The Society

Chapter 6: Tattoos

TW: This chapter will have a scene of killing/death and mentions of pedophilia

"My body is my journal, and my tattoos are my story" -Johnny Depp

*9 Years Ago*
(7 years old)

Annie POV

I suppress the need to scream in pain as the sharp blade slices into the upper part of my leg. Unfortunately, I feel a tear fall from my eye. Marissa rolls her brown eyes at me, wiping the stray tear from off my cheek. My hands tighten behind my back as I resist the urge to move away from her touch. Her dark green heels click against the floor as she walks back over to her glass desk. She takes a minute to clean the blood off of her knife before putting it down and turning her attention back to me.

"I hope that this serves as a lesson to you, to remind you who is in charge here. And if you ever disobey your superior again, I will send you to the box, understand?"  Marissa calmly asked. My heart started beating a little faster at her threat of putting me in the box. I haven't been in it yet, but I have heard of what happens there.

"Yes, ma'am," I respond to her question, ready to be allowed back to my room so I can finally sit and take care of the wound in my leg that is oozing blood. A satisfied smirk falls on her face at my answer.

"77572394, you've been here for nearly a year now and, from what I've seen and heard, the best soldier of your year. Despite that, you still haven't killed anybody. The word is that you refuse to kill, even though your trainer has taken the necessary steps to get you to do so. As you know, it's the very reason that you're here now." Marissa stated, tapping on her desk twice with her pen.

She hadn't even placed the pen down yet when the double doors to her office opened, revealing two soldiers dressed in their usual all black attire, dragging in a girl who has a B on her wrist where my S is, meaning that she's a breeder. I can tell she's older than me but I don't think by much. She has long blonde hair that is covering the majority of her face. I don't get it why is she here? Even if she got in trouble she would go to her superior before she came to the superiors of the soldiers.

The girl keeps her head down as she is forced to kneel by the 2 soldiers standing on either side of her. The confusion I'm feeling must have been showing since Marissa began speaking, "You said earlier that you understood that you should obey your superiors when they told you to do something. And in my experience, actions speak louder than words so, as your superior, I'm telling...no I'm ordering you to kill her."

I loudly gasp, my eyes widening as I look between Marissa and the poor girl kneeling beside me.

"I-I... No, no. I can't, I-I won't" I stutter nervously, fearing for the safety of both myself and the girl beside me.

"Sweetie, I don't think you understand, I am your superior. And when your superior tells you to do something, you do it, without question. I tell you to jump you say how high, I tell you to get me food you get me food, and if I tell you to kill, you kill." Marissa tells me in a sickly-sweet voice, "you've been here for 2 days shy of a year now. That being said, you should know, here it's kill or be killed. And if you don't kill that girl right here, right now then forget going to the box, you're going straight into a body bag."

Marissa takes my hand from behind my back and places the knife she had discarded on the desk into my small but callused hand. Marissa stands tall in front of me, the look on her face neutral. Flashes of my family appear in my mind as I think of just letting them kill me. If I die then I'll never see them again.

With that thought in mind, I turn to stand in front of the girl, now squeezing the wooden handle of the knife so tightly my knuckles are turning white.