Rescued By The Orc Chieftain

Chapter 1

Camille

The smell of food clings to me—clothes, hair and skin. It has been a long morning in the bunker’s kitchens, but I’m used to them now.

“Here he comes,” whispers Bridget, one of the few young women from the kitchens that actually speaks to me. The job is a tough one, and there is no time for anything other than cooking, preparing food or scrubbing the pots.

“My favorite part of the job,” I say, dryly.

Bridget stifles a laugh. “You’ll be fine as long as you always keep sight of where his hands are.”

Turning my head and pretending to vomit, I now draw a laugh from my friend. “Those disgusting pudgy things. I’ll take a meat cleaver to them if they come anywhere near me.”

I mean it, life is tough enough in bunker #46 without having to fend off vile creatures like Bob Murphy. He has been eyeing me for some time now and I know there will be a point when he makes his unwelcome advances.

My stomach always turns when I catch sight of the head cook, and I do my best to avoid him at all costs. But it is the time of day—the end of the shift—that I need to face him and not show my disgust. The time when I will receive food for me and my younger sister, Ivory.

I try my best not to make eye contact as I hold out my food box. Into it he drops the remaining gruel, the smell of it adding to my nausea and the tiny portion instigating a primal panic. There is no way this will be enough!

“Please, is there any chance that I can have some more—I’m worried that this won’t feed my sister.” It hurts me to beg like this, especially to him, but do I really have a choice?

The look he gives me makes my guts churn. “If you want more, then you need to give me something.” He rubs his hands over the dirty apron that barely contains his belly.

“Are you serious? How dare you!”

“You’re forgetting your place, Camille,” he spits back at me.

“No, I am remembering my place, Robert, and that isn’t under some disgusting old man like you! I’d rather starve!”

         His face is now bright red and there is a malignancy in his eyes that should worry me, but it doesn’t, my rage so deep I think I might actually strike him. Instead, I grab for the metal jug on the counter and fling it across the room, the noise alerting everyone that something serious was going on.

         “Then it looks like you’ve got your wish! Starve! You and that sister of yours. Now get out of here and never come back—you were only here because I chose to show you some pity.”

         “Yes, and I wonder why you chose to do that—from the goodness of that filthy heart of yours? I doubt it. You disgust me!”

         “Out! And don’t come back, ever!”

         “Never!” I yell, storming from the room, my head so hot with anger I feel sure it will explode. But at the same time I know this is far from good news. The job in the kitchens was by no means perfect, but it was something.

         I march down the corridors towards her unit, the gruel still in my hands. My mind assaults me with thoughts of what will happen to us now. The gruel isn’t enough to feed my young sister let alone the both of us.

         I take a long, deep breath before opening the front door to my unit not wanting to alarm Ivory. She is all that I have in this world, and it is my job to make her life better than mine has been.

         I open the door, hoping that Ivory won’t notice how upset I am and that the concern on my face isn’t showing.

         “Hey, Squiggle,” I say when I find her at the usual spot. Ivory is at her desk hunched over a drawing. “What’ve you got there?”

         “I was just trying to get your portrait,” she replies, not even looking up.

         I look down at my own face, a rush of emotion forming in my throat. How can an eleven-year-old girl be so talented? I struggle to form words but finally manage, “That is… quite something.”

         “Really?” she asks, now looking up at me.

         “More than really,” I reply, smiling.

         There is so much darkness in the world and yet sometimes, in moments like this, I can hardly believe that such beauty exists, too.

         “Are you hungry?“ I ask, pushing the food box towards her. “It’s okay, I’ve already eaten at the kitchens,” I lie.

         My sister takes the gruel and begins eating. It isn’t enough, and that thought tears at every fiber of my being. Ivory has always been a sickly child—in need of nutritious food and medicine. Without it I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen.

         “So, I’ve got some good news.” I continue with the lies. “I’ve found some better work than in the kitchens.” I force a smile out, hating myself for being so untruthful to the person I love most in the world.

         “That’s great, Cam!”

         “I can’t say too much about it at the moment because we need to confirm the details, but it’s good news, right?”

         “Sure,” Ivory replies, taking small spoonfuls of the gruel.

         “Anyway, I’ve just come back to give you this and tell you the news. I’ve got to pop back out, but I won’t be long. You’ll be okay, won’t you?”

         Ivory nods and it pulls at my heart that she is so trusting of me. In truth I have let her down, got myself fired from my job and jeopardized the only source of food and income we had.

         Going above ground is usually forbidden unless there is a distinct purpose. As far as I can tell there is no better one now—I have to gather food somehow.

         I am going out there no matter what.

         I change from my kitchen clothes and into a dark hooded tunic and pants before saying goodbye to Ivory and leaving our unit. I snake through the corridors, pulling my hood over my head and making my way to one of the bunker’s exits.

         When the door opens, I pull in a deep breath of air, savoring it as it fills my lungs. Living underground is not meant for humans and certainly not for me, but since the orcs arrived through the great rift we have had no choice. Like animals we have been driven underground, trying to stay safe and clear of the marauding orcs.

         “Business?” someone says from behind me.

         “Gathering supplies for the kitchens,” I reply, my heart in my mouth.

         “Name.”

         “Camille Leighton.”

         “You have one hour.”

         I nod, my footsteps light as we head towards the bunker boundary and out into the wilds. In the distance are the ruins of the skyscrapers that humans once used, now nothing but skeletons covered in vines.

This is far from what the city of Atlanta used to apparently be. But life is far from what it was before the orcs came here, though I know little about that. I only know this.

         Moving further from the bunker I keep my head down, searching out anything that may be of use to me. When I spot the small, creamy coloured mushrooms my heart leaps a little. It is a reminder that I can always find a way.

         Collecting as many as I can until I am satisfied that I can at least make a soup with them and some of the herbs I also found. It isn’t a great deal, but it is better than nothing and besides I picked up some skills from the kitchens.

         I tuck them safely into the bag that I brought, memorizing the spot where I found them before deciding to go just a little further. There may be more out where the grasses are richer.

         But I am stopped in my tracks, not daring to look, when I hear footsteps behind me. I know the dangers of the wilderness.

         What the hell is it?