This place, thought Lily, was getting creepier and creepier. It was especially bad tonight. No one was in the compound except for her and Muscles. What was worse, he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.
If only she could talk to somebody. The silent treatment she’d been experiencing was freaking her out. These days, no one even made eye contact with her except for the damn guards. And the one person she’d felt a connection to was no longer around. On the day after Karina had told her she would try and help, she had up and disappeared.
When was that? It was at least three or four days ago, and maybe even longer. Time played strange tricks on you in this place.
Something was definitely wrong. She wasn’t the only one who had the heebie-jeebies. On the night Karina didn’t come back, she had been waiting outside in the hopes of getting a private moment to talk to her. When the other women returned without Karina, Lily could sense their vibe was all wrong. They looked and moved like they were in a state of shock and just disappeared into their tin cabins.
Since then, none of the girls had said a word to her. Not a single word. They hadn’t been talking much with one another either. Everyone was keeping to herself. The only one who seemed to have any inclination to speak was the girl who was always shooting her dirty looks, the one they called Oksana.
Ox, thought Lily. Big, dumb ox. That’s what she thought of Oksana.
Lily suspected the tension in the air had to do with Karina. She had tried talking to the girl they called Yana, catching her when she was standing off by herself. With no one in earshot, she’d said to her, “What happened to Karina?” The girl had recoiled, acting like Lily was coming at her with a weapon, and then she’d actually run away. What had scared her off like that?
It was easy to be paranoid, Lily knew, especially with no one talking to her. But it also seemed to her like there was a lot to be paranoid about.
Despite everything, she was feeling better physically than she had in a long time. Tío Leo had given her all the drugs she wanted, but it wasn’t like some act of kindness on his part. He’d supplied her with drugs because it made it easier for him to control her. Lily had known they were slow-acting poison, but at least they’d allowed some escape from her situation.
Getting regular meals, sun, and exercise had lifted her fog, but it hadn’t made her any less anxious. Her guards were acting under the orders of this Vicky bitch, and Lily was sure of one thing: this Vicky was no social worker. She had seen how Karina had made a face when she spat out Vicky’s name.
Her personal guard for the night, the big guy with the muscles, was watching her much more closely than usual. What was up with that? Normally he wasn’t so attentive.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
In a heavily accented voice he said, “Andrei.”
“How about the two of us party, Andrei?”
“No party.”
Lily pretended to pout. Getting Muscles to like her might allow her the opportunity to use his phone.
“Don’t be boring. The two of us could have a little fun together.”
Instead of responding, Andrei checked the time on his watch. Then his gaze drifted toward the gate before returning back to her.
Trying to seduce the guard was a nonstarter. Maybe he was afraid of the cameras in the compound. Or maybe it was her. It was like she was bad news that everyone knew to avoid.
Screw that.
Lily got to her feet and started walking. The only route available was to circle the compound. The space was enclosed by electric fencing and topped by razor wire. She walked the perimeter; Andrei trailed behind her. To play with his mind, Lily picked up the pace. He did as well. Where did he think she was going anyway?
She came to a stop in the middle of a clearing. A light illuminated the area, showcasing Lily’s elongated shadow. Lily extended a tentative hand, formed her fingers into a shape, and a bunny’s head showed itself. She wiggled her fingers; the bunny’s ears began to move. When she was younger, one of her favorite games had been to make shadow figures. All you needed was a light like this one. She remembered a sleepover with her friends Brooke and Candy—how old had they been then? Maybe ten. The three of them had gathered around a book that showed them how to position their hands and fingers to make different shadows. For an hour or two, they had put on shows for one another. The other girls had particularly admired Lily’s bat; everyone agreed it was the best shadow figure. It had looked so real that Candy said she thought it was going to fly away.
Lily brought her hands together, trying to remember how she had gone about making her bat.
Her show was interrupted by bouncing lights, and Lily suddenly became aware of the sounds of an approaching vehicle. A large SUV with a camper shell, its headlight beams on high, was pulling up to the gate.
Lily had been held long enough to know there was little traffic in or out of the compound. The gated private road made sure of that. Vans took the girls to their workplaces and then returned them. This wasn’t one of those vans. It was a vehicle she had never seen before
This wasn’t usual.
Lily reacted, but too late. Andrei had crept up behind her. She struggled in his grasp, but there was no escaping his iron grip. He pressed something foul-smelling over her nose and mouth, forcing her to breathe in. She grew light-headed, but before passing out, her struggles seemed to produce a new set of shadow images in the clearing.
A spider was wrapping its prey as the insect wriggled. Then the struggle stopped. The spider secured its prey, and the shadow image faded to black.