I didn’t try to bargain or convince her. It was too soon for that. I would let her sink into her own fear, doubt, anger, and thoughts of the future, let her remember the humiliation she underwent, let her feel her bruised, swollen face. Based on where she had taken the hit, she hadn’t even tried to dodge — just accepted it.
“You’re an asshole!” Yorka said again, not waiting for me to respond.
We still had about four hundred yards to go before we reached our Outskirts, which is what I had decided to call those hallways and cluxes. We could already see intersection 17 and the crowd of goblins waiting patiently. I was so used to thinking of them as goblins that they even seemed to look a little green.
I didn’t answer Yorka.
“A total asshole! Do you know what they’re gonna do to me? Do you? Look at my face!”
I still didn’t answer.
“Elb! Talk to me, goblin!”
I reluctantly opened my mouth:
“It’s up to you.”
“Let’s discuss it. Make some changes to your plan. Elb...”
I said nothing.
“Elb!”
I gazed thoughtfully at the intersection as we approached. The hallways were crowded past there, and it would be impossible for us to continue our conversation. We were still in what I referred to as ‘transit routes’ in my mental atlas. The locals had a simpler name for the hallways connecting the blocks and zones: roads or paths, depending on how wide and busy they were. It made sense.
In those terms, we had walked from hallway 17 to the hauling area mostly on a road, and a little ways on a path. It was easy to see the parallel, even though I still thought ‘transit route’ sounded better.
“Elb!” Yorka also realized we wouldn’t be able to keep talking once we hit the intersection. She sped up, turned around, and blocked my path. “Stop! Please!”
“It’s up to you,” I repeated. “Listen... you’d never be able to reason with them. No one can reason with those bastards.”
“I know! They’re disgusting. They get sick pleasure out of making people suffer.”
“No, that’s not why.”
“You should have heard the way they talked to me!”
“They like to feel powerful,” I admitted. “They like sensing your blind fear and knowing they can do anything with you and won’t suffer any consequences. You know, one of them might just push you up against the wall, rip off your shorts, and fuck you.”
“Hey!”
“What? Doesn’t stuff like that happen here all the time?”
“Not often... But...”
“None of them have fucked you yet for one very simple reason, Yorka.”
“Why?”
“These bastards are keenly aware of the line they can’t cross. They sense that they can’t demand that from you. Yet. But this line isn’t fixed. It’s always moving. Today they can’t, but it’ll just take a few more punches and their made-up interest increasing to an impractical number before they suggest you pay off part of your debt in a different way. They won’t even have to rape you — it’ll just be rough sex with a mentally broken victim.”
“Fuck off!”
“Fine.” I took a step forward, and my chest bumped into her outstretched palm.
“Wait!”
“I’m waiting.”
“You’re a fucking asshole! Goblin!”
“Are we standing and waiting, or walking?”
“Wait! Don’t move! Listen... how do you know all this?”
“I have no idea,” I smiled. “Memory’s blocked, remember?”
“So, why?”
“Why what?”
“You said I wouldn’t be able to reason with them. But not because they like making me suffer. Why, then?”
“You bring them profit,” I said to her, enunciating each word. “You’re a poor skinny sheep, and they shear you every day. Every day you make them richer. You’re their money maker. They can easily survive the loss of a screaming, terrified victim. They can always find a new whipping girl. But giving up a source of income like you... Believe me, Yorka, they have plenty of victims to torture.”
“I know.”
“But not very many who bring them goodies all the time. Every day! Think about it. They see you as a fantastic asset, so they’re not going to just let you go.”
“An asset... profit... Who are you?”
“I’m Elb the goblin. Well? Make your decision.”
“Maybe just a little differently... a little more gentle...”
“This is already too gentle. Listen... stop looking for loopholes. There are only two options. Only two! The first one is to leave everything as it is. Bring them a slightly dirty t-shirt and baseball cap. Don’t forget to get on your knees. And pull your shorts down a little. What if today is that special day?”
“Die!”
“The second option is you decide once and for all that you’re not a victim anymore. Then we go straight to them, and you tell them what I told you, loud and clear.”
“But why in the clux?”
