"Paying Her Way"

With her brother not in the room, Sadie had no problem speaking. She answered the woman's questions honestly. She was shocked when the woman told her that her brother said she was raped... Probably didn't tell the whole story. Sadie could easily tell this woman what he did to her... But what fate would the two of them share if she said anything?

"In Bartertown, the best and fastest way that a young woman with your looks and body can make money is by servicing men. I do mean sexually servicing, of course. Following your rape, do you think you are emotionally capable of having sex with strangers for a level of compensation you couldn't even think of making as a farm hand or café waitress or ... well, just about anything.

Sadie nodded. So long as these men where not her brother, she didn't care. It sounded like with this arrangement they would be staying there for a while... There were other women in this town that her brother could amuse himself with... He wouldn't need her anymore...

"Will I be safe here?" She asked, looking to the woman. It was very clear on Sadie's face that whatever happened to her was traumatic, but she was also determined to get herself passed what Marcus did to her. She wanted to be free of his touch, even if it meant being a whore, she wouldn't be his anymore.

"Will I be safe here?" Sadie asked.

Melanie laughed, as if Sadie had told an amusing joke. She stepped closer and took the still naked girl's upper arms into her gently squeezing hands. With a motherly tone she said, "Sadie my dear, there is no place on the planet that will be safer for you than here under my care." She leaned in a bit and spoke almost in a whisper, as if telling a secret. "No one fucks with my girls."

She laughed again, long and loud, then scooped up the silk robe and slipped it back onto Sadie as she said, "Well, every one fucks my girls ... but no one fucks with my girls."

It was obvious that she was having fun with the play on words as she turned Sadie back toward the bathroom again. "Now, I had a conversation with your brother about this whole virgin purity fallacy. We've decided to stick to that story because, to be honest, virginity sells."

She turned Sadie to face the mirror and, standing behind the girl, reached around to open the robe to fully expose Sadie's front side. As she ogled the young woman's assets, Melanie spoke as if a sales lady hawking a dress, not the body that would be inside one. "You have wonderful features, my dear. Still youthful, which is good, but very womanly."

She reached a hand around to grope one of Sadie's breasts, squeezing it gently, before fondling the nipple. "Firm, perfectly rounded. Ten years ago, you would have been walking the runway, showing off the latest fashions ... plastered all over the internet in Victoria's Secret and--"

She laughed loudly again, stripping from Sadie the silk robe she'd just put on her. "Ten years ago! My bad! You would have been seven, eight, nine years old. You know what I mean, don't you deary?"

She turned Sadie all the way around a couple of times, looking her up and down. She grimaced as she look to the girl's furry groin and legs. "Real Catch-22 there, my dear. Men like a clean snatch, but ... if we're going to sell you as pure and untouched, we're gonna have to ... I don't know, maybe--"

"Trim, not shave," a male voice said from the bathroom door.

"Clarence!" Melanie called out, excited. She gestured the 30-something man inward, saying, "Come help me with my new girl. What shall we ever do with her?"

"Trim, not shave," the man repeated, not moving from where he stood as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder and said, "Get out! I don't try to run your town, so don't you try to--"

"Yeah, yeah," Melanie was laughing to him. She turned Sadie to look into her eyes and said, "Clara-belle here will--"

"Hey!" Clarence chastised. "Careful with the homo references."

Melanie laughed again, not taking her eyes off Sadie. "Clarence will take good care of you, Sadie. You're in good hands with him, just as you would be with me. You do as he says, and I'll see you for dinner."

She leaned in and kissed the slightly shorter Sadie, then turned and headed out without even giving the girl a chance to respond. As Melanie was beginning a discussion with someone at the hallway door, her voice eventually fading away down the stairs, Clarence looked Sadie up and down, then gestured for her to do a full three-sixty so he could see all of her.

"We have a lot of work to do ... Sadie was it?" He walked up to the bathroom counter right next to Sadie -- ignoring the fact that the teen was stark naked -- and opened a bag filled with bathing, hygiene, and beauty products and tools. He smiled to her and said with an almost suggestive tone, "And for the record ... I'm not a homo. Shall we get started?"

Everything happened so quickly. One moment Melanie was trying to figure out what to do with her, the next Melanie was replaced by a man. Sadie did feel intimidated... But Melanie seemed to be able to command any living soul she beckoned... If she said she was safe with Clarence... Then she would trust her.

The man asked her a series of questions, mostly regarding her skin type. Sadie's skin was pretty sensitive, so in the past when she shaved her legs she always had irritation.

"Mmm" Clarence thought for a moment, "well, we have an alternative that will keep you hair free longer... But it's going to be a little time consuming and painful." Of course what Clarence was suggesting was waxing... And of course there was no fancy spa wax, this was something of his own concoction, something he admitted he was still tinkering with.

It was definitely painful. Clarence cleared all the hair on her legs, under her arms... And then cleaned her up down there. Sadie still had a patch of hair on her mound. Everything felt much smoother... Extremely tender, but smoother. Next, he trimmed her long hair. Despite the circumstances, it was nice to feel pampered. Her nails were even trimmed and cleaned. When he was done with her, Sadie looked like a new woman. He finished by placing a white ribbon around her neck.

When it was time for dinner, Sadie saw that all of Melanie's girls had ribbons, most of them red, others pink... She was the only one with a white ribbon. The other girls at dinner were surprisingly friendly. No one looked malnourished, everyone was talking and enjoying themselves like they were at some family dinner. For the first time in a long time... Sadie relaxed.

Melanie had introduced Sadie to the girls and girls to her. They didn't look anything like what Sadie thought prostitues would look like.

"Its been a while since I've seen a white ribbon," a tall blonde commented with a playful smirk. Her name was Lydia. She explained that white of course meant the girl was new, pinks meant that the girls where servicing... And red was for the girls with the most experience and acted as the "big sisters" to the others. Lydia had a red ribbon. "Sadie, was it? Do you have any talents?"

Sadie wasn't sure what Lydia meant by Talents. Some of the girls giggled as they could see that Sadie couldn't determine if it was in regards to sexual talents or not.

"She means actual talents, sweet thing." smiled Rose who was a red head with an thick southern accent. "We might be whores, but some of use are good for other things too. Lydia here use to be an opera singer!"

Sadie breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh!" She giggled a little with some of the other girls. Then she finally answered the question. "I was training to be a dancer, ballet mostly."

"Well aren't you lucky. Madison use to be a dance instructor!" Rose chattered on, going into detail about what everyone seemed to be good at. Sadie listened quietly as she ate and tasted the food. It was better than anything she had in 3 years!


"There is a spare room up stairs that she uses, you two can practice together." then Rose leaned forward and turned to look at Melanie, "She could be part of the show!"

Show? Sadie looked up to see what Melanie had to say about this and if any more information was going to be provided about this... Show.

Lydia took back the reigns and explained, "You see, this place is a little bit more than a brothel. Have you seen the rest of the property? Sadie hadn't and shook her head. "We'll show you around. Basically the basement is kind of like a night club, were men and women can come see us perform and it give us a chance to expan our clientele. Do you understand?"

"Yes..." She replied softly.

"Good. Now if Melanie thinks you're worth putting in, she will... But don't expect to be dancing swan lake... It's probably going to be a bit more erotic than that." she gave a wink.

Of course it was, Sadie thought to herself. Still, the prospect of doing something more than screwing men sounded ok.

(OOC: For anyone following our story, "Clarence's" name had been changed to Roy.)

Roy had worn loose fitting slacks and tight fitting underwear, knowing the effect of preparing the new girl would have on his cock. Despite the image some of the others had of him -- a cock sucker, literally -- Roy was very much a lover of women. The other men close to Melanie's operation knew that he spent a great deal of time in the presence of sem- or fully-nude women, yet none had ever heard of him being intimate with one of the girls, let alone seen him getting friendly with one.

Roy didn't care what the other guys thought about him. Behind his back, some of them called him a fag or homo, but -- because Melanie disapproved of such criticisms -- none would ever say anything like that in front of her or others. Melanie had asked him on occasion why he didn't just fess up to his sexual orientation, to stop the chatter. Roy's answer had made her smile, then explode in laughter: "The girls get naked before me 'cause they think I'm gay."

Gay or not, there was one thing Roy certainly was, and that was professional. Even though his cock continued to alter between limp and stiff during Sadie's treatment, he went on with the very intimate work without once touching her or speaking to her in a way that might sound suggestive or fresh. He did, however, make a few comments about how the other men were going to just flip for her.

When he was finished with removing things from Sadie's body, Roy set about returning things to it. Despite the end of the world, The House, as Melanie's ranch house was called, was very well stocked with the goods of a lost era, including closets and dressers full of sexy undergarments and sexy clothing. Roy dressed the fair skinned Sadie in pink and white, lace and elastic, tight and shaping.

When he was done with her, she was simple a marvel of womanly beauty, and yet her youth was still very evident. In fact, as he tied a white ribbon around her neck, Roy told Sadie, "You look like a little girl. The men are going to pay big to have you."



Upon Sadie's entrance into the dining room, Clancy's body reacted very much as Roy's had been for the last several hours. She was incredible. He'd seen her before and after her bath both -- naked each time -- and thought she was stunning. And yet now, at this moment -- fully dressed -- Sadie was the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen.

"Its been a while since I've seen a white ribbon," Lydia said upon the new girl's entrance. The servants -- a man and his daughter who'd been taken in by Melanie after a family tragedy -- began serving as the girls began talking about this, that, and the other thing.

In response to a question about talents, Sadie informed the others, "I was training to be a dancer, ballet mostly."

Clancy could see that about Sadie. Despite her current malnutrition, it had been obvious looking over her nude form that she'd once been well sculpted. Clancy was already imagining Sadie on the dance stage, performing a ballet routine ... nude. He chuckled to himself, then -- seeing one of the nearer girls turn with a curious expression -- pulled his groin back a bit to hide the growth below his belt line.

"She could be part of the show!" one of the girls called out. Lydia went on to explain about the Cabaret that took place here once a week, as well as on special occasions or for private parties. You wouldn't have thought that after the End of the World there would be such events. But until the last man on Earth had died, there would always be an interest in scantily clad women gyrating about and shaking their curvy features.


(OOC: I am out of time. You can post or wait until I write more tonight.)

(OOC: I can wait for you )

As Vincent and his daughter, Ella, began clearing away the dishes, Melanie suggested, "Lydia, why don't you take our new girl downstairs and show her the Cabaret."



The red-ribboned woman waved her hands before her, announcing, "This is it. Where the non-horizontal portion of our pay comes from."

It was a small space -- just the basement of the ranch house -- and the furnishings seemed to make it even smaller. There were two entrances, the one the two woman had descended from the interior of the house; and the one that customers used, bringing them in from the outside past a Bouncer. There was a fully stocked bar in one corner -- its wares locked, of course -- with a dozen bar stools; a dozen small tables in the center of the room; and a stage that filled fully a quarter of the room, beyond which was a very small back stage space in which the girls and even male performers struggled to find the room to prepare for their acts or simply find a place to relax in between shows.


"So ... what am I supposed to do?"

A huge black man with Maori tattoos darkening one side of his face turned to look at Marcus with a disapproving expression. With a hard tone, he answered, "You wait. You'll be told what to do when it's time to do it."

Marcus wasn't used to being anything other than in charge and in control. He and Sadie had been on their own far too long for him to suddenly be thrown into a bunk house with ten other men and told to just sit tight and await orders. But he went to the bunk to which Tattoo assigned him, dropped his pack on one end of it, and sat there in silence, studying the others...

...and wondering where the hell Sadie was right now.



Dinner was surprisingly wonderful. Tasteless, but wonderful all the same. There was meat, something he thought might have been venison, although the man next to him swore it was dog; and there was a stew with a variety of vegetables and roots that included some Marcus had never seen before, let alone eaten.

"Cup?" Another man -- as old as sin and nearly as dirty -- lofted a jug before Marcus. When he realized the newcomer didn't have his own cup, he turned and retrieved one from a nearby table and filled it with a strong smelling drink. As he handed it to Marcus, the man informed him before heading on, "One a night."

Marcus sniffed at the liquor and cringed his nose. He tasted it, then grimaced and set it aside. Yet another man near him asked if he could have the drink, and after Marcus slid it to him and he gulped it down, the man said, "Paul. My name is Paul. Whatcha got to barter with?"

Marcus studied the man for a moment. He looked to be 30, but as they continued to talk, Marcus came to realize that the man was barely into his 20s and life had simply ridden him hard. "I got nothing."

"Too bad," Paul said, looking about to see who might be listening in. In a whisper, he informed Marcus, "That guy over there in the corner ... the red head. Blow him, and he'll get you anything that's available on the Ranch."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," Marcus said with obvious disinterest. He laid back on his bed, hands behind his head, fingers intertwined, and said, "I'm going to sleep now. Keep your advice to your self, ok?"

As he stared up into the bunk house's ceiling, Marcus couldn't get Sadie out of his mind...

One of the things that Sadie learned quickly in Bartertown was that though she and the girls were whores, to be a whore here meant something completely different now compared to 3 years ago. It was almost like they were aristocrats. Melanie was true to her word, Sadie was the safest here with her and her girls. She didn't need her brother's protection anymore... Honestly, she hadn't really thought of him in the past couple of days.

The house definitely had a family atmosphere, and all the girls gave Sadie tips for when she would to actually earn her keep. Sadie got to know Madison who would teach her some of the dance routines of the show. When the Cabaret opened this weekend, Sadie wouldn't directly be a part of the show just yet. Melanie still wanted her front and center. She told Sadie that she would work the front as a hostess. This would insure that customers would see her as soon as they came in. This would also give Sadie a chance to watch the variety show and get an idea of what she would be doing.

Today, Sadie was going to see the rest of the town with Lydia and Rose. Roy, the same man who got to know her rather intimately, was personally assigned to make sure that no one tried to do anything to or with her. Most people in the town knew better than to pull a stunt like that, but the escorts were still there as a procaution for each girl who stepped out of bounds of the House.

Sadie was dressed similar to how Roy first dressed her. Today she was wearing a blue dress with small pink roses patterned along the thin layer of fabric. Her arms were exposed and her hair was pulled back in a French braid. The same white ribbon was donned around her neck. Melanie wanted to play up her youth as much as possible. Underneath the girls outfits, everyone had to wear a corset. Even though Sadie was skin and bones now, it was to make sure that as fat redistributed in her body, it would just go to her chest and ass, leaving her waist narrow.

"Ok, let's pick up what we need here," Lydia announced as they were in front of the general store. They were picking up fruits and vegetables for meals for the next week. Sadie learned that the town was able to cultivate crops, and it wasn't something they wanted outsiders knowing. If they did, the town might become overrun.

The store was filled with a lot more than what Sadie was expecting. It was like she and Marcus stepped into another time almost. Lydia and Rose went with their escorts to purchase food for the week, which left Sadie free with Roy to explore. There really wasn't anything there that Sadie wanted, and even if there was, she didn't have any money yet. So she continued to just explore.

However, as Sadie was walking and looking around, she failed to watch where she was going. She walked right into the back of a man who was in the isle looking at the products for sale.

"I'm sorry!" Sadie quickly apologized as she took a small step back from whoever this man was.

Marcus dropped the canned goods that he was stocking -- not buying -- as someone plowed into him. He spun with an angered expression beginning to fill his face just as the woman said, "I'm sorry!"

He froze, staring in shock. "Sadie...?"

Marcus looked her up and down, then again, his mouth open but no words coming out. It was definitely Sadie, but ... it wasn't his sister. The transformation was unbelievable. She was a new person ... a different person ... a beautiful, erotic, sexy person.

"My god..." Marcus murmured, still looking her up and down. He wanted to compliment her, but for so long Sadie had been his innocent little sister, only to have that role replaced with reluctant incestuous lover and, most recently, sexual offering to others. He looked around for eavesdroppers, but -- with Roy in the next aisle talking to a Local -- Marcus found no one with whom to be concerned. He looked to her eyes, which seemed to sparkle with happiness, and said simply, "You look good, sister."

When the man turned around, only to reveal that he was her brother, Sadie froze. A part of her knew that eventually she was going to have to see her brother, she just wasn't expecting it to be like this...

When Sadie started staying with the girls and Melanie, her demeanor had changed back to being the happy girl she was when she was 15. Melanie and Roy definitely saw the improvement. But now as she stood in front of her brother... She couldn't find words, her body tensed. Even though she was surrounded by other people. It was seeing him... She was still not over what happened, and she didn't know if she ever would be.

He did look different though... Happier, and not the harsh man he had become towards the end of their journey. His form filled out more, but Sadie could see in his face that the work he had been doing was taking its toll. It was strange... How it was hard to look at him and be angry like she had been before, but she still didn't trust him. He lost that the first night he forced himself on her.

"Thank you..." It was all she could muster. It was also the first time she spoke to him in months.

(OOC: FYI, in the pic below, Marcus is cleaned up and wearing farm work clothing but still wearing his beard.)

"Thank you."

Marcus's lips widened in a smile. He didn't know immediately why he was so pleased, and then it came to him: his sister hadn't spoken to him -- except in occasional pained moans or cries -- since he'd started fucking her so many weeks ago. Two, maybe three months without hearing her voice had taken a toll on Marcus, as severe a toll as his almost nightly molesting of her young, beautiful body.

He looked that body up and down again, telling her, "This new life of yours is treating you well, yes?"

She was in the middle of her response when a man asked politely, "Is everything okay here, Sadie?"

As he listened to his sister's response and the subsequent introductions she made, Marcus studied the man intently. Marcus was half a head taller than Roy and a good twenty pounds heavier. But something about the way the man carried himself -- even in just those few dozen seconds of watching the man -- told Marcus that Roy was more than capable of holding his own in a fight. Of course, the semiautomatic 9mm strapped to his right hip would help out in a rough situation.

Marcus missed being armed, even if his own weapon had been empty at the time he'd surrendered it. A potential aggressor never knew whether your weapon was loaded or not, giving it a deterrence that being unarmed failed to offer. Marcus was learning that the hard way. In the few days that he'd been relegated to the bunk house and slave-wage labor, Marcus had already been involved in three altercations: one a fist fight that lasted a couple of dozen blows, one that had involved another man cold cocking Marcus and stealing his blanket, and another the following morning when Marcus recovering his blanket by beating to a pulp the man who hadn't understood that if you steal from Marcus, you best kill him, too.

It didn't take a genius to understand that this guy was Sadie's protection. Marcus realized he was grinding his teeth only when they began to hurt. Marcus was supposed to be Sadie's protector, not this stranger. He was supposed to be there if and when she needed a strong hand, not this ... pretty boy.

"Can we have a moment?" Marcus asked even while Sadie was still talking. He smiled politely to Roy -- who quietly reassured Sadie he'd be right her if she needed him -- and led Sadie to the corner of the store. Looking back toward the very attentive Roy with another polite nod, Marcus asked in a low whisper, "Are you fucking this guy?"

"This new life of yours is treating you well, yes?"

He was trying to make conversation. It had been a while, but that didn't mean the wounds had healed. Seeing him like this made her feel weird. She was happy to see her old brother, but she was still upset... Still unsure about him.

Her eyes looked over to Roy, who just happened to be looking in her direction. He could see the distress in her eyes, but it didn't look like the stock boy was doing anything... Still, he politely ended his conversation and made his way to Sadie and this.... Boy. Sadie looked back to her brother as she answered his question.

"Yes... Melanie has been very kind."

"Is everything okay here, Sadie?"

Sadie's heart leap for joy as Roy was closer. Her expression softened. Of everyone in Barter Town, Roy was probably the only man she truly trusted. She was sure that Marcus wouldn't do anything, but Roy made her feel safe.

"Marcus, this is Roy. Roy this is... My brother, Marcus." The men seemed to be sizing each other up. Sadie wondered if silently beckoning Roy over had been such a good idea. Looking at Marcus she could see his jaw was tight, and she had flashes of them being back at the camp... Angry.

"Can we have a moment?"

Sadie looked back to Roy, who's eyes never left Marcus, even when he spoke to Sadie to let her know he would be near by. Then she felt Marcus pulling her away, continued to look over her shoulder at Roy, making sure he wasn't out of her sight... He was still keeping an eye on them and that made Sadie feel a little better. Then her brother's words cut into her ears and she snapped her head towards him.

"Are you fucking this guy?"

Sadie was taken back by the question. Her first thought was telling him an out right no. Not that Sadie never thought about it. She blushed, she never really gave Roy any hint that she found him attractive, their relationship was strictly professional... But her brother didn't know that.

"That's none of your business." She replied. Why would he even ask that? She was a whore now, she was pretty much fucking everyone or would be... But the way he asked was more in the sense if they were together... Which made Sadie wonder why he would care.

"That's none of your business," Sadie answered.

In his mind, Marcus heard her saying Why yes, I am ... and I like fucking him, better than I ever did you. He glanced past her to Roy and could see that the man was poised to jump in if the need arose. Marcus released his grip on Sadie's elbow, which had been getting tighter -- angrier -- with every passing second. He fidgeted with his coverall's belt loops for a moment, then turned his attention back to Sadie.

"I'm working."

He spoke the two words without an obvious explanation as to why it mattered. He honestly didn't know why he'd said it as he was saying it, then suddenly it dawned on him. When they were kids, their father would occasionally begin drinking hard, lose his job, and get kicked out of the house by their mother. They wouldn't see him for a couple of days, a couple of weeks, or even once a couple of months. But when he showed up on the door step, staring through the screen door at their mother with a lost puppy expression, his first words had always been I'm working.

As he got older, Marcus came to realize that that was why his mother allowed the man back: working meant being able to support his family and, thus, being back with his family. And that was what Marcus wanted right now: to be back with his family, with Sadie. They'd only been apart for two days -- no, this was the third...? -- and yet it felt like an eternity to Marcus.

"Just chores, mostly," he continued, desperate to continue the conversation with his sister in any way possible. "Delivering stuff ... chopping wood ... stuff like that. Got a bunk..." he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder in a random direction. "...locker for my stuff. No money, though."

That last comment was a lead in to a question that had been on his mind almost from the moment Clancy had taken Sadie away that afternoon in Melanie's court, and while he probably could have asked it with a bit more tact, the inquiry came out bluntly yet with a hint of sorrow that the answer might be in the positive.

"So ... you whoring yet?"

"I'm working."

"... Okay...?" Sadie raised an eyebrow as she rubbed her arm where Marcus had been clutching earlier. She was working too, what did that matter?... Well not fully working yet, but she had been helping around the House and working on learning what to do for when the time came for her "Deflowering". Then he started rambling about stuff, which only confused Sadie more.

From what he explained, it didn't sound like he had much... And Sadie thought 'Good.' She hoped that things were hard and not easy for him now, that he couldn't just take what he wanted. The more Sadie thought about it, the more angier she was getting. Here he was talking to her like nothing was wrong! Like he didn't rape her, or sell her just to make some money or trade.

Melanie had talked to Sadie about that... Marcus wouldn't get any of her pay unless Sadie gave it to him. Otherwise he was on his own.

"So ... you whoring yet?"

Sadie shot him a look that said she couldn't believed he asked her that. For the first time EVER Sadie glared at her brother. She might have been small, but she didn't care about that right now.

""You whoring yet?"" She scoffed, "If you must know, I haven't spread my legs for money yet. Melanie and the girls are still preparing me before that happens. Again, that's none of your business so I don't know why I'm even telling you this. I- ugh!" She she balled her hands into fists and walked around her brother straight to Roy.

Roy straightened up once he saw Sadie coming. He asked if she was alright but she just took hold of his arm and just asked if they could go. Roy looked back over to Marcus and then answered her before taking her outside of the store. Sadie held onto Roy's arm as they walked out, which was something she nor any of the other girls had done before with their escorts...

Though he wanted to reach out and snatch Sadie's arm, keeping her there to continue talking, all Marcus did was stand in silence and watch her leave. He was lost, totally lost, on where he was, who he was, and what he was to do these days. He and Sadie had come into Bartertown as siblings and lovers, and he had offered her sexual services for a price he was yet to claim. On top of that, of course, there was simply the matter that he wasn't fucking her anymore, and that was something that he simply couldn't get off his mind.

Then he remembered the terms of the sentence he'd received from Melanie that day in her bedroom.

"Three more days!" he hollered when he reached the door of the store, which once upon a time had been nothing more than a small home for the ranch foreman. Roy had heard Marcus's hurried footsteps on the hardwood floor and had already turned his head to look back, and when the man slowed Sadie and turned her on his arm, her brother continued, "Three more days. Then we'll be together again."

Roy looked to Sadie and saw in her expression that she didn't understand what Marcus was getting at. Sadie had never been told the terms of Marcus's deal -- or sentence, as it had truly been -- with the town's Matriarch.

"Melanie will have to explain this to you, Sadie," Roy said, turning her away from her brother, even as Marcus was hollering out three days again. "I am not in a place to explain it to you, but ... she will. I promise."



Melanie finished her dealings with a local trader and sent the man off to spend some quality time with one of her Girls. Once only she, Clancy, Roy, and Sadie were left behind the closed doors, she addressed the new situation.

"Yes, three more days," she confirmed as she wandered from behind her desk toward her newest whore-to-be. "The deal I made with your brother ... the sentence I passed ... was that he would leave you with me for six days, during which time he would work for me."

Her lips spread in a devilish smirk as she added, "I sort of got him at slave wages, to be honest." She laughed, then returned to the topic under discussion and the facts that she'd hidden from Sadie. "I didn't tell you any of this because once I met you ... realized what a beauty you are ... and, to be honest, how much money we can make working with one another, I, um..."

She chuckled, a bit of nervousness in her voice as she urged the girl into a seat, sat directly before her, and continued. "Sadie, dear. I need you to understand something about Bartertown ... about how and why it works ... why there is civilization here ... peace and prosperity, while the world around us is falling apart."

She gestured Clancy toward the wet bar, asking the teen whether she wanted something, then -- before Sadie could even answer -- tell Clancy to pour her one of the light wines that was a feature of the nightly family dinners.

"We have rules here that everyone must follow," she explained. "And that includes me. I have to follow the rules, too. If I don't, I lose the faith and trust of the people who live here ... the faith and trust of the people who trade with us. I must honor every deal I make."

Clancy arrived with the two drinks, for which Melanie thanked him before asking to be left alone with Sadie. The two men turned and departed without question.

"I made a deal with your brother," she continued, now holding Sadie's hand in her own. "Six days of his labor ... six days of you here with us. I have to abide by that. Now, normally, with any other Slit who wandered into town, I would have had the girl on her back twelve hours a day to line each of our pockets with Chips and gold. But Sadie...!"

She squeezed the girl's hands and smiled broadly to her. "You're no wandering Slit. You're different ... and you have a future here in The House if you want it. But...!" Her expression got a bit more serious. "I have to allow your brother his say on the matter. He brought you to me ... and while you might not be a pack llama or stack of wolf hides or case of shotgun shells, to be bartered in the marketplace for fair value ... you were ... let's use the word given to me as merchandise. I can't simply keep you, or keep you from your brother without compensating him, regardless of whether or not you want to stay here or not.

"Marcus has a say in this matter," she continued. "If he says he wants you back and that he wants to leave Bartertown ... I have to let him go ... and I have to let him take you with him." She could see the anguish in Sadie's face and tried to comfort her with, "However...! Once you have been gone for three days -- that's the law concerning sex slaves, and unfortunately that's how you were presented to me initially -- once you've been gone for three days, you can return of your own free will and stay here ... here in the house as one of the Girls ... out in the town as a laborer or some guy's squeeze ... your choice. But ... I have a sense of your brother. If he ever leaves here with you, I don't think I'll ever see you again. So ... between the two of us ... we need to find a way to make him want to stay."

She squeezed Sadie's hands again, a motherly gesture. "Understand?"

"Understand?"

Just when she thought she was free of her brother... Turns out he owned her here. God must have been playing a horrendous joke on her.

"He likes to be in charge..." After listening to what Melanie was proposing, she was thinking of ways to possibly fool him into staying... Then she would try to figure out how to get out of being his. "He's not use to being given orders... He was also telling me about his current living situation... Didn't sound too comfy... Maybe he might be more inclined to stay if..." The next part was hard for Sadie to say. "If he could work here... Under you... He has military experience as a sergeant, so he knows his way around fire arms. He was also the field boss on our dads ranch... Give him some kind of power here... He'll probably be more inclined to stay."

Sadie looked over her shoulder to where Roy and Clancy exited. Ever since her brother asked about them... She had been thinking about it more. She doubted he saw her as anything else other than a kid sister. Sadie would be too shy to act on anything. She turned back to Melanie.

"I understand that this arrangement has your hands tied... So there probably isn't much you can do... But if we stay here... And if there is anyway to keep me from him... Please." Sadie started shaking. "I don't want to be alone with him..." After that Sadie couldn't help but to start crying. She could feel it in her bones that one way or another he was going to have her again.

******* Three Days Later ********

Melanie had promised Sadie that while she was under her care, Marcus wouldn't be permitted to be alone with her. To a degree, that did provide the girl some comfort but Marcus was resourceful. Sadie knew she couldn't away from Marcus, he would want to at least see and talk to her... And Sadie wouldn't mind that so long as that was all it was...

Melanie didn't push when Sadie begged not to be alone with him. The woman had held her and tried to comfort her, it had been so long since Sadie had a motherly figure and Melanie did seem to be filling that role for her. Sadie never fully explained what happened between her and Marcus and Sadie figured if she did tell her, it wouldn't be considered rape. Marcus presented her as a sex slave, so that's what she was, and he could do as he pleased with her.

The past three days, Sadie's happy disposition was lacking... She was dreading this day... They would either leave together... Or stay. Either way... He would be within reach of her. She couldn't escape him.

Sadie was sitting in her room, patiently waiting for Marcus to finish his talk with Melanie. She was wearing a white dress, it complimented her figure which was enhanced by the corset she wore beneath it, and showed off her legs. She was looking out of the window when her door opened. Slowly she turned around to whom she guessed was Marcus at the door.

"He likes to be in charge," Sadie said.

Melanie laughed. "What man doesn't?"

"If he could work here ... Under you," the young woman suggested. She went on to explain Marcus's military experience, finishing, "He'll probably be more inclined to stay."

"I can talk to Clancy," Melanie reassured Sadie. "He commands the Guard."

When Sadie began to talk about not wanting to be alone with her brother, Melanie presumed the worst. The siblings wouldn't be the first the Matriarch had discovered were lovers; and they certainly wouldn't be the first couple in which both members weren't participating consensually. Before beginning to cry, Sadie said, "I don't want to be alone with him..."

"You won't be, my dear," Melanie reassured Sadie, moving closer and pulling the girl into her arms. "You are protected here. No man would ever hurt you under my care. No man would dare. Believe me."

Melanie considered going to the curio cabinet and pulling out what she called the Lesson Jar to show Sadie the balls and cock of the last man to commit rape in her little town. But the girl was distraught enough, and showing her a man's family jewels, well preserved in a pickle jar filled with formaldehyde and baby onions as if some holiday meal treat, probably wasn't the best thing to be doing right now.


"Come with me."

Marcus was lounging back in his bunk when he heard the order and looked up to find Clancy with a no-nonsense expression on his face. The big man -- bigger even than the 6 foot, 200 pound Marcus -- gestured with a curling finger, then turned and headed for the Bunkhouse's door.

Clancy crossed what was now considered the town square, ascended the porch of The House, and walked down the halls and into the Library without once even looking back to see if Marcus was following. There really was no need to look: Clancy knew the man had been awaiting this day as much as his sister had been fearing it.

Melanie hadn't shared the intimate details of her talk with Sadie three days earlier, but Clancy knew there was something about Marcus that scared the man's sister to the point of trembling just at the though of him. As if that wasn't bad enough, Clancy had now been strapped with employing the man in the Bartertown Guard.

"We don't know this man!" he'd argued to Melanie. "No man had ever been accepted into the Guard unless--"

"Yeah, yeah," Melanie had cut in, her mind already made up. "Unless he was a ranch hand or trusted local before The Collapse or a new citizen who had proved his worth over months, yeah, I know, 'cause I'm the one who established the rule."

And yet, Melanie had forced Clancy to accept that Marcus would be a Guardsman. She'd explained, "I can't keep Sadie without compensating Marcus. We'll find something for him to do that-- Wait! McMurphy."

Clancy had considered the idea for a moment, then nodded. "McMurphy."

"Marcus!" Melanie said with feigned excitement as the pair of men entered. She shook his hand as if he was a long lost friend returned, asked him about his six days of labor, then asked if he was ready to get onto something more important, something in which he could utilize his unique capabilities. "We have a neighbor. Martin McMurphy. He's been--"

"Where's Sadie?" Marcus interrupted. "When can I see my sister?"

"Soon," Melanie reassured the young man, immediately returning to her explanation. "Martin McMurphy has been ... let's call him a thorn in my foot, for a very long time. He and his crew have stolen our stock, raided our granaries, even killed one of my Guardsmen, though that last one is only a presumption, based upon all of the other shit he's done to us over the years."

"Now he's blocking trade along the north road," Clancy hopped in. "Three communities in that direction trade with us, as well as the hermits. We need this ... interference to come to an end."

"You want me to ... what...?" Marcus began. "Hassle his advance teams ... protect the road by force ... rustle his cattle in return?"

"No," Clancy said bluntly, looking to Melanie to continue.

She looked from her right hand man to Marcus, smiled politely, and said easily, "No ... we want you to kill Martin McMurphy."

Marcus was shocked. There was a lot of killing in the world today, and not all of it was justified. In fact, much of it wasn't. But ... Melanie was talking about executing a man over business differences. And yet, it only took Marcus 30 seconds to make up his mind.

"I'll do it, but..." He considered his terms, very much as Melanie had with him six days earlier. "That little cabin that used to belong to Old Man Meezer ... the guy that died two days ago."

"You would like it," Melanie anticipated. "Done, so long as you continue to work for me through Clancy."

"Deal," Marcus said, then -- ready to drop the bomb -- added his next term, "And Sadie lives with me."

"Not gonna happen," Melanie said immediately but evenly. "All of my girls live under my roof. No exceptions."

Marcus considered various compromises, then countered, "Fine, but ... she visits me daily. Dinner. And one full day a week to get away by ourselves ... fishing maybe ... picking wild flowers, I don't give a fuck. I just miss Sadie. I need to see her ... to know that she's safe and happy."

Clancy cut in with a firm tone, "She's safe and happy. Don't you worry about that."

Marcus stared at the big man for a moment, then looked back to Mary who said, "Three visits a week, one all day but ... you stay inside the outer perimeter fence."

"No," Marcus said quickly. He needed to get Sadie alone -- to get her naked and under him -- and he couldn't do that inside the fence where eyes would always be upon them.

"You're not safe outside the wall," Melanie stressed. "And Sadie certainly isn't safe out there. Inside the wall or nothing."

"Maybe we'll just leave then," Marcus said suddenly. He looked to Clancy, whose face was tied up in deep anger. "We don't have to stay here. I asked around. I can leave here today and there ain't nothing you can--"

Melanie interrupted, "Clancy, will you be a dear and take a walk?"

Clancy didn't say a word, only turning and heading out into the hall. Once Melanie with alone with Marcus, she said flatly, "If you try to take Sadie from the house, I'll cut off your balls and eat them in a stew."

Marcus's eyes widened at the threat, but he answered in the affirmative: "Yes, but ... can I see my sister now."

(OOC: I can't finish. Falling asleep. Will add more in the morning.

(OOC: that's ok, I edited my post a little to compliment yours so everything makes more sense Take your time, no need to rush)