The Forsaken

you.”
    “Wh-what?” I stutter.
    “You’re in our sector. We found you. That means we own you.”
    The boy’s companions continue moving toward us. More figures emerge from the trees. Twelve in total. All with painted faces and black robes.
    “I’ve got a knife!” David lies, sounding pretty convincing. He swings his torch wildly. “If you touch me or the girl, I’ll stab you. Don’t mess with us.”
    “We’re taking both of you to see the Monk,” the masked boy continues, ignoring David completely.
    I sputter, “I’m not going anywhere with—”
    Right then, one of the other boys lunges forward and grabs my arm. He knocks the torch right out of it. I try to swat his hand away, but his jagged fingernails bite angry crescents into my flesh through my blouse. I cry out in pain, but he doesn’t loosen his grasp, even when David tries to push him away with his torch.
    “Quit struggling!” the robed figure hisses at me as another boy reaches us. I start screaming and fighting. But they keep grabbing at me, their robes flapping. I feel like I’m being battered by ocean waves, and I fight against the tide.
    “Get off me!” I scream.
    Figures surround David too, as he curses and tries to punch at them. I see one of them rip the torch from his hands and extinguish it.
    “The Monk will tell us what to do with you,” the boy in the metal mask intones loudly. And then, clapping his hands together, he addresses the others: “Quick! Take our new slaves to the Monk!”
    “No, wait! Stop!” I shriek, continuing to fight and claw at their faces. I hear David scream as one of the boys stomps on his damaged foot. The boys surround and overwhelm us, chattering and raving. Their rough hands grasp me tight as they begin to propel me through the trees.
    Then a voice cuts through the hubbub like a sharp blade, and everyone stops what they’re doing. This new voice is loud, female, and angry:
    “Let go of them right now, you ugly bastards!”
    A girl is standing on top of a nearby hill in the forest, staring down at us through the trees. She looks fierce, with streaks of blue dye in her hair, and metal piercings in her nose, ears, and lip. A sleeve of homemade tattoos runs down her left arm. She’s wearing jeans and a tank top made out of tanned animal hide.
    In her hand is a weapon. It looks like an old-fashioned shotgun, but I’m not certain. All guns are banned in the UNA, except for the AK-47 assault rifles carried by the police.
    “If you let ’em go right now, there won’t be any consequences,” the girl calls down to the masked boy.
    He looks up at her hungrily. “Maybe we can make a trade.”
    “No trades.” The girl carefully steps a few paces down the hillside. She’s tall and athletic, with a feral look in her brown eyes. She’s maybe a year or more older than me. She keeps her gun pointed straight at the boy’s chest. “You know the rules. New arrivals belong to us. You can’t take them if they turn up in the blue sector.”
    “They weren’t in the blue sector. They were over by the stairs—”
    “Well, they’re in the blue sector now. And this sector is ours .”
    The boy just sneers at her through his mask. To my horror, I see that his teeth have been chiseled into sharp points. “The rules are changing, Gadya. Every day the Monk grows stronger—”
    “You wish,” she interrupts. “But these two are mine.”
    I realize they’re bartering over us like we’re pieces of property. “Hey!” I yell. “I’m right here! I don’t belong to either of you.”
    “Neither do I,” David adds, shoving one of the robed figures away from him.
    “Shut up!” Gadya snaps at us. She turns back to the masked boy. “I’m taking them to our village, whether you like it or not.”
    The boy looks around at his companions. All of them are silent, but I sense their bristling hostility.
    “Soon your village will be meaningless,” he growls. “The Monk will control this entire island. North and south. East and west. Then where will you go? Into the ocean?” He raises his right hand, showing off a short, curved blade.
    Gadya ignores his jibes. “Get your asses up here,” she hisses at me and David.
    We exchange glances. It’s not much of a choice. Neither of us knows what’s going on, but we’re not about to question our good fortune.
    We head up the hill toward Gadya. None of the boys stop us, although I can feel their eyes heating my back.
    “I’m gonna tell the Monk about