Border? What border?
“Sure, why not?” Flora said, and followed Madison out of the alley and down the street, looking cautiously around as they walked. It was still early, and Flora could feel the morning chill right through her clothing, which was just how she liked it. Canadian lynxes preferred it cold.
The scent in the air, however, was far less pleasant. She wrinkled her nose in dismay. Was that rotting garbage smell everywhere in this city?
“Yeah, it stinks here. No Man’s Land,” Madison said as they walked. “Just a big trash dump for both sides. Nobody maintains it.”
They walked about five blocks, and then Madison stopped at a street corner and glanced around. “Okay, this is it,” she said. Flora didn’t see anything different. No signs or fences that would indicate a change of territory. They were at the intersection of 21stAvenue and Monroe Street.
No, wait, there was a big red “R” spray-painted on the 21stAvenue sign across the street, and a big “H” on the Monroe Street sign that they were standing under.
Several teenaged female bear shifters stepped out of a doorway across the street, quickly heading their way. They’d probably smelled Madison coming; bear shifters had the best scenting ability of all shifter species.
As they approached, Flora saw that there were actually three girls and a tall, skinny male teenager. All of them as dirty and disheveled as Madison. Their B.O. said they hadn’t showered recently, and their clothes were baggy and stained. They all wore necklaces like Madison’s, with big “R”s dangling around their necks.
They stared at Flora curiously. She was starting to feel as if there were a giant blinking neon sign hanging over her head which read “Does Not Belong Here”.
Madison hugged the boy, and then stepped back and looked at him critically. His face was pale and he had circles under his eyes. “Sam, you shouldn’t have come,” she chided him. “This is too close to the border.” She glanced at one of the girls. “Sarah, you shouldn’t have let him come.”
“Wanted to make sure you were okay,” Sam muttered, taking the bag of weeds from her. “You were taking too long. I started to get worried.”
Madison, hands shoved in her pockets, turned her attention back to Flora.
“Look, you seem nice, for a crazy person anyway, so I’m going to give you some advice. Go pay your protection money to the Hudsons and start wearing their mark, before you get murdered. Don’t tell people that you have money on you, and don’t offer to help strangers. And stay away from bear territory. Anywhere that’s marked with an “R” is under Ruben’s protection, and only bears live here.”
Well. Life in Darwin was certainly more complicated than she could have anticipated. “Duly noted. Why did you come into Hudson territory today, then?”
Madison glanced at her brother. “I needed those plants. Starweed. It’s a treatment for a blood disorder that only affects male bear shifters, and my brother has to have it every week. You guys grow it in your community gardens. I didn’t really buy it – I snuck into one of the gardens and grabbed some.”
“You don’t have it in your own territory?”
Madison sighed and tucked a greasy strand of hair behind her ear. “We do, but Ruben charges an outrageous price for it. And with him raising protection to seventy percent, we can’t afford medicine. We can barely afford food.”
“Why did you guys come to the Badlands in the first place?” Flora asked.
Madison glanced at her brother, who was standing a little distance away with Sarah, and lowered her voice. “My stepfather. He wouldn’t stop coming into my room at night. My mother didn’t care, and he was a judge, so nobody would have believed me. And he used to beat Sam up pretty bad. And Sarah ran away from a group home.”
“Oh. I’m sorry about that. And now it sounds like you’ve traded one terrible situation for another.”
“Yeah, well, the Hudson family are no saints,” Madison said resentfully. “Starweed doesn’t even cure anything for cat shifters, it’s just something they sell at the grocery shops to put on salads. Liam Hudson, he’s the one who runs the show – him and his muscle-head brothers. He just won’t share the Starweed with us, out of spite.”
Flora felt a flash of anger. Why would anybody deny medicine to those who needed it?
“That’s terrible,” she said. “I didn’t realize things were in such a state here.”
Madison gave her a rueful smile. “In fairness to the Hudsons, they may give us bears a lot of grief, but at least they treat their own people well. As long as they pay protection. They only charge thirty percent, and they give medicine for free to anyone who needs it. And Liam doesn’t force women to be his girlfriend.”
At Flora’s shocked look, Madison gestured at herself. “Why do you think me and my friends look so gross and dirty? It’s so Ruben won’t notice us. If Ruben likes a girl, he takes her. He’s got like a harem. He moves them into his house and they have to do whatever he wants. Be with him, be with his friends… If they don’t, they either have mysterious accidents, or their friends and family start having accidents.” She gave a worried glance at her brother and friends.
Then she glanced down at her stained, shapeless clothing with a wry smile. “I used to love dressing up nice. Before I came here.”
“Good God, Madison, that’s horrifying. Why can’t you guys come live in the Hudson territory and pay protection to them instead?” Maybe she could find Finn and talk him into accepting Madison and her friends. Or maybe Krystle could help.
Madison stared at Flora as if she’d sprouted a third eye. “We’re bears. You guys take cats and dogs. No bears.”
Flora reached into her pocket and pulled out the twenty dollar bill she’d tucked into her wallet. “Take this and buy food,” she said.
Madison stared at the money, then hesitated. “If that’s all your money, and you’re new here, I shouldn’t take it. You’ll need to pay protection.”
“Take it,” Flora insisted. “I can take care of myself.”
Sarah snatched the money from Flora’s hand. “For God’s sake,I’lltake it,” she said irritably. “I haven’t eaten anything but rat for a week, and those are getting pretty scarce.”
Then Madison froze and held up her hand, and sniffed the air. She and Sarah exchanged glances of alarm.
“Ruben’s patrol,” Madison said to Flora in a low voice. “About ten blocks south, but heading towards us – the smell is getting stronger. We’re technically in neutral territory, but they won’t care. It’s close enough that they might grab you and hold you for ransom. Go!”
She couldn’t just leave these girls to their fate. “Listen, I’ll try to get some Starweed for you and meet you back at the spot I met you yesterday…let’s say day after tomorrow, ten a.m.,” Flora said. As she hurried off, she heard Sam saying to Madison, “I bet you five rats that she won’t even come.”
