Page 35 of Mutant Mine

To distract me from the sheer stupidity of my current reality, I turn on a movie. It’s really old: made before we discovered luminum and started exploring the stars. That was humanity’s great watershed moment, which everything else is now seen asbeforeorafter.

The world was so much smaller back then. I used to pity people born before interstellar travel — they missed out on the whole universe! Right now, though, being trapped on Earth doesn’t sound so bad.

I burrow further down into the couch as I watch, trying to stop fidgeting.

I’m no good at doing nothing. On the estate, we only got one day off per week. The rest were taken up with school and work — the ratio gradually shifting until we turned sixteen, when school was phased out altogether and replaced with a six-day working week. That one so-called ‘day off’ had to be spent cleaning our bedrooms, doing our laundry, and all those other personal chores which we had no time or energy for on other days. We didn’t get to lie around doing nothing unless we were actually sick. And even then, you had to be at death’s door before they’d let you spend the day in bed.If you can walk,then you can work.

I stretch as hard as I can, arching my spine and pointing my toes. Relaxing is a skill, and I’m determined to learn it. Maybe I’ll find that I’m a natural.

On the screen, the couple in the movie are sharing their first kiss. It’s autumn in the big city, and red leaves are fallingall around them.

Here, in the room, the door handle rattles.

I sit up straight. Roth must be back early. I fumble to turn off the screen, embarrassed for him to see the couple kissing.

The door opens. It’s not Roth.

Two men step into the room. One is younger, skinny and tattooed, with oily, shoulder-length hair. The other is older and larger, with his head shaved.

For half a second, I squint at them in confusion. Is Roth with them, following behind?

Then the door slides shut. Nobody else is coming.

Both of the men’s eyes are fixed on me. There’s hunger there, and… amusement? Whatever they’ve come here to do, they’re planning to enjoy it.

My heart rate soars instantly, and adrenaline kicks hard into my bloodstream.

“Thereshe is,” says the younger man to the older one with a smile, as they step towards me. “You see?”

“Mm… It’s obvious once you know, isn’t it?” the older man replies, wetting his lips. “I don’t know how I missed it before.”

“W-what?” I stutter. I’m already scrambling up off the couch, getting my feet underneath me.

“Don’t you recognize us, baby?”

Do I… Yes, I do know them. These are two of Roth’s minions. A week ago, they hauled me out of the canteen and dragged me up to this room.

“We had the privilege of carrying you up here for the big man,” the younger one confirms with a grin. “Only you wouldn’t stop struggling, would you? So I ended up copping a good feel. Fuck me, was I surprised to find out what you had under that uniform. And what you were missing.”

Oh no. No no no.

“No wonder Roth wants to keep her all for himself,” saysthe older man. “She’s sitting on the only cunt for a trillion miles.”

And then they’re coming at me.

I leap up onto the couch and over the back, landing hard, then sprint towards the door, trying to duck around them. But they’re too fast, too much in my way in this confined space. I veer backwards at the last moment, not sure where I’m going — just trying to get out of their reach.

The two of them have spread out around me, one on either side. They’ve dropped down into predatory stances: legs wide, feet braced firmly on the ground, hands ready to grab me the second they get the chance. They’re rounding me up. I glance back and forth between them, frozen in fear.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” says the older man, almost kindly. “After a week of taking it fromhim, we won’t even touch the sides.”

The younger one laughs, high and mad like a hyena. In that moment, I understand:they’re probably going to kill me.

I’ve had more than my share of physical altercations recently, but this is different. These men don’t even see me as a person. I’m just a body to them.

Thoughts fly through my mind at the speed of light:

I can’t back towards the wall or the bed. I’d only be cornering myself.

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