He decided to keep talking. He must have preferred the symbolism of his own words falling down on me. “Tell me, Jessica... Do you know how prostitution works?”
I had to think about it for a moment. Did I really know how sex worked? Sex for money? I was a twenty-one year old white girl from the city who had to survive living with my parents and little sister, mood swings, high school suicides, my first shitty job in a long line of proposed shitty jobs, the looming, spiraling debt of college tuition, insensitive assholes that broke hearts, rising gas prices, car insurance, terrorism, and the incredible process of reprogramming ten different cell phones because I had kept losing them. I still had it better off than the vast majority of the world combined, especially for a woman, but I thought I knew how prostitution might have worked. I kept my side on the cold tiles, stubborn, and promptly told the piece of shit standing above me to go fuck himself. The colorful French bounced across the walls, joined by his laughter.
The man smiled. “Why, when I have you now?”
I had to bite my tongue. He was right.
Asshole.
He lifted his arms up to gesture at the theater, and then something more. “Let me be the first to introduce you to Arrino, Kansas. We’re short on food and almost out of water, but we have some pretty women. Would you rather I go out and kill people to get what we need or have them work together so that everybody wins?”
I didn’t even bother thinking up an answer. Forcing fourteen year olds into having sex, no matter how he justified it, would never make any sense.
“Just play by the rules and we’ll all get through this.” He stomped a heel on the floor, amused. “I mean, come on. Anyone your age should be begging to get laid.”
I wished I had my metal spike. I had at least managed to do some damage with that thing. The thought seemed fitting as Ryan and two others walked up from the stage to meet the man in front of me with a few mutters. Some part of me kept expecting Ryan to look at me lying on the floor and feel sorry for me, but it never happened. They stopped, agreed on something and started moving.
The man with the taser leaned in close as the others brought me up to my feet. He held the agony inducer just short of my chest, and I was glad he stopped it there. “This thing works, Jessica, and it’s gonna work for a long time.”
I fruitlessly struggled as they quickly tied my hands behind my back again and put tape over my mouth. The message definitely came across.
“Don’t forget that.”
The last thing I saw was his satisfied smug of a smile before they put something over my head and grabbed my arms, taking me wherever they wanted.
We left the school and started walking on open grass. I could feel the dry blades bend underneath my feet. For the first time in my life, I started to feel legitimately claustrophobic and had to concentrate to keep from panicking. Short, hot bursts of air shot out through my nose that felt insufficient while I was forced to move with the bodies that pressed up against my sides. The stiffness of the bag over my head rubbed against my face and was starting to get wet from my own moisture. I couldn't fight back or see anything. I couldn’t have screamed even if I had wanted to. I could only count the passing steps as my mind helplessly tagged along for the tantalizing ride.
A few minutes later my feet hit solid ground and we kept walking in silence. I heard a door open and somebody led me inside. The air was immediately cooler, wherever we were, and our footsteps held their sound. We took a few turns, opened another a door, but this time they pushed me through first.
They untied my hands and took the bag off of my head before closing the door behind me. I immediately turned around and tried opening it, only to feel a doorknob that wouldn't turn. I painstakingly pulled the tape off of my mouth and silently cursed at whoever had put it on without bothering to push my hair to the side.
I looked around. They must have shoved me into an apartment building. Everything looked like it belonged in a house but cramped together to take up less space. I quickly scoured the room to look for anything that I might be able to use. I checked the tables, opened up all the shelves, looked underneath the couch, and finally threw a fit in the kitchen due to the lack of utensils. They even took out all the spoons. They must have cleaned the place out ahead of time.
Demoralized, I gave up and walked into the bathroom, completely unready to face something that I hadn’t been expecting. As soon as I turned the corner, my reflection had bounced back at me from the wall. It had been so long since I had seen myself that it felt surreal.
I lifted a shaky finger and watched it connect with the one in front of me. I was unbelievably tan from the hours spent on the road and I had lost a good bit of weight, though it was probably too much. Over time I had found something that I just couldn’t quite get from scrubbing my face with chemicals.
Wherever there wasn’t any dirt, my skin had a natural shine along with my hair, probably from oil that I had never gotten the chance to wash off, and I had a small discoloration around a scar next to my left eye. It gave it a little depth and made my eyes look fierce. Even my cheeks were more pronounced. Where I had come from, I might have been called beautiful for it, but now I couldn't have felt uglier. If I could have given away my physical body to get out of that building, I would have done it in a heartbeat. It made me realize that the faded red spots on my face were actually dried spatters of blood that didn't even belong to me.
I tried rubbing them away until I saw something stir in the room behind me. I sprung around and looked at the source, a scruffy man sitting on the floor with his back against the wall. I hadn’t noticed him the whole time I was there. It suddenly struck me that I could have been put in that room for him. He looked tired, but nonetheless in incredibly good shape and could probably reach into my stomach and tear out my intestines with a single hand.
My nerves got the best of me. “Who the hell are you?”
He didn’t bother answering. He lifted a beefy arm up and pulled on a string, the blinds behind him quickly jumping out of the way as sunlight shot through the window and flooded the room and enveloped me.
I had to hold my hand up.
His entire body did a better job as he slowly got up to his feet and put me in his shadow, standing at least a good foot above me. He stepped closer and looked down. It was a common thing for me lately, but it still hadn’t lost its effect. He sized me up and I held my breath as I waited to see what he would do. Finally, he let it loose.
“There’s pie in the fridge.” He stepped around me and I let the sun bleach my eyes, frozen in place.
I had to admit I wasn’t expecting that.
It turned out that Chris had thought I had been looking for food. As soon as we had cleared that awkward experience, we introduced ourselves. Meeting new people had been hit or miss for me for the past few days, but I was gratified to see someone who didn’t want to immediately take advantage of me. That and he had offered me pie. I would have told anyone that the quickest way to win me over would have been food or coffee. He had gotten one out of the two, but I supposed there was always room for improvement.
I thought that over and listened to him talk about the town all day and night as I shoveled food into my mouth. I had to use my hands, but things could have been worse. He could have told me that there wasn’t any more coffee left in the world. I let the crumbs fall down over my chin as he paced around the room, his giant chest literally leading the way for the rest of him. He could have easily killed me. I was glad that he was ‘one of the good guys,’ as Jeremy would have put it.
According to Chris, the town of Arrino already had a fairly long history of self-sufficiency, which was one of the reasons why it had rebounded so quickly once the world had gone to hell. Remote proximity from any major cities and roadways had also helped. The few hundred men and woman who had called it home beforehand had already grown accustomed to living on their own, which meant that the relative panic had been cut short. He described it as a group effort that could have only been accomplished if the vast majority of the population lived by the same morals, mainly one of respect, though now that was basically unheard of.
A quick surge in population followed by a dry spell and uneven management was pitting everything into despair. The thought of the drought continuing any longer meant no farming, no hunting, and no more self-reliance. The inhabitants would soon be forced to make a decision. Scavenging would only go so far and they knew it. They were scared. They fooled themselves into thinking that outsiders like Ryan could take charge and solve all their problems while others were either forced to obey, cast out, or simply locked up. Some ended up like Chris, lost in a hidden limbo because they had become too vocal in their opposition against the new regime but kept alive because of their useful skill sets.
It was morning again by the time I eyed him from across the room, our conversation reaching another natural lull, and however much it had bugged me before, it was apparent now that I wasn't alone anymore. He was surprisingly the type of person that I could invariably fall into a long discussion with while spending almost twenty-four hours locked inside of the same room together. Yet after waking up to see that nothing had changed around me, I realized that it wouldn't matter. We could have unraveled the meaning of life itself and I would always inevitably end up being the new whore in town at the end of the day. Just like before, I didn't have the luxury of picking my own identity.
Chris peered back at me in silence and I couldn’t help but stare at the numerous tattoos that lined his arms. After learning that he had been active duty in the military, the sleeves of ink seemed different. Maybe they told a story about his past, of some event so visceral as to prompt him to leave a physical mark on his body to mirror the one in his memories, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. For all I knew, he could have been looking at me and thinking the exact same thing based on what he saw, and I sure as hell didn't want to answer any of those questions.
I had neglected to talk about my past on purpose. I was sure he must have noticed that I had been dodging the topic since we met. He had only arrived a few weeks before I had, too late to make a difference and too early to be made an example of, but I didn't have the benefit of his military background. If I had, then maybe I never would have stepped foot in Arrino. Maybe I never would have run away. Maybe I never would have been such a coward.
I finally thought about saying something when a soft, metallic tapping sound started up again on his side of the room. I got up to my feet with a wince, trying to ignore the forgotten pain and eager for the change of pace. “She's back.”
“Check the door.”
Right.
Chris never rushed. He was always level headed, most likely a strict pragma instilled into his soul from countless days of training and fighting alongside other soldiers just as similar to him.
He waited as I checked the only door to our room. The doorknob must have been reversed, which meant that we had been locked in from the outside, but whoever was responsible for that had not bothered with the peephole. I stuck my eye to the glass and stared for a moment, only to see the same pattern of ugly wallpaper attached to an empty hallway. I gave him a thumbs up.
I turned to watch Chris effortlessly slide the couch away from the wall, a physical task better suited to him than a tornado lifting a semi off the ground. After that, I unscrewed a small metal plate at the bottom of the wall with my nails that had been haphazardly shut for quick access. Then I got onto my knees and grabbed Ellie's hands, pulling her out by the wrists from a small air-duct that connected our room to hers next door. She was the only one small enough to use it, but even that was pushing it.
She wiped a hand over her face and coughed. A small cloud of dust followed the puff of air and clung to the frayed ends of her hair. I couldn't help but feel for the dirty, cute little girl standing in front of me as she continued to brush herself off, though Chris was keen on keeping us in motion.
“What took so long?”
She took a moment to look between the two of us and I tried to reassure her with a short, courteous smile, only to fall back on to Chris. “If you want, you can go next time.” She gave us space and I shot him my best
way to go
look.
I walked into the kitchen and grabbed what was left of our pie. It was the last homemade remains of the town's productivity. I had made a mental note to save a few pieces for Ellie when she had crawled into our room the first time. Apparently Ryan had saw it fitting to lock her away and starve her for asking too many questions following my little scene in front of the rest of the girls. The apartments must have been where he hid people from the rest of the town. I couldn't believe how inhumane it had seemed at first, but I knew better now that it could have been a lot worse. For starters, she was still alive.
I walked back into the living room to see her steal a glance at Chris. With her height, she barely came up to his chest and I didn't fare much better. I was sure that she thought together we had made an unlikely pair, though it had been quick to get over. With her in the room, we seemed like one small, coherently dysfunctional family. Making friends was easier when everyone was being held captive against their will.
“Here...” I offered her what was left of our food and watched her hesitate, her eyes gleaming at the sight of something edible. I recognized the look, but for Ellie to try and hide it so well, she must have been used to the hunger, to the constant lack of energy for some time now. I was glad to see her finally give in.
“Thanks.” She took a seat with her mouth already full, looking more like a little kid than I thought she knew.
Chris managed to give her a few solid seconds before prying. “So what'd you see?”
She continued to scarf everything down and answered between mouthfuls of air while both of us waited. “I did exactly what you said. There's nobody guarding the building, but everything's locked. I can't get to you guys from outside.”
“Okay... what about the police station?”
“You mean the Sheriff's office,” she corrected him. “No idea. I couldn't really get close. There were too many people and they were carrying stuff...” She thought about it for a second. “Maybe bricks? I think they're building something inside.”
“Like what?”
“How am I supposed to know?” She simply shrugged and a scowl flashed over Chris' face before disappearing in an instant. He must have been used to working with all sorts of people in incredible situations, but I had to guess that none of them had been starved fourteen year old girls. We were already asking a lot by letting her crawl outside the building and find out what was going on. The truth was that it had been her idea in the first place. She had taken the initiative to risk everything by herself. For her age and what she had probably already gone through, we couldn't ask for any more.
He crossed his arms and let it go, his new respect funneling patience for the girl in front of him. “Listen, you did a good job, but you really need to be careful out there.”
She rolled her eyes with words muffled by half-eaten pie. “No shit.”
I left the lively conversation and walked over to our only set of windows to press my cheek against the glass for a better a look. They had unsurprisingly been barred shut from the outside, but at just the right angle I could see distant shadows moving back and forth from the side of our building. It had been the same view at night, with the harsh glow of portable work lights powered by the distant hum of gas generators. Something was keeping the town busy enough day and night to use what was left of their gas. If what Ellie was saying was true, then it wouldn't be such a stretch to assume that someone was in a rush to finish some sort of construction. But of what? And why?
I watched as my breath smeared itself across the pane in front of me. Something like that was predictable, but not what was going on around me. I had an uneasy feeling ever since I woke up in Camp Maxwell that I attributed to the world imploding on itself and what I would have to look forward to, but now I couldn't shake the feeling that I was wrong. Like the sources of the shadows at the end of block outside, there had to be something that was just out of my sight.
“What else did you see?” I turned back to look at Ellie, her face square as she thought about it. “You grew up here, right? You know this place better than anyone else.” I struggled to come up with another thought that she could build on. I should have known that I had reached too far. “What about your family?”
She began to slow down, almost as if an invisible screen had been placed in front of her face. She tried to say something but quickly changed her mind.
Shit.
She kept her eyes on the floor as Chris shot me a quick glance. He didn't say anything, and he was better at it than me for not rubbing it in my face. He was already coming to my rescue. “What about the school? Tess mentioned it while you were gone.” That was putting it nicely. I had practically blown up in his face over the idea of it.
She kept glancing up at us nervously and she became the apprehensive little girl again that I had met back in the classroom. Yet just like before, she was still determined to see it through. “I mean, I didn't really have a choice, but I think a lot of the parents sent their kids there because they thought it would be safer than letting us run around like we used to, you know?”
“Is it?”
She frowned. “Look, I know what it looks like, but they didn't even do anything. Seriously.”
Not yet.
Ryan had made it clear what he had in store for me and so had the man in the theater, and I was sure that it would extend to the rest of the girls in due time. They must have been trying to keep it a secret for as long as possible. The townspeople might have been growing desperate, but they could never be persuaded to use their own women and children as bargaining chips to get what they needed. They would have to be forced. It would cause an uproar. In the meantime, anyone as young as Ellie could still be taught in secret that what they were doing would be for the benefit of everyone else. They might be gullible enough to think that by selling themselves they would be helping their families back home.
A worst case scenario would mean that the public found out, but at that point it wouldn't matter. Ryan and the others would already be a step ahead of the rest. It was a cold, calculated decision and the exploitation of others for self-benefit at its best. The kids must have been sent to the school so they could be under armed guard. They were supposed to be safe, but Ryan and the others had a different plan in mind. I checked to see Chris's worried face and saw that he must have been thinking the same thing.
Ellie fought to get our attention back. “I wasn't even planning on staying, but someone got hurt outside of town. They wouldn't tell us what happened and that's when they started acting weird.”
Was that what I had felt? I took the lead. “Weird how?”
“They separated us. They kept asking if we knew any Seds or what we knew about Paranormals. They kept trying to teach us that Seds were behind everything bad that happened.”
I crossed my arms. It was exactly what I had felt from Ellie before. I let the question out carefully. “And you don't believe them?”
She shrugged, unsure. “I knew someone. She was...
different
, but...” She shook her head. “I think it's B.S. They're just trying to find someone to blame.”
I met Chris' gaze and had to keep myself from smiling. So Ellie was smarter than the vast majority of the world combined, though she wasn't the only one not to fall for Knox's blame game. I was glad that she had seen it so easily.
She pushed her empty pie tin away from her, now a look of disgust on her face more than anything else. “They started making us wear jewelry, necklaces, rings, crap like that.” She starting pressing her nails into the tips of her fingers and her eyes grew distant, bouncing between unseen memories. It made me notice a silver ring on her thumb that was almost too big and I wondered who it had belonged to. “I thought they were starting to dress us up for...
whatever
... and that's when they wouldn't let anyone leave.”