She couldn't work out why she was here.

Back in the alley she had tried so hard to avoid.

Shilo had worked to avoid it ever since Amber Sweet had caught her there, months ago, and shown her just how much damage she could do. It had been back then that Amber had found her, Shilo completely lost, the addict coming down from a Zydrate high, claiming that Shilo had stolen her Graverobber. It was apparently because Shilo had been so innocent that Graverobber had apparently shown an interest in her and had abandoned Amber... so a couple of months after the Genetic Opera, Amber had apparently decided to take it upon herself to break the fragile Wallace girl. After going through what she couldn't decide if it was consensual sex or outright rape, Shilo had been sent to go find Graverobber, under penalty of death via organ repossession.

It had taken her a while, but eventually, find Graverobber she did. She remembered how his eyes had trailed over her when she walked into his sight. She remembered completely bending to his will, and how he broke her even more than Amber had. She remembered his touch on her, the feel of his tongue on her throat, his teeth on her hips... She couldn't help but shiver even now. He'd finished her with a smirk on his face, dismissed her with a wave of his hand as his junkies started flooding back towards him.

That was months ago, and Shilo was eighteen now. At least, she figured she might as well be, for she'd lost track of the date soon after the Genetic Opera had ended. Her natural black hair had begun to grow back, and now it reached just past her shoulders. Already it was streaked with different colors as she'd adjusted to life in the alley: streaked purple, green, yellow. She wore her ever-familiar tall black boots still, along with a short skirt, a pair of ripped tights, a white shirt, and a long leather duster coat she had stolen from a corpse. She didn't have the look of a Zydrate junkie, for she hadn't become hooked on the glow... No. Instead, she had taken on the look of a graverobber. She felt more protected, more sheltered in the guise of a graverobber, and though she had no Zydrate on her, it kept her mostly left alone. She had had a few encounters with several actual graverobbers when she'd accidentally stumbled into their territory, but she had managed to escape unscathed.

Now, as she walked along the alley, she looked around carefully. She had unconsciously claimed this alley as her own, and as she scanned the area, she clutched the rusty scalpel in her pocket, vowing to attack whoever had decided to set foot here. She walked until she saw someone flattened against the wall, and quickly rushed over to see who it was.

"This is /my/ alley," she spoke loudly, taking out the scalpel, her footsteps echoing off the pavement. "You don't belong here, you'd better get out before I-"

She was interrupted as she recognized the visitor. It was none other than Amber Sweet, clad in her familiar leather attire.

"Amber," Shilo merely spoke, slowly pocketing her scalpel.

"Shilo," Amber returned the girl's tone. She had one arm behind her back, the other sprawled out against the brick wall.

"What are you doing here? I sent you Graverobber like you told me to do, remember?"

"I was obviously satisfied, as you're still alive," Amber hissed. "Graverobber is mine again, and I'm pleased with you for following my orders."

"What are you doing here?" repeated Shilo, her tone growing impatient. Amber's lips curled into their typical evil smile.

"You look like a graverobber girl," she replied. "I doubt you have any Z on you, though... You're too cowardly still to actually start dealing."

Shilo bit her lip as she walked closer. She didn't want to admit Amber was right, but her silence spoke for itself.

"That's why I have... a little job for you." Amber pulled the hand out from behind her back, and Shilo saw it was an injection gun, a vial full of glowing Zydrate attached and prepared. Her eyes widened slightly, but she kept her straight face, her hands on her hips.

"Where'd you get that?" she questioned calmly. "Surely the CEO of GeneCo can't possibly be seen wandering the streets with a full dose of Zydrate."

Amber answered her with a knowing look, and Shilo immediately concluded she'd gotten it from Graverobber. Whether she'd stolen it or he'd given it to her she didn't know, but she knew she'd obtained it from him.

"What I need you to do for me..." the woman continued, trailing the tip of the gun over her own neck, "is simply give me the Z. You're taking the gun and injecting it. That's all you have to do..."

Shilo tilted her head. She didn't really like the sound of this... "You're trying to train me to be a drug dealer?" she asked. Amber merely smiled, and another question came to her mind, one that she'd learned while observing the dealers and junkies: "What's in it for me?"

"You're going to help me with that as well," replied Amber. "Of course I'll pay you like a good customer... but it won't be with money... and I expect something in return for that as well..."

She wants sex, Shilo realized. She's going to give me sex as payment, but she wants it from me as well.

Amber pulled the gun away from her body and held it out to the girl. Shilo hesitated for a moment, then reached out. Her hand shook as she took the gun, simultaneously taking her first step into the forbidden world of drugs.