The yelling stopped and a middle aged lady popped her head around the corner. She instantly broke into a smile upon seeing Hannah walking up.

“Oh, dear? How did you get here? I thought it was several months before you made it safely here. Thank god you are safe!” She rambled on for a good minute.

Hannah and her mother talked for a while. Ignoring the rest of us. Leaving me to look at the room full of strangers. They looked mighty scared, like Hannah’s mother was a boogie man or something.

It only took a glimpse to see that one of the young men had scars on his shoulder and back. Well, he flinched a lot when the clothes scraped at his back. It was clear after a few seconds of seeing him wince when he sat down or stood up after sitting down for a minute.

Not to mention the other people were fidgeting, avoiding looking at Hannah’s mother longer than two seconds.

Aye, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I clicked my tongue and walked towards the french doors. Sliding them opened to see cages and people resting in them.

My mouth instantly dried.

“Hey, save us!”

“You should run, that bitch is crazy!”

There were plenty of such comments and Hannah’s mom came and shut the door. Giving me a weird smile as she walked back into the kitchen like I didn’t matter.

I walked to the one person that didn’t seem to be sniveling in fear. The other buff guy in the room with a bald head and scar at the corner of his eye.

“What’s the story?” I asked.

He glanced at me and chuckled. “She has mind control powers. We are slaves. However, she has a limited amount of people she can control daily. Each of us has some kind of useful ability that she has collected. Fun, right? What about you?”

I blinked.

Taking all of that in slowly. I might need to sit down for that. It’s like getting the news that the girl you picked up at a nightclub for a one night stand. That one time you forgot to bring a condom and she calls going, hey, so I am pregnant. You’re going to be a daddy!

You know that moment your phone drops. You plot in your head how to get away with murder. Maybe even do a bit of googling to ensure you were anatomically correct but in the end you pick up the phone and ask with a straight face. Are you sure? Wouldn't it be someone else? How many men have you slept with after me?

I was feeling one hundred percent like someone sprung this question up on me. It didn’t make sense for her to have this skill and her mother to be just as op. Where did this shit make logical sense? Who the fuck came up with this shit?

I came to myself after a bit of inner monologue. Ignoring the pity stare the guy was throwing me.

“Chase Cross and she used to be my girlfriend. I almost killed her but had one of those dumb moments where I wanted to see the life fade from her eyes. I even think I helped power her up. So what do we do for fun? Bang the other slaves? Fight grey skins for entertainment?” I punched his shoulder while jesting.

He just pointed blankly stared at me. “I haven’t sunken that far to make others suffer but I hope you can control yourself. As for fun, we sit and be quiet. Occasionally, we assist the military and get supplies. That about sums it up.”

I frowned and glanced at the women who went into a room. “So who was arguing earlier?”

The man looked confused before his eyes widened. “Oh, that is one of the stronger metas. He can control steel and shit. However, she can’t control him well all the time and thus they are on a partnership type thing. He runs a gang next door and they are both fighting another gang and zombies for territory. It's like feudal midlands or something.”

Oh, how snazzy.

I was about to ask about the composition of the guy gang when Hannah walked in with a creepy ass smile.

“Chase, go with Ted there and handle the local problem. Do a good job and I’ll treat you to something special.” the way she commanded me, seriously irked me.

I glanced at the big fellow who grabbed his coat, a Ted. How fantastic.

We walked to the garage and there was a line of motorcycles. The fellow hopped on one hand and cranked it up. He stared at me like he was waiting for me to get on one of those death traps. While I wanted to look impressive, I didn’t want to be a sitting target. Definitely when I had to outlive that bitch or get stronger than her. Whichever came first.

“Just go. I can fly.”

He shrugged, putting on a helmet and swinging out of the garage with reckless abandonment. Now I understood why he was fine with riding one. He was secretly hoping to die.