In a dilapidated storage room, a short-haired woman lay hog-tied on the coarse floor, her body covered in welts from a whip. Her eyes were shut tight—it was impossible to tell if she was asleep or had been knocked unconscious.
The scene was like a beautiful doll torn to shreds by a cruel master and tossed on a garbage heap, a sight too horrible to bear.
Two young men stood guard outside the door. One had his hair dyed a garish yellow, the other sported a small ponytail. Dressed in bizarre clothes, they couldn't have been more than twenty, looking like delinquents trying to act mature with cigarettes dangling from their lips.
When it was time for the shift change, a big, pot-bellied man arrived, bringing along a ferocious-looking, heavily bearded man. Both were built like barn doors; one look and you knew they were bad news.
Seeing the big man, the two youths immediately bowed and scraped, a pair of fawning smiles on their faces as they chimed in, "John, what brings you here?"
