Page 11 of Slavic

Tiredof our resistance, one of the snakes grabsRowanby her long hair, wrapping his fist in her tresses.He’spulling so hard it makes her body tilt backward.Tearsfill her eyes from the pain, but she doesn’t stop trying to reach for me.Thesnake holding her by the hair glances down snarling, only to pause.Ican see its eyes roving all over her face, as if it just noticed the bruising still present on her skin.Itutters a guttural sound to the snake holding me, getting its attention.

Theyhiss back and forth, clearly having some sort of conversation, but they’ve stopped trying to pull us apart, soIdon’t care what the fuck they’re saying.Ican tell the one holdingRowanis not happy about her condition.Theone grasping me darts a look out toward the crowd that seems to have gotten louder in the short amount of time since the snakes grabbed us.

Growling, the one holding me yanks me forward andI’mproud whenRowanpulls out of the other’s hold so that she can grab tightly back onto my hand.Abell sounding overhead has both of us looking down the long stage and before either of us can comprehend what they’re doing, we are torn apart.Knivesappear in their scaly hands and even thoughIknew it was coming,Ican’t help from fighting back, trying my damnedest to stop them from cutting my clothes off.Myefforts are futile, though, and earn me several nicks deep enough thatIcan feel the blood bead as it begins to roll down my body.

Theease with how quickly they remove our clothing tells me that they are pros at this.Afew strategic cuts and my clothing lays in tatters at my feet.Thesmall pile is almost unrecognizable from the garmentsIwore seconds ago.Glancingover atRowan,Ican see that she also has a few streams of blood running down her bruised legs.Ifrown in concern whenInotice that she’s hunched over, her body turned away from me slightly.Craningmy neck,Itry to tell if she’s bleeding from some sort of wound, but she shrinks further into herself and away from me.

Mymind hasn’t even caught up to the fact thatI’mnaked yet when a scaly hand grabs my arm, shoving me ahead of it.Ireach out, grabbingRowan’shand, again pulling her along with me.Stumblinga little,Iwalk down the catwalk, my eyes glancing out at the faux darkness that seems to surround us.Lightsbuilt into the edge of the stage beat into us, creating the illusion thatthe arena is dark while showcasing our naked bodies to all the ‘things’watching us with hungry eyes.

Rowanwhimpers and my head whips around to check on her when the glint of silver catches my eye.WhenIrealize whatI’mseeing,Ialmost trip over my feet.Herbody isn’t only covered in bruises, but there is a silver fucking chain hanging between her breasts connected with a small delicate looking lock.Myeyes dart up to her face only to see that her eyes are glued to the floor as the snake holding her jerks her one way and then another, showing her off to the audience.Isqueeze her hand, trying to provide what little comfortIcan while simultaneously comforting myself.

Regardlessof what’s going on around us, we still have each other in this moment.

Thesnake holding my arm draws me to a stop, growling out something as he tilts my head back, its long claws digging into the tender flesh of my face.Thereis a small flying object fluttering around us.Itstops along my body in various places, pauses, and then flashes. ‘It’s… taking pictures?’Thedark mole on my cheek is the first place it flashes, the bright light so close to my face, it makes me flinch, causing the snake holding me to hiss in annoyance as his claws prick my skin.Theresulting warmth flowing down my face tells me he broke the surface this time.

Mybody is scanned by the camera, which focuses on the tattoo on my hip and then the scars on my knees, remnants of a motorcycle accident some years ago.Suddenly,Irealize what the flying thing is doing.It’scategorizing the flaws on my skin.Itcircles me one more time before a red light goes off and it beeps several times.Thesnake holding me starts hissing to the other one holdingRowan, as the little camera zooms over to her.

Itbegins the same process on her battered body, but with far more flashes of light than it did on me.Initially, the bruising and chain attached to her body drew my attention, but flash after flash of that thing has me taking a closer look.Rowanis covered inscars.They’reeverywhere and it takes the camera far longer on her than it did on me.

Beforewe know it, both of us are forced back up the stage, and just asIthink they’re going to force us apart, we’re marched past that awful hallway and tossed down with the group of girls along the back wall.

PullingRowanclose,Iscoot back away from them as far asIcan.Sheis shaking so hardIcan hear her teeth rattling.Thatstupid chain catches the light andIreach over, gently touching the lock and immediately noticing how the awful thing is attached to her.Hoopspierce her delicate nipples with the chain connecting them as the small lock holds them together.Hernipples are swollen and inflamed.Ithas to be terribly uncomfortable, that chain pulling all day, every day on her most sensitive parts.IwishIhad a way to get this damn thing off her without hurting her worse.

Irefuse to look at where the bottom of the chain leads.Mymind can’t comprehend what else he might haveforcedher to have done.Forcedher to pierce.Forcedher to endure.Allfor his own fucking pleasure.Instead,Iwrap myself around her, rocking her back and forth as she cries silently.Nowonder she was refusing to take that sweatshirt off, she didn’t want me to know.

‘Howdo you do something like this to someone you supposedly love?’Whatother horrors has she lived through all this time only to have finally eluded it and end up here?Asanother person gets tossed into our group, a nearby girl accidentally knocks intoRowan, making her jump and snuggle closer to me.

AsIlean back against the wall, trying my best to ignore its biting cold,Iwatch as they parade girl after girl down that runway.Thereality of what is happening around us finally sets in.This… this is a market.Wewere being thoroughly inspected.Bilerises in my throat as all the clues come together.

WEAREBEINGSOLD!

Myheart hits my throat asIfight against the terror trying to take over my mind.Idon’t know how to protect either of us from what’s to come.SoonerthanIlike,Irealize that the line of girls is rapidly dwindling.Theonly two left is the girl that was bitten andSherry.Justas they are headed out onto the stage, the one holding the unconscious girl simply turns toward us, throwing her against the wall next to me.

Sherry, on the other hand, is shoved down the stage the same way we were.Iwatch as the little camera thing does its inspection on her, but instead of being put back here with us, she’s led down the other hallway.

Herscreams of terror are the last thing we all hear before the doors slowly close.Aseries of bells echo throughout the room.Thenwithin minutes, it becomes eerily quiet as the roaring of the crowd seems to drift away, leaving only us and the few other girls they have tossed in this corner.Thesnake guarding us sneers in our direction before slithering off.Forthe first time, we are all left utterly alone in the darkened corner.

Chapter Eight

RUBY

Huddledall togetherin our little corner, it’s hard to tell how much time has passed since the snakes left.I’mnot sure if it’s the cold or the situation that has me shaking all over, butIfeel like my bones are rattling inside my skin.

Atfirst,Ithought the snakes had forgotten about us when the walkway started to sink back into the floor and the lights dimmed.Untilan odd ticking sound, like lots of little claws on a hardwood floor, start getting closer.Lookingup from whereIhad my head lying on top ofRowan’s,Isee something approaching in the shadows.

Squinting,Istrain to see what is headed this way in the low light.Thesnakes only left one light on and it’s directly out in front of us.It’sthe same concept as the stage; it highlights part of our cowering group but blinds us from looking out past the halo of light.

Blinking,Isee something moving toward us.Ifmy eyes are not failing me, it looks like hundreds of spiny legs!Thesecond they come into the light,Ifreeze.Terrorfills me as my eyes take in this whole new horror in front of us.It’sfucking bugs,Gigantic.Fucking.Bugs!Theylook like a praying mantis had a sick love child with a scorpion.Itslarge upper limbs mimic that of a praying mantis, the segmented limbs sawing in and out like it’s anticipating an easy kill.Itshead is triangular shaped with two black, multifaceted beady eyes and a bulbous-looking abdomen that ends in a tail topped with a massive stinger.

Thebiggest one in the front comes closer andIreact defensively without thinking.Kickingit, my heel impacts with its steel-like legs causing pain to reverberate all the way up into my hip.Raisingup onto its rear set of legs, the bug lets out an ear shattering screech before lowering its head, sniffing the air around us as it slinks closer.Along black, tube-like thing unfurls from where its mouth should be and when it reaches out to touchRowan,Islap it away, hissing in pain when the slick fluid dripping from its mandibles burns the back of my hand.Glancingdown, my skin sloughs off where the fluid touched it.Rearingback, it raises one of its front legs up, stabbing it down into my leg like a human would throw a spear.

Screamingout in agony,Itry not to pass out asIhold on toRowan.Rippedfrom her arms,I’mlifted high in the air and unceremoniously flung into a cage on some sort of hover platform.Ifeel something crack in my wrist whenIland hard on my side.Graspingone of the bars,Idrag myself up, screaming out for my sister asIshakily gain my feet.

“ROWAN!”

Ino sooner get her name out when she’s tossed into another cage right in front of me.Scramblingto her feet, she darts over to me, her eyes full of terror.

“Ruby!Yourleg!”

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