Page 14 of Savage Warrior

“Get up and keep moving,” the man behind me snarls.

“No. I don’t want to—”

“No one gives a fuck what you want, bitch.”

He grasps my arm to pull me up again. My composure disintegrates. Any flimsy resolve to stay calm that I may have raked together evaporates at the prospect of being taken… somewhere. Anywhere. I panic and I’m suddenly fighting in earnest, battling for my life.

It’s a short-lived contest. Another blow to my chin and I’m out cold, crumpling to the unforgiving tarmac. I remember nothing else until I wake up in the hold of the ship.

It’s dark. The timbers creak ominously. The sound of running water is constant, trickling and gurgling. The planks beneath my body lurch and sway, and the low, monotonous hum of an engine vibrates through the vessel.

My head throbs. My stomach heaves. I swallow hard, trying not to vomit but fail miserably. I retch but can only bring up bile as there’s nothing in my belly. Small mercies.

I manage to sit up and realise my hands have been untied, though my wrists are scraped raw from the ropes earlier. As my eyes gradually become accustomed to the darkness, I can make out the shapes of other women around me. My mouth is dry, my tongue feels like sandpaper, but I manage to croak out a few words.

“Where… where are we?”

No one answers.

I turn to the woman closest to me, reach out for her. “Please, can you tell me what’s happening? Where am I?”

She shakes my hand from her arm and turns away.

I get to my knees and crawl towards another of my companions. “What’s happening?”

She pulls her knees close into her chest but does at least answer me. “You don’t want to know.”

Fear and desperation bubble in my throat. “I have to know. Where are we? Where are we going? Those men…?”

“They’re evil,” she whispers. “Wicked…”

“Who are they? Why have they taken us?”

She looks up and meets my frantic gaze. “Why do you think, little girl?”

“I don’t know,” I lie, though the unthinkable truth is staring me in the face.

“Traffickers,” is the stark response.

I shake my head, as if denial of the facts will make them go away. If no one says it, it can’t be true.

“Get used to it, girl,” another of the women spits at me. “We’re all in the same boat…” She gives a hollow laugh at her sick joke. “There’s nothing you can do, so why don’t you do like the rest of us and concentrate on staying alive.”

“What can we do?” I huddle back against the side of the ship. “We have to do something. We have to get away…”

“Feel free,” she replies. “Good luck with that. Let me know how you get on.”

“But they can’t do this,” I protest, still not ready to accept the awful reality facing me. “It’s… it’s illegal. It’s kidnapping.”

“Not much gets past this one here,” she sneers to no one in particular, then she levels her embittered, hopeless glare on me. “Take my advice. Keep your head down and your mouth shut. Do as you’re told and try not to make things any worse for yourself or the rest of us.”

“But, how can—?”

“Just be quiet,” she snaps. “Just fucking shut up.”

Bewildered, confused, and utterly terrified, I do as she says. I shrink back against the damp planks and fight to control my mounting horror. And I realise she’s right. There is only one thing to do right now. Stay alive.

I lose track of time all over again, but at least this time I’m conscious. And I’m being fed. One of the men brings bottles of water and packs of sandwiches down to us. It’s not much, and the bread is stale, but none of us are fussy. This is what staying alive looks like, and I do it without complaint.

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