Chapter 6

Within a week, Saige was dead. Audra spends the days afterward in a haze. The loss of her lover has hit her hard. She rarely left the quarters they were assigned and because she never saw any other stalkers or chasers near, she assumed she was alone, that the Scourge had forgotten about her. If it fine with her because the only tow that mattered any are Saige and the queen and neither are there.

Today is no different than the past few. The only difference today is that she finally decided to leave her room. Even though it was only four walls and a bed, it reminded her of the older woman and the short amount of time they spent in there. She sits on a bench that has held up remarkably against the elements over the years. She has no idea how long she has been sitting there when a voice suddenly erupts the silence around her.

“Do I know you?” the woman suddenly standing before her asks. “I think I recognize you from somewhere.”

Audra looks up and sees a raven-haired woman looking down on her. She doesn’t recognize the woman. “I don’t believe I have ever seen you before,” she croaks.

“I don’t know,” the woman says. “I know I know you from somewhere. It doesn’t matter. What has you so down in the dumps?”

Audra looks up at her, tears well up and threaten to pour. This woman seems so different. She isn’t a breeder which can only mean she is a stalker, but she isn’t the same as the others. Audra can hear the concern in her voice, behind her words. “Have you ... have you ever lost anyone important to you?”

“Haven’t we all?” the woman asks.

Audra feels something break within her. After all that had happened to her, here is someone normal like her. Her emotional floodgates burst open. Long dormant feelings come forth and overwhelm her. She stands and falls forward right into the woman’s arms. She weeps uncontrollably in the stranger’s embrace.

At last, she can speak and she unburdens herself to the woman, Kate, leaving no detail unspoken. Kate listens with concern etched on her face until the girl finishes.

“I’m sorry about your friend and all that you’ve gone through,” Kate says, meaning every word.

“How can we go on?” Audra questions. Her memories of her life before the Scourge are clearer now. She remembers what she was and what it stood for. And then she remembers everything she had done since. Shame fills her every fiber. The deaths, the conversions—all those men and women condemned to death or a life that will only end with an all too soon death—it’s all on her hands. “How can we live with what we have done?” She rubs her hands together as if trying to wipe off blood that can’t be rid of.

“It is hard,” Kate offers. “But we can’t let ourselves give into our guilt. What the Scourge did to us is beyond our control. We are at war and sometimes we have to do what we have to in order to survive.”

“But we didn’t do it for survival,” Audra argues. “We did it for the pleasure. That feeling between our legs, the orgasms, the ... the...”

“Power?” Kate provides.

“Yes...” the young woman hisses. “We did it for all of that.”

Kate offers a shy smile. “Our only redemption is to not allow ourselves to fall under the Scourge’s influence again or others if we can help it.”

“But we’re infected with the fungus,” Audra says. “There is no cure. There is no hope for any of us.”

“There may be,” Kate says, clearly knowing more than she was saying. “But we need to leave this place.”

“How?” Audra asks, suddenly looking around to see if they were being watched.

“It won’t be easy, but here is what we’re going to do...”

It would be a monumental task with the camps ever-watchful chaser and occasional stalker. But Audra and Kate’s training serves them and they don’t lose hope. The building Audra occupies is now occupied by the mysterious rebel, Kate. Audra learned over the next few days of a rebel group headed there to liberate them and to end the misery of the breeders. She also learned that Kate allowed herself to be captured. It isn’t the first time she was in a camp, but it is the first she was willingly.

When Audra probed further for information, Kate was silent, only telling her that she would learn more once they escaped and were safe. Even Audra’s attempts to us sex went nowhere. Either Kate was immune to her advances or just plain had no interest. She got nowhere.

As the day of their escape draws closer, Audra starts to feel more enclosed by the camp. Fear slowly creeps into the back of her mind—fear that if she didn’t escape she would live out her days as a breeder. Fear that if they were caught, she’d face the same fate. As much as she’d welcome the pleasure that she’d receive, she does not look forward to finishing out her life that way.

Originally, their plan had been to wait for the rebels to attack, but as the days dragged on both she and Kate were called before the emissary and questioned at length. If Kate knows what the line of questioning is all about, she doesn’t reveal it. Audra is left in the dark, her imagination thinking up all kinds of scenarios. Whether these scenarios, influenced by fear or some other means, were right or wrong, Kate decides the need for escape is imminent.

The escape doesn’t have much planning except to make a run for the jungle and hope to get lost in it. It is by no means a perfect plan, but it is their only option. With the decision made, they start to gather the equipment they need.