They spent the better part of four hours walking down the main strip in town. Blue had the strong desire to go into each store and make her presence in town known while they shopped. She was polite to those who smiled, giving out her name to those who asked. Anyone who passed the new girl a snide glance was met with the same twisted snarl and quickly averted their eyes. The twitch and sparkle of her icy blues made them second guess their harsh judgment on the strange kid roaming through town.
Frank took her to the candy store and let her pick out a few sweets to bring back to the house. The owner grunted at her demeanor and disappeared into the kitchen. He wasn't amused with her honesty or the insane story about her life. It was chore to listen in as she explained herself to the cooks in the kitchen. Blue despised his aggravation, but managed to hold herself together while the woman in the kitchen handed her free samples of chocolate cookies and sweets. She made a mental note to avoid the man to keep her monster at bay.
By the time their visit to town came to an end, Frank was exhausted. He couldn't wait to get home and relax on the sofa with a good book. The car door was open and the key dangled from his grip. Blue shoved her things in the backseat, then opened the passenger side.
The roar of a loud motor captured her attention before she sat in the seat. Her eyes fell upon a black bus cruising down the street, turning left at the next corner. The windows had been painted black, with crudely welded bars over the glass. Scents of terror slipped through the cracks in the metal housing and the smile once residing on her face slipped away to something resembling pain.
"Where is that thing going?" Blue asked, closing the car door instead of getting in.
Frank glanced to the bus, then sighed, "To an old auditorium a few blocks over. It's almost time for the next auction."
"Why does it smell like death and sadness?"
He shifted his eyes to the bakery down the street and said, "Why do you think?"
"Slaves?"
He nodded.
"How many?"
He shrugged, "I don't know. I don't keep inventory on what they bring in each time."
"Can we go?"
"Blue, that isn't something you want to see. If you want to stay under control of yourself, you'll avoid that place at all costs." He ordered.
She shook her head and backed away from the car, "I think I need to see it. I think in order to understand things out here, I have to."
The sincerity in her eyes screamed with passion. A lack of control burned behind them and he practically saw it ripping through her seams. She was determined to witness an event that broke a normal human being down to a pathetic creature forced into hard labor and abuse. He wanted to hide her from that part of the Wastelands. It would destroy her, but it also might help her get a sense of herself and the majority of the people around them.
He glanced over his shoulders as the last bus disappeared around the corner. An audible sigh slipped through his lips and he closed his eyes.
"Fine." He said, fighting the regret building inside, "I'll take you there. A lot of townies go to watch the new merchandise get off the buses and some from out of town comes to scope them out for purchase."
She held her tongue and clenched her hands to fists without realizing. The glitch in her eyes passed twice in rapid motions and the monster gawked at the world outside.
Frank closed the car door and motioned for her to walk with him, "You have to stay calm and focus on not jumping on whatever your mind tells you to do. This is going to be a real test for your monster and whether or not you can keep it under control. You have to keep it under control. Got it?"
Her head bobbed once and her mouth stayed closed. Frank clicked the lock button on the car keys, then shoved them in his pocket. They walked across the street, cutting through the grass and a small park.
The auction house took up five acres of land on the eastern edge of town. A massive, four story brick building loomed on the ground with dark windows and eerie statues on the front steps. The lions had been stained black years ago and their mouths were left open mid-roar. Many of the windows on the upper floors and a few on ground level had been covered with bricks to keep prying eyes from looking in or brave souls from trying to escape. Frank told of the dozen or so times a slave thought he had the chance, but no one ever made it out alive.
Disgusting, she winced as her hands balled to tight fists.
A large, chain-link fence surrounded the back lot with barbed wire coiled at the top. A gate allowed buses to enter for delivery and they remained locked in the yard until the auction came to an end. Guards stood watch with handguns, rifles, and nightsticks in case their merchandise got out of hand. Four of them watched the gate after the last bus pulled onto the lot, then securely sealed the latch.
The three buses parked on the makeshift gravel parking lot directly behind the building. Each window had been spray painted black so its passengers couldn't see where they were headed and they were slightly blinded when the sun hit their eyes. They were shoved and dragged away from the buses, ordered to keep their mouths shut and do as they were told. The crowd of townies standing by found humor in their disambiguation and laughed with pointed fingers and wide grins.
Blue's tension rose with every pounding cackle. The noise seemed to echo in her ears for a millennia. Her fingernails dug deeper into the palms of her hands, cutting the skin until it bled. The sudden urge to rip those people to shreds bore down on her shoulders and she craved the feel of her axe. Its soft handle and harsh blade had a way to calm her rapid heartbeat whenever it ripped the life from a not-so-innocent person. Frank made her leave it at the house for purposes only he knew.
"Stay calm." He whispered in her ear, noticing the heat burning in her eyes. "I know it's difficult, but we have to deal with this. This is the normal out here. Those men—the guards—they are part of the militia in charge of keeping the slave trade going and the laws out here under control. You don't want to fuck with them."
Stay calm, don't go crazy. She repeated it a few times in her head and focused her eyes on the slaves exiting the buses. Don't lose it.
They wore tattered rags for clothing. Dirt and filth covered their skin and hair; it was caked under their fingernails and stained the palms of their hands. Those wearing shoes were lucky if they were held together by tape or deteriorating laces. Shackles bound their hands together at their waists and each man, woman, and child walked with their eyes glued to the ground. They were instructed not to make eye contact with the inhabitants of Hatfeld or else they'd face a harsh punishment.
Stay focused. Don't go crazy.
She stared at them with sadness in her eyes and smelled fear and pain protruding from their sweat soaked pores. Tears streamed down messy faces, dripping to the ground on which they trudged. Some were older with years of slave experience. Many more were in their early twenties, teens, and even small children. A few of them hobbled to keep up with the bigger kids and adults. They had no families or parents to show them love. Each small hand was left to hold empty air, never to feel the caring grasp of a parent who loved them unconditionally. They were forced into a world they should never know.
Blue clenched her hands open and shut. Her eyes twitched as the rage built. Her heart ached for those people, those innocent souls who deserved a much better life. Suddenly, she was back at the Hospital, reliving a scene in one of their twisted simulations. She was forced to destroy the lives of thousands in order to defeat the task and end the game. Each face, each blood curdled scream had lodged into her mind and fed the monster constantly begging to be set free. There were too many times she lost control in the simulations. Too many imaginary lives lost by her hand. The simulations weren't real.
None of it was ever real.
This is real. She told herself and shook her head from side to side. All of this is completely real. No more thinking. No more standing idly by while they suffer. I have to do something.
She unknowingly took a step toward the gate surrounded by townies. The four guards standing by rested their mitts on small guns or nightsticks in case things got out of control. She studied the large men, comparing their sizes to those she destroyed at the Hospital. The doctors and scientists lacked the muscle the guards carried, but she had enough confidence in her mind to end them before they knew what hit them.
Easy as pie.
A hand gripped her shoulder before she took another step. Five fingers latched down hard, adding to the torment in her head. Frank held her in place and leaned in to speak quietly.
"You need to calm down, Blue." He pressed, glancing at the few guards scanning the crowd. "I know you want to jump over the fence and fight for those people. So do I, but this is a fight we would not win today. There are too many of them."
"I could win." She whispered.
"No, you can't. Not this way." He argued. "I know your instincts are trying to kick in and you want to fight. It's what they taught you at the Hospital, but you can't lose control right now."
"I want to help them. It's what the monster is telling me to do and I know it's the right thing." Blue said through clenched teeth.
He nodded and put an arm over her shoulder, "I know that's what it wants, but you can't let it. This is very dangerous territory."
She squeezed her fists so tight her nails poked into her palms. Tiny trickles of blood streamed down her fingers and the pinch of pain didn't faze her. Her head pounded with a boiling anger as people were shoved and kicked by guards forcing them into the back entrance of the auditorium. Their silent tears and quiet whimpers haunted her mind, completely enraging the monster fighting to the surface. She held it back as much as she could, but her entire body trembled with the desire to let it loose.
Frank held her close, ignoring the harsh glances from a group of women standing nearby. They stared at the girl in awkward silence, questioning the painful look in her glowing eyes. He pulled Blue away from the fence, turning her around to pry her eyes from the scene that clearly upset her. She fought against his grip for a moment, looking over her shoulder to take one more glance at the slaves before they disappeared inside the brick building.
They walked across the street to a small park with a swing set overlooking a duck pond. A layer of leaves floated on the placid water and the empty swings swayed in the breeze. He forced her to sit on a green bench by a large fir tree and blocked her view of the auction house.
Blue sniffled and wiped the stray tears from her eyes, "I don't understand why it's like this. Tell me why they do this to people!"
Frank sat on the bench beside her and replied, "After the war ended and the wall was built, people here didn't have a government to control things. Resources dwindled until there was barely anything left. Then one day, decades ago, three families came together and decided they needed to make people work the land and harvest the crops to come up with what they needed. It spread across the Wastelands and the cost of living got higher. Families sold their young into slavery or traded one another for supplies. There's only one man in charge of the slavery laws now and will never change it. A militia is in place to make sure no one tries to upset things, but no one ever tries without failing. The others who want to don't have enough hope in the cause to make a difference. They believe there's no changing this."
She shook her head in disbelief. Every lighthearted dream she once had faded into the abyss created by the madness she witnessed at the slave house. The idea of having a bright future faltered if so many others suffered without a dream of their own.
"It shouldn't be this way. Those people shouldn't have to live as a slave."
"I know, but you can't go back to there to change things. There are too many of them." Frank said, hating the disappoint that crossed her face, "We'd have to start smaller."
She lowered her head and stared at her feet. Living in the Metropolis suddenly felt like perfection compared to the way people were treated in the Wastelands. She never would have guessed slavery corrupted the land. The notion of so many lives enduring that type of torment weighed her heart down and her head ached for them.
No one should have to live a life they don't want.
His last statement finally caught up to her. She blinked twice then turned her confusion to him, "What do you mean that we'd have to start smaller?"
Frank nudged her and curled his lips into a smile, then changed to a lighter subject, "Nothing. Let's just get back to the house and get something to eat." He rose from the bench and turned to the path that would take them to the car.
She quickly followed, "Tell me what you meant." She demanded, her voice growing louder. "You said you wanted to stop what they're doing and if we'd have to start smaller, then you've obviously thought about it. Tell me."
He shook his head and turned to her, "You're awfully demanding for someone who's only been out here a day and had no clue what the slave trade was until ten minutes ago. This isn't your territory."
"Then clearly you know nothing about the Hospital." She replied, then quickened her pace to walk ahead of him.
Anger didn't float on her words and neither did sadness. A type of despair he had never heard before fell from her lips as she spoke. The emotion belonged to a girl who gave up her life and lost everything for what she believed was right. She had seen enough torment to destroy a thousand men and yet still held her head up high to keep pushing forward.
Frank judged too quickly and the regret of his words stung his mind. A quiet growl came from his throat and he balled his hands to fist, rushing to catch up before she got too far.
"Blue, wait!" he called.
To his surprise, she stopped. She refused to look at him when he caught up to her side and stood in front of her, but she remained still.
"I'm sorry." He said, simply. "It's easy for me to forget that your stay at the Hospital was different than mine."
"Very different." She nodded.
"Just because you find similarities between yourself and the slaves out here, doesn't mean it's the right time to start anything significant. You're still learning to use your abilities and you can't throw yourself into the first big thing you see." He explained.
Another nod, although her mind was screaming in disagreement.
"One day you'll get your chance to start small, I promise." Frank added, then sighed, "Now, can we please get back to the house?"
Rather than continuing the argument and attracting more attention from the townies by the auction house, Blue gave him an easy answer, "Sure."
"Thank you," Frank said as they started walking. "Can you forgive me for what I said?"
She shrugged and strolled beside him, "Probably, but not right now."
He scoffed and rolled his eyes to the sky, "I guess I'll have to deal with it then."
"Yeah, you will."
****Thanks for any votes, comments, and like always, thanks for reading!