Chapter 31: The Ranch

Similar to the previous night, I sat chained to the wall. But instead of the neck violin, my hands were tied out to the side. Mercifully, they did not use electricity on my crotch today, and the dripping water hose was turned off, so I did not have to sit in a puddle again unless I needed to relieve myself. By now I was really exhausted, but because of the chastity belt I couldn’t sit down comfortably. This time my meters weren’t tied up, so I could bend them a little and move back and forth, but there was no comfortable sitting position on the hard concrete. Nevertheless, I fell into a restless sleep as soon as the lights went out.

At first, I was afraid that I would be given more shocks to my breasts, but fortunately that was not the case. The bra was uncomfortable even without this. My nipples hurt and the hard edges of the cups pressed against my sides, even though they were padded with rubber. It was a strange feeling to be ‘dressed’ like this.

Again and again, I woke up with a start from my restless, exhausted sleep. It was completely silent in this cell. Not even the sound of the ventilation could be heard. Added to this was the total darkness, which frightened me the most. I felt like I was buried and forgotten. But my exhaustion overcame my burgeoning panic and I sank back into sleep.

I had just fallen into a deep sleep when muffled screams woke me up. They came from next door. Twenty must have had a panic attack too.

“Let me out, I can’t take it, please! I want to get out! Hit me if you want, but I’m afraid of the dark! Hello, can you hear me?”

She must have been screaming at the top of her lungs, but her cries were muffled here. I didn’t know if she would hear me if I called back. Nevertheless, I tried: “Twenty, can you hear me? This is Eighteen!”

She stopped screaming. I repeated my call.

“Eighteen? Can you help me? I can’t stand this darkness!”

“I’m tied up and sitting in the dark too!” I shouted back. “Imagine camping in the forest on a new moon!”

There was a moment of silence, then she shouted back, “I hate camping!”

“Were you chained to the wall there too?” I shouted back.

There was a strange noise, which I only recognized as laughter after a few seconds.

“No, I think you’re right. Camping is better than this!”

“But we do have one advantage here!”

“What is it?” she shouted back.

“No mosquitoes!”

An electric shock suddenly shot through my nipples and I cried out in pain.

“What happened?” came the question from next door.

“I think there are mosquitoes in here after all. But really nasty, electric ones!”

Another electric shock hit me. Apparently, I had to keep quiet.

Twenty seemed to understand, because she was silent now too.

After a few minutes, however, another call came from across the way: “Eighteen, thank you!”

It took quite a while before I fell back asleep. But it was only when the cell door opened that I really woke up.

This time it was Isabell who freed me. After she had removed my chains and helped me up, she went to the other cell and freed Twenty. I massaged my aching arms and neck muscles. This apartment didn’t get a star from me. Suddenly, it occurred to me how much I was still paying for my apartment upstairs until the end of the month, and I grimaced: no, what they were charging down here was really extortionate.

Despite my sleep, I was still tired and didn’t feel rested. How I was supposed to get through the day was completely beyond me. I tidied up, hosed down the floor a little, even though I hadn’t left a mess, and raked the water into the drain, cursing quietly.

Then I left the cell and met Isabell at twenty. She looked about the same as I felt. Nevertheless, she started to smile when she saw me.

“We should really go camping together sometime!”

I grinned back: “Deal, when we get out of here!”

Isabell looked at us both blankly.

“One night together in the bunker and already you’re sharing inside jokes? Should I be worried, my little fox?” Her tone sounded mocking, but there was also a hint of jealousy.

“No, my demon, of course you can come camping with us. We just want starry skies, soft forest floors, and real mosquitoes.”

Zwanzig giggled and Isabell looked dismayed.

“I don’t know what you’ve been taking, but I didn’t make any more jokes after nights like that in the bunker. And you shouldn’t either, or you’ll get another penalty point!”

I immediately put on an exaggeratedly serious face, which made Zwanzig burst out laughing.

Isabell turned around with a sigh and a shake of her head and left the block. We both followed, trying hard not to giggle anymore. With little success.

The morning began again with showers and the opportunity to use the toilet. So we made a detour to our cells to fetch our toiletries bags. Then we went to the common rooms. This time, I didn’t care who was watching me pee or do my business, because by now I was getting cramps from needing to go so badly.