“There’re better things besides books and food, but with an attitude like that, you’ll never find out.” He stopped when he reached the clearing. He turned to face me and extended his arm, indicating the table where I would slave away until lunchtime. “Good luck.” He turned and walked away, passing the other guys who surrounded the clearing. He entered the same cabin as last time.
More girls entered the clearing and got to work.
I grabbed the boxes and put them on the table, the muscles of my back aching because I was sore from the day before. Within a couple of weeks, I’d be ripped, which was a good thing. I needed to be strong to get out of here.
It was difficult to distinguish between the men who watched us, but I was certain I recognized the man who’d hit me, based on his height compared to the others, the way he carried his body. I thought it was odd that my guard woke me up in the morning and locked me up at night, but I didn’t see him at any other time throughout the day. The hierarchy of this place was impossible to gauge.
I moved to the table to grab a box.
Bethany was there, breaking through the tape to get the flaps folded back. “You look like shit.”
“Yeah?” I did the same to my box. “I feel like it too.”
“I brought you some pills.” She pulled out the plastic and folded it down over the edges so it would be easier for the girls to scoop.
I kept my eyes on my work, but I was touched by the offer. “I’m feeling better, so I don’t need it. But thank you.” I didn’t want to take her supplies when she worked for it by kissing up to these assholes.
“Keep it for another time. Trust me, you’ll need it.”
“Beth, I don’t want to take your stash.”
“It’s not mine. I got it from a friend.”
I continued to prepare my box, deeply affected by the kindness that still existed in this empty place.
“We’ve got one another’s backs here.” Bethany lifted the box and prepared to turn away. “At least, most of us do.”
During lunch, she discreetly slipped me the white pill and continued to eat.
I dropped it into my pocket while keeping my eyes down. I’d desperately needed this last night, and when my guard offered, I was too stubborn to accept help from him—because it was conditional. If I was obedient like a good dog, then I would get a treat. I was too proud for that, at least right now. “Thanks.”
She ate without acknowledging what I said.
My lunch was the same thing everyone else was having, a reminder of what I could have if I just stayed quiet and did my job. Yesterday, the food didn’t matter to me, but having shit food for two meals in a row really made me hungry for something more substantial, like the chicken, rice, veggies, fruit, and bread they served. It definitely wasn’t prison food. They made the meals something to look forward to, positive reinforcement.
If I were going to get out of there, I really had to eat well. I needed all the nutrition to keep a strong physique so I could survive out there in the wild, to keep going until I found humanity and called for help.
But I needed to get as much information as possible first.
And I needed to get my sister too.
That was going to be the difficult part.
The only good thing about my captivity was the fact that I could be there for Melanie. I never would have found her again after her kidnapping. I never would have suspected something like this, and the police wouldn’t either. Otherwise, these guys would have been caught by now. I would have assumed she was being trafficked, based on her looks, and we would have gone in the wrong direction for years.
And that would have haunted me.
“I’m getting out of here…somehow.” I kept my eyes on my food, the warm food that was quickly turning cold because we ate out in the elements, melted snow in patches around us.
“Don’t advertise that.”
“Why?”
“Some of the women are snitches.”
“What?” I whispered. “Why?”
“Because they’re rewarded,” she said under her breath, shoveling food into her mouth to cover her moving lips. “Some of the girls here are practically guards. Some are brainwashed, some are sleeping with the guards, some are given a reward that ensures their loyalty…it’s complicated.”
“How could you possibly sleep with—”
She kicked me under the table.
A guard passed, surveying our table before he moved on.
I was so absorbed in the conversation I’d stopped paying attention. “How could anyone sleep with one of these guys?”
“Because they’re treated even better.”
“I’d rather die.”
“You’re new, so you’re fresh, but the longer you’re here…the staler you’ll become. Your priorities will change. One of the girls here has her own cabin, a TV, games, a microwave with all the bags of popcorn she wants. And rumor has it… one woman even earned her freedom.”
“Really?” I whispered.
“It was before my time, so I didn’t witness it. But some of the girls insist it’s true.”
“Why would they just let someone go?”
She shook her head. “No idea.”
“Was she sleeping with one of the guys?”
“Dunno.”
I thought this place would be cut-and-dried, but I was wrong. Organizing an uprising would be complicated, especially when some of the women were more loyal to the guards than the women working at their sides every single day. “I want to talk to my sister, but they keep us apart.”
“On purpose.”
“Are there opportunities to talk to the others?”
“Maybe during one of the drops.”
“Drops?” I asked.
“A plane will fly overhead and drop the coke.”
My eyes narrowed. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “Most are flying from South America. It drops it from the sky, so there’s no trace of it. That’s why these guys haven’t been caught in decades.”
They’d been operating that long?
“They have us go out and put all the boxes in the wagons to be
