My Most Precious Human

Chapter 12

I felt uncomfortable. My arms hurt, and I could barely feel my fingertips. As I was slowly regaining my

consciousness, I realized I was kneeling on some dusty floor with my hands chained high above my

head and attached to some kind of vault. I had handcuffs that were severely hurting my wrists. I was

unable to tell how long I had hung in such an unbearable position. I must have overstretched my arms

several times while being unconscious because I could barely move them, but at the same time, I was

completely unable to stand on my feet. I could only hang, hoping that my strength would return

quickly…

I was cold. I looked at myself and saw that my costume was gone. I was wearing a simple white dress

with shoulder straps, and I was barefoot. The dress's fabric was light and airy, which made me shiver

as if I was naked.

When my vision became less blurry, I saw I was inside something that looked like a human-size round

birdcage. The place where I was looked like a basement that was barely lit up by a few hanging from

the ceiling light bulbs. I couldn't hear any voices except for my own painful moans. It even made me

think that I was there alone, but then I looked to the sides and noticed a row of cages similar to mine.

Each one of them was placed around two meters from the next one. I focused on the shapes covered

in a dimmed light and realized that there was a chained person in every cage just like I was. I realized

that there could have been all of the waitresses from the event, including Carla. My heart started to

pound frantically. If there really were girls from our team in those cages, I prayed that they would be

alive…

"Carla…! Carla!" I called out, stretching my sore throat.

I heard a weak mumbling.

"Carla… Please, let me know that you are here…" I muttered nervously.

I started to hear more faint voices coming from different cages. It seemed like people trapped in those

cages were waking up.

"L… Lilith?" Carla's hoarse voice whispered.

"Yes! Yes… I'm here! Thank God you are alive!" I cried uncontrollably.

It was merely the second time in my life that I was gravely worried about someone else. I used to be

only concerned about myself since I was always alone, but now the thought that something might have

happened to my friend almost made me suffocate.

Suddenly we heard footsteps. I focused my hearing sense and counted seven people that were coming

our way. A few seconds later, I heard the squeaking sound of an opening door somewhere deeper in

the basement. The footsteps were getting closer. At one second, someone pressed a switch and turned

on a row of blinding spotlights that were on the ceiling. The lights were so bright I couldn't open my

eyes for almost a minute until my sight adjusted. I was only able to hear those people who came in,

walking towards the row of cages.

"Release the chains. They won't escape anyway," a man with a deep voice said.

I couldn't see him clearly yet, but I noticed he was wearing a fitted suit which was far different from the

casino's staff uniforms. He must have been someone in charge. I saw someone running towards a big

lever sticking out from a wall. When he turned the lever down, the chains in every cage were released

from the vaulting, making all of the caged ones collapse on the floor.

I couldn't even express what kind of relief it was not to hang anymore. Groans and whimpers filled the

air, as most of the caged ones must have felt the same way I did. I tried to stand up while swaying on

my feet and walked closer to the bars of my cage. Only then did I see Carla two cages away. She

stepped closer to the bars just like I did.

"Mr. … Thomas Dorwart?" Carla muttered frightfully.

The man chuckled and walked towards her.

"Ms. Carla Enes… It's such a shame that you decided to join your own crew," he stated nonchalantly

and looked Carla up and down. "But judging by your looks, you are going to be quite an expensive

blood-bag…"

Hearing his words, all the other men around him laughed.

"W-what was that supposed to mean?!" she shouted, her voice shaking, "Let us go! Y-you cannot k-

keep us like that! This… this is illegal!"

The men laughed even louder.

"Then perhaps you would like to call the police?" Thomas asked mockingly and added, "I think there's

no need for that since the chief of the police department is going to be at the auction as well…"

"Y-you won't get away with this!" she roared while trembling, but then she gasped, "W-wait… What

auction…?"

Thomas stepped right in front of her.

"Our casino organizes special events to provide… rare goods. Let's call it a supermarket for filthy rich

people with high demands, and this time our clients demanded living blood bags," he explained and

shrugged his shoulders.

I gulped. I couldn't believe that I spent my whole life running away from the pack where I was born

because I didn't want to be treated like a thing, just to be sold to some vicious perverts!

"Living… blood bags…? What does it even mean?!" Carla called out, gritting her teeth.

"Oh, you will know from your buyer," he chuckled maliciously, then turned his head towards some older

man wearing glasses, "Mr. Ponte, we need your valuation. Let's start from the left end of the row."

"Certainly," the man wearing glasses responded.

I had no idea what they meant by valuation. I only knew that, since my cage was the first one on the

right end of the row, my "value" would become known as the last one. Mr. Ponte walked to the cage

where Thomas pointed, then carefully looked at his first item to evaluate.

"No… no!" the girl inside that cage whined in panic.

"Calm down, and put out one of your hands through the bars," Mr. Ponte demanded coldly.

"N-no…" the girl muttered.

"Do it. Otherwise, I will open the cage, break your arm, and then I will do what I have to anyway," he

warned her harshly.

I could hear her soft cry, echoing around the basement. She must have been terrified, but she slowly

put her hand through the bars. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

"Excellent," Mr. Ponte grabbed her hand and stabbed one of her fingers with a needle.

Then he pulled up her hand and smelled the blood coming out from the small cut.

"The starting price… five thousand dollars," he stated loudly, looking at Thomas.

"Good…" Thomas smirked and nodded towards one of his men, saying, "Note every price carefully.

The auction starts in half an hour."

Mr. Ponte continued his evaluation and all of the prices he set were cautiously noted. I used that time

when hardly anyone paid attention to me to find a possible way to escape. I started by releasing my

hands from the cuffs. Unfortunately, the cuffs I had on my hands were made of iron. They were five

centimeters wide and almost a centimeter thick, which made them impossible to break my hands free

without unlocking. Even though the chain between the cuffs was long enough to allow for some

movements, I could merely perform very close-range punches while having them on around my wrists.

I would never stand a chance against someone as strong as that manager I fought before…

Then I thought about escaping from the cage, but it had an electric locker, which left me with almost

zero chances of opening it in my situation. Additionally, the bars were quite widely set, but still too tight

for me to squeeze through…

"Damn it!" I hissed, whispering.

My helplessness was only making the blood in my veins boil. I knew I had to find a way to protect

myself as well as the rest of the girls, but my mind stayed blank…

"Mr. Dorwart, we have a slight problem," Mr. Ponte called out suddenly.

Thomas walked closer to the cage where Mr. Ponte was standing.

"What's the problem?" he asked, looking at the girl inside.

"Leukemia," Mr. Ponte stated.

"Such a waste…" Thomas clicked his tongue then turned towards one of his men and ordered,

"Nicolas, get rid of her right way."

I gasped and fearfully gazed through my bars. Nicolas pulled out a gun and pointed at the girl in the

cage. All the other ones started screaming and crying while the one he was pointing his gun at dropped

down on her knees.

"Please… I'm begging you! I have a daughter!" she cried desperately.

"Don't kill her! Just let her go! Please let her go!" I shouted frantically.

Each one of us begged to save the girl's life, but Nicolas's face seemed completely unmoved. He just

pulled the trigger…

The bullet burst through her skull, filling her cage with blood. Her dead body hit the ground, making her

blood splash onto the nearby cages. The basement became filled with dreadful screams.

"Shut your fucking mouths already or you will join her!" Thomas fumed.

The screaming stopped. I looked at the stream of blood flowing through the floor, feeling my heart

pounding faster and faster. It instantly made me think of my own blood, which I always hated. Now, I

started to pray that they would find it valuable enough to let me live…