Chapter Text
The raid came during Sunday morning church.
It truly was the perfect storm. Everyone in the congregation would be gathered in the exact same space at the same time for church. Shane knew that their community was a bit calmer than others when it came to separation standards but paid no mind to the fact, as it was all he ever knew.
All anyone there knew.
They entered under the cover of the congregation's song and set off flashbangs, the sound was deafening, the light blinding, the scent of panic rose, and as the music cut off all Shane could hear was screaming. There were screams of children being separated from their parents, spouses from their significant others.
It was the sound of Shane's world as he knew it being torn apart at the seams.
In the chaos and disorientation Shane barely registered anyone approaching him until he was grabbed and pulled from the pew he was sitting on. He fought and began his own bout of shouting, but stopped when a familiar voice began demanding he stay quiet and follow her.
It was Rose.
She had been Shane's best friend since they were just pups. Her mother and Shane's father worked together in the community gardens and while they worked the two children ran around playing and having the time of their lives.
Certainly not causing mischief together.
No.
Never.
She pulled him out of the pew and started directing him towards the altar. There was a back door that they could take if they just got past the curtains that were up against the wall and through the back door. But as Rose opened that door she and Shane were met with the sight of two figures in tactical gear that made them out to seem less than human.
“Where do you think you’re going?” one of the masked figures reached toward the pair and grabbed Shane's wrist, before snapping a metal cuff around it. Shane tried to pull his wrist out of its grasp but the tug only provided momentum for the man to turn him around and connect his other hand with the chain.
“Stop,” Shane cried out. “Please what are you doing”
“Don’t fret omega, it's for the best.” The masked man's companion repeated the action on Rose and turned them back toward the congregation, guiding them through the chaos of people fighting, and struggling, but all inevitably meeting the same fate.
Shane struggled and fought as he was led in the opposite direction of Rose who was struggling so hard he thought she may dislocate a shoulder, and taken outside of the chapel. He was pleading with the person holding him, begging them to let him go but the cries fell upon deaf ears.
He was brought to a large truck that the man holding him opened up, and revealed rows of benches lining the inside. No one else was inside when Shane was placed there and strapped in, but as he was left to wait, the seats beside him filled up. Every face in the van was one he recognized, identities revealed by a brief moment of light as they entered, but each of them were much too scared to say anything. Instead, the truck was filled with the sounds of soft cries, and sniffles.
But as the truck filled up, Shane was left to realize that every single person inside was an Omega.
Did they not take the betas and the alphas?
Were they doing something worse to them?
Shane had been in the truck for what must have been around 15 minutes when the engine roared to life and the truck began moving forward. The interior of the truck was dark, and while he could not see what was going on around him, he could however hear the murmurs of quiet prayers being spoken under shaking breath, and the cries of desperate people growing louder every moment they drove.
And they drove for a very long time.
— — —
Eventually the truck slowed to a stop and its occupants were left sitting in a tense, terrifying silence.
A silence that was suddenly broken as the back of the truck swung open and the masked figures reentered, beginning to unstrap and take omegas out one by one. Since Shane was the first one to be placed inside it meant that he would be the last one removed, so he had no choice but to sit and listen to his friends, and neighbors were dragged out of the truck to meet whatever fate would be awaiting them.
Finally, it was Shane's turn to be taken out of the truck. One of the masked men approached him, and though he was scared beyond his wits he mustered up whatever courage he had, and succeeded in not fighting or begging the man to let him go.
“Come on buddy” the man unstrapped him and pulled him up from the bench he was seated on.
Shane sniffled, and a stray tear escaped as the man walked him to the edge, and lifted him out of the back of the truck. To his surprise the man wiped it away.
“In time you will see, it’s for the best.” the man said in a gentle voice.
For the best.
Both masked figures he had interacted with so far had said the same thing to him and he didn’t understand why. His life with the community was the best for him. He had been there his whole life and never experienced anything wrong with it, so why did they keep saying otherwise.
Shane's feet hit the ground and he was immediately guided forward by a hand on his lower back. It made him uncomfortable. He had never been touched like this by an alpha other than his mother. It wasn’t that it wasn’t allowed, like he said their community was especially liberal, he just never explored that far with anyone. The alpha seemed to sense the tension growing while he touched Shane, and moved his touch from Shane's back to his upper arm.
They walked down a long hallway, and reached a door where Shane was led inside a room. The guard told him to “be wise” and removed the handcuffs which restrained his arms behind his back instead opting to let Shane sit down before cuffing them back in front of him connected to the table. Shane noticed that there was a big mirror on the wall and stared directly at his reflection. He found it bizarre that they would put such a thing in this room, it simply felt out of place. The guard said nothing more before walking out, leaving Shane alone in a room that was too bright, too cold, and too quiet.
Too quiet except for the noise of the light above him that seemed to be buzzing as if an angry bug was trapped inside of it. It reminded Shane of when he used to catch lightning bugs in jars with Hayden and Rose. They would put them into jars and try to keep them for as long as possible, the only issue was that they would get angry, and start flashing their lights non stop.
Shane would always end up feeling bad and letting them go when his friends had their backs turned.
His thoughts of lightning bugs and childhood were interrupted by the door opening. This time however, instead of a masked man stepping in it was a woman. The woman was wearing a brown dress with cream sweater, and a kind expression like his fathers. She had green eyes, and blond hair that was pulled back into a tight ponytail. If her scent didn’t indicate it entirely her demeanor did. The woman was an alpha.
She walked into the room, placed a folder on the table, then sat at the chair directly across from Shane. When she looked at him Shane shot his gaze right back down to the table though the woman wore a friendly expression it did not mean her demeanor would be the same.
“Hi” the woman's voice broke through the silence. “My name is Galina, I am a social worker” Shane turned out the rest of the woman's introduction. His mind was frantically trying to figure out why she sounded like that. Her voice didn’t sound like that of anyone he knew but he could still understand the words she was saying.
“Honey?” her voice broke through his thoughts once again. She seemed to be waiting for an answer to a question that he had not heard. His face must have explained the situation for him, because she repeated the question.
“Can you tell me your name?” the woman asked, patient as ever.
Shane was glad that she asked a question he had an answer to. Though he didn’t know the extent of the situation he definitely knew that if the people in charge here were anything like those in charge at the church he would not want to upset them.
“Shane” he quietly muttered out. Galina offered him a kind smile and seemed to write that down.
“Good. Shane, do you know how old you are?” he paused. He did know, but he was confused at the line of questioning. He nodded assuring the woman that he did in fact know how old he was.
“Can you tell me?”
“Eighteen” she wrote that down too. He was nervous, and certain that it read on his face. He fidgeted with his hands causing the chains in between to rattle, Galina seemed to be surprised by the sudden noise so he stopped.
He really didn’t want to make her angry.
“Would you like me to take those off Shane?”
Shane considered the question. He had been told his entire life that outsiders were not to be trusted. They kept omegas bound to an alpha from the moment they were of age. The outsiders thought that an omega's only purpose was to pump out babies and serve their alphas. He opted not to answer the question, rather to ask his own.
“When can I go home?” Galina sighed and started shuffling her papers around seemingly looking for something. “I swear I didn’t commit a crime.”
Though he didn’t answer the question the social worker reached into her sweater opting to slowly and cautiously reach toward him and gently unlock his restraints. He was confused, and angry, but his parents raised him with manners so he muttered out a small thank you and tucked his hands into his lap.
“No Shane. You have done nothing wrong” She paused, Shane felt an air of relief that they knew he wasn’t some sort of criminal. “But the leaders of the community you live in. They were doing a lot of things.”
Shane's brow furrowed and he looked at Galina “no”
“Yes Shane” she nodded sympathetically “they were neglecting elements of care to the omegas in their custody. That includes you”
“No” Shane doubled down crossing his arms like an angry child.
“Okay. Shane, can you tell me the last time that you had your heat?” Galina asked the question but for some reason it seemed like a test again. Like she was waiting for him to mess up so she could tell him I told you so.
But Shane hadn’t had a heat since his first one; the elders of the community made sure of it by providing him with pills which he took daily. The pills made sure that he wasn’t forcibly tethered to a caretaker, or an alpha until the time he was ready to have kids, and that was just if he wanted to.
The pills kept Shane independent and free.
Right?
So then why was he feeling so bad about what he was going to admit?
“Not since my first” he shyly said.
“Okay, how old were you?” Galina asked. Her tone steady and reassuring.
“Thirteen”
“Do you know if there is a reason that you haven't had one since?”
Shane looked down at the table once again; he didn't know why, but tears were appearing. He reached up and quickly swiped at his eyes. He felt guilty as if he had done something wrong.
“We take the pills”
“Who’s we Shane?”
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He had said too much and now they were going to be mad at him. The people who took him would be, and so would Galina, his parents, the elders.
“”It’s okay you don't have to answer that if you don’t want to. Could you tell me who gives you the pills”
He shook his head again and drew his knees up to his chest. He was shutting down and both occupants in the room knew it. This would happen sometimes when Shane would have too many thoughts or feelings at once. He would breath very fast and shallow while his parents would tell him to listen to and follow their pattern of breathing. They would tell him how loved he was, and remind him that he was in a safe familiar space where had nothing to worry about.
Except they weren’t here to help him, and he was not in a safe and familiar space.
“Shane” Galina was still there, she seemed to care about him. At least a little bit “Shane can you take a deep breath for me”
He did.
“Good job and breath out”
He did.
They repeated the process over and over until the fog in his head began to clear up, and more coherent thoughts were coming through. Thoughts other than him repeating a mantra of they will be mad at me don’t say anything.
“Good Shane. That was very good. I am sorry that I made you upset.”
“It’s okay”
“Do you want to be done with questions for now, Shane?”
Shane did in fact want the questions to end so he told her just as much. The alpha woman obliged and saw herself out of the room with a final parting word.
“Sit tight Shane. I will be back in just a few minutes.” With that the door closed and Shane was once again left alone in the too bright room, except this time, he was not tied up so he brought himself to the corner farthest from the door, pushed himself to the floor and settled in to wait.