14. LATIBULE

Latibule (Noun)

A hiding place, place of safety

Chapter 14

(Mako.P.O.V)

"Two preems... isn't this my fluky day." Her voice coming thin with a slight amusement to it. Preem... one of the words the twins were using when they addressed the child they were looking for. I glance back at the boy and the kid behind me, tense and quiet as they squish next to each other.

"I haven't had one in like... a long time." She states coming forward slowly, leaning her cloth covered head to the right.

"You can have this preem." The boy says pointing at me backing away. Preem means child... why is he pointing at me. I find myself rolling my eyes,

"But touch this one and you won't see tomorrow." He threatens pulling the kid Ana towards him.

"Eating one would be sufficient... but I gotta stock up, you know how gristly it is to find something to eat." She mutters stopping in her tracks, inches away from us; looking like a ghost with her head piece. She wants to eat us..? well.. she's a ghoul so we're on her diet list for sure...

"Wait.. I'm not a preem! I'm obviously not a child!" I snap pointing at myself trying to convince them. I'm not a child, of course I'm not, this must be a joke!

"I'm a young lady." I stand firm holding my head high,

"This one has more meat on her... hmmm." The women gawks at me, ignoring my statement. I lean away; shielding myself. It's okay, she wants a child and I'm not, I'm going to be fine... but if she believes I'm not one... will she go for Ana...

"Whose fresher?" The women says rubbing at her head in question...

"Listen here you dumb thing. You're not eating me nor the child... " I stand straight imposing my position. I'm not scared of ghouls, so far I haven't seen anything threatening. Maybe father was just scaring us with those stories. I glance over at the boy, marching towards him.

"Fight her, will you?" I prick, nudging his elbow. A ghoul out to be stronger than me, so he's a better candidate against her.

"I can't, she's really strong. Can't you see her number?!" He prods. I glance at her, I have no understanding of the number. Is it a power system...

"At least this can't get any creepier, she looks like something out of a nightmare." I hiss. He narrows his eyes at me,

"Sure it can, she's number 75 you pulp!" He hollers in my face. I step back at his sarcastic comment,

"Wait... I can have all of you! I'll eat the small one today, and leave the two of you for stock!" The women shrieks in sudden laughter. How can she have the three of us? aren't they all ghouls... this is probably cannibalisms... they eat each other. I glance wearily at the boy.

"106, I'll start with you." She points at the boy with her chipped finger nail. He stumbles back letting go of the child, his eyes wide; eyebrows rising.

She launches herself at him grabbing hold of his shoulders and presses him to the ground with a loud thud. She glares down at him and he shouts in pain.

"What's happening?" I ask my eyes darting between them, not spotting anything that she's doing to cause him any pain. I glance at Ana to give me a clue, but her eyes wide in fear stepping back. I glance at the white haired boy... my heart swelling at the sight. His face... the skin crunching aside, as if another face is trying to stretch out of his own existing face. I must be hallucinating... his screams stop my train of thoughts. I grit my teeth, a serge of energy rushing through me.

I snatch the slingshot from Ana and hand pick a stone from the ground. I squint hard and aim at the women who's hurting the boy. I let the stone go flying and I miserably miss. Not wasting any time, I grab another stone and aim at the women's face. Taking a deep breath, I let it out. It goes swirling right into her eye. She shrieks in pain cupping her face into her hands. The boy's face returns to normal and he gulps loud breaths shaking, stroking his face.

"Get up! run!" I shout at him. I twirl around, garbing hold of Ana's hand and pulling her forward as I run ahead. We dash away, grass field before us; ready to welcome us into it's safe territory. Having insects all over me is better than becoming a meal to that ghoul. I slide inside, pulling the kid with me into the tall bushes. Hearing the loud breaths of the boy, gasping as he zips behind us.

"This way!" The boy hollers picking the child up into his hands and running forward; passing by me. I follow along my feet stinging at the stones I step on, digging into my skin.

"My fesh!" The women shouts from behind, a cry escaping her dry throat. I halt at the end of the grass field, my chest heaving up and down. A huge lake meets my eyes, if I wasn't trying to survive, this would be a good moment to admire and photograph. The boy hauls Ana into a tiny boat that is lurking alone in the pond on top of green leaves and begins to push it away, half submerged into the water. The pond looking rather green with the plant.... water lettuce; having only seeing them in books, I can vouch they are gorgeous in real life.

"Come on! Push with me!" The boy orders. I hurry down the tiny slope, swallowing at the sound of frogs in the distance. Hands grab at my arm and pull me back to the ground; away from the boat. I scream at her cloth covered face. She laughs out in response like a crazy maniac, licking her lips as she leans down towards my face. I scream at the top of my lungs at her face. My hands slap around the ground, trying to grab anything to use as a weapon; my fingers colliding with a rock. I twirl my fingers around it and haul it up and smash it against her temple. She stumbles left and I scream sitting up, fear pushing my tears to fall down. I glance up at the boy next the boat frozen in place, hesitant. I stand up watching as the women clutches her head in pain.

"Come on!" The boy calls out. I swallow, my tears still coming as I run forward dizzy stumbling between my steps. Without thinking twice I jump into the puddle walking on slimy surface towards the boat. The boy gives a push to the boat and hauls himself up into it. He looks up at me, glancing back at the women who seems to have given up. The boy stretches his hand out and I grab it, he pulls me out of the water and I fall into the boat. I take deep breaths trying to calm myself but tears swell again and I find myself ugly crying; snot dripping. I place my arm on my face to hide under it.

After what felt like ten minutes of tear squeezing session, I sit up stroking my face as it feels puffy from crying. Both the boy and the kid row the boat quietly... with their arm. I glance down at my dress and slowly take the green weeds off my dress.

"You can take a break Ana." I tell her and push my arm down the water trying to row the boat away.

"What's your reason for helping us? We have no fesh if that's what you want." The boy mutters peeking at me. I glance over at him, my eyes landing on his knotted white hair in a bun.

"You don't need a reason to help people." I tell him bluntly. I'm not feeling snappy as I'm glad I'm alive; or I would have attacked him for thinking the worse of me... but then again, this is the dot; it's only natural for them to think the worse of each other. They're ghouls after all.

"What's fesh anyway?" I ask him as we head slowly towards land, mountains ahead.

"What's fesh? what do you mean... fesh is fesh..." The boy ogles at me in question, shrugging his stiff shoulders.

"How did you get here? you're not from here." The girl questions leaning towards me, studying my face. I shrug,

"Yeah, but what's fesh? we don't use these words, seems only ghouls from here have this different dialect." I utter cheaply, pushing away at the water.

"You're not from here? what's that supposed to mean?" The boy asks glancing at Ana, voice muffled from the mask.

"I found her next to the water, thought she was dead but then she woke up and started acting like a mode flick." The girl elaborates, tightening her head band.

"This fshek drank sea water." Ana says laughing. I pull my hand out of the warm water,

"Are you stupid?" The boy gawks at me in surprise, pulling down his mask; showing a half giddy smile.

"I just wanted to try it okay." I explain myself, not regretting my action. He stares quietly,

"Um...Fesh is like... um... Eating, something you eat." He explains finally. I nod and continue to row the boat.

"So... you're like... human? is that why you don't smell?" He asks me looking away, not meeting my eyes.

"Yes... I'm human." I tell him proudly. Smell? I'm human so I don't smell? does that mean ghouls smell...? then what was that back at home... that smell...

"What's your name?" The little girl asks me beaming. I try to place a smile, but it's hard since my arm feels like it's going to fall off.

"Mako. Nice to meet you Ana." I offer.

"What's yours." I ask after a while of silence. The boy glance up taking in deep breaths, clearly tired.

"Arin." He presses as the boat sways softly.

"Arin, can we switch sides? my arm is going to fall off." He looks up frozen but then nods and we shift places.

"I'm twelve and he's twenty three." Ana adds stretching her legs down resting.

"I'm twenty." I utter out of breath. We're almost there I reassure myself.

"What!" I jump at their loud voices. Both staring at me, Arin frozen not helping row the boat.

"What? what happened?" I ask my heart skipping a beat as I glance around, sweat making it's way down my back. Is it a ghoul? are we getting attacked?

"You're lying... you're a preem." Arin Accuses me shaking his head calmly. I sigh giving my chest a stroke to calm my beating heart.

"Like I said, I'm not a preem. I'm twenty years old." I let out, motioning for Arin to work since we're just inches away from land. This is baffling, no one ever thought I look younger than I am... well, the only ones that I was exposed to were my family anyway, and no strangers.

"Ram it, you look fifteen or something." Ana exclaims in shook, as we collide slightly with a slope of land. Arin puts back his mask on and jumps into the water. He pulls it against the ground and walks out of the water. We jump of into the grass, I haul my right foot up into my hand, inspecting the red stinging slits.

We walk up the slope, sound of ringing insects in the distance. "Do... do you have nowhere to go?" Arin asks stepping on twigs.

"Uh... I live on the other side... I don't know how to leave this place yet." I tell him.

"There's no way out." He presses firmly, voice wrathful. I run up to catch up with him,

"Of course there is. The way I came here, is my way out." I tell him winking, somehow thinking I made a huge discovery.

"How exactly?" He stops in his tracks; giving me a glance. I brush my falling hair away from my neck as it tickles, reminding me of the grasshopper crawling on my skin. I shudder,

"I'll... uh think about that later." I dismiss waving my hand so he would drop the subject. I was sleeping on my way here, but there's a chance of knowing the way out.

Walking for a while, we stand before a worn-out building, surrounded by metal fences.

"I'm sure they'll let you in." Ana slaps her hand on my butt laughing historically. I press a worried laughter... should I wish for them to let me in? being with ghouls like the both of them seem better than staying out here where ones like that women exists. Going in further into their den, it's clearly risky business but they seem like the good ones, I'll have to bet on them and trust my senses.

"What if the ones in there try to eat me?" I ask Arin for reassurance. He glances over,

"Just state that you're not a kid. No one will believe you if you said you're human anyway. We kinda ate all of them splams out of existence out here in the dot. And the smell won't be a problem; there's a lot of us." He prods, eyes forwarding. I shudder at his words. If there's no more humans... what do they eat..? I open my mouth to ask but I'm cut off with loud heys. A man stands at the gate, opening it wide for us to enter. Arin marches forward and so does Ana, motioning for me to follow. Going inside ghouls home... this is defiantly worthy of photographing.