When she awoke and opened her crusty eyes she took a deep breath through her cracked dry lips; an almost sharp inhale from pain. She was surprised to see a dark red blood trail. Had the wood of the beams not been so aged and bleached, the blood trail might have been missed. She could see where it had dropped down through the wood to the dirty cement floor below.
It was almost mid-morning, and the sun was bright, unshielded by clouds of green smog. The splatters were well spaced apart, suggesting that thankfully the bleeding wasn't heavy.
Her whole side was covered brown in dried blood from where the window glass had cut her last night. Even the slightest movement made needle like pain shoot up her side.
But she knew she had to keep fecking moving anyway.
Crawling out the window, she was more careful to not cut herself this time. The sharp shards sticking out on the window seal reflected the sunlight onto the floor. The glass shined almost bluish in the subdued light that filters through the green clouds that seemed to swirl in a circle at the center of the city. Sparks of lighting in the brewing clouds.
It was funny. The sky almost resembled a witches cauldron. Green stirring muck. It always looked like a tornado was about to form with the giant whirlpool in the sky.
Once outside Silla scavenged the streets for sustenance walking around the edge of the outer ring for miles. Until her legs almost gave out. She was tired, and her energy was completely depleted but the young girl kept pushing. Her tiredness made her hang limp like wet laundry on a cold still day. She felt like every muscle in her little body was giving into gravity.
All she wanted was sleep, a nice warm bed and a solid night of dreams.
Though the constant hunger she felt was ever-present; from dawn to dusk it gnawed at her. Food was her constant obsession. She couldn't look at an animal or plant and not wonder if it was edible. One of her odd quirks was her love of food. She so desperately wanted a delicious crunchy creamy fried chicken leg. Just the thought made her drool and she wandered off into her very own imagination.
But in reality she didn't care if the food she could find from dumpsters was tasty or varied, just that it could stave off the pains a while. The gnawing hunger and black hole for a stomach made her feel light-headed, and her legs empty with the occasional uncontrollable spasm of her almost nonexistent muscles.
All she was able to find this week was a few moldy pieces of bread...
Tiredly she sat down in an alleyway huddled in a ball for warmth. Her lifestyle was so lonely and there was no one but herself. She was forever without another's warmth. Strangely, she liked crouching in corners because it felt like she was protected. It was relieving to her because her own warmth felt like the warmth of others. It was a way to protect herself from the solitude.
But as of the last hour she couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. It was eerie. It was the kind of silence that falls right before you get knifed in the back. It sent a shiver down her spine and Silla felt her blood chill in her veins. Spooky didn't quite cover it and eerie is an understatement. In the shadows, she could see a large hover craft pass by. The streets should have been empty without commuters by this time of day. It should have been as empty as any desert.
High quality hover cars were hard to come by down here; they were more common in the upper ring. It was almost impossible to find working parts for one much less a whole vehicle. In a junkyard no less; you couldn't just make one out of scrape metal. It was a vehicle that flied at a constant altitude of up to few meters above the ground and used for personal transportation in the same way an automobile from the twentieth century was used.
The idea was loosely based on electromagnetic suspension by a scientist in the early 2020s after the pandemic hit.
Rear-mounted thrusters propel the craft forward at incredible speeds. Magnetic levitation, fondly called Maglev, is the method through which the craft is suspended in the air by using magnetic force to counter gravitational force which pulls the vehicle towards the ground. These transports came in many shapes.
Every time she saw one she was amazed even though there were much more impressive technologies around her. She often wondered when it was first made did someone else like her feel just as amazed. They must've thought it looked like something only a book could conjure up.
She didn't think anything of the large craft until she heard it move in reverse. A man quickly came into view and rolled down his window and spoke, "Are you alone?" He suddenly questioned her.
Silla blankly looked at him and continued eating rotten bread as she ignored him.
She wasn't afraid.
Not really.
She was hungry. Food; that's all Silla could think about.
It seemed her lack of a response pissed him off as the craft suddenly screeched forward in her direction almost running her over.
Being chased was nothing like the holographic motion pictures. The characters looked heroic, sexy and in command of the situation. Reality was far removed from that pretty version of running to save your own skin.
She shot forward and ran as colors flashes in her eyes; the cold wind making her eyes water. Her lungs were gonna give out any second but she refused to stop until she hit the ground. Desperately, she kept running but she knew her time was up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a large metal object; a pipe of some sort coming towards her.
She tried to jump out of the way, but it was too late. She screamed in pain and the pain in her head was unbearable.
She collapsed to the ground and as she laid there, she saw an image of her only family; or at least the only person she considered family. It seemed forever ago that she ran away from home; in reality it was only a little over a year ago. Silla's mother was still there. Her vision clouds, the world and her family fade away.
...
Silla woke suddenly, every thought in high definition. Her eyes taking in every ray of moonlight and without a doubt she knows she has been out too long; it was already night.
Though her eyes were open she can't think of why; her heart is pounding, mind empty. It's as if a hypodermic of adrenaline has been emptied into her carotid. Silla strains into the utter darkness, breathing rate beginning to steady. The side of her head lightly bled from where she was knocked unconscious. It throbbed painfully, and it was hard to concentrate. She felt as if she had double vision; everything was multipled and she was seeing two fingers instead of the one she had held up.
Finally becoming fully aware of her surroundings her eyes dared around the room. Soon Silla quickly ascertained that she was in a cage in some sort of abandoned warehouse?!
And she wasn't the only one...
There was a whole a crowd of people trapped here just like her; though she was the only child among them. Possibly kidnapped by the same people and held here to be sold.
The cold dirt floor they sat on was wet and eroded. The only windows that were available were so high up that there was no way you could reach them.
Not to mention the only exit was a large iron cast door with small dents and scratches that indicated someone had tried to claw their way out. The only light she had was the moonlight shining through the shattered windows and beaming across the floor. It was as if the gods had adjusted the colours of the world.
The place was infested with oddly deformed skittering rats running in the small corners of the cage she was in. All anyone could do was wait to be auctioned off, there was no way to escape. Silla watched as the scavengers that sold scrap metal they collected or stole to paying customers. They had all sorts of cool technology on their hands. Though they also liked to sell people to buyers in the upper ring for just a few Crites; city credits. It was so easy they just had to post an AD on the archive and multiple buyers would pop up within seconds.
It wasn't odd for people to buy their spouses or workers this way in the lower ring. Though she supposed it's not much different for the rich in the upper ring. She had heard stories of families making investments in their children's chosen spouses.
The whole place was dreadful and gave off an eerie vibe sending a cold sweat down Silla's back. It was like someone was watching her. She glanced around the area in confusion as she looked for the source.
"Hello, small one." A sudden a soft voice with some sort of Slavic accent greeted from behind her.
She jumped out of her skin and pivoted around to see a short scrawny boy staring at her from outside the cage. He was much taller than her but still young himself; he still had a baby face. His eyes were large and his facial features were soft almost like a woman's. At first glance one would think he was a girl.
He seemed petite but at closer inspection he seemed almost sickly; underdeveloped for his age. The boy was so skinny you could see his bones and his face looked almost gaunt. Large dark purple bags were under his dull yet still bright green eyes.
He was near the lowlife who kidnapped her and she noticed his two sharp green eyes staring at her intently. He was handsome. Though something about him was almost snake like. Especially his green eyes that almost seemed to glow in the dark. You could say he possessed certain serpentine features. Though the most discerning thing about him was his expression; it was blank and impossible to interpret with something dark underlying. The dangerous aura he radiated was unmistakable.
Seeing as he wasn't caged and moved around freely the boy obviously worked for the slave traffickers.
His unearthly green eyes surrounded by unnaturally purple dark circles making them pop out even more. When he first saw her he couldn't keep his eyes off her. She just suddenly appeared in front of him; the most beautiful creature, he had ever seen. Her deep ocean eyes were almost impossible to not get lost in, and her black eclipse like pupils.
She vaguely reminded him of his long deceased mother...
It was almost strange how much they not only looked alike but their movements and reactions seemed the same. He yearned to see her face but was blocked out by impressive locks of pure black hair that seemed to flow like a waterfall. The boy visibly blushed and it almost went unknown due to his pale skin from his albinism but that didn't stop him from hiding his face in the gray scarf around his neck.
His green eyes made Silla involuntarily shivered as his eyes raked over her from head to toe; his blonde hair hanging in his face hiding the deep green that was his eyes. They were the kind of green that distracts you from everything. Although they looked beautiful, if you looked closer you could see a hint of mischief and something much more darker... She recognized it as soon as she saw him. He was hiding some twisted emotion in his eyes that didn't fit such a young boy. From the moment she discovered their similarities, she felt pulled to him. He was her chance to escape.
She examined his slim and long body; he was around her age maybe older. Fifteen or sixteen. He was about five ten; almost six foot. Perhaps she could get him to help her. He was young but in this day and age it wasn't odd seeing a young child doing such a despicable thing to another human being.
Though due to the ever growing cold and lack of insulation her eyes were quickly blurry from keeping them open and staring at the boy. So, she brought her hand up to rub her bleary eyes not noticing as he slowly moved towards her.
Upon reopening them her heart almost exploded from surprise and fear as he suddenly sat in front her. The strange boy was silent as he stared at her in contemplation as if she would run at the slightest movement.
Moving closer, he lifted her chin with his thumb through the bars of the cell, she was in. With less than an inch between their cheeks, his hot breath fanned over her ear. Naturally her first instinct was to get away from his as fast as possible so she chomped down onto his hand that had reached out to touch her.
He was surprised at her reaction and pulled back to keep from being bitten further. Strangely enough at first she thought he would be extremely aggravated and punish her but instead he held a tight lipped smile on his face; coming up so far his eyes were almost shut. A feral grin that held a sort of dark amusement. It wasn't uncommon for slave traders to take a liking to the merchandise. Traders often took a few slaves just for themselves. An exotic pet or two.
Observing her freezing state though his gaze seemed to soften; he probably didn't want the goods to get ruined.
Once he stepped away, she let out the breath she didn't know she was holding in. He seemed to be talking to another trader; this one was much older and had a prominent gold tooth.
Every now and again she could see them glance towards her while they were conversing. She couldn't read lips well, but she was able to pick up a few words here and there. They were probably talking about selling her.
After a few minutes of talking the boy handed over a few hundred Crites and was given a key by the bald man with gold teeth. Opening the crate, she was held in she obediently followed him out knowing the punishment for runaway slaves was one hundred barbed lashes.
But when she felt him, move behind her, she panicked and wondered what he was doing. Looking back she saw him with his large jacket open. Before she could say anything he had encased him and her in it and zipped it back up; her body instantly shrouded with warmth. His long gray scarf wrapped around her neck. It was quite warm, and she enjoyed its fresh scent.
The logical part of her brain told her she should be concerned about this stranger. But she couldn't seem to focus on anything except his body against hers. She was just grateful someone had saved her from the hell she was in; regardless of what they might do to her in the future.
Silla's neck tilted to rest on his shoulder, the sensation lulling her into a state of tranquillity. Whether it's the possible lack of food giving her hallucinations or not, she heard a faint murmur from him in response.
He knew when he saw her that she was his. From the moment he saw her eyes sparkling like a thousand stars in the now nonexistent midnight blue sky.
To Be Continued...