Author's Note: The primary protagonists in this story are three youngsters, two girls and a boy, who find their lives turned upside down in the worst possible way. This story documents their descent and their ultimate rescue and return to a normal life.

This story exists within my Forsaken Universe and makes use of existing characters and events.

PART I – Rylee Clarkson

Rylee Jenna Clarkson's life began to fall apart when she was just six weeks short of her ninth birthday.

In the space of a single day, the young girl lost both her family and her freedom before beginning a rollercoaster ride into hell as her life was reinvented on her behalf into the image dreamt up by one sick individual who strove to create a new form of intelligence asset. Naturally, for the enigmatic youngster, she blamed herself for it all – what she could remember of it at least.

But all of that was in the past – three years in the past, to be precise.

Thursday, March 27th, 2014

West Yorkshire, England

Ilkley was a small town in the north of England.

That morning, Rylee Clarkson wandered up and down the aisles of the town's medium-sized Tesco supermarket, looking for something to eat and drink. After about fifteen minutes, she settled on a half-litre bottle of Coke, a pack of four Mars bars, and a large packet of caramel popcorn. Only, she did not put any of the items in a basket – she was not even carrying a basket – instead, she stuffed the items into the various pockets of her jacket. Rylee was no stranger to shoplifting and she was actually quite good at it, only that morning, she was actually trying to get herself arrested. Why? Simple: she was bored.

Rylee Jenna Clarkson was a very intelligent youngster. At school, she was light years ahead of her peers, often completing assignments in half the time. Unfortunately for the girl, that did not gain her many friends, and most of her peers tended to see Rylee as strange. As for her teachers, they also were not avid fans of the eight-year-old. Rylee would finish her work and then she had a tendency to act out as boredom set in, disrupting the class and usually ending up outside the headmaster's office. Rylee's parents tried everything that they could, but they each found it hard trying to hold down a job and simultaneously bring up a child genius who had major temper problems when people used the word 'no' or outwardly criticised the girl.

That morning, the supermarket's crack security team had immediately clocked the small girl, dressed in her school uniform, entering the store at 11 A.M. on a school day. The supermarket did not advocate truancy; however, they were quite familiar with young Rylee and she was swiftly apprehended, without the usual attempt to run, which was a surprise to the supermarket's manager when the girl was brought to her office. She kept a wary eye on young Rylee while the girl sat in a chair, staring into nothing. The police were on their way and they would take the girl, along with the evidence of her light-fingered behaviour which sat on a table beside Rylee. The girl glared up at the manager.

"What you staring at me for? You fancy me or summat?"

The manager ignored the girl as they waited.

..._...

"Hello, Rylee," the uniformed police constable said, twenty minutes later as he stepped into the manager's office.

The man was familiar with the little girl, having been in very similar situations, a number of times before. Rylee looked up at the man and she smiled as she recognised the constable.

"That's Rylee with a 'y' and two 'e's," she said.

"Why are you doing this, Rylee?" the police constable asked.

Rylee simply shrugged; she was bored of trying to explain herself – besides, everybody knew her story, so what was the point of repeating it? Then, things changed as the door to the office opened and her father entered the room – he did not look at all happy with the situation and Rylee actually felt pangs of guilt, knowing that her father had been forced to leave his work to come get his wayward daughter. Her father did not say a word, he simply glared down at his only daughter. Paul Clarkson loved his daughter very much and he did all that he could to keep her active mind stimulated, but it was not easy. He was distinctly aware that Rylee was an exceedingly gifted child and that she needed extra attention due to her high level of intelligence. However, Rylee's antics were not helping him keep his job and the time off he had been forced to take while collecting his daughter from wherever she had most recently got into trouble was not winning him any favours with his boss.

For the next few minutes, Rylee simply stared at her ill-gotten gains which sat on the table before her. Her father said nothing as he watched his daughter. Rylee was beginning to wonder why she wasn't being taken down to the police station as per usual when the door to the supermarket manger's office opened again and two men entered the tiny room which was now very full of people. The two men first looked down at Rylee, giving her a very severe look indeed, before one of them, a tall man wearing a dark suit, took the police constable outside the office for a brief talk leaving his partner to watch Rylee. Rylee got the feeling that she had finally pushed things way too far. The police officer did not return, however, the man in the dark suit did return and he was smirking in a way which scared the almost nine-year-old.

"What is going on?" Paul Clarkson asked the man.

"We need to take you and your daughter, here, down to the station," the man replied.

The dark suited man's accomplice, a younger man wearing a black leather jacket reached for Rylee, pulling the girl to her feet by her right upper arm.

"Get off me!" Rylee demanded.

"This way," leather jacket said, manoeuvring Rylee towards the door.

Rylee and her father were escorted out of the store and towards a plain, unmarked, Ford Mondeo hatchback.

"Where are we going, again?" Paul asked.

"To the main police station in Bradford," dark suit replied.

Rylee and her father climbed into the backseat of the car as instructed and it was only when the doors closed behind them that Rylee noticed the rear windows being much darker than those usually found on cars. A part of the girl's mind told her to grab her father and run but her semi-trust of the police slowed down her thought processes. The car door beside her opened and she found herself facing the man in the dark suit.

"Rylee?" a voice called from the other side of the car and Rylee turned to look at the man in the leather jacket who had opened the door beside her father.

She barely felt the pinprick in her neck as the needle emptied its contents into her bloodstream.

"Dad. . ."

Her father turned to face his daughter and he was dosed in the very same way. He felt the pinprick and he turned to face leather jacket, but then Paul turned and looked over at his daughter, his vision fading.

"Rylee."

As unconsciousness beckoned, Rylee was able to push out a final word, "Daddy."

Some time later

Rylee regained consciousness and she opened her eyes.

She found herself lying on a hard linoleum floor. The room around her was totally bare; in fact, she was the only object in the room. There was limited light forcing its way through some decrepit horizontal window blinds which appeared to be ancient. As Rylee examined her surroundings, she found that the entire room appeared dated and that what looked like black mould was actively spreading across one corner of the room. There was also a musty smell which pervaded her nostrils. Rylee tried to get to her feet, but she grimaced as she found that her wrists were bound with plasti-cuffs. It was not a strange feeling – she had been cuffed before with similar items as standard handcuffs often proved too big for her slim wrists.

Once on her feet, Rylee walked over to the window and she peeked between the blinds – she saw a bare brick wall and nothing useful to give her the faintest idea where she was. Next, she turned her attention to the door. Tentatively, she tried the handle – it turned, but she found that the door refused to budge; it was locked. Rylee span around, looking for any other way out, only she found nothing in the small room which could help her. She began to hyperventilate as the reality of her desperate situation began to sink in – she had been kidnapped. Then, she realised that her mouth was free, and she began shouting and yelling. She kicked the wooden door, rattling the walls. The eight-year-old felt hot tears streaming down her cheeks as she kicked and screamed, the fear of being locked in a small room bore down on the youngster who had a phobia, specifically, Claustrophobia.

Then through her tears and a developing panic attack, she became aware that there were others in the room . . . the door was open . . . she made to run towards the obvious escape route . . . she felt a hand grabbing her, then a sharp pain in her neck . . . then there was nothing but blackness.

..._...

Rylee awoke to find herself moving.

It felt like she was in a car and she was lying down in the back seat. There was a blanket over her, keeping her warm. Her mind was groggy, and she felt so very tired. She could hear voices – English voices – and something about a tunnel, but before she could understand anything else, she passed out.

Over the next few hours, Rylee would regain consciousness for mere minutes before passing out again. Each time she awoke, she found herself lying down in the back of a car, on a road, travelling at speed. Her mind was unable to focus properly on what was happening to her, everything was still all mushy.

Then she had passed out for good, a combination of the tiredness and the remnants of the drug finally taking over.

Friday, March 28th, 2014

The Ardennes, Belgium

Her head hurt.

She forced open her eyes and she got her first look at was to become her new home. She lay on the carpeted floor of a decent sized room. As she looked up, she found herself looking up into the spectacled eyes of a small girl maybe a couple years younger than herself.

"Hello," Rylee offered as she sat up.

"Hi."

Rylee looked around and she saw about ten other kids, other than herself and the young girl. Six of the kids were boys while the rest were girls. Rylee got to her feet, a little weakly, and she joined the other kids, most of whom appeared to be of a similar age to herself, on chairs arranged around the walls.

"I'm Electra," the small girl offered.

"Rylee – where are we?"

"We have no idea," a boy responded. "Simon, by the way."

"Charmed," Rylee responded – she was not a big fan of boys.

Rylee sat on a chair just staring into nothing as she tried to focus her mind.

..._...

They did not have much longer to wait.

The door to the room opened and two men clad in black combat trousers, black T-shirts, and black boots stepped in. They glared down at the twelve youngsters who all began to talk and ask questions in rapid succession.

"Where are we?"

"Why are here?"

"I want to go home."

"Where are my parents?"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Instructor Matthews, and this is Instructor Turner. You twelve are the Seventh Intake and you are now the property of Urban Predator. From this moment on, you will each do what you are told, when you are told, . . . or there will be consequences. As of right now, your induction begins – you will all stand, and you will strip to the skin. Instructor Turner has a black bag – all your clothes will be dumped in there. I suggest that you all get a move on."

"No way, and not in front of girls," Simon stated.

"Too right," Rylee added. "No boy is seeing me naked."

Instructor Matthews glared down at the rebellious boy and girl – there were always one or two in every intake.

"Rampart, Orion!" Instructor Turner bellowed.

Two thirteen-year-old girls entered the room – both wore black combat trousers, black boots, and a black T-shirt to match the instructors. Their shoulder-length hair was tied up in a neat ponytail. The entire ensemble gave them a scary look. Instructor Turner simply indicated Simon and Rylee who were grabbed by the two girls and forced face down onto the floor. Rylee and Simon fought and screamed, but to no avail, as the older girls were much stronger. It only took a little over a minute for Rylee and Simon to be sobbing on the floor of the room, completely naked. The two girls turned to glare at the ten remaining children. Ten seconds later, they were all pulling off their own clothing as fast as they could. Finally, after another minute, twelve unhappy children were stuffing their clothing into the large black bag. Most of the girls and some of the boys were sobbing quietly to themselves.

"Get the fuck up, you bastards!" one of the girl's demanded as she glared down at Rylee and Simon.

Rylee stood up as Simon regained his feet. It was the first time that Rylee had seen a boy naked and she was not impressed. However, she was feeling embarrassed and humiliated as she stood naked before six boys, seven girls, and two adult men. It was a mood which all the new intake was feeling.

"Take them to be processed," Instructor Matthews ordered the two older girls.

"Yes, Instructor!" the two girls intoned.

As the men vanished, Rylee found herself being pushed out the door along with her compatriots. She hated the feel of somebody else's bare skin against her own, but it was slightly comforting, she realised, considering they were all suffering together.

..._...

The next hour appeared to constant humiliation after humiliation, not to mention abuse after abuse.

First, they were marched down a broad corridor under the eyes of other kids, mostly older, who all gawped and made crude comments as they passed the naked youngsters. Then they were forced to shower – boys and girls together – before individually having their hair cut short. That event caused much consternation amongst the girls, all of whom had long hair. As for the boys, they complained, but it made little difference to them. After another shower, they were allowed to wrap themselves in white towels for another walk along a corridor where they had to wait in a line outside a room, again being tormented by other kids as they passed on by. Then came invasive individual medicals – Rylee had never had anybody looking between her legs, let alone pushing anything inside to see deeper. She cried throughout the entire examination before she was given a white T-shirt, a pair of grey joggers, and that was it. Eagerly, Rylee dressed before waiting outside again for the rest to finish.

All twelve youngsters were incredibly demoralised as they were led along yet another corridor before being stopped by Instructor Matthews. The man singled out Electra.

"Scrawny, snivelling, little bitch, aren't you?"

The little girl shook from head to toe with fear and she was unable to respond. The instructor looked the little girl up and down before focussing on her round spectacles. Then he spoke a single word, sealing Electra's fate.

"Yellow!"

Electra was grabbed by the arm and dragged through a doorway where she vanished from sight. Another girl was also taken, a small Chinese girl called Xiāngxìn who appeared to have an older sister called Lin and both girls screamed for each other as they were separated.

That had to be harsh, Rylee considered.

..._...

Rylee had no idea what time of day it was as she could not see any windows or natural light.

She knew that she was hungry, not that there was any sign of food. Their next port of call was a large warehouse where they were each given a grey plastic tub and as they filed along a wooden bench, clothing was thrown into the tub: underwear, socks, joggers, sweatshirts, T-shirts, shorts, a baseball cap, trainers, plimsoles, gloves, and a wash kit. Then, surprisingly, the final two items landed atop the clothing – a plastic-wrapped sandwich and a 500-millilitre plastic bottle of water.

"You have fifteen minutes!" the girl known as Orion yelled out before vanishing.

The tired, exhausted, humiliated, demoralised youngsters were digging into their bland cheese sandwiches with barely concealed gusto fifteen seconds later. All too soon, their time was up, and Orion held out a black bag for the rubbish. Once the rubbish had been collected, a small girl dressed in yellow joggers and a yellow sweatshirt with yellow plimsoles appeared to take the bag away. The girl could only have been about seven-years-old and she looked thoroughly miserable and very dirty.

"Right," Orion ordered. "Time for you little rats to find your pits."

Orion led them out of the warehouse and eventually through a set of double doors. There were four rows of beds, none of which looked terribly comfortable.

"Oh, shit!" a male voice called out. "The new batch of fucking wankers!"

"What would you know about wanking, Hyde?" a female voice enquired. "Your dick needs fucking tweezers!"

"Well, I won't be getting a fucking erection over your pitiful tits, Horton!"

"Fuck you!"

Orion ignored the adolescent bickering as she pointed out the unassigned beds.

"Pick a pit and stow your kit – you have forty minutes until lights out. Take a piss, take a shit, brush your fucking teeth, I don't fucking care – just be in your fucking pit before the lights go out at nine or you'll fucking regret it!"

With that, Orion vanished out the door, leaving the ten youngsters to find a bed to sleep in. It was obvious that boys and girls slept in the same room, so Simon and Rylee found two beds next to each other roughly in the centre of the large room which could sleep forty. Neither spoke as they stowed all their kit in two drawers and a small cupboard beside their beds. Rylee looked around and she saw two doors at the far end of the room, each with a symbol on them. Rylee made for the one with a picture of a female on it and she pushed the door open to reveal a large bathroom with a dozen open showers, the same number of basins, eight toilet stalls, and not very much else. Rylee was shaking as she pushed her way into a stall and closed the door, locking it. She pushed down her joggers and sat on the cold toilet seat. As she peed, she began to sob, the tears falling in a torrent. She also began to shake. Her nerves were shot. She had no idea where she was. She had no idea why she had been taken. She had no idea what was to happen to her. She missed her mother. She missed her father. The list went on and on.

"Lights out, two minutes!" a voice called, snapping Rylee out of her sorrows and back to reality.

Rylee stood up, wiped, and flushed the toilet. The bathroom was rapidly emptying as she washed her hands and her face. She dried off on a towel before heading back into the dormitory. She saw a worried looking Simon sitting in his bed waiting for her.

"Where were you?" he hissed as Rylee shrugged off her joggers and pulled on a pair of shorts which appeared to be what the other girls wore for bed.

"On the toilet."

The lights snapped out as Rylee slid underneath her duvet and she lay down, staring at the ceiling above her. All around, she could hear movement as other kids settled into their beds. There was also the sound of whispering, giggling, laughing, farting, and other obnoxious behaviours. There was also the sound of crying – mainly from the new intake, Rylee thought.

"Shut the fuck up, Walker, you little bastard!" a female voice called out.

"Leave me alone!" a girl, presumably Walker, called out amidst a burst of tears.

Sleep did not come easily to Rylee, nor did it come easily to Simon as he lay awake watching Rylee.

The following morning

Saturday, March 29th, 2014

Rylee awoke to find herself being prodded.

She opened her eyes, blinking in the harsh white light from the overhead lighting, to see Simon's face mere inches away from her own.

"What do you want, Simon?" Rylee asked tiredly.

"We have to get up, shower, and get breakfast."

"Okay . . . what time is it?"

"Look for yourself," Simon said pointing up at a large digital LED clock with illuminated red segments which was mounted high up on the dormitory wall.

"It's not even six o'clock!" Rylee exclaimed.

But, as the young girl looked around, she saw activity in most of the beds as boys and girls awoke. She had seen six naked boys the previous day, including Simon, however, that morning she was seeing more naked boys as they stripped off and headed for the showers. The boys varied in ages, some young like Simon with others in their teens. Her eyes were drawn to their groins and she noticed a lot of variation and some were much more impressive to look at than Simon's pitiful equipment. Rylee noticed that Simon was staring at a similar sight as girls were also walking past them, completely naked. Most girls were like Rylee, having nothing to show, but then there were those just starting puberty through to the older girls with real breasts and everything else.

"Stop staring at them," Rylee growled as she felt embarrassed by all the naked flesh.

"I suppose we should join them," Simon said as he pulled off his shorts and T-shirt.

Rylee followed suit, feeling even more embarrassed as she stood naked before forty-nine others, including a naked boy who stood just a few inches away. The embarrassed feeling quickly went away as Rylee joined the naked masses making for the showers. Simon split from Rylee when he headed into the boy's bathroom while Rylee made for the girl's bathroom.

As would be expected, Rylee heard lots of crude banter as the girls showered and talked amongst themselves. Rylee noticed that some of the girls kept themselves to themselves or were blatantly ignored by the other girls. One small girl, about eight-years-old, was roughly shoved into a corner and she had bars of soap thrown at her, the girl screaming out in pain every time a bar struck her body. Another girl was ignored completely – she was about eleven-years-old and looked completely miserable as she went about washing herself. She was jostled by the other girls, but nobody said a word to her. It kind of reminded Rylee of school – she had been ignored from time to time and suffered bullying.

After her shower, Rylee grabbed a towel from a large pile and she dried herself off before dumping the used towel into a large laundry trolley part filled with wet towels. Once back at her bed, Rylee followed the example of the other girls and she pulled on a pair of grey boy shorts, a white T-shirt, a pair of grey joggers, white trainer socks, white trainers, and a grey sweatshirt.

By the time she had finished, she noticed that Simon was also dressed.

..._...

The girl known as Rampart soon appeared, yelling for the 'newbies'.

"This morning, I am going to be nice," Rampart said as she led the ten-strong group into the dining hall. "Trays are there. Help yourself to whatever you want. For what lies ahead of you, you need to eat well and drink plenty. Food will bulk you up and help you to develop muscles and give you the energy which you will need to get through the years ahead of you."

That proclamation received mixed expressions. The sound of the food was good, but the rest was worrying to all ten of them. Rylee and Simon each grabbed a tray before joining the line at the servery. Next came a white plastic plate followed by an array of hot food. Both youngsters opted for sausages, back bacon, baked beans, and some mushrooms. There was plenty of other hot food on offer, including black pudding, waffles, fried bread, fried tomatoes, and boiled tomatoes. There was also a wide range of breakfast cereals and plenty of milk. Tea was also prevalent but no coffee. Rylee selected a glass of apple juice while Simon grabbed one of orange juice. After meandering through the throng of around a hundred kids, the 'newbies' found a table which could seat a dozen comfortably and they sat down. Rampart walked around the table holding a tray of plastic cups. A small plastic cup was placed on each of their trays. Inside each small plastic cup were three orange pills – each about a centimetre long.

"Take them," Rampart ordered. "You will receive three, each day, for the next month, then one a week from then on. Don't miss any . . . yes, that is a warning."

All ten swallowed the three pills, downing them with glasses of fruit juice. Rampart took the time to visually check the mouths of each child to ensure that the pills had indeed been swallowed.

"Your first class begins at eight-thirty – I will collect you from the dormitory at eight-twenty . . . you do not want to be late," Rampart said before dashing off to grab her own breakfast.

..._...

Their first class was a surprise.

It was a typical school classroom with fifteen single desks arranged in three columns of five. The desks were metal-framed with a varnished light-coloured wooden top. The chairs were also metal-framed with varnished light-coloured wood seat and back. At the front of the class, a large whiteboard took pride of place with a video projector hanging from the ceiling and aimed at the whiteboard. To Rylee and Simon, it all appeared very normal . . . at least until you looked at the posters arrayed around the walls. The large A1 and A0 posters depicted cutaways of various firearms, explosive devices, and the human body.

"Take a seat, please," a voice intoned. "That seat will be yours for the next four weeks of your training."

Simon and Rylee sat side-by-side in the front row with Rylee beside the window which overlooked a large enclosed parade ground. It was her first look at her new surroundings and from the drizzle, it looked to be in a temperate location. Her attention then turned to the instructor standing at the front of the class. It was a woman.

"I am Instructor Reynolds. I will be your Instructor for the next four weeks. Right now, you are Apprentice Predators. That means that you are pretty much useless. Apart from the Yellows, you ten are on the lowest rung of the ladder. In four weeks, assuming you survive, you will be tested, and should you pass, you will become Phase 1 Predators. From that moment on, you will progress in your training to become Phase 2 and then Phase 3 Predators. It is not an easy path, I will not lie to you there. However, you will hopefully find the path rewarding. . ."

The woman droned on for another forty minutes before they were directed to a long table at the back of the room where there were ten sets of school equipment laid out for them. Each set consisted of a dark grey backpack and several file binders and pads of paper, plus the usual accoutrements of pens, pencils, rulers etc. There was also a timetable and a list of where they should be and when with what equipment. They were each directed to collect a set of equipment and label each with their names. Once back at their desks, they were directed to insert the paper into the files.

"You useless dolt!" Instructor Reynolds growled at one unfortunate youngster. "Open the rings – clever boy! Now shut them – amazing!"

Once the school equipment was put away, the lectures went on.

"This is a school, very much like any other, but with a specific target in mind – more about that next week. You will learn the core subjects: English, maths, chemistry, physics, biology, computer science. You will also learn languages as well as weapons – pistols, machineguns, knives, swords, explosives, and the like – not to mention your own bare hands. You will be taught to fight. You will be taught to defend yourselves. You will be taught to kill."

That last sentence caused a look of shock from every face.

"Your time here will be harsh with punishments even harsher. Learn quickly and you will not suffer so badly."

They were much relieved when twelve noon arrived, and they broke for lunch. It had been a worrying morning as they had been introduced to their new life. None of the Newbies could remember where the dining hall was, so they just followed the other hungry Predators. Lunch was good – both Simon and Rylee helped themselves to a jacket potato each with some chicken something-or-other with cheese and a large glass of ice-cold milk. Lunch took them to one in the afternoon. Being a Saturday, they learnt that the afternoon was to be sport and fitness orientated. They dutifully reported to the gymnasium wearing T-shirt, shorts and plimsoles. Then had begun the most rigorous fitness routine Rylee had ever encountered. Over the space of two hours, they slowly built up from slow warmup exercises to fast-paced shuttle runs with electronic beeps telling them when to turn and race in the opposite direction.

They were each exhausted by three that afternoon and on the verge of collapse. However, their day was nowhere near over. That worried Simon and Rylee as both were more used to six-hour school days and neither could see an end to that day's lessons. After their cardio exercise, each child received a medical examination where their blood pressure was taken, along with their heart being listened to. Unhappily, each of the ten was declared fit and ready for further exercise. They spent the remaining forty minutes until five o'clock, running around the gymnasium at a slow pace. By the time the ten youngsters hit the showers, neither the girls nor the boys noticed that they were showering with the opposite sex, they were all so tired.

If Rylee and Simon thought that the school day would end after almost nine hours, they were sorely mistaken as they headed for their evening meal, yet again following the other Predators.

..._...

After a very good evening meal consisting of mainly pizza and chips, they spent another hour in their classroom until eight o'clock.

It was not a lesson as such, merely homework. She was astounded to find herself experiencing an almost twelve-hour school day. That would apply six days a week, too, she learnt. She was exhausted, as were Simon and their peers. At eight o'clock, all ten children stumbled back to their dormitory where they finally had a whole hour of personal free time before lights out.

Simon and Rylee had no problems sleeping that night as they went out as quickly as the lights.

Sunday, March 30th, 2014

On her second morning, Rylee awoke to the sounds of giggling.

The first day of her incarceration had been a nightmare of physical and mental exercise – she had never run so much in her entire life. Bedtime had been a welcome relief as she had been so tired come 9 PM. The pre-6 AM start the previous morning had been a rude awakening, just as the current one was. However, Rylee did not feel right; something was wrong. Then she felt it . . . something was on her neck and it felt weird. Rylee reached up and she felt something lying on her neck – it was slightly squidgy, and it seemed to have a string attached. Rylee sat bolt upright in her bed and she heard laughter as she held the item out before her. Despite only being eight-years-old, the youngster knew what a tampon was, even if she had never actually made use of one. She had never seen a used one, but she knew that it was some girl's menstrual blood on her skin. She looked over at Willow, who was laughing her bitchy head off, but that quickly stopped when the used tampon struck her in the face. There was much more laughter as the other Predators enjoyed seeing Willow receiving a bit of her own medicine.

"You are dead, bitch!" Willow shouted. "So fucking dead!"

Then there was a scream, from further along the dormitory, as Walker sat up in her bed. There were obvious signs of blood on her face and neck.

"Got a problem, Walker?" a twelve-year-old girl sneered.

"Leave me alone, Newton!" Walker almost screamed as tears streamed down her cheeks. "That is so disgusting!"

"Looks good on you, so it does," an Irish voice chuckled.

"Fuck off, you Irish whore!" Walker screamed back as she pulled off her T-shirt and shorts before vanishing for a shower.

Rylee took the opportunity to go after the girl and she swiftly ditched her own clothing, having quickly worked out that she should copy the other girls.

"Remember, Clarkson – you are fucking dead!" Willow called after the girl.

"That was funny, Rampart!" a boy called out. "Considering it came from your own cunt!"

..._...

Rylee found the younger girl in the showers, still crying.

"Hi."

"Hi," the girl replied.

"I'm Rylee."

"Stephanie."

"They don't seem to like you, very much," Rylee pointed out.

"Story of my life," Stephanie replied.

"What have I got to look forward to today?" Rylee asked.

"It's Sunday, so there's a different routine," Stephanie explained. "After breakfast, you are expected to sort out your laundry and obtain clean clothing – that may not apply to you guys, but don't bet on it. Technically, the day is yours, however, you will be expected to catch up on any due assignments, also your physical workout routines, range time, etc. Most of that won't apply to you guys, but I have a feeling that you will be kept busy for most of the day."

"Thanks, Stephanie."

Stephanie was bang on.

All ten were kept very busy, from directly after breakfast, all the way through until lunchtime at half-past-twelve. They had an hour of physical exercise in the gymnasium, followed by an hour learning the theory behind Taekwondo. At lunchtime, they were very surprised to receive a full roast dinner consisting of chicken with roast potatoes, broccoli, and carrots, plus lashings of thick gravy. After that meal, they were left alone for an hour to digest and rest. That hour was spent in the recreational space attached to their dormitory where all ten remained together in one corner of the large area, ignoring the other Predators who were playing snooker, table football, or baiting the other Predators, namely Stephanie and a girl called Shannon who appeared to receive a lot of flak between them.

At the end of that hour, they were taken to a new space which was fitted with expansive safety matting on the floor. It was the martial arts dojang, apparently. There, they spent the next two hours being taken through the very basic Taekwondo movements. It was a relatively easy two-hour lesson as they mostly performed hand movements for the first hour. During the second hour, a trio of older Predators appeared to demonstrate the type of fighting which the new Apprentice Predators would be expected to learn. They were called Saoirse, Guinevere, and they all recognised Willow. The three girls appeared to enjoy battling it out between themselves as they threw each other across the mat, demonstrating various techniques which the instructor would explain. Several disarming techniques were also demonstrated by the girls, including how to disarm an opponent armed with a gun, a knife, and a sword.

All ten Newbies were enthralled by the physical action, at least until one, her name was Tanya, decided that she had had enough, and she had a set-to with the instructor, demanding to be sent home. That lasted about two minutes before the unfortunate girl was grabbed by Saoirse and Guinevere while the instructor ripped down the girl's lower clothing and then produced an evil-looking leather strap. Four loud and very painful cracks later, the screaming, sobbing girl was dumped on the mat and the remaining nine of her class were sent on their way.

On their way back to their dormitory, Simon and Rylee found out that it was not only the Yellows and the Newbies who were treated like shit. They came across an older girl who was being led down a corridor by a Yellow. The girl had to be about twelve, maybe thirteen, and she was sweaty and dirty from head to toe. She was also crying. At first, they thought that the girl was probably crying because of the humiliation – she was completely naked – however, it was only when the girl had passed that Simon and Rylee were able to make out the vicious red welts on her bottom which could only have been caused by the strap.

Later on, they found out that the girl was called Dakota Warlow-Davies.

Monday, March 31st, 2014

Their first full week started in earnest, the next morning, when they awoke and joined the normal morning routine of showering, eating breakfast, and then heading to class.

That morning, they were also introduced to a two-weekly procedure where the occupants of the dormitory awoke to find a tray of small lidded plastic cups, each labelled with a name. Willow crudely explained how to use them - they each had to pee in a cup, then return that cup to the tray. It was yet another ritual which all had to follow, not to mention another humiliation, as they each had to pee into the cup with a senior Predator watching and making crude comments as they watched.

By the end of that first week, everything had become fairly natural and automatic. They each obeyed orders without question; nobody wanted to feel the strap as Tanya had. It was around that same time that Rylee began to feel that she had forgotten something, only she had no idea what that something was. Finally, she realised that she could no longer remember anything about what her life had been like before Urban Predator.

"Simon, what can you remember about your life before here?" Rylee asked one afternoon.

Simon frowned as he tried to think and remember, but he quickly came to the very same conclusion as Rylee – neither had any memories or recollection of their former lives. Their first week had been so busy that neither had had a spare moment to contemplate their former lives.

Neither were aware that the pills, which both took without fail, were taking control of their mind and their body.

Three weeks later
Monday, April 21st, 2014

As they entered their fourth week of training, things suddenly took a severe turn for the worse for the Newbies.

During the afternoon lesson, directly after lunch, Rylee was taken out of class by Saoirse and Willow. Neither were smiling as they led Rylee down the corridor into a part of the facility which was off-limits to the majority of Predators. Her questions went ignored as she began to feel real fear about what was about to happen. Just the previous week, a boy called Peter had been taken from class, and he had never returned, however, a single gunshot had been heard which may, or may not, have been the reason behind the boy's permanent absence. Rylee was shaking by the time they stopped outside an open door. Inside, she saw two Phase 3 Predators, two instructors . . . and a very large steel box filled with water.

Before Rylee could move a muscle, she was seized by the two older Predators and stripped to her boy-shorts. Then came the fright of her life as she was plunged bodily into the freezing water which had her shivering within seconds. They kept her under the water for just seconds before hauling her out for about thirty seconds and then dunking her back down for much longer – it felt like hours to Rylee. Again, and again she was hauled out and dunked back into the freezing water more times than she could count. Her brain was closing down, and she could no longer feel her arms and legs. Then, she found herself under hot water and she was finally able to feel her limbs again. She sobbed harder than she had ever sobbed in her life. She eventually opened her eyes to see a Yellow looking down at her – it was Electra.

"I think I might have got the better end of the deal," Electra remarked as she helped Rylee to stand.

Electra had dry clothes for Rylee and a towel. Electra did her best to help Rylee who was still partially out of it. Once Rylee's wet boy-shorts were removed, Rylee dried herself off before pulling on dry clothing. Electra then led Rylee back to her dormitory and told her to lie down for an hour before heading back to class.

At dinner, that evening, Rylee found out that Simon and Tanya had both endured the dunk tank after her.

..._...

Throughout the rest of that week, every class was ramped up as the instructors decided who might pass and who might fail.

The remaining nine were pushed and pushed until they were almost on the point of collapse. By the Friday, they were so tired, they could barely get out of bed that morning. They were like zombies, operating on automatic as they went about their morning tasks. Rylee did notice that the senior Predators left them well alone, giving them wary glances as they passed in the corridor. It was like they were contagious or something.

None of the nine were aware that that very day would change their lives forever.