Chapter 8

KAIDA'S POV...

To my utmost horror, I discovered that the container was already filled and packed with drifters, just like me.

Drifters were those people who had zero affiliation or identification with or to any faction or district. They roamed around the deserted lands, searching for food and shelter.

I could only hope that I had not landed myself into bigger trouble than I would have been with Axtoon and Thane back at the campsite.

As I fully climbed down into the container, I braced myself for whatever was going to happen. Climbing back up was not something I wanted to do. I believed I could manage the drifters; after all, they weren't that dangerous compared to the Fallens; they were just people like me scavenging for food and shelter to get past each day in this destroyed world.

Everything should be fine, as long as I don't let my disguise get discovered like I'd so foolishly done back at the campsite.

But as I turned to face the drifters inside the container, I realized that I might have thought wrong and might have been a bit hasty in concluding that drifters were harmless.

The drifters were all looking unfriendly, rude glares were sent my way and I heard hushed whispers from within the crowd of drifters.

A middle-aged man in old torn clothes slowly stepped out from behind the man who still had his flashlight on me; he came up in front of me and scoffed. "Can't you see, young lad? The whole place is already filled up. Do we have to spell it out for you before you leave?!" The man asked mockingly, garnering laughter from the crowd of drifters behind him.

The man behind him who was holding the flashlight came and brought the flashlight very close to me, suspiciously holding the light steady on my body.

I immediately had a very bad feeling from his scrutiny, I didn't want this to escalate to another level beyond my control.

I followed my instincts and tried to leave, but the man suddenly grabbed me by my arm.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked and tightened his hand around my arm.

He roughly pulled me closer to the crowd of drifters and moved his flashlight from my head to my toes.

"Look at him; his outfits mock ours! He looks so good compared to these rags we've been wearing for months, yet he is pretending to be a drifter like us," The man said loudly.

I saw the other drifter's eyes now glued to me and my outfit, making me uncomfortable.

If I had known, I would have refused the change of clothes from Axton. But, now, look where it got me, in the hands of these scavenging drifters.

The man quickly handed someone his flashlight, "Hold it steady on him; I need to search him for some supplies; his bag looks full; who knows if we'll find something valuable on him? Am I right, young lad?" The man asked me and prepared to commence a thorough search on me.

This is getting out of hand!

This was heading in the direction I did not like and I knew at the back of my mind that I was not going to be able to reign absolute control over my spiralling predicament.

I instantly got nervous, nervous, and extremely tensed up.

Everything had happened in a blur, and all of a sudden, I saw these men coming at me with their curious and greedy hands and eyes, trying to covet anything and everything valuable I currently possessed.

I instantly struggled, wedging my knee between the legs of one man who tried to grab me by the shoulder.

"Ugh!!" The man fell to his knees, cupping his hands between his legs.

At least, that allowed me to move away a little from them as they did not expect me to do that to their friend, but I did not get too far from them as one of them speedily dived me and dragged me back to their center despite all my struggling.

It was at that moment I regretted losing my dagger the most. It would have made my escape from these dangers very easy if they had seen that I did possess a weapon.

"Where are you running off to? Do you not want to squat with us anymore?" The man who had the flashlight said mockingly as he roughly yanked my bag off my shoulder, throwing it to another man beside him.

"Hold this, while I check what our dear friend has brought for us," The flashlight man said in a daunting voice.

I immediately activated my fake, masculine voice, "You better get your hands off of me if you don't want to lose them one after the other," I threatened them, hoping my voice sounded rough and masculine enough to scare them.

"Pin him down!" The flashlight man ordered angrily.

I guessed he did not take my threat well.

The men charged at me once more, but I did not give in so easily; I struggled and struggled, trying to dodge and hit as many hands as I could.

I hit my head against one of the man's noses; the cracking sound of cartilage being broken was heard amidst our scuffling.

"Argh!!" The injured man fell to the floor, nursing his bleeding nose.

The man with the flashlight suddenly hit my stomach, causing me to bend over.

"Ugh!" I grunted, feeling the air leave my lungs.

Maybe it was as I bent over in pain that he noticed something in me because in the next second, "Enough playing around! Hold him up, there's something off about him!" He ordered the others to restrain me.

They immediately obeyed and forcefully pushed me down to my knees by my shoulders, pinning me down with their hands as they roughly grabbed my hands and held them, hostage behind my back.

At that moment, I realized that I had been subdued by the drifters I had initially thought I could manage.

The flashlight man marched forward and raised his hand to my head, and before I knew it, he pulled off my hood and yanked off my scarf. And, despite the heavy dirt smeared across the skin of my face, the flashlight being shone on me still revealed my true appearance to them.

"Oh fuck! Everyone, look what we've got here!" He grabbed the flashlight from the man he had given it to and flashed it closer to my face to show his friends what he had just discovered.

"We've found a female!" The man announced with uncontrollable excitement, causing an uproar from the other men as they immediately crowded over me with an intense reaction, jumping up and down in and pushing each other out of the way to be the first one who gets me.

As their stampeding increased, I was plunged into absolute despair.

Maybe, this is the end?