Chapter 2: Incarceration

When the trailer door was closed, and the truck was back on the road, the three captives had a chance to talk.

"That cuts it," exclaimed Miranda, "I have no idea what's going on."

"What do you mean?" asked Angela.

"Since this whole thing started, I had assumed that we were to be sold as slaves in Nigeria, or some such place. But it just doesn't add up. They are treating us too well."

"Too well?!" exclaimed the other two together.

"Yeah. A container this size should hold three hundred girls, not thirty. Half of the cargo is expected to die in transit. They certainly would not worry about our hydration.

"Raping the cargo is an accepted perk.

"The three of us are probably the most intelligent, civilized women in this box. All the others are hookers, junkies, or criminals. These shackles and eye drops have prevented them from fighting. Without them, these skanks would be at each others' throats. I probably would have had to kill a couple, protecting you while you slept, Alice."

Alice gulped, but said nothing.

"This container is climate controlled, and padded better than most cells in psych wards. Wherever we're going, they want us all to get there in one piece and unharmed."

"I have and idea," said Angela. "We're human guinea pigs."

"How do you figure that?" asked Miranda.

"Drug companies sometimes use primates; capuchins, gorillas, and chimpanzees, in their drug testing. These monkeys cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars. They are very well taken care in their cages, until their deaths.

"I think someone has a designer drug they want tested, and we're the test subjects."

Miranda mulled it over for a few minutes. "That's a good theory," she said finally, "and a bit more comforting than mine."

"Comforting?"

"Our deaths will be quick and hopefully, we'll be feeling very good. As slaves, we'd be used and abused for years, until we died like dogs in a gutter."

"Not very comforting. Some apes die slow agonizing deaths, from brain tumors or cancer."

"But we're not dealing with doctors trying to cure cancer. We're dealing with criminals who are into making highly addictive drugs."

Alice interrupted, "but why only girls? Shouldn't any experiment involve both sexes?"

"In most experiments, they segregate the sexes," informed the pharmacist. "Less violence and competition between the cohabitants."

"Oh.

"What are those drops they put in our eyes?"

"I don't know the name, but it is an anesthetic of some kind, that deadens the optic nerve. We're blind for another eight hours or so."

"I think my eyesight was starting to come back," said Alice.

"I know mine was," said Angela. "I was processed after you two. My vision had recovered to the point where I could see the outlines of people."

"I was still in the dark," grumbled Miranda.

"Anyway," said Angela, " I saw the lady in charge. You do not want to mess with her.

"You know the creep that tried to fondle you, Alice?"

The teen shuddered. "Yes."

"He weighed at least three hundred pounds. That lady threw him like he was nothing. She then snapped his arm like a twig. She was petite; not more than five feet tall. A good foot and a half shorter than that thug. I've never seen anything like it."

"I have," said Miranda. "Sounds like she has had some serious martial arts training. And you are right, Angela. You do not want to cross her.

"The men stomped around like a bunch of drunken gorillas. I could follow their movements easily. That lady's movements, though, were completely silent. I could never tell where she was."

After that, the talk died away. They laid on the padded floor and tried to find a comfortable position to sleep.

An indeterminable time later, the truck turned off of the paved road. They then proceeded up and down some steep hills, on a much rougher road. The truck slowed to a stop, backed up, then stopped for good.

The door in the back of the trailer pulled up.

A male voice rang out. "Everyone on your feet!"

The women struggled to stand erect, unable to use their hands.

"Number One, step forward," said the same man.

No one moved.

"Number One, step forward, or we'll come and find you."

A woman near the front staggered forward.

The clipped alto of the dangerous female rang out. "Number One is in Group A."

Number Two came forward more readily, when her name was called. She was placed in Group B.

They went down the list, dividing the captives into two groups. Most went to "A". Only a third were put in "B".

When Number Seven was called, Angela whispered, "that's me. Wish me luck."

The pharmacist staggered forward, accidentally knocking down a couple of the other prisoners.

She was put in Group B.

Number Sixteen, Miranda, was also put in "B".

That left Alice. She hadn't felt this alone since she had woke up.

Though she knew it was coming, Alice jumped when the man called out "Number Twenty-three."

With the trailer nearly empty, she didn't knock anyone down. She did, however, trip over the threshold of the trailer. A goon caught her, but was careful not to touch any private part of her body.

"Number Twenty-three is in Group 'A'," said the female voice.

Alice was lead through what felt like a loading dock. Off to the right was a great clatter of screaming, running feet, and bodies hitting the metal panels. She was lead through a pair of double doors. The other captives from Group "A" were waiting.

A few minutes later, the female walked in. "All right product! I am going to take the shackles off your neck..."

A small cheer went up.

"Silence! Do you think this is a high school field trip? By the end of this week, most of you may be dead. By my hand, if necessary. I was going to let you walk unshackled. But, since you have shown that you have no self-control, I will have to keep you restrained."

All the captives had been lined up single file. The female went to the head of the line, and started unsnapping the shackles in an efficient rhythmic fashion.

When she came to Alice, she unlocked her wrist shackles from her neck, and locked them together. She then attached a chain to her wrists, and the other end of it to the collar of the girl in front of her. The chain was only six inches long; so Alice still could not drop her hands.

This was all accomplished in three seconds.

It turned out that the chain was worse than before. Alice constantly had to keep her weighted hands up, so she didn't choke the girl in front of her. A solution to this problem was found. If you grabbed onto the collar in front of you, it made the collar snugger, but didn't choke.

"Now, we are going to go for a little walk. Keep up, or you'll all fall like dominoes."

The train of naked, chained women walked down what seemed like a school hallway. Their leader pulled them at a rate just a little faster than Alice was comfortable with. It was not a long walk, though there were some turns. One to the left, then two to the right.

They were lead into a room that echoed like a bathroom.

"You all stink," declared their leader. "You will all shower."

The female took the first half of the train into another room. Alice waited with the end group. A goon, that had followed the train, kept guard.

After about ten minutes, she returned, and lead them into a communal shower. She removed the chains and positioned each captive against the wall.

Alice looked up and saw something shiny above her. Probably a shower head. Her vision was coming back.

"Hold out your hands, and I will remove you wrist cuffs. Drop your hands to your side. Do nothing else."

In the acoustics, Alice could hear someone softly translating the words into Spanish. The leader did not seem to mind.

The shackles fell off quickly, and were tossed into the far corner. When she was about to unbind Alice, the woman made a sudden move. The captive in front of her made a gasp of pain, and collapsed to the floor, clutching her side.

The leader finished unshackling the remaining girls, then walked back to the one on the floor, and crouched beside her. "I said to drop your hands," she said softly, though everyone could hear her. "Did I say anything about rubbing your wrists?"

"No," gasped the girl on the floor.

"No, I didn't

"You hurt, right?"

"God, yes!"

"It will fade in about an hour. I will help you stand."

After doing so, she continued. "You have three minutes to clean yourself. Fail to be thorough, and you will be joining your friend on the ground."

All the captives were given a small bar of Lava soap, then the water was turned on. Even with the harsh rough soap, it felt good to wash away the dirt and sweat of the last twenty-four hours.

With about thirty seconds left, the familiar female voice called out, "I hope you remembered to wash your hair."

Half a dozen girls yelped, including Alice. The Lava soap has dissolved into a putty-like substance. Alice smeared some into her blonde shoulder-length hair, scrubbed furiously, then tried to wash it out.

The water turned off. Their keeper made all of them stand with their legs spread and arms outstretched. She walked around them, inspecting the girls like cattle. She seemed satisfied with their cleanliness. "Acceptable. As reward, you will not have to wear your wrist shackles. But don't even dream that you will lose your collar. You will wear it to your grave.

"How many of you can see now? Raise you hand."

Just over half of the captives raised their hands, including Alice; who could see the blurry pink and tan outlines of her fellow inmates, and her captor, a petite woman with short blonde hair, wearing a black outfit of some sort. She also saw a red door to the right.

"Everyone who can see, guide one who can't through the red door."

As chance had it, Alice had no one to guide. As she headed toward the door, her captor grabbed her arm. It felt like a metal clamp.

"I need to talk to you," she said in a low voice, but with steel in her voice. This was no request.

The female lead her down the hall to a small room. A stack of old gym pads lay stacked on the floor.