I shook my head and did my best to set aside my lingering arousal. I slowly breathed in and out and felt my heart rate slow down. I turned to Kaya who was still unconscious on the bed pad beside mine. Her face was, by then, a mass of bruises and sores, and I felt a new surge of anger as I studied it. I swore right there and then that I would kill Jerem. Most of the other women in the room were still asleep or else pretending to be, but as I looked around I noted a few open eyes. Adult male and females slaves always slept apart, so for me it was a very strange to find myself surrounded by so many women. Here or there the form of a sleeping child was nuzzled up against the body of a woman. Young children, under the age of about eight, were the only males allowed to sleep within the women’s quarter.
My mind was still reeling from the events from the previous night. I’d been so close to my sister and she hadn’t had a clue of my true identity. It was heart rending not being able to tell her the truth, but I knew it would take a lot convincing in order for my sister to believe that I was her long lost brother Jellfree remade into a woman. Hell, if I hadn’t gone through it I wouldn’t believe it either. My sister had been my entire world, the two of us had been inseparable and her loss weighed heavily on me. Becca had kept me from giving in to despair when all hope seemed gone. She kept from the edge and there was nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Even kill.
And then there was what Velspatt wanted me to do. The mere thought of the name reverted through me with such strength that it almost seemed painful. What she wanted me to do… to fight the Corrector it made me want to vomit. I had never faced an Edant K’teth other than the Overseer and it had only been through sheer dumb luck that I’d been able to defeat her. If I fought one in open combat I had a pretty good idea what would happen and it definitely wasn’t something I wanted to sit and muddle over. It was just about time to get up anyway so I bit my lip then looked down at Kaya’s sleeping form. I let out a long sigh then reached over to shake her awake.
“Shit, I hurt,” she groaned her eyes–or I should say eye since her left one was swollen shut–snapped open. She slowly sat up and looked around. “Anything happen while I was out?”
“I-I saw my sister,” I whispered. “She helped me carry you into the women’s quarters.”
“You didn’t tell her did you?” Kaya asked reaching up to touched her face, then winced and brought it back away.
“No, how could I? I mean, god, how the hell am I supposed to tell her that I’ve been turned into a woman? She’d probably think I was nuts!”
“Well, can’t really blame you there, but you’re going to have to tell her eventually we’re going to need her help if we’re going to escape from this place.” she sighed and stretched her arms up in the air. “Did we get our assignments yet?”
“In the kitchen. Jerem wants us working there with my sister for some reason and…” I trailed off pursing my lips.
“What is it?”
“He’s claimed us for himself. I think he’s going to try something,” I clenched my jaw. “I don’t know if I can keep myself from beating him to a damned bloody pulp if he does.”
“This complicates things. It’s going to make our mission a lot more difficult with your brother-in-law breathing down our necks.”
“Don’t call him that!” I snarled. “If he gets in the way we’ll just have to deal with him.”
Kaya opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly a loud trumpet’s blare rang through the room from the speakers mounted in the ceiling. “I guess it’s time to get up,” she sighed. “Shit, this is going to be a long day.”
I nodded, and climbed to my feet and held my hand out to Kaya. She smiled gratefully as I pulled her up to her feet then we watched as the other women shuffled out of the room. We followed them down a long corridor and into the women’s shower room. I’d never been inside, but the room’s layout was almost the exact mirror of the men’s shower area so I had no problem finding my way around.
My cheeks burned as I looked about and watched the women disrobe. With wide eyes I reached for the waist band of my pants and unbuttoned them. I pulled down on the zipper then let my pants slide down my legs then pulled my shirt up over my head exposing my breasts to the humid air of the room. I tossed my clothes into the nearest receptacle then walked tentatively toward the showers. A blonde woman, about my own age, stepped into the spray of water next to me and I couldn’t help but stare as she slowly started to soap her breasts. She was quite an attractive woman and I fought down the sudden urge to reach out and caress her pert breasts.
Good lord, what the hell was wrong with me?
I turned away grabbed a bar from the tray in front of me, closed my eyes and started to soap myself up. When it came time to wash my hair I opened my eyes and felt my jaw drop open as I found a pair of breasts hanging there right in front of my face. I looked up and met the gaze of the blonde I’d been gawking at before. “Get an eye-full cookie licker. You’re new here so I’ll let it slide this once, but so help next time I catch you looking I’ll mess that pretty face of yours up. Got it bitch?”
“Uh, okay,” I mumbled staring at her with unblinking eyes then looking down at the floor.
“You can fuck whoever you want around here whether they have a cookie or a trouser snake, but keep your damn eyes to yourself in the shower room,” she spat then walked away.
I could feel everyone in the room’s eyes on me as I cleaned my hair, and once I finally I finished, I quickly toweled myself off, dressed and sped out of the room without making eye contact with a single soul.
I stepped into the kitchen and stopped dead in my tracks as I found myself staring right at the blonde from the shower room. “Well if it isn’t cookie licker.”
I ignored blondie, breezed past her and moving into the main area of the kitchen. It looked just like I remembered, everything was still in the same place right down to the smallest pot and there was even the old head cook Creg chopping away at some vegetables in the corner. It seemed so surreal as if I’d walked into a piece of my past, but then three attractive women stepped into the kitchen and I shook my head and realized that so much had changed. Other than Creg everyone within the kitchen including myself was a woman and every woman happened to be exceptionally attractive.
“Is there a reason you left me in the shower room, Lex? I had to ask for help to find the kitchen,” Kaya’s voice said from the doorway and I spun around to see her walk inside.
“Shit, is it just me or did I just step into bombshell central,” she added looking around with a huge grin on her face.
I shook my head and chuckled softly considering that she was much more attractive than the other women, aside from myself, despite the bruises on her face, the comment seemed odd coming from her. Of course, if I was going to be honest with myself so was I.
“That would be my husband’s doing,” a new voice proclaimed from the doorway.
“Becca,” I whispered as she move toward me.
My sister blinked. “I don’t remember telling you my name.”
I bit my lip and shrugged giving her the first excuse that sprang to my mind. “I asked one of the other women in the quarters.”
“Oh, of course,” she nodded then turned to Kaya. “I’m glad to see you’re feeling better. I apologize for my husband.”
Kaya nodded curtly and gritted her teeth. “It’s fine. All I can say is that bastard better not touch me again.”
Becca blinked. “Right, well I guess introductions are in order. I’m Becca Anders, that blonde woman over there is Merida Baker, the woman over there with the raven black hair is Patricia Sunders, the busty red-head is Selma D’Angelo, the brunette over there in the corner is Marjorie Sudweeks and that man in the corner is Old Creg, our head cook.”
“Nice to meet you all, my name’s Lexa Briggs and this is my friend Kaya Trzcinski.” I held a hand out to Kaya remembering at the last minute to give Kaya’s agreed to false surname, but not soon enough to remember t
o use the one I’d picked out for myself.
“Briggs?” My sister blinked in surprise. “That was my maiden name.”
“Oh, really? That’s weird.”
Kaya rolled her eyes at me and looked around the kitchen. “We, uh, better get going. The morning meal isn’t going to make itself and I’m sure that Corrector of yours won’t be too happy if we’re late getting done.
Becca nodded. “Right, you two know your way around a kitchen?”
I grinned, snatching a spoon from a nearby counter and swirled it around in my hands before throwing it up in the air and catching it with the opposite hand. “Trust me, we’ll do just fine.”
Compound Het’ma was huge, and as such meal preparation was an all day affair. The dining hall was much too small to accommodate all the slaves within the compound so only a third of the populace was fed at a time. Back at compound B’eld the cooking crew had been in charge of cleaning up the dining area, but at Het’ma there was simply too much for us to do so each group of slaves cleaned up after themselves once they’d eaten. Since, things were so hectic we didn’t get to eat our meal until everyone else had been fed. I wasn’t accustomed to waiting so long before I ate so by the time it came time for my meal I scarfed it down feeling as if I hadn’t eaten for days.
I helped serve the food for each of the three meals so I caught glimpses of my new favorite person Rayland. Not surprisingly, he took advantage of our very brief encounters in order to grin and wink at me. Thankfully, the line moved quickly and he only had enough time to tell me that I was “looking gorgeous” before moving down the line. Farris made his own appearances too, but like the other man he only had enough time to issue a brief hello before he was forced to move down the line.
Of course, Rayland and Farris weren’t the only familiar faces, Jerem made his own appearances and frequently I’d look into someone’s face and realize that I knew them. I’d lived at Het’ma for fourteen years of my life and many of the people I’d grown up with were still there. The worst part was that I couldn’t actually let any of that recognition show on my face. None of these people could be allowed to know who I was. If they somehow found out I had no doubt the consequences would be disastrous. There were a lot of unfamiliar faces too. I had, after all been gone a very long time.
For the entire day Becca and the other women in the kitchen avoided us. They only interacted with Kaya and me when given no choice. I was sort of confused by this, at least when it came to Becca, but I had no idea how to approach her in order to break the ice. Creg seemed unaware of the tense atmosphere, as he delivered his orders with his calm voice and soft smile. Finally by the end of the third day we finished feeding the last batch of slaves their dinner and cleaned up the kitchen before joining the rest of the slaves in the dining room for dinner. Kaya and I found a vacant table in the corner and sat down to eat our meal. We had only caught brief glimpses of Farris throughout the day, and he’d already eaten his dinner during the last rotation so it was just the two of us.
“Do you mind if I sit with you?” Becca’s soft voice asked quietly from behind.
“Oh sure,” Kaya smiled up at my sister her eyes wide with surprise.
Becca took a seat next to Kaya and stared across the table at me. “Lexa… I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ask this, but I’ve never been very good at this sort of thing so I’ll just go ahead and ask. There is something that is just so familiar about you and I can’t escape the feeling that I know you. Have we met before?”
I pursed my lips staring at her then leaned back in my chair trying to think how best to answer her question. Should I tell her truth? Then I had a sudden idea pop into my head and felt immediately ashamed for what I was thinking of doing. Before the invasion Briggs had been a fairly common name, but since the Qharr had wiped away so many humans, surnames, like Briggs, had become quite rare. I hated to lie to my sister, but I knew without a lot of explanation that she’d never believe that I was her long lost brother, Jellfree. If I told her the truth she might make a scene and I couldn’t risk that, but if she thought we were cousins, that would give me a reason to be close to my sister again.
I sighed, leaned forward and bowed my head. “I’ve never met you before, but I think you probably met my parents, Mara and Harold Briggs. We’re cousins Rebecca.”
Becca bit her lip and stared across the table at me with wide eyes. “I didn’t know my aunt and uncle had a daughter.”
“My mother only found out she was pregnant a short while after the invasion. By the time I was born both my parents had been captured by the Qharr,” I replied. My hands were shaking as I spoke and as hard as I tried I couldn’t keep myself from weeping as I heaped one lie atop another. I certainly looked young enough to have been born after the invasion with my new body. “Both of my parents are dead now.”
“I’m sorry. Mine are too,” my sister replied reaching out to touch my hand. “They died during the invasion.”
“I know,” I replied without even thinking and cursed myself inwardly for saying something so stupid. I felt Kaya’s foot under the table kicking me, which confirmed that Kaya thought it was pretty dumb too. Then I had a sudden flash of inspiration and cursed myself even more for the fresh batch of lies I was about to dole out. “I met your brother, Jellfree, at the last compound that I lived. He told me all about you and your parents.”
“You met my brother? You saw Jellfree? Is he alright?”
“Well Jellfree was the compound’s head cook before I left and he was in a relationship with one of the cooks working under him,” I replied.
Becca smiled nervously and opened her mouth presumably to speak then looked back at the entranceway. Her smile transformed into a look of dread and I understood why when I followed her gaze and saw Jerem headed our way. “Damn,” I whispered under my breath.
“Bitches,” he muttered taking the seat next to me and glaring across the table at my sister with a look of contempt. “Becca get me some more to eat. I’m still hungry.”
My sister nodded and promptly jumped out of her seat sprinting for the kitchen. “What the fuck are you looking at, cunt? You want another taste of my fist?”
Kaya glared at him, but she bit her lip and merely turned away.
“Good,” he nodded and glared back at her. “That’s what I thought. Now get outta here, I don’t want to look at that face of yours until it’s healed up a bit.”
Kaya grabbed her tray off the table and I moved to follow, but Jerem grabbed my wrist. “Where the fuck you think you’re going?”
I stared at him, and balled my hand into a fist, but stopped myself and took a quick look around the room. If I hadn’t been for the fact that we had an audience I would not have hesitated to hit him, but unfortunately there were still a couple dozen people who had yet to finish their meals lingering in the room.
“Come here,” he growled yanking on my wrists forcing me to sit down in his lap. I could have easily resisted, but there was no way in hell I could do so without revealing how strong I was and that would be a very bad idea. I settled across his lap and shuddered ever so slightly as I realized that the bulge I felt pressing against my ass was his damn cock. He grabbed my chin and I shrunk away as he leaned in for a kiss. His breathe tasted like shit, literally, and when he broke away I just barely managed to keep myself from puking my guts out.
He smiled at me and for once there didn’t really seem to be any malice in his eyes. “Tomorrow, when you take your shower; make sure you get yourself cleaned up real well. If I have the time you and I will be getting better acquainted”
I could feel bile rise up in my throat as I caught a gleam of his intentions reflect in his eyes. “I-I don’t think–”
Some of that anger returned to his eyes as he cut me short. “You think you have a choice? Fuck, bitch the Qharr wouldn’t care one bit if I cut your damn throat and left you to bleed in the middle of the hallway. I keep order for the Corrector and all he cares about i
s if I keep these damn sheep from causing him problems. If there are a few deaths here or there it’s the price he must pay for having me keep the peace.”
I trembled and felt tears well up in my eyes as I nodded. God, how the hell was I going to keep that bastard from having his way with me without killing him? There was no way I would ever let him touch me. Letting him kiss me had been bad enough, and I wasn’t sure I could control myself if he tried again. I came to one inescapable conclusion if I went to his quarters I’d wind up killing the bastard and screw everything the hell up!
“Get the fuck up!” he yelled yanking me by the wrist and sending me tumbling from atop his lap. I twisted sideways at the last minute and managed to keep myself from landing on my breasts. I’d never actually done it myself, but I’d heard from Kaya that falling onto your chest hurt and I didn’t intend to experience it for myself. I crawled back to my feet and glared at Jerem with both of my hands clenched at my side.
“Leave bitch!”
I glared at him shaking with a barely contained fury. I wanted to beat him senseless for the way he’d touched me and for the things he intended to do to me. I had the power, but if I used it our mission would be shot to hell, but I sure as fuck didn’t care. Jereme Anders was going to die. I glared at him one final time and grabbed a half-eaten piece of bread from my plate, stuffed it into my mouth and walked away.
Chapter Eight
Steaming hot water splattered against my chest and I closed my eyes letting myself get lost in the feel of it against my skin. I’d been one of the first out of bed that morning so for once the water wasn’t lukewarm. I was dreading what the day might bring, but I also knew that I would have no choice but to go about the day’s business and hope Jerem would be too busy to bother me. It really hadn’t been that long, but I’d actually gotten used to the relative freedom I’d had in the bunker.
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