Page 10 of Poison

"I have to go!" My breathing was gradually becoming heavy.

"What's going on?"

"I have to go now! Where are my shoes?"

He looked around the room for a beat before grabbing the black shoes from beside the bed. I quickly snatched them from his hand, barely managing to put them on my feet before rushing out of the apartment. Vic called after me, but I didn't stop racing through the hallway and down a flight of stairs. When I finally got onto the street, I stopped abruptly and looked around.

"Isaac, what the hell?"

My wide eyes locked onto Vic's. "Where are we?"

"Isaac, what's going on?"

"Where the fuck are we?! How far is the Sin District?!"

"Lowervill."

I swallowed hard. The shrieking sound from my shackles was getting louder by the second, or that could have been my imagination. Either way, I needed to get home. Lowervill was just outside of the Sin District. It was one of the lower-income places in the city with a few small businesses, but it was mostly filled with crappy apartments stacked fifty stories high.

"What's going on?"

I held up my shackles. "I need to get home now. My sponsor sent out an alert. Right now, it's warning me to come home. If I don't make it back by the time the light turns red, the siren will get louder, and it will alert the cops. They'll be looking for me."

Vic pointed to a main road. "Go down this street. Follow it six blocks, then take a left on High Street. Follow that for two more blocks, then take a right on Dubfarm... That will lead you to Hell's Gate. I don't know where you live, so that's the best I can do."

In the times before, people could just drive a car or call for a taxi. But that convenience was not accessible to anyone except for the very rich. Hell, it was illegal to even have a vehicle without a special permit, and a permit cost more than what an average person made in a year.

I was completely out of breath by the time I made it to Dubfarm. My heart was pounding, and there was a stitch in my side. My lungs were on fire, and for a moment, it felt like I was going to pass out. I only moved again when the shrieking of my shackles got louder.

Whimpering as the light changed from orange to red, I dashed down the street as fast as my sore legs could carry me. Eventually, I saw the skyscraper in the distance. I was nearly home free. As I crossed an intersection, an officer shouted for me to stop. I ignored the calls and continued to push forward.

He followed me, unrelenting in his pursuit. I knew I should stop, but I was so damned scared of being caught. What would Hobbs do to me if he had to bail me out of holding? When I was less than a block away from the building, I felt something stick into my lower back, and my body seized up from a jolt of electricity. I crumbled to the ground, convulsing, and a warmness spread between my legs as my bladder involuntarily released. There was nothing I could do but twitch.

"Hit the scum again," ordered one of the officers standing above me.

I felt another surge, and I clenched my teeth so hard I thought they would shatter. Eventually, the pain stopped, but my body still twitched.

An officer crouched down to examine my shackles. "Looks like we have a runaway, Stannis."

"Indeed, it does, Barron." Together, they dragged me to my feet.

After a long minute, I was able to speak again. "I live right there, fellas. I accidentally passed out, is all."

"Tell it to your sponsor," grumbled Stannis.

My knees gave out, and my body weight pulled me towards the ground. The officers let go, allowing me to crash hard onto the concrete.

A boot slammed into my side, knocking the wind from my already abused lungs. "Stand up, you worthless piece of trash!"

Slowly, I got back to my feet, fighting to catch my breath. I was doomed. I was going to get locked up, and more time would be added to my debt. At this rate, Hobbs was going to own me forever.

Chapter 8

The cops weren't gentle with me when they threw me into the tiny cell. As my body hit the hard floor, a harsh groan escaped my throat. There were four other men locked up with me; only two of them didn't have shackles. Depending on their crimes, they would have them soon enough.

The government didn't run things like the cities of old. People didn't spend time in a locked cell watched over by guards. Arrested civilians were hauled off to a judge the next day to determine how many sinders they would have to pay for breaking the law. If the price was too great, one of two things would happen: the offender was forced into servanthood to the person they hurt, or they were sent away and auctioned off to the highest bidder. A sponsor would then pay the debt to the city, and the felon would pay the sponsor back plus interest. If no one stepped up as a sponsor, the felon was thrown over the wall.

The unshackled men didn't look rich, so I assumed they wouldn't be able to pay off their debt, but if their crimes were small, they would only have to spend a few days as servants. Unfortunately, they would still have to do everything their sponsor ordered them to do. That included sex work. A servant all but lost their humanity. They were treated worse than anyanimal. It was well within the sponsor's right to rape or beat their servant to their heart's desire. In most cases, they could even easily get away with killing them.

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