Traveling to ancient tribes to build infrastructure

ull, hot and sharp, like a white-hot wire carving into her brain.

Mutated humans. Their shoulders were broad, their arms thick with corded muscle, skin marked by rough patche

ght through her flimsy clothes. She shivered violently,

. Fear. The terror of being a weak rodent-variant female in a world th

ce booming over the murmuring crowd. "If you don't have a partn

s crisscrossed their faces. Their eyes, greedy and predatory, locked onto

rambled backward, her shoulder blades hitting the rough stone of

s of bodies. She needed someone who wouldn't hur

er

od a figure. He leaned against the moss-covered stone, his posture slum

fabric. He clapped a hand over his mouth. When he pulled it away, dark red blood stained h

g their features. They shuffled away, leaving a w

rn in her lungs, and pushed herself off the wall. She ignored the three

e turned her back to the wind, using her thin

gray-blue, cold and guarded, like chips of ice. He

was steady. She raised her right hand, dust clinging to h

low enough that only he could hear over the noise of the s

He looked at her outstretched hand, then slowly scanned her body. Sh

irk touched the corner of his pale lips. He raised his hand

was brief

a worn piece of parchment and a charcoal stick. He scrat

. Get

ockery washed over the square. Laughter and jeers echoed o

ned her head, catching Elvin's eye, and

ne, his arm shaking as he forced his tall body upright. He l

, the spit, the whispered insults. They walked down the muddy, slippery slope leading away