Echoes of the Past

Clang, Clang, Clang.

That was the sound of the warden's metal bat hitting the iron bars of our cells in his nightly inspection. It was dark in our small cell, but you could see the stars through the hole in the ceiling. It would have been beautiful if not for the dreadful cold that wanted to turn us into popsicles.

I pushed a smelly foot that had come too close to my face and rolled away from the body pile to sit up, resting my back on the cold concrete wall. Due to the cold, we usually slept on each other to gather and keep warmth and not freeze to death, hence the body pile. The cold seemed to increase as I left the warmth of the pile and my cloth made of sack did little to stop my body from shaking from the cold. I would have to go back soon because I couldn't afford to fall sick. This was already a hellhole, falling sick in the midst of all this was a death sentence and the dark cell promised just that.

"Alicia, why are you over there?", asked Jenny as she crawled away from the body pile, and came to my side... yawning as she asked;

"Bad dreams? Or the smell is worse than the cold to you?"

I laughed, or at least I tried, the cold had made my lips hard to move and my teeth were clenched to stop it from chattering. 15 girls all rolled together didn't bring about the best smell, especially when all of us smelled like used toiletries, cum and had forgotten what it felt like to bathe. The soldiers had weird fetishes and some peed over you after the deed just to gain some sadistic pleasure. But who cares?We were war prisoners.

"Well both, i think Rheena was gangbanged again by the black troupes, she smells like alcohol and saliva." I answered while shaking my head, and sighing. Being used by multiple men was a common thing here, and it was rare to be F*cked by just one person, which was a privilege I, Jenny and one other person enjoyed.

Jenny was my best friend and confidante in this hell hole, we were captured and brought to this camp on the same day and thrown together with Taylor. 3 fresh ladies in a world full of horny and lawless men, the ladies who talked about their first time here, all spoke of the horrors they passed through as they were taken by each Man or beast. Few actually survived the ordeal which was why there were only 20 girls in this cage, the rest died on their first or second day.

On that day, before we were pounced on by those beasts in men's clothing, A soldier walked in and for no reason in particular, stared at us. His name was Arthur, a soldier of a pretty high rank - I never bothered to find out, he just told the soldiers to package the ladies and take us to his room. It was that simple. We were so happy at first to escape the stares and grips of those men that we failed to register the mocking smiles on their faces. It was later we understood that Arthur was a beast among beasts.

I shivered again as I tried to forget what happened after, the pain, the tears and screams. It was too much, so though we weren't gangbanged and soiled, we still went through hell everyday, at least we went through it together. Only on some days like today, were we called individually - Taylor was in his room for tonight.

Jenny shrugged her shoulders.

"It could have been worse, at least she came back in one piece."

After Years of torment, we had made our peace with the situation and just prayed that death would take us, since hell was here, the other side couldn't be worse, right?. I looked up to see the stars, beautiful in the night sky and so far away from the grime and darkness that pervaded this cell.

"The stars are out today, maybe one day we'll join them and look down on this world."

Jenny just stared at the sky, before a pale smile graced her cracked lips.

"Yeah maybe, but I'm sure as hell not gonna be looking down on this place, I'll be far far away."

Then I placed my hands on her hand, and pulled her back to the body pile, in hope that tomorrow would be different, with the faint sounds of dogs barking in the distance...

.......

I opened my eyes to the sunlight pouring through the hole in the ceiling, yawning. I sat up and looked around. The girls were up and looking listless, every day was the same, barely enough food was given to us to eat and we just tried to grab whatever scraps we could get after being raped. But Arthur was different... He made us wait in his room with food in a tray, and after a while he would enter with his black leather belt in his hand. Day after day, being tormented would leave its mark on you, break you and turn you into something unrecognisable.

The cell had some marks on its walls, it was not painted and left bland, like our futures. We all wore black sacks as clothes, the soldiers didn't bother to give us clothes and the one we had, had been torn to pieces. We all laid sprawled in the cell that was just wide enough for us to stretch our legs while we sat.

Clang, clang, clang

This time everyone stormed to the iron bars that caged us in as a Man wearing a black uniform with a long scar running down his face, his left hand on his gun which he used to hit the bars while the right held a tray of food. He slotted it through the wide space between the bars at the middle and left the tray to fall, but it was caught by the girls who tore the food apart. I was part, dragging a piece of stale bread and stuffing it in my mouth as my other hand flew to grab another. That was how it was, they wanted to turn us to animals and the warden watched with a sadistic smile on his face as we fought over food, we ignored him.

After eating, I went to a corner with Jenny, as we sat together, the feeling of something in my stomach giving me some strength, though there wasn't any water again, we were used to it.

"You bitches should behave better tomorrow, the inspector is coming over and I don't want any mistakes or a tattletale, you know what happened last time ", the Warden growled as he brandished his gun. Then he pointed the gun at Rheena and sneered; "You there with the plum ass, get over here, you'll be serving me today." Rheena just stood up, her eyes vacant like she had lost her soul, then she walked to the door. Keys jingled as the Warden took out a bunch of keys, then opened the cell for Rheena to walk out. He waved the gun to warn us not to come closer, not that he needed to, even with the door open what waited for us outside was a tight security that we couldn't hope to escape from. My heart sank as the Warden walked away with his hand mauling Rheena's ass through her sack cloth as if he couldn't wait to ravage her.

I didn't know if Rheena could make it back today, but she always did. I didn't have time to pity her too much, Taylor would soon be back and it'll be my turn to enter the lion's den. Even though I had been in this place for 6 months, being ravaged day and night, I still felt nervous before I went. Jenny said it was me being foolish, but I felt that It was me still clinging on to what little humanity I had left.

"It's been a while, Taylor should have been back," Jenny said as she looked up at the sky - a favourite pastime of hers.

"You're right, but Arthur might have been having one of his 'special' days," I replied, putting emphasis on the word special. Arthur was a beast in bed, but there were times when he was more bestial than normal.

"Do you think she can survive it, he normally calls for the 3 of us on his special days," said Jenny as she frowned at the thought.

"I hope so,". I said, but I didn't know what I feared more, the thought that Taylor might not come back or how things might be if only me and Jenny remained, we barely made it when we were called one by one.

Hours passed as we waited for something to happen, either for us to be called to join Taylor or she was thrown back into the cell with us. But neither happened, and Taylor was nowhere to be seen, instead girls were dragged out of the cell and thrown back like livestock. Rheena finally returned with the Warden, who opened the cell and pushed her inside, not forgetting to slap her ass as she stumbled into the cell. Her sack cloth was torn and her breast spilled out from the opening as she crawled to a corner to sit.

There were 7 girls remaining in the cell, me included, the rest had been dragged out to be used and tainted. I had almost forgotten how it was before I was sold and dragged to this place.

I lived with my Father and brother not too far from the camp, just a little town with just enough distance not to be seen from here. We had little but my Father was a farmer and we survived on the harvest and livestocks we had, it was a humble Livin but we made it work.

I could barely remember how my brother looked, only that we shared the same dark coloured hair and he was quite tall for his age of 14, towering over my petite body. I could easily remember my Father's grey hair and sunken eyes because that was the last thing I saw before being whisked off by soldiers after being sold.

I thought I had come to terms with my Father throwing me under the bus for his own mistake months ago, but it still irked me as my mind wandered to what happened.

It all started after a year my Mother died of a disease and my Father turned into a drunk bastard. Some soldiers on some sort of mission found our town and came in to replenish their food and water to which my father helped. Due to his crops the soldiers made a deal with him to provide some maize and wheat for their camps while they paid him. It was a great deal as the soldiers paid well and sometimes my Father hosted them in our living room with what little wine we had, but me and my younger brother were always hidden while they were around.

It all went well until a sudden lightning storm destroyed our crops and fields one night, putting us in the debt of the soldiers as they had paid beforehand and my Father had squandered the money on Alcohol and drinks. With the fields gone, the soldiers threatened to destroy the house if the money wasn't refunded.

Flashback...

I looked through the window to see my Father shouting with the soldiers in their grey uniform, his speech was slurred which showed that he was drunk. A tight slap from a soldier shook him out of his stupor, a kick followed and my father was down on the floor being beaten. I couldn't take it anymore and ran out screaming;

"Leave my Dad alone", I pushed a soldier who surprisingly stumbled back, I felt I had hit a steel wall but the soldier must have been surprised to see a lady running towards him and moved. I bent down over my father and saw him covered with bruises, he could barely open his eyes and when he saw me his eyes widened in surprise. The moment of surprise ended and I felt a hand pull my hair back, I screamed as I was thrown to the wall.

"Who the fuck are you", the soldier who threw me shouted, but my mind was too woozy from the impact to form a sentence. I was just happy my brother wasn't home as he was at a neighbour's place.

"She's my daughter, please don't hurt her", cried my Father as he tried to fight his way through the soldiers with no success. A Man walked forward, he seemed in charge of that group of soldiers, his grey army suit rough and dirty but he still carried an oppressive air that silenced everyone in the room.

"Well well well, what do we have here?, I didn't think an old idiot like you could give birth to a beauty like her.", turning to face my Father, he said slowly but mockingly "you have 2 options now, either we burn this whole building and give you the beating of a Lifetime or you give us your daughter as a guarantee that you will pay back our money. You have 5 seconds to pick one or we'll do both."

My heart sank as I heard the conditions, the thought of our family home being burnt down and us trying to survive the ordeal weighed down on my chest as my breathing turned heavy. I looked at my Father and found him looking at me as the Bastard counted down.

"5, 4, 3, 2"

"Wait, wait, you can't, no, just take her, I promise to pay back as soon as possible, just don't hurt my daughter."

My heart shattered into pieces as I watched my Father sell me out to save his skin. Everything about paying back was bullshit because I knew how poor my Father was, and with the fields burnt, no one would lend him anything. I knew he just said those words so as to give himself an excuse.

"Of course we wouldn't hurt her, she would be in safe hands until you bring the money", laughed the Man as he signaled a Soldier to hold me. I stood up to run away but it was a futile effort, I was caught in a second and something struck my head making my vision go black.

Present.

I shook my head as if trying to push the memory out of my head, but it still lingered... Jenny just looked at me, not surprised as she was used to my usual day-mares, that was what she called me drifting off in thought in the afternoon - which I usually did. I didn't have nightmares like a normal person, my dreams were empty and dark, but I had flashbacks in the day... I didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

It was then I noticed Rheena had gotten closer to me at some point, she gave me and Jenny a sorrowful look as she said "As I was dragged back by the Warden, past the trash pit, I saw some soldiers carrying a body from Arthur's tent to the trash pit." She paused then added "I think it was Taylor. Taylor is dead guys."

I snapped away from my thoughts and looked at Jenny who looked back at me, our hearts shattering as our fears came to pass.