"Rex!"
A white man, even though he didn't look so white any longer because of coated dirt. He hardly took a shower. One or two missing teeth creating black spaces graced his smile. A bald head with about 50 strands of hair sat on his scalp which he packed at the back. He wasn't fun to look at.
Rex walked into Joe's makeshift office, where he stayed to organize Ajax's orders.
"Just tell me you haven't found that whore yet!"
"We got intel from the boys down in the village. They had seen her last night but she slipped from their sight again... slimy thing, that one"
He grunted and spat through the window that was about 15 steps away from where he was standing. It disgusted Joe who punched Rex in the gut.
"You bastard. What did you do that for? Couldn't you wait till you got outside?"
Rex apologized but within, he cursed the day Joe was born.
[How dare he hit me?]
But he knew he couldn't do anything... not in this world they were in.
Rex continued; "The boys are carrying out a house to house search as we speak. We will get her. Don't you worry your head, Joe"
[Worry your dumb head, Joe. Ugly soul]
"I'm not worried, Rex. But I am worried about what would happen to you if she isn't found in two days. That's the time I'm giving you. Understand?"
"Yes. I got it"
Rex turned, cursed under his breath, and left the building, straight for a bar. He needed about 3 glasses of whiskey.
* * *
When Rex and his dirty self left Joe's office, he brought out a perfume he always kept in his drawer for whenever he smoked cigarettes and sprayed a little in the air. [The man carried a smell that belonged to trolls]
Joe had tried to talk to Rex about taking a shower some more a few years ago when they had just started working together. He had told Joe that he honestly forgets to take a bath. Joe was shocked and irritated.
He was the second reason Joe kept that fragrance near him because he was the one Joe shared some of his work with, so Rex was around Joe a lot. Most times, Joe would get so irritated that he'd feel like giving Rex a beating just for the fun of it.
Joe's mind wandered to the girl that had run away. Selena. He had his eyes on her from the day he saw her in the brothel. Joe hadn't approached her since because he was still watching... stalking... like a tiger stalking its prey.
Now, he heard she ran away. [How dare she? What was wrong with her? After everything we gave her?], he thought.
"Some of these girls can be stupid. Didn't they know it wasn't safe out there?"
[Maybe Selena is hiding with a boyfriend or with one of the clients that she had slept with], his fury rising.
Joe was filled with intense jealousy and had an erection at the same time.
He had ill plans for Selena when they found her. She would be his whether she liked it or not, and she would never be able to run away again.
* * *
The homeless on the streets had arranged small oil barrels together to form something like a shelter... also to keep a fire burning for warmth. In one of those barrels hid a girl. With a bottle of water, a small loaf of bread that breeze had gotten to, making it hard as a rock, that one of the men staying on the street had given her, and her determination not to be found.
Selena had been in there for a night and a whole day. This night would be the second night. She had gotten out only once to ease herself. She had almost lost count of the days she had been on the run but Selena knew it had to be weeks now... about 3 weeks and some days.
She hadn't had real food... just water, and the little things people helped her with. Most of the people (mostly men), knew she had been working in Ajax's brothel. She wondered why they helped her.
There was a time she had bumped into one of the men that had visited her.
"Selena"
She almost had a seizure when she heard her name from behind her. She had been hiding under a flight of stairs attached to a building in an alley. It was dark there so she hadn't expected to be seen.
[He must have eagle vision to have spotted me]
* * *
Selena didn't answer him at first, then he called again and came to where she squatted and gently pulled her out.
"What are you doing here?"
"Nothing", she replied him.
[Could this man just go before he attracts attention to both of us?]
Selena kept looking around in a frantic manner.
"You ran from the brothel, didn't you?"
[No... I'm just hanging out here because I like being in the dark, under stairs in an alley]
"Yes"
"Why did..."
Before he could finish that question, she sprinted out of his presence.
Selena was sure it took him some moments before he realized she was gone.
She kept running till she got to a slaughterhouse. It reeked of blood, urine, and decayed flesh. It was horrible but it was also a perfect hiding spot... at least for tonight. Tomorrow would have to take care of itself.
Selena began to shiver... her teeth chattering. She looked around the place, with livestock hanging upside down everywhere... She had even hit her head against meat a couple of times, then she found an apron.
There were bloodstains on the apron but who cared about that now. Crouching in a corner, Selena covered herself with the apron and its stench, and in moments, she was feeling sleepy.
* * *
"Who are you?"
Selena was jolted awake by the deep voice and she took in her surroundings immediately.
[This must be the butcher here. He had that look]
"I'm nobody, sir. I mean no harm. Ran away from people who treated me badly and made me do things... horrible things"
Something in his eyes had made her tell him all she just did. He had kind eyes.
Yet, Selena trusted no one and was already mapping out her escape from that place.