[Danny]

hehe, i anticipated that sort of reaction... but believe me, it could have been much worse. it took three drafts just to edit it down to this level. the first two were just too nasty to post.

you want more? i'll give you more... incidentally, after these next two chapters, there are only 5 more to post, then it's aaallllll done...

CHAPTER 28

It’s true what they say. No good deed goes unpunished. I had seen it happen many times before, when one slave has been punished for helping another. Some of them had comforted them when they’d been punished themselves; some, like me, had tried to protect another slave from the guards. This was the sort of thing that you never got away with. I still don’t know what the slig had in mind for me, and I am quite glad that I will never find out, although considering the events of later that night, maybe it would have been better all round if he had killed me then.

He took us to one of the lower levels in the building. We were led down corridors lined with empty cells, until he stopped, and unlocked one of them. I was thrown inside, and the door locked behind me. The slig then unlocked the cell next door, and dragged Hap inside.

He dragged her to the back wall, and strung her up by her arms, with heavy manacles around her wrists. All that separated me from them was a set of metal bars, but it could have been a three-foot thick concrete wall for all the difference it made. As I watched the slig unlocking his pants and sliding out of them, my eyes cast around for some way to stop him. I hadn’t prevented this earlier only to let it happen now. They were out of reach; I couldn’t just hit the bastard. My gaze fell onto the floor near to the bars.

The machine gun. He’d thrown it down as he walked into the cell, and it looked to be just within my grasp. I glanced up at the slig. He didn’t seem to be in a great hurry to get on with it, and seemed to be taking his time in tormenting the poor child before he took her. At least he wasn’t looking in my direction. I slowly crouched down, reaching my hand between the bars.

The slig glanced round at me. It was probably just to gauge my reactions, but when he saw what I was doing, he lost all interest in Hap, and began to crawl towards me as fast as he could without his pants on. I snatched up the machine gun, and began to empty its ammunition into his torso. The first bullets hit in the chest, and killed him. I then began to pump them into the head, to be sure. When his head was almost totally blown away, I turned my attention back to his torso, emptying ammunition into him as fast as I could. I heard Hap’s screams, crying at me to stop, but I ignored them, consumed in my own hatred and contempt for the despicable creature before me. Only when I ran out of bullets did I allow my ninth victim to rest in peace, as I sank to the ground, disgusted at him, at myself, at my fellow slaves, and at the world in general.

CHAPTER 29

Emotions fought in my mind. I was disgusted at myself for the bloodthirsty way I’d despatched the slig, but at the same time a sort of pride at the fact that I was able to save Hap once more. There was also an emotion that I couldn’t pinpoint, which was glad that there was some goodness left in me, glad that I hadn’t been able to sit by and watch Hap’s rape. Two sorts of fear thrilled through my veins, adding their weight to the already many-sided battle for supremacy: there was the natural fear that we would be taken away and punished for the death of the guard, as well as the fear that had been building in me since Zell’s death: the fear of myself.

And there was joy. I don’t know how it got there, but it typified what I was afraid of in myself: I elated in Death, in Destruction. While my body lay there, alone and terrified, part of my soul was dancing in the pool of blood that seeped from the corpse.

I awoke to the sound of sobbing. At first I thought it was my own, but it wasn’t in time with my breathing. I raised my head, to see Hap curled up in a foetal position in a corner of her cell, her head buried in her arms, tears dripping down her arms to the ground.

“Hap?”

There was a pause in her sobs, but she did not look up.

“It’s okay, Hap, he won’t be hurting you now.”

No response.

“I’m sorry, Hap, but it had to be done. You know what he was going to do to you; did you really want that to happen?”

At first, she remained as she was, then she raised her head. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying.

“Now, we need to get out of these cells. Can you see the slig’s pants over there?” A slow nod. “Can you reach them?”

She slowly unfolded, and crawled across the blood-slicked floor, as if not trusting her legs to support her weight.

“Good girl. Now, you see that little pocket in the side? Open it.”

She searched for a few heart-thumping seconds before finding the little hatch on the thigh. The keys she drew out glinted in the cold glow of the cell’s warmth-free lights.

“Well done. Now, I don’t think you can reach the lock on your door, so you’ll have to bring the keys to me.”

She hesitated. I held my breath. Maybe I was asking her to trust me a little too much after what she’d just seen me do. After seeming to weigh up her choices, she stood, a little unsteadily, and walked over to the dividing bars. I was able to take the keys from her without resistance, but she suddenly grabbed at my wrist, pulling me towards her. She was surprisingly strong considering that I was about four times her age. She pulled me to the bars, then reached her arms around me, hugging me tight.

“Hap, I can’t open the doors if you don’t let me go.”

Still she held me.

“Look, you’re safe now. He’s not coming back.”

Her grip didn’t slacken.

“I’m sorry, but we need to get out.” I reached behind my back, and pulled her hands away from me. Then I was free, and I walked up to the cell door, and unlocked it. Once outside, I was able to unlock Hap’s door. Seeing her door open, she rushed at me, leaping into the protection of my arms. I worried that she may have an exaggerated view of my strength, and see me as some kind of protector, instead of the incredibly lucky bastard I actually was. Looking down at her huddled shape pressed into my chest, her body racked with sobs, I came to a decision.

“Fuck them. We’re getting out of here. I don’t care if they come with us or not – they seem to want to stay – but I can’t let you stay here to be mistreated just because they’re misguided.”

I tried to put her down, but she clung to me like a shellfish. I realised I’d have to carry her wherever we went. I had no idea where that was going to be, but it would be away from here, which was good enough for me.

I decided to go back to the main slave quarters, and have one last try at persuading the others to come with me. Whatever happened, I couldn’t leave Quiss, my newfound brother.

I picked up the machine gun, but there were no more bullet clips, so I dropped it again, and set off back the way we’d been led before.