Ember (The Dragao 1)

My stomach gave a loud growl of hunger, but I’d rather get clean than eat right now. Eating one meal a day allowed me to stay not only clean, but allowed me to build up my tokens to use for stockpiling extra rations.

I supposed in the back of my mind I was always worried for the worst-case scenario. But then again, in the world we lived in, it wasn’t like we could be too careful. With the Scorch coming fast, and the very real threat that one day a Dragao could wipe us out, I was hesitant on keeping my belly full in case we had to be trapped down in the Pit for a prolonged period of time.

“Next!”

I blinked back into focus, realizing I’d dazed off as I thought about all the what-ifs. The young girl behind the makeshift table looked up at me with tired eyes and thin lips. She wasn't in a good mood, and it would be easy to take the same attitude with her as she was throwing my way, but I reminded myself we were all tired, dirty, and hungry. She’d probably been working all day, same as me. She undoubtedly just wanted to go back to her alcove, eat a few dried vegetables, and then sleep before she had to do the same shit the next day.

I put on a smile and stepped up to the little scarred table, handing her the receipt so I could collect my wages for the day. She said nothing to me and snatched it out of my hand, looked at it before writing something down on her strip of parchment, and grabbed my tokens owed.

Without a backward glance or words spoken to me, she ushered me away and called the next in line.

Dana stepped up next, and I walked up to Tilly. “Are you heading for your bath now?” she asked, and I gave a contented sigh and smile before nodding and glancing over my shoulder at the tunnel.

“Yeah. I think I’ll skip the dining chamber tonight. I have some dried vegetable and meat rations in my room that I can eat.” I shrugged. “I don’t want to be social anyway.”

She pulled her brows low and crossed her arms under her breasts. “I wish you’d stop rationing,” she said softly. “You’re losing too much weight.”

I looked down at myself, my clothes that were really nothing but strips of red-dirt-stained material sewn together hanging off my form in an unflattering way. When I looked back up at Tilly, her expression softened.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way; you know that. I just worry about your health.”

I smiled and nodded. “I know, but we’re all hungry. We're all losing weight.” Well, unless you were an elder, at the top-tier of the social construct, or willing to sell yourself for some tokens.

“Hey,” Tilly whispered and gave my shoulder a little bump with hers.

I didn’t want Tilly to see me feeling defeated once again. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”

She pulled me in for a hug. “Same time. Same place.”

I gave her one more smile as I pulled away and headed down the tunnel that led to my room. Although calling it a room was being generous. It was really nothing more than a small carved-out hole in the side of the cavern wall, not even wide enough that when I lay down, I could stretch my legs fully out. Hell, I couldn’t even stand straight up without hitting my head on the alcove ceiling.

But it was mine, I had my privacy, and for a citizen in the Pit, it was one of the most valuable things to own.

I kept my head down and focused on the path as I wove my way through the tunnel, hearing the chatter in the main hall grow more distant the farther I moved away from it. When I got to my alcove, I pulled back the curtain that acted as a privacy screen and draped the thick, coarse material on a sharp ledge of the rocky wall, allowing light from the wall sconces in the main tunnel to filter in.

I made the two steps it took to get to the small basket in the corner that held the few extra pieces of clothes I’d made for myself and gathered a new set I could put on after my bath.

Please let the pool be empty. I’d love to have a few minutes to myself.

Although even if it was empty, I’d have to bribe the attendant to get actual alone time.

Once I had my stuff and an extra token in my palm, I stepped out of my alcove and put the privacy screen back in place. I made my way back down the tunnel, my head lowered, my focus on my feet. I was almost to the end of the tunnel, where I could take a right and head to the pool, when I felt the heavy presence of someone move up behind me. My spine straightened, my skin tightening.