In Brigantine…
Mei woke later than usual that morning. The weak grey light leaking through the boarded window didn't feel like sunlight anymore—just another sign that another day had come. Her eyes burned from lack of sleep; again, she hadn't managed more than a few uneasy hours. This place, since they'd brought her here, never let her rest. Every creak in the floorboards, every shift of shadow outside the window made her heart jump.
Sleep? That was a luxury for people who didn't have a pack of dangerous men camped around them.
Out there was a Symbiote Host, unstable and unpredictable, and other men even worse. Real criminals, the kind who thrived now that law and hope were both dead. One of them had blatantly threatened to rape her, his tone making clear what he meant to do if he ever caught her alone. The memory made her stomach knot and her skin go cold.
It was hard to breathe thinking about it. Harder to pretend it would all somehow be fine.
