Finding Nova

by Belle Harper

  “Here,” I said as I moved to the side as much as I could so he could sit next to me. Yelling began and I saw a man walking around carrying a silver metal pole, tapping it on the cages as he walked around the vehicle.

  “Thank you,” Kento whispered to me. I nodded, not wanting to talk. We were touching, we were so close. I reached down and grabbed Kento’s hand without thinking. He didn’t flinch from me, instead he gave me a small squeeze.

  “All right, slaves. We are settling here for the night. We will be bringing over the customers soon. We want you all to wash up, eat. Look pretty. Boss man will inspect you all, and if you’re not cleaned up, you will be the one who is free on the menu tonight. And we know everyone loves a free fuck.” As he walked away, he called out ‘guards’ and another group of men came and started unlocking the cages. The women and men made protesting sounds as they were ripped from the back of their cages. When they came for me, I was shaking so hard and my hand was gripped tightly to Kento.

  Kento pushed his small frame in front of me to shield me from the guard who was now cussing at us. The guard hit Kento until he dropped down, his grip on my hand slack. The guard reached over his body and grabbed my arm, dragging me out over the top of Kento.

  “No,” I screamed as I fought him. He locked the cage with Kento still in it. I felt better that he wasn’t being hurt anymore. But he was the only one left. Why?

  “Shut up,” a young woman said to me. I closed my mouth and followed the rest of the women and men toward a car. The guard pushed me a few times but I kept up with the group. The Raiders there handed out protein bars and bottles of water. They had baskets of apples and more protein bars, which some of the girls went up and took extra from. Harlow came over to me, holding an apple out. I took it from her, remembering the time I had an apple and shared it between the guys. My heart ached at the memory. It wasn’t that long ago, and yet it felt like it was a lifetime ago.

  “You have pockets?” she whispered. I nodded and she went back and got a handful of protein bars.

  “The guards let us take extra for later, but if you’re seen taking extra they expect something in return. Don’t take any. Just take mine.” She handed them to me, and I quickly shoved them into my pockets. I used the waistband on my underwear to hold a few bars to my body.

  Raider guards came around holding out refills for the water bottles. I drank all mine and held it out. The water splashed over my hand and spilled on the ground. Such a waste.

  “Clean up, now.” Everyone started forming into a line and I quickly followed as some towels and cloth were handed around. They were using the water from their bottles to wet it and wash. I stood next to a tall man, who wet the now dirty towel in his hand and then washed his face and hands and handed it to me.

  “You’re in with Kento?” he asked in a low voice. I nodded. He opened his bottle and wet the towel for me. It was then I understood what he really meant. Why I had so much food on me from Harlow. Why he used his water and not mine. It was so I could feed and give my water to Kento.

  Kento was thin, rail thin. They obviously beat him, and they didn’t feed him. The others had been feeding him, keeping him alive. I looked over to the semi where I could just make out his body curled up inside his cage. I wanted to weep at what they had done to this poor man. His face looked young. He was scared of people, he wasn’t fed, and he was hurting so badly. I wanted to run over and hug him, tell him everything would be okay. I would take care of him. My guys would find us and rescue us. I would care for him. He would get better. He just needed to hold on. They are coming. I knew it in my heart. Colton will find me. And that was what hope felt like.

  We were marched back to the cages. The guard opened my cage door, and as he shoved me in, he felt my chest. I tried shoving him off me, but he held on tighter, causing me to let out a yelp of pain as he crushed my breast.

  Kento reached over and pushed the guard off me and pulled me farther into the cage with him. Even when he was so exhausted and beaten down, he tried to help me. The guard called another and the one with the big metal pole came back.

  “You want trouble? I will give you trouble.” And he hit Kento over and over with the pole. It hit his leg and then his head. I tried to shield him, getting hit on my hand and arm, but Kento pushed me away. A heap of slaves started screaming for the guards to stop. Then everyone went quiet when the stick made a weird buzzing sound. Was it powered with something? Kento looked over to me, his eyes glassy as he stared into mine. The guard touched him with the stick, and Kento’s face twisted and his body convulsed with pain and I screamed. My body shook in faer and didn’t know what was happening. Or how to stop it. When the guard took the stick away, Kento’s eyes closed and he lay still on the cage floor. I held my breath, and kept still.

  Holding his stick up, the guard yelled out, “Anyone else looking for trouble?” Everyone was quiet as they jumped into their cages and scuttled away from the cage doors.

  When the guards locked us all in and left, I hovered my hand above Kento. I didn’t know if he was conscious or what was possibly broken. Because something would have broke with that beating. I could still feel the pain on my hand and arm. I could feel the swelling from it already.

  “Kento?” I whispered as I placed my hand on his shoulder. He flinched, but not away from me, but in pain. My eyes started to water and Harlow kept chanting to him, “You are brave. You are strong.”. He opened his eyes to me, and the tears streamed down my face from that one look.

  “Oh, God, Kento, please,” I choked out. I didn’t know what I meant. Please don’t die. Please be okay. Just please.

  “Shit, Kento, honey, you took a bit to come back to us. Stop okay? Nova can take care of herself. She is brave and she is strong. Just like you, honey. Now have some water and let Nova take care of your injuries.”

  I quickly pulled my water bottle out and handed it to him. He struggled to take the lid off. I helped him and then placed it back in his hand, helping him tip it to his lips. He drank almost the whole thing. I didn’t care. He needed it more than me. I unwrapped a protein bar and helped him eat it by breaking it into small pieces for him to chew. After a while, his eyes closed and he fell asleep.

  “Check him for injuries would you?” the girl behind me said. “While he is sleeping, it’s the best time to do it. He doesn’t let anyone look at him. Please don’t be afraid to check everything. He was gone for a long time before you got here.”

  I hesitated. Do they want me to look everywhere? As in under the pants he was wearing too?

  “I will help you,” Harlow said as she reached her arms though the small square bars on the cage. “I usually do it and clean him up as best I can. When he falls asleep, he pretty much passes out.”

  I helped her lower his pants and tried not to flinch at what I saw. Someone had hit him across his ass with something thin. He had long raised welts on him, and they looked so sore. Some had broken open. Someone passed some cloth through from below, and Harlow wet it and tried to reach but she couldn’t. “Just wipe gently. He won’t wake up, I promise.”

  And as I cleaned him, I silently cried. Who was this sick to do this? Why would anyone do this for fun? When I finished, Harlow told me to look away. Said this part was the worst, but she would do it. I looked behind me to the woman there. She gave me a tender smile.

  “I’m Layla. And thank you. He has been here the longest of all of us. We don’t know why they treat him this way. He never tells us. He hardly talks. I’m glad you’re in there with him. He needs someone nice to take care of him.”

  Harlow told me she was finished, and I helped re-dress Kento. I brushed his hair from his face and placed a kiss on his forehead. His skin was clammy, but he didn’t seem to have a fever.

  “I will take care of you. I will do my best. I promise,” I whispered into his hair.

  I started to panic. Which is not the best thing to do. I really needed to keep myself together. I had to find a way out of this. I just couldn’t shu
t my mind off.

  “Hey, Nova, you’re breathing too fast. Calm down,” Harlow whispered to me.

  I looked at her, and she seemed so calm. How was she so calm right now?

  “The customers? They… rape us, don’t they?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  She nodded. “Look, some are better than others. Just don’t fight back. And try to make sure they don’t come in you. You don’t want to get pregnant. And if they do, you need to clean yourself out fast to try to prevent it.”

  I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat. “It’s okay, I never got my period. So, I can’t get pregnant. My father told me how babies are made and about getting my period. But not for me.” I shrugged.

  “Um, you are a tiny little thing but not that tiny. You can still get pregnant. Stress can cause you not to get your period, or if your underweight. Which I’m assuming you are. Or were. Compared to me you, look healthy. But yeah, it could start right back up, and boom, you might not even know. Because you’re already pregnant. So, avoid sperm near your vagina at all times.”

  What? Holy shit. I thought I couldn’t have a period because of NEX. I didn’t know any of this being stressed or underweight stuff.

  I placed my hand on my stomach. Am I already pregnant? Oh, my God, I needed my guys. I needed them right now.

  37

  Ryker

  The small electric scooter I was on ran out of power. It charged itself off the Jeeps solar panels but I had not used it in a long time. It was hidden under everything in the back of the Jeep that I had almost forgotten about it. I left it in the middle of the road, hoping the guys would see it and hopefully know this was the right way. I tried to stop and place things in the road that looked like arrows. But I didn’t know if they would know that was what they were seeing or if it was just rubbish.

  Pain shot into my arm and then my shoulder as I reached for more junk to arrange in an arrow towards the Raiders. I ignored it, my fingers still worked so I wasn’t worried yet. I trashed through a few houses until I found some fabric to make a sling. I was hoping this would remind me not to use the arm. I took my shirt off and replaced it with a strange-looking Hawaiian shirt that was too tight. But it hid the bullet wound. Which went right through so at least I didn’t have to worry about having to dig it out. Hopefully, with this shirt at least, I wouldn’t get recognized by the assholes who jumped us last night.

  I had walked for hours; the sunrise alerting me to the fact I hadn’t found her yet. My arm felt heavy and dull. The pain was no longer there. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not.

  I saw movement up ahead, I quickly ducked behind a building and watched. Fucking Raiders.

  I been camped out here for only five minutes before I got my first glimpse of Nova. She was standing next to some guy who was washing his face. Fuck. There was so many Red Raiders. A group of five jumped onto the back of a truck and drove off toward where I could see a town up ahead. They were likely looking for customers for their sex slaves. Sick, dirty fuckers who didn’t care the people were being held against their will, and still fucked them anyway.

  There was a commotion, and I saw some Raider hitting at where Nova was put in a cage like she was some animal. My hands curled into tight fists and itched to go smash him. I wanted him dead. Eventually everything stopped, and I could just make out Nova’s head through all the metal bars and other captives. I reached into my pocket and found a few items I had quickly stashed in there, a ring, a watch, a few ladies broaches. I didn’t have a lot on me. I didn’t even think about it, but I needed to buy my way to Nova and get her out before some fucker touched her.

  It was mid-afternoon by the time I walked to Eagle Point, as the sign told me. I had taken the long way around so I didn’t walk past the Raiders. I had taken the sling off and my arm screamed at the change of position. I guess that’s better than the dull feeling.

  Eagle Point was a messed-up town. There wasn’t even a guard at the front gate; you could just walk in and take whatever you wanted. That was not a good sign. Lawless towns were deadly. The town was rundown badly, and there weren’t many people around for a town this size. The people may have left or been killed. I didn’t want to think too much about it so I kept my eyes open. Wishing I had Colton’s pistol with me. I did have anything to protect me or Nova if I can get her. No when I get her, and I will.

  I saw five Raiders, their faces uncovered but wearing the red head coverings. They varied in age, but I didn’t care how young they were. They joined up with the Red Raiders. They all deserved to die. Two started walking toward me, so I approached them carefully.

  “What do you want?” the older Raider demanded, sizing me up. I stood my full height. I wasn’t going to be intimated by this asshole. I could see he had weapons, so I chose my words right.

  “I hear you got women. I wanna buy one.” I gritted my teeth at the words.

  They looked at each other and laughed. “We don’t sell them, but you can buy thirty minutes with one,” one of them said. “How much you got?”

  I pulled the gold diamond ring from my pocket.

  The first Raider shook his head. “Nah, you can get a man for that. We have a few. A woman is double that.”

  I had a feeling the Red Raiders made their own prices, but I didn’t care. I needed Nova safe. And I needed her now.

  I pulled out a few gold broaches. They nodded and led me to where their truck was parked in the town square.

  “We will take you all over there soon, just wait here.”

  There were a few local men sitting on the truck bed, obviously going to the same place I was going. But for different reasons. I wanted to hit them, kill the dirty assholes but I kept my hands by my sides. Three of the Raiders loitered around; a two had guns in their hands. I studied them all as best I could. There was one without a gun, whom I noticed did most of the running around, bringing buyers back to the truck. I wished I had my shotgun with me, but I was pretty sure they wouldn’t be happy with me bringing that back to their camp.

  The sun was setting before we took off. It was insane the amount of time I had to wait. I was getting angry but I needed to keep a level head about myself if I had any hope in hell of saving Nova from these perverted assholes. We held on to the truck, as we went off down the road toward the Raiders camp. Their truck was powered differently than the Jeep. It was more reliable in the dark. I wished I knew what powered it so I could get the Jeep to drive at night. As we approached their camp, they had some lights on that lit up the whole encampment. Two of the Raiders jumped off the truck and ran over to what must be their superiors. The Red Raiders were organized like an army, and by the looks of it, a very well run one at that. This was going to be hard. And my plan didn’t go past getting Nova out of the cage, once I have her out then I would find a way to get her away.

  A few of the Raiders came over to us and called us over to where the slaves were. I started toward the cages and the Raider from earlier put his hand against my chest to stop me. I jerked back, away from his hand.

  “Hey, buddy, first in first served. You’re getting a woman, so you got to wait.”

  I wanted to smash him. My hands curled into fists and my shoulder screamed in pain from the movement. Reminding me I had to play it cool. I can't do anything that would draw attention to myself.

  I prayed, and that was something I hadn’t done since I was a child. I prayed that the other men from Eagle Point wouldn’t pick Nova, that she would be mine. I had to save her from this. Fuck, I wanted to save them all, but I was only one man. With no weapons to defend myself with a bullet wound in my shoulder; there wasn’t much I could do. Finally, I was called over and one of the Raiders led me to the semi filled with cages.

  “You have enough for any woman. Take your pick. You get thirty minutes in one of the rooms at the back.” I looked up to where Nova was earlier, and all I could see was an Asian man with dark hair and eyes staring back at me, he trembled as he barely held himself up

 
“Fuck.” My eyes darted back and forth through all the cages. She was here, I saw her. Fuck am I too late? She was in that cage when I left. I ran my hand through my hair and turned back to the cage realising I was too late, she wasn’t there anymore. But then another pair of eyes fixed on me. Big brown ones. My heart stuttered and my knees almost buckled beneath me. She was here.

  “Hurry up, pick one.” The Raider said as he jostled me from behind.

  Pointing at Nova, “I want that one.”

  He nodded and another Raider opened the cage. The man in front held his arms out to shield her; he looked almost dead. He looked like a skeleton, but the strength he had was unbelievable.

  “No buy him,” she called from behind him. What? Did she think I was really going to buy her, and rape her? I would never touch her without permission. Ever. I looked at her, her eyes pleading. My heart dropped until she mouthed to me Buy him, please.

  “How much for the man?” I asked the one closest to me. I held out another gold broach, the last I had, and the Raider nodded and yanked the poor man out hard, and he hit the ground. I cringed. “Fucking hell, don’t damage him,” I gritted out between my teeth, itching to break this Raiders arm for doing that. Nova slipped out of the cage behind him. A young Raider with a flashlight came over and helped the poor guy up. He was gentle about it and slowly helped him walk, well more limp toward one of the rooms with Nova beside him. Just the thought alone of them both being led to the room there made my skin crawl.

  “You got thirty minutes,” the young Raider said as he placed the man down on what used to be a bed but now looked like it would infect anyone who touched it. He put the flashlight on the floor to illuminate the room. Nova was over at the man’s side as the young Raider was leaving, he whispered to me, “Please don’t hurt him any more than he is.” He closed the door behind him, and I let out a deep breath. I couldn’t hear any footsteps, so I knew he was outside the room, guarding it so I don’t just take off with their merchandise.