Chapter 28

I opened my eyes but I couldn’t see, I was trapped in darkness.  My head hurt and my mouth was dry, it felt full of sand.  I tried to move, but it was impossible.  I was wrapped, confined, I was unable to move.  I tried to get free, but it was a pointless fight.  I heard voices around me, but I couldn’t understand them.  I tried to call them, but I had no voice.  I was tired and disoriented, there was nothing I could do and eventually sleep claimed me once again.

When I woke up again, I was in a moving vehicle.  I opened my eyes and found that I wasn’t alone.

“It seems that she’s finally awake” someone informed the others.

“I thought she was never going to,” said another voice.

“Where am I?” I heard myself asking, with a voice I didn’t recognize.  “I’m thirsty, do you have water?”

“We are on our way to the 32th sector” a young man informed me as he handed me a bottle with water.

“Why?” I asked, confused as I drank the water.  I had no idea what they were talking about or where I was being taken.

“I guess that you must have done something terribly wrong during the battle” was my answer, this time from a kid seating on the other side of the vehicle, “only those of us that fucked up were punished with a permanent job at sector 32.”

“I have no idea what are you talking about, what battle?” my mind was drawing blanks, I tried to recall a battle, but my mind refused to give me any information.

“I bet she tried to desert, someone as pathetic and weak as her, can’t handle the pressure of real battle” said a voice I couldn’t identify.

“That was it, wasn’t it?” said the young man that had given me the water.  “You are a deserter.”

“Of course not!” that wasn’t it, was it?  I could never leave the battlefield, I could never abandon my people… I wasn’t a deserter, was I?  “I didn’t make it to captain by running away.” captain? That sounded right, I was a captain, captain… what was my name again?  I tried to remember, but I couldn’t.  My head started hurting, like someone was pounding it, it was an increasing pain.

I heard the others laughing at me.  Their laughs made the pain even worse, it was becoming unbearable.

“The little girls sure know how to dream big” someone mocked me, “she thinks she is a captain.”

“You are just a lowly soldier, just like the rest of us.”

“No, that’s not true,” I tried to remember how I had ended up in that situation, but I couldn’t, the pain in my head was making it very difficult to think.  I could hear them talking, but I could no longer understand their words.  Unable to fight the pain any longer I passed out.

I felt the vehicle stopping and that brought me back to reality.  The other left the vehicle and once I was alone, I realized that I had to do the same.  As I left the truck I was momentarily blinded by the sunlight.  Once I was able to see again, I felt disoriented, I didn’t recognize my surroundings, I was in a dry patch of soil, with scarce flora and a lot of dust.  I didn’t see a lot of people, just a few officers, a lieutenant, a warrant officer and a few sergeants judging by their uniforms and insignias.

“Welcome,” greeted us the lieutenant, “you have been assigned to sector 32, congratulations” he said mockingly.  “We don’t have much time, so when I call your name you have to immediately report to the assigned sergeant.”

I didn’t pay him attention, I heard the names and I saw the people moving, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I was in the wrong place, that I had to go back my own sector.  The only problem is that I didn’t know where it was.  I couldn’t remember where I was supposed to be.  Finally the last of my companions was called and I was all alone.

“Soldier Sklave from the Maxima family” called the lieutenant.  I couldn’t see anyone else, who was he calling? “Soldier Sklave, one step forward,” he repeated, looking straight at me.

“I’m not Sklave, that’s not my name” I told him.  Because it didn’t sound right, it wasn’t right.

“Your file says it is, soldier,” he told me back.

“Is not, and I’m not a soldier either, I’m a captain,” I said, but this time my voice didn’t sound as convincing as before.  I felt lost, trapped and angry.  I didn’t know what to do.

“I don’t know who you are trying to fool, soldier, but here we don’t have time for you or your silly jokes” he was getting mad, but so was I, that whole situation was wrong, someone was playing a nasty prank on me, and everyone was on it.

“My name is NOT Sklave!”  I yelled, I wanted to run away, to be as far away from them as possible, but I didn’t know where to run at.

“Then, what is your name?” he asked.

“I… I don’t know,” I tried again to remember, but I couldn’t, I just couldn’t!  The searing pain in my head returned, worse than ever.

“Enough!  Sergeant Agmong, deal with her” ordered the lieutenant to one of his men.

“I will be my pleasure,” said one of the men as he moved towards me, he took a metal whip out of his belt.

I knew what he pretended to do, as soon as I saw him lifting his whip I moved and caught the end of the whip with my arm, I grabbed it trying to take it away from him, but I wasn’t expecting his defense.  Pain ran through my body as an electric current passed from the whip to me.  The electric shock made me lose control of my arms and legs.  Unable to control the jerking of my body I fell to the floor.  Incapacitated by the electricity I couldn’t move or defend myself.  The whip was still attached to my arm and the man used it to drag me across the hot sand to the barracks.

We were almost at our destination when sensation started to come back to me, I was almost back in control of my body.  I tried to break free and was rewarded with a new electric shock.  I couldn’t keep the scream from escaping my lips.  I was feeling vulnerable and scared.

We arrived to the barracks and I was dragged to the interior.  The welcoming was not warm, people were staring at me, they were looking at me as if I was food and they were starving.

“My name is sergeant Agmong” said the man that had trapped me, “I am now your superior, and your owner.  Whatever I say will be law to you.  Understood?”

“I am not Sklave!” My instincts told me that it was a bad idea to defy him, but I also knew that if I submitted to him I would be lost.  I had to find a way to fix things.

“If I say you are Sklave, then you ARE Sklave” there was a dangerous edge to his voice and I shivered despite myself.

“I don’t care what you say, I may not be able to remember who I am, but I know who I’m not.  My name is not Sklave and I’m not one of your underlings” my body still felt alien and it was sore, but I managed to get rid of the whip and stood up.  “I do remember that I am a captain, and I am your superior.”

“This is going to be fun” a nasty grin appeared on his face and once again I felt scared.  “I will enjoy breaking you,” he stepped forward and I instinctively took a step back, trying to keep the distance between us.  “When I finish with you, there won’t be any trace of your haughty attitude, you will be a good, submissive soldier.”  He lifted his whip and prepared once again to attack me, but I knew what was coming and I wasn’t about to repeat my mistake, I used only my mind to stop his attack.  “You are just delaying the inevitable,” he said.  “Her power resides in her eyes, blind her,” he ordered and the men around us moved immediately.

I felt someone grabbing me from behind, he put one arm around my neck and tried to hold my arms with the other.  Acting just on instinct I kicked his shin to weaken his hold and then, grabbing him by the arm, I threw him over my shoulder.  I didn’t know why I had done that, or how, I had just reacted and thinking about the reason behind my actions triggered once again the pain in my head.  The moment of distraction, caused by the pain, was enough for someone to punch me in the face, breaking my nose and darkening my vision.  Before I could react a blindfold was secured over my eyes.  I tried to tear it apart, but someone grabbed my arms so hard that I thought they were going to break.

“Your place is under me” the sergeant said, “and I will enjoy showing you that.  Take her clothes off” he ordered.

“No!” I cried as I tried to free myself.  “Let me go!” Several hands started to undress me, touching, grabbing, taunting in the process.  I started to panic, I was so scared.  I tried to resist, but they were too many and too strong.  I kept thinking that there must be some an escape, but the more I thought about it the more the pain distracted me.

Someone grabbed my legs and they carried me to what felt like a table.  I knew or at least I guessed what was coming next, but I wasn’t prepared for it.  They opened my legs and I felt someone thrusting into me, I felt as I was being ripped apart, I clenched my teeth and refused to scream, I tried to be strong.  I kept trying to resist, to break free, but it was useless, there were many hands pinning me down, and the man on top of me just seemed to get more excited by my resistance. Each thrust was harder, deeper, it sent waves of pain through my body.  The laughs and shouts around me made me feel even more humiliated.  I felt the man spent his load inside me, and then, when I thought that he was done, a new electric shock coursed through me, this one coming from inside me and I wasn’t able to hold any more, I screamed until my throat was raw, I cried out because of the pain and the humiliation and the unfairness of it all.  Once the first barrier fell I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore and soon I was sobbing and crying.

It felt like an eternity, but finally Agmong pull out of me.  The hands grabbing me disappeared and I tried to crawl out of the table, out of that place.

“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Agmong at the same time he took the blindfold off.  “We are not done with you yet,” he put one hand around my neck and pinned me down, with his free hand he took a red hot branding iron.  “This,” he said as he showed me the branding iron, “is for you, so you can be reminded of who owns you every time you see yourself in the mirror.”

I tried to push the iron back, I used my telekinesis to stop it, but my strength was running out and Agmong just kept pushing, he was enjoying my struggle, he smiled at my fear and desperation.  Little by little the iron moved forward, I could feel the heat on my face getting worse, until I couldn’t fight back anymore.  When the branding iron touched my cheek, I felt a new indescribable pain.  The smell of burning flesh enveloped me and I felt sick until I couldn’t handle it anymore, I welcomed the blackness around me and passed out.

I regained consciousness to someone raping me.  I tried to escape, but the blindfold was back in place and my hands were tied up.  The man using me finished, but as soon as he moved someone else took his place.  I was passed from one to another as if I was a toy.  I spent hours between consciousness and unconsciousness while the animals kept abusing me and I wondered what had I done to deserve something so awful happening to me.

 

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