"Good to have patrons this early in the spring."
I look around, "How safe is the town?"
She shrugs, "Depends. A sweet piece of virgin ass like you is going to have troubles no matter where you go."
I frown, "Thanks."
She croaks a laugh, "Precious you are risking a fuck of a lot coming here. The hunters are looking for breeders like you. Clean virgins."
I pass her a diamond ring from my pocket.
Her dark brown eyes light up, "Luckily, a lady like me runs this Inn. You'll be safe."
I smile bitterly, "Wait until you see the ring you get when I leave here in one piece. Virginity intact."
She raises an eyebrow at me, "I'm starting to think maybe you're not too virginal. Most girls who look like you are slightly more fun to mess with."
I shrug, "I aim to please." I've read the line in a book once and always wanted to use it.
She croaks again and turns away from me.
"I'd sneak out in the night if I were you. The things that circle the town have what they want by sundown." She turns back to me and grins a bright white smile, "Like I said, the girls that look like you are more fun."
I meet her smile, "I'm fun. Just not in a way anyone appreciates."
I climb the stairs, trying not to let my exhaustion be too obvious.
Chapter Eight
A hand slips over my mouth. I instantly think of the germs. I squeeze my lips together.
"Don't move princess. They've come for you. Those fuckers sold you out to the breeders. Or it was that old bitch. You should know better than to trade with the first person who talks to you. You bush people are stupid." Her bright white smile flashes in the darkness, "Don't look so scared, I have a way out."
I nod. She pulls her hand from my face and puts it out in front of me. I slip my hand into my sports bra and pull out a massive ruby ring. I took it off a dead woman in a pile of rubble. It's gorgeous. It sparkles, even in the muted moonlight filtering in through the thin curtains.
She turns her back on me and walks to the closet.
She opens the door. I follow her. I'm holding my sack close to my chest. She pulls the rod for hanging clothes in the closet, making the wall pop out. She pushes it inside and walks into the wall.
She enters the darkness. I put my hands out. I hear voices coming to the room. I close the wall behind me, shutting them out and me in.
I feel her hand grip mine suddenly. I want to scream but I don’t. My pulse is vibrating throughout my body.
Words are whispered into the darkness. "Stairs." I put my feet down to the next level slowly.
I hear men's voices above me, "What the fuck is this?" They sound like they're right on top of me.
"She was here."
I hear the old woman's voice. I feel cheated and betrayed. For trade she would sell me out. Sell me out to the farms. I know humanity is a disgusting disappointment, but I still have a hard time imagining a woman turning another woman into the farms.
"She was here please. Let him just come home for a few days."
I continue down the stairs, feeling for each step with my toes. It feels like an eternity has passed by the time I reach the bottom. The voices are gone. Replacing them is a dripping sound and dank cold air. The kind that can only be found underground.
I look into the darkness, "This was your house wasn’t it?" I whisper.
"You guessed it kid. My husband had this installed when we built the house. He worked for the CIA."
I feel her hand grip mine again and pull me, "The ground is flat. We have to hurry."
I am stunned, no one knows about her underground bunker. Not as stunned as I am that she is helping me.
"You could have sold me to them."
I feel her grip my fingers. Her voice has changed. "They have no right. No right to do what they're doing." I feel her fingers on my shoulders biting into them. She shakes me, "You must hurry. Don't come back here. The girls all get taken. The hunters are dressed up as traders but they're not. Run. Feel your fingers along the wall until you see light in the ceiling. Climb up there. It’s a latch. I have to get back."
She is gone before I can even thank her. I am alone in the dark.
The fear is crippling me. I reach a trembling hand out into the darkness. Cold hard stone meets me somewhere in the black. I run my fingers along it, running as best as I can.
I'm scared. I hate being scared. I decide I need a rule about being scared and doing things that make me scared.
I see the ring of light up ahead. It casts a dull beam in the shape of a circle on the floor. The morning sun is rising. I've slept later than I thought I would have. I should have been halfway home by the time the sun came up.
I feel like I'm stepping into a magical light, like in the movies I watched with my granny. The dark of the bunker is held at bay by the tiny ring of light. Dust sparkles inside of the ring.
I reach my trembling fingers through it, making the dust dance in the light.
I look up at the ring of light. I put my hand out at the small ladder I can just see. I climb until my head is at the wooden hatch. I listen to the silence. Nothing makes a sound. I don’t want to open the hatch. I want to hide in the dark of the bunker and never come out.
I hear a whisper on the wind. It's a sound I would know anywhere. It isn’t close to my location, but it hurts me just the same. It could be me.
I take a breath and put my hand on the bottom of the hatch. I try to calm the shakes, but I can't. I push on the hatch. Light floods the small space even though the crack is tiny. My eyes adjust to the bright morning light. The sun hasn’t completely risen, just as the moon hasn’t fully set. It is dawn.
I see greenery everywhere around the hatch. Moss and brush surround me. I don’t see anything but the sounds of the screams have filled up the air. The animals make no noises, as the people have taken over the space with their screams again.
"Puuleeease. Please. Stop please. I have money. I have riches."
Her voice scares me. The desperation frightens me. I have never been that desperate but I know I have it in me.
"Please sir, please. Don't you have a sister or a wife that you would want kept safe. Please. I'll let you do whatever you want please just don’t take me. Don't take me back there. I will die in there. Please."
I want to rock back and forth on the ground. I wish they would just kill her so she will shut up.
I'm frozen. I don’t leave my bunker but I don’t close the lid either. I don’t move.
I know I'm in danger. I take a deep breath. I think about Leo and Jake. I think of poor Anna alone and taking care of Jake. I feel bravery, or stupidity, for the smallest of seconds. I pull myself out of the bunker and slide along the moss and brush. I make very little noise but every movement or rustle feels as loud as a gunshot. I creep along the ground on my hands and feet like Leo does. I move away from the town. I don’t know where I am but I'm scared.
I get to a crowded bunch of trees and bushes and decide I need to risk it and stand. I need my bearings. I take another deep breath and slide my body up along side a tree. I try to blend in. Hoards of people have gathered in the street in front of the town. I can see the field and the cement road. I'm on the right side.
Women and girls are being loaded into trucks. They sob and reach for their loved ones. One girl looks about thirteen. I feel anger welling inside of me. There are the four guards from the gates and five other men milling around the trucks. The tenth man is inside the cab of the truck.
My brain is screaming at me to help the girl. She's a kid. That won't stop them. The sweaty men who take turns. I close my eyes. I shake my head, to rearrange my thoughts.
I turn my back on them. I run away, like the coward I am. I run until I find the broken branches. I use them to lead myself back to my weapon stash. I breathe easier when my bow is back in my hands. I could kiss my knife. I tuck it into my boots and start the run back to the house. I run faster than I did the day before. I run with new fear.
xxxx
I reach the house in the middle of the night. I see Leo's eyes. He stalks to me. He sniffs me everywhere. He's checking to make sure I'm okay. When I bend my knee to kiss him, I sob. He's seen this before. He knows sometimes I just need to get it out.
"Em?"
I look up to see Anna pointing a gun at me.
I smile and hold up the sack.
She lowers the gun, "You okay?"
I nod into the darkness, "No, but it's not anything new. How is he?"
I can see her grim look in the moonlight. My stomach sinks. I want to panic and cry out.
"He's fading fast. I was about to cut his leg off when I heard you."
I sigh and break into a run. I burst through the farm door, something I've never done before.
I'm pulling the needle out of the sack with one of the vials, as I kneel before him. His dark hair is matted against his sweaty face. I can see the moisture in the moonlight.
Anna pours the vodka we found in one of the cupboards all over my hands and the needles and vial. The liquor is splashing all over me. She holds the bottle up to my lips. It burns its ways into my empty stomach. The bits of food I've eaten are long gone. Thank god. She wipes his arm. I finish putting the vial together and stab him in the arm. I push it in slowly like my dad showed me. He doesn’t stir. He doesn't register that I'm pumping his arm full of antibiotics.
I pull the bandages off his wounds. The red lines are everywhere. I swallow hard. Anna puts the vodka back to my lips. I drink again. I pour the tea tree, she has next to the vodka, all over the wound and the blade of my knife. I slice into swollen part the injury and milk the puss from it. I pour the tea tree after I douse it in vodka. I am careful not to rupture the blood vessels and make more infection. When it's clean again and no more puss comes out. I smother it in the old tube of medical salve, the farmhouse had in the bathroom. I cover it again with a gauze bandage and tape.
His fever is still high. He licks his lips and looks down at me with blood shot eyes.