Jessica waved her hands above her head and screamed to the man on top of the gate. “Hey! We need to come in!”
Thea tensed. “I don’t think we should be making demands.”
“Relax, I live here.”
Thea wasn’t sure anyone lived in the regions so much as being imprisoned in them, but she didn’t say anything as Jessica continued to call out.
A hatch at ground level in the gate snapped open so suddenly that Thea almost leapt out of her skin. A pair of grey eyes with creases at the sides of them peeked out and a gruff voice demanded to know who they were.
Jassica flipped her hair off her shoulder and strode closer. Thea followed her, heart hammering. Whoever this guy was he didn’t sound happy.
“Jimmy, its me Jessica.”
The eyes narrowed. “Jess? How did you get out there? Cora said you were sick.”
That was the worst lie Thea had ever heard.
“Yea about that,” she chewed on her lip and smiled sweetly at the eyes. “Freddie dared me to go outside the gate so I snuck out when new people were coming in and then I couldn’t get back in. I have been wandering around for days.”
“If you had come back then you know we would have let you back in,” the man said.
Thea was surprised by this. His tone was almost warm, as if they were friends. But everyone in the regions was locked in, under the thumb of the cruel ruler and the coward guards who enforced their rules instead of being under them.
“I know, I had a blonde moment and thought you might be mad at me for leaving. I don’t like to make you mad Jimmy.” She giggled and tossed her hair again. Thea almost rolled her eyes, but Jimmy sighed.
“Fine Jess but don’t be at it again.” he started to move back but then caught sight of Thea. It was hard not to squirm as he stared her down. “Who are you?”
This was it; this was where she had to lie her ass off. “Please,” she put as much desperation as she could into her voice without making it sound forced. God she hoped she was a better actress than she had been warrior. “I need help. I ran into Jessica out here. I’m lost and scared. I didn’t know what else to do.” She tried to make some tears appear, but she couldn’t muster them while she was so nervous.
Jimmy watched her for a long minute. Then he shut the hatch and she heard him walking away, calling out to someone.
Thea’s eyes widened and she looked to Jessica for help. Jassica nodded and raised her hand to tell her to wait. Saying a little prayer that Jimmy wouldn’t come back with a gun she waited and did her best not to fidget.
What seemed like ages passed before the hatch slid open again and Jimmy cleared his throat. “We can let you in for now, but you will have to have a meeting with the boss to see if he wants to keep you.”
Keep me, she thought, I’m not a belonging. Holding in her protests she nodded.
“Right, stand back while we open the gate.” He vanished again and Thea and Jessica reversed as the gate began to groan open. As it moved it shoved some of the trash out of its way, sweeping a path clear for entering. Thea’s palms were soaked with sweat as she caught sight of the row of men with guns behind the gate. They all wore dark uniforms, and all Thea could think was that it was a good colour to hide blood stains on.
One of the men stepped forward and waved them in. He had grey hair and a lined face. “Come on Jess. Let’s get the two of you in.”
It was as if Thea’s feet were rooted to the earth and try as she might, she couldn’t will herself to move. She was going into the lion’s den. Once she went in there was no turning back. If something went wrong she could die, or worse become a slave.
Jessica peeked around at her and smiled. “You got this babe.” With that she skipped through the gate, whistling.
I can do this; I have to do this. Everyone is relying on me. I won’t let them down again. The image of the boy’s eyes as he was dying in her arms flashed through her mind along with these words. It was like being dunked in freezing water.
“Come on girl!” The man sounded impatient and before she knew she was doing it Thea had started to walk inside. Either side of her the gate looked impossibly large, like a monster from a fairy tale. As soon as she was with the men the gate scrapped shut again. Watching the outside world slowly getting smaller and eventually becoming hidden filled Thea with enough dread to make her shake.
“Thanks Jimmy,” Jessica said, planting a kiss on the man’s cheek.
Rubbing her kiss off he scowled. “Don’t thank me yet. God knows what the boss is going to do with her if he doesn’t want her.”
Thea shivered at the thought. She wasn’t sure if it was better for him to want to own you or not. Both sounded bad.
Around them were various old buildings, most of them barely standing anymore. A road full of potholes looped away from the entrance and wound into the town in front of them. It was strange for Thea to see a town with people in it again. It had been so long since she had been around buildings that were intact enough for someone to live in. Yet there were herds of people milling about, chatting and lounging in tall concrete structures. The murmur of life around the place was almost too loud for Thea to bare. There wasn’t enough of a silence to hear the wind for the first time in her life.
She couldn’t stop staring at all of it, but she was finding it hard to take in any of the details. There was too much to look at all at once.
“Right well, I suppose you can take your friend to your place. The boss is busy right now, but he will want to see her later.” Jimmy shooed the other soldiers back to their posts and gave Thea another long look. “Don’t cause trouble.”
Jessica fluttered her eyelashes and pouted. “Trouble? I wouldn’t dream of it.”
With a final grunt Jimmy turned and went back towards the entrance gate. Jessica looped her arm through Thea’s, the scent of her sweat becoming more powerful as she leaned in to talk to her while they walked.
“Welcome to the best region there is.”
Thea was watching the people and buildings stream past. Along the front of the places on the street were strings of lights, some of various colours and others completely white. It was like someone had lined up a row of stars on every wall.
“This is the main street, but I don’t live here. I will give you a tour after the party tonight.”
“Party?” A sick dread crept over Thea. She wasn’t here to party and given how crazy Jessica was on an average day she didn’t want to see her with drink in her.
“Yes! Every night is a party night here.” Jessica picked up her pace and eventually dragged Thea up a hill. The buildings here were sparse and every one of them had a few caved in sections. Just like the outside walls there was bright graffiti all over the place. Yet the paint was peeling in the sun and stains climbed the walls and dulled the remaining art. Eventually they came to a stop in front of one of the houses. It looked like there used to be a large downstairs but now the whole left side of the house was caved in, top floor onto the bottom and the whole lot on the ground. The middle of the house was still standing, and someone had hung strips of pink bedsheets over any of the holes leading to the collapsed section. The front door was green and lightning patterns of cracks were all over it. The walls were pebbledash. As they got closer Thea noticed that some of the tiny stones were chipping off in the wind every minute, clicking on the pavement and bouncing randomly around the house. Most of the windows were broken and curtains wafted through them every time the breeze picked up. To the right of the house was a large glass gazebo.
Jessica was headed for the front door but the sound of voices from the gazebo stopped her in her tracks. Dragging Thea with her she went to the gazebo. The closer they got the more they could see through the old grimy glass. There were three people inside, two girls and a guy. The guy was dressed in a white shirt that hung open, showing his impressive physique. His tan hair was floppy and fell into his face. One of the girls had a tattoo on her shoulder of a butterfly with tiny flames on the ends of its wings. Her hair was cut short, and her cheek bones stood out, giving her face a defined and sharp look. The other girl was short and had curly hair. Her dark skin was flawless, and she was dressed like a cheerleader.
She was the first on her feet when she spotted Jessica. The two of them squealed with excitement and ran into each other’s arms. Thea had to fight to get free of Jessica before she was dragged into the noisy hug too.
“Girl I swear I thought you were dead!” the cheerleader said.
Jessica giggled. “You cannot get rid of me that easily.” Suddenly turning, as if just now remembering Thea she gestured to her. “This is Thea, Thea this is everyone.” She waved in the direction of the small group. Everyone, very helpful introduction.
As if reading her mind, the guy stood and held out his hand. “I’m Freddie. It’s a pleasure to meet you Thea.” He said her name like he was sampling food he really liked.
Jessica shoved him. “Stop flirting with her. She is only just here.” She was laughing so hard that Thea was convinced she had missed a joke that was better than the one she had just made.
Freddie shrugged and shot Thea a wink. “Hey, I can’t help it when you bring home such sweet looking girls.”
Thea rolled her eyes. Who knew how many women he said that to but she hoped it didn’t work for many.
“Whoa she is already done with your bullshit,” the girl with the tattoo said. She was lounging on a sunchair in the corner of the gazebo and pushed up on her elbows to regard Thea. “Where did you find this one Jess?”
Jessica opened her mouth to speak but Thea was getting tired of people talking about her as if she didn’t have a mind of her own.
“We met outside the region. I was surviving out there until she brought me here.” Thea was keeping eye contact with the tattoo girl, but she still caught how Jessica pressed her lips together and glanced between her and the group. Thea didn’t know if she had intended to tell her friends everything about their mission but that wasn’t happening if she could help it. Maybe if Jessica had told Harvey that she had friends and she trusted them then he could have allowed it. As it was, without Harvey here someone new had to make the decisions and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Jessica.
“Wow, you just survived out there all on your own? Weren’t you so scared though?” The cheerleader’s eyes were like saucers as she watched Thea.
“I was fine.” She didn’t want to get into it too much in case she let something slip about the camp.
Freddie nodded, looking her head to toe. “Pretty and resourceful, Marcus will like you.”
It was almost eerie how they talked about the creature that ruled them, Marcus, as if they knew him as a friend. He was their lord and master. An evil entity born in the depths of hell that came to earth and killed thousands if not millions of people. Yet when Freddie commented on him they all laughed and nodded as if in agreement.
“Guess that means we shouldn’t get too used to you, fresh meat,” the girl with the tattoo mumbled.
Thea’s heart skipped a beat. “What does that mean?”
Jessica rolled her eyes and made a show of examining her nails. “All Sharron means is that if Marcus likes you then he will likely have you in his place a lot.”
“You should know,” the cheerleader teased, and Jessica blushed.
“Have me? I don’t think I would like to be owned.” Thea couldn’t imagine anything worse. Yes she had to suck up to him a bit to convince him to take power from his sister and to find his weaknesses, but she would be damned if she let it go so far as to end up in his bed. No one said anything about her paying for their freedom with sex.
“You only say that because you haven’t seen him.” The cheerleader threw a look at Jessica and they both fanned themselves at the same time.
Sharron groaned and lay back in her seat again. “I swear Cora you would happily be a slave if it was to a man you thought was hot.”
“I think we all would,” Cora agreed.
“Anyway,” Jessica turned to Thea with a deadly serious look on her face, “We need to get ready for the party tonight. It will be the first time that Marcus sees you and first impressions matter.”
Thea knew it was a serious mission, but it was still hard not to find it strange to talk about getting ready for a party in such a dire tone.
Jessica studied her with a long nail pressed to her chin. It was like she was an old car a mechanic was giving the once over before he knew how to fix it.
“I don’t think my stuff will fit you, you are too short, but Cora will have something you can borrow.”
“Only if I get to help choose,” Cora chimed and hoped up and down.
Thea didn’t care what they picked so long as she could start this mission. The sooner it was started the sooner it could end.
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