He was flesh-toned. Not black. Not white. Not even gray, but flesh-toned.

                Why was he flesh-toned?

                His skin wasn’t the only part of him that was colored, although it was the first thing that she’d noticed. No, his whole body was colored from his jet black hair to his white T-shirt to his bluish jeans.

                Born with a rare case of color blindness known as monochromacy, Guang Mei lived her whole life in black and white. It was a colorless world…until now. Until this boy.

                Guang Mei held her breath as the strange boy continued to stare at her with unblinking eyes. If his skin color didn’t freak her out, his eyes surely did. His eyes reminded her of black holes — they were as black as night, taking in light but never reflecting it back. She couldn’t read him; he was a mystery but that only made her more curious. She wanted to know more about him and his relation to these organ harvesters. Why was he working for them? Was he a slave like her or did he have his own agenda?

                She wanted to ask him to help her but the only noises she could make were muffled screams. Her heart quickened as the yellow-shirt guy looped his arm around her waist and tried to lift her into the back of a truck. She struggled, kicking her buyer in the shin and tried to make her escape.

                “You little .” the minion cursed, yanking her back to him by her long hair. With a hand on her shoulder, he held her still, his lips a hairbreadth from her ear, “You need to learn your place, slave.”

                She hated that word. She wasn’t his slave. Angered, Guang Mei elbowed him in the chest. She growled at him behind the rag when he tried to reach for her again. She might be tied up and helpless but she wouldn’t let take them her without a fight.

                “Kai, get her into the truck.” The minion spat, “Make sure she doesn’t run away. I pay good money for her so don’t let her get away.”

                The strange boy, Kai, turned toward her and latched his hands on her upper arms, maneuvering her into the back of the truck. She wanted to fight him off as well but he was too strong. How could anyone be this strong? Was he even human?

                She began hyperventilating as the truck door closed and bolted behind her, locking her in with Kai. Darkness blinded her as the last seep of light disappeared with the door flaps. She whimpered, frightened, as the truck began moving, the wheels rolling underneath her at a bumpy pace. This was it — they would take her to some deserted location and her. Maybe even kill her.

                Turning to Kai, she screamed against her rag, hoping he would understand her, hoping he would help her. But he didn’t respond verbally. Her heart leapt when he hugged her closer to his chest. At first, she thought it was to keep her immobile but as he placed his chin in the curve of her shoulder, she realized he was trying to communicate with her. He wanted to speak to her, tell her something, but he couldn’t produce the words. He could speak but only at the command of a voice. With a rag in , Guang Mei couldn’t produce a coherent verbal command.  

                Exhausted from fidgeting, Guang Mei finally gave up and allowed herself to sink into Kai’s arms. She would try to escape once the truck stopped moving. For now, she would rest and save her energy. Despite his emotionless outer appearance, Kai was quite warm. The faint smell of earth and rain filled her nostrils as she inhaled his scent. He smelled as if he was born from nature, straight from the clouds and sun. To put it simply, he didn’t smell like a human.

                 Maybe he wasn’t, she thought to herself. Gosh, she usually didn’t believe in the supernatural but Kai was too strange to be human. But why was he working for these horrible men? Did the organ harvesters raise the dead and made themselves a zombie?

                 Raising her head from Kai’s chest, she examined him again. It was difficult to see without light but she’d spent enough of her lifetime in partial darkness to make out some of his features. No, he couldn’t be a zombie. His skin wasn’t rotting. But, if he wasn’t a zombie, what else could he be?  

                Her skin broke out into goosebumps when she made full eye contact with his eyes again. She could see him battling with himself, struggling to disobey the harvesters’ commands so he could help this girl that he barely knew. A smile lit up behind her rag as the good side of him won. Moving forward, he began undoing her bindings. Unfortunately, the truck door opened before he could fully remove the tight knots from her wrists.  

                “What are you doing?” the boy hissed, “Re-tie the knot right now!”

                As if he was struck by lightning, Kai straightened his back and stopped what he was doing and tightened the rope, looping the rough material around Guang Mei’s wrists several times before tying the knot.

                “Take her into the cabin.” The minion shouted, thumbing northward.

                Guang Mei didn’t know whether she should feel betrayed or not. She thought Kai would help her; she thought he was on her side but she couldn’t trust him — she couldn’t trust a puppet like him. Like before, she struggled against him. Similarly, he held her immobile with his inhuman strength, dragging her into the wooden cabin as if she weighed nothing.

                Her heart pounded as she was forced onto a twin-sized bed. No, this couldn’t be happening! It had to be a dream, a horrific nightmare; she needed to wake up.

                “Hold her down, Voodoo Doll.” The minion hissed between his lips as he straddled Guang Mei around the hips. Although he was taller than her by a few inches, he couldn’t hold her still the way Kai could.

                She screamed into her rag as Kai’s hands locked her wrists against the pillow. Her hollers became louder as the minion pressed his face closer to her face.

                “I want to hear you scream.” he laughed wickedly, snatching the rag from , “Scream all you want, pretty one, no one can hear you.”

                Except he was wrong.

                Little did he knew, Kai could hear Guang Mei’s plead. He heard her yelp “Kai, help me please” and he responded. Her words triggered something within him; it lit up a part of him that he didn’t know existed until now. He didn’t know what was happening, all he knew was that he had to protect her.

                Within a blink of an eye, Kai threw the minion against the wall and pulled Guang Mei behind him.

                “What do you think you are doing?” the minion hissed as he pushed himself up from the floor. With his left arm, he wiped the blood from his bleeding gums.

                “Protecting…her…from…you. I…can’t…let…you…hurt…her.”