The Feral Sentence (Book 1, Part 2) by G. C. Julien

Author:G. C. Julien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: prison, conspiracy, convicts, dystopian, felons, oitnb

CHAPTER 5

I wouldn’t have expected to see Murk sitting among her villagers, laughing with her head thrown back, and sipping liquid from a sliced coconut. She’d always been so secretive—so mysteriously hidden in the depth of the Working Grounds’ waterfall or hidden behind the closed door of her cabin at the far end of the Village.

Seeing her this way opened my eyes to the overlooked reality that she was just like the rest of us: a human being who’d been sentenced to spend years of her life on a remote island, fighting every day to survive among lawless women and predatory animals.

Being leader didn’t make her immune to emotion or pleasure. I watched as she laughed with Trim, telling stories while pointing out past the Village walls, and for the first time since I’d been dropped onto Kormace Island, I realized how fortunate I was to have been found by Trim and to have been brought into a village led by such an admirable and worthy leader, someone capable of maintaining order while also ensuring comfort and overall happiness.

“This seat taken?”

I glanced up. It was Biggie. She was holding a half skull in one hand and a half melon in the other. “Here,” she said, handing me the melon. She sat beside me atop a thick wooden log that had stabilized itself into the ground over the course of several years, I presumed.

“What is this?” I asked. I leaned over the melon bowl and inhaled. The stench made my nostrils flare even wider, and I immediately turned away.

“Oh come on, it ain’t that bad,” she said. She tilted her skull bowl toward her lips with both hands and sipped on the liquid. “Tegan makes it. It’s home brewed.”

“Alcohol?” I asked.

She smiled sideways before drinking some more.

“It smells rotten,” I admitted.

“Kinda is,” she said. “Won’t hurt you, though. Ain’t you ever done a tequila shot or a vodka shot? That shit don’t taste like chocolate, but it sure feels good.” My mouth watered at the thought of chocolate.

I reluctantly tilted the melon toward my lips, allowing the warm fluid to enter past my bottom teeth and over the top of my tongue. The taste was overpowering—it tasted like rubbing alcohol with the subtlety of tropical fruit. I immediately spat it back into the melon bowl, only to then realize that everyone’s eyes had turned my way.

“What’s the matter, Archer? Can’t handle Tegan’s brew?” Eagle said.

Everyone burst out laughing. I stared at her for a moment even though all I wanted to do was glare or tell her to go fuck herself. I wasn’t the one who’d severed her nerves or the reason she’d landed herself on Kormace Island to begin with. She was acting like a child.

As the fire crackled, I noticed a crooked smile take shape on her shadowed face. I wasn’t sure whether I had remained quiet simply because confrontation wasn’t in my nature or because Eagle was sitting directly beside Murk.

“Give her a break, Eag. Everyone has a hard time drinking the stuff at first.

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