I seriously thought of excusing myself to go to the restroom and slipping out to take a cab home. I then realized I didn't have enough cash with me so...I was trapped.The ride home was an exercise in terror. He raced at breakneck speed, dodging in and out of traffic. I prayed that the police would see us, but you know, there's never one around when you need him. We pulled up at the curb in front of my house. I murmured "good night," undid my seat belt, and bolted for my front door. I had the door. “Remember how I said that most of the time they use darts? The rest of the time, they use real bullets. They call it thinning the herd.”Kim gasped. “That’s horrible! How can they do that? That’s illegal!”Queenie sighed, “Not here it isn’t. They set their own rules here. And we just try to stay alive.”“That sounds just awful,” lamented Kim.“Yeah, it is,” agreed Queenie. “And once they kill you, they either roast you and have a feast or have you stuffed and mounted on a wall. I’m not. A few weeks ago, I was in the popular opinion that this kind of thing was left to inbred hillbillies, and no normal person would even think about such a thing. For days I scrolled through endless pay-sites and other perverted crap, trying to seek out advice on the subject, hoping that somewhere, somebody could help me, or us. The more disturbing images of young boys and girls with old men and women that I scrolled through, the more disgusted I got, until I came here. Days of looking at this. She looked around; the doctor had left."Arm pits now," the Asian girl said, waving the brush.If humiliation were a sword, it would have two edges. Firstly there would be the deep-cutting edge of the actual degradation. But secondly, and maybe even more degrading, would be the knowledge that you participated.When Juliana walked into the lounge, the murmur of conversation quieted down. She knew people were watching her, and it made a pink blush creep out of her white lace collar. A life of being.