The Kingdom Ch. 11

"We calling each other by our codenames now?" I asked.

"Gotta get used to it again. Can't afford to accidentally call you Deb out in the field, can I," he asked rhetorically as he sat down on the ductwork next to me.

"I suppose not... Kilo Whiskey Alpha," I replied, turning back toward the setting sun.

"You alright?" Keith asked, taking a seat next to me on the ledge.

"Yeah," I answered flashing him an unconvincing smile. "Just another day."

"Wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"Nah, just more of the same," I answered. "The sexual exercises, rapings in the double digits. It just... gets to ya after a while, you know?" I gave a long sigh. "Not quite what I envisioned when I signed up to serve my country."

"I get it," Keith replied, looking intently into my eyes. "I mean, I, I don't get it. I can't even imagine..." Keith looked genuinely sympathetic as he struggled to find the right words to comfort me. Unlike most military guys I knew, Keith was an empath. His big heart was one of the things that attracted me most to him. And his thoughtfulness had a way of prompting me to confide in him like I'd never been able to with anyone else.

"But what you're doing," he continued, "-what you're going to do for all those women... Well, you know how proud I am of you." I felt Keith rub my back softly, sending tingles down my spine. It was downright depressing how starved I was for human touch. Depressing and pathetic.

"So, you ready for your trial?" He asked, changing the subject.

I groaned in dread, craning my head back to stare into the darkening sky. "As ready as someone can be for a trial that could start at any moment and consist of literally any task," I replied.

Before being cleared for deployment on special ops task forces, every operator was expected to complete a trial to be assigned by the joint commanders. You could be the toughest, smartest, and most experienced soldier in history. But if you failed your trial, it almost always resulted in your reassignment. Trials were chosen on a person-by-person basis and most-often catered to a particular area of weakness. While I've never personally failed any special ops trials, I've also never faced any trial that involved sexual activity. Judging by the training I'd received so far for this mission, this was certain to be expected.

"Do you know what's being planned for me?" I asked.

"I have no clue," Keith replied shaking his head. "Sorry."

"Ugh," I said, cracking my knuckles. "Hersh doesn't like me. I just know he's gonna throw the kitchen sink at me."

"Hersh doesn't like anyone," Keith replied, chuckling. "But I wouldn't worry about it. You'll knock it out of the park like you always do."

I laughed sarcastically. "You clearly didn't read today's report," I replied, turning to face him. "I bombed today's exercise. Hard."

Keith gave a frustrated sigh. "Deb, how many times do I have to tell you? These exercises aren't designed to be won. They're meant to prepare you for the worst and build your endurance. That's all."

"So, how are the other girls doing with it all?" I asked.

"They're doin' well," he replied vaguely.

I waited for him to elaborate, but he simply stared off into the distance. "That's all I get?" I asked, cocking one eyebrow. "Who's the frontrunner?"

Keith shook his head, playing dumb. "Frontrunner?"

"Oh, come off it," I pressed him. "Which one of us are the commanders betting on?"

"Everyone's got their own strengths," Keith deflected. "Charlie can outrun a gazelle, Bravo could bench me stone cold. And Houdini would have had nothin' on Echo." I tilted my head in confusion. "The woman has to be the most gifted escapologist there is," he clarified. "Although a little creepy to watch," he added. "Double-jointed people weird me out." He turned his head to face me. "But my money? I'd put it on you any day and twice on Sunday."

"Yeah, right," I replied dismissively.

"I'm serious," he insisted.

"Is that why you chose me last for this mission?" I asked.

"I didn't choose you initially," he explained, "-because I wanted you nowhere near any of this." He shifted in his seat. "For obvious reasons."

"So what changed?" I asked.

Keith hesitated before answering. "I ended up coming to the conclusion that I wanted this mission to succeed. And there was simply nobody I trusted more to get it done," he answered.

I sighed, unsure of what to say. Keith's words were sweet and thoughtful as usual, but they also managed to add even more weight on my shoulders...

"And who knows?" he added. "If the stars align, you could be in and out of there in less than 7 days."

"Ugh, don't even say it," I said rolling my eyes. "There's no way protocols 1 through 5 will be viable. I'm just not lucky enough for that."

"You never know," Keith said smiling.

I sighed and laid my head against his shoulder. I'm not sure I would have had the mental fortitude to do this mission without Keith's support. Obviously we all had access to the military psychologist, but nothing beat being able to unload and vent to the person I cared most about. I almost felt guilty to have Keith while the other girls had no one.

Keith kissed the top of my head and stroked my hair. "A lot of women are gonna end up owing their lives to you," he said softly. "I mean it."

The two of us remained seated on the rooftop until the sun was completely set. Once it was dark, Keith gave me a small kiss on the lips before leaving. I would have stayed there with him all night if I could have.

Eventually, I stood up and headed back to my barracks. Watching the sun set had put me in the perfect mood for bed. Despite it only being just past 20:00, I decided to call it a night. I slipped into my nightwear and climbed into bed. No sooner did my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

I slept like I was getting paid for it for several hours until I abruptly awoke to the sound of footsteps. No sooner did my eyes open, I felt a hand clamp down over my mouth. I emitted a muffled scream and tried to sit up, but several more hands pinned me down to my bed. It was dark, but I could make out at least four hooded figures dressed in black standing over me. I struggled and kicked, but as strong as I was, I was no match for this many aggressors.

With my arms pined to my side, I was turned forcefully over onto my stomach. The hand over my mouth suddenly released and I opened my mouth to scream. But as I did so, a large ring-gag was swiftly shoved into my mouth. I cursed myself for making it so easy to be gagged.

As the ring-gag's straps were being buckled behind my head, my arms were being forced behind my back. Each time I managed to squirm out of someone's grip, another set of hands was quick to grab me and hold me steady. As I struggled, I could feel ropes being wrapped around my arms and chest. Was this an exercise? An actual assault? Perhaps it was the start of my trial. I hated not knowing what was going on. Perhaps more than even being bound and gagged, I fucking hated being in the dark...

After a minute of struggling and hollering uselessly into my gag, my arms had been secured tightly behind my back into a box-tie. My nightwear and undergarments had been cut off and I was now wearing a collar. With my bondage complete, I felt my attackers release their grip on my upper body. I panted heavily, silently fuming at how easily they'd overpowered me. Maybe had there not been four of them...

Suddenly, I felt a hand on the small of my back followed by one of the most unpleasant feelings a girl can ever feel. Something cold and hard suddenly made contact with my anus and began forcing its way inside.

"AAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!" I wailed into my gag. I instinctually clenched my fists and tossed my head back and forth in a fit of rage. I had not agreed to this! Up to this point, I had always been briefed on what would be happening to me. What my objective was. What the fucking deal was! This time, I was finding out in real-time. None of my attackers had breathed a word since entering my quarters. As pissed as I was to be getting forcibly butt-plugged, the continued silence of my attackers made it immeasurably worse.

Once the plug made its way past my sphincter, the pain subsided. I felt a rubber G-string being pulled between my legs and over my hips. I exhaled in frustration as I heard a buckle clasp shut beneath my abdomen, locking the G-string in place and trapping the butt-plug inside.

I was then tugged to my feet by my bound arms. I grunted as I was roughly walked across the room to the door. As I walked, I attempted to yank my arms away from my assailant's grip, in an attempt to convey that I was perfectly capable of walking unassisted. But that only prompted my captor's hand to grip me even tighter.

I was walked outside where there was an open-air Humvee parked by the entrance of the barracks. The outside lamps were dark, but sky was fairly bright from the moonlight, allowing me to see where I was stepping. The three black-clad figures climbed inside the vehicle, and the last one walked me up to the rear bumper. Then, he reached down and flicked a switch on what appeared to be a rearview camera of sorts. Once a small red light appeared, the he released my arm, walked to the driver seat of the car and climbed inside. I stood there confused as to what I was supposed to do next.

"Uhl, ot ahell?" I asked. That's gaglish for "Um, what the hell?" The vehicle started and began to drive away. Seriously, what the hell? Approximately 2 seconds later, I had my answer.

All of the sudden, my asshole was pelted with electricity, causing me to leap out of my skin. It wasn't nearly as strong of a shock as I'd experienced earlier, but it was plenty strong enough to scare the fuck out of me. Then, I felt another zap. And another. And another. And another! A steady pulse of electricity was coursing through my ass. And with my hands secured in a box-tie roughly a foot above my G-string, there was absolutely no way to stop it. To make matters worse, each zap seemed to be getting stronger and timed closer together. I looked up at the Humvee, desperate for any clue as to what was happening and how to make it stop. Suddenly the Humvee skidded to a stop and revved its engine.

That's when I realized what was going on. The rearview camera-looking device on the rear bumper must have been a proximity sensor. I was expected to keep up with the Humvee! Desperate to stop the pain in my ass, I sprang into action, racing forward. Surely enough, as I got closer, the electric shocks became less intense and spaced further apart. Fuck, could they really not have just given me instructions? This silence shit was for the birds!

Once I got within 10 feet, the Humvee started forward again. To my relief, the electricity subsided. I made a mental note that 10 feet appeared to be the magic distance. But I quickly grew worried. The Humvee was picking up speed. And when I say speed, I mean a lot of speed... Within 15 seconds, I found myself racing at a near sprint.

I panted loudly as I tore after the Humvee. I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to carry on at this speed. Normally, I'd have lasted about two minutes at this pace. But normal circumstances did not have me butt-plugged and barefoot with my arms restrained behind my back. The collar around my neck wasn't helping my circumstances either. Though I'd become well acquainted with wearing a collar over the past month, it was especially infuriating to have one strapped snugly around my neck when I was breathing heavily.

The collar had also been weighted in order to closely resemble the one I'd be wearing on the mission. Upon my arrival, I'd be fitted with a collar that was not only equipped with electro-shocking hardware, but contained nearly a half pound of biometric sensor technology. According to an intercepted prototype that Research and Development had managed to reverse-engineer, the collars that were used by the syndicate had a myriad of biological sensors built into them. They measured a wearer's heart-rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels, sugar levels, and even temperature. The collar also included a state of the art electrodermal activity sensor which, when combined with the all the other data, was capable of determining a wearer's level of pain and discomfort. A transmitter at the back of the collar was tasked with sending all of these readings seamlessly to an external source.

In a setting where I was told that "safe words" would not be required or even acknowledged, it was at least a relief to know that my vitals and pain levels would be monitored by someone behind the scenes. Unfortunately, given the endurance that I'd built over the past month, my threshold for pain was now undoubtedly higher than most. I often wondered how that would affect my readings...

After about 45 seconds of sprinting, I could feel myself losing steam. With each step, I could see the Humvee getting a little bit further away from me. But there was nothing I could do. I was running at a full-out sprint. The proximity sensor, however, took no sympathy. I suddenly felt a powerful zap to my anus. I shrieked and struggled to maintain my balance. Gritting down on my ring-gag, I pushed myself to run harder. Shit shit shit! After about four zaps, I was able to catch up to the Humvee's ten-foot perimeter and end the assault on my asshole.

But my victory was short-lived. Because as soon as I caught back up, the Humvee picked up speed as it drove down a hill. Motherfucker! I used the elevation to my advantage and tried to match its speed. But almost immediately, I found myself back outside the ten-foot perimeter again. My fingernails dug into my palms as my ass was pelted with more electricity. I did my best to ignore the pain, but it seemed to worsen with each step I took.

Once I reached the bottom of the hill, I was about ready to collapse. I think it must have showed because the Humvee had slowed down significantly to allow me to catch up. I trudged after it, desperate to lessen the intensity of the electricity pulsing through me. But the driver appeared to be toying with me. Each time I got close, he'd step on the gas and go faster, keeping me just outside of the ten-foot perimeter. Whoever were my captors were fucking sadists!

This continued for another two minutes until we arrived at a warehouse that resembled an airplane hanger. I recognized it from the first day I'd arrived on base. Once the Humvee finally came to a stop, I fell over onto the ground in exhaustion, my upper body collapsing in the dirt.

The black-clad figures jumped out of the vehicle and walked over to me. Bending over me, I felt them unbuckle my G-string and pull it off of me. Moments later, I winced in pain as I felt the butt-plug pulled from my anus. Damn, it was almost as uncomfortable coming out as it was going in!

Still not speaking a word, the figures grabbed me by my upper arms and hoisted me to my feet. Barely able to keep my balance, I stumbled along, allowing them to guide me to the door of the building. The figure in front pressed his thumb to a scanner next to the door which prompted a beep and series of clicks. Pulling the door open, the five of us entered inside. The fact that I'd been led to a secure level-3 facility almost certainly meant that this was part of a training exercise.

I exhaled in relief as my feet made contact with the smooth concrete floor of the warehouse. As callused as my feet may have been, they were in a serious amount of pain after that run. I wasn't running on grass or sand, mind you. I had just run a mile on a mixture of dirt and pebbles.

The warehouse was dark and appeared to be empty. I was walked to the back of the large room where I saw a black device sitting on the floor with a pink dildo protruding upwards at its center. I recognized the device as a sybian. A sybian, as I'd recently come to learn, was a vibrating saddle that a woman would sit atop of in a kneeling position. More than just a regular vibrator, sybians were capable of ungodly intense vibrations. Far greater than what any woman could possibly find pleasurable.

In a typical kidnap scenario, I imagine I'd have struggled, kicking and screaming as my captors led me toward an ominous sex toy. But between my sheer exhaustion and near certainty that this was a Hersh-sanctioned exercise, I resolved myself to going quietly. Based on my previous experiences with the sybian, I knew I'd need my strength...

Without incident, I lifted one leg over the sybian and squatted down, cautiously descending onto the dildo. As soon as I felt the tip of the dildo against my pussy lips, I felt a hand on my shoulder pushing me downward. With my leg strength nearly depleted, the dildo plunged into me in one swift shot, causing my eyes to bulge wide in discomfort. Bastard!

My ring-gag was unbuckled behind my head and pulled from my mouth. I tilted my head to the side and cracked my neck, slowly feeling my resilient spirit returning to me.

"You assholes gonna tell me what the hell's going on, now?" I asked, still panting from my run. The black-clad figures ignored me and proceeded to strap my ankles and upper calves to the side of the sybian. "Of course not," I answered myself.

Within seconds, I was locked to the sybian with no hope of lifting myself off. Without saying a word, the four of them walked away in silence and exited through a door to my right, leaving me alone on the floor of the dark warehouse.

As soon as the door closed behind them, the overhead lights of the warehouse turned on, nearly blinding me. I closed my eyes and turned my face away from the bright lights.

"Welcome, Sergeant Nolan," echoed a loud growly voice over a loud speaker. The voice belonged to General Hersh.

Squinting into the light, I looked up and saw a large rectangular window about 30 feet in front of me. Standing behind the window was General Hersh and 6 other commanders. All eyes were on me, naked, bound, and straddling the sybian.

"You've been brought here to complete your trial," Hersh said into a microphone in front of him. My heart to drop in my chest upon hearing the word trial. "Upon completion, you will be cleared for deployment. Failure will result in your immediate reassignment."

My heart rate, which had slowed over the last couple of minutes, was suddenly racing again. This was it. Nearly three months of grueling training under the most unconventional and deviant regimens imaginable came down to one singular trial. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach...

"You will be shown a series of images. After each set, you will be asked detail-oriented questions about those images. Failure to answer these questions may result in your immediate failure," Hersh explained. "As you study the images, the vibrating device you are seated upon will be active. It will be up to you to maintain your focus and concentration in spite of your physical distractions. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," I replied, my voice sounding more timid than I'd anticipated. I was confused. I'd always heard that trials were designed to cater to a soldier's weaknesses. Memory recall had always been a strength of mine. More than a strength, even. I had a photographic memory. Surely, they knew this. The only way they would have missed it is if they'd lost my records. Even with a sybian vibrating between my legs, this trial was sure to be a cinch...

"Very well," Hersh replied. "In a moment, the device you're seated on will be activated. After two minutes of run time, you'll be shown three images. You'll have 15 seconds to study each image. Once your time expires, the device will become inactive and we'll proceed with our inquiry. Any questions?"