Pegasi Shanghai - Chapter 2: Rude Awakening
25 Jan 2017Kyla Emmerich
Previous ChapterMy head hurts, my eyelids remain heavy and I am laying down on a hard surface. The brief moments that I can keep my eyes open remain a blur. I can hear the voices of a man and a woman talking. I cannot make out what they are saying yet, but the tone of their voice suggest general chatter. I attempt to open my eyes again. This time they remain open, though my blinking is heavy. Whatever was used to sedate me seems to be wearing off and my vision slowly returns to focus.
I am inside a small room, separated from the main corridor by a metal door with a small window with bars instead of glass. My hands are bound together with long cable ties. I’m not yet sure if I am aboard a starship or a station, and the grey, metal walls around me offer no useful clues. The surface I am lying on is little more than a slab of metal with a thin pillow.
I attempt to stand up, my balance is way off and I stumble forward into the door of my cell, grabbing onto the bars for support. My head throbs and I attempt to hold myself up and try to listen to the conversation between the man and the women. It appears that they have not yet noticed my awakening. I breathe a sigh and attempt to focus.
“...certainly is a nice catch. Do you think the boss would let me sample the goods?” The man says.
“I’m surprised he even let you guard her, let alone have a go on her,” the woman replies.
“Oh come on love, don’t be like that. Is this because I rejected you the other week?”
I hear a slapping sound in response.
“Look here, I rejected you remember? You’re not exactly doing a good job of convincing me that it wasn’t a good idea.”
“Oh come on, a man’s got needs. Think of it as quality control.”
“You do not touch the new girl, or any of these other slaves unless it’s to transfer them to the ship when we’re ready to move on.”
I step back from the door. I’m not the only one in here?
“Fine, fine. I’ll wait until she’s available at Madam Weston’s,” the man laughs, “then I will show her what a gentleman I can be.”
The woman peeks through the bars on my door.
“Why don’t you show her now? Without touching her. She’s awake now.”
She shifts aside as the man appears behind the door. His expression sends shivers down my spine as he smiles, revealing a mouth with half his teeth missing.
“Hello, love,” he says.
“Fuck off,” I sneer back at him.
“Oooh, feisty. I’m going to like this one.”
I walk up to the door of my cell, and spit in his face. He flinches.
“In your dreams. I’d rather shove a stiletto in your eye,” I say.
He glances back at me, looking angry as he wipes my saliva off his cheek. The woman sniggers and she glares at me through the bars.
“You know, if you weren’t worth a lot of money as a slave, I think we’d get along rather well.”
I turn away and say nothing. As my head clears up, my mood sours further and I start to realise what kind of shit I am in. I was drugged, kidnapped, thrown into this cell and I am about to be sold as a sex slave to some whore-house it gods know where. I kick the wall in anger.
I fucking knew something was up as soon as I saw Caius Bisley’s ugly face. I should not have returned to Ronium, and now here I am.
I resigned to the slab of metal that was supposed to be a bed and lay back down. The cold metal against the skin of my arm is making me shiver, but I stay put and stare blankly at the wall in front of me.
I hear the metal door creak open. I turn around, and Ronium is standing in the doorway. In the blink of an eye, I launch myself at him, swinging my bound arms at him. My fists connect with his cheek, sending him staggering backward, but within seconds I feel a sharp jolt in my stomach. I fall to the ground, disoriented and panting in shallow breaths.
Ronium stands above me, and grabs me by the collar of my shirt, hoisting me up.
“That’s no way to greet a friend,” he says.
“You deserve worse, you scumbag.”
“Now now, that kind of attitude won’t get you very far at Madam Weston’s,” his grin widens. “Though that might be a selling point to some of the clientele who have, shall we say, colourful fantasies?”
I scoff, struggling against his firm grip. “I’d rather die than serve disgusting men at that whore-house.”
“Please, it’s a gentleman’s club, and Madam Weston is a reasonable woman… I’ll be getting a very generous cut for this haul of cattle.”
“Go to hell.”
Ronium shoves me through the door of my cell. “Get walking. We’re a bit behind schedule.”
The man from earlier grabs my cuffs, dragging me down the hallway with Ronium close behind. I look around and see that all the other cells are all open and empty, likely all rounded up into stasis pods ready for transport. I avert my eyes to the ground as we continue down dimly lit corridors.
We finally reach a large hangar after what felt like hours of walking. On the landing pad is an Anaconda, with dock crews loading occupied stasis pods into the cavernous cargo hold of the ship. Near the landing gear of the massive ship, a group of people are being loaded into empty pods.
Ronium once again grabs the collar of my shirt, as the toothless man cuts the bindings off my wrists and then restrains my arms behind me. I attempt to struggle, but Ronium only tightens his grip.
“It’s no use struggling. You might as well just accept your fate.”
Ronium shoves me into the stasis pod while the other man secures my arms to the restraints inside. I continue to struggle until Ronium shoots me one last, disturbing gaze.
“Sweet dreams, sweetheart,” he says as the stasis pod closes and needles pierce my skin.