The Gathering Ch. 01

Bentek was also aware his assistant was wary to let this side of him show too much in his presence, so knew he had some form of control. He hoped that some time in his company would help mould the young man, as Fikel had done for him many years before, when he too had been overwhelmed by the free availability of girls in the rape pits around the compound.

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Amie was not sure how long she lay spread-eagled in the white room following her humiliating interaction with the man. Her insides were squirming in shame at the violation she had suffered and continued to suffer, but there was also an underlying awareness which made her secretly want the man to come back and finish what he started...

Just as she thought she was going to be left tied overnight, a woman in her early thirties entered, wearing a simple, almost see through, knee-length white slip. The slip was gathered on one shoulder with an ornate steel clasp that was attached to a jewelled collar, fitted around her slim neck. The woman smiled and started to untie Amie's bonds, rubbing her legs expertly to ease the circulation back.

"Where am I? What is going to happen to me? ...help me..." Amie's words trickled off as the woman simply smiled at her again and continued to rub her arms, as her wrists were finally released.

Amie scrambled backwards off the table into the corner of the room as soon as she was free, frantically looking around for something, anything to help her escape. The woman didn't seem surprised by the sudden movement and simply shook her head with a wry smile, having seen these reactions before on other girls gathered by Bentek. Gently she cleared her voice and hesitantly, she started to talk.

"Don't worry 85232, you'll be okay. You're in the Narkam compound, you'll be safe here. This is home now, until you're allocated a classification."

Amie blinked in confusion, what or where was Narkam? "What's your name?"

"I'm usually known as 34955 here, but my given name is Asha. Don't worry, you'll be fine, Bentek is a good trainer. Bentek, he was the one who was with you here earlier, he will be good to you, I promise."

As they spoke, Amie noticed an intricate tattoo through the slip on Asha's front. It ran from hip to hip just above her pubic bone and showed the five digit number she'd initially introduced herself as, followed by a "B". This sent a shudder of fear through her - the hateful man earlier, Bentek, had insisted on referring to her as a number too. She knew that soon, she would be tattooed, making any form of escape and concealment impossible.

Sensing Amie looking at her tattoo, Asha proudly displayed it, pulling up the slip for her to see. "You'll be marked soon too 85232, and you have the good fortune to be a "B" like me - Bentek really does care for us well." She smiled again, and Amie shuddered as she realised that the woman truly believed what she was saying, she was totally satisfied with her life. "Come, we need to get you showered, dressed and fed."

Indicating the corner of the room, Asha pointed out a discrete shower head, gathered some soap from a cupboard and set about helping Amie wash. Amie closed her eyes as Asha's soapy fingers moved through her secret curls, and swirled past the nubbin of nerves at her core, which was still partially engorged from her meeting with Bentek earlier in the day.

Asha sensed her companions breathing grow ragged as she washed her, and couldn't resist one final pass across the area before shutting off the water and patting Amie down with a soft towel. But, knowing that Amie was not to take her pleasure unless it was direct from Bentek's hand in these first weeks, she didn't continue her teasing further.

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Amie had shut down, there was too much to process. She was aware of Asha's soft voice, saying reassuring things and helping her complete rudimentary tasks such as washing, as if she were a small child.

Suddenly Amie realised that she was being addressed directly. Asha had stepped back and was looking at Amie with a flash of intensity in her eyes. "You're going to follow me to the dining area and not make a scene, aren't you?"

Amie looked down, she appeared to be dressed in a similar almost see through slip like Asha, held up by a clasp on one shoulder. Though where Asha's slip was pale blue, hers was a pale lavender colour reminiscent of the gather dress she had removed earlier. Yet this new dress, with its see through nature and short hemline was simply there to accentuate her nakedness.

The idea of leaving the room like this and going to an area with other people terrified her. But if she were to escape, this could be her only chance. She nodded at Asha, her heart rate increasing as she considered her options.

Asha gave no indication that she didn't believe the young girl in front of her, but inwardly sighed that this was not going to be an easy evening. She knew Bentek usually left the training collar off until the girl was tattooed, this being the symbolic moment she entered his service, but Asha was not going to be punished for allowing an escape in the interim.

She rummaged around in the cupboard near the door, pulling out several plain steel training collars of varying sizes. Moving purposefully, she snapped the first around Amie's neck before she had a chance to react. Sensing the fit was correct Asha closed the final clasp.

Amie's hands clawed at the collar in surprise trying to remove it, her breathing becoming erratic and sobs starting to choke her as she desperately tried and failed to work the locking mechanism.

With a sympathetic smile, Asha explained, "it's locked 85232. Only Bentek has the key to the training collars and he will only remove it as you earn a true classification collar such as mine."

With that announcement, Amie crumpled into a ball on the floor where she had stood, hyperventilating as sobs continued to rack her tired body.

Asha tried in vain to comfort Amie then, sensing the futility of this, she attached a thin metallic lead to the front facing D-ring on the newly fitted collar and attempted to pull her to her feet. The hope being that getting her off the floor might stem the tears.

Finally, accepting defeat, Asha left Amie on the floor and went to the intercom. She paused, her anxiety levels rising as she considered her next course of action. Pushing down her fears, she checked in and requested Bentek's assistance with 85232, fully aware he would not be happy being disturbed at this time.

The call made, she prostrated herself on the floor facing the door, eyes down and waited for her punishment. Her failure to deal with the new girl, a transgression she fully expected to be beaten for. Despite her rising fear levels though, Bentek had trained her well, she could feel her body preparing itself.

Moisture pooled between her legs and she shifted slightly to relieve the tension building there. She hoped Bentek would allow her some release following his beating. Usually he would allow her to visit one of the apprentice trainers to be used, that is if he had no desire of his own to work off.

She felt confident enough that he would not deem this a significant enough transgression to impose a edict on her reaching completion. Her cheeks flushed as she remembered the time he kept her begging for over a week. No punishment was without its reward though, she had learnt that lesson well - the eventual peak following her period of abstinence was etched on her memory as one of those perfect moments.

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The door flew opened with a crash and in strode Kristof. Asha gasped in horror, as he strode across the room and pulled Amie up by the discarded lead attached to her collar. Her feet scrabbled for purchase on the floor as the man from the night of her gathering forced her head upwards to make eye contact.

"You whore" he growled, "you think that tears will save you? Bentek should have whipped your pretty ass until you realised who is in charge and how little we care about you 85232. You're nothing but a number in a long list of whores. And if you make my life more difficult, don't think I'll hesitate to throw you to the pit."

Amie struggled for breath, her wheezes became more desperate as the man spat his vitriolic words into her face. What scared her more than the words though was the satisfied gleam in Kristof's eyes as he took in her lack of ability to breathe. It was as if someone had poured a pail of frozen water over her and she shivered at the hatred that radiated towards her from the young man who was probably only a year or two older than she was.

Her struggles started to still as the fight to breathe became too hard. She could still hear Asha's pitiful cries for Amie's release from over near the door as her eyes glazed over and the world went dark. Her last thought was of Kristof's cruel smile and how closely it mirrored her father's face when he used to return from his monthly business trips and summon his wife to attend him in the bedchamber.