After dagging the sheep, one of the most annoying tasks Emma had done at Venom pack, it was time to go and get washed at the communal centre. Emma found the washing activity quite dehumanising. They had to stand there in their clothes while the warriors used hoses to pour water on them. After being washed, each had to go to the small shack to remove the wet clothes and put on clean ones. There were other slaves in charge of doing the laundry. Emma always wondered why they wouldn’t just let them wash one by one in the shack, but it seemed the people in charge enjoyed humiliating them.
Emma studied the area well, observing as much area of the pack as she could. She needed to know the entire layout in case she decided to escape again.
Kylie’s group had got their first. Emma went directly to her. “Why did you do it?” she asked, facing the defiant young woman. “You tricked me.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to anyone,” Kylie said, flipping her hair. “I don’t owe anything to you.”
“You’re a b! tch,” Emma said.
Kylie stood up. “Who are you calling a b1tch?” she yelled before slapping Emma. Emma slapped her. Immediately they started fighting and everyone around just watched as the two young women beat each other black and blue. Kylie was giving Emma more blows and Emma was trying hard to defend herself. Eventually, she gave up and ran away only to bump into Kylie and her friends. She stopped, her face growing pale.
“Look, who we have here.” Alison said. Their other friends stood behind Alison and gave Emma cold stares.
Emma sighed and turned her head. She saw that Kylie had gone back to sit with her friends. She didn’t have to run anymore.
“Aren’t you ashamed,” Alison said. “You know very well that you got us into this mess but you decided to save yourself and leave us alone. I have never met someone as self-centred as you are, Emma Greenfield. I’m pretty sure you would kill someone as long as it benefited you.” Alison shook her heard. “You’re something else. But guess what? Fate is not stupid. You got exactly what you deserved. I’m too happy, honestly.”
“I was going to come back for you guys,” Alison laughed at loud, throwing her head back. “You’re hilarious. You won’t even say sorry.”
“Look, I feel bad about what happened and I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave you guys but I thought you’d get us caught. You talk a lot, Alison.”
“I would get you caught? Well, I didn’t come and you got caught. You like to blame other people for everything, but now you have no one to blame.”
“Well, I’m sorry I put myself first. But I had told Richard about the tunnels. He knew they existed.”
“Hey, don’t involve me in your nonsense.” Richard said.
What? Emma was shocked. She had been sure he wouldn’t trust her again, but hadn’t expected him to be that cold towards her.
Alison smiled. “Now you have turned everyone against you. I know you’re about to blame me for it.”
The warriors arrived and grabbed the pipes. The slaves all got in position and started scrubbing themselves as the water rained on them. The water was colder than usual so by the end, Emma and her friends were all shivering. Changing into warm clothes was a big relief to them. All the slaves, excluding Emma were given some mangoes after. It seemed Andrea was not about to stop trying to make her life miserable. Emma watched as everyone ate the sweet fruits. None of them offered to share with her.
Although she knew that she deserved it, she felt bad. This had been much better when she was in good terms with her friends, especially Richard. Now she had no one to speak to. The worst part was when she saw Richard and Alison laughing together. They were chatting and laughing like old friends which irritated Emma. She wondered what life would be like if tommy was still around. Would he still be by her side?
As they walked back to their den, Emma caught a glimpse of Ken the guard. He was standing outside the main pack house, talking with a very attractive young woman. Emma’ s heart raced when her eye caught his. She felt a pang of jealousy, and twisted her face, wondering what was going on? Why did she feel bad when she saw him with another woman? He meant nothing to her, at least that’s what she was trying to tell herself.
When they reached the dungeon, she sat in her cage, still thinking of the man. Her interest in escaping had not been destroyed by her first failure. She knew she was going to try again. She would never be happy locked up. Emma was a free bird who needed to fly to feel happy.
The more Emma thought about the young man, the more she considered escaping. She day dreamed of a scenario where he fell in love with her and helped her escape. Emma rolled her eyes when the fantasy ended. As if!
But what is she could do it? Use him to get what she wanted? No, no, she thought, that would make her the person Alison had described, one who only cared about herself. Even if she could make the guard help her, he would be in trouble if she did.
Emma decided to drop the thought after sometime. She lay on her back and fell into a restless sleep which was full of all kinds of dreams. When she woke up in the morning, she decided to give the seduction idea a try. She didn’t plan on forcing him to do anything.
In any case, she needed a distraction from her current life situation. Falling in love could be a good thing, even if that was all she got. If she was going to live as a slave, she may as well enjoy it.