Filthy Secret

CAGED

Pursued

Run. It was all I could think, the word pinballing around in my head as my feet pounded the concrete. Run, run, run! Back to the wall, I slid to the ground, curling into a ball in the shadows as the blinding

spotlight passed overhead.

Their pursuit was endless, making it clear they knew someone was hiding. No doubt their fancy heat-seeking equipment indicated my huddled form from the sky, though God knew how. I was so cold, I was surprised to still emit any heat. Gasping for breath, I dared to look into the black, hearing the helicopter’s blades cutting through the gloom. As dark as the night, it was camouflaged from sight once the spotlight was cut, but the darkness didn’t disguise its relentless noise. Sound was the last bastion of hope I had, the one sense they couldn’t confuse.

“You are commanded to stop!”

The male voice thundered from all around, amplified to ensure everyone in a five-mile radius heard. Panic clawed at my insides. Sound was no longer my friend. They had taken that one remaining flicker of faith and used it against me.

“Stop running, citizen!”

Citizen? I shook my head, my teeth chattering as I huddled against the brickwork. That was a laugh when all these men wanted was to strip away my rights.

“Stop running, or we’ll shoot.”

On that point, I had no doubt. I’d heard more than five thousand women were culled last month alone, fleeing from the hordes of men crusading around the country, and those were just the ones we knew about. The world had changed, the constitution torn up. There were no rules.

You have to run!

The familiar voice screeched in my mind, reminding me of my fate if I ceded, if I gave in to the oppression. Summary execution would be an improvement on the reports I’d heard from the warehouses. I shivered as memories from the few women who’d avoided the plight reverberated in my mind. Sketchy radio warnings blasted where we could hear them, conveying the insidious masterplan. Warehouses of women; catalogued and processed with only one function in mind. None had consented to be there. None given a choice. We had run out of places to hide and people who would conceal us. We had run out of time.

Women were being hunted, stalked until every female of childbearing age had been processed. Someone had decided there weren’t enough of us having babies. Someone had taken stark action to turn things around, and the worst of it was they’d done so with the popular vote. The propaganda had done its job, brainwashing everyday people into believing catastrophe awaited if someone didn’t act. Suspended in a fearful stupor, the people had stood by and allowed the machine to grow teeth, to snatch law-abiding citizens and force them into warehouses. I didn’t know all the details. All I knew was the machine was out of control, spewing how they had no choice, how they had to act, how it was for the greater good.

I swallowed as the helicopter completed another circuit.

“Last chance!” The menacing tone resounded through the air. “Come out now or face the consequences.”

Pulling in a shaky breath, I edged toward the hedgerows. If I could only make it to the foliage, I would have some cover, and there might be animals, something else with a heat source that would throw them off track. This place had been a farm once, but like a lot of places, it was deserted, abandoned as women fled and men signed up to work for the machine. Everything had crumbled so fast. In the end, there had been no resistance.

I edged against the wall, only a couple of feet from the relative sanctuary of the undergrowth, when I heard them. Men on foot, their heavy boots audible despite their attempts at quiet. Shit! Fresh adrenaline flooded my system as I tried to ascertain where they approached from, but by the time I could decide, the noise was coming from all directions. They were everywhere! “There.”

One gruff voice came from my left, and like a scene from a sci-fi horror, they came into view, the lights at the end of the weapons visible before their dark forms loomed.

“Grab her.”

Another voice, this time from the right, and suddenly, the place was littered with dark, moving shadows. Lurching to my feet, I narrowly avoided one grasping hand as I stumbled forward.

“Halt!”

It was futile to think I could outrun them, crazy to assume I could hide, but I couldn’t stop. I had to run. Defiance to the menace was all I had, the last glimmer of my power in this dystopian nightmare.

“Take her out.”

The order echoed from behind me as I charged for the bushes, but I dared not look back. I was committed. I fell as the bullet hit, the noise of the shot splintering the night as pain ruptured in my side.

“Fuck.”

Hitting the ground, I was aware I’d landed on earth rather than concrete. Glancing up, I realized the foliage was just ahead of me-I’d almost made it. Clutching my side, I expected to feel evidence of my life’s blood seeping away, but all I could feel was something hard penetrating my clothes and puncturing my skin.

“How much did you give her?”

My head clouded, I was vaguely conscious of two men towering over me.

“Enough to knock her out.”

“I preferred it when we could just fucking kill ’em.” Dark laughter swirled, the only thing to permeate the fog except the sudden cold.All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

“Yeah, well, you know the new order. We’ll run out if we do. We have to bring them in instead.”

A bright light shone in my face, forcing me to recoil. Sprawled on the ground, there was nowhere to go.

“The bitch is still awake.”

“Not for long.”

Dimly, I noticed one rise over me.

“Once she’s out for the count, we can get something to eat.”

SNATCHED

The first thing was the cold. Gripping at me with icy fingers, it forced me to curl into a ball and fight for body warmth. The next was the metal beneath me and the realization it was the source of the dilemma. Brows knitting, I tried to fathom why, but I couldn’t think. My brain was misted, as if I had enjoyed too many drinks the night before, but that couldn’t be right. I hadn’t enjoyed anything since they’d started rounding women up, hadn’t rested, hadn’t bathed, hadn’t relaxed.

It hit me then, the gnawing panic that slithered inside like a living thing. I was on the run-in hiding. There was only one logical reason I would wake up surrounded by metal, but I didn’t want to believe it, couldn’t face the reality of what had happened. “Wake up, bitches.”

I tensed, my heart hammering, though my eyes remained shut. Somehow, I could fool myself into thinking this was only a dream while they were closed and convince myself it wasn’t real.

“Time to wake up!” The voice was louder, the sound of metal hitting metal intensifying my alarm.

Reluctantly, my lids flickered open, my head aching as I tried to take stock of the row of cages. The place was dark, but as I roused, there was no denying what was obvious-five cages crammed with women were apparent in the gloom. My throat dried as my gaze traveled around my new prison, and it finally dawned-I was in a cage. My hand rose to my mouth in a vain attempt to hold back the rising spike of nausea.

Oh God. My heart threatened to leap into my throat. They got me. Oh God, oh God, oh God!

“Today is your lucky day, bitches.”

I couldn’t see the man shouting obscenities, but as I hunched tighter, his muddy boots came into view. Passing down the line of caged women, he paused on the other side of the metal bars.

“Today, you finally get to be useful.”

Terror tore at my belly as I pulled in a shaky breath and locked eyes with the woman in the cage opposite, her brown gaze wide and petrified. “You all know the score by now. You’re to be taken and processed, and if you fail the tests, some lucky guys get to knock you all up.”

Trepidation bubbled inside, the hand at my mouth barely holding back my strangled gasp.

“No doubt that’s why you all ran. It’s fucking pathetic, thinking you could get away,” he scoffed, “but on behalf of me and the other guys, I want to thank you.”

“Oh my God.” The woman with the dirty face and brown eyes mouthed the words as his boots stalked away.

“Because you ran, we get to have a little fun with you first.” His chilling laughter echoed around wherever they were holding us. “Because you ran, we get first dibs. Turns out, they don’t give a shit who fathers the new

generation, so long as there is one, so we get to enjoy you first.” My blood ran cold at his disgusting insinuation.

“Since it doesn’t matter how long it takes to impregnate you, we’re gonna give it a go before you reach the warehouse.”

“Well, you say that.” Another menacing voice floated from overhead. “It does matter, Matt. They won’t give these whores forever to come up with the goods.”

“True,” the first replied. “That’s true, Jim. Let me make a correction. You sluts have a couple months to prove yourself functional. If not, you’ll end up in a shallow grave.”

My throat dried as dread spread through my body, and for the first time, I noticed I was completely naked. Someone had stripped me before they’d flung me unconscious into a cage. If there had been any doubt about the depths the new regime would sink to, this confirmed all my worst fears. I was caught, exposed, and had never been more vulnerable.

“Anyway, that’s for the future,” he continued gleefully. “For now, your concern is pleasing us, and the first step toward that is getting you bitches cleaned up.” The brute snorted as he paced by. “You’re all dirty and not in a good way.”

“So, listen up.” The second one, Jim, raised his voice. “Here’s how it’s going to go. We’re taking you out one at a time, then hosing you down. Any protest will be met with a bullet through the head, and this time, it won’t be no sedative. We have enough of you to fulfill our quota and can afford to bleed a few. Once you’re in better shape, we’ll each choose one and get to work.” Disgust rose at his dry tone. It was almost as if he found this whole thing amusing.

How could men who once worked regular jobs have come to this? They were someone’s son, husband, and father-where was their humanity? That had been the true cunning of the machine’s propaganda. It had dehumanized us from the beginning, labeling those who didn’t rush to volunteer as selfish and unfit to be a member of society. We needed to be compelled to do the right thing. We would never willingly be judged, which meant snatching us away in the darkness and violating our rights was somehow justifiable.

I guessed it was easier to do those things if you didn’t see the victim as human, didn’t recognize her frightened eyes like those of your own mother or sister. I assumed it helped them sleep at night.

“Right then.”

I leapt at the sudden volume of his voice, and barely able to take a breath, I watched as one of them crouched in front of the brown-eyed woman. Dressed all in black, there was nothing identifiable about the aggressor.

“Might as well start with you, bitch.”