It was a good two-mile walk to work, but when Mindy arrived at the SteelCo flange factory 7:00 Wednesday morning, there was a huge crowd milling about outside the main entrance gate. Forcing her way through the crowd, she came to the cause. A notice was stapled to the wall that the factory had closed down.

Shit! Just what she needed!

She recognized some of the guy's faces, but she didn't really know many of them. Sometimes the guys would come on to her, and she would always blow them off. She had a reputation for being les, but she wasn't. She just wanted to surrender to a cruel master someday who would take her against her will and keep her as his slave. She wanted nothing to do with sex except as something that her master would force upon her to meet his needs, and even then, she wanted to be used more as a thing than as a sex slave.

At 40, her hopes of finding the life that she craved since she was a teen seemed as futile as an unarmed Federation freighter resisting the Borg.

She had structured her whole life in preparation for the day that she would be enslaved. She rented a small apartment, and owned very little of value. The only person who would miss her would be her brother, and she had made certain that she would disappear completely if the opportunity ever came to do so.

She had, of course, placed personal ads on fetish sites such as ALT.COM and COLLARME.COM, but everyone who had ever answered had turned out to be a wanker or a tease. The only person who held out any hope for fulfilling her fetish was a kinky sex storywriter whom she had made initial contact with. He had offered to enslave her, not as a kinky girlfriend to play BDSM on weekends, but as a real slave to be chained up 24/7 and kept in a cage when he was at work or otherwise wasn't using or abusing her body. But her own fear kept her from offering herself to him--after all, once she gives herself to someone like that, that's it--she'd be a real slave with no going back.

After the long walk back home, she poured a glass of wine and sat down to watch TV. How the hell would she ever pay her rent and pay all her credit card debt from just one job? If the factory didn't reopen soon, she was screwed, and knew it. Well, her night job pumping gas didn't start for another 10 hours--plenty of time to get drunk and sleep it off.

One of the few luxuries she indulged in was cable TV. Flipping channels, she stopped when she saw something on one of the uncensored international channels that her cable company fed through on channel 183. A show was starting called The Suicide Show. The thought of suicide had crossed her mind on the walk home from the factory, so she was in a curious mind about a show about suicide.

The show started as Bard, the host, welcomed a young girl named Kathy. "Welcome to The Suicide Show, Kathy!"

"Thanks, Bard!"

"Are you ready to die?"

She hesitated before answering, "Yes."

"Good! Come over to the death drum."

The two walked over to a big drum on an axle. Bard gave the drum a few spins and told Kathy to remove a ball from the drum.

Kathy reached in and held up a ball with the number 53 on it.

"Well," Bard said, "Let's see the wall of doom!"

The camera showed a wall with a numbered list of various ways to die. #53 was by electric chair.

"Okay!" Bard clapped his hands. "You're going to face the electric chair today, Kathy!"

Kathy grimaced and shuddered.

A curtain opened in the back, revealing a wooden electric chair as depicted in countless prison movies. Two bouncers came on stage and escorted Kathy behind a curtain. A moment later, she reappeared totally nude. They then led her over to the chair and shackled her in with metal cuffs on her wrists, ankles, and around her neck.

She was visibly struggling against the bonds as Bard explained how it works.

"Kathy, here, is in the electric chair. These lights--" the camera zoomed in on a panel of 10 dark lights suspended above the chair "--are controlled by a computer and will turn on one at a time, either red or green. Each light, individually, has a 50/50 chance of turning red or green. If all ten lights turn red, young pretty Kathy here will feel 600 volts of electric current flow through her body. If any one light turns green, Kathy's life is spared. For those of you who are statistically challenged, the odds of all ten lights turning red are 1024 to 1. The first light is 2:1 to turn red. Two lights turning red are 4:1 against. Three red lights are 8:1 against, and so on. Do you understand, Kathy?"

"Yes," she whimpered.

"But here's the catch," Bard said as a Web address flashed on the bottom of the screen. "Nine out of ten lights are for sale!"

Kathy gasped.

To the camera, Bard continued, "Go to our Web site and, for $10,000, you can purchase an override to force a light of your choice to turn red. If nine overrides are sold, poor Kathy had a 50/50 chance of frying today!"

Mindy gasped at what she was watching. Could this really be real?

Bard continued, "And every light that is purchased, the proceeds are split between the show and Kathy. If someone buys an override for $10,000, and Kathy lives, Kathy goes home with $5,000. If two overrides are sold, Kathy goes home with $10,000, and so on. Of course, if she dies," Bard grinned, "then the money goes to a charity named by Kathy--that's to keep us honest so we don't rig the contest in our favor!"

The show went to commercials for the next ten minutes, and when it came back, three of the lights were glowing red: the 2nd, the 5th and the 7th. "Well, folks," Bard said. "Three viewers have purchased overrides on Kathy's life! Three lights start out red right from the beginning! That gives Kathy 128:1 odds of frying!"

Bard walked over to a central pedestal with a big red button in the middle. "When I press this button, the computer starts turning lights on at random until all ten lights are lit. Again, if all lights come on red, Kathy is toast! If any one is green--any one--Kathy is spared. Here goes!" Bard smacked the big button with his palm.

The camera zoomed in on Kathy. She was visibly sweating. A moment later, the first light on the panel turned red, making for four red lights and the others dark. After a minute passed, another red light came on.

"Oh!" Bard spoke over the scene, "Will Kathy fry today?"

A minute later, a green light lit up, but Mindy felt strange. She didn't feel a sigh of relief for the girl. Instead, she felt disappointed. Mindy continued watching the show. Kathy remained locked in the chair until all ten lights came on; only then did the chair release her.

The show ended with a lot of sobbing and hugging, and Kathy left the stage with a giant check for $15,000. The show closed with an invitation for desperate women to be a contestant--just go to their web site and apply.

"Yeah, right!" Mindy muttered and poured herself another glass of wine, then another, then another. Later that night, the boss at the gas station chewed her out for showing up with a hangover, but Mindy knew that he would never be able to find anyone else to work the graveyard shift for minimum wage.

Without her factory job, Mindy slept late the next day and got up in time to catch the Suicide Show again.

The contestant was an older brunette named Susan. Susan pulled #36 from the death drum.

"Ah!" Bard laughed as the camera zoomed in on the wall of doom. "I'll take an order of deep fried Susan!"

Susan was escorted over behind a curtain, just as Kathy was the previous day. She reappeared completely naked where she was led over to a tall steel barrel and up a set of steps to a platform where a pipe was hanging directly over the barrel from a chain. The bouncers shackled Susan by her wrists and ankles to the pipe, then they pulled the platform away leaving her hanging directly above the barrel.

Then a hot blue gas flame lit up under the barrel.

Bard said, "Listen up! That barrel is filled with cooking oil." Bard then went on to describe how the lights worked and invited viewers to go to their web site to buy overrides. Then he added, "Let's take a station break while the oil gets good and hot."

After an endless series of TV ads, a camera looked down from above Susan's head into the boiling tank of oil that was bubbling angrily. Susan was quivering and shaking while shackled to that pipe.

Four lights on the board above Susan's head were already glowing red. Bard walked over to the pedestal and pressed the big button. A minute later, a green light lit up. "Awwwww," Bard said in mock disappointment. Mindy, again, was feeling an odd sense of real disappointment.

Susan hung there until all ten lights came on, then the bouncers rolled the platform under her and removed her from the pipe on the chain. She left the show with a giant check for $20,000. Mindy poured herself a glass of wine and switched to a football game.

Mindy caught The Suicide show again the next day. The girl, whose name she didn't bother catching, pulled #9 from the death drum. The camera zoomed onto the wall of doom and Bard announced, "The tiger pit!"

The girl, nude again, was collared and shackled by her neck to a short chain to the floor in a small circular pit surrounded by a high concrete wall. After the station break, two red light overrides were purchased by viewers. Bard explained that, if all ten lights came on, a tiger that had been left hungry for the past 24 hours--the camera showed a pacing striped tiger in a pen adjacent to the girl's pit--would be released into the pit.

During the next few minutes, four red lights came on in sequence. It didn't bode well for the girl. Then a green light came on. Mindy poured herself another drink and found something else to watch.

Mindy spent the weekend mostly drunk, but remembered to wake up early Monday to catch The Suicide Show.

The girl, a 30-something redhead named Jill, pulled #15. Looking upon the wall of doom, Bard announced, "We're going to have a Jillcicle today!"

Jill was attached naked to a pole very much like Susan was hanging over the boiling oil. But instead of boiling oil, Jill was hanging over a tank of liquid nitrogen covered by a cloud of white frozen smoke.

During the station break, viewers bought five overrides. Red light after red light lit up. When nine red lights were lit, Jill began to scream, "No! I changed my mind! I don't want the money! Let me down! Let me down!"

It looked real bad for Jill until the last light lit up green and Jill left the show richer by $25,000.

Hmm, Mindy thought. That's not a bad way to make a quick buck. At 1000 to 1 odds, that's pretty safe! I wonder...

Of course, Mindy caught The Suicide Show again the next day. The girl picked #13. The wall of doom declared that to be the skewer. The nude girl was hung by her wrists by a chain directly over a vertical pipe with a sharp point at the top. Numerous tiny sharp bits were attached to the pole. When all ten lights turned red, Bard announced, she would be dropped onto the pole and skewered alive.

Mindy was itching to see someone die for once on this show.

But it still wasn't to be. No viewers bought any overrides during the station break, the first light to come on turned green, and the woman left the show with a big fat goose egg.

The next day on The Suicide Show, the contestant, Julie, picked #73. The wall of doom called it "The Body Splitter." Julie was strapped naked onto her back, with her arms above her head, to a horizontal table. A large guillotine-like blade hung directly over her belly, slowly swinging back and forth crossways just inches above her.

Bard announced that, if all lights turned red, the table would rise very slowly as the blade cut deeper and deeper through her belly until she was severed in half. Mindy then noticed that the table had a gap directly under the blade, presumably to allow the blade to swing freely after it had sliced completely through the victim's body.

What a painful way to die! Mindy thought.

After the station break, viewers had purchased six overrides. Six of the lights were red before the game even started.

A minute later, a red light came on. Then another red light came on a minute later.

After another minute, another red light came on.

One more minute, the last light turned red. Bard announced, "Julie, it was nice knowing you."

Julie screamed. The table started to rise slowly, about one inch per minute. "No! Wait!" she pleaded. "I don't want to die! Please!" The camera caught her begging and pleading as the table continued to rise ever so slowly.

Julie sucked in her belly as the table rose to meet the blade. With each swing of the blade, Mindy could make out her struggle to suck in her belly ever tighter.

The time came, soon enough, that she couldn't pull her belly in any tighter and the blade sliced through her belly, leaving a red line across her belly.

Julie screamed an ear splitting shriek as she struggled fiercely. The blade sliced back across her belly again. Julie had let her belly out from that scream, and the blade bit deep, leaving a streak of crimson along the bottom edge of the blade.

Julie gasped and screamed as the blade swung back and forth so slowly. After several swings, Julie's belly was crossed by several parallel red lines, each deeper and more ghastly than the others.

At that, the blade slid through her belly easily once again a good 5 inches deep, turning much of the blade a dark crimson. Julie was rolling her head around making the strangest gurgling sound as the blade continued to cut into her deeper and deeper with each swing.

Blood was now literally pouring out of the many slices through Julie's abdomen and collecting in a sizeable puddle underneath the table.

Mindy heard a distinct click as the blade sliced through Julie's body almost all the way through her torso. Mindy realized that the click must be the blade cutting through her backbone with each swing.

At last, Mindy saw that bottom edge of the blade swing through that gap in the table, knowing that Julie's body had been completely severed in half.

Mindy found herself panting. And she couldn't believe it, but she was soaking wet!

The curtain closed on the table containing Julie's severed corpse. Once again, Bard invited viewers to become contestants on the show, but Mindy wondered how many people would want to do it after witnessing someone die for real.

That afternoon, the landlord came to collect the rent. Without her paycheck from the factory that week, she didn't quite have enough and asked him for an extension.

"One week," he said. "But I can't keep giving you extensions, Mindy! You're going to have to find another job, or move out."

But there were no jobs--not for an unskilled worker with no education. And that crappy little apartment was about as cheap as they come. At least Mindy expected to have enough money to cover the rent next week if she didn't pay her credit card and electric bills. And maybe she could save money by eating cat food.