The sounds of the men above became quiet once the woman had left her. She could hear some mumblings, a discussion she assumed to be about her. There was one voice that carried over the rest, the voice of a young man who was shouting, the sobs of a young girl in response and then quiet once again.
The door to the cellar opened once again, this time a man accompanied the woman down with him. He was older than her but not by much, he wore a dark long trench coat and had a long black/grey beard. He looked at Lily up and down, a cautious look on his face. Lily wanted to push back into the pillar once more under his gaze, but a stern look from the woman stopped her from doing so.
The man came closer to her, kneeling down to her level, gripping her arm painfully as he examined her slave number, just as the woman had done previously. 'Slavery. Surprised that's still going on out there.' He looked back at the woman, who was playing absently with her sleeve once again.
'What shall we do with her? We can't send her back.' The woman crossed her arms in defiance.
'Of course not, got to protect the family.' The man looked back into Lily's eyes. 'Anyone gonna be coming looking for you Lily?'
There was a dangerous look in his eyes as he asked that question. 'I ran away. They'll come looking for me. I'm sorry.' She felt anxious, a growing sadness in her chest. Would they sell her on or maybe even kill her? They seemed to like their privacy. Protect the family, is what he said. She was a threat now. She was a burden on these people. She felt embarrassed.
The man and woman looked at one another, an annoyed sigh from the man. 'If you let me go… they'll never know I was here, I'll go back to him, or into the desert, to the coyotes…'
'Coyotes?! Why on earth would ya go near them child. They'd maul you to death in a heartbeat.' The woman stepped forward, a look of disbelief on her face. Lily met her gaze, a defeated look before looking back to the ground.
There was a knowing look on the woman's face as she looked to the man. A nod in agreement. They understood. 'What do we do?' She spoke this in a hushed tone to the man before a man leapt from the cellar staircase.
'I say we carve her up and eat her for supper!' A man with slits for a nose and goggles around his neck came bounding over to her. Stopped barely by the older man in time.
'Nah, I can think of a lot more we could be doing with her.' Behind them was another man, with bright blue eyes and a cleft lip. He raked his eyes over her body slowly, a perverted smile on his face.
'Goggle, Lizard. You were told to stay upstairs whilst we dealt with this.' The older man shouted at them, a defiant look coming from the two men. They both looked around her age.
Lily took them in, their disfigurements, mutations. This group of people all seemed to have something. The woman's baldness, the blue-eyed man's lip, the other his face. The older man though, she thought perhaps to the bulge in his stomach area beneath the trench coat. She had heard that there had been nuclear testing out here in the desert. Could this have contributed to their mutations? All these thoughts ran through her head before it suddenly occurred to her, did he say eat her for supper?! These people were cannibals!
The thought occurred to her, in a way, was it any different to offering herself to the coyotes. A last act of service, that thought ran through her head once more.
'You can eat me if you'd like.' Her small voice deafened the room. A look of disbelief on everyone in front of her.
'This girl's fucked up, aint no fun if there aint no hunting for it.' A disappointed look on Goggle's face as he looked at her. Lizard continued to look her up and down, a pleased grin on his face.
'The girl was brought in by Ruby, perhaps she should make the decision.' The woman made the statement, gaining a laugh from them, Lizard especially.
'Why should that brat have anything to say about this. She's the bitch that caused this mess.' Lizard's words were like venom as he spoke, she presumed about the small girl from earlier. There was a displeased look from the two older people, an awkwardness from Goggle at Lizard's words.
'Perhaps if you had spotted her before Ruby, you'd be the one to have the say. You were the one on watch last night boy.' The older man spoke once more, authority in his voice which silenced Lizard.
The woman called for Ruby, the small girl descending the staircase meekly. She approached her mother, walking around the men, avoiding Goggle and Lizard as much as possible. Her eyes were slightly misaligned, her hands mutated, she was pretty otherwise in appearance.
'What shall we do with the girl Ruby, it's your call.' The woman spoke to Ruby gently, a surprised expression graced her small features.
'Really?!' She smiled at the woman, the excitement in her face showing. There was a disgruntled noise from Lizard in the corner of the room. The woman nodded at her to show Ruby her approval.
'Then, she can stay! She can help me and you Ma, clean the village and cook the food, look after the little ones!' The girl smiled excitedly at Lily, who gazed indifferently back to her.
'Very well girl, it's decided, from this point on your Ruby's responsibility. I hope your aware of that Rubes.' The older man looked at the small child sternly.
She smiled back, looking back to Lily. 'Is that okay Lily?' She asked hopefully, another annoyed groan from the men in the back of the room.
'Yes. I'll be your slave.' She nodded at the small girl. She couldn't really give herself over to them like that, she already belonged to someone, the legalities wouldn't hold up. The slave catchers would find her eventually, she would go along with this until then.