by Penelope Sky
“If you replace a box before it’s empty and pour the rest of the contents on top, they’ll like you more, because you aren’t disrupting the workflow of the girls.”
I didn’t care about the tip. “I’m Raven.” I needed to make friends, to learn as much about this place as possible, to figure out a way to get Melanie and me out of here…someday. “You?”
She kept her arms crossed over her chest, the vapor rising from her nostrils with every breath. “Bethany.”
I looked at the surrounding cabins, along with the large pine trees that stood tall around us. It was mostly an empty clearing, but nature was spaced throughout, the branches covered with blankets of snow like Christmas trees. The Alps were in the near distance, reflecting the sunlight off their potent whiteness. If I weren’t stuck in a labor camp in the cold, I might actually think it was beautiful. “There’s more of us than them. We can take them down.”
She shook her head slightly. “I know you’re new, and I get it. I used to be that way too. But it’s been done…with no success.”
I hadn’t had much hope to begin with, but I lost a little more at her words. “What happened?”
“They killed a lot of us.” She nodded slightly to the hanging woman at the edge of the clearing. “Like that.”
I couldn’t look. I’d already looked once, and I never wanted to look again.
“After you’ve seen your friends die like that…you don’t want to try again.”
I stared at the women as they all worked with their heads down, packaging the bags of cocaine with different amounts, doing the labor these men were too lazy to do themselves. When I’d moved to Paris, I was embarking on a new adventure, falling into the romantic haze of this beautiful country. But all of that disappeared as I was plunged into a living nightmare. “How long have you been here?” I kept my eyes ahead even though I wanted to look at her, to look into the face of an ally instead of the hooded cloak of an enemy.
“Five years.”
I couldn’t keep the breath in my lungs because it felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. “Fuck…”
She shook her head. “There’re others who have been here longer, so don’t feel too bad for me.”
I felt bad for everyone, whether they’d been here for a day, a year, or a decade. “There’s got to be something—”
“Shut your goddamn mouth.” The man’s voice projected across the clearing, making the women hesitate for just an instant before they worked faster. He stepped forward and walked down the line, heading right toward us.
Since they were all dressed the same, their identities were always a mystery, and that caused confusion, because it was unclear where they were looking at any given time. They could be turned the other way but still have their eyes trained on you—and you had no idea.
My heart started to pound harder as he came near. Tall like the man who’d escorted me here, he seemed equally strong, like he could crush my throat with the grip of his fingers. I went from a peaceful life to being afraid at a second’s notice, my brain unable to dissociate from reality because terror was constantly present.
He moved past me and headed to Bethany. A black hand reached out and grabbed her by the throat, choking her right away. “What’s so important that you needed to share?” He towered over her, squeezed her hard, pulling the life right out of her.
All she could do was choke and gasp.
I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t listen either. I couldn’t handle any of it. “It’s not her fault. I was the one talking.” In survival mode, it was stupid to stick out your neck, to take a hit meant for somebody else, but my humanity was too great—at least, right now, it was. Bethany gave me information when she didn’t have to, and now she was being punished for it.
His hood turned my way before his fingers released her throat.
She fell to her knees, coughing and gasping.
He slowly walked to me, his steps making the earth shake. He came closer to me, making me step back because there was nowhere for him to go unless he hit his chest against mine. He didn’t grab me by the throat. He towered over me, vapor appearing from his hood in long trails, like he was huffing and puffing like an angry bull.
I held his gaze, held my ground, but I was terrified…terrified in a way I’d never been before. The energy around this man was much different from the first man who had escorted me to and from the cabin.
He pulled his arm back then punched me so hard in the face that I collapsed backward, landing hard on the ground, my vision turning black for a moment like I’d just received a concussion. My back struck the cold earth, and I stared at the sky through the branches, bewildered but aware at the same time. Then his face appeared in my vision, and because of the angle, I could see the black beard at his chin, the only visible characteristic. “That’s just a warning.”
I sat at the table, my eyes down, the pain throbbing in my temple.
A tray of food was placed in front of me. It was an apple, a couple slices of bread, and a few strips of ham. It was meager compared to the dinner I’d had in my cabin last night, which was a full meal of greens, meat, and grains.
But I was in so much pain that it really didn’t matter anyway, because I had no appetite.
Bethany took a seat across from me, sitting at the very end of the line like I was. The tray presented to her was the same.
But the girls next to me had a full meal, meat lasagna with salad and bread.
Bethany kept her head down and ate quietly.
I ripped a few pieces of bread from the loaf and placed them in my mouth.
One of the men passed, keeping an eye on us, and then continued on his walk.
Bethany whispered to me. “You get less food and water if you disobey them.”
“I’m not very hungry right now, so…that worked out.” The thudding in my skull was so bad that I wasn’t sure how I’d get through this without painkillers.
“You need to keep your strength up as much as possible. You have to do your job well.” She spoke right before the food hit her mouth, carefully disguising her lips so her whispers would go unnoticed.
“You shouldn’t talk to me. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
“I can tell you don’t know how things work around here, and you need to know.”
I picked up the apple and took a bite, and just digging my teeth into the apple was painful for my head. Maybe a hot shower would increase circulation and get rid of this headache naturally. “I don’t give a shit about doing my job well.” I didn’t care about their drugs, the millions they were making off our hard labor. Fucking disgusting.
“You should. Because every week, they pick the worst worker for the Red Snow. If you don’t eat enough and feel like shit, you don’t work as well, and over time you get weaker and weaker…and then it can be you.”
I took another bite of my apple and turned quiet as another man passed, his footsteps loud because he was close to the edge of the table. When he was out of my peripheral vision, I addressed what she said. “Red Snow?”
She nodded behind her. “The woman hanging.”
I stared at my apple, thinking about the pink drops on the snow.
“They hang them, and while they choke, stab them to death.”
I had to set down my apple because now I really couldn’t eat.
“And they make us watch…”
My fingertips moved up to my lips because I thought I would be sick. “They do that every week?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“But they’ll run out of workers that way—”
“They say they’re pulling weeds, getting rid of the weak and keeping the strong. There are always new girls being delivered, so it’s survival of the strongest, basically, the least difficult. It makes the group more and more submissive as a herd.”
It was fucking disgusting—but also brilliant.
“And good behavior is rewarded with extras. You know, books, medication, treats…”
> “Like a fucking prisoner.”
“Yeah…that’s exactly what it is.”
5
Eaten by Wolves
I sat in the bathtub, my neck resting against the porcelain rim as I kept my eyes closed. The hot water made the migraine subside slightly, but not by much. I was sitting there, just existing in agony.
The door unlocked before it opened.
My arms immediately crossed over my chest, hiding my tits from view.
A woman set the tray on the chair, another meager meal while the well-behaved workers got something much more filling. She kept her eyes down and darted out again.
I closed my eyes, not eager for food because I still felt like shit.
The door didn’t close, and then heavy boots entered.
My eyes opened again. “Do you mind?” I pulled my knees to my chest and kept my arms crossed over them.
“Not at all.” He approached the bathtub, standing over me in the same attire he’d worn this morning and yesterday. I could tell it was the same guy because he had a distinctive voice, one that was threatening but also sarcastic. “What did I tell you?”
“Sorry?”
“I heard you had a rough day.”
I held my silence, refusing to give any acknowledgment of my pain. I didn’t even care that much that I was naked under the water, because the pain made me disregard my vanity. There was no mirror in my cabin, so I had no idea what I looked like, if one side of my face was completely black and blue.
“I’ve got some good shit—if you stop being a pain in the ass.”
“Pain in the ass?” I whispered. It was best not to yell. Otherwise, the pulse in my temple would increase, but he provoked me, and my self-righteousness got the best of me. “I’m a pain in the ass because I deserve better than this? Because every woman here deserves better than this bullshit? Fuck off.” I turned my neck to look elsewhere, to focus on something besides the tall man who stood over me, his hood placing his head in perpetual shadow.
He remained for a few seconds, the direction of his gaze impossible to see. There was no vapor inside the cabin, so I couldn’t even distinguish his breathing. It was impossible to read a man with no face, no breath, and no voice.
Then he turned around and walked out of the cabin, locking the door behind him.
Every man in that camp deserved to die because of their crimes against humanity, forcing us into servitude after snatching us off the streets. They threw us into a frozen prison, controlled us with food and the threat of a brutal death. I hated every single one of them, especially the man who had just walked out of there.
But I also knew he was different from the man who had struck me. He wasn’t nearly as hostile or violent. He didn’t pound my face with his fist every time I talked back. I tried to remind myself that it could be worse, that the guard assigned to my cabin could be one of the monsters from the clearing.
When I woke up the following morning, the headache was gone.
But I still felt like shit.
The door unlocked, and he stepped inside. “Up.”
I groaned as I rolled out of bed, pulling on my boots and securing them over my pants before I stood up…and felt every muscle in my body ache at the movements. I swayed for a second, feeling the soreness everywhere. Carrying those heavy boxes all day really forced my body to work.
“I suggest you stretch before bed. Now, hurry up.”
I grabbed my thick jacket and put it on, zipping up the front to trap my body heat before I went outside into the cold. I walked out the front door while hardly looking at him.
It was the same day as yesterday, the same clear sky, the same suffocating quiet of the outdoors. In the distance, a large bird circled the skies, probably finding a dead carcass in the snow.
My eyes scanned the cabins, wondering which ones housed the men who ran this camp. Did they sleep separately or together? Who was the leader of this camp? Where did they store supplies? To travel a hundred miles in any direction to civilization, they needed a reserve of supplies. “Do you live here?”
“You think I commute?”
I walked beside him, seeing the other women stepping out of their cabins with their guards to be escorted to the clearing to begin work. “I’m just trying—”
“I know what you’re trying to do.” Clouds of vapor erupted from his hood. “Let me save you some time. Not a single prisoner has escaped this camp. The ones who have tried to run were hunted down then hung. One woman made it farther than the others, but when we found her, she’d been eaten by wolves. Don’t try it.”
“So, I’m just supposed to live here for the rest of my life?”
“No. You’re supposed to live here until someone stronger replaces you. We’re the largest coke distributors in Europe. We need to work fast, every single day, to make sure these shipments get out.”
That meant wagons must carry the drugs out of here often…back in the direction from which I came. “You couldn’t hire people to do our job?”
“When we’re just going to kill them? No.” Another cloud of vapor came from his hood.
Every morning, I awoke from my dreams to the same nightmare—over and over. “Why do I have my own cabin when the rest of the girls bunk together?”
“We keep the difficult ones in isolation.”
“Why?”
“You can figure it out.”
They didn’t want us to talk to one another, but they couldn’t prevent that from happening at night in the cabins. If I were able to converse with the others, I would stage a coup. My sister was probably with a group of women because they’d known she was submissive the second we arrived. But I certainly wasn’t. “So…you just live here? Like, forever?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“I’ve got nothing else to do.”
He continued to walk, his strides nearly twice as long as mine. “It’s a new day. I suggest you take the opportunity to turn things around. Keep your head down, do what you’re told, and you might have a nice time here.”
“A nice time?” I asked incredulously. “Are you psychotic?”
“Not the first time I’ve been asked that…”
It didn’t matter that every woman before me had been unsuccessful. I was too young to live out the best years of my life in this frozen hell. My sister was too young to let her beauty dry out in the winter wind.
“Good behavior is rewarded. Loyalty is worshiped.”
“I don’t want a goddamn book or extra meat for dinner,” I snapped.
“There’re better things besides books and food, but with an attitude like that, you’ll never find out.” He stopped when he reached the clearing. He turned to face me and extended his arm, indicating the table where I would slave away until lunchtime. “Good luck.” He turned and walked away, passing the other guys who surrounded the clearing. He entered the same cabin as last time.
More girls entered the clearing and got to work.
I grabbed the boxes and put them on the table, the muscles of my back aching because I was sore from the day before. Within a couple of weeks, I’d be ripped, which was a good thing. I needed to be strong to get out of here.
It was difficult to distinguish between the men who watched us, but I was certain I recognized the man who’d hit me, based on his height compared to the others, the way he carried his body. I thought it was odd that my guard woke me up in the morning and locked me up at night, but I didn’t see him at any other time throughout the day. The hierarchy of this place was impossible to gauge.
I moved to the table to grab a box.
Bethany was there, breaking through the tape to get the flaps folded back. “You look like shit.”
“Yeah?” I did the same to my box. “I feel like it too.”
“I brought you some pills.” She pulled out the plastic and folded it down over the edges so it would be easier for the girls to scoop.
I kept my eyes on my work, but I was touched by the offer. “I’m feeling be
tter, so I don’t need it. But thank you.” I didn’t want to take her supplies when she worked for it by kissing up to these assholes.
“Keep it for another time. Trust me, you’ll need it.”
“Beth, I don’t want to take your stash.”
“It’s not mine. I got it from a friend.”
I continued to prepare my box, deeply affected by the kindness that still existed in this empty place.
“We’ve got one another’s backs here.” Bethany lifted the box and prepared to turn away. “At least, most of us do.”
During lunch, she discreetly slipped me the white pill and continued to eat.
I dropped it into my pocket while keeping my eyes down. I’d desperately needed this last night, and when my guard offered, I was too stubborn to accept help from him—because it was conditional. If I was obedient like a good dog, then I would get a treat. I was too proud for that, at least right now. “Thanks.”
She ate without acknowledging what I said.
My lunch was the same thing everyone else was having, a reminder of what I could have if I just stayed quiet and did my job. Yesterday, the food didn’t matter to me, but having shit food for two meals in a row really made me hungry for something more substantial, like the chicken, rice, veggies, fruit, and bread they served. It definitely wasn’t prison food. They made the meals something to look forward to, positive reinforcement.
If I were going to get out of there, I really had to eat well. I needed all the nutrition to keep a strong physique so I could survive out there in the wild, to keep going until I found humanity and called for help.
But I needed to get as much information as possible first.
And I needed to get my sister too.
That was going to be the difficult part.
The only good thing about my captivity was the fact that I could be there for Melanie. I never would have found her again after her kidnapping. I never would have suspected something like this, and the police wouldn’t either. Otherwise, these guys would have been caught by now. I would have assumed she was being trafficked, based on her looks, and we would have gone in the wrong direction for years.