Haunting-Adeline

Fernando is spi ng out his own colorful rade as he scrambles to find
another gun. I shoot him in the knee, the angry man collapsing instantly.
Screams of raw pain and anger fill the warehouse, and if I didn’t know any
be er, I’d think he was a li le girl himself.
No—the girls in this warehouse are far tougher than he could ever hope
to be. He's just a whiny bitch trapped in a man’s body.
I stand and saunter over to Fernando, enjoying the sight of him clutching
his knee, blood bubbling from the wound and onto the floor. His face is
red, full of murderous intent as he glares at me.
I ignore the look, instead surveying the copious amounts of blood
streaking the cement floor. I don’t want the girls to have to step through it.
“Jay, have Ruby make a pathway for these girls.” Ruby is one member of
the crew who comes in, explicitly assigned to handle the survivors and get
them to safety. She’s a redheaded spi ire but turns to mush when she’s
around any of the women or children we save.
“A pathway?”
“Yeah, I don’t want a drop of blood on their toes.”
The warehouse is full of about fi y girls, all deeply trauma zed and
broken. They will never have to wash blood from their bodies again if I
have anything to do with it.
One of the girls stands, a fierce expression on her face. She can’t be
more than fi een years old, but a pedophile ring will age anyone
significantly.
“Are you going to hurt us, too?” she asks loudly. Her dirty brown hair is
tangled around her face. She’s filthy—they all are.
The extensive amount of skin showing is smudged with dirt and blood.
She looks the oldest, and by her protec ve stance, she’s pronounced
herself the mother of the group.
All of the girls here were kidnapped within the past six days. Six days of
unspeakable torture and assault that will stay with them for the rest of
their lives. Six days of dirty men sexualizing, bea ng, and moles ng them.
The young girls would not have been deflowered, but that doesn’t mean
the monsters didn’t find other ways to get pleasure out of them.
Jay and I have been watching this loca on for the past twelve hours,
iden fying both the girls and the men. Each second that cked by felt like
an eternity—knowing that they were enduring something horrific.