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“I didn’t do it.”
“Sure. And I didn’t put another girl into the hospital, but if you can take a hint—don’t cross me.”
Anita felt a shiver run down her spine, finding herself believing the girl of who she didn ’t know the name of. Another girl, with eyeglasses looking like a typical nerd, turned her head, frowning. “I believe her.”
“Do you want a fist in the face?” the other girl said.
“Come on. The system is corrupt, and in a corrupt system, it’s always possible for an innocent person to be put in here,” the other girl said. “Name’s Elsie, by the way. I’m in here for hacking.”
“Not surprised, the first girl said, rolling her eyes. “And what about you two?”
Anita watched as the small girl on the bus with them cringed into the other girl, who glared at the one girl. “Let’s get something clear between the two of us.”
“I told you that I put a girl in the hospital.”
“If you lay a finger on my little sister, you’ll be the one getting sent to the hospital,” the other girl snapped.
The first girl tensed. “Ah. Runaways.”
“None of your business,” the older sister said.
“The two of you don’t,” Anita started saying.
“Half-siblings? Got a problem with that?”
“Uh, no.”
“That’s enough,” said a woman who got onto the bus. The woman’s blond hair was platinum and super curly, her lips and nails a vivid read while she looked down her nose at them as if she’d smelled something horrible. “So, you are being sent to a special farm facility out in the country, where the towns folk will be your legal guardians on land provided by an anonymous benefactor where you will milk cows and grow crops helping you all learn to become productive members of society.”
“Sounds like you’re trying to make a buck off us.”
“Oh, by no means,” the woman said. “All money earned is your girls, but before you think of going into the city to buy things, let alone run away, there is no transportation out of the village. Absolutely none. You’re trapped there, and if you don’t want to starve,” the woman said, “You will learn to fend for yourselves.”
“Is she bloody kidding me?” Elsie said. “I knew the system was corrupt….”
“We can survive,” the older sister said, not batting an eye.
“Of course, if one of you dies, it means your spot can be filled by another girl, although at this point, there is no need for this as we still have eight spots open. The moment you girls step off the bus, that will be the last you’ll see of me. You’ll be staying at the farm’s old bunkhouse that our surveyor told us was on the property when we looked into what the anonymous benefactor is letting us use.”
“This is so wrong,” Anita said.
“This is life,” the first girl said. “I wonder how long the two of you are going to survive.”
Anita shivered, not liking what the woman said, but then they arrived. Looking out the window, she saw a man with a gray mustache and hair and a woman whose red hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She sucked in her breath, leaning into the bus seat, only to be told she needed to get her ass off the bus.
All five got off, looking around for each other, their luggage tossed aside, when the man said, “Wait. Is she getting off the bus?”
“No,” the bus driver said.
“Hold on,” the mayor said as the bus driver got on and closed the door, pulling away.
“Well, that’s not good,” the woman said, glaring after the bus.
“We get it,” the first girl said. “You don’t want us, so we’ll leave.”
“It’s not that,” the woman said. “My name’s Robin, by the way.”
“Don’t pretend you care,” the older sister said. “You were glaring at us.”
“We were glaring at them.”
“We should show them, Louis,” Robin said. “What the problem is.” He nodded his head, and she motioned the girls to follow, and follow they did. They arrived at the farm, which was a complete mess. They led them past the farmhouse, which was run down to—
Stepping in after them, Anita cringed. The bunkhouse looked as if it hadn ’t been clean in a few years, and there was obvious disrepair. The hacker frowned. “What is going on here?”
“That’s what we wanted to talk to your caseworker about or whoever brought you,” Robin said. “The roof leaks and the chimney doesn’t work. There’s absolutely no electricity The bedding is worn.”
“In other words, you didn’t take the time to fix it,” the first girl said. “Typical.”
“They didn’t give us time,” Louis said, “Just told us yesterday, but we wanted to ask for a few more days.”
“Can you get things fixed in a few days?” Anita asked.”
“I most certainly can,” Robin said. “And the initial addition to the bunkhouse is free of charge.” She then paused. “That didn’t come out right.”
“Well, they do want them to pay for everything,” Louis said.
“Can’t the village pay?” Elsie said.
“Unfortunately not,” Loius said. “Although when it is, we’ll prioritize you, girls, over, say, getting the community center rebuilt.”
“If you want, you girls can be put up at some of our homes,” Robin said. “Until I get this built, which will be a day or two.”
“No thanks,” the first girl said, giving everyone a look that said if they agreed, she’d punch them. “We don’t need you, adults.”
“We’ll make do,” the oldest sister said, and the youngest sister nodded. “We always have.”
“You can always change your mind, but you don’t have to. What about you two?”
“No,” Anita said. “Thank you, though.”
“I,” Elsie said before stopping. “Not me. I’m not supposed to be around computers and such, like within a certain space of it.”
“Ah. How far?” Robin asked.
“Um,” Elise said.
“I’ll check the files we were sent when I get back to my house,” the mayor said, “but if you girls chang your mind, follow the path into town to find an adult.”
They left, Robin saying she thought it a bad idea to let the girls stay while Loius said something about not knowing how to force them, let alone how that would go over.
“Hell yeah, it wouldn’t have gone over well,” the first girl said. “Let’s go find those cows we’re supposed to milk.”
Except there was no barn. They ’d been left with nothing. “What are we going to do,” the hacker girl said.
“I don’t know,” Anita said.