The Chateau (Chateau 1)

“It’s not mine. I got it from a friend.”

I continued to prepare my box, deeply affected by the kindness that still existed in this empty place.

“We’ve got one another’s backs here.” Bethany lifted the box and prepared to turn away. “At least, most of us do.”

During lunch, she discreetly slipped me the white pill and continued to eat.

I dropped it into my pocket while keeping my eyes down. I’d desperately needed this last night, and when my guard offered, I was too stubborn to accept help from him—because it was conditional. If I was obedient like a good dog, then I would get a treat. I was too proud for that, at least right now. “Thanks.”

She ate without acknowledging what I said.

My lunch was the same thing everyone else was having, a reminder of what I could have if I just stayed quiet and did my job. Yesterday, the food didn’t matter to me, but having shit food for two meals in a row really made me hungry for something more substantial, like the chicken, rice, veggies, fruit, and bread they served. It definitely wasn’t prison food. They made the meals something to look forward to, positive reinforcement.

If I were going to get out of there, I really had to eat well. I needed all the nutrition to keep a strong physique so I could survive out there in the wild, to keep going until I found humanity and called for help.

But I needed to get as much information as possible first.

And I needed to get my sister too.

That was going to be the difficult part.

The only good thing about my captivity was the fact that I could be there for Melanie. I never would have found her again after her kidnapping. I never would have suspected something like this, and the police wouldn’t either. Otherwise, these guys would have been caught by now. I would have assumed she was being trafficked, based on her looks, and we would have gone in the wrong direction for years.

And that would have haunted me.

“I’m getting out of here…somehow.” I kept my eyes on my food, the warm food that was quickly turning cold because we ate out in the elements, melted snow in patches around us.

“Don’t advertise that.”

“Why?”

“Some of the women are snitches.”

“What?” I whispered. “Why?”

“Because they’re rewarded,” she said under her breath, shoveling food into her mouth to cover her moving lips. “Some of the girls here are practically guards. Some are brainwashed, some are sleeping with the guards, some are given a reward that ensures their loyalty…it’s complicated.”

“How could you possibly sleep with—”

She kicked me under the table.

A guard passed, surveying our table before he moved on.

I was so absorbed in the conversation I’d stopped paying attention. “How could anyone sleep with one of these guys?”

“Because they’re treated even better.”

“I’d rather die.”

“You’re new, so you’re fresh, but the longer you’re here…the staler you’ll become. Your priorities will change. One of the girls here has her own cabin, a TV, games, a microwave with all the bags of popcorn she wants. And rumor has it… one woman even earned her freedom.”

“Really?” I whispered.

“It was before my time, so I didn’t witness it. But some of the girls insist it’s true.”

“Why would they just let someone go?”

She shook her head. “No idea.”

“Was she sleeping with one of the guys?”

“Dunno.”

I thought this place would be cut-and-dried, but I was wrong. Organizing an uprising would be complicated, especially when some of the women were more loyal to the guards than the women working at their sides every single day. “I want to talk to my sister, but they keep us apart.”

“On purpose.”

“Are there opportunities to talk to the others?”

“Maybe during one of the drops.”

“Drops?” I asked.

“A plane will fly overhead and drop the coke.”

My eyes narrowed. “Seriously?”

She nodded. “Most are flying from South America. It drops it from the sky, so there’s no trace of it. That’s why these guys haven’t been caught in decades.”

They’d been operating that long?

“They have us go out and put all the boxes in the wagons to be returned to camp.”

“How far out is this?”

She lifted her gaze and looked at me. “Don’t even think about it. The guys are on horses, and we’re on foot. You’ve got no chance.”

“Do they carry guns?”

“Bows and arrows.”

“What?” I asked in surprise. “They don’t have cars or guns?”

“I suspect they have guns, but I’ve never seen them.”

“But why use a bow and arrow?”

She shrugged. “No idea. But I imagine it’s to stay quiet. As for the cars, the journey to get here is too difficult to make in a car, even in a four-wheel drive. The path is too narrow at times for a car to make it through.”

My eyes narrowed. “If they’re trying to be quiet, that means someone nearby could hear it…right?”