He moved past me and headed to Bethany. A black hand reached out and grabbed her by the throat, choking her right away. “What’s so important that you needed to share?” He towered over her, squeezed her hard, pulling the life right out of her.
All she could do was choke and gasp.
I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t listen either. I couldn’t handle any of it. “It’s not her fault. I was the one talking.” In survival mode, it was stupid to stick out your neck, to take a hit meant for somebody else, but my humanity was too great—at least, right now, it was. Bethany gave me information when she didn’t have to, and now she was being punished for it.
His hood turned my way before his fingers released her throat.
She fell to her knees, coughing and gasping.
He slowly walked to me, his steps making the earth shake. He came closer to me, making me step back because there was nowhere for him to go unless he hit his chest against mine. He didn’t grab me by the throat. He towered over me, vapor appearing from his hood in long trails, like he was huffing and puffing like an angry bull.
I held his gaze, held my ground, but I was terrified…terrified in a way I’d never been before. The energy around this man was much different from the first man who had escorted me to and from the cabin.
He pulled his arm back then punched me so hard in the face that I collapsed backward, landing hard on the ground, my vision turning black for a moment like I’d just received a concussion. My back struck the cold earth, and I stared at the sky through the branches, bewildered but aware at the same time. Then his face appeared in my vision, and because of the angle, I could see the black beard at his chin, the only visible characteristic. “That’s just a warning.”
I sat at the table, my eyes down, the pain throbbing in my temple.
A tray of food was placed in front of me. It was an apple, a couple slices of bread, and a few strips of ham. It was meager compared to the dinner I’d had in my cabin last night, which was a full meal of greens, meat, and grains.
But I was in so much pain that it really didn’t matter anyway, because I had no appetite.
Bethany took a seat across from me, sitting at the very end of the line like I was. The tray presented to her was the same.
But the girls next to me had a full meal, meat lasagna with salad and bread.
Bethany kept her head down and ate quietly.
I ripped a few pieces of bread from the loaf and placed them in my mouth.
One of the men passed, keeping an eye on us, and then continued on his walk.
Bethany whispered to me. “You get less food and water if you disobey them.”
“I’m not very hungry right now, so…that worked out.” The thudding in my skull was so bad that I wasn’t sure how I’d get through this without painkillers.
“You need to keep your strength up as much as possible. You have to do your job well.” She spoke right before the food hit her mouth, carefully disguising her lips so her whispers would go unnoticed.
“You shouldn’t talk to me. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“I can tell you don’t know how things work around here, and you need to know.”
I picked up the apple and took a bite, and just digging my teeth into the apple was painful for my head. Maybe a hot shower would increase circulation and get rid of this headache naturally. “I don’t give a shit about doing my job well.” I didn’t care about their drugs, the millions they were making off our hard labor. Fucking disgusting.
“You should. Because every week, they pick the worst worker for the Red Snow. If you don’t eat enough and feel like shit, you don’t work as well, and over time you get weaker and weaker…and then it can be you.”
I took another bite of my apple and turned quiet as another man passed, his footsteps loud because he was close to the edge of the table. When he was out of my peripheral vision, I addressed what she said. “Red Snow?”
She nodded behind her. “The woman hanging.”
I stared at my apple, thinking about the pink drops on the snow.
“They hang them, and while they choke, stab them to death.”
I had to set down my apple because now I really couldn’t eat.
“And they make us watch…”
My fingertips moved up to my lips because I thought I would be sick. “They do that every week?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“But they’ll run out of workers that way—”
“They say they’re pulling weeds, getting rid of the weak and keeping the strong. There are always new girls being delivered, so it’s survival of the strongest, basically, the least difficult. It makes the group more and more submissive as a herd.”
It was fucking disgusting—but also brilliant.
“And good behavior is rewarded with extras. You know, books, medication, treats…”
“Like a fucking prisoner.”
“Yeah…that’s exactly what it is.”
5
Eaten by Wolves
I sat in the bathtub, my neck resting against the porcelain rim as I kept my eyes closed. The hot water made the migraine subside slightly, but not by much. I was sitting there, just existing in agony.
The door unlocked before it opened.
My arms immediately crossed over my chest, hiding my tits from view.
A woman set the tray on the chair, another meager meal while the well-behaved workers got something much more filling. She kept her eyes down and darted out again.
I closed my eyes, not eager for food because I still felt like shit.
The door didn’t close, and
