The Escape

"Sure, brat. So you think Meadows is interested?"

"No idea, not worried about it right now."

"He was watching you earlier. Looked concerned."

"He was?" I asked, finally looking at Kal.

He grinned. "Yeah. Watched you a good two minutes, especially when you were bending over to sort that pile. Admittedly, it was a nice view."

"Jerk."

"Brat."

I was trying hard not to smile now and he knew it. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Eat up, brat, still a lot of work to do today," he said, getting up.

I watched him leave and my eyes went past him to Meadows who was sorting what looked like weeds on a makeshift table while he talked to Palmer. His eyes lifted and locked onto mine. He gave me a smile before I looked away, embarrassed at being caught looking.

I kept my head down the rest of the day, working, trying not to think about Meadows or anyone else. By the time it was dark, I ached from bending over for so long. I stretched out at the fire, rubbing my shoulder and twisting my neck as I stared into the fire. The night was frigid.

Hands on my shoulders made me snap to reality as I turned. Meadows was sitting behind me on his knees, moving closer, a leg on either side of me as he rubbed the knots out of my shoulders. I blushed and turned back to the fire, thrilled from head to toe that his hands were on me and he was so close. His fingers were magic, working out every ache and knot until I was putty and half asleep. I looked up and we were mostly alone at the fire, only Gilliford and Owens at the other fire and they were busy talking, shoulder to shoulder.

Meadows slid his hands to my shoulders and pulled me back to lean against him. His thumbs rubbed gently as I sat trying to control my breathing and staring wide eyed at the fire. Meadows was holding me! Practically.

"Better?" he asked gently.

"Much. Thank you, Meadows."

"John."

"John," I repeated, smiling again. I couldn't help it.

"You are welcome, Cass. As hard as you have been working, you deserve a little pampering. And to be honest, it's nice to be looked at like I am not almost 40."

"Age is a number," I said quickly.

"It is still gratifying," he said, trailing his finger up my neck and twisting one of my curls in his fingers. I shivered and blushed again, biting my lower lip to keep from smiling. "We should head in if those creatures are as bold as we have been told. You will sleep inside tonight, right?"

"I... I really don't want to. It's awkward and it annoys people. Keeps them awake. It's easy for me to sleep in a pod, I am small and it's warm enough inside. Also, it's secure. Just as secure as that room, probably more."

"If you change your mind, it won't bother me if you keep me up late," he said heatedly.

I blushed again, thrills shooting through me. "Nice to know... perhaps once we are more settled in and have... more private quarters."

"Mmm," he agreed, both hands moving along my jaw and pulling my head back to look up at him. He leaned in and kissed my head lightly, then stood and offered me a hand. I let him help me up, unable to look up at him. "I will walk you."

"No, it's ok. You go on in, I know my way. Umm, see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Little One."

He went in and I walked to my pod, holding my stomach and trying to settle the butterflies as I grinned. I started to climb up and a hand closed around my mouth and arm, jerking me hard into the edge of the forest.

"Stop doing that!" I said angrily when he let me go.

"Shut up! Anyone who comes looking to see about the noise, dies. That man touches you again, he dies. The medic."

"What? Why?!? I like him, I want..."

He clamped a hand over my mouth again and lifted me up, taking me deeper into the forest as I squirmed. I didn't know how he could see anything, but he moved as if he knew the way. He finally stopped, then spun me and shoved me hard against a tree, a hand on my throat.

"He touches you again, he dies. Do not argue. Any of them touch you, they die. Say yes, you understand."

"Yes... but I don't understand?"

"Shut up! They won't touch you. Any of them. You aren't theirs to touch."

Understanding hit me and I felt nauseous. "Why... did you kill Jacobs?"

"She was a liability and she was planning on trying to put you in your place. Maybe even hurt you."

"I... I see. You don't have to hurt anyone else, I will stay away from them. I promise."

He grunted, his hand tightening slightly on my throat. I was holding his wrist with both hands and shaking. He yanked me forward suddenly and spun me, then pushed me the other direction, slamming my thighs into a tree that was down. He shoved me down over it, pressing against me and leaning over me. "Who do you belong to?" he grated.

"I... you?" I asked, terrified.

"Who is allowed to touch you?"

"No one? No one but you?"

"Do not forget it," he hissed, grinding his hips into me.

Despite how afraid I was, his words and actions sent a small thrill through me. I wasn't something that could be owned, but the thought pulled at me in places that made me go red to my ears.

He yanked me up straight, holding me against him as he reached down with his other arm and undid my pants. He shoved them down my hips before shoving me back over the fallen log. His fingers slid through my wet slit and he made a noise that said he was amused as he reached around and forced his wet fingers into my mouth. I cried out in shame and revulsion as he held them there. "Suck," he demanded.

I closed my lips around his two fingers and sucked, licking them clean. He pulled them out slowly, then stood back and undid his own pants. "Phillippe..."

"Shut up!" he demanded, swatting my bare bottom. I jerked and yelped in shock. "You do not get to use my name, you should have minded your fucking business. You haven't earned the use of my name," he grated, his hand planted firmly in my back.

I tried to find a hold on the tree, terrified of what was close by in the dark, trying to push off of the tree. His fingers found my slit again and I whimpered, going still. I felt him rub the head of his cock along my slit and I felt panic well up again. "No! Please!"

He yanked my head back by my hair as he shoved into me, his cock sliding deep inside of me and filling me up almost painfully. I started to scream, but he clamped his hand over my mouth again and yanked my head back against his shoulder as he thrust. He was on his knees I realized, his jaw against my temple as he rammed into me again and again. "You are mine," he growled. "Say it," he demanded, moving his hand down to my throat.

"I am yours."

"I own you. Say it."

"You own me?"

"Like you mean it!"

"You own me!" I cried out as he rammed into me harder. The pain was diminishing and it was starting to feel amazing. "Oh god!" I whimpered, humiliated again.

"Do not come before I do," he hissed, his hand sliding down, his fingers finding my clit.

"Oh... no, please!" I begged as he brought me closer.

"You will not or I will punish you."

"Please?" I begged, unable to stop the feeling from rising up, about to reach its peak. "Ohhh, please please..." I whispered, trying to fight it, push it away, anything to stop it from sweeping over me.

"No," he growled, still thrusting as hard as he could.

I couldn't stop it, it hit me and I came with a loud wail, my pussy locking down hard on his cock as he growled angrily. Wave after wave pulled me under and only his arms around me kept me from collapsing after.

"You will pay for that," he hissed, shoving me down over the log again and taking my hips to pound into me even harder.

I screamed as he drove my hips into the hard bark of the tree and his cock slammed into my inner wall, bruising me.

"Shut up! You deserve worse, you will learn to obey me absolutely!"

"Please!" I begged again, my hips bruised and scraped. "I will! I will try! Ohhh..." The pleasure was snaking its way in through the pain. "No!" I cried in a whisper.

He grabbed my hair again, yanking my head back at a painful angle. "Don't you fucking dare," he grunted.

"Oh god!"

He roared, slamming faster and faster as my breath hitched and I fought back the climbing waves. "You will not!" he demanded through clenched teeth.

I broke down crying, unable to do anything about it. It was going to happen whether I wanted it to or not.

He rammed in and I gasped as I felt him come, exploding inside of me with a roar of triumph. I crested, coming on top of him with a cry of defeat and humiliation.

He pulled me up against him again, his jaw on my temple again as he caught his breath. "You will pay," he breathed. "What are you?"

"Yours?" I answered weakly, my legs wanting to give out.

"Like you mean it," he growled, jerking my head back by my hair.

"Yours! I am yours, I belong to you!"

"Will you forget it again?"

"No! Never. I won't forget."

He grunted, then pushed me back over the log as he stood up and started pacing behind me and I lay there shivering and terrified of whatever punishment he was coming up with. Was this real? A bad dream? He wanted me? To own me? Like some... master and slave thing you hear about on Dionysus station?

"Get up," he finally snapped. "Fix your pants."

I fastened my pants, trying to be easy on my bleeding hips and scraped up tummy.

"Lick my cock clean. All of it, every inch."

Trembling and repulsed, I went to him and took hold of his hips as I leaned in to find his cock. It was still wet and it tasted like his cum and my juices. I squeezed my eyes shut and licked, then sucked and knelt to lick all of him. Part of me felt like this was exciting and not so bad as punishments went. I kept licking and sucking after I knew he was clean, even pulling his balls into my mouth and rolling them around with my tongue. I didn't stop until he took hold of my hair and pulled me off of him, tilting my face up to his in the dark as I stood. I was trembling as I looked up at him in the darkness, at least where I knew he was, waiting for him to speak, hoping he would say that was good.

"No one touches you. No one. Do you understand?" he said finally.

"Yes. Only you. I am yours and no one else's."

He grunted, then fastened his pants and started leading me back through the forest. He walked me right back to my pod and lifted me in, then closed the hatch without a word.

I lay there in the dark, my eyes wide as I stared out the window at the moon. I thought about Meadows and what I was going to say to him, and when I did, I realized that I wasn't really that upset. My infatuation wouldn't have gone anywhere and he would have toyed with me until we escaped this planet. He had no real interest in me besides someone to share a bed with. What was I going to do about Phillippe though? Right this moment, I didn't really want to do anything. That had been... exciting and thrilling and kind of amazing. I closed my eyes and thought of the way he had made me come for him in the pod, and then how he had stroked himself and made me swallow it... I found myself getting wet again and squirming in the chair. I forced thoughts away and rolled over, but the thoughts kept returning.

It was a small wonder when I dreamed of him and woke up needing to make myself come again.

I woke up exhausted again and too tired to really function well.

Meadows approached and I stepped back quickly without looking at him.

"Cass?" he asked.

"Yeah?" I asked, still looking at the parts in my hand.

"You really should go and try to get some real rest on one of the beds inside. I can walk you in and get you settled..."

"No! No thanks... I don't really want to be near anyone right now, I need some space. Umm. I may try a nap, but no one can come in. No one. Ok?"

"Sure, Little One. You ok?"

"Fine. I just... need space. I want to be left alone."

"Your dreams bothering you? I can give you something to help you sleep... well. I can once we get back to civilization. You do need a nap though. You're exhibiting some signs of paranoia among other things that come from no sleep. Might be a little PTSD. It's ok. A nap will help a lot, ok?"

"Yeah. Got it, I will take a nap," I said, skirting wide of him and going inside. I curled up on one of the mats, staring at the wall, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep.

A hand on my shoulder woke me with a start as I jerked away frantically. "Don't touch me!" I shrieked, rolling.

Kal stood, bent over and staring at me, stunned. "Cass? What the hell happened?!? Did... Did Morris do something to you? Is that what this is about?"

"No! No... I just..." I fumbled for something to say and latched on to what Meadows had said. "My dreams... they are worse and... I just want to be left alone. I don't want to be touched. At all. By anyone. Just stay back."

"It's ok Cass, no one will touch you, no one here will hurt you, ok?"

"Yeah. Got it. Just... go back out there and leave me alone, ok?"

"Cass..."

"Just go!"

He stood and went, casting worried glances back at me. I hugged myself and sat up, rocking. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. How was I supposed to handle this?

I went outside and looked around. It was late afternoon. "Hubert, Gilliford, Julius!" I yelled. They all stood and looked at me, Hubert and Gilliford in worry. "I want to go down to the stream and wash up, get clean and wash my clothes. I... don't want to go alone, but I also don't want any men to come."

"Sure," Gilliford said, putting her sewing down.

"I'm in too," Hubert smiled. "I need a bath!"

"I guess I will go," Julius said, tossing her firewood on the pile.

We trekked down to the stream and I kicked my shoes off, then walked in, clothes and all. I pulled them off one at a time, scrubbing as I went and staying under the cold water. The other girls undressed, got clean and got out, cleaning their clothes from the bank and watching me with worried looks. I didn't come out until my lips were blue, then I sat and waited on my clothes to dry in the sun.

The other women joked around and talked, tried to get me to talk to, but my mind was elsewhere. Was he watching? I knew he was. I could practically feel his eyes on me. I wanted to talk to him, tell him how much stress this was causing me, being afraid for the people around me. I didn't think I could do this very long, I wasn't built for this sort of thing.

I could practically hear him whisper, 'You are weak.' Maybe I was.

I stood before my clothes were dry and started pulling them on, not caring how cold they were and how badly I was shivering. "I will meet you back at camp," I said to the girls, then headed back that way. Halfway there, where camp and the stream were both out of sight, I stopped, looking in the forest around me.

"Are you there?" I whispered. "I need to talk to you!"

Nothing.

"Please?"

A hand caught mine from behind and I spun as he pulled me back into the forest behind me. He stopped a ways back from the old trail, then squatted to look me in the eye. "Speak," he whispered.

"I... Don't think I can do this. I will be yours, you will own me, but I can't be so afraid of my crew getting close to me that I shut down completely. I will not let anyone flirt or be more than a crewmate, but I don't want to live in constant fear that one of them looking at me too long is going to get them killed!"

"I will only kill anyone who touches you with intent to take you from me," he said, cocking his head. "Tell the medic to stay away. Straight out, you aren't interested, stay away. You understand?"

"Yes. I understand. No one but you."

"Hurry back, the trail is that way. Find dry clothes or go to a pod and take those off to dry out before you get sick. If you get sick I will punish you."

"I will get dry," I said quickly, then left at a run back to the trail. I hurried back and climbed into my pod, pulling the door shut before pulling the wet clothes off and hanging them up on the rails. The sun helped warm the pod quite a bit, but it was getting low. It would be gone soon. I huddled in on myself and curled up as small as I could into the seat, waiting. I closed my eyes and thought about Phillippe and what might happen tonight. Would he take me out to the woods again? Make me his again? Make me come for him again and again like he had the night before?

I rolled to my back and braced my legs up on the side, holding the arm of the chair above me with my other hand as I slid my other hand down between my legs. I kept thinking of him, imagining what he had in store for me as I rolled my fingers over my bud, panting and bringing myself closer and closer. I came hard, imagining straddling him right here in the pod and riding him as he held my hips and watched my face as I came.

Exhausted, satisfied and languid, I rolled to my side and let out a deep sigh, then fell asleep.

I woke to a hard rap on the window, jumping and turning in surprise. Kal's eyebrows climbed as he looked me over and grinned. I flipped him off before yanking my now dry clothes down to put on. I opened the hatch and he was standing close, waiting.

"I knew you needed the sleep, but I didn't want you to miss dinner. So... just gonna throw this out there... If you are up for friends with benefits I am all in."

"Shut up!" I hissed, looking around to see how close the forest was. "Don't say things like that! Not ever! It's not funny."

"Well, I wasn't kidding, but geez, ok. I guess you are still having lady issues?"

"Shut it, moron. Just... don't change anything. Ok? I need my friend, not another asshole to worry about."

"Seriously Cass, is someone giving you issues?"

"Just leave it, please?"

He sighed in frustration, but stayed quiet as we sat down at a fire. I ate with my head down, imagining Phillippe out there watching me, wondering what he saw when he looked at me.

"Cass? Did you hear me?" Rafferty asked loudly.

"What?" I asked, looking over at him.

"I asked how much longer on the satellite?"

"Oh. A couple days. I didn't get anything done today... sorry."

"It's ok, sometimes we all need some recovery time."

I shrugged and found myself staring out at the treeline. I stood and took a step back. "I need the latrine," I said when Kal looked at me questioningly.

I headed into the night to the building, then paused between buildings, knowing Phillippe would be upset if I tried to go see him right now. I stood there , pressed against the wall, torn.

"Here you are," Meadows said softly, coming up the alley.

"What are you doing?" I asked in a whisper.

"I thought you snuck off here to be alone?" he asked, leaning against the wall next to me. "Thought you were wanting some company."

"No! No, I just need a moment. Umm... Lady issues."

He barked a low laugh. "I'm beginning to think you are a bit of a cock tease, Little One," he said huskily, pressing closer.

I moved down the wall, away from him and he followed, catching my arm.

"Don't play coy," he said softly. "You feel what you do to me?" he asked, pulling my hand to the bulge in his pants, closing my fingers around it.

I tried to jerk back, but he held my hand there, forcing my hand to rub him. "Stop!" I whispered fearfully. "You don't understand! Let me go!"

The shadows moved and came to life and suddenly Phillippe was there, a knife at Meadows throat. His hand spasmed around mine, then quickly let me go.

"You... you escaped!" Meadows breathed, barely a whisper.

"Please! Please don't kill him!" I begged in a whisper. "He didn't mean anything and I told him to never touch me again, and he won't! He won't! Will you Meadows?"

"No! No, never. I won't even look at her!"

"Please Phillippe? He won't tell anyone you are here, he won't. Will you?"

"No!"

"He's a man of his word, and he knows if he says a word to anyone he's a dead man. Just like Russo and Jacobs. He will keep his mouth shut. Please? I will do anything you ask of me, but please don't kill anyone else? Please?"