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As Scarface’s men took a step toward the cage, I wanted to shrink, to step away and hide myself. A small whimper escaped from my lips and I felt Liza’s hand brush against mine.
I gulped down when his gaze swept past my terrified face and landed a few feet away to my left.
“The brunette right? The one in the blue rags. ” he grunted.
My eyes darted sideways. It’s Maria. The girl that always cries every night. She was also wearing a blue dress, just faded and tattered. Her dress was so dirty it was almost grey.
A relief washed over me, so strong it almost made my knees buckle. I bowed my head immediately as I felt a wave of gut–wrenching shame of my relief.
Maria let out a soft cry as one of the guards pulled her out of the line. She didn’t fight. She just kept crying, her shoulders slumped as she was led away. The cage door clanged shut again and this time, they all turned and left.
The moment the main warehouse door banged shut, I slumped to the floor in relief, some girls were crying, while others just stared into space.
Liza let out a long, shaky breath beside me. “Holy crap, Avery. I thought… I really thought you were going to be picked.”
“So did I,” I whispered, trembling. My heart was still trying to beat its way out of my chest. “I feel… terrible. I was so relieved it was her.”
“Don’t,” Liza whispered. “Don’t feel bad for surviving. It’s not your fault. We all feel that way every time it’s not us. It’s how you stay sane in here.”
But no matter what she said, I could still feel the guilt in my stomach. Maria was gone. And I was glad it wasn’t
- me.
“I can’t… I can’t be sold,” I whispered, “I have to get out of here.”
“How?” Liza asked, her voice flat. “The doors are locked. The windows are boarded. The men are armed. There is no way out girl.”
“Has anyone ever tried to escape?”
She looked at me and sighed. “Two girls. A month ago. They managed to pick the lock on the cage during the night.”
“And what happened?” I asked, a flicker of hope igniting in my heart.
“They made it to the main door,” Liza said, her voice dropping even lower. “But it was chained from the outside. Scarface found them there in the morning.”
A cold dread filled me. “And?”
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“That was the last time we saw them,” she whispered. “We also didn’t get any food for three days after that for not trying to stop them. No one has tried since.”
The days that followed were the usuals. But even with Liza’s warning, I can’t just wait here to be chosen. I couldn’t end up like Kim, or like Maria, not without trying.
I rolled over on my thin mattress to face Liza. The other girls were sleeping, or pretending to.
“Liza,” I whispered, my voice barely audible. “We have to get out of here.”
She was silent for a moment. In the dim light, I could see her blue eyes open, glinting with skepticism. “You’re damn too stubborn. Still want to do that after I told you about those girls? The door is solid metal. The lock is a monster. The window is too high and too small. And there’s the main warehouse, and Scarface and Rusty.”
“Hey” I chuckled, “that’s the name I gave him in my head”
“It’s best describes him”
“But there has to be a way,” I sighed.
She propped herself up on an elbow. “Avery. They’re very careful with us. The only time there’s ever only one of them is sometimes, late, when Rusty does a final walk–around. The other usually goes out then, maybe to get food or something. And that’s only for about fifteen minutes.”
My mind started racing. “One guard? Just Rusty?”
“Yeah, but he’s still a grown man with a gun and a baton. And we’re locked in here.”
“How do you know all these?”
“I just know?” She smirked. “Trust me darling, it’s totally dangerous.
“What about the lock on this cage? Is it just the padlock?”
“Tsk! Yeah. A big one. But we don’t have a key.”
“What if we could get it open?”
Liza let out a soft, bitter laugh. “How? You gonna pick it with a piece of bean?”
“No,” I said, a reckless idea forming. “But what if we didn’t need to? What if we got him to open it?”
“And then what? Ask him nicely to let us go?”
“No,” I said, “We could maybe create a distraction. A big one. You said Jasmine doesn’t talk because her baby sister was taken, right? What if one of us pretends to be really, really sick? Like, dying sick. So sick that he has to come in to check. When he’s in here, the rest of us… we jump him.”
Liza stared at me, her mouth slightly agape. “Damn girl, what kind of cracks are you on? Jump him? Avery, he’s huge. He’ll beat us to a pulp.”
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“There are thirteen of us left,” I argued, “And only one of him. If we all rush him at once, we can overwhelm him. We can grab his keys, his gun… something.”
“It’s too risky,” she whispered, her eyes wide with fear. “What if it goes wrong? What would they do to us for fighting?”
“What’s worse than being sold?” I shot back, “What’s worse than what happened to Kim? To Maria? To Jasmine’s sister? We’re going to be sold, Liza. It’s not an ‘if,‘ it’s a ‘when. This might be our only chance.”
She was quiet for a long time, chewing on her thumbnail.
“Who would pretend to be sick?” she finally asked.
“I will,” I replied without hesitation. The guilt from Maria was still driving me crazy. “I’m the newest. It might be more believable. I could start tomorrow. I’ll cough, I’ll hold my stomach and pretend to be weak. When Rusty does his solo round tomorrow night, I’ll just… you know. You just have to make sure the other girls are ready. You have to convince them.”
“It’s a ‘We‘ thing girl. We have to convince them and it’s not going to be easy doing that.”
Thanks for journeying this far with Avery and me! I’d love to hear your thoughts so do leave a comment and like-
AD
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
