RED SOX: They are a joy to behold…sometimes…
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Jaimy shivered as another cold wind gusted through the cage. Even with more than a hundred naked bodies surrounding her, there was no warmth to be found in this prison. The sun was an added misery since it provided little heat but brightly illuminated her confines. There was no hiding in a darkened corner from the hopelessness of her plight.
She and her fellow captives were stripped chained hand and foot and left to wait for the auctioneer to order them up for bidding. Interested purchasers strolled around the cage appraising the new stock. Occasionally, somebody would be called over to the bars for closer inspection. The snickers and comments regarding a captive's attributes threatened to up end Jaimy's already empty belly.
Cletus brought them into the massive stadium two days ago. They were processed then divided into the cages surrounding the auction block. The processing consisted of stripping them bare, cauterizing wounds, slaughtering the unfit, and branding the remainder. Little water and less food were doled out to the Urbanites. The Rustlers may have been victorious in their conquest of W Gate Mall but they were not taking any chances; they kept their prisoners bound, weak, and terrified.
"Daddy, Daddy, are those really from a city?" An excited voice asked somewhere near the cage.
Jaimy turned her head slightly to see who was talking. A small boy dressed in rustic clothes was pulling on a tall man's hand while pointing to the cage. The man, obviously a rustic and not a Rustler, smiled proudly at the young boy.
"Yes, they are. Fresh in, I've been told. They've never seen the light of day before, filthy heathens," he replied.
Jaimy was about to turn away when the man pointed at her, "You, you by the bars, COME!"
It was a command repeated often since her arrival. Rustlers and rustics alike spoke that way to her and her people. It was a little funny she had never thought of her neighbors as 'her' people until they were taken from their homes and imprisoned by strangers.
"YOU!" The man snapped his fingers impatiently, "COME!"
Jaimy rolled to her knees. Getting to her feet required pulling herself up by her hands on the cage's bars. Remaining seated was not an option. She learned that lesson the first day from several well placed baton strikes.
Her head spun once she stood straight. She shuffled her battered feet to keep her steps within the limits of the length of chain between her ankles. It took a few falls when she was first fettered but practice does, in fact, make perfect.
"See son," the man began to explain when Jaimy reached the side of the cage the pair stood on, "their skin is so pale because they get no sunshine. They spend all their time in underground breeding. When there are too many of them they start slaughtering women and children for food. Smoke from huge piles of burning bones clogs the air. It's part of the reason they're so stupid too. They don't get enough air to breath. Their brains don't form right. Some of them are so dumb they never learn to speak."
Jaimy heard this particular science lecture several times before. It must have been some time since Third Bowl Stadium hosted the sale of Urbanites fresh from a city. They seemed to be quite the novelty items.
"Are they very dangerous?" The boy asked and shrunk back a step.
"Not if they know what's good for them," the father laughed at his own reply. "Of course, they only learn through rigorous training. They only understand pain and figure out pretty quick what they should and shouldn't do."
Jaimy knew a painful lesson would be coming her way but she could no longer stay silent.
"Yet, somehow we managed to learn it's wrong to teach our children a pack of lies."
The man's face went a livid red. Jaimy smirked and that sent him lunging his arms through the bars. He was fast but Jaimy only needed to ease back a shuffle or two to remain out of reach.
Whistles blew and screaming commands were shouted. Jaimy ignored all of it. Instead, she focused her eyes on the eyes of the furious man on the other side of the bars. She managed to break so many of the new rules imposed on her in such a very short order. However, she savored breaking the looking rule the most. Jaimy was defiant and she wanted them to know it.
Defiance, Jaimy mused, may just be overrated. Her body throbbed from the beating the guards delivered. They slightly more than subdued her before dragging her out to the public square. A crowd gathered as her arms were force over the top of a metal t - bar. Her body was suspended in place when her wrists were fastened together with a chain barely long enough to cross her belly. Once the guards stepped away, stones and rotting fruit pelted her. Small bruises and wounds soon appeared on her already abuse skin.
"Nothing fatal though," she mumbled. "Too bad."
"Shut it!" The guard emphasized his direction with a sharp baton jab to the ribs.
Jaimy had no strength left to argue with him. She had no desire to fight for herself either after the day's events. She endured several hours of harmlessly lobed sticks and stones. Then Jaimy was left hanging on the cross while her neighbors were sold off one by one. The entire population of W Gate Mall was now property; collared, chained and branded by their new owners.
She wasn't sure what would happen to her. Maybe they planned to leave her hanging here until she died; a miserable death. Allowing herself a careful look to the left, she was able to see several other bodies lashed to similar crosses several feet away. Each had a guard of their own so she imagined they were all alive too.
"Other trouble makers," she kept the thought to herself.
As if he heard her thoughts, her guard abruptly turned to face her. He caught her looking around. She saw a grimace cross his face before she dropped her eyes.
"Your kind never seems to learn," he sounded tired and a bit disappointed.
He drew back his baton to level a hardy blow. Jaimy decided to take a chance. She was going to get hit anyway so what could she lose.
"I'm sorry, sir," she kept her eyes down and said it loud enough for him to hear but not the other guards.
Nothing happened. The baton didn't connect. The guard remained in front of her unmoving. And, Jaimy kept her mouth shut and eyes down.
"Just…um…just keep still and we got no trouble you and me. Understand?" He stepped in closer and whispered.
"Yes, sir."
"Try to get some sleep," the guard sounded very weary himself. "In a few hours, they'll auction you lot off to the Senators for the games. You won't get any rest after that until you die. So, sleep while you can."
"Yes, sir." She barely breathed the next few words knowing she risked irritating the guard, "What are the games, sir."
He chuckled but it was not happy. "The games are where they send stupid ass slaves like you."
Jaimy tried to swallow but her mouth was too dry. Whatever these games were, the guard made them sound like the worst punishment possible.
"The war games are played during the month of First Eve, right here in the stadium. Senators field slaves to fight to the death in staged battles. The winning Senator rules the chamber for a year." He was quiet for a moment before he added, "They'll feed and train you which isn't so bad. And, it's about nine more months to First Eve which gives you some more days to live. It's all you're gonna get so deal with it. Sleep now, while there's still time for you to find some rest."
Jaimy didn't raise her head. She didn't want the guard who had shown her a small sliver of kindness to see the hatred which was beginning to take root in her.
Her cheek was first to connect with the grass. It wasn't as soft as it initially appeared. Jaimy struggled to get up. Her numb arms were useless. Meaty hands grabbed her around the belly and by the hair. She wanted to yelp in pain but her dry throat produced nothing more than a croak. The pain was enough though to get her eyes open and focused.
A small group of well dressed men stood before the auction block. They were looking up and down a young man chained to one of three posts. The auctioneer was pointing out finer details of the man with not so gentle slaps of a riding crop. The man hardly flinched anymore.
Jaimy's escort carried her directly to the auction block. He hefted her this way and that to get her fastened to the center post. She winced when he let go of her and her legs buckled. All her weight was hanging from her shredded wrists shackled to the ring bolt above her head.
"This little spit fire has never been whipped. And, trust me, she needs a good thrashing!"
The men staring up at her laughed. Jaimy turned her face behind her arm. She didn't want to see them leering at her.
"Oh, isn't that cute? Now she's shy!"
The laughter grew. Jaimy closed her eyes to block out as much of her humiliation as she could.
"Girlie! I'm talking about you!" The auctioneer bellowed and shook her by her lifeless yellow hair. "Show the buyers what you got!"
Jaimy tried to glare at her tormentor but he held her face front. She had no choice but to look out at the sea of upturned faces. The men were a well fed lot. Their coloring was not as ruddy as the rustics but their skin got regular doses of sunshine.
"This is an amazing find, gentlemen. Her teeth are fairly healthy. Look," the auctioneer tightened his grip on her jaw. He hissed in her ear, "Open up that hole girlie or I'll let all my guards open up your back hole."
Jaimy quickly opened her mouth.
"That's a good little cunt," he cooed to her.
"Where's the bidding start, Manny?"
"Are they a pair?"
"How worn is her snatch?"
The auctioneer rattled off the answers in rapid succession. "Opening bid is twelve hundred. I'll sell nothing by the pairs. And, come on up and check out the merchandise, Senator Fitzgibbon. I know you like quality cunts and this is fine stuff here."
Jaimy stiffed her muscles. She could do nothing else. Her body was chained in place. Her mouth was held open in a vise like grip. When the buyer approached her she made a few noises in protest but they came out more like whimpers. The men all laughed at her.
"Oooh, that is nice. No virgin but not a whore yet."
Jaimy shuddered with the man's long fingers stabbing into the darkness between her restrained legs. Another whimper broke free from her throat but Jaimy didn't try to fool herself it was in protest. It was the sound of defeat.
Fitzgibbon held his sticky fingers up to her mouth, "Lick them clean."
Jaimy glared at him but her tongue remained behind her teeth.
Fitzgibbon smiled broadly. "Manny, she is in need of serious training. You should be paying us to take her off your hands." He wiped his fingers across Jaimy's breasts.
"Oh, if only life worked like that, Senator."
Fitzgibbon frowned. "We'll just have to see if she sells, Manny."
Fitzgibbon left the stage and returned to his place in the front row. Jaimy recognized the slumped shoulders of the tired guard standing next to Fitzgibbon. She should have recognized them after spending half the night thinking of a hundred ways to drive a knife into them. He glanced up at her and quickly looked away. She saw him cringe before he turned his head.
"Guess he can dish out the punishment but can't stand to see the results," she grimly thought to herself.
The bidding began with a steady stream of words from the auctioneer's lips. Hands rose in response. Shouts increased the amounts. As the momentum dwindled, Manny taunted them.
"A fine cunt like this going for fourteen hundred? Surely, you jest? This Urbanite could tear the heart out your opponent's fiercest fighter with those strong, healthy teeth of hers."
"Maybe we're more worried about our own hearts, Manny!" A voice from the rear called.
The group laughed but nobody raised the last bid.
"Maybe I should pull her off the block?" The crowd was unmoved by his threat. "But, she did meet the minimum so…SOLD! Sold to Senator Fitzgibbon for fourteen hundred."
Jaimy sneered at the man who bought her. He bit his lip shaking his head slowly. He turned to his guard and hushed instructions.
"Nothing good comes now," Jaimy thought to herself as the guard approached the stage.