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RED SOX: Believe!
WARNING: Remember the story is called…
by Phair
Jay sat in the mud trying to regulate his breathing in an effort of quiet his rebellious stomach. Pain radiated from his left bicep but it had lessened considerably since Brady treated it. No more than twenty minutes before, three men held him down while a red hot iron burned I^ into the skin of his upper arm. It marked him as their property. It was a mark that would last forever. His physical pain paled in the grim shadow of his helplessness to escape their power.
"Oh, please, it hurts, please," Mr. Jones voice trailed off into whimpers as he buried his face in his hands.
Brady was treating the brand on his arm with the same mixture of mud, water, and drippings from nearby leafs as she had used on Jay. She ignored Jones' crying as she worked. However, when one of the guards glanced in their direction once too often, she tried her best to hush the man.
"Easy, try to stop crying," she whispered the advice. "Can't you feel how cool it's getting? A little numb too by now, I would guess. Feel it. You have to be able to feel it. Can't you feel how much better it is?"
His moaning softened as he listened to her. After a few breaths he nodded agreement along with his sniffles.
"It's a little better," he reluctantly agreed. "I guess."
"Just rest a bit. We'll be put to work soon, so rest as much as you can. I'll give it another treatment when we get our first break. Rest for now." Brady said before standing and making her way toward Woody.
Woody sat with his back against a young tree. Tears of blood ran from the burn on his upper arm down to his elbow. He let both his arms lay loosely in his lap chained at the wrist. His eyes burned with hatred.
"Stay away from me, Cunt!" He hissed as Brady approached with her muddy healing mixture in hand.
She nodded and tossed the balled up pulp the last few feet. "If I were you then I'd use a bit of that to take the sting out and prevent infection. But, suit yourself."
Before Woody could hurl an insult her way, Brady walked back over to Jay and sat next to him. The two stared out at the inlet bay before them. Men, women, and children branded like them scrambled to pull heavy nets filled with mud from the bottom of the water. Once on the sandy beach, other slaves dragged the nets to a clearing to begin the drying process.
"What are they looking for?" Jay asked.
"The end of the world."
"Brady," Jay felt his patience dwindle even further.
"There is a compound in the mud that is harmless when wet but is explosive when dry. It's as volatile as TNT and looks like linen. That's what the slaves are dragging out of the mud. It's what Esau wants from this island. It's the only reason that we're not already dead."
"He needs our expertise?" Jay questioned.
"NO!" Brady laughed at him. "He needs our brute strength to haul it out of the mud for him."
"Shit," Jay cursed as he watched a soldier whip a team of slaves not pulling their net out of the water fast enough.
Four bands of heavy link chains were wrapped around Kendall's sweating body; binding her upper arms, wrists, thighs, ankles. Kendall tried to remain still. Even the slightest movement brought her body in contact with the walls or ceiling or both walls and ceiling of her stifling prison cell. She didn't need another reminder of just how tiny the concrete box housing her was.
"Housing," she said aloud. "Not really house like, is it?" She was aware of the panic rising in her voice but could not seem to settle herself down, "More like a tomb. It's more like being buried…alive…oh God, help me…hey, help…I give up…help…please, oh God, oh God, help me…"
She was screaming loud enough to be heard outside the cell but nobody answered.
"OH MUTHERFUCKER!" Jay growled as he dug his heels deep into the sand and heaved the water laden, mud filled net out of the bay.
The flogger found his bare back seconds later.
"Shut it and keep pulling," the guard shouted.
Jay kept his cry and his sullen curse silent. He focused himself on getting the net out of the water. Once it was on the beach, he would have a few minutes to rest before the guards forced them to wade back in to pull out another net.
"SHIT!"
Jay heard the shout and felt the snap at the same time. One of the four tethers on the net snapped free and whipped back. He heard a pain filled howl as the weight of the net drained away. The loss of resistance sent him face first into the sand.
"Fucker, what now?" Jay groused as he righted himself.
Jones was the only one left standing. Directly across from Jay, he stood sobbing while staring at his red raw hands. Woody, who was behind Jay, was climbing to his feet and getting ready to tackle the Jones from the look on his face. Guards were coming at them from every direction. Jay scrambled back and knocked Woody down to his knees again.
"Stay put. Don't give 'em a reason to beat you. Come on, man! I need you healthy if I'm gonna survive the day," Jay rambled as he looked Woody in the eye. "Be smart; wait until we got half a chance to get away. Then I'll even help you ring the pussy's neck!"
Woody snorted an exhausted laugh as his body relaxed. "O.K. but I get to kill the asshole, right?"
"Sure. I just want a couple of body shots," Jay chuckled and gave Woody a quick fake jab to the shoulder.
"What are you two, lovers?" A guard hissed and swatted them away from each other with his police baton. "Watch it, 'cause fags don't do well here! No sir, they end up with ruptured shitters."
Jay moved away from the other man. He kept his gaze down but tried to get a few glimpses of the far side of the net. Jones was still on his feet whining about his hands as the two of the guards strolled closer. By their facial expressions, Jay guessed they weren't so much listening as considering how to force Jones to pull his weight. Literally.
Glancing down toward the water's edge, Jay noticed a lump in the spilled mud. He took a chance and looked up a bit more to study it. In seconds, he realized it was Brady laying half buried in the heavy mud.
"Help me," Jay gasped to Woody as he pushed to his feet and raced as fast as his shackles would allow across the sand.
Woody hurried after him panting, "I thought you said to wait!"
"She's in the mud, Woody. Dig her out! BRADY! BRADY! GET UP!" Jay yelled as he closed in on the still figure almost completely covered in the mud. Jay continued to shout as he started to dig, "Come on, and help us dig her out! Help us, damn it!"
Jay's pleas were ignored by the other slaves. The guards just laughed as both men frantically dug for the woman.
"Don't worry, she won't be the only fatality today. We'll hook you boys up with a couple a strong slaves. You'll be pulling on a better team. Earn more privileges that way. Let her and the Mama's boy go," a guard near them advised as he chuckled at the frantic rescue effort.
Woody's hand connected with a mass of hair. He clenched his fist into it and pulled for all his was worth. The hair and head came out of the mud with an audible pop. He flipped her over on her back and became painfully aware she flopped like a rag doll. Woody gazed into the dirty face certain Brady was already dead.
"MOVE," Jay knocked him out of the way.
Woody shook his head, "She's gone, Jay. She's not breathing."
"GET A REED!" Jay ordered before grabbing Brady's nose with his thumb and index finger. "HURRY!"
Jay squeezed down from the bridge to the tip of Brady's nose. Mud and snot snaked out of her nostrils. Jay swatted the remains away and repeated the procedure. This time much less muck appeared. Jay wiped it away again. He then clamped the nose and forced open mouth. As he hoped, her mouth was free of grit. He puffed three times into the space and then began to pound on her chest.
"Do you have any idea what you are doing?" Woody asked patiently with the reeds in his hand.
Jay gasped for breath and shook his head.
"Good. Then we don't need these," Woody chucked the reeds behind him. "Okay girl, time to breath."
The hatch at the foot of her prison cell opened. Warm but cooler air gushed in with dust and sand. Kendall struggled to snort out the foreign bodies trying to settle in her nose. She gasped and coughed but relaxed when her ankles were grabbed. The sudden pull toward the open door gave her hope. She wasn't about to fight that pull. Kendall tensed her shoulders and raised her head minutely to avoid a concrete burn on the back of her scalp. The strong hands reached up higher and pulled again. Kendall tensed her back and held steady as she was pulled out of the concrete cell. She arched a bit when clear of the structure to balance the hold the men had on the chains at her thighs and ankles. The men quickly dropped her in short cropped grass and she sank back into the damp foliage.
"Here cool down a bit," his words were followed by a light sprinkle of cold water.
His shadow clouded over her vision. Water splashed all over her body. It eased her fever as much as it taunted her thirst.
"Please…," she husked. "A drink, just a little…," she knew she was begging but didn't care.
"Well," she could hear him hum a bit, "I guess, a little wouldn't hurt too much. But, you must be good and obey me."
Kendall nodded as vigorously as her bonds would allow. She opened her mouth and waited. He knelt next to her and scooped her into his embrace.
"Promise to obey me?"
Kendall cleared her throat, "Ya, yes, I'll obey."
The water bottle pressed against her mouth. She rapped her lips around it and sucked.
"Swish it only and spit it out. Don't swallow!" He commanded.
Kendall reluctantly obeyed.
He caressed her cheek with the cold bottle, "Good girl. You want to be my good girl, don't you?"
"Yes," Kendall answered and turned her head to the bottle to lick the sweat off it.
"Have a small sip then," he cooed as he brought the bottle back to her parched lips.
Kendall savored a small swallow. She held back from drawing more in until he granted her permission.
"Good girl. Take a bigger swallow but not a gulp."
Kendall obeyed.
"Oh, such a good girl. You are really cutting down your time in the sweat box."
Kendall blinked and swallowed hard trying to form the words, "Cutting down?"
"Yes, my dear, cutting down. I must be sure you are pure and right with Heaven. So, you need to be cleansed. We are sweating the evil Jacobian world right out of you. Praise God!" Commander Esau shouted.
The soldiers gathered around them yelled their approval and applauded as well.
"I'm pretty cleansed now. Can't you let me up? Please? I've been in there forever," Kendall was begging again but didn’t care.
Esau smiled and caressed her face before speaking, "As long as you survive this trial, your place will be with me. I promise. But, you are not nearly cleansed after only four hours in the box. You must endure a day, my love, to be clean and worth of your master."
"Only four hours? A day? No, please, wait! I'll be good. I'll be better than good, I'll be spectacular," Kendall began to rant as Esau settled her back down on the ground. "Wait, I'm with you. 100% with you. Please, no…," she wailed as the soldiers picked her up. "Please, I'll do anything, please," her voice faded as the soldiers shoved her head first back into the sweat box.
"Just survive this, my love," Commander Esau whispered as he walked back to his hut, "and you shall be the mother of the future Master of Heaven on Earth."
