The Hents House

where it all falls apart

There are only two rules that truly govern the lunar colony of Pestas, and the first follows as this: that which is paid in full becomes owned in full.

The border planets are no place for discrimination, for refusal, for division amongst the peoples. If one provides the payment, the service is legally obligated.

The second is that to kill somone is to forfeit your life in payment for your actions.

You have taken ownership of someone's life by ending it, and payment must be given. Nothing here on Pestas is freely given or taken, there is a consequence to every action.

And now, Dawson had a gun aimed squarely on the smiling man, and I could see it in his eyes. The intent to harm, to kill and it was painted so clearly across his face.

"Let her go," he growled, taking a step closer to us.

I was pinned beside the smiling man, a knife stinging at my throat. I sought out the sight of the girls, crowded inside the doorway of the Hents House, watching with horrified eyes.

Others were watching too. People peering out from windows of their homes, men stopped on the street, their women tucked behind them, as if this could protect them in a moment where only two were in danger.

The smiling man and I.

"Dawson," I gasped, digging my fingers into the smiling man's arm as my feet scrabbled for purchase. The knife at my neck shifted, and I winced, feeling hot blood begin to bead up from the cut of it. "Dawson, please."

I couldn't run from him now. Not truly. He owned me and it was everything I had ever feared.

No. No, this was worse.

The smiling man took a step back with me, towards his clanker parked just paces behind us, the back hatch already yawning wide open. "I ain't ever lettin this one go. She's mone now, you hear me? Mine!" He dragged the tip of the knife up to under my jaw and I had to stifle the sudden lurch of pain that came from it. "I bought her, legal and in full. She's my property now!"

Dawson advanced forward, the gun still pointed at the man, though I could see it begin to tremble now. "Let the girl go. I'll pay for her, whatever you want and I'll do it. Just let her go." He took another step, panicking growing in his green eyes. "I don't want to have to use this."

He was only ten paces away now, and with the clang of a boot, we had made it to the hatch of the smiling man's clanker.

His grip on me tightened. "But I'm more than willing to use mine."

I had no time to react. The knife sang across my neck and he threw me to the side. There was the deafening sound of gunshots as Dawson fired twice. I hit the ground with a rough impact, metal reverberating at the collision. The smiling man grunted from the impact of a bullet and flipped the knife to his other hand. The gun kicked again in Dawson's grip as he ran. The smiling man threw the knife.

Somone screamed.

It was me.

I didn't stop screaming as the smiling man dropped, this third bullet doing enough to knock him down. And then I saw Dawson. The knife protruded from his shoulder, blood already seeping through his shirt and blooming out in a terrible scarlet cloud. The gun dropped from his hand, clattering on the ground.

I sat up and pressed a hand to my throat, the terrible feeling of red-hot blood coating my fingers, sticky and wet. Tears soaked down my face as I wobbled to my feet, the world spinning as I watched.

Dawson and the smiling man lunged for each other, and there was the sound of fist connecting on bone. A pained grunt—the fight continued. The smiling man ducked and spun past Dawson, his hand wrapping around the knife still in Dawson's shoulder, pulling it out in one, swift movement. A rough, groaning scream came from Dawson and he kneed the man in the chest.