*****
Miguel felt his mind drone as he saw only darkness. The faint sound of discussion resounded in his ear as his consciousness slowly returned.
The soft surface beneath him made Miguel realize he was lying on a bed. Though from the ache all over his body it was obviously far from comfortable.
'Where am I?'
As this question appeared in his mind, his ears picked up on a conversation close to him.
"Are you certain, none of the brats have any special identity?" A deep gruffy voice filled with authority asked.
"No sir. Most of the brats are from areas of crisis, so even if anyone wants to point fingers, it has nothing to do with us. This one for example was gotten from a favela in Rio after a gang war by two rival gangs." This time, it was a subservient male voice. Most likely belonging a subordinate of the first individual.
"To survive in the underworld, one must know who we can and cannot afford to offend. Our organization is coming up but they are those we still cannot afford to offend. So to be on the safer side, I want you to investigate the identity of this batch." The authoritative voice ordered.
"Yes sir, but it may take a while."
"Just get it done."
As he listened to the conversation, Miguel slowly opened his eyes. However, the bright light from the ceiling fluorescent forced him to quickly shut them again.
The piercing light made his mind droned again as he felt a stinging pain at the back of his head making him halt his actions.
Taking time to adjust, he slowly turned his head to the side amidst pain and opened his eyes. Not far from him were the men who were having a conversation, one already on his way towards the door.
Looking around, he discovered that he was in some kind of infirmary, with a total of fifteen beds including the one he was occupying.
The air was filled with the smell of antibiotics and the room was very bright.
'What's going on? Where am I?' Miguel thought to himself yet something else answered him.
Pain!
His whole body transmitted a stinging burning sensation. Raising his head to look at his body, another piercing pain from the back of his skull almost made his vision go black.
'What is all this?' reaching behind him skull, Miguel felt a big plaster there. At the same time, he realized his arms, legs and some parts of his body were wrapped up in bandages.
"You're finally awake" a slightly deep voice came from the side.
The voice was low and gravelly, like sandpaper on stone. It was the authoritative voice he had heard during the conversation.
Miguel turned around to face the voice again and discovered that one of the men had already left.
"Good, it means my money wasn't spent in vain." The owner of the voice said, walking closer which exposed him to Miguel.
It was a man in his thirties, with neat sideburns and a tall, muscular body statue.
His was putting on an Italian suit missing the coat and tie. The inner shirt sleeves were rolled up to the forearm and the first two buttons on his chest was left undone. His slightly exposed chest and forearms were all covered in tattoos.
"Who are you?" Miguel's first reaction was to move away, however the pain quickly reminded him of his current situation.
"Good instinct. I must say that Axe brothers gave me quite quality goods." The man spoke as he stared at Miguel.
'Axe brothers' However in Miguel's mind, it felt as if an explosion had gone off. Those two words jogged his memories and everything came flooding back.
'Mother and father are dead, brother's whereabout is unknown and it looks like I've been sold by the Axe brothers' his mood immediately turned gloomy.
While he was feeling sadness, it wasn't the only emotions. His eyes burned with flames of rage and hate.
'It's their fault, it's all their fault. Gangsters, the Axe brothers, the Santa Ricardo eses everyone of them is guilty, all of them will pay, all gangsters must die' Miguel raged in his mind, his hateful eyes staring daggers at the man covered in tattoos.
"Hmm" feeling the burning stares drilling into him, the tattooed man who was in the process of lighting a cigar raised his head and met Miguel's gaze.
His eyes gleamed with a cold and ruthless intensity under the room lighting.
Striding forward, the man came to a stop in front of Miguel. He took a deep drag from the cigar, squat before the glaring Miguel and puffed the smoke into his face, forcing him into a coughing fit.
"I like your fiestiness kid, but keep staring and I'll gouge your eyes out. No matter how angry you are it doesn't change the fact that you are my property now and you're about to fetch me some good money." he chuckled lightly.
"You can only blame your horrible luck and parents for giving birth to you in a place like that" he said as he flashed Miguel a sadistic grin before turning around.
"Since you are already awake, it's time for you to join the other. Come along" he said in a tone that left no room for argument and headed for the door.
'Others? There are other kids here?' Miguel thought, as he struggled to his feet and followed after the man.
Following behind the man, Miguel passed through numerous winding tunnel-like corridor.
The dim lighting making visibility a struggle for Miguel, yet the man walk on like he could see clearly and soon arrived before a large double door guarded by two armed men.
Leaning forward the man pushed opened the door revealing a large room.
The place was more of a vast hall than a room with white florescent lights shining from the ceiling.
However, the sight beyond the door made Miguel's eyes widen slowly.
Inside this huge hall were children, dozens of children of various age height and complexion huddle together towards the opposite end of the hall.
Some of them, like him had bandages covering some parts of their body.
"So many children, what's going on?"
GrabbingMiguel by the arm, the man shoved him into the hall and left. His voice echoing as the door closed.
"Stay put and wait for the transfer."