."

"Yes Alpha Raze," came an enthusiastic cheer. 

"Now, we need to get this place functioning. To the boiler room, to the kitchens. We need it all prepped, ready. You did a great job clearing out the bodies and the rest of the filth."

I feel woozy. It's too much. These guys have tanned, sun-kissed skin. They've taken over an abandoned bunker with maybe a day to spare before the Freeze and think it's going to be survivable?

Suddenly I'm grateful for the silver bars.

None of them are going to know what's hit them when the full moon hits them. Or when the food gets scarce.

My wolf points out I don't have a clue about the true hardships of the Freeze either, but I know a hell of a lot more than them. I know this dank, mouldy concrete hole with flickering old bulbs isn't fit for purpose. 

Gritting my teeth, I extend an offer of help.

"I can help. I used to assist in the boiler-"

One of the women black braids braided with metal charms, slammed a pipe against the silver bars, shutting me up. “Shut the fuck up!”

Alpha Raze snickered then pointed to the huge one. "You guard her. No talking. No food, no drink, no blankets until everyone else is provided for. Hang on-"

The bars rattled as he put in the key and the door flung open. I backed against the wall, heart racing, filled with panic. "Get away, keep back! Don’t touch me!"

"Give me your fur," his green eyes twinkled with glee. Like a spoiled child's birthday, getting his own way without reproach. Extending his long arm towards me I back myself into the furthest corner.

"But - I need this! I'll be hypothermic in a day! There's no heating, no pipes in here!"

"It's not a debate. If your parents know what's good for their baby they'll pack plenty of other ones."

“I…but…”

“Let me make this clear for the last time. It is not a choice. It’s a demand. Now take off the fucking coat,” snapping the safety off his pistol and pointing it straight at my face.

“Okay, okay,” I whimpered, feeling more useless by the second.

Licking his lips he watched as I peeled the soft, warm layer from my body. He rubbed his stubbled cheeks, as a whole new level of biting cold hit me. He tossed the long, silvery fur to the black haired woman, who broke into a triumphant smile. 

"Here you go Sweetie.” The smug black-haired woman draped herself in my only protection.

"Mmm Alpha, it feels good," she crooned, the way her eyes landed on his crotch suggested she knew the payment for such a luxury. "Thank you so much," she pouted before allowing the three other girls a feel of its soft sleeves.

Extorting my family so he can pretend to be an Alpha. This isn't his land, his bunker. He's a thief. A squatter. Someone I can outwit given the chance to think of a plan. They all left to try and make this wreckage livable. I had only the furred back and shoulders and wide legs of my guard for company from my view between the silver bars.

Looking around my new home took seconds.

It's empty apart from a metal bench that I know will only make my limbs ache with cold. I'm best curling up in a ball on the concrete floor for now.

I have only a grey tunic dress, high boots and leggings for warmth. It's not enough. 

"Please, help me," I whisper to the guard. He doesn't move an inch. Just faces away from me and shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Hey… please? I can’t stay here, I can help with the boiler, I can work. Please, please don’t let me die here.”

Silence. I said before about being a silent observer. It appears that tactic is already crumbling. Frustration boiled over. Rubbing my limbs furiously I snap at my captor.

“Whatever they're hoping to get out of The Light, it won't ever be enough to survive the Freeze intact you know. We’re all going to die down here if someone doesn’t get that boiler working!”

My guard simply clears his throat and steps away. Not leaving the room, just a few paces away from my noise. I can’t get any closer without touching the silver bars and burning myself. All I have for company is the hint of his rosemary scent.

“You know I’m right,” I hissed in frustration before slumping to the ground and curling into a ball, trying to concentrate my body heat, my hands tucked in between my legs. I try not to think about how bad this situation is.

What terrifies me most, is the fact they won't realise that fact until we're all locked underground together with no escape. How soon before their psyches shatter under the stress and blood spills?

Laid on the floor, too wired to sleep, I listen to Alpha Raze’s ongoing barking of orders. The rogues set off after a few hours to some meeting point where hopefully my family are going to pull off a miracle. If they just give blankets and food we’re screwed. We need tools and equipment. Maybe even a new generator. A whole bunker from scratch.

How is that possible?

What if they give nothing and try to bluff? We’ll starve in weeks.

“You got the weapons?” Raze shouted.

“Yes Alpha!” followed. 

“Then go, you know what to do,” his voice dropping lower, flat and ominous.

Under my breath, knowing the guard wouldn’t bother answering I whimpered, “why do they need weapons? I thought they were just getting supplies? Why are they taking guns!”

He finally turns, but only to show me his face, placing a finger on his lips. Keep quiet, keep alive. For now anyway.