by Angela Foxxe
He smiled and tossed another log on the fire to keep the stew bubbling. Hank licked his lips as he looked at the slumbering couple out of the corner of his eye as he hatched his plan.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Over the next few days Hank was extremely helpful in getting them supplies for their long journey toward the west.
“This canteen can hold a day’s worth of water at the very least,” he said as he secured it into Winston’s pack. “Beats keeping a whole bunch of ‘em in your bag taking up space that could be used for something else.”
“Thank you very much,” Winston said. “We should be on our way tomorrow. Shawna’s finished her medicine.”
“Excellent. You’ve stocked my larder with so much meat that I’m gonna have to build another five drying racks to cure it all,” Hank replied appreciatively.
“Wasn’t any issue at all,” Winston replied. “I was starting to feel twitchy anyway being cooped up here for this whole week. Shawna is getting on in her pregnancy and we need to get to Traz before she births.”
“Ah yes, anima pregnancies progress faster than human ones right?”
“Yes they do. We also need to find a shaman to test her for anima genes,” Winston explained.
“Why couldn’t that pretty falcon lady do it?” Hank asked.
Winston looked at Hank sharply. “You saw her?”
“Well, of course; I was hiding not too far away until that cursed wastewraith went away.”
“I see,” Winston said as he returned to what he had been doing.
He was in the process of building another pipe rifle for Shawna to use for her protection since they had to leave theirs in the cave when the stone crab attacked.
“Anyway, the canteen is all ready to be filled. You leaving tomorrow?” Hank asked.
“Yes, if there isn’t a giant radiation storm, we’ll be on our way tomorrow,” Winston answered as he sipped the cup of tea the old man had made earlier.
Hank nodded and got up. “Well, I need to go visit the outhouse. I’ll leave you to your rifle building,” he said as he stretched.
Winston shrugged as he put the hammer mechanism into its proper spot and secured it.
“Winston…” He looked up and saw Shawna standing over him.
“Yes?”
“Doesn’t this seem fishy to you? Like this guy is giving us all sorts of supplies, but when we met him he was going on about how we owed him. Isn’t that suspicious?”
“Who knows? I did give him plenty of meat after all,” he replied.
“Ugh, I mean I have a really bad feeling. Something isn’t right. I think we should take off before tomorrow.”
“No, we need our rest. You’re still weak from your illness,” Winston chided.
Shawna huffed. “Fine, don’t listen to me, but if this guy turns out to be something he’s not, it’s on you, got it?”
Winston just shrugged and secured another part of the pipe gun.
Shawna stormed off toward the garden to dig up a few more fresh potatoes and carrots for their journey.
“That son of a bitch is so stubborn sometimes,” she said as she kicked a rock, sending it flying over the fence.
“OW! What the fuck?!” she heard a male voice that wasn’t Hank’s cry out.
Shawna’s senses were on high alert as she realized there were other men around.
“Winston!” she shouted before a sack was placed over her head, muffling her voice. Her hands were roughly pulled behind her and tightly tied with a rough cord.
“Thanks for this one, Hank. She’ll do quite well,” the man that she hit with the stone said.
Shawna heard a low growl and felt a surge of hope knowing that Winston was clawing and attacking her captors.
“Not so fast kitty cat,” she heard Hank say. “That tea I made you that was full of sleepy time herbs. You’re going to sleep quite hard.”
Shawna heard Winston’s growling get groggier and groggier followed by a soft thud as he fell down asleep. Hot tears stung Shawna’s eyes as the slavers dragged them away from Hank’s small homestead.
“I guess that means we’re even for the wastewraith taking us out, right?” she heard Hank shout.
“We’ll give you extra supplies for these two. The girl is fertile so she’ll fetch top trade at one of the brothels in Vegas. This kitty here…what a prize to get one of these guys. We’ll be eating like kings for the next ten years with these two. You’ve definitely earned your share, Hank,” the man who was roughly handling the struggling Shawna replied.
Shawna felt a sense of hopelessness as she was dragged away from Hank’s garage. Winston couldn’t help her. He was knocked out cold until they put an explosive collar on him, then if he tried anything they didn’t like, boom, good as dead.
“So pretty lady, you know what’s in store for you right? At least we don’t have to break you in, which is a shame,” she heard the guy hiss through the burlap sack. “I was looking forward to breaking in a female slave. Oh well, that’ll have to wait till you whelp.”
“Over my dead body,” she hissed.
“Over his, you mean.” He laughed. “Yeah, your kitty protector won’t be helping you anymore. He’s going to the circus to entertain the masses. Gonna make him jump through flaming hoops and give rides to little kiddies.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Shawna replied as the slaver roughly pushed her along.
Shawna fumed as the slavers dragged them along to their encampment. She couldn’t believe they actually trusted that bastard, Hank. She knew there was something fishy about that old coot and she was right. Never discount one’s instincts in the wastes. Ever.
She couldn’t wait to tell Winston she was right. Hopefully, she remembered how to disarm slave collars. Her adoptive father made sure she knew everything she needed to know to survive the wasteland, including how to escape slavers.
He told her that they used explosive collars to keep their wares from running away or disobeying. They were pretty simple to disarm, but that was back almost ten years ago, so these slavers might have created more sophisticated collars to keep her and Winston in check.
Well, she wouldn’t know until they stopped for the evening and the slavers put the collars on them.
“Jesus, boss, this guy’s heavy. You sure we want it?” a young man’s voice whined.
“Yes, that tiger will make us rich beyond our wildest dreams, Chumlee,” the older slaver said as he pushed Shawna in the direction he wanted her to go.
“This is bullshit. I don’t see why we don’t kill it and eat the meat and use the fur for a pretty rug,” Chumlee said.
“Because, shit for brains, that isn’t just a normal tiger. See, it’s not mutated, all its fur is in one piece. That’s an anima, one of those shape shifting people no one ever sees. Well, they’re gonna be seen now. Hooo boy, once the circus in Vegas gets their claws into him…”
“Yeah, whatever, Dad, doesn’t make him any less heavy,” Chumlee complained.
“Stop being a bitch and do what you’re told or I’ll put a collar on you,” Chumlee’s father growled.
“Okay, Dad… jeez...” Chumlee said as he dragged the unconscious Winston through the dust.
Shawna couldn’t keep track of the time as she stumbled through the grasslands with the hood over her head.
“Hey, can I at least…”
“Shut up!” Pa said as he smacked her on the head hard.
“Ow!” Shawna shouted as Pa’s fist connected with her temple, sending her stumbling to the ground.
“Get up you lazy bitch,” Pa said as he roughly pulled her to her feet.
“Hey, don’t damage the goods, you cocksucker,” Shawna snapped. “I lose the baby, you lose whatever profit you seek to make from this.”
“I guess you’re right. Just watch your goddamned mouth,” Pa snarled. “We’re almost to the camp. There we’ll collar you two and load you up into cages until the caravan to Vegas swings by, then, well, it’s adios.”
/> “Gee, thanks. I’m eager for the beautiful accommodations your camp will provide. So looking forward to pissing in the corner of a cage,” Shawna snapped sarcastically.
“And we’ll jerk ourselves off while watching you, too,” Pa said as he jerked Shawna around an obstacle.
“Yeah, I bet you will, you disgusting fuckers. So greasy and hurting for a lay,” she said.
“Nah…we get all the pussy we want when we get to Vegas,” Pa replied.
“Not this one,” Shawna replied.
“Not yet. Once that bastard comes out and is handed off to the nannies. Once you’re done milked out it’s back on the breeding line for you.”
Shawna didn’t reply after that. The air under the burlap sack was getting stuffy and she was feeling light-headed. She wasn’t completely healed from her illness but she didn’t want to show any weakness so she gritted her teeth and soldiered on.
As the hours trickled by, she noticed the light outside of the sack becoming redder. The sun must be setting soon, she thought. Her lips were cracked and dry from dehydration, since she’d had no water after leaving Hank’s homestead.
She felt herself being jerked brutally to the left and nearly fell to the ground again.
“Hey!” she shouted.
“We’re here, whore. Just through the gate and we’ll settle you into a nice cozy cage,” Pa said as he pushed her through the mud streets of the slaver settlement.
The smell of unwashed bodies and open sewage assaulted Shawna’s nostrils. “Oh god… Yep, we’re here,” she said, gagging. “I totally forgot how bad settlements stank.”
“Oh, boo hoo, princess, this is where you’re gonna be staying until the caravan comes, so you’d better get used to the lovely aroma.”
Shawna tried not to gag as she was roughly shoved onto her butt. The burlap hood was ripped off of her head, and a metal collar snapped around her neck.
“There we go, whore,” Pa snarled as he slammed the cage door shut. Pa was tall, his gray hair was cut close to the scalp from where a long red scar began, ran through a puckered empty eye socket, and down his jaw to the outer corner of his lip, giving his face a permanent grotesque sneer.
“Thanks,” Shawna said dryly as she looked around the cage.
In the back there was a pile of straw with gnats buzzing around it and a tin bucket in the corner. She didn’t want to say anything snide for fear of losing these two basic luxuries. She would definitely regret losing her piss pot.
“Where do you want this one, Pa?” Chumlee asked. He was a short, portly man with a scraggly black beard and greasy black hair.
“Toss it in the cage across from the whore,” Pa snarled. “Might as well let them stare at each other hopelessly until they’re picked up.” The old man guffawed.
Chumlee grunted and pushed the unconscious tiger into the rusting steel cage and snapped a collar around his thick neck. “You sure this one will fit him? Like what if he changes back?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Pa said as he locked the door to Winston’s cage. “It’s tight enough for him to breathe as a tiger but not so loose that he can push it over his head if he changes to a person. Let’s go get some eats; I’m starving.”
Chumlee just nodded and followed his dad to the mess hut. Shawna just sat down on the mud floor, brought her knees up to her chest, and rocked back and forth while waiting for Winston to come out of his torpor. What kind of tea was that? It should have worn off by now, she thought.
She didn’t have to wait for long. Winston rose groggily to his feet and shook himself, causing him to fall down again. He let out a low growl as he rose back up. He shook his head once more and flopped against the door of the stainless steel cage, causing it to rattle loudly.
He staggered around the cage as he came to from his slumber, flopped back down onto the mud floor and stared at Shawna intently with his amber eyes.
Winston clawed at the collar with one of his massive front paws and let out a loud snarl. He sat up and used one of his rear paws to push the collar up around his face in a futile attempt to force it over his head.
After a few minutes of that, the air around him shimmered and he sat there in his human form clutching at the collar, trying to force it up over his lower jaw to get it off of his head.
“God damnit!” he cursed loudly as he gave up.
“I told you so,” Shawna said.
“What?” Winston said as he clung to the bars. “Shawna, you’re alive?”
“They won’t kill me. They won’t kill you either, but I did tell you there was something up with that old fart, but you didn’t believe me. He’s a slaver, if you haven’t figured it out yet,” Shawna said scathingly.
Winston’s face fell as he realized what had happened. “Oh god, Shawna I’m so sorry!” he said.
“Well, we need to get out of this, then we can figure out where to go from here,” she said.
Winston nodded. “So what are their plans for us?”
“Well, I’m going to a milk farm after I give birth, and once I’m dry I go to the brothel in Vegas. You’re going to the circus.”
Winston shuddered. “I’ve heard tales about that place.”
“I bet you have. They bring in all sorts of mutated beasts from all over the wastes to show off in a crazy-ass spectacle. I heard one time they actually managed to tame a wastewraith,” Shawna replied.
“Wow. Getting a wastewraith to do their bidding, what kind of…” Winston gasped.
“The collars. If you disobey or try to run, they’re used to punish you. First they shock you, if you keep it up, they detonate. They also detonate if you get too far from the person who holds the button,” Shawna explained.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Winston sighed.
“Nope. We’re in the thick now, so let’s figure out how to get out of it. Pa, I guess is the leader of this wonderful band of people,” Shawna spat sarcastically, “said a caravan will be through to take us and other slaves to Vegas. He didn’t give a time frame, though.”
“So pretty much we need to make a break for it when it happens.”
“I don’t think it will be that easy.” Shawna heard approaching footsteps. “Shush… Someone’s coming.”
Chumlee approached their cages while holding two plates full of food. “Pa told me to feed you two. Here,” he said as he pushed the food through the doors of their cages.
“Thanks, Chum,” Shawna said as she ate. “You’re good peeps.”
“You think so?” the young man said blushing under the fake affection of the woman.
“Yeah. How old are you?”
“Oh, I’m only sixteen. Pa hasn’t taken me to Vegas yet. He said I had to wait until I’m eighteen. Don’t know why.”
Chumlee was obviously mentally challenged, so Shawna gleaned it wouldn’t be too difficult to take advantage of the situation to gain their freedom.
“Well, maybe when you get there, I’ll be able to give you a warm welcome,” Shawna said with a wink.
Chumlee blushed. “You know, you’re too nice. I hope Pa don’t hurt you too bad.”
“Does he have the switches for the collars?” Shawna prodded.
“Yeah. He carries all the switches until the slaves get sold. I don’t like slaving, but Dad says it’s the family way…” Chumlee said sadly.
“What if you could make it right?” Shawna whispered.
“Really? But Pa would thrash me.”
“Do you still have the tea from Hank’s house?” Shawna prodded.
They had to have had the sedatives, there was no way they could have kept Winston sedated otherwise.
“Yeah! I have them in my pocket. Pa told me to give them to the tiger while we walked.” Chumlee said cheerfully.
“How about you give some to your Pa, get us free, and turn the collars off so we can get them off?”
Chumlee looked uncertain. “I dunno…he might find out it’s me…”
Shawna sighed. This was harder than it seemed. “Ho
w about I give you a kiss, for being my knight in shining armor?”
Chumlee lit up. “Really?” he asked cheerfully.
Shawna noticed Winston’s sour expression and motioned for him to calm down. “Yes, one kiss for freeing us; since you’re not eighteen. that’s all I can give you anyway.”
“Oh yes! I’ll get right on that. Sit here and I’ll be back in a few hours, promise!” The simple young man chirped as he bounced away.
“Let’s hope your plan doesn’t fail,” Winston growled. “A kiss?”
“Had to promise him something,” Shawna quipped. “It isn’t like I’m sleeping with him, and face it, at least we’ll be getting free.”
“True,” Winston said as he sat down to eat.
Shawna sat and thought about what she had promised the young man and almost felt bad for using the simpleton in such a way, but her and Winston’s freedom was more important.
A few hours later, Chumlee returned. The stars were bright in the sky and the moon was just beginning to rise on the horizon.
“Pa’s sleeping now,” he said as he unlocked both cages. “Once these collars come off, run, run as fast as you can before he wakes up.”
“Are there any guards at the gate?” Winston asked.
“We aren’t going through the front gate,” Chumlee said. “There’s a way under the wall; I found it when I was little. It’s kinda scary, but you two can get through it.”
“Is it big enough for me?” Shawna asked as Chumlee undid her collar.
“Yes, it’s a grate then you go down and land into some bad smelling water. Follow the tunnel and you’ll come out in a stream,” he directed as he undid Winston’s collar.
“Thank you, Chumlee,” Shawna said as she approached the portly young man.
She swallowed hard knowing she had to deliver on her promise. Winston tensed his shoulders and turned his back to the spectacle.
Chumlee pursed his florid lips in anticipation for the kiss. Shawna suppressed a shudder as she bent down and pressed her velvet lips to Chumlee’s clammy, moist lips. She felt her skin crawl at the contact but delivered on her promise. Her tongue flicked Chumlee’s lips open and caressed the inside of the young man’s mouth in a sensuous kiss.