Shameful Reckonings (18 page)

“Everything hurts.” Sigrid grimaced.

“Everything?” Ayesha raised an eyebrow. Her skin was a shade darker than Sigrid’s tan. Her facial features looked more Caucasian than African. “They fucked you up the ass too?”

“No,” Sigrid shuddered.

“They will,” Ayesha shrugged.

Sigrid suppressed a shudder. “Where are we?” she asked. Lara shrugged.

“No idea,” she said. “We don’t even know how long we’ve been here, let alone where ‘here’ is.”

“You were all brought here at the same time?” Sigrid asked.

“No,” Lara shook her head. “Ayesha and Glory were here before me.”

“And Ayesha was here before I was,” Glory spoke up. She had the voice of an angel, sweet and musical. It went well with her lovely face.

“There was another woman with me when I was kidnapped,” Sigrid said. “Have you seen her? She’s not as tall as I am, and she has long, dark-brown hair. Her name’s Amanda.”

The three women all shook their heads. “They probably took her right into training,” Ayesha said.

“Training?” Sigrid didn’t like the sound of that. “What kind of training?”

“Darling,” Ayesha grinned nastily. “You
cannot
be that stupid. But in case I’m wrong, and you are, let me lay it out for you. They train women here. Just women. As sex slaves.”

Sigrid felt suddenly cold, in spite of the warmth of the pool. “No,” she shook her head. Ayesha slipped into the pool and moved slowly through the water towards Sigrid.

“Yes,” she insisted. “We’ve all been through it. I think they whipped you good first so you wouldn’t put up so much of a fight later. They probably figured your friend would break a lot easier.” She put her face inches from Sigrid’s and smiled. “I’ll bet that right now your friend is learning how to give pleasure with her mouth.”

“Shut
up
,” Sigrid hissed. Ayesha laughed bitterly. She reached out and put her hands on Sigrid’s breasts. Light as her touch was, it hurt. Sigrid flinched.

“Abandon all hope,” Ayesha purred. Her nose was inches from Sigrid’s. Her dark eyes seemed hypnotic. Sigrid couldn’t look away from them. “No one ever escapes from here.”

Sigrid could only stare up at her. Under other circumstances she could have slapped the woman hard enough to make her head spin. Maybe she could do it even now, but it would hurt, and she had had enough of pain.

“Nice tits.” Ayesha grinned wickedly. She squeezed Sigrid’s breasts gently, but it still made Sigrid wince.

“Leave her alone, Ayesha,” Lara said. “She’s hurt.”

“Do you think our masters will be gentle with her?” Ayesha asked without looking around. “She might as well learn her lessons early. What’s your name?”

It took Sigrid a moment to realize that she’d been asked a question. “Sigrid,” she replied.

“Sigrid.” Ayesha rolled the word over in her mouth. “It suits you. I’m sure when you’re in trim you look like a Valkyrie in a bikini.” Her gaze roamed over Sigrid’s body. She shook her head. “It’s a shame that all that work you put into your tan is going to be wasted. They keep us below ground all the time. No sun.”

The state of her tan was a very minor concern to Sigrid right now. Even Amanda’s condition was a minor concern. After the merciless whipping and multiple rapes she’d been subjected to all she could think of was to get
out
of here somehow. She realized that her hands were trembling.

Ayesha laughed nastily. She took her hands from Sigrid’s breasts and waded back to the other side of the pool. Sigrid slowly got to her feet. The effort left her lightheaded. She was still unsteady on her feet. She put out a hand to steady herself.

The round pool sat in the middle of another round, domed chamber. She could see two double doorways, on opposite sides of the chamber. The heavy wooden doors of both of them were shut. She must have been brought in through one of them. She had no idea what lay beyond the other one.

Her stomach growled. How long had it been since she’d last eaten? The other women didn’t look as if they were starving, so somebody must be feeding them.

“Don’t push yourself,” Lara said. “They put you in here to heal up before they start your training. The sooner you’re moving around a lot, the sooner they’ll take you.”

“I’ll be all right,” Sigrid insisted. Then she almost slipped and fell climbing the steps that led up out of the pool. She finished the short trip on her hands and knees, just in case. The water felt good, but if she stayed in it for too long her fingertips would get wrinkly. The other women had thin pads to lie or sit on when they weren’t in the water. All Sigrid had was the stretcher she had been carried in on. It was marginally better than lying on the flagstones that made up the floor here. She laid down on her stomach, suddenly overcome by weakness and dizziness. It broke her heart to see how badly bruised her body was. Under her tan bloomed red and orange and blue markings. Where her breasts were still their original creamy white, the marks were more vivid. It hurt to lie down. It hurt to breathe. Everything was going to hurt for a while.

“If I’m here to recover, what are you three here for?” she asked the three women without looking at them.

“We’re here to keep an eye on you,” Lara replied. “In case something happens. I was a nurse.”

“Oh…” Sigrid murmured. She was suddenly terribly sleepy. Sleep would be welcome. When she was asleep, she wasn’t feeling the hurt any more.

***

“Hey… hey, Sigrid, wake up.”

Someone was tugging on a lock of her hair. Sigrid recognized Glory’s voice. She opened an eye. The pale-gold waif was crouching next to her.

“What?”

“Are you hungry? We have food. They brought enough for all of us.”

“Food?” Sigrid perked up a little.

“Yes,” Glory nodded. “It’s not much for taste, but it’s all we get. Come on over and sit with us.”

Sigrid got to her feet with an effort. She felt lightheaded. Glory reached out to help steady her. She was not only waiflike: She was tiny. The top of her head barely reached Sigrid’s chin. Small as she was, Sigrid welcomed her help. It seemed to be a long, long way over to where Lara was sitting on her pad. She was holding a cheap plastic bowl and eating with her fingers. She moved aside a little to give Sigrid a place to sit. Sitting down for Sigrid was a delicate and elaborate operation fraught with danger. Both Lara and Glory had to help her engineer it.

“Here,” Glory said as she plopped down next to Sigrid. She handed her another cheap plastic bowl. The contents looked like thick oatmeal.

“What is this?” Sigrid asked.

“Food,” Glory replied. She picked up her bowl and began scooping the oatmeal-stuff into her mouth with her fingers. Sigrid stuck a finger into her bowl and brought it up to her mouth for a taste. It didn’t taste like oatmeal. It didn’t taste like much of anything at all, but she suddenly realized just how hungry she was. She began copying her companions, gobbling the stuff down as fast as she could. When it was gone, she licked her fingers and then licked the bowl. Lara and Glory did the same thing. It was only after she’d eaten the last bit of food that Sigrid noticed that someone was missing.

“Where’s Ayesha?” she asked.

“The masters took her,” Lara replied simply.

“Took her? Took her where?”

Lara shrugged. “They don’t tell us. They either took her for training or… well, sometimes they have visitors and they want to entertain them.”

Sigrid shuddered. She had been in difficult situations before, even desperate ones. This one was different. It felt hopeless. She had to get
out
of here somehow. If she could manage that, she could always contact the authorities and bring them back to free Amanda. She had always been able to rely on her wits. On the very few occasions when they had been inadequate, she was always able to fall back on sex to wriggle her way out. Neither one seemed to be of much use here. As for sex… she couldn’t tease or entice men with the promise of it here. If they wanted it, they would just take it. She shuddered again. What was she going to
do?

“What can you tell me about this place?” she asked her companions.

“Nothing you’d want to hear,” Lara answered. “I’ve already told you pretty much all I know. I was drugged when I was brought here. I don’t know how far they took me, or in what direction.”

“It’s the same for me,” Glory shook her head sadly.

“Where were you when they kidnapped you?” Sigrid pressed them.

“Ssshhhh…” Lara warned. “They have microphones in here somewhere. If we say too much, we get punished.”

Sigrid seethed with frustration. Maybe Ayesha knew something, and was willing to talk? Probably not. Ayesha would be the type to make her beg for information and then deny her anything with a nasty smile.

“You said you were a nurse?” Sigrid asked Lara. Lara nodded. “And what were you?” Sigrid turned to Glory.

“Just a college student,” Glory said. “I was majoring in French literature. What did you do?”

Sigrid had been prepared for the question. “Executive secretary,” she replied. Well, it was true enough. That had been her persona when she and Amanda had pulled off their big con.

“We’re all just female meat now,” Lara shrugged. “It doesn’t matter what you used to be here.”

“Don’t you think somebody might be looking for you?” Sigrid asked.

“Maybe,” Lara shrugged again. “I try not to think about it, though. What’s the point?”

“Well…” Sigrid began. Then the double doors banged open and four men entered the chamber. They were dressed like workmen. All of them wore those damned black hoods over their heads. One carried a long pole with a loop of rope at the end. Lara and Glory immediately got on all fours and then lowered themselves so that their foreheads were touching the floor while their asses remained up in the air, available. They had obviously been trained to do that. Sigrid thought that since she had not, she might get away with playing dumb. She remained seated on the pad.

“You,” one of the men pointed at her. “Position!”

Playing dumb did not seem to be a good option. Sigrid’s body complained as she put herself in the same ‘position’ as Lara and Glory. She heard Glory cry out in dismay and risked a quick look to see what was going on. The pole with the loop of rope on it looked like an animal capture device. The loop was already around Glory’s slender neck. As Sigrid watched out of the corner of her eye, Glory was hauled to her feet. She immediately put her hands behind her, as if she expected the men to bind her, but they didn’t bother. The pole and neck rope gave them all the control they needed over the small, slim woman.

Sigrid felt a rough hand on her ass. She fought down the sudden impulse to slap it away.

“Pretty pussy,” the man commented. “Nice ass. I see they whipped you real good.” The man chuckled and patted her ass affectionately. “Tomorrow we start your training. Think about that.” He smacked Sigrid’s ass lightly and followed the other three out through the door. Glory did not even look back as they led her away. The last man turned and pulled the doors shut. Only then did Lara rise from her pose.

“You see?” she said bitterly as she turned to Sigrid. “What’s the point?”

“What are they going to do to her?” Sigrid asked as she crawled back onto the mat.

“Any damned thing they want,” Lara gritted. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“All right,” Sigrid nodded. “Is there anything to drink here?”

“Over there,” Lara pointed to what looked like a pile of rocks along the wall, midway between the two doorways. “There’s a fountain. There’s a little latrine in a niche near it.”

“Thanks.” Sigrid tottered over to it. She wasn’t quite as unsteady on her feet now, but every step caused aches and twinges. It wasn’t so much a fountain as a small stream of water coming out from between two rocks and falling into a cement basin beneath. She could see a drain at the bottom of the basin. The “latrine” was no more than a wider, shallower bowl with a bigger drain at the bottom. It looked like a primitive bidet with the small nozzle sticking out from off to one side. She knelt down and put her mouth to the stream. The water was lukewarm, but she drank it down greedily. Satisfied, she carefully got back to her feet and made her way back to what was probably now her pad. She laid down on her side, feeling worn out from all that physical activity. She needed to think, to plan, but every time she tried her mind began acting like a rat in a cage, battering itself against the bars in panic.

She heard movement behind her and turned to look. Lara was pushing her own pad across the floor. She butted it up against Sigrid’s and knelt down on it.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just… I hate this place. I hate what they do to me here. I hate what they make me do.”

“It’s all right,” Sigrid smiled. Maybe she could get some information by playing the part of a sympathetic listener.

“May I lie down next to you?” Lara asked. “Please? I just don’t want to feel so alone for a while.”

“Of course,” Sigrid replied. She turned over onto her other side, not wincing in spite of how much it hurt in so many places. Lara lay down on her pad, facing her. They faced each other in silence for a long moment.

“Would you hold me?” Lara asked. “I’m not into women,” she added. Sigrid reached out with her free arm and Lara snuggled close to her with a sad sigh. “It’s so
hard
here,” she said. “They treat us like animals.” She put her own arm around Sigrid. This close, she couldn’t seem to meet Sigrid’s eyes.

“What do they make you do?” Sigrid asked. She began stroking Lara’s hair. It was soft and thick.

“Please,” Lara sobbed. “I can’t talk about it right now. Just hold me for a while? Please?”

“All right,” Sigrid conceded. She thought that Lara would talk eventually. It seemed as if she had a lot bottled up inside of her, straining to get out past her shame. If she played this right, sooner or later the woman would blurt out everything, along with copious tears and sobs. Maybe she could learn something useful then. She inched a little closer to Lara. The chamber wasn’t cold, but naked as she was she welcomed the warmth of another body close to hers. In response, Lara wriggled closer until they were breast-to-breast, belly-to-belly and thigh-to-thigh. Sigrid wasn’t particularly into women herself. In fact, she wasn’t that into men either, unless there was a good chance she could get something out of the encounter. Still, she wasn’t unfamiliar with the feel of another woman’s body against hers. Under the right circumstances, it could even be very enjoyable. But these were not the right circumstances. The prolonged whipping had left her bruised and sore all over, and Lara’s close contact was causing some twinges here and there. Sigrid cautiously slid her leg between Lara’s and reached under her companion with her other arm. Lara’s only response was to snuggle closer. Her body began to shudder and Sigrid could hear her sobbing softly. She kept her face turned so that it was hidden by her hair, but Sigrid could feel tears splashing on her arm. Let Lara cry herself out and maybe then she’d feel like talking. Sigrid resigned herself to waiting. Well, it wasn’t as if she had anyplace else to be, was it?