Page 4 of Screwed

Thefirst time the Kingsnakes had approached me, I was horrified. Kidnapping women, raping them, impregnating them against their will, and for what?

A better cut of beef? A warmer blanket?

The idea just didn’t make sense in my head. I couldn’t get the two pieces to fit together. I had declined them before they had even finished their sales pitch, which was perfected to be as smooth as possible.

Raised by a single mother along with my two younger sisters, I had always been taught to respect women.

Besides, I still had my job at the mill. It didn’t make us rich by any means, but it was enough to keep food on the table, and the water running. Sometimes there was an extra bag of flour to sneak home, which was always a plus.

Life wasn’t the same as it used to be, but my mom was past the age where she needed to be worried about being snatched, and my two sisters were still in grade school. It wasn’t perfect, but we got by.

Avery. Ella.

I straightened my shoulders, my sisters’ names echoing every step I took closer to the new captive.

Avery. Ella. Avery.

I was doing this for my sisters.Ella. Avery.I would provide for them. Protect them. Do what it took, at any cost.

Ella. Avery.

I trailed Luke into the common room, where a group of brothers stood in a semicircle around a young woman on her knees in front of them.

Ella.Avery.

The woman lifted her face to look at me, and I nearly tripped into Luke’s back once more. My heart stopped. For a second, she looked an awful lot like a girl I had known before the Collapse. A girl who had stolen my soul. And then it beat again, thudding to life in my chest. Because there was no maybe about it.

Mila?

But you know the sayingbad things come in threes? I saw it first-hand. Mom got sick, really sick, really quickly. We did everything we could, even got by on scraps for a week so we could afford a doctor. It didn’t matter. I woke up early before my shift one morning to check on her, and she was gone. We were sad, but not surprised. That was the way the world worked now. The only thing to do was to move on.

Except then the mill shut down. The old farmer who employed me sighed when he told me there wasn’t enough grain coming in to keep it running. He handed me an envelope with my last pay in it, slapped me on the back, and wished me well. I wasn’t worried.

I could always find another job. I was young, able-bodied. Work would be easy to find.

The third bad thing left me desperate. Ella, my youngest sister, had fallen ill with the same thing my mom had. A deep cough that left her gasping for air, and a fever that she just couldn’t shake. There was no money for the doctor this time, and I wasn’t about to leave Avery alone to care for her.

So I had put my job search on hold, stretching the dollars of my dwindling pay envelope until I had no other choice. Ella, although still rough, was stable. I tucked her into bed, kissed Avery on the forehead with the command that she was to let no one inside except me, and stepped out into the dark night to find the Kingsnakes.

The girls were everything to me, down to the littlest detail about them, and I would do whatever it took to keep them safe. Ella still had her baby dimples, filling my nose with the smell of her strawberry shampoo whenever she walked into the room. Her dark hair was never brushed, and was even more of a tangle now that she was so ill. And Avery…

Avery with her bright blue eyes and blonde hair. I still saw a child when I looked at her, but I knew she was racing toward puberty faster than I would’ve liked. I’d have to hide her from the Kingsnakes sooner rather than later.

At least joining them would offer her some protection.

They weren’t hard to find, if you knew where to look. The first member to approach me had been a guy I grew up with and used to play football with. If necessary, I could always find my way to the Kingsnakes through him. But it wasn’t needed. They found me.

“Dawson.” The voice calling my last name stopped me in my tracks. “You looking for us?”

I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. “Maybe.”

The man stepped out of the darkness, the black hood of his sweatshirt obscuring most of his face in shadows. “If you’re trying to play it cool, you really shouldn’t look so obvious. Coming out after curfew is a stupid move.”

“You’re out here.” The curfew was new – an attempt to keep the black markets and other seedy businesses somewhat in line. The only thing it did was make it easier for them to operate. The police had been useless since the last pay cut, and desperate people still went out at night. Now, I was one of those desperate people.

He shook his head, and I caught a glimpse of the bone mask that covered his eyes. It was the marking of a Kingsnake. Supposedly, it kept their identities hidden, but we all knew who was really behind the masks. “I have the protection of my brothers. What do you have to offer?”

I hesitated. This was a test, and I needed to pass. I needed to think of my sisters. The words didn’t want to leave my mouth, a statement stuck on the tip of my tongue. A moment that would change everything. I could feel it in the air, and the way my stomach tightened. “Myself. I’m here to offer myself to the Kingsnakes.”

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