Six was young, younger than most of the others who had managed to survive.
She blamed this fact on all the anomalies that she'd experienced growing up. Perhaps it had been the environment she was raised in, perhaps it was her own blood that was tainted with the dark branches of the Eye.
As mentioned, Six had grown up with the Eye, and she hated it.
Always watching, always corrupting and using. It held the world tangled in its strings. It wasn't a being, not really. It was more of a presence, a voice, a symbol carved into every door and painted on every wall.
The fact that she had lived her life under the Eye's watchful gaze and still felt it was wrong confused her. None of the adults in her world felt the same. Not anymore.
Had it always been this way? Sometimes, at that fragile time between Sleep and Wake, Six could remember things like warm hands stroking her black hair, the voice of a mother singing a familiar lullaby, laughter, a full belly.
Then they were gone, and the nightmares started.
Other children called it the Turn. The day the Eye had come into existence and sent out a call that made the adults into monsters and plunged the world into chaos. At first, only the most abominable people changed, but after enough time, even the most strong-minded could no longer resist the Eye's influence.
Like some kind of fungal parasite, the disease spread to nature and animals. The world began to mutate. Proportions changed and reality shifted.
Most people became helpless victims whose only purpose was to feed whatever creature was behind the apocalypse, but some were special and changed into ferocious beasts with gruesome faces, blood contaminated with pure evil.
The only things that seemed virtually immune to the Eye were children, and they immediately became the focus of everyone and everything. They lived their lives being hunted, their physical development halted, until one day, Six was sure that they would all be gone, with no one to replace them.
Six of course knew nothing of this until she met a person of mystery.
The Girl lay on the floor, curled up in a ball with her eyes shut as tight as she could make them. Fear coursed through her bloodstream and her muscles shook uncontrollably. She was too scared, too exhausted, too weak to cry or beg to the tall, starkly white, and boney figure that stood over her. The rules were clear, as they always had been.
The Girl was to stay by the Lady's side during half the day while she managed affairs on the Maw, then The Girl was sent to eat her single bowl of soup and watch the television, while the Lady locked herself into her room and smeared countless substances on the face beneath the mask she wore.
Everyday, for ten years.
After the first three years, she stopped caring about her so-called mother and the attention she lacked. She taught herself how to speak from the conversations held on the TV.
She knew there must be something outside the few hallways lined with flakey wallpaper and grimy velvet carpets.
She began to make a plan, and the next time she was locked into the closet with the television, she made a break for the plated vent that was fixed above it.
This was how she discovered that it was not trees or sky outside her home, but the entirety of the Maw.
For the next years of her life she creeped about and discovered more and more horrors everyday. The Guest Suite, the cargo hold, and many other locations within the Maw's shelled metal walls. She went out so often that it wasn't long before she memorized the general layout of the ship.
She probably would have started to believe there was nothing outside her door except the Maw, and that the world was nothing but a massive machine. However, every month or so, the ship would dock and let in more inhabitants, letting her glimpse the sky and smell the sea for a few moments.
But now, she was caught. The fleeting moments of freedom and exploration were gone forever.
She caught sight of the mangy carpet through blurred tears, the disappointment weighed over her like a cloud. Her punishment would be anything but mild.
"You had only one rule, and you dare to disobey me? This is betrayal. You have betrayed me. You deserve nothing."
The Lady's voice sounded like metal scraping against metal, her face serene and calm, hidden by a porcelain mask.
The Girl made no move against the Lady when she was picked but by the hair and yanked to her feet.
The Lady grasped The Girl 's hair in a firm bundle, while picking up a pair of shears in her free hand. Almost lifting the child completely off the ground, she began to hack off handfuls of long, black hair.
The Girl fell to the floor as the final strand was cut, running her hands along head, shaking more now than before.
She felt remorse, but not for her mother. She was sorry she hadn't run when she had a chance.
Would she have even missed me? Does she feel things inside like I do?
The Lady felt anger, that was unmistakable.
This machine, the Maw, was her pristine empire. No one dared to disobey her, she was endless. The Girl was a thorn, a glint of pain that managed to break the illusion.
Something the Lady would never forgive.
The Girl was dragged to a holding cell deep, deep within the Maw. It was cold and wet, and a dank stench floated through the air.
The Girl was alone, with an ache in her heart and bruises dotting her arms and legs. She contemplated the result of her simple misstep, her mind full of terrible things.
She was lonely, hurt, and unexplainably empty.
Unfortunately, she was also unexplainably different, and the universe wasn't done with its unholy creation.
It was here in the darkness that the Hunger began.