They're not telling the truth

Nicole~

The night before the cave incident.

The breakfast, lunch, blood and dinner routine was repeated for the three days we were at the isolation center. Now, it was finally our last night before we would enter the cave and be blessed by the goddess before we would be given our missions. It was our last night at the isolation center and I was beyond excited to finally leave this place. Apart from the blood drinking, everything else was nice but not talking to others? I was surprised I even lasted this long, it was incredibly boring not having anyone to talk to.

I was in bed, eagerly awaiting dawn when I heard noises, we all did. We sat straight on our beds while the noises got closer. Murmurs starers erupting from different sides of the room, breaking the silence that had long since haunted me. With full force, the door entrance to our room was flung open and a familiar face rushed in.

"NICOLE!" He yelled, desperation seeping in through his voice, "NICOLE!"

"Dad?" I moved from my bed towards him, surprised to see him. But then my shock was replaced with something else, elation, I was glad to see him, I was so very happy to see him, I had missed him, I had missed him so dearly. "Dad!" I exclaimed as I rushed towards him and enveloped him I'm a warm hug, a hug I had missed, a hug of reunion, a hug that completely voided every single practice I had been involved in for the past three days. Men were not allowed to touch the chosen women once they had been in isolation but there I was, hugging a man but he wasn't just any man, he was my father.

He broke off from the hug and with a smile, I asked him what he was doing there. Then I saw his face and his serious expression. My father was injured, his lips were bruised, his cheek had a slight cut on it, his forehead was also cut. I checked out the rest of his body and surely enough, his outfit was torn and tattered, he was covered in a mix of mud and blood.

"Dad, what the..." I was dumbfounded. "What happened to you?"

He held my wrists and looked at me dead in the eyes, "We're leaving."

"What?" I didn't have time to protest, he dragged me and wanted to leave through the door but then footsteps were heard, people were coming in our direction and fast.

"You might want to let go of that young lady, sir." The woman who had accused me to wanting to flee the first night emerged from the other side of the room, with an hammer in hand.

I was confused, was she going to hurt my dad? What was going on? Why was he here when he knew that men weren't allowed? Did he want to lose his life?

"Dad, please, leave." I begged him but his face was unmoving, he just stared at the woman with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

In a matter of a few seconds, men armed with weapons stormed into the room, surrounding my dad and I. The chosen women who were in the room prior to the entire drama were all huddled up in one corner of the room, all confused as to what was going on.

"Let her go, Mr Scarlett." The grumpy woman said, she had come with the armed men.

"You people are sick." My dad sputtered, his voice cold and venomous.

"What are you talking about, Mr Scarlett?" The grumpy woman had a tinge of smirk on her face, it was almost as if she was amused by the whole situation.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about. All of you do. You make me sick to my stomach." My dad was out of breath, he was trying to put on a front but I knew it, he must have been really injured on his way here. He was still making no sense to me. Why did they make him sick? Their code words annoyed me all the more.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him, clenching my grip on him tighter. My dad had committed the highest crime in our village, there was no way they would let him live. He disrupted the most holy tradition in the history of our village, he went against our most revered goddess, a chill ran down my spine.

"I'll give you one last chance, Mr Scarlett. Hand her over and keep your life." She said, her voice devoid of emotion.

My dad didn't move, he didn't back down, he brought out a dagger from his knee pocket, the dagger was drenched in blood and I could only imagine in horror what he had stabbed to get here.

"Dad..." I whimpered but still held him tightly, he ignored me, his gaze were fixed on the armed men in front of him.

"Let go, sweetie. Daddy has to make some hard choices right now." He said, his gaze still fixed on the men.

I quietly adhered to his words and let him go. I took a few paces back from him, while the twelve men who had us surrounded, got closer. Two at the back lunged towards him, with their blades drawn, running past me, aiming for him.

"Look out." I told him and he was able to react before they could slash him with their blades. He moved swiftly, stabbing one in the chest the moment he evaded the attack and kicking the other with his leg, causing him to fall backwards onto the cold hard floor.

I was taken aback, I never knew my dad could fight, he always seemed so gentle that I just never imagined it. The one he'd stabbed had died seconds after the stab and his body made a loud thud on the floor. I trembled, a dead body was right in front of me, I didn't know how to react, cold sweats broke from my skin.

"Snap out of it." My dad yelled and I focused my gaze on him, taking it away from the body on the floor. However, there were screams from the corner where the chosens had huddled up and some of them attempted to flee from the room but we're stopped as four to five men turned their swords at them, keeping them in that corner, silent and helpless. I watched my dad as another man attacked.

The attacker lunged but my dad sidestepped, twisted his wrist, and drove his dagger into the attacker's side. The attacker let out a loud scream that filled the entire room, but then another man charged from the right as he swing an axe. My dad happened to duck just in time, as the axe narrowly missed his head but it did not miss the first attacker's head. Blood poured out and splashed on the second attacker's face, giving my dad a chance for a counter attack. He kicked out, catching the man's knee and sending him staggering.

The others rushed him at once. He spun, blade flashing. A quick slash tore through one man's forearm, sending his sword clattering. Another thrust a spear toward my dad's chest, he twisted, barely avoiding the tip as he grabbed the shaft and wrenched it aside, yanking the man off balance.

In the midst of all that, one Nas found an opportunity, an opening. With quiet steps, lunged towards my dad and successfully stabbed him in the ribs. My dad gritted his teeth and drove his dagger into another enemy's thigh before ripping it out. Blood spattered the ground. My vision blurred for a moment. Too many. Too fast.

But I understood what had happened, my dad had been injured, tears flew from my eyes as I ran towards him, calling for him but was stopped by the grumpy woman, she held me in place, preventing me from moving even a step forward. I cried and begged her to spare my dad but she did not even flinch as I tugged at the hem of her skirt.

A boot slammed into my dad's stomach and I let out a desperate yelp for help, begging the men not to kill him, begging them to let him go.He staggered back, barely managing to stay on his feet. A sword pommel smashed against the side of his head and my yelling got louder, my cried got more intense and my pleas, more desperate.

I saw his grip on the dagger falter and I closed my eyes, letting my tears fall freely.

A fist connected with his jaw, sending him to his knees and a man loomed over him, sword raised.

"Not so cocky now, are you?"

My dad spat blood, glaring up at them. The men's rough hands yanked his arms back, cold iron clamping around his wrists.

The grumpy woman finally let me go and I rushed towards him, hugging him tightly.

"Please," I pleaded, "spare him."

"He killed eight of our men." Was the reply from the grumpy woman and tears fell even harder from my face.

My dad was still mumbling words, his head was bleeding and he was weak but he still tried to talk.

"Stop talking." I said, wiping the tears off my face.

"R..r...run a..awa-y...y." He could barely speak, his voice was low and tired. "T...they are n...not t...tell..ling t.. the truth. R..run away."

"Dad, please stop it."

Then then yanked me from him.

"DAD!"

They dragged him away, he was getting farther and farther away, the grumpy woman was holding me down with a twisted smile on her face.

"DAD. LEAVE ME! LET ME GO! DAD!"

I felt something prick my neck, it felt like a needle. I slowly lost my senses and my yelling became softer, I was blacking out.

"Please,...no...dad...."

I blinked, trying to stay awake but it was to no avail, I blacked out shortly after, my dad out of sight, the chosens still at sword point, the grumpy woman, still wearing her twisted smile, the world, still spinning.