Hospes

Part one.

TW:
The following story includes heavy topics such as SH, human trafficking etc.
Your mental health matters.
Read at your own risk.
(Sorry for any errors)

The rabbit was finally still.
The whole forest was silent, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of insects buzzing, wind blowing and the faint noise of the river.
The scene was tranquil, a place where there was only the sounds of nature singing together.
Ruth intended to keep it that way.
Less than a meter away from the rabbit was a girl behind a bush who was waiting for the right moment.
The right moment, a mere split second for the rabbit to have its guard down, to be lost in the tranquility of the forest.
Ruth had been hiding behind the bush for some time, she would not dare to make any movement, this rabbit was quick, she failed to catch it 12 times already.
Each time she had been reckless, consumed by the need for food.
She would not make that mistake again.
At last, the rabbit's back was turned to her.
She slowly crept from behind the bush, her posture low and her arms reaching out below.
She was only centimeters away from it, the sunlight hit against its fur.
Before she could pounce an explosion went off in the distance.
Startled, the rabbit raced off, Ruth jumped on the ground trying to catch it.
Unfortunately the rabbit was too quick.
Ruth was left lying on the forest floor with empty hands and an empty stomach.
She yelled some curses, not caring to keep silent anymore.
She slowly got to her feet and dusted the dirt and leaves she collected from the forest floor, her knees were covered in cuts and bruises, she suspected more were around her body but she didn't check.

She finally made it to the city, like the forest it was silent, it had been silent for a long time.
Her feet hit the black ground, she almost forgot that cars used to drive across this.
She forgot a lot about what the city used to be like when it was inhabited.
And part of her preferred the silence.
It toke time before she made it to where the city was less overgrown.
Most buildings were still standing, she knew that wouldn't last long.
If the frequent earthquakes didn't make them collapse it would be the lack of human care.
After some time of walking through empty streets she stopped at one store in particular.
It was located between two apartments and was painted a thick white (the paint was peeling off.)
It was small compared to other buildings, the windows were broken and the walls were painted heavy with graffiti.
At the top there was a sign that had in big letters 'Co ck Cock'
Originally it spelt 'Comic Co' but Kai had the better idea of 'remodelling' it.
She suspected she would find him here.
There was no door so she walked right in.
There were rows of shelves stacked with comics, most were on the dusty floor. The whole place was a mess.
The ceiling was covered in cobwebs, most abandoned, two large spiders were on the ceiling.
Ruth jumped up and caught one in her hand, the spider started moving around in her hand, it moved around her fingers that were covered in dirt.
She moved it from one hand to another, playing with spiders was something Ruth always enjoyed. She liked the feeling of their legs running around her palm and fingers, the way she could closely inspect each of their body parts, their multiple eyes. It was a strange thing that always calmed her down.
She used it to pass the time a lot.
She wrapped her finger around it and looked around the room.
Cockroaches ran across the floor, she made an effort not to step on them.
She did remember how the place looked 4 years ago.
Kaí dragged her to this place so often it was burned into her memory, he still went now after everything that happened, more so than usual since he didn't have to pay for anything.
"Kaí" she called.
She walked across row after row of shelves filled with comics and merchandise that nobody ever got the chance to buy.
She stepped on some torn up pages as she went. Her feet stepping on different characters faces, mostly buff superheros.
She turned a corner and saw Kaí sitting awkwardly on the floor with his face covered by a thick comic book he was now reading.
She could still recognize him by his spiky hair and tattered clothes.
"Why do you sit so weird?" She asked as she approached him.
Kaí looked up from his comic and grinned. "Ruth, you have to read this one. "
Ruth sighed. "No."
He started marking the page he was on. "It's basically about this alien who had her whole race whipped out by humans so she takes revenge by finding a way to genetically change the human race into having similar dna to plants, but she makes sure they are sentient and make their pain tolerance lower. So they are fully aware of them being plants but they have no means of escaping and everything hurts even more."
Ruth blinks. "Your taste in fiction is concerning."
He shrugs. "I've read everything else, these are the ones I'm left with."
He then grins. "But the comic is badass, the girl alien is also kinda hot."
Ruth rolls her eyes. "Of course you would find an alien who tortures humans attractive."
She looks down at the spider in her hands and brings it closer to her eyes.
"Shes motivated, what can I say." Kaí says.
"Does her massive breasts on the cover have anything to do with it?"
Kaí looks up."I can't believe you would accuse me of such impure behavior, I am attracted to a woman's soul."
Ruth grins. "Sure."
The spider goes to the edge of her thumb, she turns to one of the shelves and lets it run off. It runs off quickly, she loved how spiders moved their bodies, it was never straight, always around the place, it was fascinating.
Kaí stands up and stuffs the comic in his bag.
"You get anything?" He asks.
Ruth sighs. "No. I kept trying but it didn't work, I was close to catching one but then some explosion went off which scared it away."
Kaís expression changes and his posture stiffens. "Oh that's my bad."
Ruth studied his face. "What do you mean it's 'your bad'?"
Kaí looked down at her. Over the last year he suddenly grew so much taller, through their lives Ruth was taller than him, she still wasn't entirely used being shorter.
"I may have done that." Kaí said, smiling.
Ruth's eye twitched. "What?"
"Look it was only a bit of fun, it's not like anyone lives there." Kaí says as he walks past her and heads for the door.
Ruth clenches her fist."I'm trying to get us food and you're helping by blowing up buildings and reading weirdly erotic comics written by old horny men" she saids, not hiding the irritation in her voice.
Kaí tossed her an orange. "Quit yelling, I got us food."
Ruth looked down at the orange. "Kaí, why do you feel the end to blow stuff up?"
He smirked. "It's actually pretty fun, you should try it some time."
Ruth unpeeled the orange and sighed. "I think I'll pass."
Kaí walked up to her and placed his arms on her shoulders. "Ruth, we can do anything here, theres no cops, no government, we can do whatever we want with no consequences. It's literally heaven and you're wasting it."
Ruth shoved his hands away. "Kaí, we need food to survive, we need water to survive."
Kaí nodded. "Yes and we can do that but we can still have some fun, you've gotten so.."
Ruth blinked. "What? Go on say it?"
Kaí sighed."You've gotten so serious. It's like you're an old woman, you never want to do anything anymore."
Ruth's fists clenched. "What fun are we supposed to be having? We're living in an abandoned city that's going to be underwater soon. I'm sorry I can't be as upbeat about that."
Kaí shoke his head. "No, I meant that you're just getting bossy and pessimistic."
Ruth frowned. "What?
Kaí looked away. "Never mind."
He went out the door with Ruth walking behind him slowly. Hurt started to bloom into her chest, she tried to ignore it.
He stopped walking and turned to look at Ruth. He grinned and walked over to her.
He put his arm around her head.
"Sorry Ruth, you know I didn't mean that, from now on a promise to no longer blow up houses."
Ruth sighed and put her head against his chest. He smells just like the store, musty and old.
"We haven't eaten meat in ages Kaí" She said. "
He pats her head. "It's only been 2 weeks Ruth."
She sighs. "I'm sick of eating Ted's canned beans. I want a pork chop "
"I know." He says and pats her on the back. "I wish I could take your horrible suffering pain away but unfortunately I can't."
Ruth grabbed his arm. "You can actually, go get me a rabbit."
Kaí laughed. "See? You're so bossy."
He grabbed her arm and took her opposite where they were supposed to go.
"Kaí, what are you-"
"Let's go to the library." Kaí interrupts.
Ruth sighs. "Why?"
"I think I saw one of those spiders you keep talking about, you know, the really rare ones?"
Ruth suddenly became more alert. "The sarssian spider? The one with bioluminescence markings on their body?"
Kaí nods. "I think so. "
Ruth's low spirit was suddenly lifted up. She had a collection of dead spiders back where they lived. Ever since she could remember she always heard of the sarssian spider, it was extremely rare because unlike other spiders it only lay 10 eggs, its lifespan was long but it spent most of its life in hiding near dark moist areas. It only ate 4 to 3 times throughout its life and only mated towards the end of its life cycle.
Before the city was abandoned, she would look around the river and under bridges trying to find it. Kaí would mostly come with her despite him hating spiders.
"Kaí this could be huge! I mean I don't know why it was in the library since they are normally dry but I mean maybe that's why it died." Ruth said enthusiastically.
Kaí grins. "I don't know why you're so obsessed with spiders. "
The walk across some rubble left by a collapsed building around the streets. Trees are sprouting around the area.
The frequent earthquakes on the island led to a lot of buildings being destroyed.
As they walked across the street Ruth saw some despise in the air from yet another collapsed building.
They walked across another road, some cars were scattered across the streets, moss covering some of them.
Most of the tall buildings have collapsed which lets light pass onto the ground.
Ruth looks up, she realizes it is getting dark, it will make it harder to find the spider in the dark.
She wipes the sweat off her forehead and continues walking.
They eventually come up to an alley.
Kaí tugs on her arm. "Come on, we're almost there."
The alley was narrow, between it was two redbrick walls.
Rubbish bins lay on their back.
A large rat ran out of a red bin.
It didn't have the normal size of rat, it was large and bulky.
Ruth made a face of disgust. "Do we have to go through here?"
Kaí nodded. "It's a shortcut."
They walked into the alleyway side by side.
As they passed the red bin Ruth stopped in her tracks.
She heard someone whining.
She slowed her footsteps along with Kaí.
The voices were quiet at first. Ruth assumed they are the other inhabitants around here. The part of the city is the most popular for people to live in since it is less overgrown and is one of the last places on the island that will eventually go underwater.
The voices were quiet. Ruth couldn't make out much of what they were saying until she heard someone grunt and hit the ground.
Birds flew away into the sky.
"You think you could run away?" A deep voice asked. It was a low, commanding authority.
Laughter then echoed across the street.
It wasn't a warm laugh, something about it seemed cold and mocking.
Ruth assumed there were at least 10 men.
Kaí grabbed her arms and walked quickly near the red rubbish bin against the alley wall.
They crouched behind it and stayed silent.
"Please, just let me go, I'm useless to you-" a voice pleaded. 
Before the man could get another word in he stopped and let out a grunt of pain as the other man kicked him hard in the stomach.
"But Scrotum, you can't leave, we would miss you too much." The man said with sadism.
The man on the floor lets out a whimper. "Please, please I-"
A loud gunshot interrupts him. The man no longer makes a sound.
Kaí grabs Ruth's arm and they run away quickly back to the city center.
The sun had finally set and the city was covered in a blanket of dark blue.
The breeze hit against her face as she ran through different streets.
Eventually she could no longer run and stopped behind a building that used to be a motel and bent down gasping for breath.
Kaí seemed to do the same.
It didn't take long for her to finally catch her breath.
"Who were they?" She asked as she wiped the sweat off her face.
"I don't know." Kaí saids running a hand through his hair.
Ruth looked down and realized she was fidgeting with her fingers.
Kaí started to get up.
"Let's go. Whoever they were, I don't want to stick around and meet them."
Ruth nodded and followed behind.
They walked in the middle of the main road, different buildings on either side of them.
Ruth looked up at the sky.
Since humans left, the stars were so bright.
She remembered how she used to gaze at the black sky in foster care, not realizing that stars in the sky were supposed to be visible.
She stuffed her hands in her pockets. Both hands were clamey and grimy with dirt.
"We should tell the others, they will want to be on the lookout." Ruth said after some silence.
"Yeah." Kaí said as he rubs his eyes.
His eye bags were getting more prominent each day.
She assumed hers were too.
Up ahead they finally saw it.
Up ahead on the main road was packed with cars and campervans.
No buildings surrounded it, just different roads.
It meant they didn't have to worry about buildings collapsing on them
The cars and vans were scattered across the road.
Eventually they stopped at their place. It was an old school bus with tinted windows.
She walked in through the door.
Kaí and Ruth managed to take out all the bus seats.
This gave them a lot more space.
At the corner of the bus were two single mattresses side by side.
There was a capsule for food and a large water tank lay at the end of the bus.
Beside the tank was an antibacterial solution that made the water 90% safe to drink. (So far they were good.)
Next to the water tank was a gas oven.
Ruth hadn't used it in so long. She wanted to cook meat on it again.
What she would do for a pork chop.
Kaí's mattress had piles of comics stacked beside it. 
Her bed was clean. A small box lay beside it that was filled with dead spiders she had collected since she was seven.
A row of battery filled lights were strung near the walls.
Her clothes were in a bag at the end of her bed.
The set up was nice. Ruth and Kaí had been living here for over a year.
They both preferred it to their old foster home, which wasn't saying much.
She started to change clothes. Kaí did the same.
She changed into a t shirt she got from Kaí, the front was the face of an ant with the words 'antsestor' written in bold letters on the top.
She didn't know how that made sense but she liked it regardless.
Kaí only slept in his boxers.
He was under the covers with a light shining from under them.
Another comic to read.
She went under her grey blanket but she couldn't sleep.
She was used to robbers in the city but what she heard today was different.
Kaí said that no law lets people do what they want.
She thought about how those men killed that man in cold blood.
No law was on the island to protect anyone anymore.
She took a watch for the night.
Her eyes were trained on the bus door.
But eventually sleep took over