Chapter 2

Cat felt like a zoo exhibit. Every once in a while, passing footsteps would stop in front of her cage. Sometimes the passers by would comment on her. Other times they would linger silently and walk on.

The door to Cat's cage opened. She was led back down the ramps. Her blindfold and chains were removed, as was the gag.

"Get undressed," her handler commanded. Cat removed her jeans, shirt, and shoes.

"Keep going," she was instructed. She removed her socks, bra, and panties. She was now naked.

"You're entered in the calf roping competition," the man told her.

"But I don't know anything about roping," Cat protested. "I don't even know how to ride a horse."

"You won't need to. You're the calf."

"Huh?"

"When you enter the arena, go to the center and stand in the chalk circle. When the bell rings, run," her keeper (as Cat had come to think of him) said.

Cat was thrust into the arena. The door closed behind her. The stands were filled. The audience was mostly men, but there were a few women scattered around. Most of these wore casual clothes, but a few wore either lingerie or nothing and seemed to be captives or servants or something.

Cat turned red with embarrassment from being naked in front of all these people.

"The quarry will stand in the circle," the announcer commanded. Cat saw a chalk circle about three feet in diameter and went to stand in it. She tried to examine the crowd more closely, wondering who all these people were and where they had come from.

"The first rider in the calf roping event is Bill Jenkins," the announcer announced. "Catherine Lund is the calf." Cat was angry that he had told all these people her name. It was somehow more embarrassing being naked when they knew who she was.

A bell rang and a gate opened. A horse and rider issued from the gate. The horse sped toward her. Cat had never been around horses much. It was huge. As it approached, she could literally feel the earth shake as its hooves pounded the turf. The rider was slowly twirling a lariat.

"Run, you stupid bitch, run," the rider shouted. The horse was very close now. Cat realized she would be trampled if she didn't get out of the way. She turned to run, but it was too late. The lariat settled around her shoulders and yanked her from her feet. The rider dismounted and ran toward her. Cat tried to get up, but the horse backed up, keeping the rope taut and pulling her from her feet again.

The rider reached her side. He had a length of rope in his hands and another in his teeth. Cat was turned onto her stomach and her hands were jerked behind her and bound tightly. Then he grabbed her ankles, crossing one over the other, and wound rope tightly around them. He pulled roughly on the tail of the rope binding her ankles and her feet were yanked toward her waist. He wrapped the end of the rope around her wrists so that she was hogtied with her wrists and ankles closely bound together, pulling her body into a tight arc. The rider threw his hands in the air and a bell rang.

"It may be a record," the announcer enthused. "if the judges allow it. Yes, it is. Wait... no. Disqualified. Penalty assigned to the quarry. The rider will get another chance with a new calf."

"Damn," the rider said and stomped off. One of the grounds crew untied Cat's ankles and helped her up. Her wrists remained tied. He looped the rope around her neck and led her away on the makeshift leash. Cat was even more embarrassed being led away in ignominy like this.

"Now you've done it," her keeper informed her. "You've gotten the ride disqualified and made an enemy of the rider, not to mention the penalty you've got coming. It doesn't count if you don't run."

It was all so unfair, Cat thought. She had tried. Nobody had really told her what to do or what was coming. What did they expect on her first time? It wasn't like she volunteered for this or anything.

Cat was locked back in her cage. "They're going to go easy on you since it's your first time," her keeper informed her. "Only $1000 and 30 seconds."

"Only 30 seconds!"

"I know it seems like a lot longer, but it really is only 30 seconds. You can handle it," he said sympathetically.

Cat knew she would handle it. There was no choice. It would happen to her and she had no option but to endure. That didn't make it any easier.

Cat was locked tightly in her cage as the pain hit her. She hoped she would pass out or something, but she didn't. After an eternity, it stopped again.

Cat stood in her cage and sobbed quietly. It was all so unfair. She was going to have to endure a whole weekend of this sort of treatment. Bound, caged, blindfolded, led around naked on a leash, roped and hogtied. What had she ever done to deserve this?

Cat's misery was interrupted by her keeper.

"You get another chance. This time, run. You're expected to give the rider a contest. There's a prize for the girl who takes the longest to hogtie."

Cat was shoved naked into the arena again. She walked over and stood in the circle. This time she took off running the instant the bell rang. She ran for the opposite wall, simply trying to increase the amount of time it would take the rider to get to her while she tried to think of something else to do. The horse came pounding up behind her. She stumbled as the rider cast his rope. Cat tucked her head and did a shoulder roll. She felt the rope land on her back, but wasn't ensnared. She turned a somersault and came up running, heading off in a new direction. The rider reeled in his rope and wheeled his horse around in pursuit. His next cast was on the mark and Cat was jerked from her feet again. As the rider dismounted, Cat rolled onto her stomach and came up running toward the horse. The horse backed, but not fast enough to keep the rope taut and Cat was able to slip the lasso off her shoulders. The rider was nearly to her as she gained her feet and rushed past him. The rider was caught off guard. Cat was between him and the horse. She did the obvious thing. She raced to the horse, stuffed her foot in a stirrup and heaved herself onto the animal's back. She had never ridden a horse before, but how hard could it be? She'd seen her share of westerns. Cat kicked her heels against the horse's flanks and shook the reins. The horse, sensing an inexperienced rider, didn't budge. The cowboy had, in the meantime, reversed direction and was nearly in reach of her.

"Hey, move it," Cat shrilled and smacked the horse on the butt as hard as she could. The horse leapt forward and Cat hung on for dear life. It raced toward the far end of the arena with Cat pulling on the reins but unable to bring it under control. When it was nearly at the far wall, it stopped suddenly, planting its front feet and lowering its head, pitching Cat off its back. Cat flew through the air. She tried another shoulder roll, but landed hard and the wind was knocked out of her. She lay on the turf moaning and wheezing. The bell clanged and the crowd roared enthusiastically.

Cat's keeper came trotting over. "Don't move," he instructed. "We need to check for broken bones."

A doctor came puffing up behind the keeper and the two of them checked her over pretty thoroughly. "Nothing broken," the doctor informed her. "That shoulder roll saved you a concussion, but still you hit pretty hard. I'm amazed you didn't break a collar bone."

A stretcher crew arrived and carried her off the field. The crowd continued to cheer. Cat was carried into what appeared to be a locker room. Her keeper helped her onto a massage table, then rubbed her down with liniment and massaged her back and shoulders. Cat winced as he worked over the more tender areas, but it did seem to help. Afterwards, she was allowed to rest for a bit. Finally, her keeper prepared to lead her back to her cage.

"You probably won the prize today."

"What's the prize?"

"Five thousand off your indenture. But don't get cocky. You've made another enemy. That rider was disqualified, not to mention embarrassed. I think you'll find it's wiser in the long run to let them catch you, just don't make it too easy."

Cat's hands were bound behind her again and a rope looped about her neck. She was now on the far side of the arena, so she was led all the way around the top tier. She wasn't blindfolded, so she was able to see the other girls in their cages along the wall. Her leash pulled taut as she stopped suddenly in front of one of the cages.

"Mindy! Oh, Mindy. They got you too. I'm so sorry. No wonder they told me you were unavailable. I didn't realize... Wait a minute! The Halloween party, the cupcake salesman... they knew where I lived. You bitch! You did this to me, didn't you. How could you? Your own sister."

"So they told you I was unavailable. You were going to do it to me, weren't you. It just happens that I did it to you first, but it wasn't anything you weren't going to do to me, was it."

"Yeah, but you deserve it. If you hadn't done it to me, I wouldn't need to do it to you... you..." Cat stopped, realizing how stupid that sounded. "Bitch." She turned and stomped off. "Take me to my cage," she demanded. Her keeper led her away.

By the time they reached her cage, Cat had had a chance to cool down. She supposed she couldn't blame Mindy for what she had done. After all, she had tried to do the same thing to Mindy. She wondered who had done it to Mindy. She thought she knew. Fred had a habit of playing the ponies and had suffered some losses. As a result, he had run afoul of some unsavory characters. Had he indentured his wife to pay his debts? Did Mindy know who was responsible for her situation? Cat thought smugly that Mindy would finally have to admit what a slimeball Fred was.

Without her blindfold, Cat had a good view of the arena from her top tier vantage point. The calf roping competition went on for a while. Cat learned a few tricks by watching the other girls, but all of them were eventually hogtied before the bell rang. Cat was the only one to escape. She was assured of the prize. The competition was eventually won by Bill Jenkins, the rider who had first roped Cat. Cat hoped this might remove any lingering animosity he might have had toward her.

Cat drifted off to sleep. When she woke up, a new competition was under way. A large group of fifty or more women was huddled in the center of the arena. Each had a square piece of cloth on her back which bore a large number. They were otherwise naked. Along one wall was a small area had been enclosed in a rail fence. The fenced area had an opening with no gate and contained what appeared to be a chuck wagon and campfire.

The bell rang and a horse and rider emerged from the gate with a dog. The rider charged into the crowd of women, who scattered, then milled around. The rider wandered through the group, apparently looking for a particular number. The rider spied his prey and spurred his horse toward her, calling to the dog to indicate this was the one. The girl yelped and started running. The dog caught up to her first, coming in from one side snarling and nipping at her legs. The girl turned away from the dog and ran in a new direction. The dog followed barking with the rider close behind. The girl was currently headed toward the fenced area. She tried to change direction again, but the dog snapped at her ankles. She turned in the other direction, toward the rider, and he struck her on the thigh with what appeared to be a buggy whip. She screamed and turned toward the fenced area again. She was obviously being herded there. The girl continued to run, the dog nipping at her if she slowed down. Just before she reached the opening in the fence, she turned aside. The dog had been ready for this and snapped at her and blocked her with his body, but the rider also came toward her. This was what the girl had been waiting for. Her feint had pulled the rider out of position and she reversed direction and ran past the rider and along the fence. She yelped again as the whip cracked on her thigh, but she was back in the open. She ran along the wall, using it for cover until the dog caught up with her and managed to turn her out into the field. This time the rider and dog herded her more carefully toward the fenced area and with a final crack of the whip across the back of her thighs, she stumbled in.

The rider dismounted and followed her in. She tried to run out again, but he tackled her then grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her to the center of the area. He tied her ankle to what appeared to be an iron stake in the ground. The girl struggled and fought, but finally he had secured all four limbs to separate stakes so that she was spreadeagled face down on the sod. The rider then retrieved a branding iron from the campfire and approached the girl. Her shriek filled the now silent stadium as the iron bit into her posterior.

The announcer gave the elapsed time for the rider, then announced the name of the next rider. Meanwhile, the girl was released from the stakes, then handcuffed and led away by the grounds crew. The pack of women was formed up again in the center and a new girl sent out to replace the one who had been branded.

"C'mon, Cat. Time to join the festivities." Cat's keeper unlocked her cage. He looped a leash around her neck and led her down the ramps. Cat was terrified. As much as she feared the pain from the collar, this was somehow more awful. Her keeper saw the look on her face.

"Don't worry. They won't choose you. You'll just be there as part of the pack to add to the confusion. The girls who get branded are either being punished or are desperate to reduce their indentures and have volunteered. Each girl gets $2000 for being branded and the girl with the longest time gets $20,000."

"Oh." Cat wondered if she would ever be that desperate. She hoped not. "What if you don't have enough volunteers?"

"That's not a problem. We usually have too many. You get $1000 for volunteering, even if you don't get chosen. Some girls volunteer and hope they aren't chosen."

"So all I have to do is run around naked with this number on my back and add to the confusion."

"Right."

"And do I get compensated for running around naked in front of all those people?"

"You'll probably get fifty or a hundred dollars."

"Whoopee."

After the next girl was branded, Cat was sent out to join the pack. The pack formed up in the center of the arena. Cat was at the edge of the group nearest where the rider would come from.

The bell rang and the rider came riding toward them. The girls tried to stay tightly packed in a group to make the rider's job harder, but the rider didn't slacken his pace as he neared them and finally the girls panicked and scattered in all directions. The rider circled his horse, looking for his assigned target. The dog ran around barking at random, apparently not sure what else to do with himself until the quarry was pointed out. He chased a few of the girls around out of high spirits until the rider whistled. He had spotted his prey and pointed her out to the dog. Both took off in pursuit. She ran as hard as she could in the opposite direction of the fence and fire. The dog ran along side her, nipping and barking, trying to turn her. The rider caught up and snapped his whip against her thigh. The girl collapsed on the ground, weeping.

"Please," she wept. "I've changed my mind. I don't want to do this. Please, let me go. I've changed my mind."

The dog and the rider circled her, not entirely sure what to do. Cat was about a hundred yards from the girl and couldn't see her all that well through the crowed. A couple of guys came running up to the girl, picked her up, and carried her to the fenced off area. They passed close by Cat on the way. Cat got a good look at the girl. It was Mindy. Cat knew what had happened. Mindy had volunteered in the hopes that she wouldn't be chosen. The odds were with her, but her number had been drawn. Now Mindy wanted to renege. She must be desperate to rid herself of her indenture, Cat thought. She could hear Mindy pleading as the men carried her toward the fire. She sounded so pitiful, so frightened. It made Cat cry, despite what Mindy had done to her.

The men tied Mindy down to the stakes as the others had been, then branded her on both cheeks of her ass. Mindy screamed continuously throughout. Cat turned away, unable to watch. When she finally looked again, the men had Mindy on her feet. They had bound her hands behind her and frog marched her off the field. Mindy struggled, cried, and pleaded even more pitifully. She was obviously terrified of whatever was to come next.

A new girl joined the pack and the rider emerged once again. All the girls had been disheartened by Mindy's fate and didn't put up much of a struggle. The rider easily corralled his assigned victim and she was duly branded, a good time being turned in by the rider. He had been the last rider and the girls were herded off the field.

"What happened to that girl who..." Cat asked her keeper as she was being led back to her cage.

"You mean the one who tried to get out of being branded? You saw. She got branded twice."

"But what else happened? What are they going to do to her?"

"Don't ask."

"But she's my sister."

"Then you really don't want to know. Look, you should have figured out by now that if you aren't told something, then you aren't supposed to know it. Curiosity killed the Cat. Literally, if you're not careful. And don't go hanging around your sister after this is over. Institute servants aren't allowed to fraternize. They take an extremely dim view of that."

Cat was dismayed by this information, but did notice that her keeper had referred to the Institute as 'they' rather than 'we'. She wondered exactly what his connection with them was.

The afternoon consisted of a couple more events which Cat watched from her cage. At the end of the last event, a grounds crew came out and began grooming the field. Cat's keeper arrived to lead her away.

"Is it over?" Cat wanted to know. "Are we going home?"

"Hardly. Right now you go to the showers. Then you dress for dinner. After dinner is the auction."

"Let me guess what's being auctioned."

"You got it. But it's not permanent. They only get you for a night."

Cat was led into a locker room. Although the room was bustling with women coming and going from the showers, dressing, and putting on make up, it was eerily silent. She noted that a couple of the women were gagged, making it obvious that talking was not allowed.

Cat was shown to her locker, which already contained her valise. She showered, then dressed and put on her make up. After she finished, she sat on the bench that ran along in front of the locker and waited. Most of the other women were dressed and also waiting. A few were still dressing.

When everyone was dressed and ready, they were led as a group to the cafeteria. They were seated at long tables and waitresses began circulating taking orders. Cat was given a choice of chicken, steak, or vegetarian. She chose the chicken. The food was surprisingly good and Cat hoped the cost of the meal wasn't being added to her indenture.

After dinner, a man entered the cafeteria and called for their attention.

"Alright, ladies. It's time for the auction. Each of you will be auctioned to the highest bidder and he will own you for the night. You will serve him in any way that pleases him. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of the consequences if you fail to please him," he said, doing precisely that.

A girl near one side of the room raised her hand. "How does this affect our indenture?"

"Half of the bid price goes toward your indenture, so the more you sell for, the greater the reduction of your indenture."

Another girl raised her hand. "Why did we get all dressed up? Don't we get auctioned naked?"

"No, you don't. They've already seen you naked. For the auction, we want you to look as alluring as possible. Being dressed piques the imagination in a way that being naked doesn't."

The group was led down a hall to another large room. They were seated on benches around the edge of the room. One by one their names were called, one about every couple of minutes. As each woman was called, she would approach the door where she was prepared. Preparation consisted of an inspection, with small adjustments being made to her clothing and make up. Then her wrists would be locked behind her in a pair of manacles separated by about six inches of chain. A similar pair with a little over a foot of chain would be locked on her ankles. Then a leather collar would be fitted around her control collar. A leash was attached and she was led away.

About a third of the women were already gone when Cat's name was called. She walked up to the door. The make up person was another woman in a collar. She made some changes to Cat's eye make up and fussed with her hair. Upon command, Cat reluctantly placed her hands behind her back. She felt the steel bands latch around her wrists and reflexively she tugged at them. She wished she hadn't. Her bonds were unyielding and made her feel helpless in a way she hadn't before, even though she had spent a good part of her day bound in one way or another. She felt the chains being locked on her ankles, then the collar and leash were attached. Cat's keeper seized her leash and led her away.