Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86059 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 430(@200wpm)___ 344(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Daniels clears his throat. “Understood, sir—”
“And no food!” Azar snarls. “If you want to be protected by me, you will play by my rules. If you want to eat from my hand, you must give me something in return. No food until whoever is luring out this dragon is found.”
There’s a low mutter amongst the women.
I remain silent. I’m too afraid to even react, too afraid to show anything other than total boredom.
Azar’s jaw clenches. He grits his teeth, glancing over us once more. “You are safe under my hand for now, because what I want is for this hive, this fort, to be safe. We cannot have safety if your people do not comply. No meals until this liar is found and brought to me.” He turns to Daniels. “We will find out the root of this, one way or another.”
“I understand, my lord, but perhaps starving the women…” Daniels begins.
Azar cuts him off again. “If they wish to eat, then they will do as they are bid. I do not ask too much, do I? Hand over your clothing. Scavenge for tidbits. Notify me if someone makes contact with a dragon. How is this difficult?” His tone changes, becoming more soothing, seductive. “How can we keep this fort safe if your girls will lie about such things? Or perhaps we need a new group of women entirely?”
Someone gasps down the line. Another girl bursts into tears.
Daniels looks even more uncomfortable, and I notice he flicks a glance over at Manda, who has her gaze cast to the ground, as if she’s being personally chastised. Uh oh. I don’t like that look. That look tells me that he’s got his eye on Manda…and that I can’t trust her anymore if she returns his feelings. Daniels stands taller. “If there is a problem, Lord Azar, it will be rooted out. I promise. Give me a few days to take control of the situation.”
Azar points his finger in Daniels’ face again, and I notice for the first time that his nails are…thick and strange. How odd. “Fix it, then, and be quick. Every day that passes with a rogue dragon flying overhead is another day the people here are not safe.” He casts us one last angry look and then storms out, followed closely on his heels by two soldiers.
Daniels exhales slowly. Someone sniffs back tears, and no one moves from their spot even after Azar is gone. I can feel Brady staring at me, but I don’t look in his direction. To do so would admit guilt.
“You heard the man,” Daniels says after a moment. “No baths. No clothing changes. No dinner. Tomorrow, we keep the same schedule as before. And if any of you met with a dragon, you need to fucking say so, understand?”
Silence meets him.
A girl raises her hand. “Is…is that what we’re here for? To meet with dragons?”
“Are we…bait?” the weeping girl asks.
Someone else starts to cry.
Daniels runs a hand down his face, clearly exasperated. “I don’t know what the purpose is, okay? We just have our orders, and my orders include telling Lord Azar if anyone runs across a dragon during scavenging excursions. No one’s getting in trouble—”
“If we’re not in trouble, why can’t we have food?” Jenny asks. “Or showers?”
Daniels glares in her direction. “I don’t make the rules, I just enforce them. You’re welcome to leave this program at any time and take your chances elsewhere.”
No one says a thing. No one moves. We all know this is our best shot at surviving. It’s either this, or whoring, or something even worse.
There are no good options in the After.
6
RACHEL
It’s a silent evening. I hide in my bunk, feigning cramps and reading through one of Manda’s books until it gets too dark and then just listening to the women talk without offering anything in return.
Jenny and Manda spend hours trying to determine who’s the liar. Who met with a dragon, and why. They’re convinced that whoever did is an enemy. A mole hiding out amongst us that wants to bring the entire fort down. I want to tell them that it’s me, and that I don’t have an ulterior motive. That I’m just scared out of my mind.
But I can’t stop thinking about the long look that Daniels gave Manda, and I know they talk a lot when they have a few stolen moments together. I like Manda, but I don’t trust her not to tell him. She’ll sell me out to keep her safe spot in the program.
The “program.” What a joke.
I suspect we’re not being told the truth of this “program,” any of it. There’s a reason why they’re collecting our underwear. A reason why we’re being dragged out to the same spots over and over again when there are far better scavenging grounds. There are lots of reasons…and no answers to any of them. At least, we’re not being given the answers.