Auction

When I wake up, there is just the merest hint of morning light coming in the barred window. I become alert immediately. I am alone.

The misery of the night before is gone. I feel so much better with clean water and food in my belly, and with a full night of sleep to clear my head. Today, I escape.

I still have no clothing, but the sheet can be wrapped and tied around me to make a sort of a sheath dress. I do that swiftly, and begin to sneak out of the house, making sure to walk on the balls of my feet so I don't make so much as a sound. This is the stealthy motion I use when hunting, but it is equally as useful now.

The door to my room isn't locked. I roll my eyes to myself as I slip out of the room. They plan to keep me captive and they don't even lock the door? So ridiculous.

As I step into the hall, it occurs to me that the house is not truly made to contain those who really want to escape. I suppose most of the women they bring here are somewhat willing, or at least too scared to try to make it out of the compound and the city. Right now, I am ringed by tens of thousands of men, all of whom would take me if they could. This escape attempt is dangerous, but it has to be made. If I don't get out now, it will only get more difficult with time. There are so many things here I could get used to. Clean water, all the food I can eat. I can't allow myself to be tamed by these men, turned into happy breeding stock. I need to get out. Now. Before I become a traitor to myself.

On my way toward the door, or a window that might open for me, voices make me stop in my tracks. I am outside the room where I dined last night. Inside, I hear the low rumble of Mattias and Elias talking. As I get closer, I realize they're talking about me.

"She is so innocent," Mattias says. "It's a pity what will happen to her. The word is already spreading. I hear they have a hundred bidders."

"We'll make sure she's ready," Elias replies.

"We don't have long enough," Mattias sighs. "The sheriff is calling the auction today. He wants the money. They're saying she'll go for five million because she's wild caught and untouched."

"Whoever she goes to better have the patience to break her in properly, or they'll ruin her," Elias muses.

"We will do what we can in the time we have. She's a virgin, so we won't do any internal stretching. They'll want to take that fresh, poor thing."

"Not her pussy, anyway. The other hole can be trained."

Other hole? What other hole? What sick perversions are these men talking about?

I don't care. I'm getting out of here before I can be auctioned. I'm going to get as far away from this jurisdiction as I possibly can, and I'm never coming back.

The window does have bars on it, but they are not set close enough together to keep a wild bred girl in. Maybe a soldier or burly man might be kept out, but I can slip through if I breathe out and wriggle really hard. I do both and fall out into the garden, where a bush is waiting to claim me.

Peering out from the leaves, I look around to see if I have been observed. It seems I haven't been. Yesterday there were guard patrols all down this way. Today, the guards seem to be somewhere else. The path by the house is absolutely deserted.

I can hear noise in the distance, a big gathering of some kind. A party, maybe? I don't know how the people in the city live, but my father always told me it was decadent and impure.

After what happened yesterday, I have no desire to be found anywhere near a gathering of any kind. I stick to the bushes, creeping and crawling my way slowly through the complex.