Chasing Paradise Ch. 18

The sun was low behind the trees, and it struck her that she would probably need somewhere to at least get some rest if she was able. For all her wandering around the island, vaguely in service of some nebulous and distant goal that had been pointed out would mean her eventual freedom, Amelia had seen precious little by the way of places anyone would want to hunker down and spend the evening. While the ground had risen and fallen there had been no signs of caves or hollows anyone might shelter in. Aside from the ruins of a village she'd passed there hadn't even been any buildings she'd seen along the way.

Perhaps this was just another part of the hunt, she thought. The hunters get to go back, wine, dine, and fuck their way into the evening but the prey had to find a place on the forest floor and hope that the assurances about the lack of dangerous wildlife were as accurate as they all hoped. In the morning the prey would have barely slept, and their weakness would make their capture easy by fresh and rested hunters. Amelia was tempted to outsmart everyone and carry on going, but that hope was dashed when she realised her tracker's screen had been replaced by the words "Hunt Paused" in large red letters, followed by "Hunt resumption will be preceded by a 30 minute warning" in much smaller letters underneath. The indicator that showed her the direction to go was nowhere to be seen, and while she could carry on the likelihood was that without a point to aim for in the darkness she'd walk in circles, off a cliff, or even worse.

She cursed under her breath at the thought, knowing she'd have to stop, and then she saw something through the forest. Up ahead was a small clearing, and on the edge of it some squat wooden buildings in the ever-present Yorotani red white and black. Her first reaction was to take cover, easy enough in the growing twilight amongst the trees, but her second was to watch.

No movement, no lights, no people. Maybe her luck was in, she thought, and she wandered closer hoping for some half abandoned place she could curl up for the night in. Still nothing, not a sound. She picked the smallest of the buildings, little more than what someone might use as a garden shed, and investigated it. It had no windows, no lock on the door, and looked to be completely intact. Taking a breath she cracked the door and looked inside. The place was dark, but a small gas lantern hung by the door; carefully she stepped inside, shut the door, and put the lantern on its lowest setting. With the click of an ignited flame, and the quiet breathy whisper of escaping gas the dim light fell across the windowless room.

The place looked to be some sort of maintenance or general staff building; it was wood floored and full of an assortment of things hotel employees might need if they found themself out here. A rack contained fuel cans, and spare batteries for vehicles, another a mixture of restraints and batons, there was a rack of spare coveralls for handlers along with radios, and what looked to be a selection of collapsible woman-sized pet cages piled up in case they were needed. Right at the back of the room, though, were the things she longed to see. A few cases of bottled water along with what looked like basic dried rations, and a desk with plans of the island on. For a second she considered the food she'd seen earlier, and hesitated reaching out but her thirst and hunger won her over, and within seconds she was munching through some sort of crumbly white block of sugar with a hint of peppermint, and knocking bottled back water that had sat unrefrigerated for long enough to be unpleasantly warm. She didn't care. Her thirst was at least somewhat slaked, and her hunger dulled. She stared at the map, and it took her not long at all to realise how useless it was.

She knew where she was, that much was clear, the hut was marked, and it seemed like the hunt area as a whole was marked but the rest was a hotchpotch of unlabelled pins, they seemed to be colour coded but in no way Amelia could work out. She was deep in thought when a distant rhythmic sound seemed to grow louder and louder. Quickly Amelia cut the gas to the lantern, placing it on the table before she crept to the door and looked out of the smallest crack that could give her any kind of visibility of the outside world.

Two horses cantered into the clearing. The same two she'd seen earlier. Amelia's heart leapt up into her throat and it was only by nerves of absolute steel that her fight or flight reaction was kept under control. She was trapped in a room with hunters right outside, with no chance of escape. Clearly they'd tracked her here and were going to go building to building to find her. Had she left a trail outside, she thought, she hadn't thought to wipe out her footprints before coming in.

The two on horseback chatted and laughed before heading to a distant building and tying their horses outside. One of them pulled his slave saddle down from the horse he'd been riding; the girl looked basically crippled but steadied up once she was being bitchwalked by her master, her tumbling locks forming an impromptu leash she could be led around by. It suddenly dawned that they might not actually have been tracking her, and this may just be a midpoint in the hunt where hotel guests could rest overnight. Amelia breathed a sigh of relief as they moved out of sight and she heard them enter another building. Wherever they had gone it wasn't anywhere near her. Then Amelia reasoned further, this was a staff building, even if hunters took all the cabins surely they wouldn't come in here, the place may as well have had a "Staff Only" sign on the door. The tiniest ember of a feeling of security grew within her as kept on thinking about the situation. For now at least she was somewhat safe. She grabbed a few more of the ration packs and bottles of water, and settled into a spot near the door beneath a rack of jackets that seemed to be for a monsoon season, concealing herself behind boxes of spare boots, and utility belts. With the door open just a crack she had a good view of the clearing, and so she sat, watching and waiting for any sign she might need to run.

Multiple groups came along. Some alone, some with struggling women Amelia couldn't make out in the darkness, but who she could guess at the identities of. Some of the men were on foot, others ATVs, even a dirt bike or two. Finally a battered 4x4 drove into the clearing, and parked up. Amelia watched as two intertwined women were removed from the slave storage area at the rear, one of them screeching as the bodyweight of both women was pulled out roughly by her braid.

There was nothing Amelia could do but watch.

Yorotani Island - The Temple

Evie hid in the darkest shadows of the gallery and watched as Staunton practically threw the girl he had with him into the temple. Unprepared for the force propelling her she rolled and landed at the base of the dais.

"It's amazing a girl like you lasted as long as you did out there. No instinct on when to hide, no attempt to cover your tracks, no aim to distract the hunters. You are lacklustre prey, and I will do our guests the favour of ensuring you do not soil their hunt with such poor sport. There is no escape from this place, save through me." said Staunton at the doorway.

"If I'm such poor sport then get me to the end so I can go home and never bother these rich fucks or you ever again." said the woman rising to a crouch at the foot of the dais.

Evie couldn't see, but she could guess the level gaze the woman was getting from the doorway. Many of the slavegirls in the hotel whose discipline failed them were often cut down to size just by his stare alone. "The newborn gazelle gets but one chance to evade the hunter before it falls. I see no reason to offer more to simple fuckmeat," he said from a position just below Evie, his shadow casting long and dark, looming over the girl as the last of the sun shone through the temple door.

The woman prowled in a crouch around Staunton, but his comparative size allowed him to effectively control all the space between her and the doorway with little effort. She dashed at him, attempting to jink to one side then the other. Staunton remained solid and fixed until a single powerful backhand sent the girl spinning away to the floor with a crack that echoed like a gunshot in the confined stone space.

The girl was stunned, although Evie knew that had he chosen to do so he could have rendered her completely unconscious. This was almost certainly part of his method, first breaking a woman down so he could reform her as he wished. Staunton took a moment while she lay there to reach into a pocket and grab some matches. Evie saw the yellow flame flare as he struck one and for a second was taken aback by what he planned to do, surely even he wouldn't plan to use fire on a woman who hadn't even technically been banded yet. Evie calmed as Staunton simply placed the lit match in an alcove by the door, lighting oil that was there and bringing a little light to the rapidly darkening temple. Over the next few seconds alcoves all around the lower level began to light casting a soft yellow glow on the pair with dancing shadows in every direction. Evie recognised the girl now, a beautiful freckled redhead named Sammy. She hadn't stood out too much from the rest of the profiles of the girls who were acting as prey this time, but then every hunt had its higher and lower quality prey. Evie wondered which one she herself counted as while she tried desperately to be illuminated as little as possible by the light from below.

"This place," Staunton said as he stepped towards the stunned redhead, "was once a place of worship, and sacrifice." He grabbed her by the hair once more and she winced as she was dragged towards the altar. "You may not realise it but the hunt today honours what was done here for generations before you even knew about the Yorotani. Every year several eligible women were released into the forest and the menfolk of the island were encouraged to catch them."

He dragged Sammy up the steps of the dais and onto the central Y shaped altar, "I don't care about this, just let me go!" she screamed as she tried to pull back, but had neither the strength nor pain tolerance to make Staunton falter by even an inch.

"Oh this explanation isn't for your benefit, cunt. We have an audience." replied Staunton. Evie felt her heart beat faster inside her chest. He couldn't possibly be talking about her. He couldn't have caught this other poor girl and still had the time to track her down in the final moments of the day.

In one smooth movement Staunton dragged Sammy off her feet and onto the altar, rotating out a thick stone restraint from its surface that pinned her by the neck. "The women who escaped were prized, they were to marry only the most successful lawmakers, hunters, fishermen, and warriors. Their bloodlines mixed with those men, and their progeny ruled for generations. Those who were captured largely became free use oral slaves, and when not needed for that they provided much of the manual labour of the island. Near the end of the Islanders' time here several Pussianan women found themselves in the same situation having been traded here. Not for them a pride of place, they had never escaped capture. They were as much slaves here as they were in their own lands." Staunton continued, using similar restraints to pin Sammy's struggling arms before parting her legs and using the stone restraints on the split stone prongs of the Y to completely immobilise her. Evie watched as Sammy felt the last restraint slide into place. Sammy was now entirely trapped, and Evie's breathing quickened as she saw how vulnerable she was. Staunton ran a gentle hand from crotch to breast idly as he kept talking and Evie swore she could feel his fingertips do the same to her.

"One woman each year, however, the first woman captured as part of the hunt, was sent here as tribute to the volcano. Fuckmeat for the local priests. Others could be donated as a tribute for good fortune, better harvests, anything that was deemed the realm of the divine." As Evie watched Sammy was still trying to struggle but clearly the stone restraints on the altar had already stood the test of time.

Sammy kept struggling past the point where Evie herself would have given up. She was dangerously close to causing herself serious harm. Staunton laughed at her struggles and she let out a scream of rage and frustration at him that spoke of a pain Evie hoped she would never have to understand.

"Let me go, please, you've already said you're after someone else, why keep me here? She's probably long gone by now, you've lost her by trying to keep me," Sammy said as she continued to twist in the restraints.

Staunton sighed, sadly, "Predictable. You see, Evie, how she struggles and pleads? Just like a fox gnawing off its own leg to escape a trap. A human accepts their fate, waits, and sees what comes next; after all not every trap leads to a threat to womankind." He brushed some hair out of Sammy's face and Evie saw the look of panic that was now overtaking her. "Some traps can lead to safety, especially for girls like you." Carefully and with measured strength he began to use his fingers between Sammy's immobile thighs.

"No! No! Please! No...I'm not that.....I'm a good girl...I don't need....oh..." Sammy protested before Evie saw her head fall back unresisting, her eyes closed as she gently bit her lip and let out a moan. "Oh gods, please...I uhhhhh....it's not fair....I wanted to do more before....before ahhh!" Sammy continued as Staunton carried on with his fingers between her legs. Evie had seen this before, experienced it too. Staunton's fingers could definitely drive a woman mad in seconds. Subconsciously Evie moved forwards to the edge of the gallery, emerging from the shadows slightly to watch more closely, her own fingers playing with her rapidly dampening slit.

Staunton was bringing Sammy inch by inch closer to climax but moved to a harder, wider massage of her whole crotch before using his other hand to deliver a savage slap to her breasts. Sammy yelped as the meaty paw rebounded off her flesh but seemed no further from pleasure. Evie realised at this point as well as rubbing her slit vigorously she was also pinching one of her nipples quite savagely. It felt good, she didn't want to stop. She realised then she could quite happily simply stare at Staunton as he worked, his hands focusing on all those parts of a woman that could refocus her into what he wanted. He was a sculptor, and women were his clay. He played, he teased, he moulded and shaped but no matter the pliability of the clay it always needed the pure and cleansing fire of the kiln to match his vision.

She knew at that moment that Staunton was right. There was no escape from this temple except through him, and even if she did get out she had nothing to escape to, no one to go back to. Was two years of freedom worth it if it was spent begging and prostituting herself on the streets of Pussiana? She'd stepped in the trap by coming to the Yorotani in the first place, so now she had her choice; gnaw off her leg trying and failing to escape or surrender to inevitable fate.

She took a deep breath, and stood. Her feet moved almost by themselves once she'd made her choice; around the gallery down the stairs, and directly towards where Staunton was still massaging and slapping Sammy. Evie could see in Sammy's face now that Staunton was balancing her on the edge of pain and pleasure. Evie wanted to be her. She wanted to be in those restraints; to feel the tender fingers and the sharp slap of his hands. She wanted to lose her mind at his command and feel safe under his guidance rather than suffer at the hands of any Pussiana man who'd have her before she was banded anyway. He didn't even look at her as she approached, his physical attention all on Sammy as she writhed and winced, her brain unable to keep up with everything happening to her and mixing it into a new pleasure she had never felt before. "There you are, Evie, I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever come down to join us."

She knelt at his side, head bowed, and took hold of her hair; one hand at the base of her skull, and the other at the end just over a hand's width apart. "This cunt surrenders, and begs that you will become her master."

As Staunton's hand closed on the hair she presented to him Evie wept. She felt the cares of the world melt away. The hunt was over for her, she was safe.

Yorotani Island - The Clearing Camp

Saffi was up on tiptoes suspended by her braid, her head twisted to an awkward angle as she yelped in pain.

She watched through tears of pain as her captor reached around to the back of Slaptwat and pressed something. "You know it's amazing, you could have searched for the off switch at any time, unlocked yourself, and avoided all this," he said as the magnets disengaged and Slaptwat fell to the floor, "Even more amazing is the fact you had the compassion to stop for someone who should have been your direct competition in a ticket to freedom."

Saffi dangled there, helpless. She was completely unbound, but she knew there was nothing she could do. Physically resisting was out of the question, and while her braid was being pulled in a way that nearly yanked her straight off her feet she had little she could do other than simply accept the situation.

"You're weak," he continued, "but at least you have a willingness to try; some spark of rebellion within you. Most women wouldn't have come here, wouldn't have made it as far as you did, definitely wouldn't have stopped, and right now would be far more broken than you look."

Gently he lowered her braid so she could stand normally, still keeping it tight in his fist, though, reminding her she was very much a captive. I saw you at the showcase and my first thought was that I'd never had a Veshyan girl, especially not one as pretty as you." Saffi blushed at his words. She didn't want to, but she'd never thought of herself as really pretty despite her A grading.

"Even now, no begging, amazing. Well, we may as well get you acquainted with your new life..." he said as he used her braid like a leash once more and pulled her towards an area in front of the nearest hut. She saw something metal sticking out of the ground but the angle that she was being dragged at precluded her from getting a good view until she was right on top of it. As she was bent over she saw a pole sticking out of a concrete block in the ground. On top of the pole at around waist height was a piece of metal her neck was forced down onto, she didn't resist as her wrists were put underneath and either side of her neck before two side pieces were raised into place, and locked with a single pin to one side.

She struggled a little in place for a moment against the metal before her captor spoke again, "How sweet, waiting for me to fully restrain you before attempting to wriggle free. If I didn't know better I'd assume you got off as much on being hunted as the rest of us do tracking down wayward little cunts like you."

While the sky had gone dark the area Saffi was in was well lit enough to see him as he began to inspect her. She was still distraught, and her brain raced, but at least a small part of it looked back at her new master every bit as much as he was looking at her. He was wearing black tactical style gear, sleeveless. He didn't ripple with muscle but he looked more than strong enough to move her around to his whim as he'd already demonstrated. He had a handsome face with a simple elegant waxed moustache and chinstrap grey beard that made something within Saffi pine a little even as she realised the sole reason she was here was so that he could hurt and violate her.