Posted by hisdinner on January 01, 2005 at 23:01:24:
Chapter 2
As the door opened he could smell her. The room was drenched with her fresh scent, it welcomed him. He turned to face her; she had curled herself and was sleeping on the blanket he had left her on the bottom of her cage. He gingerly walked quietly towards her, in awe of her with each step. He squatted down, reaching in to touch her arm, caressing her, “so soft” he thought. “Cyndi?” her eyes began to open, “Hi.”
The Man had come back. Herbert. Even his name had a forbidding sound. Cyndi blinked her eyes and stifled a cry as her muscles cramped. Her body was curled so tight. She hurt. Her face had salty streaks on it, and her bladder threatened to explode, but she was determined not to reveal her tears or her discomforts to this man. He might decide her time had come. She must please him. She had nothing left. The Whore's Lament was in her head, it had tormented her all this long day of living in the cage.
Man rips us from the Mother first
So he can slake his burning lusts
Man plunders and he ruins us.
We beg by all that's soft and good,
When Man has tired of hurting us
And cast us from the City, cold
Please, Mother!
Don't forsake your fallen girls
Alone and broken in the wood.
She'd heard it once when she'd stumbled upon a small encampment of the Fallens. Cyndi knew if she somehow escaped the City, she'd have to join that fire, and sing that song. She wanted more. She wanted Susan, but she could never touch that girl again. Never touch her face, never kiss her, never snuggle in the roundhouse 'til Morning Lessons, never hold her through the night.
But this man? Last night, he had promised so much more, not with his words, but with his body, with his soft eyes. Cyndi swallowed sorrow and bit off anger and stretched one finger outside her bars. Now she could only reach for him. Haven was as barred to her as she was barred inside this cage. She heard the last of the Lament, the Mothers' Response. Why wouldn't it leave her head?
Whores wander safely in the woods,
But no, to our safe Haven
The fallen ones may not return.
Now, Cyndi realized, this Man, this Herbert was all she had. She stretched out a finger to him.
When she reached out to touch him it was as if he was 12 again and had stuck his finger in the electrical outlet. He fumbled through his keys and opened the gate. She came out and stretched, “like a cat” was all he could think. When she looked up at him he could feel his excitement rising, his ears on fire. Bringing himself to her level he reached in to kiss her. Her mouth so warm, so inviting, the only sound he could hear was his heart beating so hard it felt like it was trying to escape.
They fell back on the floor, he kissed her neck and started to slide downwards. Her nipples were big and so tempting he had to nibble on them. She giggled, and that made him smile. He played there enjoying the sound of her laughter. Then tracing her belly with his tongue he stopped at the sight of her sex. It was bare and beautiful, when he gently parted it, he watched it unfold like a flower. He began to lick hungrily, her hands massaging his neck. He was lost within the moment when her voice brought him back, “Herbert," it was a gentle caring tone, she caressed his face and showed him the spot within her that eluded him.
Elated with this revelation he manipulated his tongue to and fro, experimenting with different approaches, her caresses now clenches, her nails taking root in his flesh. In a moment of gusto he gripped it in his teeth and rapidly swung his tongue side to side, forcing her back to arch up. When she orgasmed he lapped up her juices and could not imagine anything more perfect.
That was until she returned the favor, playfully pushing him down and grasping his manhood in her hand. Taking it into her mouth, her soft, warm, wet mouth he thought he might die right then and there. As she sucked him in and out his hands gripped the floor, he reached for her and brushed her hair back to watch her. Stopping her for a moment he showed her the special area on his shaft, she immediately changed her focus to torturing that spot, and then taking him in once more, he exploded.
The week would be a kaleidoscope of sexual exploration and hidden delights. Each evening his heart would race until he was home, and more, so on his arrival. He would position her cage so she could view out the window, purchase a softer, plusher, blanket, and more and more oils and lotions. Yet every night when he fed her the special food, his stomach would drop. Even the special oils had small writing on them, “extra-tender”, or “She’ll melt in your mouth”, somehow they made him feel like he was betraying her, and the month was over by one week.
For that week, each time they'd be cuddled soft together, sweaty, sated for a moment after they'd slid against each other, so hot, so good, she'd dare to speak the words again.
"Herbert? Why do you keep me in your bed?"
"It feels good, I like it," he'd say, and tickle her, and shake his head.
"Why then, Herbert? Why do you put me in the cage?"
"To keep you, girl. To keep you."
It had become a riddle song to him, a game. Each time they'd make love, each time their bodies found some new way to please, Cyndi would think, "Now! This time he'll understand the bitter part, he'll see it. He'll feel it, and he will free me." But no, each time she spoke the words, he grinned and gave the same response. It had become his Litany. But Cyndi thought she could see pain deep down in his eyes. She was resolved to never stop, to always try. To love him so hard, so deep, that she could find one soft spot in his armor. Man's lessons were thick walls, so impenetrable; they felt like the metal shackle around her neck. So hard to break.
At work Derek would question, “When Buddy? I’m chomping at the bit here. I can taste her already.” Herbert would try to avoid the subject which would only enrage and intrigue his friend. When a week had gone by Derek could wait more, he confronted Herbert during break, “I don’t get it Herb.”
“What Derek?” Herbert tried to sound agitated.
“You promised.” Derek whispered his plea.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Yes it is. You got a girl, you promised I could have some fun with her AND you promised me a cut.”
It all seemed so long ago to Herbert, like a dream. Back then he didn’t know Cyndi, had never met her, never touched her, never… “Derek you see…”, and then he said something he regretted as it flowed from his mouth, “She’s just been real difficult.”
“Dude!!! I’ll call Kenny, he works at the plant, he’ll know what to do. I’ll be over tonight and we’ll break her!”
Releasing Cyndi from the cage, being greeted by her kisses, he couldn’t help feeling he had betrayed her. They ate dinner in virtual silence, he let slip out, “oh yeah, a friend of mine is coming over later.” He tried to re-assure himself, thinking, “It won’t be that bad, she won’t put up a big fuss, and if she does so what? At the end of the month she’s just meat in the freezer.”
Cyndi thought, He looks at me the way the Mothers look at the ones Cast Off. If I were in the woods, I'd swear he was about to lead me to the Taking Place, where weeping Mothers gave up their smiling male babies, gave them to the terrifying minions from the City, and took from their steely arms, wailing baby girls. Most births were girls, true, but one in two dozen now came Male into this world, and in the woods, that meant the Call for Casting Off. Some brutal symmetry existed, for it seemed that every time a Mother made that awful walk to the Taking Place, a baby girl awaited her, wailing for a silky breast. But who comforted the male ones? Cyndi felt a pang of sorrow, stole a glance at Herbert. In this loveless world, a silent dinner was probably normal. She felt lucky that he enjoyed her body, at least when they were joined, she shared her warmth; she taught him his.
The knock at the door shattered the silence, Herbert opened it and Derek came bursting in, “Dude! I got some great stuff from Kenny and…” He stopped abruptly staring at Cyndi. He reached out and grabbed her collar pulling her in close to examine her, “She is so fine! Look at how meaty she is getting.” He pushed her face down on the couch, squeezing her rump and thighs, “Herbert, she is going to be delicious, we are going to eat like Kings! Get it Kings?” Herbert wished he didn’t get it.
He saw her looking at him with those confused eyes, big brown and so beautiful. She started to talk, “Herbert?” Derek brought his hand down and smacked her across the head, “You’re right Herb, she don’t know her place.” He then pulled a choker from his bag, looped it around her neck, and yanked. Using his legs he spread her, pulled his pants down, Herbert tried to stop him, “Derek she was just…”
Derek stopped him with a crazed stare, “This is why she’s like this. You’re too weak Herb.” He licked her back, “We’re gonna have some fun tonight!” With that he drove up into her backside. Cyndi screamed and bucked, but that only seemed to excite Derek more. He pounded her, pulling hard on the choker, Herbert could see Cyndi struggling, see Derek smacking her rump harder and harder, “good girl, you’re learning. Take it all, meat, make you nice and tender!”
Derek never saw the fist that sent him flying across the room. Never imagined his friend could punch like that. Herbert looked down at Cyndi, the confusion, he reached in to hold her, Derek screeched, “You idiot, why the hell did you do that?”
“You were hurting her.” Herbert defended himself.
“She’s meat Herb. In three weeks you bring her to Kings and they cut her up into chops, and steaks, and you eat her.”
“I just… there’s no reason to hurt her.”
She hummed and rocked, and visions of the Hunter, and Bonnie, and all that blood flashed through Cyndi's head, and she hurt, so bad. What had she done? Why was he punishing her? She remembered then. She was just his whore, a week closer on her way to becoming his food. Cyndi's body shook. She turned her head to the window, but it was dark and the dirty glass reflected the face of the man who raped her. "Herbert, why do you keep me in your bed?" She thought to herself. "The better to eat you," something dark responded. Cyndi felt Herbert's arms around her but they held little comfort at all. She wept and whispered, "Susan. Mama."
“I’ve heard about this Herb.” Wiping the blood from his nose, “Guys like us falling in love with the meatgirls. It’s normal, but in one month no matter what she is a cutlet.”
“Stop it Derek!”
“Truth hurts eh buddy? You promised me a turn with her, and I want it. Have her lay down.”
“You should go.”
Derek was shocked, “Herb, I’m your best friend. You’re choosing this piece of meat over me?”
“Stop calling her that!”
“Meat. You hear me girl, in three weeks you are going to be taken and butchered down to choice cuts, and Herb here is going to eat you. And that’s the fucking law!”
“Get out!” Herb grabbed Derek, they wrestled as he forced him out the door.
He turned and faced Cyndi, from the silence he spoke, “I don’t want anyone to hurt you.” She was trembling, a streak of blood running down her leg. He ran to the bathroom and brought her a towel, sitting her down on the couch, he attempted to talk several times, but couldn't find the right way to start. Finally it just seemed to pour out.
"I've never taken care of anyone, anything, they wouldn't even sanction me a pet. I'm not eligible to clone, I was a walking zombie with one purpose in my life.. to try to remember one happy memory from childhood. My father was a bitter man, one day he brought me to a company picnic, they served... that doesn't matter. I've been to the palace, but the whores are all... broken. I never imagined that there could be anything more than release. But the law, the fucking law!"
His hands gripped around a lamp he sent it flying to the wall, it shattered leaving a dark shadow in the room. He looked at the lamp, "Government issue, everything given by the government, taken..." He looked at Cyndi, "I don't know Cyndi. I don't know if I can do anything, I..." reaching for the broken shards, a piece slicing through his hand, he began to weep.
"Shh, let me, let me," she said, standing and taking his hand, removing the shard, kissing him. These Men, so hard outside, this one, so easily pierced. Cyndi bit her lip against the pain she felt, it was ebbing anyway, she could ignore it, she'd hum the Healing Song and mend them both. She found medicines that smelled right and she washed and bound his wound. He wouldn't look at her. Didn't men have a single chant to soften the agonies they felt? Herbert huddled on the couch.
Cyndi eyed the door. She could walk out now, search for a way back to the woods, even in the dark and smog, there would be signs, She heard tales of the Unseens, the ones who slipped through the City and helped the girls escape. She could barely remember the song. "Mark the walls that bar you, and Unseen eyes will mark those bound. Give one small sign, and lost girls will be found." Cyndi sighed. Lost girls had not once returned to Haven. Probably all a lie. To the Elders, all lost girls were Fallen, and they could not be found and brought inside again. Cyndi realized that women's lessons could hurt as much as Man's.
She turned back to Herbert. She sighed and sat beside him, stroked him, felt Herbert shake against her breast. She wrapped her golden arms around him and pulled him up and off the couch and to his bed. She laid him on his back and brushed his forehead, smoothed back his hair. She straddled him, bent low to kiss his eyelids, kiss his brow. "Let me give you this," she said.
And Cyndi spent hours that night, touching, soothing, kissing, taking Herbert deep inside herself, moving slowly, holding him so tight, murmuring to him every soothing chant, giving Herbert every sweet song she had.
"Let your sorrows out, let your lover see them,
Let her body soothe your hurts away.
Give me all the pain you're feeling.
Take strength and healing, let me stay. "
At last he roused himself and pulled her down to meet his mouth, and held her, pulled her beneath him, his hands caressing her softer curves. His breath came faster, urgent; he needed to fill her, to give her all he could. She yielded soft and pliant, gasping silently as he found the deep sweet core of her once again. And it was good.
"Let me stay." Cyndi lay awake, hearing those words, wondering at herself. Stay here in this harsh, cold place? What had she done? She crept out of bed, and found a thick-bladed knife and froze in the center of the dark room, panting, summoning courage, staring at Herbert's back as he slept. His breaths were slow and rhythmic. Cyndi stole to the window. He'd left it open to the night, and she could bend outside it and reach down to the dark gray blocks below the sill. Biting her lip, she used the knife to scratch the legendary sign into the stone. "Unseen eyes, see this, save us. Save us both."
Derek sat in his room enraged, betrayed, seeking to revenge a deep dark bruise. He tried to convince himself that he was feeling this way because he was concerned about Herbert, lifting the phone he dialed, "Kenny, it's Derek."
"Hey! How was tonight?"
"Not good, it's bad. Herb's in love with it."
"Happens all the time, can get bad, some guys get jailed. Hell everyday I watch these guys, court tells them to turn their girls in here, pathetic."
"So what do I do?"
"If it was me, I'd talk to my supervisor."
Work had become a living hell for Herbert. Derek had tried to talk to him multiple times, but he did not want to listen. There was no way his friend could understand. How could he know how wonderful it was to come home to someone, someone like Cyndi and all the wonderful things they did together. He stopped in his tracks, his mind asking, "Why are you still feeding her the special feed?"
"Clerk Johnson, what can I do for you?"
"You can call me Derek Sir."
"I'm busy Clerk, what do you need"
"I'm concerned about my friend."
The Supervisor was rifling through his paper, not looking up, "Proceed."
"He bought a meatgirl, and now I think he thinks he's in love with her. The month is almost over and I'm worried about him" It was a lie, but he would never admit it.
He peered up, "Who is this now?"
Herbert had never heard his name announced over the speaker system. He thought he saw Derek watching him as he walked to the upper offices. The Supervisor waved him in, showed him a chair and had him sit down. He was smiling, "So Clerk Needleman..."
"Noodleman, sir."
"Of course. So Clerk, I hear you've made a very big purchase recently?"
Dammit what did Derek do? "Yes sir. I purchased a meatgirl."
"I know I know. A friend of yours is very concerned about you. Clerk I have owned a few meatgirls in my time. It's an amazing thing, one month of sex and one month, maybe more, of that delicious meat. You know what Clerk?"
"Sir?"
"I'd like to see this meatgirl. Maybe I can help you out?"
"Help me?"
"I'll be to your dwelling at 7:15. Have her ready. Dismissed."
With that the Supervisor returned to work, whistling.
Herbert had tried to explain to Cyndi what was happening. It was upsetting her, and him as well. Neither one could eat dinner, at exactly 7:15 the buzzer sounded off. Cyndi stood in the middle of the room, Herbert answered. The Supervisor was carrying a large leather bag, he dropped it on the floor, and stared at Cyndi, "My oh my you did well Clerk. Was she this plump when you bought her?"
"She's on a special diet they gave me at King's"
Cyndi's belly twisted, she felt sick.
He grabbed Cyndi's arms and held them out, signaling her to hold them up while he squeezed and prodded her ribs and back, "Good meat at King's. Look at the rump and thighs on this one! Nice soft skin, you must be oiling her?"
"I bought special..."
She held her arms out, eyes wide. She stared at Herbert as this Supervisor put his cold hands on her and left her chilled. She knew better than to speak. This man looked like the awful beast from the Book of Banishment—the Poisoner, the One who Ended Twiningtime. She curled her hands into fists but kept her arms outstretched to either side. Dark Enemy! She felt it immediately, why did Herbert allow this beast in here, let him touch her? Couldn't he smell It, see it for what it was? The Supervisor grinned at Herbert and spoke.
"Made my bag from one of my girls. If you don't want the skin I'll take it."
"I never thought."
Cyndi's eyes widened and she looked at the buttersoft leather of the bag. She started the warding song, her lips barely moving, chanting the words inside herself. How could Herbert do this, allow this evil in? She tried to focus on the chant that might protect her, but the evil thing kept fouling the air with his words.
"Ok here's what we're going to do. She's sweet, and I know you Clerk's don't have a lot. However the law is the law, and none of us are above it." He signaled for Herbert to sit, and he sat as well leaving Cyndi standing with his hand massaging her thigh. "I want to help you remember that women are property to be used and discarded. Here watch. Kneel girl!"
Herbert watched as Cyndi slowly went to her knees.
Cyndi couldn't bear to look at this awful man. She turned her eyes to Herbert, saw him watching her. He did not intercede? Cyndi's chest squeezed tight. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. She felt her knees press painfully against the cold linoleum. Herbert! The awful man stepped so close she could see the oily stains on his pants. Cyndi leaned away from him, looked up at Herbert, shaking her head. Herbert wouldn't allow this, would he?
"Yeah you have been way too soft with this one, by this time she should be jumping at your command. Open your mouth." He pulled out his fully erect penis and pushed it into her mouth, holding her head in tight. "You see she's even hesitant to suck, oh boy Clerk," He smacked her face, "Come on suck girl!" He clenched her hair and pulled her back and forth. She increased her pace, "Use your tongue. Alright better. Ok listen Clerk, you step out for a few hours, I'll have her re-focused and you think about the fact that this is meat in a week. You want a pet, get a cat. Now get going! Oh yeah good girl, very nice."
Herbert stood up, not able to take his eyes off her... and him. The Supervisor was moaning, "There you go girl, it's in you, just let it out." suddenly he lifted his knee right into her right in the gut, she wheezed, he grabbed her hair tighter, "Keep going!"
Herbert could see her struggling to breathe, the spit coming out her drooping lower lip, "Get out Clerk!!!" He turned and left.
Cyndi saw Herbert's pantlegs, felt the draft from the door, and realized he had left her with the Beast. Cyndi was distraught, confused--He'd hit his friend from the nights before, he hadn't let Derek keep hurting her. She gurgled and gagged as the sharp-scented Man drove himself into her throat. Herbert left me here. He has cast me off. Cyndi had to get it into her head.
"Ass like yours will make some fine leather, meat," said that smelly Beast. He'd filled her throat and ground her face into his body, laughing as she choked and struggled for air.
He gave me to an evil beast. Cyndi was suddenly struck numb. This was just a man, wasn't it, nothing special, no magic Poisoner of Worlds. This man was just His spawn--all men now shared his evil blood. No air. She saw red, felt the world spin, and began to lose consciousness. As her body fell against his, the Supervisor sprayed her with his seed and used a boot to prod her awake.
"Get yer ass on that couch now, hustle!" The Beast commanded her.
He reached into the bag for a stick with leather ribbons dangling from it. Cyndi yelped as the tied ends of leather bit into her breasts as she quivered and twisted away from his slashing blows. The evil One cuffed her across the face and forced her to be still. She stared at the door, longed for Herbert then shook her head to clear it. Herbert had walked away from her. She felt the welts on her body, hot and stinging as the tears she shed. She tried to summon a song to help her through this dark time. She could think of none. Fallen, beaten, cast off, done. Cyndi wept and wished for a stronger hand, she wished for a quicker end.
He walked down the street in a daze. His Supervisor was right, in a week this was all over, there was nothing else to do. He needed to separate his feelings, put it all back in context, he needed... Cyndi. "What kind of a man am I?" he found himself blurting out loud. He remembered Cyndi had mentioned the Fallen, that meant others had escaped, why not them? He began to run back to the apartment, stopping to peer into his window. The Supervisor had her splayed out and tied to posts on the couch, he was hitting her ass with a wooden plank, laughing! He saw him pull out two clamps from his bag and attach them to her nipples, she was screaming and crying. He laid under her smacking her sex with his hand and licking it, calling her "meat" and "an animal."
"I told you to go out Clerk!"
Herbert thought how ridiculous it was to be yelled at by a nude man. He didn't remembered picking up the rock, but when he clubbed the man with it clenched in his fist he felt... liberated. He kept bashing and bashing the man's head until it looked like it had exploded, and the only thing that stopped him were Cyndi's sobs.
Cyndi twisted against bonds that wouldn't give. Her wrists were raw. She screamed when Herbert rushed toward her, rock brandished in one hand, his eyes on her. She knew he'd come back to kill her after giving his Supervisor a little playtime first. Her shoulder popped, she screamed and pulled against the ropes, squeezed her eyes shut against that first blow she could not ward off--but then he was hitting the beast man, Herbert was killing the beast. She watched Herbert smack that rock into the awful thing. He had recognized the wrong--but why had he abandoned her 'til now? She looked down and saw blood spatters on her thighs, saw the crumpled heap that had attacked her, saw Herbert watching her again. She was filthy, ruined, cursed. She couldn't look at him.
He dropped the bloody stone and walked over to comfort her, removing her binds and whispering, "Never again. Never again."
She didn't have strength left in her arms to reach for him. She felt his gentle touch. Heard his murmurings. He laid her soft against his chest. She whispered, "Take me home. Or let me go."