GWEN

There were twenty women in front of us. We were in a living quarters that the pirates had converted into a cell.

“We’ve got to head to the fifth wing. We have a chance to get rid of all the pirates at once.” There were excited murmurs and whispers from the group.

“Come on.” Priya moved toward the secret passage and freedom. The door opened, and a pirate strode into the room. Priya and I stared at each other. We had no time to hide. We would have to mingle with the rest of our crew and hope the pirates didn’t take accurate head counts.

“Line up.” The pirate would have been pretty except for the hideous scar crossing her left eye. I wondered if part of the initiation was making sure the cutter was drunk.

We silently got into line. None of the women looked at us, and they all kept their eyes down. Even though only a few days had passed, they were already acting like slaves.

“Where are you taking us?” Priya was the only one to speak up.

“We’re going to sort you, and that’s all you need to know.”

I met Priya’s eye. She had given a tiny nod before she lined up, facing forward. We would have to wait for an opportunity to get back into the tunnels.

* * *

If Priya and I had known everything about the sorting process, we would have worked harder to hide or escape along the way. We were assembled in the dining hall in four lines. I was trying to count the women to see if we had everyone. They were moving around, and I kept losing track of them.

“Line up here. Move as soon as we tell you to go and wait for orders. You’ll sleep in a new cell tonight.” No one gave an answer, but the pirate didn’t expect one. She immediately walked away from us.

We watched as the pirates at the front carefully examined each woman. At some point, the pirate commander left, and things went downhill. The other pirates, who were all male, looked at each other and smiled. Their expressions made me sick to my stomach.

The examination quickly went from looking at the women to feeling them up. The pirates made sure they squeezed every breast. The one at the head of our line even had the gall to slide his hand into one woman’s pants. Any minute now, Priya was going to say or do something that would get her locked up.

When I reached the front of the line, I tried to prepare myself for whatever nastiness was going to happen.

“Step forward.” The pirate’s hands lifted and he leered at me. Apparently, he was looking forward to touching my breasts. Didn’t all breasts feel the same? I tried not to lean away, flinch, or show any sign of fear.

“You’re a pretty one,” he whispered into my ear as he fondled my nipples. “Maybe I’ll pay you a visit tonight.”

I fought my natural instinct to fight. Resistance would only get me beat up and draw attention to myself. If I made a scene, he might come back and fulfill his promise. I would go from being annoyed to being a target of revenge.

Suddenly, the pirate went sprawling across the floor on his back. I wasn’t looking at him, exactly, but it seemed like he had a hard-on. The pirate commander was back, and he hadn’t noticed. She had pushed him away from me.

“Don’t touch the merchandise!” She walked over to where he had fallen and punched him in the head, making him groan. “That earned you twenty lashes.” The men by her side dragged the guy off for his punishment.

I felt grateful. I was about to say something, but then the superior explained her behavior and I didn’t feel like talking at all.

“We’re going to turn you beautiful ones into sex slaves, and damaged goods are unsellable. The buyers like to have the illusion of untouched women. Put her in group one.”

They divided us by age. Priya and I ended up in the same group. Becoming a sex slave wasn’t part of the plan. The thought made me want to throw up. When they finished sorting us, the pirates brought us to a different area and told us to start changing our clothes.

I looked at the two small scraps of cloth and wondered where the rest of it was. When I put the rags on my body, I saw that the bottom half was an extremely short skirt with attached underwear. The top was a ragged sports bra. It kept me from bouncing around but left plenty of cleavage exposed. It reminded me of a cheerleader’s outfit. I felt like I was parading around in my underwear.

A moment later, the supervisor appeared and inspected us.

“You clean up nicely. I believe you’ll fetch a high price. Try and get some sleep. We’ll bring you to market soon.”

* * *

Even though our situation was dire, some people were exhausted and didn’t have any problems falling asleep. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a second. I got up and shook Priya’s shoulder. Her eyes popped open, and she followed me to the wall.

“They said there was a concealed door in every room. It better be here.” Priya looked skeptical. “Wait a second. Weren’t we supposed to short out the camera first?”

I had forgotten about it. I nodded and looked around for the camera’s yellow dot of light.

“There it is.” I couldn’t see where Priya was pointing in the darkness. She grabbed my arm and tugged, being careful to step around the women asleep on the floor. We stopped next to the door leading into the bathroom.

“What did Anders say to do again?” I couldn’t think clearly. Something about changing my clothes and being treated like a slave had affected my brain.

“The reset button.” Priya looked annoyed. “You need something to press it down and hold it for twenty seconds. We have five minutes before it starts recording again. That’s how long we have to get everyone out.”

“Right. I feel like my brain has turned to mush. I'm not usually like this.”

“You have to do it because I’m too short.” She went into the bathroom and came out with a pair of plastic tweezers. The pirates had removed any sharp objects we could turn into weapons but seemed to think this instrument was harmless. I took the tweezers from her, reached all the way up and pushed one end against the small button.

After a few seconds, my arms started to ache from the awkward position. I didn’t want to initiate the process all over again, so I gritted my teeth and held the tweezers steady. I heard a soft tone, and I let out my breath, coming back down to the floor.

“Keep the tweezers. Let’s try to find one of those magic doors.” Anders and Allex had told us their different locations in the rooms, but we still needed to find them.

Why would I want to keep the tweezers? I didn’t think I was going to do any eyebrow plucking anytime soon. And where should I put them? I looked down at my outfit.

“Store them in your boobs.” She turned her back to me as her fingers deftly probed the wall and released a catch. I didn’t want to. Instead, I tucked the tweezers into my panties on my right hip, trapped between the fabric and my skin. I was starting to miss all the pockets on the flight suit.

I peeked into the darkness of the passageway. Priya gestured for me to go in front. “You take point because you’re supposed to know where to go. I’ll cover the rear and close the door behind us. As we go past each room, I’ll check to see if we missed anyone. We can pick up any stragglers along the way.”

I looked to see if Priya was anxious, but her eyes sparkled. She was enjoying herself and already rousing the women. When we were all in the dark, confined space, I began inching in a direction I hoped led to the fifth wing. Anders had drawn me a rough map. I had memorized it, but we weren’t at the correct starting location.

As we went along, I heard Priya opening each door and either closing it immediately or going into the room and whispering to the occupants. There was occasionally a soft scuffling as more women joined our party and continued through the darkness with us.

At one point, I froze. There were loud, angry voices on the other side of the wall. We slowed to a crawl, trying not to make any noise that might give us away.

I imagined fear was a tangible thing in the dark passageway. I thought whoever was on the other side of the wall could hear my heart pounding.

Someone stumbled, making a loud clanking noise on the metal grating of the tunnel floor. Everyone stopped moving.

“What was that?” It was a female voice.

“You’re just trying to distract me. I’m not going to forget what happened.”

“No, I heard something,” the woman’s voice insisted. “It came from the wall.”

“It’s probably just a maintenance issue.” The male voice sounded bored and irritated.

“I don’t think so.”

“Shut up! I’ll show you what a man can do when a woman disobeys him.”

The anxiety in the group jumped to a different level at his comment. I decided we should try to make our escape while he was yelling. I knew I didn’t need to tell everyone to be quiet, but I hoped there wouldn’t be any more loud noises.

We had found all the rooms with women in them, but we were still missing seventeen. I crept forward, looking for a large opening where multiple tunnels converged. I couldn’t find it.

I was starting to get worried that I was lost and my mind was running in circles. We needed to get to the fifth wing. Was I leading us to salvation or our doom? The plan had to work if we were going to survive.

I whispered to the woman behind me, telling her that we were going to stop. I sent a message down the line. I’d decided to try some reconnaissance by myself, without dragging everyone with me. Priya might not like the decision, but it was impossible to consult with her. I needed to know where we were.

After a few months on the ship, I knew most parts of it well. I often took long walks, and over time had seen most of the public areas. I hadn’t been in the tunnels before, but I thought that no matter where I came out, I could point us in the right direction.

I found the next hidden panel and probed until I located the catch that released it. I pressed, and the door slid open silently. I darted through and secured it behind me. It was better to get caught by myself than for anyone to find out how we were getting around.

I found myself in a corridor that felt as bright as the sun after the darkness of the tunnels. After looking around, I realized that I was in an empty part of the ship that could be in any of the wings. I moved down the hall, looking for a landmark that would give a hint about our current location. At the end of the corridor, it merged with a larger hallway. I thought I recognized it for a second, but my hope faded quickly. I simply wasn’t sure where we were.

As I turned a corner, I saw Anders racing toward me, pursued by a pirate. I pulled back so they wouldn’t notice me but peeked my head out so I could see what was happening. Neither of them were great at fighting. I saw a lot of wild punches and off-target kicks. Anders landed a good blow and knocked the pirate to the ground. He wrenched open an oversized door and disappeared through it. The pirate got up a moment later and pulled out a gun. He started shooting at the door.

I had no doubt that if the pirate got through, he would shoot Anders. I needed to save him. But I didn’t have any weapons except my body. Would I really be able to seduce a pirate who was hell-bent on killing someone?

There was only one way to find out.

I sauntered out into the hallway. The pirate spun around, stopping dead when he saw me in my slave clothes. I watched a significant bulge appear at his crotch.

These guys had short attention spans.

“Hey, big guy.” Did I sound sexy? “There you are.”

I recognized him as the guy who had sorted us. The one who’d gotten in trouble for too much touching. He seemed to be moving a little stiffly, but at least I knew he still wanted me.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

I had no idea what to say. “I’m hard to forget.” He seemed to have stopped worrying about Anders and was thinking entirely with his dick.

“Oh, yeah.” I pretended to pout. “You said you would pay me a visit.” I tried to use the same words he had spoken earlier. Seeing his eyes light up was my reward. My pulse pounded in my ears. I felt nauseous, but I kept up my charade. Every second I delayed the pirate gave Anders a better chance at escape. “Why don’t you come with me?” I walked down the hall away from him, swinging my hips. My jaw tightened with fear, but I tried to keep my body relaxed. He followed, then stopped.

“Hang on a second.”

“The offer expires in five minutes.” I put my hands on my hips but didn’t turn around. I hoped he wouldn’t remember that he had all the power over me. What would it take for him to forget about Anders completely?

Without thinking, I grabbed the bottom of my bra and pulled it off, keeping my back to him. That did it. He groaned and came toward me. I scurried away from him, hoping I would have enough time to run and hide. But he was quicker than I had expected. Not only did he catch me, he pulled me through a door into what turned out to be a tiny bathroom.

He tugged me by the arm, my breasts bouncing freely. He shut the door with his elbow and locked it behind us. In a second, he had his pants down and his hands on my breasts.

I was really in trouble now.