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Chapter 73

To say the children didn't offer an excited, let alone favorable, response would be an understatement of mammoth proportions. In fact, despite the painfully obvious and sarcastic nature of the individual, even the completely dead response, void of any positive emotion, even curiosity, fell firmly on his shoulders and made him wince a bit. Clearing his throat in an attempt to shield himself from the growing pressure from the silence he finally clapped his hands together a few times with enough force to cause some of the children close to him to turn away in pain.

"Alright you ungrateful shits it's time to move. Everyone stand up in order of height. The taller you are the longer you wait."

Glancing around at the others while he stood, Ethan figured he would be near the middle to rear of the group. He wasn't sure why they were being instructed to line up in such a way but in the end he didn't really care. He would get to see more faces this way, though strategically he couldn't determine if he was being thwarted or not. Looking over at Sarah, who was also standing, she offered him a weak smile before moving back to the group of girls from before. He wasn't sure their of their ages, but she was near her in height, though upon seeing how scared they looked compared to her he came to assume they were younger.

After a few minutes of scrambling about and harsh words from the person in the front, who Ethan had determined was a male from his voice and body structure, finally instructed the door to be open and the children began to file out. He couldn't see beyond the door but did manage to catch a few words from the other side, suggesting there were more people outside to monitor the departing line. Even though Ethan had been looking around the room earlier there still seemed to be more children than he assumed, as now that everyone was standing the room looked even fuller, if that was possible. Was it even bigger than he originally could see?

Turning back to the shuffling kids he started to pick up on various sniffles and whimpers. He considered the reason and could only surmise that they were scared about being moved again and being taken even further from home.

"How long have the longest been captured?"

"Where and when was the first ones taken?"

"No one should have to suffer such a horrible fate!"

He was thinking to himself, his thoughts causing his hands to clench to much he almost ruptured the ropes binding his wrists. It was the sound of twisted strands popping one at a time that suddenly brought him back to the moment. Exhaling sharply he immediately relaxed his now fists and shook his head vigorously, He needed to calm down and not cause more trouble for everyone. What was required now was patience and planning, and possibly some good luck if he were being honest. Looking around he absently took note of how everyone looked so dirty. Even some of the kids from the Cloudcrest Sanctum were now covered a good bit in dirt, though no where near as much as some of the others.

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Ethan suddenly had an idea and bent down to rub his palms on the dirty and damp ground, before he smeared his face and hair with the musty smelling film. He then tried to smear as much as possible on his exposed neck and arms, before moving on to his clothes. Some of the children watched him in confusion, others simply didn't care at all, and a few shook their heads in sadness, thinking his mind had broken and he now thought he was a pig. Within a few minutes he looked much more like those who had been there longer than the orphans from Cloudcrest. If nothing else, he figured he would be hard to spot as the last child this group kidnapped.

He wasn't sure how much time it took before it was his turn, but either his planned worked, or they simply didn't care about the most recent capture, because he was casually waved forward to exit out the door. So far his plan was going well, and he worked hard to prevent a smile from appearing on his lips, though the effort required was much less when his vision was suddenly covered in darkness from someone placing a small sack over his head and face. A rough grip then took his shoulder and pushed him forward a few feet before another hand took its place. It seemed they were being extra careful of anyone seeing the details of the hideout. The more he was manhandled the angrier he became and instead of trying to prevent himself from smiling like before he was now attempting to keep his urge to lash out with a mean kick, or 30, under control.

He hadn't felt any defined steps so far, nor was he picked up and carried, so he was a bit surprised to gradually feel a change in the temperature and mugginess of the area. Perhaps the constant shoving and pulling by his captures had prevented him from noticing any incline or change of direction. Maybe that was why they were being so rough. Regardless he had no idea how far, nor in what direction, they had all traveled so far. The sack over his head was hardly clean, actually it would be more appropriate to call it a disgusting face huger garment then a sack. No normal person would use this piece of filth to carry anything, not even a dead body. However, it was the nastiness of the sack that prevented him from noticing the change in smell when they emerged from underground and into a large wooden warehouse. He immediately felt the difference, but that wasn't enough to tell him what had actually changed.

"Woa!"

He suddenly called out as he was lifted from the ground and tossed into the air. He was weightless for only a second or two before he was caught, rather too harshly if he was being honest, and forced to his feet. He immediately felt a difference in the floor; it felt less solid, and it gave much more than a stone floor would. The creaking as he was pushed further along suggested he was in something wooden, a wagon perhaps? He was having a hard time collecting his thoughts as his head was still throbbing from when he had been hit by whoever caught him.

"Shh!"

Was also hissed against the hood by his hear, which barely registered over the ringing going on in his head.

"I don't like that guy."

He managed to think to himself before he was forced to his butt, the arms, legs, and backs of others immediately pressing firmly against him.