Wretches & Kings

The ground tipped and swayed as the young woman struggled to right herself. The sloppy ground gave under her feet as she forced her legs to keep moving, blinking back tears and rain. Her thin legs trembled underneath her, whole body nothing but skin and bone. Short, black hair plastered to her head. Lungs begged for air; her empty stomach knotted more and more with each passing step. Rain pressed down harder and harder. Even the elements were against her.

Hyun Ae slid down a slight decline, barely catching the chain-linked fence in her throbbing vision. Every few seconds the world around her stuttered and disappeared. Hyun Ae reached the incline right as a howl tore through the freezing, night air. The young woman sucked in a breathe and hurried her pace just as another howl sounded right behind her. Gurgles and growls of genetically-altered hounds made Hyun Ae's skin crawl as she struggled up the sharp incline. They howled again and advanced. Hyun Ae fought harder against the mud giving away at her feet as she began to slide back down.

A trap of sharp teeth suddenly took hold of her arm and she let out a scream and resisted. The hold strengthened and skin broke. Regaining her composure, Hyun Ae tried desperately to relax, daring to not make eye contact with the beast in front of her. Over three hundred pounds of raw muscle and short, wiry fur, the creature was simply known as “Jug-eum” or death. Because Jug-eum's were sent after escapees and the punishment for attempting escape was immediate extermination. Once one was in the jaws of Jug-eum, there was no way to escape them or the soldiers that followed.

The thought of the soldiers made Hyun Ae's clouded, brown eyes snap to the yellow ones embedded in the Jug-eum's skull. It growled loudly at the threat and bit down harder. Hyun's free hand dug into the mud at the pain, but she did not take her eyes off the beast. She'd rather be eaten alive than let the Dakeu Jeon-won have their way with her before disposing of her. She was only a slave, a shell of flesh to be worked until death. The giant dog growled louder as approaching squashing of boots in mud met the woman's ears. She grit her teeth and glared harder at the dog, but it was too late.

“Release!”

Hyun Ae's bleeding arm fell into the mud. A soldier grabbed her by the hair and brought her to her knees. “You're fast for a starving bitch,” he sneered before striking her across the face.

“Stop. Remember what Commander Jung said, she is not to be damaged or killed."

Hyun Ae looked up at the solder that had spoken, confusion knitting her eyebrows together. That was going against their protocol; what were they doing?

The man that had struck Hyun Ae smirked, but said nothing.

“Bind her,” the last soldier who had spoken commanded. “Let headquarters know we've found her.”

Another soldier reached for her hand, but Hyun Ae jerked away and struck out, trying to reach the top of the crest. A hand grabbed her foot and she let out a scream, fighting feebly against the hands that grabbed at her. Her body was beginning to give into exhaustion and starvation. The adrenaline was gone, leaving her feeling more numb by the second. Hyun Ae was thrown onto her stomach, her arms jerked behind her, causing a grinding sound in her shoulder, and wrists cuffed together. She stared blankly at the mud and feet surrounding her, tears seeping from her eyes.

She'd failed.

A gunshot rang out and the young woman jerk back to life. A soldier fell beside her, a bullet hold gaping from his forehead. More gunfire and shouts. Hyun could see Dakeu Jeon-won men falling left and right. Jug-eums' howling was cut short by more bullets. Hyun Ae's eyes squeezed shut as she tried to press down farther into the mud, make herself less of target for whoever was shooting.

Silence fell, but Hyun Ae remained motionless. Voices, more footfalls, more splashing around in the mud. They were not voices of soldiers though; they lacked the authoritative huskiness. Some were even female. None of them seemed extremely near and Hyun Ae took one final moment of strength. Thrusting her shoulders forward and moving her knees under her, she pushed her head into the mud as leverage to try and get a better stance. She was almost to her feet when the alarm of her movement came.

Hyun Ae took a step forward, but to her dismay her legs betrayed her and she collapsed into the mud again. Hurried feet approached and a body came beside her. Hyun Ae let out a scream and struck out, but hands grabbed her legs. She was turned onto her back, able to look into the eyes of an older woman. The woman's face was smudged with dirt and shadowed by a sadness as she looked down at the trembling victim beneath her.

“Its alright,” the woman said soothingly, helping Hyun to sit up. “You're safe now.”

Hyun Ae's clouded eyes looked around at the dark figures. Their bodies were not clothed in the dark green uniforms. They were not people of the Dakeu Jeon-won. And that fact made tears of relief fall from the woman's eyes as she sucked in a lung full of air to let out wailing sobs. The unnamed woman enfolded Hyun Ae in her arms, letting her lean against her as she cried. Hyun Ae sat there, sobbing and muttering senselessness until—finally—her mind let go.