I gulped and glanced into the back room where Colton lay still asleep on my bed, unaware of the war that I was waging in my mind. "Me, take me."
The boy, who I now assumed had to be much older than me, grinned and grabbed my arm. "Get the kid!" he called. I struggled against my bonds.
"You said that you'd just take me, let him go," I could hear them grabbing Colton and hear his tiny pleas for me to come help. My heart was broken, I had fallen for their trick, I knew that they would get him anyway, why had I been so stupid?
"Let's go boys."
Bags were placed over our heads and we were shoved into the back of a van.
I grabbed Colton's hand and held onto it the entire ride to wherever we were going. The door opened and we were pulled out.
"River," someone called. "Come get the newbies!"
My arm was roughly grabbed and I was shoved, losing hold of Colton's hand. I heard him cry out for me. The bag was ripped off of my head and I was pushed into a cell. "Where's my brother?" It would be easier to just act like he is my brother, they'd be more likely to let me be with him.
"I'm sorry, girl," a teen with shaggy black hair and green eyes said. "If I could help you, I would."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Very nice, shut up and leave me alone."
"Bad mood, huh?" the kid joked.
I smacked him through the bars of my cells. "I told you to shut up, guess what that means? Shut up."
He laughed at me and gave an award worthy smile. "I'm sorry, I will. My name's River." River leaned up against the bars of my cage. "Never mind, I'm super bored now. Shutting up is hard." I almost laughed, but I only cracked a smile. He turned and looked at me. "I got you to smile, take that princess. So, what's your name?"
"I am keeping that information to myself," I snarled, trying to put that annoyed look back on my face, but failed. "Why do you guys need me here? Don't you have enough people here?"
"If we needed you for people, you would be a Breeder, be happy that you're just a maid, or a Hunter." River's face turned cold as he spoke.
"I won't be either," I said looking out the window.
"It's sad isn't it?" River said. "We're a broken city and we can't rebuild ourselves."
I snorted. "Ever occur to you why it is that we're like this?"
"Yeah, our economy broke and the Wolves, although they tried their hardest, they couldn't rebuild us."
I gave a bitter laugh. "Right that's why we're a broken ghost city."
He smirked as I turned to face him. I sat on the rock hard bed that I was given and kicked a broken bottle, barely glancing at a ominous brown splotch on the wall. "Then, oh mighty princess, what do you suppose happened?"
"The big bad wolf came in and ate all the little sheep that they saw. Then the ones who were too scared to fight back, were made into slaves. The ones who fought back, well, tell me that you don't see those bones out there near the city wall? You know, the one that your people put up to keep us from leaving? That wall."
I turned to face him and see his reaction, but he was gone. Maybe I had annoyed him with my constant talking, or he was mad that I had spoke my mind.
"Here, take a shower," a gruff voice said and clothes were thrust at me.
"Wait, I'm not an Elite Sheep, why do I get clothes?" I put my hands up to the cold metal bars.
