Danika’s eyes opened to the harshest of realities. 

 

  All that was visible was a single line of light, shrouded and enveloped in the same kind of darkness that matched the one that she had just awoken from. Not even shapes could be made, for the only light that existed was the crack of what could only be a doorframe at the end of the room — the light too far away for Danika to even look at the floor around her. Of course, she could feel the cold, hard floor — it was already causing her to wince in discomfort as she came to consciousness. The texture of the floor against her skin was harsh, and Danika could already feel a few bright flashes of pain where her skin had nicked against whatever protrusions the surface of the floor had in her slumber. This realisation finally made her turn her attention to herself — she was completely bare, vulnerable to the harsh cold. Her hands instantly attempted a move to cover her chest and bundle up against the cold, trying to move into a foetal position, but it was too painful for her even to begin shifting her body against the coarse floor. After a wince and groan, she gave up and just let her body lay against the floor as she had awoken — her body was far too weak even to begin to stand up at this moment.

  For what could’ve been seconds or an eternity, Danika was just a body on the floor. Time didn’t mean a thing for her anymore, for her fate had already caught up to her. After all, it was all over now.

 

 

  Suddenly, light crashed through the room with a loud slam, as the door at the end of the room flung open — illuminating the grey stone walls to Danika through squinted eyes. The floor was a rough, grey slate, with lots of bumps and imperfections on the surface. The door was steel, bolted onto the stone with a couple of screws and nothing else — a holding room, and nothing more. Nowhere to sleep, to eat, to piss. Nothing other than a cold hard floor and a locked door.

  Danika sat up to the sound, pushing herself up as much as possible to shuffle towards the door — the scuffle made her wince in pain once again but at this point, the idea of an escape was all she needed to energise her. But, as she tried to get up to her feet, a chill crept down her back as she looked towards the door, causing her to cower back down to her knees as her form was engulfed by a shadow blocking the harsh light of freedom. Towering over her was a feminine figure dressed in a black, silk dress — and a white mask, that barely glimmered in the darkness as the residual light crept over her figure. Danika’s eyes were frozen at the figure, her breath shaky as she tried to process the situation. The woman was holding a pile of tan clothes, folded neatly. She bent down and placed them on the floor next to Danika, before standing back upright — towering over Danika and making her feel as though she was sinking into the corner of the room.

  “Leave this room and make your way down the corridor on the right.” Her voice was modulated, still feminine but any human identity was unidentifiable in the output. “Any attempts to leave this facility will be met with lethal force.” 

  Danika meekly nodded, to which the woman responded by turning around and leaving the room, leaving Danika's mouth agape. She looked at the clothes on the floor — they were pretty much exactly as they seemed, prison slacks — before shaking her head to get her out of her initial shock.  What the fuck? was the main question in her mind, with all of the other questions stemming from it. After a few seconds of taking some deep breaths and composing herself, she grasped the clothes from the floor and put them on. They were quite baggy on her, hiding her body, which she was incredibly thankful for  — after all, she hadn’t exactly the smallest figure. Her brown hair was tangled and knotted, but right now that was the least of her worries. With her hands pushing her up from the floor, she finally stood up, to find her legs slightly weak and shaky. 

  After a few seconds of stretching her legs and remembering how to stand up, she stumbled out of her small room into a narrow corridor. To her left, was a set of doors that were identical to the ones she had just passed through. More small holding rooms? How many of us are there?

  To the right was a long, dark corridor — the path that Danika was told to follow. She had no clue what was at the end of the corridor, but Danika knew that failure to comply would be a morbid fate anyway. She started making her way down the corridor until she eventually found a turning into a much wider corridor, with rows of hundreds of people — clad in the same ‘uniform’ as her — making their way down. Lined along the side of the rooms were more of the same women, all of whom were dressed in the same black dresses and white masks. Some seemed to be carrying firearms and directing those who wandered from their smaller corridors into the line. As Danika looked around at the corridor — the room was very tall and brutalist, with stone walls covered in white metal plating and lighting panels — a guard pulled her towards the line and she started walking and following the line down. Everyone around her was similar in age to her eighteen-year-old self, and it seemed as though they were all employing the same mindset — ‘keep your head down and don’t make any trouble’. There was an eerie atmosphere as they marched down towards wherever they were going, not a single word was said — all that was audible was the bare feet hitting solid stone ground.

  Eventually, after a few minutes of walking, they reached a large room. The room looked as though it used to be some kind of hangar — either for aircraft or mech — and was around the size of a small apartment block in height. The walls had the same scrap metal plating covering holes on the wall — quite definitely a mech hangar — with daylight protruding behind. At one end of the hall was a giant, powered-off screen, and it was quite apparent that it was the focal point of everyone in the room — the masked women were now putting everyone into rows, and forcing them to sit cross-legged on the floor as though they were children at a school assembly. Once prompted, Danika took her seat and looked around the room. She didn’t recognise a single face — she was alone in a sea of people who were probably just as alone as her. What was once a possibility — that everyone she ever knew had now simply just been relegated to memory — was now a cold, hard fact that filled her with despair, the pit in her stomach widening as her head flooded with questions of what happened to those within her village — did they make it? Were they captured? Were they killed? Why am I the only one alive?

  Danika’s thoughts were cut short as the lights dimmed and the screen at the front of the room lit up and presented what was essentially an infomercial, in which a little cartoon bird ran around the screen avoiding lots of different gunshots.

 

  The commercial was now showing the bird weightlifting and doing lots of different tasks, getting stronger and having more medals placed on him for everything that he did. Eventually, the bird flew away into the sun. Danika tried her best not to snigger in disgust — years of watching her village get exploited and ruined by the war machine that the UXF perpetuated to simply protect the private militias that ruled the land had made her jaded at the idea of the UXF bringing positivity to anyone’s life — but managed to remain composed under the watchful eye of the silkwomen, who were making their way around the room. Eventually, a silkwoman got to Danika and stamped an ‘18’ onto her tan shirt — in big black text. Danika looked around and saw that everyone was being assigned a number — none of which exceeded 30.

  As the screen flickered back off, the silkwomen began pulling people out from where they were sitting and separating them into groups, all of which had a unique number from 1 to 30. The room began to hollow out, with Danika eventually being pulled into her group and forced to follow in a line out of the hangar and back into the rehabilitation complex — a building of long and winding corridors that can only be described as a scrappy military base. Walking through the complex were silkwomen, all of whom were identical, and the majority of whom were armed with standard-issue kinetic rifles. Eventually, the silkwoman who was leading the group halted and arrived at what was a door. It was a steel door that appeared to lead to some kind of outside light — but the doors were held together by a padlock.

  The silkwoman unlocked the padlock and looked out of the windows, waiting patiently. After a few moments, she opened the door to reveal the back of a truck — it was obvious that this was an old lorry that had been renovated to become a mass transportation vehicle, with parallel seats along the side. The silkwoman then nudged the first person in the queue — #1, a dark-skinned man with short black hair — and began to file everyone into the truck. Danika took her seat and sat patiently as the truck closed up, and began to move away from the facility she was at full speed. Everyone else in the truck had the same idea — not a squeak, for everyone was fearful for their lives. After all, there were two armed silkwomen in the truck with them.

---

 

Eventually, the truck came to a stop. With a clank, the doors on the back of the truck opened up and the two silkwomen climbed out before ordering the prisoners out. As Danika climbed out of the truck, the gleam of sunlight in her eyes had her almost in shock — the outside world seemed like it was so far away up until this moment, but here they were. Outside. The world around them was both barren and oddly beautiful — a mountainous, rocky landscape that would seem inconspicuous to the unknowing — however, from the side that Danika was on, the inconspicuous mountain range hid what could only be described as an encampment. With a few different buildings, a few different modes of transportation, and what could only be described as an armoury, it was obvious that this was meant to be some kind of hidden training base — or some kind of secret encampment hidden deep. Danika had no idea where she actually was at this point — after all, being so far from home, the whole ordeal was an entirely new look at the world for her. 

  After everyone was offloaded and the truck drove off, the silkwomen guided the group over to what appeared to be the main building. What was essentially a shack made out of wood and steel, the main dormitory had thirty beds — all of which were assigned by number. Danika found number eighteen and sat down on her bed, fiddling with her fingers as she looked towards the silkwomen at the end of the room to clarify what was expected of them next. Once everyone had taken their seats and the commotion had died down, one of the two silkwomen stepped forward.

  “Attention. Tomorrow, you will each be assigned a task. Until then, and between tasks, you may navigate the encampment freely. Any attempts to escape the encampment will be met with lethal force. Meal times are on the board at the end of the room, and failure to attend will result in punishment. Understood?” The silkwoman barked, her robotic voice echoing off of the walls of the encampment. Nobody responded, but the silence in the room was satisfying enough for the silkwoman. “Meal time in fifty minutes.”

  The silkwomen walked out, and a small amount of chatter started within the room — none of which particularly interested Danika. She just sat there, swimming in her own thoughts, until everyone began to make their way to the cafeteria building. Casually strolling over through the courtyard to the cafeteria building — which looked, once again, as though it was put together with scraps — Danika found herself taking her tray of silkwoman-served bread and stew to a table alone, as she watched the others in the group converse. The atmosphere was still tense — with people talking under hushed breaths and looking over their shoulders to make sure they weren’t facing the barrel of a kinetic rifle — but Danika felt that she was separated from everyone else in the room, at the very least.

  She scanned the room to see if she could identify anyone at all, but all she could see were plain faces. Sure, everyone looked a bit different, but in this world, it felt as though everyone was one and the same — different to her, and someone she was isolated from. That is until she spotted someone that actually caught her attention. On her shirt, the number 2 was stamped — and she was a pretty girl with long, brown hair and eyes so bright that they felt like diamonds in the rough to her. She was also sat alone, focused more on her meal than talking to people around her. Danika turned her attention away quickly, realising that she was staring for far too long — and turned her attention back to her bread roll and stew. Plain food, easy to produce and inexpensive. Prison food.

  After having eaten, Danika looked over towards the seat where #2 had once sat. But, she was nowhere to be seen. Huh?

   Danika walked back to the dorm room and climbed into her bed — curling up for warmth. After all, the young woman was fully exhausted and it was beginning to get dark — the scrappy construction of the building meant that the building was actually freezing cold. Eventually, she heard people walk back in, and settle down for the night. As she was drifting off, Danika thought that she could hear someone calling out for her. Maybe another reason to care again. Another reason to want to carry on, maybe make it out. After all, she wasn’t dead yet — was she?

 

 

                   

Danika’s eyes opened.

 

  There she still was, in the dormitory. Daylight was creeping in through the windows, and her brain was just as frazzled as it was from her exhaustion the day prior. Her mind was in a thousand different places — why am I alive? What are we here for?

  She sat up and ran her hands down the ‘blanket’ covering her — technically it was a blanket, but it was more a rough, thick fabric, akin to a sack. It was coarse and scratchy, but it was better than where she woke up the day prior. Part of her was lucky to be alive — but, there was a pit in her stomach. Someone like her did not belong in a place like this. So, why was she here?

  Before she could even begin to swim back into her thoughts, something across the room caught her eye — #2, who had disappeared the night before, was back in her bed. Maybe she just wandered somewhere in the encampment. Why do I care so much about a random stranger? I don’t even know her.

  After stretching her arms wide, Danika stood up and made her way over towards the bathrooms — a stone building that was connected to the dormitory, but seemed to be much older. The lights in the bathroom were flickery, as though they came straight out of a horror film, but generally, the room was quite clean and well-constructed. One side of the room had bathroom stalls, and the other had sinks and mirrors — with a doorway next to them that led to what could only be assumed to be showers. Danika made her way to the sink and splashed her face with cold water — wincing at the shock of the cold liquid hitting her face, before looking at her reflection in the mirror. Her bloodshot eyes and baggy eyelids told the story of a dead woman, and her face was already looking weary. She used the cold water to wash her face more and refresh herself.

  As she made her way back into the main dormitory, she noticed a crack in the wall of the dormitory — where two metal sheets hadn’t fully met. Quickly making her way towards it, she put her eye near the hole to look outside — but all she could see was bright, harsh sunlight. After a few moments of adjusting, her eyes permitted her to see past the rays of sunlight — and Danika could only really see the barren edge of the encampment. After waiting a few moments and seeing nothing particular out of the hole, she made her way back to her bed and sat down on the edge of the bed, once again running her hand along the coarse blanket to pass the time.

  There were a few people who were beginning to stir within the dormitory — #2 wasn’t awake, though. But that’s not important. She’s just a random person who I’m here with.

  The thought sent a shiver down her spine. But, that thought was cut short by the door to the dormitory opening — as a silkwoman made her way into the room. She used the stock of her kinetic rifle to bang the wood-panelled floor hard, doing it repeatedly until everyone in the room was awake and sat up.

  “You have two hours to prepare.” She said, ominously, and turned around to leave the dormitory. Everyone looked around at each other, puzzled. Before making her way out of the room, she turned around again and walked up to #2’s bed. “And, if I catch any one of you trying to snoop around again...”

  She hit #2 with the buttstock of the same rifle, right in the face, before swiftly turning around and proceeding to leave without a single care for #2 wail of pain. As soon as the silkwoman left, Danika instantly ran over to #2’s bed to comfort her, as she held her face in pain with her hand. 

  “Are you okay, dear?” Danika asked worriedly, using the soft tone one would reserve for a young child or a hurting lover. Her voice had a tone that was slightly drier than one would expect, with her voice donning an accent that was very much different from anyone around her — a lilt of her home village.

  #2 nodded weakly, to which Danika examined the young girl’s face. There was a slight bit of blood running down the side of #2’s hand, and the girl was shaking. “I didn’t think they caught me.” #2 said with a raspy, shaky voice.

  Danika nodded in acknowledgement, before looking around her. Everyone was making their way out to the cafeteria, so she simply just put a reassuring hand on the young girl’s shoulder and waited for everyone to leave.

  “You can go… I don’t want you to miss out on food.”

  “Don’t be silly.”

  “I’m fine, trust me.”

  “You’re bleeding. It’s okay. Won’t take me more than a few minutes.” Danika moved the young girl’s hand away from her face slowly, before using her own sleeve to wipe the blood off of the cut. #2 shrieked in pain and Danika stopped.

  “It’s okay. Just wiping it down.”

  #2 bit down her mouth and nodded, before Danika slowly continued to wipe blood away from the cut on her face. There was a bit of discolouration — a bruise starting to form — but the actual wound had stopped bleeding after a few wipes.

 “That’ll scab up, just don’t scratch it, okay?”

  #2 nodded. With this acknowledgement, Danika got off of the bed. “Make your way to the cafeteria in your own time. Just please, don’t get yourself fucked up like this again, yeah?”

  #2 nodded again — not much for conversation? — as Danika left the dormitory to walk over to the cafeteria. Once she got there, she grabbed a bread roll and sat at her table — alone, once again. She ate her bread, listening to the conversations of those around her — a general sentiment of fear towards the word ‘prepare’ was spreading around the room, and Danika could only sit and worry about what was to come next.

 

 

The silkwoman entered the dormitory, and everyone looked up. It was all that anyone in the room was waiting for at this time — to find out exactly what ‘prepare’ meant. She stood and looked around the room for a second, before nodding.

  “Everyone’s ready. Good. Follow me, single file in number order.”

  She turned around and walked out of the room. Slowly, everyone filed out of the door in order, and Danika followed suit. They walked through the gates of the encampment — which closed and returned to their locked state once everyone had passed through — and started to make their way down the mountain range. It was a very steep fall down below, and so — while Danika had thought about making her escape — the risk of imminent death was far too high to even make it a real possibility.

  Eventually, after an hour of walking down the mountain range, the silkwoman stopped at a hangar-like building — built into the side of one of the mountains. The silkwoman turned towards the group.

  “Your group has been chosen to venture into the caves within these mountains — to mine for important resources. You will be equipped with mechanical suits to enable you to complete your task. Any attempt to use these mechanical suits for anything other than UXF work will be met with lethal force.” The silkwoman turned towards the door and put her hand on the scanner. The doorway to the hangar opened. Suddenly, the ominous voice turned into more of a pissed-off growl. “If you try to fuck around in this hanger, one of the automated turrets will not fail to kill you.”

  She made her way in, and the group followed. The hangar was a very dimly lit room with lots of open space, with lots of mech stations in the centre of the room. The mech stations were simply just platforms with open mech suits — the mech suits were pretty ordinary heavy-duty suits, with a drill on one arm and a claw on the other. There were lots of old pieces of tech and junk dotted around the place — it was obviously a former military hangar that was retrofitted for this purpose, which the large plane doors at the end of the hangar confirmed — but otherwise, the place looked practically spotless — like it was still being maintained for use.

  The silkwoman started assigning people to mech stations one by one and directing people to get into their mech suits. Eventually, Danika was assigned her station. She stepped into the suit as directed, and it closed around her and enveloped her in darkness. At first, the sensory deprivation of the lack of light sent her mind into a panic. But, soon, she heard a whir and a screen lit up in front of her face — blinding her at first, but letting her see into the outside world again.

  Almost in an instant, Danika’s fight or flight response clicked into place. A woman with a gun versus a fucking mech? Finally, I have a chance to get out of here. I just need to work out how to…

  Danika’s mind fell silent, as the screen in front of her dazzled with pretty colours — all of which danced around Danika’s irises. She was mesmerised, and any thought of escape had long dwindled out of her head. In fact, it was a struggle to think at all. She tried to grasp onto anything she could — any words, thoughts. Anything to help her struggle her way back to the surface of her mind. But, eventually, the dazzling visuals took over, and she…

 

 

Danika’s eyes opened.

 

She was in a cave. Wait, what happen-?

 

The screen in front of her flashed and dazzled her with pretty visuals, and her eyes shot open — instantly, she was out of her haze. Her mind instantly turned towards the task at hand. Keep my head down, keep working. I’ll figure it out, eventually. 

 Danika started to get to work, using the drill to drill out any crude resources — oil, minerals, rocks, anything that could be of use — and store them away. The caves were very claustrophobic and lonely — none of the rest of her group were anywhere to be seen, and she was mainly working alone. It was difficult enough doing this — Danika did not want to be working to further the UXF, nor did she like mining — but doing it alone was depressing. However, whenever she felt as though she couldn’t be bothered to carry on any more — in what seems like a flash — her spirits were lifted and her motivation heightened. In those small boosts of motivation, her whole body felt electric — she felt as though she could conquer the world, but she also remembered that she needed to play the whole situation as smartly as possible — to keep her head down and simply just survive.

  Eventually, she started to make progress going through the cave. She felt like her suit’s storage pack was getting fuller by the minute — even though it was simply just sucking whatever she put into it back up to the surface through a pipe — and it only motivated her more. After all, more success will lead to more benefits, right? And then, maybe I can work my way into escaping out of here.

  Danika noticed a slight metallic taste in the air — but in a flash, the thought was gone, and back to work she got. She was determined to do the best in her group, to make sure that she could succeed and maybe get further, maybe get some kind of upper hand to help her get out of the hellscape that she was currently in.

  Hours later, after lots of hard work, the screen in front of Danika told her to return to the chute at the end of the cave — and she followed. She stood there, waiting for a few moments confusedly — before she felt herself being launched upwards. Suddenly, she was back in the hangar. The suit opened up and she shakily stepped out, feeling incredibly tired, dazed, and lethargic. The silkwoman walked up to her as she found solid ground again.

  “Good work, 18.”

  “T-thank you.” Danika responded, dumbstruck at the praise that the silkwoman had given her. Right now, Danika was in fifty billion different trains of thought — and too tired to catch onto any of them. As the silkwoman walked away, Danika squinted and looked at the clipboard that she was carrying. It was hard to see, but there were different stamps of red, yellow, and green. Danika furrowed her eyebrow — something had snapped in her mind, and she came out of her daze.

  She waited a few seconds, before looking around to see if anyone was around. After making sure the coast was clear, Danika started trailing behind the silkwoman — making sure to hide behind each one of the mech stations as she followed along. The silkwoman was making her way into a room at the side of the hangar. However, before she could catch up, Danika felt a brain fog hit her. Before she even realised it was happening, she lost her balance and fell to her feet. It felt as though the world was closing in on her. She felt tired, exhausted — she was shivering and hyperventilating.

  After what felt like an eternity, she managed to catch her breath. The world wasn’t spinning around her anymore, but her mind was running to try to work out what the fuck was going on. Suddenly, she winced at the pain in her stomach and everything started to make sense to her  — how long was I down there?

  She looked towards the door where the silkwoman had disappeared. Surely, I would be able to hear something, right?

  As if a conversation was happening between her brain and her stomach. Danika felt another pang of hunger. No, I need to go back and get some food. I’m fucking exhausted.

 She got back up to her feet and slowly walked her way out of the hangar. As she passed, she looked at the other mech stations. She examined them — all of them had their mechs in there. Everyone else was already gone. Why am I still here?

  As she left out of the big doors, she was greeted again by the treacherous mountain range that the encampment laid upon. The whole range looked like a deathwish, save for the path that they walked down to get here. Her eyes were instantly drawn to her left, as the path continued down the mountain. But, it was impossible to see how long the road was. I could just, leave right now.

 Once again, on cue, she winced at the searing pain in her stomach. I’d never survive. I’m hungry and tired, and I’d be freezing. Or, even if I survived, they’d come for me. No, the plan is to keep my head down.

  She started to walk back up the lonely, barren path, trudging her feet along as she made her way back up to the encampment.

 

---

 

 

  The silkwoman watched out of the window as Danika turned to the right, letting out a satisfied sigh as she went around the corner. Behind her was another silkwoman, lying on the floor, hands tied behind her back — not a single movement from her body. Not a single breath — just a dark slumber.

  “See, my dear? This is how we get results. This is what Gemma wants from us. Shame you couldn’t see things the same way.” The silkwoman’s voice was softer, almost like a warm silk running through the ear. The modulation was gone, but the mask was still on — slight splashes of red dripping and contrasting the perfect white.

  She softly played with the beautiful steel blade in her hand.

 

 

  The bread in the cafeteria was much staler than the previous night. Danika could feel her stomach practically crying out as she ate her bread and stew — she could feel exhaustion all over her body as if she’d been doused in it. It didn’t help that Danika was so confused. Between the mining and the papers, her head was pounding. It was all so much, but yet it felt like there was something she was missing.

  As she was weeping over the grovel in front of her, a bowl of the same grovel and a bread roll was placed in front of hers. Danika looked up — her.

  “Took you a while to come back.” #2’s voice instantly took her attention and got her out of her head.

  “Uh, yeah. I got out of my mine later than everyone, it seems.”

  “Seems like it. You seem shattered.”

   Danika looked over her shoulder and around the vicinity, before looking #2 in the eye. “They’re planning something.”

  #2 raised her eyebrow and looked at Danika confusedly. “Erm…?”

  “I saw. The guard woman had a clipboard. She was marking us with colours. They’re preparing for something, testing us.”

  #2 was mopping up her stew fast. She was practically gobbling it down, and it seemed as though she wasn’t listening at all. Danika simply just watched her. Eventually, #2 looked up at her. “I’m listening, carry on.”

  Danika nodded, and simply just sat there thinking. After a few moments, her eyes lit up again.“Hey, did you notice something weird about the mech suits earlier?”

  “No…? I… I can’t really remember much at all. It was all a haze, I think I was just really overwhelmed the whole time.”

  “Huh…” Danika just sat there, thinking. After a brief moment of recollection, she continued. “There was something strange happening, but I can’t remember what.”

  “Yeah…”

  They both sat there awkwardly in silence, until Danika looked up at #2. “I’m Danika.”

  “Oh, I…” the girl was slightly flustered. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, before opening them again — composed. “I’m Pris.”

  “Pris,” Danika said assuredly, with a smile. “Pretty name.”

  They sat, sharing the warmth of silence together. Danika studied Pris’ face — there was scabbing from the altercation this morning — but it contrasted with the softness of her skin. She didn’t belong in this world. It wasn’t right for her, and Danika knew it. I have to protect her. Above all else.

 

 

The cafeteria had now closed, and everyone was back in the dormitory. Danika was just sitting on her bed, swimming in her thoughts as those around her chatted. There wasn’t really anything else to do, and she didn’t really want to talk to anyone else.

  The doors flung open and three silkwomen made their way through the door. Huh? They don’t usually come in this late at night.

  The one in front stood at the end of the room, as the other two made their way down to the other side of the room. Danika gulped — the atmosphere in the room felt as though they were lining up for an execution.

  The usual modulated voice echoed from the walls. “Thank you for your co-operation in today’s task. You will now be assigned to different colours, which will be used as identifiers for future operations.”

  The two other silkwomen made their way down the ends of the beds, affixing different coloured patches onto each person’s shirt — red, yellow, and green. Danika watched as each person was very carefully given a specific patch, after an examination of the clipboard in their hand. As the silkwoman on her side of the room approached her, Danika tried to look at the clipboard. However, before she could even take a look, she had already had a yellow patch affixed to her shirt and continued.

  Yellow? Not green or red? Middle of the road? Danika looked around at the others in the room. While she didn’t know anyone in the room other than her new friend, she examined those close to her. Everyone around her was very uninteresting to her up until this point — and so she had not even a clue of who donned which number.

  Across from her bed was a young man, around her age. He was fairly mundane physically — not great for physical work. She looked at his patch — red.

  She looked at the person to her left. It was another man, this time a little older than her — and a lot more fit for physical work than the red patch opposite. His patch was green, as expected. So, it’s all about physical ability, right? But, then how am I yellow? I was in the mine for the longest.

  Danika scratched her head and looked over at Pris — who made her eyes widen. Pris had a green patch — the cutest, meekest person here was in the same category as the guy next to me? No, it can’t be physical ability, right?

  As the silkwomen left, Danika looked at Pris. Green. Green, green, green. If Pris is green and I’m yellow. Green must be the worst case, right?

  Danika laid back into her bed, staring at the ceiling deep in thought — her eyes were dilated as she looked up into the light above until it eventually turned off. Pris is safest with me. But, if green is the worst case, they’ll be treated worse. But, nobody would want to trade down from green to yellow, right?

  Her breath was getting shaky as she began to hyperventilate slightly, her thoughts too fast for her. She started to play with the patch on her shirt — it was tightly attached to her shirt, but with a tug, she managed to pull hers off. It came off with a rip, but no tear. The patch was in her hands — she looked at the back, and there were small hooks — tiny enough, with a texture akin to what we’d know as velcro.

  Instantly, she moved to affix the patch back onto her shirt. It instantly re-attached and was like it had never been removed. Her eyebrow furrowed, and she began to think — laying back in her bed.

 

 

The room was as dark as ever. Danika was still staring at the ceiling — though her eyes had now formed patterns due to the lack of visual stimulation. She took a deep breath and slowly sat up, her eyes tracing whatever she could make of. She looked over towards where she knew Pris was lying — two beds from the door — and slowly stood up from her bed, moving so as to not make a squeak. Her feet were light on the floor, and she slowly walked over to Pris’ bed, sitting down on the side of it ever so gently.

  At first, she admired the sleeping girl — her pupils were wide as she stared at Pris, who was away with the faeries. Gosh.

  Danika took a deep breath and softly whispered into Pris’ ear. “Pris.”

  After a few attempts of doing so, Pris opened her eyes wide in a startle. Danika quickly moved to stroke her hair. 

  “It’s me. Danika. Shh. It’s okay, just stay quiet.” Danika’s whisper was barely a sound, her lips were close to the girl’s ear. “I need to take your patch.”

  Danika reached down to the sleepy girl’s shirt and pulled off the patch firmly. It came off easily, to which a sigh of relief left Danika’s lips. She ripped off her own patch and stuck it onto Pris carefully — making sure it was as the silkwoman attached it. She took a deep breath, looking around the room. Her eyes scanned those around her — it was dark, and so seeing the patch colours was a strain. Danika got off of Pris’ bed gently, looking at the bed next to the one she was just sitting on. Red, shit.

  She crept over to the bed across the way — softly leaning over the bed to look for a patch. She saw a yellow patch — bingo.

  Her hand reached for the patch, which was on the other side of the bed, and she pinched it — trying not to awaken the person below her. Her eyes were averted from the person whom she may be simply condemning to a horrid fate — and her fingers were tightly gripped onto the patch. She tried to pull, but her stomach dropped.

  

There was no movement — the patch wasn’t pulling. 

 

  Her grip began to shake, as she tried pulling again. But, nothing. Her breath was getting lighter — a panic began to form in her chest. She pulled one more time, but the patch just wouldn’t budge. Shit! Her hand began to shift, trying to find the right angle to tear the patch off. But, as she did, her other hand — the one keeping her balanced on the bed — slipped, and she fell on top of the person below.

  Danika’s eyes widened, as she was practically fully on top of the person below at this point — her face was inches away from the one in front of her. It was the face of a young girl, around the same age as Danika — and much prettier, too. The girl was fast asleep, but Danika knew that could change at any moment. I need to get that patch, quickly.

 Her hands were by the girl’s sides — after having moved there to brace her from falling over more — but Danika could barely move them without touching the girl. She slowly tried to move, but the girl opened her eyes slightly.

  Danika’s head was in freefall. She was fucked.

  She took a deep breath. In for a penny…