Tracey Ward - Writing on the Wall

“It’s not over yet.”

“Oh, Kitten ,” he says, emphasizing the word to prove his point that they have me. “You know where you are. It’s over.”

“Don’t call me kitten and it’s not over until I’m dead.”

The grin is wiped off his face as he watches me. I look back unsure but unflinching. Finally he heads back to his girls and I think I hear him mutter, “Where have you been hiding?”

We ride in silence for what feels like hours. I can’t stand not being able to see outside. I can’t tell what time of day it is. The rhythm of the jostling van is a problem for me too. It keeps lulling me to sleep and every time I nod off, I get yelled at.

“Wake up!” the hornet shouts, shattering the quiet.

I jerk my head up, startled awake for the fiftieth time.

“Quit yelling at me.” I grumble, rubbing my temples. I have a killer headache.

“Quit falling asleep. You have a concussion. You’ll die if you sleep.”

I glare at him. “You know an awful lot. Taken a few hits to the head, have you?”

He ignores me. “What’s your name?”

I eye him across the space between us, not sure how I want to respond.

He sighs impatiently. “Do I look like Rumplestiltskin?”

“What?”

“I’m not Rumplestiltskin. Giving me your name doesn’t give me power.”

“That’s not how it goes.” Nats chimes in. She’s huddled in the corner beside the guy, the other girl asleep with her head in Nats’ lap.

Her pimp frowns at her. “Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

“I thought the whole point was a name exchange.”

She nods. “It is, but it’s the other way around. It doesn’t make sense the way you said it. If she’s hiding her name then s he would be Rumplestiltskin.”

“Who would I be?”

Nats smirks. “You’re a Queen.”

He chuckles and turns back to me. “What’s your name?”

“Joss.” I reply warily.

I’m confused by the dynamic between Nats and the guy. It’s not what I expected between a pimp and a slave. They almost seem like friends.

“Well, Joss, this is Natalie or Nats,” the guy says pointing at the woman in the corner. “Snoring in her lap is Breanne.”

“And who are you?”

Nats laughs. “He’s a Stable Boy.”

He looks at her indignantly. “I am the Stable Boy.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, scared I already know the answer.

“It means he watches out for The Hive’s women. Breanne and I included.”

“Did a piss poor job of it today.” he grumbles, fisting his hand and glaring down at it. It’s then that I notice the cuts along the back of it, all of them fresh and enflamed. He threw some punches recently.

“Knock it off, Vin.” Nats tells him harshly. He looks over at, his face dark. “You did all you could for us.”

“Then why are you in this van?”

“What’s important is that we’re not alone in this van. You could have left us, but you didn’t.”

“That’s not a victory. I should have saved you.”

“You’re here, aren’t you? Maybe you still will.”

Vin chuckles darkly as he looks at his hands again. There’s a dark metal ring on his left hand that he spins thoughtfully. Just as I’m about to doze off again he looks up at me, studying me. “Maybe Kitten here will help me.”

“You saw what happened to the last guy who called me that, right?”

The smile Vin gives me then can only be described with one word; sexy. It’s not something I’m terribly familiar with but he wears it well.

“Help you do what?” I ask.

“Escape the Colony.”

I take a deep breath, trying to focus on not falling asleep. It’s becoming a struggle. My head aches so bad I’d love nothing more than to lie down. “We haven’t even gotten there yet. How do you know you won’t love it?”

“Because I belong in the wild. So do you.”

“You don’t know me.”

“I know a wild thing when I see it and you, Kitten, are a wild thing. Six years on your own? You don’t want to be locked up in a cage or you would have joined willingly years ago. I’m still trying to sort out how you hid from the gangs all these years, let alone the Colonists and Risen.”

“I found ways. You said it yourself, I don’t want to be locked up in a cage.”

“Or a stable?” Nats asks wryly.

I glance at her, not sure if I’ve offended her, but her face is placid.

“Not anywhere by anyone.”

She nods in understanding but says nothing else. Vin falls silent as well and soon the only sound in the van is Breanne’s snoring along with the bump of the suspension on the rough, ruined roads. I doze off eventually. Vin lets me do it. Maybe he’s got other stuff on his mind. Maybe he figures I’m not in his stable, I’m not his problem. I don’t know how long I’m out but I wake with a start when the van slams to a halt.

“Get back here against this wall.” Vin says urgently.

I scurry across the floor of the van to the back where I squat down next to Breanne. She’s groggily sitting up, rubbing her eyes and looking more afraid with each passing second. She’s the younger of the two women though she’s still older than I am, but something in her face is almost childlike.

“So what do you say?” Vin asks me quietly.

There’s a screeching of metal against metal then a long yawning sound. We move forward again and the acoustics outside the vehicle change drastically. There’s an echo now. I imagine we’ve entered some kind of building.

“You gonna help me get us out of here?” he asks.

The yawning again, then a deafening slam. All light coming in from any cracks in the door is extinguished and we’re plunged in total darkness. I hear Breanne whimper pitifully.

“No one’s ever escaped the Colonies.” I whisper, feeling my heart leap into my throat as the silence drags out.

When Vin looks over at me the pull of his electric green eyes forces me to look back. He grins, his face fierce.

“There’s a first time for everything.” He reaches out his hand, offering it to shake. To make a deal.

There’s a screech of metal again, then another yawn, this time from the front of the van. We lurch forward. We’re passing through something. We’re entering their compound. This is real.

I hesitate only a moment before slipping my hand into his. I’m surprised to feel cold metal pressed between our palms and when I take my hand away I see that he’s slipped a small, sharpened scrap of metal into it. It’s not much, not even enough to call a knife. It won’t kill but it will hurt.

“They’re going to separate me from you girls.” Vin tells me hurriedly as we roll quickly over surprising smooth ground. “Keep them safe and I’ll work on our escape. Deal?”

The van stops. Doors are opened and slammed. Footsteps approach from both sides to meet at the back door.

“Do we have a deal?” Vin demands.

The door flies open. Bright afternoon light spills in, blinding us all. I hear footsteps thunder across the metal floor then harsh hands lift me up and pull me away. Breanne screams. I hear Vin’s deep, calm voice telling her to cool it. That it’ll be alright. More feet, more hands, then cold air.

“Kitten!” Vin calls. I can hear him struggling in the back of the van. “Do we have a deal?!”

“Couple hours with her and you’re already trying to pimp her?” a guy asks from beside me. “We don’t play that way here. You’re out of a job, buddy.”

I’ve never made a deal with a Lost Boy before, certainly not a member of The Hive. I don’t know that it’s a smart thing to do. Saving Ryan has caused me a world of trouble. It’s a mistake I really shouldn’t repeat. It’ll be easier to sneak myself out alone than try to get Vin, Breanne and Nats out with me. As far as anyone knows, no one has ever escaped the Colonies before but maybe that’s not entirely true. Maybe people like me have. Loners who found a way and slipped back into the wild with no one to tell the tale to. No one to welcome us home. No one to care if we lived or died.