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Josie woke to the sound of banging, drilling and other obnoxiously loud sounds. With each noise her head throbbed more and more. She tried to move but realized that her weakened body was completely bound by very sticky rope. No matter how she squirmed she couldn’t budge an inch. She immediately thought to summon her new cloud companion but they were nowhere to be found.
“Oh! You’re awake!” A woman’s voice called out.
Josie tilted her head up to focus on the source and watched as a woman walked towards her with a small bowl. As she got closer Josie noticed that she had features she didn’t quite understand. The woman, wearing a green jumpsuit, seemed to have the body of a human but her head was that of a dog, snout and all.
“Here, drink some of this.” The Dog Woman spoke, leaning down and bringing the bowl to Josie’s lips.
Josie expected some water or maybe even soup but what hit her lips was a strange gelatin substance. It was bitter and she nearly vomited when it slid into her mouth. However, she was extremely hungry and regardless of the unpleasantness she swallowed it down for sustenance.
“Thank you…” Josie said softly, beginning to truly realize how weak she became.
The Dog Woman smiled, setting the bowl next to her. “Of course, I’m just glad you’re awake. My name’s Gretty by the way.”
“Josie.” she replied, smiling weakly.
“Well Miss Josie, you caused quite a stir getting dropped off here. Never saw someone fight a Gawain and have as much energy as you had.”
Josie’s thought back and remembered what brought her here. The woman attacking the man in the street and Josie getting knocked unconscious no more than a few hours later. She then remembered waking up in chains and being dragged kicking and screaming into this room.
“Right, I need to go kick that guy’s ass...”
Josie tried to move but quickly remembered that her range of motion was severely limited.
“Well I don’t think you’re going anywhere anytime soon.” Gretty spoke. “That rope is made out of Quicksap. The harder you tug the more restricted you’ll become.”
“I don’t have time for this!” Josie replied, mustering the most energy she’s had in this conversation. “My friend’s looking for me and she won’t know I’m here and-”
Josie tried to bite into the rope but couldn’t get a good enough grip. The rope still kept her bound but where she tried to chew formed around her mouth like melted taffy.
“I wouldn’t try that.” Gretty spoke. “Even a jaw like mine would break on that, you’ll just end up pulling your teeth out.”
Josie was normally stubborn and ignored warnings but deep down she knew that there was no use so she loosened her grip and leaned back against the wall. “Then how the Hell am I gonna’ get out of here?”
Before Gretty could speak an alarm blared, loud enough to shake through Josie’s body.
“I have to head back.” Gretty spoke, standing to her feet. “I’ll come back and visit you later, try to rest up ok?”
Josie watched as Gretty walked away, carrying the bowl with her but before she opened the door she turned and gave Josie a smile.
“Don’t worry, I know how we can get out of here.”
🌱🌱🌱
Over the next few days Gretty continued visiting Josie. With each disgusting meal Josie gained more of her strength and found the energy to be more talkative as well. Josie explained her entire situation to Gretty, from meeting Peg down below at the roots to being transported to Sweet Street and being captured.
“Sweet Street huh? That’s what originally brought me here as well.”
“Really?” Josie replied. “Did you come through a magic mirror too?”
“No, my journey here wasn’t as magical.” Gretty chuckled. “It was about 6 months ago, give or take. I’ve been researching ‘Glintshard Addiction' which has been plaguing people, especially Beastlings for years and all my searching brought me to Sweet Street.”
Josie remembered learning about Glintshard from Dr. Ida. the strange, glowing stones that many of the inhabitants of Sweet Street were chewing on. She learned that the substance had a terrible effect on people, putting them into a dream-like state when chewing it but it would give diminishing returns with each bite. It ruined families, communities and most notably affected Beastlings the Stalk over.
“After I got to Sweet Street I learned that there was a connection to Glintshard production in Tezuka Parks. The happiest place on earth is producing the deadliest thing imaginable. But when I had everything I needed to blow the lid off this place I found the prisoners.”
“Prisoners?”
“Yeah, back that way.” Gretty pointed her thumb towards the door. “Dozens of Beastlings who were abducted or criminals whose sentences were sold to Tezuka and forced to work. Some are used as guests in the park, others are forced into Glintshard and other productions and Tezuka is getting away with all of it.”
Gretty gripped her furry fist tightly, grinding it into the ground next to her. “That bigoted asshole Tezuka, I don’t care what connections he has when this comes out his family’s empire is tumbling down.”
In their day to day conversations Josie was also given a crash course on Beastlings. Humans with animal features spanning the whole animal kingdom. Josie heard stories about how long the Beastling’s lived on the Stalk and the centuries of discrimination against them. Relations between Beastlings and Humans are relatively peaceful in the present, but things like what’s happening in Tezuka Park are swept under the rug.
“So why haven’t you tried escaping yet?” Josie asked during one of their meals.
“Trust me I’ve tried, they just have methods to make it very difficult.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you remember the thing that knocked you out and landed you here?”
Josie nodded, unable to forget even if she wanted to.
“That thing is called a ‘Gawain.’ Soulless killing machines made from Hard Green. They’re built up in the Custer Dome but cost a lot of leos to manufacture. Luckily for Tezuka, this Park of his pulls enough money that he can afford one of his own.”
“So do they use one of those to keep people in line?”
“Kind of, or rather the fear of them keeps everyone in line. It’s a one man army and with everyone here missing their Feral Glands we’re no match against them.”
Gretty leaned back and laid on the floor of Josie’s cell, resting her head on her arms.
“My hope is that one day my comrades will realize my whereabouts but even then coming here is a losing battle.”
As she lay there Gretty heard a strange crackling sound. She looked up and her eyes widened watching Josie. She was gritting her teeth in anger and pulling at her rope, which was nothing new, but what surprised Gretty was what was happening to it. The clasps around Josie’s wrists and ankles were bubbling as a steam like substance billowed from them. The rope reached a boil and exploded all over the cell, and Josie was finally free.
“Josie…how did you do that?”
She looked down at her arms and legs, all still faintly emitting steam and a wide smile came across her face.
“Kinto! You’re back!” Josie yelled happily, watching as the white clouds slowly circled her wrists and ankles.
“Kinto?” Gretty asked, tilting her head.
“Oh yeah my cloud buddy!” Josie replied with a smile. “ I call him Kinto cause where I’m from there’s this cotton candy called ‘Kinto Cloud Candy’ and it’s so good and when I look at Kinto I-”
“Josie!”
Gretty’s sudden outburst startled Josie and stopped her mid sentence. She looked at Gretty’s face and her usual calm demeanor had been replaced by a cold stare that cut Josie to the bone.
“I need to know the truth Josie. Did you eat a Feral Gland?”
Josie’s eyes narrowed.
“Feral Gland?” Josie thought for a moment while tapping her chin. “Uh, I think you mentioned that before but I don’t think so.”
“Do you promise me? Humans don’t have special powers unless they’ve eaten a gland.”
“I don’t know what any of those words mean but Kinto was here when I woke up in that weird factory I told you about. Though he’s been gone for a while, maybe ‘cause I haven’t had a good meal with meat. Chicken, Pork Chops, Steak, Grilled fish…”
Josie continued listing foods and with each one she said her appetite grew more and more. Gretty however had no interest and instead watched Josie intently, replaying her words in her head. From the days they spent together Josie seemed like a genuine young girl in a rough spot but these powers she showed made her conflicted.
“I’ll keep this simple.” Gretty started, sitting down across from Josie. “Every Beastling has something called a Feral Gland, and for centuries they used to be forcibly removed from us.”
“Why?” Josie asked, no longer concerned with listing every meat dish imaginable.
“Beastlings are already pretty strong, durable too. But those glands, once we’re of age give us incredible powers. For centuries Beastlings were deemed too savage to have such powers so it was a law that they’d be removed at birth.”
Gretty then unzipped part of her jumpsuit to reveal the left side of her neck where there lay a large scar.
“But that’s not the worst thing about it. The contents of a Feral Gland can be synthesized and made usable by humans giving them strange abilities. Though that practice of forced gland removal was outlawed half a century ago, unless you were convicted of a terrible crime.”
As Gretty spoke Josie watched as her hands tightened, gripping at her clothes. “But we know that’s not true! The Ministry has those out there who have abilities from Feral Glands so I just…”
Gretty trailed off but Josie had a good feeling she knew what she was about to say.
“Listen Gretty, I don’t know much of anything about the Ministry or anything about these Feral Glands. All I know is I can take a good hit or 2 and dish ‘em out even worse.”
She lifted her arm, admiring the white wisps that danced around her wrist. “As for Kinto, I couldn’t begin to tell you what his deal is, Peg and I got separated before I could ask her. Either way, I don’t want to hurt anybody unless they hurt my friends. Right now all I care about is getting out of here and seeing Peg again.”
Gretty looked Josie in the eye. She didn’t know the girl well but she still tried to gauge if she was lying. Josie was of course a child, but Gretty knew that those types of people had no qualms with forcing a child to eat something like a feral gland. She turned and walked out the cell, closing the door behind her. Josie stood wondering if she indeed did something wrong but didn’t have long to dwell on it as Gretty returned, tossing Josie a green jumpsuit that matched her own.
“Put this on and come with me. If we’re gonna’ break out of here you’re gonna’ have to blend in first.”
To Be Continued.