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CHAPTER 2

C alla

M y consciousness returns before my vision. No, it’s because my eyelids won’t open. My muscles are paralyzed. Clyde must have given me some sort of sedative. But why? I try to speak, but my lips are like lead against my teeth. They won’t even move.

“She’s in here,” Clyde’s voice echoes. “Gave her enough to knock out a fucking hybrid, so she should be asleep for hours.”

Footsteps approach. Clyde, I’m sure, but he’s not alone. The others are a mystery. All I can do is remain motionless and listen. One set of footsteps are much heavier than the rest. Hard enough for me to hear wood creaking beneath them.

“The buyers like them younger, but we’ve already got one around her age, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Beggars can’t be choosers. Show me her tits,” a thick voice demands.

Fingers drag against my stomach. My shirt is yanked up over my face. My arms flop with the fabric. A click echoes and then I feel something sharp against my sternum. It moves to my bra and cuts through it. My breasts are exposed, and I feel a sensation of shame. But the supplements wearing off seem like the least of my worries right now.

“Oh, yeah, look at those,” the thick voice chuckles. “And you said she’s a virgin? You sure about that? Lots of infertile bitches still get fucked.”

“Calla? No, the only thing she has time for is books,” Clyde laughs.

“Give you forty silvers for her,” the thick voice says.

“Can’t you do forty-five?” Clyde replies. “Ah, fuck it. I’m not here to negotiate. I just want her gone.”

I’m being… sold? Clyde doesn’t have the right to sell me. Nobody does. I’m not property . I want to scream my protests, but I barely manage a whimper. I lie there, shirt over my face, chest bare, body burning with shame while they haggle over me like I’m a sack of flour or a goat at the market in the Upper District.

The sound of silver changing hands rattles near my face. I’m starting to feel something in my arms. I try to move them, but they don’t fully respond. They feel like they’re full of Green Syrup. I strain, willing them to move while I fight against whatever drug Clyde injected me with.

Finally, I budge my shirt past my right eye and force it open. I immediately wish I hadn’t. Clyde’s back is to me and standing in front of him are four figures: three men and one monstrous thing with a thick, corded frame, shoulders like a beast, and a mane of sandy hair that spills around his face in wild waves. His eyes are bright emerald, slitted like a cat, and glowing faintly in the dim light. Even from a distance, I can see the way his jaw shifts, revealing what appear to be fangs.

A hybrid? That’s the only thing that makes sense. A mutated creature that is neither man nor beast. That’s part of why Haven North has a wall. To keep hybrids, and things worse than hybrids, outside of the city. I’ve never actually seen a real hybrid before—just pictures in books.

“Thanks,” Clyde says, grinning as he looks back at me. He jumps when he sees me staring right back at him. “Fuck, she’s already awake?”

“Tough bitch,” the thick voice says, and a man steps forward. He’s dressed in leather that looks more like armor than clothing. He raises a fist and I’m powerless to stop the blow that nearly knocks me unconscious.

“Wait, Carl,” a voice snarls. “Don’t mess up her pretty face. Have the boy give her another shot.”

“Good call,” Carl says, stepping to the side.

Clyde looms over me again. My vision is blurry from the hit. Clyde casually removes a silver case from his pocket and prepares a syringe like I’m one of his patients.

“Sorry, Calla,” he says, jamming the needle into my neck. “Only one person gets to graduate on Monday, and it’s not going to be you.”

I try to scream, just like before, but the darkness closes in.

I wake up again and it seems like I’ve been out for a while. I blink my eyes and try to get them to focus as I’m jostled around. I see light overhead, but I also see metal bars. That simmers some panic in my stomach, and I force myself to sit up. My head throbs so hard it’s difficult to open my eyes, but I see enough to know I’m not alone.

“The drugs make your head feel like it’s going to explode,” a woman’s voice whispers. “Takes a few minutes for that to pass after you wake up.”

I don’t respond. My eyeballs ache like my brain is trying to shoot out through the sockets. There’s so much pressure it makes my eyes water. I’ve coached patients through this, but I never realized how bad it actually is. This is a powerful sedative. Similar to what we use for surgery, based on how I feel right now.

But slowly it begins to pass. I become aware of my surroundings. When I finally force my eyes open again, I see blurry images. The woman who spoke to me. Metal bars. We’re in some sort of cage, by the looks of it. A snarl draws my attention, and I see the hybrid with emerald eyes walking beside us. The cage is attached to a cart that is being pulled by large beasts of burden—like the oxen I’ve seen in Haven North, but these are grotesque and disfigured with their spinal columns protruding from their backs.

“Halt,” the hybrid growls, and I fall over as the cart comes to a stop.

I push myself up and look around. My heart sinks when I see the wall that surrounds Haven North, because we’re on the wrong side of it. We’re in the wilds and exposed.

We’re in… The Tangle .

“What’s wrong?” It’s Carl’s voice. He’s the one driving the cart. Two men who are dressed in similar leather attire sit next to him. “Trouble?”

The hybrid closes his eyes and raises his head like a scent has caught his attention. There’s a stillness to him, like he’s waiting for something. Something that only he can smell. All I smell is sourness that seems to be coming from the disfigured oxen pulling the cart.

I glance at the other women in the cage. The one who spoke to me is motionless and looks scared, but she has determination in her eyes. She’s about my age. There’s a girl who looks to be around eighteen or nineteen huddled near the back corner of the cage and she’s crying. Two others are still sleeping, and I can’t make out their faces.

“It’s nothing,” the hybrid says. “I thought I smelled a wolf, but the scent is getting fainter, so it’s not headed our way.”

“You’re sure this trail is safe?” Carl asks. “I don’t usually take this route to The Outpost, but you said it was faster.”

“I can handle anything in this part of The Tangle,” the hybrid says confidently.

Carl turns away, yells a command, and snaps the reins against the oxen. The cart begins to move again. The woman who spoke to me moves closer and whispers, but the way the hybrid’s ear twitches makes me think he can hear it.

“I’m Nara. That’s Tansy over there.” Nara motions to the crying girl at the back of the cage, then to the two on the floor. “Not sure about them. They haven’t woken up yet.”

“Calla,” I whisper back, glancing between Nara and the hybrid for a moment before a sense of dread sinks in.

The Tangle is an untamed, terrifying place. Home to carnivorous plants, trees that don’t always stay rooted in one spot, and so much more. Wild animals. Beasts that were mutated during the heat storms that raged for years after the sun erupted. And hybrids, like the one walking beside us.

In school, we learned that hybrids emerged during heat storms. They were predators, and humans quickly became their prey. But they were described as little more than beasts, like the ones that are mutated, not intelligent beings capable of speaking.

“Carl is the leader,” Nara whispers, gesturing to the man driving the cart. “The two men next to him are Jed and Jeb. They’re brothers.”

“And him?” I tilt my head toward the hybrid.

“I’ve been calling him Lion-O after a character from a book my dad used to read me.” She shrugs.

“It’s Frank,” the hybrid growls without looking at us. “My name is Frank.”

Frank doesn’t wait for us to acknowledge what he said. He grits his teeth, lets out a guttural sound, and moves closer to the front of the cart. The oxen aren’t running, but their pace is too fast for a normal person to keep up on foot. That doesn’t seem to be an issue for Frank.

But I’ve got bigger problems than a hybrid. We all do. We’ve been kidnapped, drugged, and now we’re in The Tangle. There’s no scenario where this ends well for us. A twinge twists my stomach, and I feel a mixture of emotions I haven’t felt in a really long time. I’m definitely overdue for another cycle of supplements.

But even the strongest supplement cycle wouldn’t be able to stifle the panic I’m feeling right now. I close my eyes, gather what composure I can muster, and turn to Nara.

“What do we know about them?” I ask, gesturing to the front of the cart.

“They’re slavers based on what I overheard when I woke up,” Nara answers.

Slavers. That’s who Clyde sold me to? I’m feeling the heat on my neck. Anger. More like pure rage. This is way too strong for any supplement to suppress. But anger can’t get me out of this. I’ve got to think. That will be easier when my head isn’t pounding.

“They’re taking us to The Outpost,” I mutter. “Any idea where that is? Or what that is?”

“If they welcome a cart being pulled by monstrosities like those, with a cage full of young women, and a hybrid, I’m guessing it’s not a good place.” Nara shakes her head, sighs, and looks down.

I knew there were cities other than Haven North. Settlements that sprang up after everything was devastated by the Great War, a solar flare, and deadly heat storms. Eventually, they became cities. There was even a Haven South, before my time, but it burned to the ground. I assumed most of the other cities were like Haven North. If we’re being sold as slaves, then we’re going somewhere that is nothing like the city I grew up in. Not a good place at all.

“I was supposed to be studying for a test, but I decided to go out with friends,” Tansy says, her voice breaking into a sob. She’s young, closer to eighteen than nineteen, now that I can see her better. Not even out of high school yet, more than likely. Her clothes, while dirty, are similar to what I had before I started down my assigned path. “Someone grabbed me from behind and…” She touches her neck.

“Needle?” I ask, glancing back to Nara. “Is that how they got you, too?”

“Yes,” Nara confirms, looking away. “I was leaving work after an event, and they came out of the dark like they were waiting for me.”

Our conversation is interrupted when one of the girls on the floor stirs. My nursing instincts and training kick in. I rush to her side and soothe her through the worst of it, repeating what Nara said to me.

“Where the hell are we?” she demands, looking all around and jumping when she touches the mass next to her. “Is she dead?”

I lean forward out of instinct and put a finger on the woman’s neck. I feel her pulse a few times, but then I get a closer look and realize I know her.

“Fiona?” I give her a shake. “Fiona!”

“Shut the fuck up back there!” Carl grinds out. “Otherwise, I’m going to stop and choose one of you to whip!”

Jed or Jeb, I’m not sure which, looks back at us and smirks. He gestures to the whip coiled between our cage and their seat, then points at Tansy like she would be his choice.

“No!” Tansy squeals, shrinking in on herself from the threat.

“Quiet!” Nara urges, looking at all of us.

The girl who asked about Fiona scurries to the bars with an angry glare on her face.

I wait until the cart is moving along at a good pace before trying to wake Fiona up again. I immediately clamp a hand over her mouth. She just got her first cycle of supplements, but they won’t stifle the fear that’s going to hit her when she realizes what is going on.

“Fiona, as soon as you can open your eyes, you’ll remember me,” I whisper. “Nurse Calla. I gave you your first supplement shot. Something bad has happened and you may want to scream, but you have to be quiet.”

I talk her through the headache, the pain she’s experiencing, and wait until she can focus her vision before I explain what is going on. Fiona doesn’t take the news well, but she seems to process it, and once she confirms she’s not going to scream, I slowly pull my hand away from her mouth.

“I was supposed to get my assigned path on Monday,” Fiona sniffles.

“Not me,” the girl with the angry glare says. “I just found out I’m going to be Unassigned. I’m Brenna, by the way. I went to school with you, Fiona, but… we weren’t friends.”

Fiona turns her attention to Brenna and narrows her eyes, then she nods. “I remember you. You hung out with Amelia, right?”

“My best friend,” Brenna confirms. “She always liked you.”

The cart bounces a few times as it rolls across enormous roots that have torn through the pavement that used to form a road. Tansy still looks terrified. Nara’s expression doesn’t reflect much emotion. Fiona and Brenna scoot closer to each other and exchange low whispers I can’t hear.

“I was supposed to graduate from the nursing path on Monday,” I say, looking down at the floor. “Someone wanted my spot so much they stuck a needle in my neck and sold me for a bag of silver.”

Fiona and Brenna have stories similar to the other two. They were out late and snatched off the street. They never saw who it was and didn’t wake up until they were already in the cage.

“I thought I was going to graduate last year, but didn’t make the cut,” Nara says. “I’m the oldest student teacher at the elementary school. There’s been fewer students the last few years, so they haven’t needed as many replacements as they expected.”

The threat of the whip has silenced Tansy to the point all she does is listen and cry. I think we’re all coming to terms with what this means. We’ve been taken from the safety of Haven North by slavers. That means we’re slaves, or we will be, once we’re sold. The fact we’re all women is a good indicator of what kind of slaves we’ll be.

“I want my mom,” Tansy whimpers, finally breaking her silence and pulling her knees close to her chest. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have stayed home to study like you said.”

Tansy’s soft whimpers don’t seem to upset the slavers, so I move closer to her, and hold her hand. None of us have ever met our birth parents. Children in Haven North are placed with a guardian after they’re born, and it’s natural for a bond to develop. My guardian was a man named Saul. He never let me call him Dad, but he was the best one I could have hoped for. I don’t see him often, but he promised to come to my graduation ceremony.

“Hey, just calm down and try to breathe,” I whisper, trying to soothe the frightened girl.

Tansy isn’t old enough for supplements yet if she’s still in high school. She’s eighteen, but she might as well still be a kid. They kidnapped a child. Fiona and Brenna aren’t much older. But Nara’s a teacher. I’m a nurse. If anyone is going to figure a way out of this, it will be the two of us. The others are too scared—and I hate to say it, but possibly too weak, as well.

I wait until Tansy has calmed down and is no longer crying, before moving close to Nara.

“So, what’s the plan?” I whisper. “You haven’t said much. That means you’ve been thinking about something. Got any ideas?”

“We can’t do anything until they unlock the cage,” Nara replies. “I can’t bend steel. Can you?”

“No,” I relent, leaning down to press on the wood beneath us. “Ironwood. No way to break through this without tools.”

“That means we wait,” Nara whispers. “If they feed us, we eat everything, regardless of how it tastes. If they give us water, we conserve it. We have to survive. You’re a nurse. You know how to survive, right?”

“Yeah.” I nod in agreement.

I’m usually worried about the survival of my patients in my world. Nara probably shares similar sentiments about the students she teaches, even if it isn’t life or death. I motion for the others to come closer. Tansy is apprehensive but slides over. Brenna doesn’t move until Fiona tugs on her hand and whispers something. I look to Nara, hoping she’ll speak up, but when she doesn’t, I clear my throat.

“I think we’ve all had time to process this, and we understand what will happen to us if we’re sold as slaves.” I make eye contact with the three of them, and their expression confirms it, but Brenna seems to shrug it off.

“My future was the Lower District,” Brenna says. “Maybe I’ll have it better as a slave. It’ll almost be like getting chosen as a Bride, except there won’t be any babies.”

“Brides are treated like royalty, Brenna.” I narrow my eyes and shake my head.

“Maybe slaves are treated the same way,” Brenna challenges. “The men will want the same thing from us, right? Same thing the Grooms want from their Brides.”

“I-I don’t want to do that,” Tansy whimpers, shaking her head.

“It could have been your life anyway,” Brenna says. “You haven’t been tested yet, have you? You might be fertile.”

“I’m not,” Tansy sniffles, wiping her eyes. “The doctor said there would be no reason to test me when I graduated from high school.”

There could be several reasons for that, but it’s not unusual for a doctor to discover it during a routine exam. Some girls never even get a menstrual cycle. I got my first one early, and thought it was a sign. It wasn’t. All those dreams were crushed the day I got my test results. Maybe it would have been better to find out before I got my hopes up, but I stopped caring as much after I got my first cycle of supplements.

We’re quiet most of the day, listening to the sounds echoing from The Tangle. Branches snapping. Dirt being disturbed. Vines slithering around. The occasional sound of something that could be a predator, but we never actually see them.

“Halt!” Frank roars, and the cart comes to an immediate stop.

“What’s wrong?” Carl asks, looking around nervously and putting his hand on his rifle. “Trouble?”

“No,” Frank growls. “We shouldn’t go any further until sunrise. We’ll camp here for the night.”

“What? No, we’ve still got daylight for at least two hours,” Carl protests. “We can camp when it gets dark.”

“You don’t want to be in there when it gets dark,” Frank says ominously, pointing toward thick underbrush that surrounds the pieces of broken pavement ahead of us. “If you do, you’re going without me.”

Carl looks like he wants to respond, but Frank walks over and starts clearing some debris near the road. Carl finally grunts and motions for Jed and Jeb to assist. Carl leads the cart away from the campsite and secures the oxen.

“If you scream and draw attention to us, we won’t bother to save you,” Carl says, grinning and gesturing to the whip. “But if any of you survive, you’ll get acquainted with that before we head back to Haven North for replacements.”

Jed or Jeb walks closer to the cart. I can’t tell them apart, yet.

“You said we only needed four to sell, right?” he asks. “Does that mean we can take one out for ourselves tonight?”

A chill sweeps through me. Tansy whimpers and her tears return. Nara stares at them, still not showing any real emotion. Fiona tries to hold Brenna’s hand, but Brenna shrugs it off, so I reach for the girl.

“Not this time,” Carl chuckles. “I promised Haggard I’d bring him a pretty one, in exchange for letting us meet with the buyers at The Outpost. Maybe we’ll have an extra on the next run.”

“That’s a shame,” Jed or Jeb says, leaning closer to the steel bars and grinning at Tansy. “I know which one I’d pick.”

“Jed, leave them alone,” the other brother calls out. “It’s your fault we don’t have an extra one on this trip. You were supposed to stick the needle in her neck, not her windpipe.”

“Yeah, well, at least I didn’t let one get away!” Jeb fires back.

“You both screwed up. That’s why I had to fucking buy one,” Carl grunts, jerking at thumb at me as he turns away. “Thankfully, those supplements fuck with everything except greed and ambition.”

Jed chuckles, glares at Tansy long enough to make her squirm, and follows Carl back to the campsite. Jeb gathers sticks and lights a match, but Frank storms to him and kicks dirt on the flame.

“No fire tonight,” Frank snaps. “Unless you want everything in this part of The Tangle circling our campsite.”

“What the fuck? We can’t even make a fire?” Jeb groans. “I liked the other way to The Outpost better, even if it took longer.”

“The faster we get there, the faster we can sell them,” Carl says. “Besides we’re already behind schedule because we had to find a replacement. We don’t want to keep the buyers waiting, do we?”

This is a business for them. We’re a commodity. Four of us will be sold and one will be given away to whoever this Haggard is.

“They need to keep all of us alive,” I mutter under my breath. “We can use that to our advantage.”

“One of them will probably stand guard,” Nara deduces. “If they do that, we might be able to convince him to open the cage. We’re no match for all of them, but one? We could take one of them.”

“Unless it’s Frank,” I sigh.

“Right…” Nara flashes me a worried look.

The slavers and the hybrid set up a perimeter, secure their campsite, and start eating rations. None are offered to us. They don’t even bring us water. I’m feeling dehydrated and hungry, but I swallow it. If they’re not going to feed us or give us anything to drink, we need to act fast before we’re too weak to do so.

All we need is an opportunity.