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Just like out of some odd, dystopian movie, there are seven hangers, exactly two inches apart. Each is filled with a different Hawaiian print shirt. I imagine the small beige dresser contains khaki pants. This feels like an episode of some surreal game show where nobody makes it off the island alive.
As I pull on my clothes, I’m surprised they fit. When they asked my measurements months ago, I fudged the numbers because I meant to lose a few extra pounds.
Did last night really happen? Am I certain I didn’t dream the animal guys? The military men with guns? The lion-man who very distinctly said the word “mine” while staring at me like I was a delicious, juicy steak?
When I open my door to join the other women on their way to breakfast, their shell-shocked faces tell me all I need to know about whether what I remember from last night was a dream.
Amber and Riley make a beeline for me. I think we all feel better when we’re together. Safety in numbers or something.
“Did that actually happen? Are we really here to socialize with those animals?”
Although Amber just said what I was thinking, there’s something about calling them animals that rubs me the wrong way.
Except for that lion-guy. He freaked me out.
“Yes. It really happened,” I say. “I wonder if thinking of them as animals might not be a good idea. Too bad the Colonel hogged the mic and didn’t have them talk. That would have been way less weird than having them just stare at us.”
“Just stare?” Riley asks, her eyebrows rising halfway up her forehead. “You must have missed the part where the fox-guy… uh, marked his territory.”
There’s something about this conversation that, rather than scaring me, makes me decide to give this project a chance. Besides, we’re here for the next two years. We might as well make the best of it.
“Let’s forget last night. It wasn’t the finest hour for any of us. I was terrified and tucked into the fetal position. The males slid into their animal selves. Let’s see what today holds.”
“Welcome,” the computerized voice announces overhead as we enter the dining room. “Please notice three sets of tables. On the far side of the room are tables for males who wish to remain separate. The middle column is for those who wish to safely mingle under the watchful eye of our helpful guards. The nearest column is for females who do not wish to mingle. Enjoy your breakfast.”
“Big surprise,” Amber drawls. “The males are all in the mingle column.”
The buffet table is at the front of the room, and though all the males have food on their plates, none of them are eating. They’re all on the side of their tables that has a perfect view of us women entering the room.
“I’m glad the tables are covering their crotches,” Riley says. “Just like last night, I imagine they’re all sporting wood.”
We all fill our plates and, except for the little redhead with the pixie cut, we all sit on the women-only side. None of us have taken our first bite before the petite thing is swarmed by the males, who abandon their plates and squeeze next to her at one of the three co-ed tables.
I must admit, though they’re crushed together because twenty males are trying to sit at a table built for ten, they’re all taking pains to keep their distance.
Oh. Did I think all twenty of them were swarming the woman I think is called Avery?
“Nineteen,” I mumble.
Nineteen males are crushed together with Avery. The twentieth? He’s at another of the co-ed tables, his gaze glued on me.
Chapter Six
Noble
They let us watch movies in our free time. I know what women are, what they look like. I’ve paid attention during our socialization trainings. I never expected their scents to affect me like this. No. Not all their scents, just the beauty with the soft, brown eyes. She was terrified by us last night and tried to be invisible, but I saw her. And Iwanther.
I was bred to be a soldier, then trained with one goal in mind—to follow orders up to and including what would mean our own death. It doesn’t matter how often or how vehemently we’re told we’re now free males. The fact is, we’re all still locked in this facility.
It’s not underground like our first placement after we were rescued from those cages. We have doors instead of bars, but we’re not free to leave. Even here in the dining room there are armed males.
I trust no one and have never fully believed we’ll be released from what we males have taken to calling Splicer Town.
But this? These females they’ve brought to us? It’s a statement. A promise of eventual freedom to live in the real world.
Though I never truly believed they would put a female in my path, I tried to pay attention during our socialization classes. They told us females were different from males. They’re said to be softer, curvier, less aggressive.
Nothing they said prepared me for this.
