“Slave, open your eyes and look at me.” It was the voice of Master 2 and it was loud and annoyed. She struggled to obey, the light making her eyes tear up as she brought his face into focus. “If you ever try something so stupid again, you’ll spend a lot more time strung up.”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered as she stared at him. Suddenly, he winked. Her eyes widened in surprise. “If you ever need to get a message to Dan,” he whispered, “tell me. It’ll be easier to get to me than to him.”
“Yes, sir,” she barely mouthed in acknowledgment. She had another friend. She nearly cried with relief.
He pulled her wrists behind her and clipped them together with no gentleness. Then he grabbed her elbow and propelled her out into the yard as she stumbled. All of the women were there, once more kneeling in the dirt, the men standing behind them. It seemed she was going to have an audience for her punishment.
~ ~ ~
The morning sun beat down upon them all as she was propelled to the center of the circle of watchers. She wanted to be good for Dan, but she was terrified and started to pull back as Master 2 guided her towards what looked like a hitching post. His grip tightened and his fingers dug into her flesh and she stopped resisting. As she came near the wood structure, Master 2 stopped and Master 4 came up in front of her, leaned over, grabbed her ankles, and pulled her off her feet. She shrieked with fright but Master 2 had a sure grip under her arms and the two of them carried her the rest of the way. Master 4 rested her ankles on the crosspiece and Master 2 lowered her to the ground. Her feet were almost straight up as she lay on her back in the dirt. The sun was directly in her eyes and she shut them out of reflex, unable to see what was going on. She felt her feet being roughly bound to the pole until she cried out with the pain of her ankles being crushed against the wood.
A shadow fell over her and she heard Dan speak. “Master 3,” he said in a reasonable voice, “if you tie her feet that tight, they go numb and she won’t feel the whole force of the punishment.”
There was a pause, and a grunt, and in a moment she felt the bonds being loosened. Her hands were still bound underneath her, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable now.
“Is the camera turned on so he can watch?” Dan directed his question to someone behind her. He received an affirmative grunt.
She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what was coming. Oh, who was she kidding? Nothing she did would prepare her. She might as well accept that fact now. Dan’s shadow still fell over her so she opened her eyes to look at him. She wanted to be brave for him, but then it occurred to her that if she thought Dan was really a slaver, she’d be pleading for him to let her go. People probably expected it. It wasn’t hard for her to start, especially when she caught sight of the strip of leather in his hand.
“Please,” she whispered, “don’t. You don’t have to do this. I won’t try it again. I’m sorry. Please. Just let me go, please!”
He looked at her and for a moment, she thought he was going to falter. Then he collected himself and turned to the waiting crowd.
“This slave,” he began, “was a friend of mine.” The crowd erupted in low voices. He waited until they quieted. “I’m not exactly sure how she ended up here, but it doesn’t matter. She belongs to Mr. DeLeo now, and how I feel about her isn’t important. What we are doing here is more important. She tried to escape earlier. It’s my job to make sure that she never wants to try that again, and that all of the slaves watching realize that they never want to try it either.”
She heard the unspoken message in his voice, that he really didn’t want to do this to any woman, and that he was going to have to use Laura to get that message across.
“Since she used her feet to run, it’s fitting to punish them enough that she has to crawl.”
The sun had been in her eyes when he turned so she’d shut them again, and she wasn’t prepared when the first blow of the strap fell across the soles of her feet. She grunted in surprise at the sting. He set up a rhythm of a blow every few seconds, directed mostly on the sole of her right foot. The pain rose to an unbearable height with only a few blows. She tried desperately to pull her feet away, begging him to stop, but they were tied tight, and he ignored her cries.
He paused some minutes later, and she took a deep breath through her sobs as he changed positions. Now he assaulted her left foot. She was frantically trying to rub her feet together to ease the pain, but the only result was that some of the blows wrapped around her soles and landed on the tops of her feet, which hurt even more.
“Please stop! Please! Oh, God, stop stop stop! Please!” It was a constant litany of begging and it had no effect whatsoever. Blow after blow landed until she was crying and writhing so much in the dirt she was sure she’d rubbed the skin on her back raw.
Finally, he stopped. She sobbed with relief that it was over, and waited for them to untie her burning and swollen feet. She had survived.
He stepped between her and the sun again. “Slave,” he called. She opened her eyes to look at him and froze in horror. He held a cane in his hand. “Five on each foot to finish.”
“No!” she screamed, her panic taking over and her struggling growing frantic. “Stop! Oh, God! No!” She tried to sit up and twist away.
He said something and suddenly Claire was at her head.
“Your job is to keep her still, understand?”
Claire nodded at him.
Laura looked up into Claire’s face. “Claire, oh God, please don’t let him use that! Please!”
Claire lifted Laura’s head into her lap and wrapped her arms around Laura’s shoulders. “Honey,” she spoke softly, “you know I can’t stop him. But I’ll try to help you through this, okay?”
Before Laura could answer her, a pain broke across her feet that felt like a branding iron. She opened her mouth and screamed.
~ ~ ~
Time became a blur after that. She existed for a while in a place where her feet were being burned alive in a fire. By the time she was released, her voice was hoarse from screaming. Her feet were untied and placed back down on the ground by Master 2. Laura didn’t know where Dan was but she didn’t really care right then. There was no question of her standing upright. Claire helped her turn on her hands and knees and she made a slow and painful crawl back to the cell, leading the other quiet slaves. Once she was there, she climbed onto her bed and lay on her side facing the wall, the remaining tears sliding silently sideways across her face and onto the mattress. Her feet throbbed in painful rhythm with her heart.
A touch on her shoulder made her jump.
“Laura?” It was Claire.
“Yeah?” she croaked.
“Here. Drink some water. It helps after you’ve been screaming for a while.”
The reality of that statement hit her hard. Claire had also seen and done her share of screaming while here. What kind of monsters are these people? She didn’t want to examine where she placed Dan right now. It was all too fresh.
“Thanks.” She took the cup and sat up enough to take a sip.
“You really know Master 1?” Claire seemed incredulous.
“Yes,” Laura whispered. “We’ve known each other for… for a long time.” Careful. “But he’d changed. Now I guess I know why.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks.”
Chapter 11
When Dan was done caning Laura’s feet, he remained where he was long enough to appear indifferent to the horrible punishment he’d just inflicted, then walked with seeming calmness through the line of watching people and back to his office. Once there, he shut the door, restraining the urge to slam it, mindful as always of possible listening ears. He walked over to a shelf and poured himself a drink larger than any he had consumed in a long time. He sat down in his chair and raised the glass to his lips but his hand was shaking so badly he slopped the whiskey onto his shirt again.
“Fuck,” was the only word he said. He took a very large drink and felt it burn down his thr
oat to his stomach. He sat in silence until Josh joined him.
“She’s back in the cell,” he reported. He looked at Dan, his concern evident. Dan refused to meet his glance. “I think you sent an effective message.” Now Dan did look up at him, about to lash out for that callous statement, but when he looked at Josh, he realized Josh wasn’t talking about sending a message to the slaves; he was saying that Dan had done a good job of showing that his loyalties lay with the organization.
“Yeah. I hope that won’t be forgotten for a long time.”
“You might have to send another. Sometimes the first isn’t believed.” You might have to punish her again, you know, to continue to prove yourself.
Dan said nothing. He didn’t want to contemplate that possibility. Instead, he leaned over and opened a drawer. He fished out a bottle and removed two pills He handed them to Josh without comment. “Check the skin on her back. I want it healed before the auction. See that she crawls for the next two days.”
Josh had nodded and disappeared out the door.
Dan had finished his drink, the alcohol doing absolutely nothing to make him feel better.
~ ~ ~
The door behind Laura clanged open. Claire disappeared from view as she fell to her knees on the floor behind Laura. Laura stayed where she was, not caring if she got in trouble.
The voice of Master 2 was behind her. “Laura?”
“Yes, sir?” She could barely get the words out of her sore throat.
“I’m going to clean the scrapes on your back and examine your feet. I’ll be careful.”
She nodded at the unexpected courtesy. She felt him run something warm and wet over her back and then apply some kind of cream. He was gentle and she felt her tense muscles relax a little.
“Give me your cup of water.”
Confused, she handed him the barely-touched cup over her shoulder. He took it and handed it back almost immediately. She looked into it and saw two pills resting on the bottom and starting to dissolve. She desperately hoped they were pain pills.
“Thank you, sir,” she whispered.
He moved to her feet and she cried out in pain as he lifted one by the ankle. “Bend your toes,” he ordered. She complied, squinting her eyes with pain. He grunted in satisfaction and replaced the red and swollen foot, then repeated with the other one.
“Today and tomorrow you’ll crawl to remind yourself of the penalties for running. After that, you’ll walk, no matter how painful it is. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered.
He stood up and she heard him leave. She sat up enough to drink the rest of the water, swirling the dissolving pills around until they were thoroughly mixed in, then making sure she took every drop. Claire appeared behind her and wordlessly took the empty cup. Laura lay back down and concentrated on surviving until the pain pills provided whatever relief they were going to give.
~ ~ ~
They let Laura sleep while the other women left the cage for their morning routine. When she woke, the pain in her feet had decreased enough that she could wiggle her toes with only a grimace. She hoped the effect of the pills would last for a little while. She rolled over and sat up on the edge of the cot, carefully setting one foot down on the floor. It hurt, but she could do it. She set the other one next to it. She was just about to try to stand when a voice at the door stopped her.
“Unh uh. Crawl. You’re not allowed to walk for the next two days.” It was Master 3.
She dared to glare at him for a long moment, then lowered herself to the floor and crawled to the bathroom. She hauled herself up onto the toilet, grimacing at the pain from just that little bit of pressure. When she was done, she crawled over to the sink and tried to grab hold of the edge to pull herself up, but Master 3 appeared again.
“Nope. No standing. At all.”
She started to ask how she was supposed to reach the sink, but instead whispered, “yes, sir,” and raised up on her knees as high as she could to reach the faucet. The bathroom suddenly filled with the other women who had just finished their hour-long kneel.
“Lunch! Line up!” Master 3 called out. Laura crawled to the end of the line and followed the women down the hall. To her dismay, Master 5 fell in behind her. He had a riding crop in his hand. Halfway down the hall he decided she was going too slowly, so he started flicking her ass as she crawled over the hard concrete floor. She sped up enough to catch up to the line of walking women, but he was in the mood to torment. Without warning, he flicked the bottom of a foot with the crop. She shrieked, stopping dead in the hall and letting her head fall down while she panted with the pain.
“Get your ass moving! We don’t feed lazy slaves,” he growled, flicking the other foot. She shrieked again but managed to scurry fast enough to avoid his whip again, eventually entering the dining area. The women had lined up with their bowls. Laura tried to reach one on the high counter from her knees without success. Maia was last in line and grabbed a bowl to hand to Laura, but it was knocked out of her hand by Master 3 and fell to the floor on the other side of the counter.
“Everyone gets her own. No one gets a bowl for anyone else!” he declared.
“Sir,” Laura begged softly, “I can’t reach it from my knees. Please may I stand?”
“Nope. You can’t reach it, you go without.”
She slumped down. She was hungry, so hungry. She’d missed breakfast, and the stew from last night hadn’t filled her up very much.
“I’ll make you a deal. You suck my dick and I’ll make sure you get some stew.” She looked up at Master 3 in disbelief. His predatory grin made her skin crawl.
She could refuse and go hungry; she wouldn’t starve, and the thought of sucking him made her lightheaded with nausea anyway. But she knew that refusing him would have more consequences than just an empty stomach. She made a quick decision.
“Please, sir, may I suck your dick in exchange for some food?” she asked meekly.
“Oh, my, slave. You ask so nicely. Hear that, bitches? She knows her place. Seems the punishment has taught her some manners.” He opened up his trousers and brought out his large limp dick. She shuffled forward on her sore knees until she was in front of it.
“No hands.”
Her heart sank. She wasn’t going to be able to protect herself from gagging. She clasped them behind her back and reached forward to touch his dick with her tongue. She pulled back as soon as she made contact, momentarily repulsed by the touch, then regrouped and leaned into him again. Her eyes closed and to her immense surprise, she conjured up an image of Dan standing in front of her instead of Master 3. She gave the thick stalk a few nibbles and licks at the tip, then repeated with his balls before taking them into her mouth and gently tugging. She was rewarded with a groan over her head. She kept the vision of Dan in her mind, thinking about how it would feel to give him pleasure while she was on her knees. It was an activity she’d never imagined doing with him before, but the thought gave her an immense rush of pleasure.
She almost pulled off when she realized that the idea of giving a blowjob to Dan after he had chastised her for something, made her head swim with an arousal she didn’t understand, but resolved to examine later. She relished the vision, taking the whole head into her mouth and going as deep as she could without gagging. She sucked in her cheeks and increased the pressure, she swirled her tongue around the tip, and she heard him start to pant.
The illusion of kneeling at Dan’s feet was shattered when Master 3 grabbed her head and pulled her deep. She gagged and choked and tried to push him off with her hands. Master 5 moved behind and captured her flailing arms, pulling them up behind and up high, which caused her to pitch forward onto Master 3’s dick. She didn’t have to endure it for long, though—Master 3 let out a grunt and filled her mouth with thick cum. She struggled to swallow all of it, scared what might happen if she didn’t. At last, he pulled out and she was allowed to drop back down to a kneel.
Master 3 zipped up his trousers and
walked over to the table where the women sat quietly, their bowls mostly empty by now. Without comment, he grabbed Claire’s spoon and bowl. He moved down to Jackie’s bowl and scraped the remains of hers into Claire’s. Then he scraped the remains of Julie’s into Claire’s. And so on, down the line, getting nothing more than a chewed piece of gristle from some, gravy drippings from others, and the occasional leftover vegetable from the rest. When he was done, he brought the bowl over to Laura and dropped it down on the floor in front of her.
“You have two minutes to eat.” He didn’t offer a spoon.
She pushed down her revulsion and scooped up a carrot with her fingers. It was cold by now and more than a little greasy. Nevertheless she shoved as much into her mouth as she could get. She looked up when all that was left were two pieces of chewed-up meat.
“You’re not done yet.”
She gulped, nodded, and scooped up the meat. She didn’t bother trying to chew it; that had been attempted already. Instead, she swallowed the pieces whole, then licked her fingers to clean them.
Master 5 kicked the bowl away and ordered the women to line up again. They fell in, this time some in front of Laura, and some behind. She was grateful for the protection. She hurried down the hall with the line, not daring to fall back and cause trouble for the woman behind her. Soon they were back in the large barred room, and the door had once again locked them in.
~ ~ ~
“Dan! Marco says you’re having a bit of an issue with one of the new slaves.” The phone call Dan dreaded had come. He just hoped he could undo whatever damage Marco had done.
“The only problem we’re having is with Marco, sir. The new slave he collected was a friend of mine. He not only violated the understanding we have about family and friends, he took someone who has extensive connections, both family and community. There will be a hell of a lot of people looking for her. He endangered all of us.”
“He says he did it as a favor to you. He thought you would appreciate having her around—help release your tension a bit. If having her here is a problem for you, though…”
A Captive of Fear and Desire Page 8
