The Null
POV Tasha
I don't remember much about being underground, the memories somehow already fading in the new reality in the last twelve years; despite feeling as if it always would be. Down there it was always too loud while also being entirely too quiet. Something I didn't notice until the nightmares began.
It was understandable I had nightmares even now into adulthood. I had only been eleven when the hatch had been opened and my world had been tipped upside down. A world that was already so fragile sometimes, to begin with.
I am the ninth generation of what is left of mankind. It hadn't been us to decide it was safe enough to come out. Instead it was them who had opened the hatch, to decide what to do with us. To condemn us for the blood we all shared instead of the actions we might perform.
My grandparents far back, who had first entered the bunker when the world went to hell- were one of the chosen few elites of the world. What of exactly?
I couldn't tell you, since it all went up in flames when they went into the bunker. The information was lost with so many other things they didn't allow us to take, information at the tips of our fingers that I took for granted. What I have now are stories, twisted and marred, without knowing the truth for myself.
Of course, we were far from elites now, and I certainly hadn't felt like an elite in the first place. Though our lives had certainly changed from what everyone was used to. Vague memories of being safe and warm without having to work and exercise so much, knowledge at our fingertips. A plethora of movies, shows and streams of people from before and after a tap away.
Now that we were out of the bunker, things had changes significantly.
My people farmed for them and lived honest simple lives with food, clean clothes, warm beds, fresh air, sun- and heavily armed guards at all times. I wasn't fooled like when everyone first emerged from the bunker. Even the unarmed of their kind often had a weapon of some kind. Knowing the first time I saw, the creatures that looked like us were dangerous.
You're probably wondering who they are.
They called themselves the Esti, short for Caelesti which thanks to my "higher education" I was interested in before the hatches opened I knew meant celestial or divine in Latin. A name I quietly assumed was because they found themselves above pure humans like myself, despite being mutations.
The Esti were not human. They looked similar to us, sounded similar to us- but they were far from human anymore. In hushed whispers, our people called the Mutants, a once-glorified movie franchise that was similar to what we faced. Understanding the angry fearful pure humans better than I ever had before.
Only it was so much worse, waking up as a minority to a group of monsters. Forever inferior. Whether we wanted it or not.
I covered my ears, trying to think about my life one last time and remember the feeling of being below. Or perhaps to try and block out the very thought of what today meant. What I had chosen.
I was twenty-three, the appropriate age for the third wave of girls to be sold off. Our men were useless to them as much more than laborers- or to keep a few of us here if we so desired. It wasn't much of a choice in my opinion, though.
No... I wanted to take charge of my destiny, and staying here wasn't it.
Human women held value where men no longer did, though it wasn't much more than what they ever had been seen by many men, even before the bunker had been open. We were the birth givers. The continuation of our species. To lay and reproduce, then care for those around them.
Wearing the cover they gave me, I felt bare, knowing full well I along with five other young girls would be standing front and center with a spotlight on us. Other girls would also be featured, some of them deciding to finally leave despite already being "tainted" by those who were willing to purchase them. I didn't understand what it meant, but I hadn't been marked as one of those when they came to inspect me and take samples of my blood. It hadn't had anything to do with virginity, something I had lost a time ago.
Nevertheless, we were worth the most. Despite the freckles that appeared now that the sun had kissed me over the years, my limp brown hair, pale skin, and overall boyish square-like figure. I was considered valuable today, more valuable than most of the men of my species had ever seen me.
The thought was sickening. To be desired or touched by one of those monsters. Everything about my life had become a little sickening, but I was tired of feeling like I was without a choice.
"Tasha." My best friend Irinie asked, coming up behind me. Her rare skin looked like it was kissed by the evening dew now that we had lived in the sun for half of our life. Her velvety chocolate tones shone with the oils they had added to her already vibrant glowing demeanor. Showing that she was thriving just as beautifully as the curly chestnut hair upon her head. Unlike me, she was sure to be re-homed to somewhere grand. The jealous thought souring my already poor mood.
I didn't want to think about Irinie like that. She was one of my only friends in the compound, and we had made this choice together. One that ultimately would pull us apart, and hopefully one day reunite us even if only briefly. What was outside these walls was unknown, but we had to hope it was better.
"I'm ready," I mumbled, standing up from the vanity, the fabric of my blueish-purple dress brushing against my nipples, revealing the chill in the air. I frowned, crossing my arms and making Irinie sigh coming over to uncross them.
"You're here to sell yourself."
"I'm untainted- whatever that means; isn't that good enough?" I grunted.
Irinie rolled her eyes, unfazed by my comment. "Tasha, remember, even though we're slaves now doesn't mean we're going to stay that way. This is our way of humankind integrating into their society. They've been pretty honest so far."
I didn't reply, because I honestly wasn't sure about her hopefulness. The only consolation about selling our bodies this way is that our children hopefully wouldn't grow up in slavery. I didn't know enough about reproduction between our species, but clearly that much was important to them. Grabbing my identification cuff, I slipped it on, waiting for it to register to my genetic code and glow before following Irinie out to the show floor.
The show floor was gigantic and could fit up to fifty women at one time for auction. Compared to history books and what I knew about slavery, we were treated humanely, though heavily sedated often.
Most of the Esti that guarded us were genetically enhanced. Most of the guards release gas, ooze, or secretion of some kind that paralyzes most of us for a few minutes to a few hours. Forcing us to comply, to eat, or to bathe was fairly easy when they had a natural drug that had minimal side effects. Something I didn't forget as I climbed my dais to stand on, the other females trickling in behind Irinie and me.
The thought of being drugged again through this was too much to bear, but a hideous temptation in its own right. It was hard not to want to seek clarity after living in so much fog. Even if I was terrified.
Irinie was to my right, Jessica a female as exotic as her eyeliner, was to my left. I barely knew her other than another face, however, I did know Ophelia the last of the four girls. She was as mean as she was nasty- and part of me had hoped she had been stupid enough to stay.
Now I just hoped whoever took her wasn't as nice as the rest of them.
That was... if any of them were even nice, to begin with. Most women weren't willing to leave into an unknown life; selling themselves to the creatures that held us captive. However, it was also one of the few ways to escape our circumstances. Which explained why each and every one of us were here.
Unfortunate circumstances, that would drive us to this.
The ones on the main platform, were the highest to be paid for. Which meant, we would receive the best treatment. That we were the most valuable and likely to procreate with them. Something that already had my stomach rolling uncomfortably.
Not wanting to sleep with a monster.
I heard the bell shortly after the last girl in front of me stepped on her podium near the edges of the hall. My heart beat frantically, thinking of all the fairy tales I had grown up with. Mentally, I begged a deity I didn't believe in to somehow magically make something about this a little bit better.
Of course; there was no one to hear me; as two monsters began to roam the room. The start of my new life, and the end of my old. Seeing that both of them were just as terrible.
