the plague, now would you?" I straightened my back and stood tall as physically possible. "Or worse. We could get bug bites. They would get infected. Who would want to buy a slave with big old skin sores that are draining and oozing icky stuff?"
Wormy gave a snarl and yanked me inside. He either didn't understand the language or he figured we would be sold before our skin peeled off.
Meat and Ducky were led away in the opposite direction. With the dim lighting, their bodies quickly disappeared into the shadows. I dragged my feet once more. Not that Ducky and I were quite friends, but at least he spoke English and hadn't eaten me yet. Those simple facts spoke of pre-friendship, and pre-friends didn't let bad things happen to one another.
Something crunched under my feet as I took a few small, tentative steps, refusing to look down. Nope. Don't want to think about what I'm squishing. Better I squish them than they eat me. I decided leftover carcasses of hollowed out bugs and perhaps old pellets of rat poop covered the floor and made the crackling sounds with each step I took. Maybe I should ignore the nasty accommodations for now and just concentrate on how to unman kidnapper one and get teleporting away before some humongous rat sighted me for dinner.
The men half-herded and half-dragged me to a smaller room on the western corner of the dilapidated building. One mighty sneeze and I just knew that whole place would bury us alive. Buried alive versus slavery. I think I would rather stick with getting eaten by a hungry vampire. Less painful, quicker, and I could easily give him a belly ache from hell.
The door to the room opened. Inside sat two women, ragged and dirty. They looked up at my presence with expressions of weary curiosity combined with terror.
Wormy gave me a last shove, sending me crashing into the other two. "Hey! You're going to damage the goods!"
The door slammed shut in answer.
Sitting up, I dusted my hands off, looking over the women. "Hi. I'm Shy." Both appeared grungy, their clothing so dusty the once vibrant colors muted into a muddy brown.
The brunette met my look. Her eyes held fear and resignation. "I'm Mae."
The platinum blonde to her right barely made eye contact before looking to the decomposing wooden plank floor once more. She curled into herself and a fine tremor shook her frail body.
Mae spoke up. "This is Sam. She's been here a couple of weeks."
I nodded, not sure what to say to the obviously traumatized woman. "How long have you been here?"
"A little over a week." Mae patted Sam's shoulder then gave her a hug. The bigger boned Mae looked in better shape. Disheveled, bruised and thin, she appeared to be faring modestly for the circumstances.
The room held no furniture, bare except for a couple of holey blankets and a tiny window complete with bars well above our heads. The door proved the only reliable avenue of escape with captors probably waiting just on the other side.
Chewing my lip, I debated if I wanted to voice the question running through my head. "What are they going to do with us?"
Mae looked over at Sam, and then her attention returned to me. "Best we can figure, they're holding us until they find a buyer. A man came in a couple of days ago, looked us over, then left." She rubbed her thumb across her hand nervously. "I knew that was the end of the line for us. But, for some reason, we stayed here."
A small voice piped in. "I'm afraid if we leave here, we'll never be found alive."
I sighed. Certainly not acceptable. Where was Meat anyway? We found the others. He planned out our escape to the detail while in the ship. So, what's taking so long? The longer I sat, the more I thought about giant rats gnawing on my leg at night. Icky. No telling what other horrors these girls faced each evening. While waiting, I could at least rally them, stoke a coal of hope.
I leaned in to whisper, "We're going to get out of here. Escape."
Both women shook their heads. "We've tried.
Wormy gave a snarl and yanked me inside. He either didn't understand the language or he figured we would be sold before our skin peeled off.
Meat and Ducky were led away in the opposite direction. With the dim lighting, their bodies quickly disappeared into the shadows. I dragged my feet once more. Not that Ducky and I were quite friends, but at least he spoke English and hadn't eaten me yet. Those simple facts spoke of pre-friendship, and pre-friends didn't let bad things happen to one another.
Something crunched under my feet as I took a few small, tentative steps, refusing to look down. Nope. Don't want to think about what I'm squishing. Better I squish them than they eat me. I decided leftover carcasses of hollowed out bugs and perhaps old pellets of rat poop covered the floor and made the crackling sounds with each step I took. Maybe I should ignore the nasty accommodations for now and just concentrate on how to unman kidnapper one and get teleporting away before some humongous rat sighted me for dinner.
The men half-herded and half-dragged me to a smaller room on the western corner of the dilapidated building. One mighty sneeze and I just knew that whole place would bury us alive. Buried alive versus slavery. I think I would rather stick with getting eaten by a hungry vampire. Less painful, quicker, and I could easily give him a belly ache from hell.
The door to the room opened. Inside sat two women, ragged and dirty. They looked up at my presence with expressions of weary curiosity combined with terror.
Wormy gave me a last shove, sending me crashing into the other two. "Hey! You're going to damage the goods!"
The door slammed shut in answer.
Sitting up, I dusted my hands off, looking over the women. "Hi. I'm Shy." Both appeared grungy, their clothing so dusty the once vibrant colors muted into a muddy brown.
The brunette met my look. Her eyes held fear and resignation. "I'm Mae."
The platinum blonde to her right barely made eye contact before looking to the decomposing wooden plank floor once more. She curled into herself and a fine tremor shook her frail body.
Mae spoke up. "This is Sam. She's been here a couple of weeks."
I nodded, not sure what to say to the obviously traumatized woman. "How long have you been here?"
"A little over a week." Mae patted Sam's shoulder then gave her a hug. The bigger boned Mae looked in better shape. Disheveled, bruised and thin, she appeared to be faring modestly for the circumstances.
The room held no furniture, bare except for a couple of holey blankets and a tiny window complete with bars well above our heads. The door proved the only reliable avenue of escape with captors probably waiting just on the other side.
Chewing my lip, I debated if I wanted to voice the question running through my head. "What are they going to do with us?"
Mae looked over at Sam, and then her attention returned to me. "Best we can figure, they're holding us until they find a buyer. A man came in a couple of days ago, looked us over, then left." She rubbed her thumb across her hand nervously. "I knew that was the end of the line for us. But, for some reason, we stayed here."
A small voice piped in. "I'm afraid if we leave here, we'll never be found alive."
I sighed. Certainly not acceptable. Where was Meat anyway? We found the others. He planned out our escape to the detail while in the ship. So, what's taking so long? The longer I sat, the more I thought about giant rats gnawing on my leg at night. Icky. No telling what other horrors these girls faced each evening. While waiting, I could at least rally them, stoke a coal of hope.
I leaned in to whisper, "We're going to get out of here. Escape."
Both women shook their heads. "We've tried.
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