The van is dark, but I think I count at least twelve of us. All girls. All girls who look to be around my age or younger. No one else is unconscious, but all are in various states of disarray. The girl sitting next to me, the one who spoke, is sporting a nasty-looking bruise around her left eye. It’s several days old, judging by the yellowing edges of the deep purple bruising.
The girl next to her has her face buried in her knees with her arms wrapped around them as she cries.
I clear my throat, my voice coming out hoarse and scratchy, and I’m near desperate for some water. “Where are they taking us?”
“I don’t know,” the girl next to me answers. “They’ve been picking up girls all night. One here, three there.”
“How long was I out?” The van pitches, and I fight the rising urge to vomit, pressing my lips shut as well as my eyes, waiting for the wretched feeling to pass, as the effects of the drugs cling to me.
“I’m not sure.”
I blink back at her.
“You were unconscious when they tossed you in here,” she explains.
“When was that?”
She shifts nervously. “That was probably a couple of hours ago.”
A couple of hours ago? Fuck.It can’t be any earlier than two or three in the morning.
Remi’s face is at the forefront of my mind, and I push away the dark thought. The one currently telling meI’m never going to see her again.
My fists tighten with grim resolve, and the plastic ties around them cut deeper into my skin.
I take in the van, the distressed and underdressed girls, and what I saw back in the club…Traffickers.These men are traffickers.
I’m hyperventilating, and my heart’s racing, but I force myself to calm down. To survive this.
“Listen.” I do my best to scoot closer to the girl on my right awkwardly. “When they open that door, it might be our only chance. We have to run—fight. There’s probably way more of usthan there are of them. Whoever gets free can go get help for the others.”
My words don’t have the effect I was hoping they would. Half the girls are so despondent, I’m not sure if they can even hear me—or maybe they don’t understand me. And the other half, including the girl to my right, are giving me varying looks of horror.
“No,” she says adamantly, shaking her head. “They’ll kill you. I’ve already seen them do it,” she whispers, with a haunted look in her eyes.
But before I can open my mouth to argue, the van slows to a stop. Everyone inside stiffens and shifts at the sound of the two doors up front opening before slamming shut again.
Fear, but also rage, floods through me. I know what this is, what they plan to do to me. And I’m not going to make it fucking easy for them. I will not be compliant; I will not yield or cry or beg. I will fight until my last breath because I have Remi back at home waiting for me. And I will not leave her alone.
The van doors open and armed men appear, roughly hauling out girls. “Let’s go. Everybody out.”
I don’t move, sitting with my back up against the wall of the van until I’m the only one left inside.
There’s one man left at the door, and he narrows his eyes at me. “C’mon, girl. I don’t got all day.” His accent is foreign… Eastern European, maybe?
I don’t move.
My defiance finally garners his full attention, and he gives me a quick once-over that leaves me feeling gross. “Get your ass out of the van or you’re gonna regret it.”He smiles cruelly at me, tightening his grip on the rifle he’s got strapped to his body.
I stay put. If they want me, they’re going to have to come in here and get me.
Realizing I’m not, in fact, going to come out willingly, he does just that. Cursing under his breath, he ducks his head to climb inside, mumbling something in another language as he does. I bide my time until he’s close enough and then I twist, kicking up at him with full force. He doesn’t expect it, so the heel of my bare foot catches him square in the nose. I can’t help but grin to myself when his hands fly to his face. He falls to his knees and howls in a fit of pain and rage.
“What’s the matter, Mateusz? Can’t handle one little girl?” I stiffen at the sight of a second man by the van door, coming back to see what’s taking his friend so long. This one’s Italian accent is very clear.
Mateusz glares at his friend as he moves his bloody hands away from his nose. “Help me get her out of this fucking van.”
Grumbling something about incompetence, the new guy crawls into the van as well. He’s quicker than his friend, grabbing hold of my feet before I have a chance to kick him too. I don’t make it easy, but let’s be honest; between the two of them, I don’t stand a chance.
