CHAPTER 489: RAID THE ABODE (4) [BONUS CHAPTER]

*** Updated***

The whistle’s echo faded with an action that got a surprised reaction out of Brianna.

"Huh?" She raised her head to briefly look at the guard who had given her the daily rations: two steamed buns, though plain and somewhat stale, were a lot. She also had a whole cup of drinking water! Not just a sip!

This was a first for Brianna. There were some days that she never even got half a bun to eat, but two? She thought there was a mistake for a moment, but the guard did not even spare her a glance and went to the next person.

Marvin’s words echoed in her mind, ’You get what you work for....’

But had she worked extra that day? Brainna was unsure. She did not dwell on it too much.

Meanwhile, Marvin smiled wryly at this when he was still handed one large bun, though his harvest for the day was much more than Brianna’s.

He knew the reason. He was there to pay off his debts, but that did not mean that it felt okay to him. Marvin frowned at the workers who shuffled toward their crude lodging quarters nestled behind a wall of thick thorny brush.

In a single file, they entered the huts one after the other in a mechanical way. Most had finished wolfing down their food even before they got to the huts. Most of the huts had flimsy doors that still allowed the cold sea wind bit at their bones at night. Armed and blank-eyed, guards herded them with lazy waves of batons, the kind that didn’t need to strike unless provoked. Fear had long ago done its job.

Brianna walked among them, nibbling her bun. She was really a thin ghost of the girl she used to be.

’Once ...’

Brianna did not even want to think of how she had once been. She got into her corner in her hut and sat down, still nibbling on her bun. She couldn’t finish the two, but it was useless to hide one as it would be stolen anyway. She had seen it happen to others too often. However, her stomach had shrunk over the months and even half of that would be enough for her.

She ignored the others as they stepped into the dim quarters. They did not like her much because her nightly nightmares deprived them of sleep. Brianna had taken to sitting under a large tree in the dead of the night as she could not sleep anyway.

She felt Marvin come close to her. He was the only person who cared to speak to her and sometimes even care for her. He had a small tin of salve in his hand, its pungent scent preceding him. Without looking at her, he spoke—his voice barely more than a mutter:

"Take it off. Let me apply this before it festers."

Brianna didn’t answer. She didn’t need to. They had done this a lot more times than she cared to think of. Shyness? That was a luxury that she could not afford anymore.

Once upon a time, she would have never given Marvin the time of day. He would not have been worthy even to clean her shoes, but ....

Slowly, with the mechanical grace of someone used to pain, she turned her back to him and raised the tattered cloth of her top. Her ribs showed like the bones of a bird, but what drew his breath short were the lashes—angry, red, and raw, some already crusted over, others fresh and weeping.

Marvin knelt silently behind her and began applying the salve, his fingers gentle, the contrast to the brutality she’d endured almost jarring. She flinched only once.

"You know that you can still come with me, right?" He whispered in her ear. Brianna understood his words, but she did not respond. She was tired, and she thought that this was a fool’s errand.

There was no need for many words to be exchanged, so he capped the tin and stood when he was done. He handed the tin to her, causing a few eyebrows in the room to raise. That was a precious salve, and he just gave it away?

Brinna accepted it, for she knew that if he succeeded, he would not need it anyway. She also reached into the fold of cloth where she had hidden one of her precious dinner buns - though half stale, but still something. Without meeting his eyes, she handed it to him.

He hesitated for a breath, then took it. No other words were exchanged.

In this place, gratitude was a silent act.

Brinna smoothed her thin attire and then turned to lie down. She was already used to the fact that she had no mat to lie on, nor any cloth to cover her. She reached for a thin shirt that Marvin had once given her and hung it on her shoulders to ward off the cold. Sleep came in moments, not hours. Even then, it brought no peace. Just nightmares, the ever-present creak of floorboards, the slap of footsteps in the dark, the fear of being pulled from the floor and her space again. Her body trembled involuntarily now, even in silence, even when no one watched.

Inside the sleeping quarters, mats were laid side by side on cold earth. No privacy. No comfort. She settled slowly, wrapping her arms around her knees. A girl beside her wept softly into her palms, and though every sob stabbed at her soul, she said nothing.

This was their routine; It was pain wrapped in silence.

It didn’t take long for someone to shake her roughly.

"Hey! What is wrong with you again?!" This was Brianna’s signal to get up. It had been barely two hours since she had slept. Her body was tired, but her mind was livid. She knew the drill.

She was probably screaming in her sleep again. Her recurring nightmare had never ceased.

She sighed, taking the thin shirt and her water ration, Brinna made her way out of the hut, stepping into the darkness outside and taking a huge gulp of air. She needed to stay outside for the rest to get adequate rest. They would gang up on her otherwise. She had been through this long enough to know what to do.

She hadn’t cried in weeks. Not because she didn’t want to, but because even her tears had abandoned her. Besides, what was the use of shedding such useless tears, which would only drain her little reserved energy?

She made her way to her favourite tree and sat underneath it, staring up through the dense branches for a peek at the clear night sky.

Brianna couldn’t help but wonder: Would anyone ever recognize her again? Would anyone even remember she had once been someone?

’Am I still a Mush? Am I still daddy’s girl? Why are they not coming for me?’

Though Brianna had long given up on her parents, on nights like these when she was alone with her thoughts and the cold elements of nature, she could not help but think of them.

From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse. It was just a shadow, a movement too careful to be casual. She knew without a doubt that it was her only friend, if she could call him that. It was Marvin. He was slipping out of his hut, low to the ground like a hunted animal, eyes darting through the dim light as he vanished into the thick foliage. She didn’t turn her head. She didn’t flinch. She merely blinked, slow and heavy, as if she hadn’t seen a thing.

The indifference in her veins was alarming. But what else could she do? Hope had long since hollowed her out. Marvin wanted out, but Brianna knew that it was impossible. How many people had tried that over the months? When caught, it was instant execution. She was tired with life, but Brianna did not want to die as an unknown in this desolate place.

Meanwhile, Marvin moved like a ghost, his breath shallow, ears attuned to the rhythm of the guards’ patrol. He had memorized their route - every stomp of their boots, every idle pause for a smoke. He had planned this for months. Marvin crept through thorny underbrush, ducked beneath low-hanging branches, scraped his knees crawling through trenches till he got to the thick line of trees that surrounded the place.

’Just a little more!’ he encouraged himself. Each moment felt like an eternity wrapped in silence.

Still, the promise of freedom spurred him on.

He dared not count the hours, but the sky above had begun to bleed into a dull grey. The birds had started to cry - morning songs that normally meant life, but tonight sounded more like a warning.

He crawled the last stretch on his belly, mud caking his elbows, thorns tugging at his trousers. Then, at last, he saw it. A break in the forest. Open land. The scent of salt in the wind. Freedom.

A shaky breath left his chest as his fingers touched the edge of the clearing.

But then....

A sharp, cold click at his neck. Metal. A gun.

He froze.

"Going somewhere?" came the low, mocking voice behind him.

And just like that, the sky didn’t look so hopeful anymore, but then the irony of it was that another interesting event happened right then, making Marvin question his luck.

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