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Then realization dawned and threw my mind into violence again. “Did they touch you? Thais, tell me—did they touch you?” My breath came fast and heavy; my fingertips dug into the palms of my clenched hands.
“They didn’t hurt me,” she finally answered. “No one hurt me.” She swiped her hand under her nose again.
I noticed the brown-haired man lying on the ground, unmoving.
“He was killing him,” Thais said as the white-haired man strode past.
I blinked with incomprehension. Why did she attack him? Why did she intervene? Why not just let the bastards kill each other?
“Thais?” I lowered my voice, not wanting the men nearby, distracted by one another, to hear. I wanted to scold her, to tell her how stupid it was to do what she did, and I started to, but at the last second changed my mind. I sighed heavily. “Are you all right? Is anything broken?”
THAIS
I shook my head.
“I’m all right.” I wiped blood from my nose again, and then the tears from my cheeks.
Kade helped me to my feet.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he told me and dusted off my dress. “Women are treated the same as men in our community. If you’re bold enough to hit a man then you should be prepared to get hit in return.”
“Sounds like a wonderful place,” I said, shaking my head. “So, it’s anything goes in Paducah, then?”
Kade smiled, and secured my wrists with another zip-tie. “Pretty much,” he said. “There are no laws, no jails or prisons; there are no fines or punishments”— his index finger shot up—“Well, there are two things we don’t tolerate: cannibalism and child abuse of any kind are instant death sentences. But aside from that, it’s anything goes. Only the strong survive.” He paused, and then added, “Well, sometimes the strong protect the weak, but there aren’t too many with that kind of tolerance.”
“And what about slavery?” The bite was evident in my words, justified by the bonds on my wrists.
Kade walked me around to the back of the truck bed, and out of sight of Atticus.
“It was our decision to take you hostage,” he answered without remorse. “And whatever consequences there are for our actions against you, we’re prepared to face them.” His smile brightened, as if he were thinking of something delightful. “But yes, slavery is allowed. If you want to call it slavery—I wouldn’t go that far.”
I clamped my jaw.
Kade fitted his hands around my waist and hoisted me back into the truck.
“This looks like slavery to me,” I said. “I don’t want to be here; you’re forcing me to do something I don’t want to do, to go somewhere I don’t want to go—the beginnings of slavery, is it not?”
Kade smiled this time with teeth; his fingers slid away from the tailgate.
“Consequences,” he recapped. “I’m prepared to face them.” He patted the tailgate, alerting the man guiding the horse that it’s okay to go into motion again. “If there are any consequences. But you should know that I’ve never taken on anything I couldn’t handle.”
He gave me a chance to respond, retained his smile, which infuriated me, and then he walked away when I had nothing to say.
I sat with the same men as before, minus the one with brown hair who was left, like Jeffrey, on the ground in his final resting place, beat to death by the man across from me. He eyed me with scorn for the briefest of moments, and then with disinterest, as if nothing had ever happened. He looked down into the First-Aid kit again and continued his investigation of its contents.
I looked away from him and thought only of Atticus; my only comfort with these lawless barbarians was knowing that he was there, somewhere, and that he was still alive.
I’m sorry we stayed so long in the cabin.
I’m sorry, Atticus.
I’m so very sorry, Jeffrey.
I looked down at my lap so no one would see me cry.
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THAIS
