AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We knew what brought us here, night after night. The men who went home to unsuspecting wives, crying softly in the shower as they washed away their sins.
A few of the others knew about my sisters, quietly slipping me an extra ration of bread, or a pair of shoes their own child had outgrown. And then there were the men who did it for themselves.
You could see the divide between the ones doing it because they had to, and the ones doing it because they could.
The ones who delighted in being the first to make a girl cry. They weren’t here to feed a family, or to stay alive. They were here to feelpowerful.
I stayed as far away from those guys as I could. But in the Kingsnakes, distance was always a problem.
I wandered the halls, climbing the stairs as the sun set. I tried to get to the motel before sundown on breeding nights.
The police weren’t likely to mess with us, fearing for their own wives and daughters, but it was still easier to avoid conflict altogether. Upstairs was quiet.
I was one of the first brothers to arrive tonight, and even all of the girls’ rooms were silent. The girls were probably asleep, or pretending to be asleep so the worst of the men wouldn’t bother them until it was time.
I swung my mask around my wrist, sighing as I stopped in front of a window. Most of the front-facing windows were boarded up, helping maintain both our “secrecy” and our element of fear. But some windows on the second floor, facing the woods, were left open. The glass panels were long gone, sold or traded, nobody knew.
But still I leaned into the frame, dipping my head out into the fall night. The sun was setting, painting the forest across the way with hues of reds and yellows.
Ten years ago, you might have seen a deer darting into the trees. Not anymore. Any of the deer that had survived starvation had been hunted by desperate men.
Desperation made people do crazy things – even I knew this. I felt for deer watching their privileges of life slowly drain away.
Freedom was nothing more than a memory, an illusion that some tried too hard to cling to. We may not have the same rules and laws as we did before the Collapse, but freedom still wasn’t a reality.
I still had to drag my feet to this motel, night after night. The girls in the rooms still had to put up with men using them as nothing more than incubators.
My sisters would never know what it felt like to step into the ocean, feeling the sand squish beneath their feet. They’d marry too young, if they were lucky. If not...
“Fuck.” I gripped the wooden windowsill, the brittle splinters crumbling in my hand. This wasn’t what I wanted from my life. Wasn’t what I had expected. Hoped for. I turned away with a frown, finding my way to Hannah’s room.
I knocked quietly, waiting for her soft, “Come in,” before I entered. I had lucked out with Hannah. At the beginning of every month the girls lined up, and we selected our chosen female in an order similar to the now-nonexistent football drafts.
We would rotate girls in hopes it would increase our chances of impregnating them. And hopefully keeping them pregnant. Supposedly.
Whispers brewed around the newer members, telling a story of a woman who died in childbirth early on. Twins. None of them made it. After that, the next man recruited was a doctor.
He might’ve been a vet, but at the end of the day he kept the girls alive through pregnancy and that was all the other men cared about.
The members who had been with the Kingsnakes longer chose first. Rookies chose last. Those who had been lucky enough to impregnate a girl hovered somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, those who chose first were usually the ones who mistreated the girls.
Power corrupted oh-so-easily in this new world of ours.
Tonight was the first of a new month, so we’d choose again. Hannah and I knew each other from when we were kids. It meant my arrangement was easily settled, because we had a quiet solidarity. I hoped whoever chose her next would be gentle with her.
She was a soft soul. Probably too soft for this harsh world. She reminded me of Ella, and I said a silent prayer to whoever was listening to spare Ella this life.
“Hey.” Hannah offered me a smile, but her eyes betrayed her fear. She knew what tonight was. All the girls did. “You ready for tonight? I heard Laura was hoping you’d pick her...”
I rolled my eyes, and took a seat on the chair across from the sagging bed. The girls talked, when they could, and I was well aware of Laura’s attraction to me. But someone actively hoping I wouldbreedher was too much for me to imagine.
Not to mention, it would make my whole “don’t screw the girls” plan unachievable. Laura would never let that slide, and I’d have my throat slit before I blinked.
IfI was lucky.
“Laura will spend another month hoping then.” I ran my hands through my hair, trying to put my thoughts into words. “I want you to be careful tonight. Don’t stand out too much. I’ll do my best to get one of the good brothers to choose you, but I can’t guarantee anything, so just blend in as much as possible.”
Hannah dipped her head in acknowledgement, a sheet of tangled red hair covering her face. “You gotta watch out for yourself too, Ray. If the brothers knew you were in here...” Her voice trailed off, but we both knew what she meant.
