"Alright, I need you to flush the toilet," Lartara hissed to me. "So they'll know why you're in here."
I nodded quietly, walking over and pushing down the handle hard to make some noise. I looked her in the eye as the water rushed.
"Look, if I do finally... give in..."
"You'd have to choose to be a warrior," she whispered so as not to be heard over the water. "It's the only way I can keep us together."
I nod again to her, offering my bound hands to be led out. She pulled me forward, unlocking the bathroom door and heading back out into the hallway.
"Honestly," she said with a snarl, "I don't know why the servants can't make sure they're ready before they send us for them."
The Lycothan outside had a similar hairstyle to Lartara. The guards tended to shave their sides, but left the hair on top long, like a warrior's crest. This one looked to have gone all silver since her turning, something the soldiers considered a sign of prowess. She nodded to Lartara, before shaking her head ruefully.
"All they want to do is please the Alphas, and you know how they rush things."
"Well this one's ready for the meeting finally," Lartara asserted, leading me on.
Down the hallway we went, and into the hall they used for the group meetings. Only three of us left, sat down in folding chairs by the guards as they called our numbers.
"992014."
Lartara walked me over to a chair and clapped a hand on my shoulder to make me sit.
"995403"
Amanda. The brunette's name was Amanda. She was from Baltimore. One of the alphas was campaigning hard for her. Her sister was already an Alpha, and they hoped she would be similarly promising.
"997295"
Casey. That frightened, blonde, slip of a girl. She hadn't been here long. Captured after any of us. Shuffled into our group after our numbers had thinned. She was from a resistance camp somewhere in the Appalachians. Her parents didn't survive the raid she was taken in.
"Now, let's go over the past week," one of the alphas said. She wore her hair full and long, a wild red mane draped over her shoulders and back. It was her right as the ruling class, as the twin streaks of gold at her temples showed. "997295, the guards tell me you've been trying to hurt yourself. Why have you been doing that? Surely you can't say we've mistreated you."
"Doesn't... doesn't matter. Mama and Daddy are dead. Nothing matters anymore..."
"Your parents forced our hand. They'd been raiding our supply depots. Do you know how many soldiers they killed?"
"They had to do it! You took all the food!"
"997295, if you wanted food all you had to do was ask. We feed you well enough here, don't we?"
Casey just shook her head, trembling. The alpha moved on to the next of us.
"995403, I feel we're making progress here. Are you ready for a decision? Your sister has been asking after you."
Amanda seemed to hesitate for a moment, before a defiant look crossed her face.
"That's not my sister and you know it."
"It hurts her whenever I tell her you've said that. You could be sisters again, you know. It'd be easy. Painless..."
They were wearing her down. I hoped she'd stay strong, but after what Lartara had told me, did any of us stand a chance?
"And finally 992014. You've been through a lot of these meetings, haven't you? Another session, another disappointment, no doubt. Frankly, I'm not sure what our good Captain sees in you. Still, you have to acknowledge that your... options... are running out, wouldn't you say?"
I swallowed hard and got ready to speak.