Eli didn't expect that they'd strike this early.
Realizing that she's now entirely trapped at the clutches of these devious figures, she can't help but feel the surge of trepidation rush within her like a tormenting tide.
Loud cackles and eager chatters fill the room as each one of them only stares down at her as if she's but a piece of trash.
An amusing plaything.
A worthless scrap.
An inferior being.
They keep shooting venomous remarks and holding her up as an object of ridicule. They even spilled all those dirty tricks they pulled on her before along with their repellent expedients, acting as if they finally got her standing on the edge of a cliff.
Now, Eli may have read tons of similar situations in books, where a character gets degraded to varying extents by these repulsive renegades and the likes, but living through it herself is just downright harrowing.