Episode 1

He stared at my breasts as he talked to me. The usual talk of saying I should show myself a little more appreciatively for giving me a job and not having to live on the street. Of course, he wasn't at all interested in the fact that it was a lousy job in a bar, where the drunken visitors regularly groped me or made disgusting offers. I got money from him every week and that was of great value in our world. A world shaped by poverty, hunger and violence. Most people had no home, wandered around like nomads or lived on the streets until the next winter buried them under its velvety blanket of snow and dragged them away.

There were only a few places where darkness did not prevail: the Empire. The privileged lived there, protected by high, impenetrable walls. Either you were lucky and were born into this higher society or you lived outside the walls in the countryside and fought your way from one day to the next.

I was out of luck because I was born outside the walls. But it hadn't been so bad back then, so I had a reasonably peaceful childhood with my parents and my older sister in a settlement. Until one day it was overrun by a group and razed to the ground.

As the only survivor, I was able to escape and have since moved across the country. Less than a year ago I finally met Karen and Danika, who took me in and introduced me to their disgusting employer. Since then, I have stood behind the rotten bar at the dive bar every evening, supplying poor customers with cheap alcohol. For that I got a regular income and security. And that's why I had to show my appreciation. In which way, my boss had not yet made it clear.

And what is it all for? Well, I still had to find out. Because at the moment I didn't know what I was fighting my way through from day to day. Life didn't seem to be getting any better, just dreary, darker, and more hopeless. Every day was another dark chapter that I opened, not knowing when to get to the last one.

"Finally get yourself decent clothes so that the customers have something to watch," Baris said, and got me out of my thoughts and memories and back into the small, filthy back room where we both stood and I had to listen to his weekly sermon .

Each time he came into the main area of the dive forward to me to a service call to pick, I ran an unpleasant shiver down the spine. I hated Baris - probably nobody could - but I couldn't let it show too much, because even if the job was pretty bad, I needed him and the money. He gave me a roof over my head, and that was really worth gold in the dreary surrounding area.

After his derogatory words, I looked down at myself and frowned. "What's wrong with my clothes?" I asked him, even though I already guessed the answer.

"Too much material. Men want to see skin, then they pay more. You still want to get your salary, don't you? "

Men can lick my ass. And you too! , I replied in thought, but kept my mouth shut and nodded. "Fine, then I'll get something new to wear soon," I said docile myself.

"I could help you choose," Baris suggested with a suggestive smile and ran two fingers over my upper arm.

I had to use all my self-control not to jump in his face or vomit. Instead, I took a step back and opened the door. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine on my own."

"You're still adorable, my pretty little dove, but I know exactly what's going on in your rotten head."

"No, you don't," I replied with a forced smile, and quickly slipped out of the back room. "I'm going back to work now," I called out.

I hurried back behind the bar counter and took a deep breath to suppress the rising feeling of nausea. Danika, who was on duty with me, eyed me with concern.

"Are you all right, Riley?" She asked softly so the guests wouldn't hear.

"He made those hints again," I replied, leaning on the sink while I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath.

"Baris is a horny lecher, but he just has a big mouth and nothing behind it," she tried to reassure me.

"Are you sure?" I filled a glass with cold water and drank it in one gulp. I wasn't as relaxed as I had just been in the back room. I was horribly disgusted when Baris treated me like that, but I didn't show him. I hoped that if he saw that I wasn't responding, he would soon drop those approaches.

"Sure, of course. He lets off a few annoying sayings here and there, but as soon as things get serious, he would immediately pull in his tail, ”Danika said with conviction.

“I hope so for him. Because if he should really put it on it at some point and not pull in his tail, he will get to know my knee. A very unpleasant, painful acquaintance. "

She giggled and winked at me with one eye before turning to a guest who was waving his hand wildly to attract our attention.

“It's okay, it's okay. What can I do for you— ”Danika paused in mid-sentence, and when I followed her gaze I saw why. Two tall, broad-shouldered men in riot gear stood at the bar. Black leather jackets, black pants and black boots. And if that wasn't scary enough, they obviously had their weapons on display.