Conwell and the other council members stood and watched as the prisoner dangled lifelessly for several minutes, allowing the rage within the crowd to playout a little. They needed to vent, or else it would turn dangerous and more people would die, and that just wouldn’t do.
“Good people of Sanctuary!” Conwell yelled out several times, slowly gathering their attention again. “Justice is served, though the wound is still raw, do not let this anger and bitterness consume you! It will take time, but the wounds will heal, and life will return to normal. Now go! Life must go on for those of us among the living!”
The dispersing crowd gave Vincent and Kelli a wide birth; some whispered their condolences, other’s uttered things of a cruel and malicious nature. Within minutes it was only them left in the courtyard, staring up at the lifeless form of their adopted daughter.
“How could we let this happen?” Vincent muttered. “How could we have failed her so badly. How…”
Kelli wrapped her arms around him and forced him to look at her. “We cannot fall into self-blaming. She was an adult now. If what they say is true, then these are choices she made on her own,” she swallowed back the bile in her throat, “and consequences she was aware of.”
“We need to talk to Conwell and the other council members.”
“But why?” Kelli asked confused. “There is nothing that can be done now. To put ourselves in their line of sight in only asking for further trouble our way. What’s done is done, Vincent; there is no bringing her back, no saving her. Now we have to learn to move on. Let us grieve, cry, curse, whatever we must do, but it is over, she’s dead.”
He knew she spoke the truth and nodded, though he did not agree. His mind raced feverishly for answers he did not have. “I will get to the bottom of this,” he swore under his breath as the moved away. “One way or another.”
Auska woke with a jolt, hitting the ground hard, and was dragged across the cold, bumpy ground for several dozen feet. She struggled in vain against her rough caretaker, but she was dazed and far too weak to even make it inconvenient for him. Her vision swirled around her, unable to focus on any one thing except that she was moving. Her head throbbed as if she was being hit with a hammer repetitively every few seconds.
Finally, the dragging stopped and a chain was looped tightly around her throat and locked into place, the other end secured around the base of a tall pine tree. With a satisfied grunt, the short bald slaver walked away to join the others around one of the four campfires who were already eating and drinking. Three others casually patrolled the campsite just outside the tree line, occasionally stopping to threaten one of the dozen people similarly chained to trees around the camp perimeter.
“I was beginning to think you would never wake up. Thought they might have broken your brain or something, given the lump on the side of your head. Fuck, but do you look like you took a shit-kicking.”
The voice was familiar, but Auska couldn’t place it just yet as she fought back nausea that threatened her. Finally, after several moments her vision settled, her insides calmed enough that she didn’t feel like she was dangerously drunk or ill. She still felt like she had been run over but a truck, but at least she was confident she was no longer going to vomit or blackout again.
Then the voice returned, though this time it was clearer and pained emotions could be detected. “I had really hoped you had made the escape and made it back to Sanctuary to warn the others and get us help. Seen what you did to that man that attacked you in the tree line. Damn, that was awesome! Figured for sure after that nothing would be able to stop you.”
Pushing herself up to sit against the tree, Auska took in her true surroundings for the first time. The forest around them was lessening, meaning they were travelling south-east, leaving the denseness of the protective forest for less rural areas. Dangerous areas she had travelled once before long ago in similar unfavorable circumstances.
Glancing around she saw a dozen others similarly chained to the trees surrounding the camp. All of them she recognized; faces of those quarantined with a deliberate illness for this very vile purpose. Even in her condition, it didn’t take her long to realize they were chained up like this around the camp as a defense. If a group of infected attacked the camp in the night, whoever was unfortunate enough to be chained up in that area would slow any attack, buying the slavers time to arm themselves. It was genius but twisted all the same.
She noticed Jennifer leaning up against the tree next to her, looking at her pleadingly and guessed that was who had spoken to her, though she could hardly remember what had been said.
“So?” Jen whispered again eagerly.
“What?” Auska wheezed, her throat swollen from thirst.
“Did you make it back before they caught you?” Jen’s eyes screamed for some form of good news; some taste that help was coming. “Did you manage to tell anyone? Is anyone coming for us? Does anyone even know what’s happened to us?”
Auska’s hazy memory tried to remember her final moments in Sanctuary… Holding onto the door handle with all her might, trying to buy herself enough to time tell Vincent and Kelli what had happened… She remembered crying out the words as she fought, but there had been so much noise, so much confusion, had they even heard her? No, if they had, surely things would be different right now. Their captors were too relaxed, too carefree, to be worried about repercussions. “No.” She told the taller girl. “They were already waiting for me by the time I got over the wall. I tried to get to Vincent and Kelli but was caught before I could make them understand.”
“So, that’s it then,” Jennifer sagged against her tree, seeming to shrink in size “No one is coming for us, no one even knows we are still alive. They likely made up some bullshit story that everyone will believe.” Her voice cracked into a sob. “We truly are slaves then.”
The word burned into Auska’s resolve as she slowly shifted her body, forcing her bound hands under and in front of her. Almost instantly her shoulders and back thanked her as the tightness and spasms began to fade. She undid the rope around her feet, but her hands were bound to tightly to undo.
Before she even thought of escaping, she would need to watch and to learn. There were far too many slavers to expect she could just free herself and make a run for it. Not to mention these were hard men who knew what they were doing out here. A runaway slave wouldn’t be anything new to them. They would know how to track and give chase and all the advantages were in their favor. She would have to be smarter, ruthless, and time it perfectly.
“Have they fed us yet?” Auska asked, her stomach growling in protest, but more than that she was thirsty. She had to guess she had been unconscious for nearly a whole day.
“Not yet,” Jen replied. “Maybe they don’t plan on feeding us at all. Why waste food on people you plan to sell off and make someone else’s problem?”
“Slaves that starve to death don’t bring in trade,” Auska countered logically. “No, my guess is they will feed us very little to keep us weak, making us less likely to try anything ‘stupid’.”
“I guess you’d know, you’ve been out in this shit before. Seen it all firsthand, not like the rest of us chained to these trees. Ignorance has sheltered us.”
Auska ignored the sarcastic bitterness in the girl’s words and decided to change the topic. “What happened to Ross and your brother?” Not that Auska really cared, but any information could be useful in navigating her escape.
“They were put in the other travel trailer on the way here, but I saw them get locked up on the other side of the camp. So, they are alive, but no better off than the rest of us,” Jennifer sobbed. “How could our own people do this to us? I mean, there had to be better options for dealing with overpopulation. Tighter rations, longer and further expeditions. We could have expanded a field out beyond the wall so we could have grown more. Hell, we could have found a new place at one of the other old sites around the area. But no, they choose on trading us for supplies like we were livesto
ck.”
“To them, we are livestock, but it could have been worse.”
“How do you figure that?” she snapped back.
Auska shrugged at her tone. “They could have just killed people.”
“Might have been kindness in disguise. I’m not really looking forward to being sold to some pig fucker and raped every day until he gets bored of me and strangles me to death.”
“Being alive means there is still a chance at escaping and being free once more,” Auska reminded her, surprised at how quickly despair was taking hold of the usually fierce girl. But then again Jennifer had been born within Sanctuary and had never had to live the reality that was beyond the only world she had known. Being told what happens out here and seeing it, and worse living it were very different things.
Nearly an hour slipped by before two men made their rounds to the prisoners. Each was given a small piece of dried meat, a stale chunk of bread, and a large ladle full of water.
The water was warm and tasted like spit, but it eased the tightness and burning in Auska’s throat. The bread was like eating sawdust and the meat she was sure was a rat or some other rodent. She ate it all without complaint; she would need every ounce of strength she could muster if she were to get out of this. I will get out of this, she told herself forcefully, refusing to allow the taller girls’ gloom to seep into her own thoughts.
Giving in to depression and despair would destroy any chance at a realistic escape being made. She would stay sharp, clear and focused on every detail she could see. Then when the time came, she would get out of this. Until then she had to remain calm and forgetful in the eyes of her captors… easier said than done after what she had already done to them.
“Hey, guys, look at what I found earlier,” one of the guards chimed in, climbing from the back of one of the trucks.
Auska’s eyes widen with fear and rage seeing the skull in his hands. It couldn’t be the same, and yet even from here, she knew it had to be. Within seconds she could feel the warm, sticky flow of fresh blood oozing down her arms as she violently twisted her hands about trying to pull them free of the rope.
“Auska, what the hell is wrong with you?” Jen barked over, seeing her seething with an unknown fury, pulling aggressively on her confines all the while a low growl escaped her. “Stop it before you draw attention to yourself and get kicked around even more then you have been!” she pleaded, but if Auska was listening it didn’t show. “We aren’t allowed to stand up, damn it!”
The neck chain tightened as she stood up, glaring over at the man as he used the skull as a hand puppet; what he said she didn’t know but it got a hearty laugh from the five others around him. If she had been free, she would have slaughtered them all like the vermin they were for this alone.
“Hey, get back on the ground, bitch!” a rough, irritated voice barked out, a voice she vaguely recognized. Within moment’s the man that had touched her in the tunnel stood face to face with her, a small club in hand. “I fucking said back on the ground, cunt!” He stared hard at her with a crooked grin. “Give me a fucking reason to teach you a lesson, I fucking dare you!”
The thought of his hand upon her sent a fresh ripple of hatred through her. Before she could think to reason, before she could stop herself, she lashed out; her head connected with his nose, shattering it against his broad face.
“Stupid bitch!” he screamed, lunging forward swinging his club. As he stepped in, she jumped up, kicking out with both feet, connecting solidly with his gut, throwing him back and to the ground hard.
Before Auska could ever hope to regain herself, two other slavers were on her, aggressive hands held her down before she could do any more damage to anyone. They cheered and taunted her as she tried to struggle against them, but there was nothing she could do with her hands tied and neck chained.
Her opponent got to his feet, his face contorted with a bitterness that was terrifying. “Oh, you’re gonna wish you hadn’t done that.” He spat blood onto the ground as he advanced on her, his body heaving with every violent breath, blood leaking down his face and lips.
The first few hits Auska’s adrenaline and defiance allowed her to ignore, but soon each blow could be felt with its full intent, breaking through her defenses. As much as she had tried to fight it, she was soon crying out and curling herself up trying to tighten herself into a ball.
“Brock,” a powerful and all commanding voice rang out in the night air, silencing the cheering slavers instantly, “I think that is more than enough.”
“Fuck me mate,” Brock yelled back, his fury far from spent, “look what the little bitch did to my nose!”
The powerfully built, long, brown-haired man moved closer. “It seems to me you have repaid that thrice over.” He patted Brock thick shoulder. “She is a pretty little thing and will be worth a lot, but only if she remains pretty. Besides, she isn’t an extra, but a replacement for the one they needed to cover up the mess.”
Brock spat a glob of blood at the whimpering form. “True enough, Everett, true enough. I might just buy her myself, so I can finish what I started.”
Everett laughed rich and loudly, “I hope you don’t, for I’d hate to have to give you a deal and lose out on what we could get for her.” This drew a laugh from everyone nearby. “Now I would suggest everyone get some rest, I want to be moving before first light. We still got a long way to go before we get to our first stop.” He looked down at Auska. “And the sooner we are there, the sooner we can unload some cargo before it gets damaged.”
Soon the men shuffled away, some to the fires or their sleeping bags; others to stand watch over the prisoners and for stray infected that might attack the camp in the night. The game with the skull was quickly forgotten.
Everett moved closer to the battered form on the ground. “It would serve you well to let this be the last time you attempt such a stupid thing. Brock isn’t known for letting things go, and I’m not known for allowing insubordination to go unchecked.”
Auska glanced up and instantly knew the face. It was the man who had attacked her the night before at the pump house. “Looks like I didn’t hit you hard enough to markup that face of yours,” she whimpered out, trying to sound harder than she was now. “A pity. I’ll have to try harder next time.”
He suppressed a chuckle. “Takes a harder hit than a little thing like yourself could give to mark me up.”
Auska glared up at him, her eyes radiating defiance. “The wobble in your step tells me I hit hard enough the first time.”
This time Everett did chuckle. “Oh girl, you are just full of fire! I do not envy what that’s going to cause you in time, but I do pity the man that will break you. For sure, you will make him hate me for selling you to him.”
“I’d be more concerned with what I am going to do to you and your men before I am done here.”
His eyes flashed dangerously at the threat, but he maintained his grin over her. “You’d best learn your place and quickly. You’ve amused me tonight so I will let this slide. Tomorrow is a different day and with it, different consequences.” With that, he walked back to the center of the camp to his men.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Jennifer gasped, not having realized she had been holding her breath for the whole exchange. “That hit to your head must have knocked you stupid!”
“Something like that.”
Crawling back to the tree was pure torment. Auska’s legs refused to follow instruction and she was truly surprised they weren’t broken. But with the way her sides hurt, her ribs might not have been as lucky.
Jennifer moved as close as she could without choking herself with her chain. “Care to tell me how getting beaten to a pulp fits in with your escape plan? Because if you have a sound argument, I might give it a go, too, if it means escaping.”
“I don’t have a plan,” Auska admitted through gritted teeth, “nor do I think trying to make one would help.”
“Well, that’s not very uplifting coming from you
.”
“To escape these men will require acting when the perfect moment arises, taking the chance and letting nothing stop you.” The effort of talking took far more energy and effort then it should have and Auska closed her eyes.
“Okay, so we keep our wits about us to find that moment to free everyone and escape. I can try and work with that, just make sure I know what the signal is.”
“There will be no freeing everyone. It will be a save yourself moment.”
There was silence for several moments.
“I won’t just leave my brother behind. The rest if I have to, fine… my brother, no.” Jennifer’s voice had lost its edge and was fearful.
“Then you won’t make it, and neither will he.” Auska had barely gotten the words out before exhaustion took her in its embrace. The chill of the night all but ignored.
Without opening her eyes, Auska knew where she was again. The cool, clammy caress upon her skin that made the hairs on her neck stand up was more than enough to affirm it. But she kept her eyes held tightly shut. Ignoring the queer sensations across her body, the flutters in her stomach, the lightness of her thoughts. Ignoring it would make it go away without having to deal with it; it was a dream, nothing more. She could wait it out.
No, I’m not doing this again, I’ll not watch that happen again, I won’t! It was too hard losing him the first time; I’ll not watch it again and again! She told herself firmly fighting her urge to open her eyes and find Archer standing there.
If I just stay still, keep my eyes closed and ignore this all, I will wake up sooner or later. I am in control, I am the master of my dreams, I don’t have to do this!
“Or you could just open your damn eyes and get this over with and stop fighting something you have manifested yourself,” came a sharp but friendly reply. “Besides, you need to get me out of this thing again. It’s too cramped for my tastes.”
What Remains (Book 2): What's Left Page 8
