Edward was awakened by a violent and turbulent jolt of the ship as it proceeded to land. She and Ein were tossed back & forth across the floor as the chain tugged painfully on Ed's ankle. The other children experienced the same violent awakening and cowered in the corners of their cages as they were flung back & forth. Edward could see them more clearly with the rays of sunlight coming through the slits of the doors and saw that there were 14 girls and one boy. They shouted and cried each time the ship swayed and flung them about in their cages. Edward spotted Nema & waved at her energetically.
"Hi hi Nema! Cock-a-doodle!"
Nema was too preoccupied with holding on to the cage bars to reply. She waved quickly and was flung to the back of the cage.
"Hey! There's a dog in here!" Screamed a child around the age of 12.
"Can we play with it when we get out?"
Edward paused for a moment as her eyes went wide... She forgot to keep Ein hidden.
"No! Edward has to hide Ein from Dale so he won't hurt you!" Edward quickly shoved Ein into a wooden box and ordered him to stay put.
"Who's Edward?"
"Oh she just speaks in a unique way... Her name is Edward." Stated Nema from the top row of cages.
"Hey neat! Is Ein your dog's name-"
The child's inquiry was interrupted by a low rumbling and a flash of bright daylight as the cargo ship's door opened. Edward turned around and was blinded by the rays of the sun. She put a hand over her eyes and slowly sat down.
"Hey you, get back up. Rest time's over. Alright kids, I want full cooperation from ya today, so don't try anything stupid and you won't get punished." Dale walked toward the right side of the ship's door and put back the prod that helped open the door. He summoned over some workers and gave them directions on handling the cages. Edward watched as the men climbed into the ship and began passing and handing off the cages of children onto a moving walkway. There must have been around 30 handlers lifting and passing the cages. Edward soon saw the weary and saddened faces of the children as they passed before her eyes. She could not imagine staying in one of those cages for two days straight after being snatched up. She noticed Liza walk over & forcefully grab her arm and unlock her chain.
"Jesus, you're bony..." Liza muttered in disgust. She spotted a moving wooden box & uncovered Ein from the surface.
"Oh, a little stowaway, huh? Looks like we got two things to pawn now. You and the computer are going straight to Ray's once this drop-off's finished..."
"Ein!" Edward exclaimed from the side of the ship. Before she could prevent any action, Liza grabbed Ein and threw him in a bag. She turned to a stunned Edward & grabbed her arm.
"Hey Dale! Do I put her in one of the cages?"
"I guess so..." He yelled back wearily. Liza proceeded to yank Edward's arm & shove her in a cage with the only boy in the group. She frowned at the boy; they were both crammed & remained cheek-to-cheek as the handlers violently swung the two children onto the walkway. The cage landed with a thud upside-down and the children noticed they were going into a dark tunnel. Edward looked back through the bars at her dog struggling in the black bag and stared in disbelief. The boy struggled against Edward, but he stopped as soon as the daylight left and they plunged into total blackness. After about three minutes of travel, the children began to see a faint yellow and red glow coming from the horizon. They saw lanterns and heard poppy disco music echo through the tunnels. Soon Edward saw more handlers, this time female, throwing the cages off of the walkway and opening them up. They were all scattered around on different sides and soon Edward and the boy felt their cage being yanked off the walkway. They came down with a thud as the door swung open and Ed & the boy came flying out. They were grabbed by a rough-looking woman who chattered orders at them in Dutch. The children gave each other puzzled looks before they were led down a seedy hallway and were separated at a turn. Edward was flung into a room with the rest of the girls, only they had been stripped. Edward was soon stripped of her clothing as well, and before she could react she felt the fluid force of a giant fire-hose pelt into her back. The girls screamed at the impact of the watery burst as Edward fell face-down on the damp floor. The children were sprayed for about a minute until the aquatic assault finally ended. When Edward looked up, dripping all over, she felt a towel hit her in the face. She was picked up by the same Dutch-speaking woman and led down yet another hallway. Edward covered up her vulnerable state with her towel as best as she could and she spotted Nema being led down the opposite hall. She turned around, only to get a slap and a stream of Dutch insults from the woman leading her. Edward continued to be led by the woman obediently until they came to a small door after a few turns. The woman opened the door and pushed Edward inside as she threw a set of clothes at Edward. She exited the room & locked the door behind her. Edward examined the room slowly as she put on the new set of clothes. The clothing was skimpy and very revealing, and the articles only consisted of a pair of white shorts, a floral-print bare-midriff top, and a pair of red pumps. She quickly studied her appearance in the mirror on the door; Edward looked and felt like a nightmare from the 70s. She sat down on a cot and waited. For what seemed like hours passed until she heard movement outside of her door. This time, a long-haired blonde girl unlocked the door and entered the room. She stared at a Edward for a while, examining her appearance.
"Alright, come with me down the hall... It's time for me to do your makeup," The girl stated as she exasperatedly ran her extremely long and crimson nails through her equally long hair. The girl could not have been more than 15 years old, and Edward noticed that the girl had bruises and marks all over her body.
"Well don't waste time staring at me... Put your shoes on & let's get going."
Edward gingerly put on the hideous pumps and struggled to navigate across the floor in those atrocities. She resembled an infant giraffe in its first attempt to walk with her gangly legs shaking and the spasms of her feet growing more and more frequent. The blonde girl chuckled at Edward and assisted her in walking.
"You have to get used to walking in those puppies... Otherwise you'll never get a score.."
"What like a basketball goal?"
The blonde girl shyly smiled and laughed at Edward's remark.
"Ah you kill me..."
The girl and Edward entered another room filled with mirrors and makeup equipment everywhere. The girl sat Edward down and began to put articles of makeup on her. Edward's eyes kept watering and twitching as the girl applied mascara. She then put puffs of pink and rosy powder on Edward's face and smeared eyeshadow the color of pool-chalk blue over her eyelids.
The girl then took out a lipstick container and handed it to Edward.
"I'm going to let you apply this since you know the outline of your lips better than I do..."
Edward grabbed and twisted the container and out unfolded a color of the brightest pink. Edward's eyes went wide with excitement.
"CANDY!" Edward squealed as she bit down on the lipstick head and proceeded to chew. The blonde girl chuckled even more at Edward's enthusiasm. "Thank you thank you for giving Edward candy..." As Edward continued to chew, she realized the bitter taste of the lipstick, and she quickly spit out the contents on the floor.
The blonde girl patted Edward on the back and reached for a paper towel and poured Edward a glass of water.
"Here drink up & wash that crap out of your mouth. I've always preferred gloss myself." She wiped Edward's mouth and brushed out her hair. The two girls were interrupted by the opening of the door. A man walked in and motioned for Edward to follow him.
"It's time..."
"Okay, Ed...ward? You have to go with Steve right now to meet Alabaster... If you ever need your makeup or hair done or if you just wanna talk, ask for Dizzy, okay? Good luck & I'll see you soon."
"Bye bye Dizzy!" Edward yelled at the girl as the man took her hand and led her down the hallway. As they walked, Edward noticed many boys and girls going in and out of rooms. As a group passed them by in the hall, she noticed a girl was crying. The man began explaining what to expect to Edward:
"Alright, so you're working for Alabaster now, so you do what she says, understand? Now I'm gonna lead you down to a line-up where Alabaster is gonna give you a name. Once you have that name, you use ONLY that name and never refer to yourself with your original name, so it's best to forget that now. We like to protect the identity of our walkers, so we ask for your cooperation."
The man unlocked a cell-like chamber which contained a row of boys and girls dressed in the same fashion as Edward. Steve put her at the end of the line where Edward spotted Nema twelve feet away. Edward shouted at Nema & waved to her. She noticed at the end of the line stood another tall woman who resembled Dizzy. She seemed to be separating the children with an alabaster cane. The woman was assigning names to the children and was parting them with her cane to either the left or right hall.
"Alright, Minnie, left... Valerie, right..." The woman then spotted the only boy in the group & studied him for a while before smirking:
"Twink...You're going left..." She cooly remarked at him. "What did you just call me?!" The boy snarled back. Her cane cracked him in the ribs as she snapped, "Lemme just remind you that you work for Alabaster... You're MY property now, and insolence or outbursts like that will not go unpunished. Understand?" She paused for a moment. "I change my mind... You go forward. I want to show you how unruly behavior is handled here..." Steve grabbed the boy and led him forward through a chained chamber. Twink's face grew pale and grim. Alabaster then came to Nema:
"Ruby, you go right...".
"Dee, left..."
"Shea, right..."
"Crystal, left..."
"Faye, right..."
"Tammy, left..."
"Lori, right..."
Edward felt the tip of the alabaster cane poke her on the hip. The woman stared at Edward in the same manner as she did with Twink.
"Pippi... You go left...". Edward stared at the woman blankly and continued to stand in front of her.
"Are you Alabaster?"
The woman slowly chuckled at Edward and smiled at her.
"Child, I go by many names, but I guess you could say I use that one in particular as my primary one."
"Why?"
"You know, some things in life are always going to go unanswered... Now run along Pippi... Go to the left and I'll bring you something to eat... You look starved and in need of some nourishment..."
The woman's tone gave Edward chills as she proceeded to walk down the right hallway. Another attendant grabbed Edward's hand and led her to a small room with a pink door. The attendant locked her in pushed a plate of three bao buns through a small dog door at the bottom. Edward started at the plate and grabbed all three dumplings and wolfed down the first one. Edward looked up and noticed the ceiling tiles and noticed a leak coming through one. Not wanting to be greedy, Edward thought that she should share some with Nema, so she climbed onto the cot in her room and tapped on the tile slowly. The soggy tile slowly sloughed off and splattered onto the floor as a Edward grimaced at the sludgy material on the floor. She grabbed the buns and stuffed what she could into her shirt, kicked off her pumps, and climbed into the ceiling like a small monkey. As she continued to crawl through the dark, she could see the children through the vents and hear their voices coming from different rooms, but she also heard other voices, adult voices, telling them about prices and possible payment methods.
"For what?" Thought Edward. She continued to listen for Nema's voice. Her knees and palms began to develop rawness from her frequent crawling and she felt drowsy from the weight of the bao bun in her stomach. As she came to a turn she heard Nema's voice from below. She peered through the vents and saw Nema crouching on the cot.
"Hey Nematode!"
Nema looked up at Ed through the vents and gave her a surprised look.
"Hey, How'd you get to this side?! I thought you were sent to the left..."
"Edward got bored and wanted to give you something good..."
"Something good?"
Edward kicked open the vent and jumped down on the cot next to Nema. She handed Nema a bun and watched Nema's hungry eyes explode with excitement.
"How'd you get food?! This smells so good & it's still warm..." She took a bite and chewed slowly, savoring the taste. "This is so good...I haven't eaten in days... Thanks, Edward..." Edward smiled at her and sniffed at something sulfuric in the air.
"Why does it smell funny in here?"
"I think they sell illicit fireworks next door... They have such a large stockpile that the smell leaks through. I guess the sales plummeted so they have to store them here..." Edward nodded and noticed that Nema had tears in her eyes.
"What's the matter, Nema?"
Nema stared at the wall for a moment as she finished off the bun.
"Ah it's nothing Ed. It's just nice to have someone be so kind during a time like this...you're a really sweet kid & I hope they haven't done anything bad to you yet..."
"What do you mean?"
"You...you mean you haven't been sold off yet?"
"No Ed just waited in a room a long time & then they brought me here..."
Nema paused for a long period of time.
"So you don't really know what goes on in here, do you?"
"I can't say that I do... Have they done something bad to Nema?"
The tears began to flow from Nema's eyes as Edward hugged her close and let her sob into her chest. Nema's catharsis was soon interrupted by the turn of the door's knob. In stepped a shifty-looking man with a mullet, acid-wash jeans, and a stained wifebeater tank. The girls turned and faced the man. They smelled bourbon and menthols on his breath as he closed the door behind himself and faced them. He gave them a sneering look and lit up a cigarette.
"Hmm... Alright. Two for the price of one. You're Ruby, right?"
Nema stared at the floor and nodded.
"Wow aren't you a little vixen..." The man stated as he sheepishly shook her hand.
"Don't cry, sweetheart... Rodney's gonna make you & your friend feel better. By the way, what's your friend's name?" The man gave Edward a leering look that made the bao in her stomach lurch.
"C'mon spit it out. ANSWER ME. What's your name?! Don't you girls ever show respect by answering people?! For hookers you're awfully moody..."
Edward stared at the man in disbelief.
"HOOKERS?! EEEWWWWY!" Edward exclaimed as she backed away from the man.
"Well what'd you think you were working for, a burger joint? Now come over here & give Rodney some sugar... I've paid for it & I want my money's worth." The man grabbed Nema and restrained her with his grip. Nema struggled against him as Rodney slapped her across the face.
"I'VE PAID FOR MY SERVICES AND I WANT DELIVERY NOW-" as he uttered the last word, the man felt the force of a steaming bun hit him across the face, knocking the cigarette out of his mouth. He turned toward Edward and faced the angry girl who had thrown the object at him.
"Why you little-you're gonna pay for that!" The man swung at Edward and she evaded by rolling underneath him, causing him to lose his balance and collapse. Edward climbed onto the man's back as he got up & began to bite his ears like a feral animal. The man tried to knock Edward off of him, but his efforts failed. This struggle continued until Nema screamed and all saw a small fire from the cigarette blaze on the floor.
"Edward, we gotta move..."
Before Edward could react, she hear a loud pop and a flash of light filled the room. Rodney rant out as the girls sat there, stunned from the recent occurrence.
"Firepops!" Edward exclaimed as she got up and started laughing. She grabbed Nema's hand and they ran out of the small room as they heard the rest of the fireworks building up and going off next door. Roman candles zinged through the air and cherry bombs blasted as black cats popped away. Other girls and boys were abandoning their stations as they heard the loud cracks and ran down the hallways with Ed and Nema. As the children neared the end of the maze-like hallway, a loud and blinding blast knocked all of the children face down. As they looked up from the ground, they saw a hole exposing the sky and beautiful and colorful fireworks embellishing the night sky. They had been kept underground the entire time.
"Hey everyone! Go! Climb up the hole and go outside! Run run! Run away from the hole in the ground! Go!" Edward exclaimed as she ran down the hallways as Nema ran after her.
"Edward! Don't go down there it's dangerous & the fireworks are too powerful!" Edward!"
"Don't worry, Nematode. Edward has to get the other kids out so they can be free too..." Edward ran and began placing explosives by the cells which, when enacted, would explode and break open the chamber. The kids ran out panting and screaming and ran toward the large opening in the ceiling. Hordes of children were climbing out and scattering throughout the above city. Once Edward and Nema were sure everyone had been evacuated, they ran towards the opening and began to climb out. As they did so, a giant blast emitted from the hole, with green, red, and gold sparkles filling the sky with deafening zings and pops. Edward cackled joyously and found a lit sparkler. She ran over to Nema with her arms out like an airplane.
"Nema Nema! Let's go. Let's go find Ein & Ed's computer!" The girl laughed joyously. Nema looked stunned.
"You know where they are?"
"Mhmm... Liza said something about sending them to Ray's. We have to get them back before it's too late! Do you know where Ray's is?"
"I guess we could figure it out..."
With that, Edward grabbed Nema's hand and they ran past the various lanterns, lights, and sceneries of the unknown city on Mars. They ran for what seemed like hours until they spotted a flashing neon advertisement sign that read, (in the possessive-case), a single name:
"Ray's".
***Soundtrack for enhanced reading: "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer. (Listen to during the plunge into the underground tunnel) /g0tenPCmHFk