Drake woke up to the command "Out."
He looked around, not sure what was going on. Once again the command was given, and this time he realized Raell was out of the wagon and they were standing in front of a massive house. He got up, but Raell was already walking away, his ties in her hand. Drake was yanked out of the wagon, right onto his scraped chest and hands. He yelled, but scrambled up. He didn't want to get dragged any more than he already had.
He followed her around the house and to a massive barn. Inside men dressed identically to Devon and Riley hurried around. They bowed to Raell, and gave her a large breadth. She took no noticed, and continued walking. They approached the middle of the barn, where a covered arena jutted away from the barn. She led him through, towards a few platforms with large "O" structures built on them.
Watching, Drake noticed that a few women would grab a man from a nearby pen using a metal rod with clamps around one end, which reminded him a lot of the grabby toys he'd play with when he was younger. This grabber was secured around the man's neck, and he was then dragged over to a platform, where he was made to kneel and his arms were tied to pegs set in the O structure. His legs were secured using straps set into the platform. Drake realized the "O" allowed the women to adjust the men's arms as needed. Every man was completely naked, wearing not even the collars and cuffs the others wore.
Drake was suddenly thankful for the boxers he still wore. He watched as the women then forced the men's jaws open and yanked out two bottom teeth, ignoring the agonized screams of the men. They'd then apply the brands using the red hot markers sitting in the small furnace next to the platforms. Finally, as the men hung from their ties exhausted and hurting, the women would cut open a small slit in their ball sac and insert a small flexible metal sheet with what looked like mechanical stuff on them, coated in silicon, into the slit. The slit would them be sprayed with some skin sealer, and the man would be re-clamped, untied, and put in a separate pen. Some men also had a gun like devise pressed into various pressure points in their body, and something seemed to be shot/injected into them.
The girls ignored the screaming and swearing of each man, methodically doing their job. They seemed to enjoy it, actually. Occasionally a man would try to break free of his neck-grabber, and when this happened, a girl holding a long spear-like pole would tap him with it. The spear would let out a loud "SNAP" when it came in contact with the man's skin, and he would go limp. After a few seconds Drake realized that the spear electrocuted the men, and the shock was enough to temporarily paralyze them. As their muscles relaxed, it caused intense pain. They would start moaning, as even their vocal cords were stunned. The moaning would quickly translate to screaming, but they wouldn't struggle against the grabber anymore.
Drake noticed he was being led to pen holding the men yet to go through the procedure, and immediately stopped willingly following. He threw his weight in the opposite direction, trying to drag Raell back. She did not even hesitate, waving the door open and dragging him in. She undid his neck tie, then his hand ties. Drake tried to get past her, but from behind her one of the girls hit him with the shock spear and he dropped to the ground.
He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think for the pain he suddenly was in. Everything felt like it was cramping times one hundred. Drake moaned, trying to relax the tightened muscles. As they relaxed another bout of agony washed over him and he screamed loudly. He lay panting on the ground as the pain slowly faded, and felt his eyes well up. How had he gone from having an awesome 18th birthday to laying on the sandy ground of a pen, almost naked, in the most amount of pain he had ever been?
He slowly sat up and looked around. The walls were easily climbable, but he noticed none of the men had tried to climb them, and reasoned that they were probably electric. The shock spear women were also spaced out around the fence, ready if any even tried. Most of the men were watching Raell he noticed. They looked terrified. They had moved away from the fencing she stood at, watching the women work. Drake rubbed his neck and wrists where the rope had sliced into his skin. He then looked down and the massive scraped across his chest, stomach, and legs. Only his tattered boxers and ruined sneakers remained. He had no doubt those would be soon taken off.
He yelped as cold metal wrapped around his neck. He grabbed the steel, trying to keep it from strangling him. He was yanked upright, and forcefully marched to the pen door. He was paused once out, and Raell approached with her knife. He struggled, but the second one of the girls with the spears took a step he stopped. Raell slid the knife between his skin and his boxer straps, and he flinched at the cold touch. She grinned, then sliced his boxers off. Drake yelped, trying to cover himself. The women all laughed, and one of them picked his right foot up, forcing his sneaker and sock off, before doing the same with the other foot. Drake stood completely naked before Raell, shivering at the breeze and at his fear of this woman who did whatever she wanted to, and had the supernatural ability to do so.
Drake was strapped down to the O platform, and shook in fear. A woman put a small canister behind his jaw, and it shot a small metal rod out, dislocating his jaw and forcing it open. Drake screamed as she pulled the first two molars from his bottom jaw out. She then removed the canister and its rod, and popped his jaw back into place.
Next was the branding, he remembered. He struggled as he saw the girl approach with the hot metal. He couldn't budge, however, and the brand was applied to his right pectoral. He screamed again as the smell of cooked meat filled his nose and his pec burned. They then freed his left arm before re-positioning it to flatten out his shoulder blade. Drake screamed- hoarsely now as his vocal cords began to hurt- as another hot iron was applied to his left shoulder blade. The brands were held for fifteen seconds to ensure a good brand, but to Drake they felt like forever. When that step was over he hung by his wrists, awaiting the final step. He was in too much pain to care as blood dripped out of his mouth and his chest and back burned.
