Page 2 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 1

Tori had been turned over to the Care Center the moment her designation was revealed. She’d mentioned before that her father had been laid off at the factory and they were barely scraping by. I’m sure her mother made the choice to give her up, so she’d have a better life than they could give her. Being at the Center meant Tori got three meals a day, education, clean clothes, and a roof over her head until she was paired. I didn’t blame her mother, Tori had a brilliant mind for numbers and it surprised me she’d been chosen for Asturg. She was much more suited for Shearia, all but because she was clumsy as hell. Broke more dishes than anyone I’d ever seen tripping over her own feet.

“Wait,” Tori gasped, grabbing my arm. “They passed out hot chocolate and cookies to everyone that night to take up to our rooms. Do you think they drugged us with that? It’s a super long drive to the border and, looking at the sun, it’s got to be close to noon. We would have needed to leave super early in the morning. Plus, we’re all dressed and not in our nightgowns.”

It wasn’t until she said it I looked down at the stupid uniform they made us wear at the Care Center. Button-down, long-sleeve white shirts with drab calf-length navy skirts. Let’s not forget the uncomfortable navy flats to go with it. They told us it was a way to keep us all equal with each other by having a uniform. No one knew, based on appearance, who was rich or poor, all in the hopes of creating a supportive community as we lived together. The whole thing made me want to scream since it didn’t matter in the long run. The rich girls couldn’t be stripped of the entitlement they were raised to have, and the poor girls were made of grit and steel, never backing down.

Somehow I, one of the richest and highest Omegas on the social ladder, seemed to fit better with the girls who had some grit to them. They were authentic, and as a woman who spoke her mind constantly, they got me. The richies turned up their noses and wanted nothing to do with me, which suited me just fine.

“That’s good, Tori, real good,” I praised, giving her hand a squeeze. “I left Violet to come to check on you, so I’m going back to check on her. Don’t worry, I’m not far and we’ll get through this together, alright?”

Tori nodded but didn’t let go of me as I stood. “Dani, we’re in Asturg, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, we are,” I answered, never willing to lie to myself or others about the reality of a situation. “I promise you, Tori. If I can get us out of here, I will, no matter how long it takes. No one deserves the fate of being an Omega here.”

A tear spilled out of the corner of one of Tori’s blue eyes, but she brushed it away and released my arm. “I believe you, Dani. You never make a promise you can’t keep.”

God, I really fucking hope I can keep this one.

The drive seemed to take hours, and the scenery left much to be desired. It almost seemed that the land was at war with itself, as the people were. Brown tufts of what I assume used to be grass littered the barren rolling plains. Small trees with no leaves looked stark against the bright blue sky and I felt sweat rolling down between my shoulders.

Oscad had a mild climate that veered on the side of being cooler than warmer, making this weather, while not extreme, uncomfortable with the heavy clothes I was wearing. We passed through some abandoned cities, buildings destroyed and crumbling from the war that’s ravaged this place for centuries. Black scorch marks were left on cement walls where fires had raged as the town was laid to waste.

I had a feeling those images were going to haunt me for a long time, having never imagined anything like that was possible. Oscad had its own problems, but it never resorted to war in such a ruthless manner. None of our history books had pictures of either of our neighboring countries leaving us clueless as to its true nature. I knew they’d been in the longest drought they’d ever experienced here in the north. What had once been an agricultural mecca has now been reduced to cracked ground and dust blowing on the wind.

The sun set as the driver turned down another road. This seemed to have once been a highway but was just as riddled with potholes and crumbling asphalt. Because of that, the bus driver couldn’t drive that fast, or we’d end up with a wheel stuck in a hole. As we got closer, I spotted a city rising in the distance through the chain-link gate blocking us from the driver. All the girls were awake at this point. There had been wailing hysterics from many while others just sat in stunned silence.

At one point, the driver had to stop and march back here to give a few girls another dose of whatever they used to knock us out. Seeing the consequences, everyone else shut up and stayed seated, heads down until he returned to his seat. Violet gripped my hand so tightly I thought I was going to lose circulation but I wouldn’t tell her to let go. If I could help her in some small way by letting her hold my hand then that was what I was going to do.

I must have dozed off since I was shaken awake by Violet. “Danella, look.”

Groaning at the awkward angle I’d ended up in, I straightened. Taking a moment to rub the back of my neck even though I knew it was pointless. It was now dark, but it was easy to see what Violet had woken me for. There, glowing in the pitch-black darkness, was a beacon of a city. It reminded me of Oscad with its tall buildings clustered together, but it seemed that only part of the buildings were lit up. The top halves were shrouded in darkness.

People were all over the streets as we pulled into the city limits. Many were dressed in military uniforms with rifles slung over their shoulders. At the same time, others were in worn clothes that seemed to have been patched and patched again. Vendors had stalls set up selling food, clothing, and other goods, and many of the stalls had a guard standing watch to prevent thieves, or that was my assumption.

This was our new home.

The war-torn remnants of a world that used to be one of the biggest producers of all things agricultural. Now the North has turned to mining so they could continue to make weapons to further their war. It was apparent they still had up-to-date technology, but it seemed to clash with how minimal everything else was. Almost as if it didn’t further their efforts in the war, there was no need to change it.

Finally, the bus stopped in front of a small three-story building with two guards outside its door. I wasn’t sure why they were needed when this end of town seemed far quieter, with only a few people wandering by.

The bus driver rose and unlocked the gate giving us all an irritated look.

“Listen up, breeders.” He barked. “You will line up, single file, without protest or lollygagging. When that door opens, you will proceed straight into the building and wait in the lobby until everyone is off the bus. Then a group of doctors will come to look you over. If they clear you, you’ll be placed at your location starting tomorrow based on the needs of our great nation. Say your goodbyes to each other now, there's no telling if you’ll ever see one another again.”

Rage flared in my stomach, and I had to fist my hands as I forced my body to stand perfectly still. Lashing out at this asshole wouldn’t do anyone any good. Better to wait and see what happens once we are in the building.

“Now march,” he ordered, pointing a finger to the door.

Chapter two

The outside of the building was shabby and deteriorating, as was the rest of the city. Inside was mildly better, but other than making sure the structure was sound they weren’t going above and beyond. The lobby was a simple tiled room with plastic folding chairs along the outer edge of the wall. Fluorescent lights lit up the space in that harsh, cool tone that did no one any favors.

Did the Council of Four, our leading government for Oscad, know what the conditions were like here? I suppose the better question would be, did they even care? Clearly, they felt it was important enough to ship us off to another country without even letting us know. Why would they care how we were treated? We were no longer their problem.

It didn’t take long for us all to make our way into the building and have the front door slammed closed behind the last girl. This must have signaled the doctors because two older men came into the room moments later. Both of them had on graying lab coats that I assume used to be white at one point. One had on glasses, and the other had a scraggly beard that made him look unkempt.

“Welcome to your new home in the Northern faction of Asturg. We will take two of you at a time to examine and ensure that you’re fit for breeding. This is the first and foremost important duty of Omegas in our country. Without good breeders, we don’t have the soldiers to keep fighting to reclaim our lands from the bastard Southerners,” Glasses informed us. “Now, I would like you to line up in the order of oldest to youngest, please.”

Only one other girl was older than me in this group, so we both stepped to the front of the line. It ended with Tori and then Violet, a few girls up from her. Many of those they sent this time were in a range of twenty to twenty-three. I had just turned twenty-two a few weeks earlier and feared something like this would happen. Having children was harder the older you got, and no one over the age of twenty-two had been paired with a local pack.