DISCLAIMERS: This has the potential to be very sad. Beware of the usual suspects as well; intolerance, violence, sexual situations, poor grammar, foul language, and flawed characters.

COWARD

by Phair

Part 4

Rory could hear a siren in the distance. She ignored it. Her body felt too good to start moving around so early in the morning. Snuggled up in the sweet warmth of another body was a long absent pleasure and she was unwilling to let go of the moment or the body.

"Ma’am, wake up time. Wake up time, Ma’am," a soft voice whispered close to Rory’s ear.

"Five more minutes," Rory mumbled.

"Guards be mad. Gots to be up at wake up time. Guards be mad at you, no food for Rabbit."

"Shit."

Rory opened her eyes and sighed. She remembered everything. Every horrible detail of the last nine months was right there in her head. The peaceful comfort of sleep was over. She pushed Rabbit away from her and started to untwist the blankets from their bodies.

"Let me go now?"

"What?" Rory was lost in her own thoughts. She only heard the woman’s voice and not the actual question.

"Let me go now?" Rabbit half turned as she spoke to show her bound wrists. "No touch you. No be fuckin’ dyke to you. So let me go now, please?"

Rory rolled her eyes as she grabbed Rabbit’s wrists began to untie them, "Just keep your hands to yourself and we won’t have any more problems."

Rabbit pulled her hands away once they were free. She scooted to the far side of the berth to dress. Every few seconds she would risk a glance at Rory. She was absolutely terrified and it clearly showed on her face even in the dimly lit interior of the berth.

Rory smirked. She was pleased the woman learned so quickly. In spite of her general dislike for gays and lesbians, Rory didn’t really want to spend her nights beating the woman into submission. Besides, Rabbit seemed simple minded and hurting the handicapped rubbed Rory the wrong way.

"It’s better she understands from the start that I’ll break her neck the next time she tries something," Rory thought to herself as Rabbit scrambled to get out of the berth.

A blast of hot air invaded the space when Rabbit opened the Varicant canvas to leave. Rory remember then that, while the nights were subzero, the days on New Earth usually exceed one hundred degrees.

"Just like I said, Hell. Oh well, only one hundred and nine thousand, five hundred and two days more to go," Rory bitterly mumbled to herself.

Rory took a few seconds more to loosely braid her hair. She hadn’t had long hair since her childhood and found the mass of brown which had grown since her incarceration to be annoying. Once finished, she eased herself off the berth and was the last one leave the tent.

"Come on, now. Tell us the truth, Rabbit. Is your new owner as tasty on the inside as she looks on the outside?" Bearses held the struggling Rabbit around the neck in a head lock as he taunted her.

The other prisoners, eating their breakfast, began to gathered around the pair. They laughed at the helpless woman’s frantic efforts to free herself form Bearses’ grip. None of them noticed Rory walking toward the scene.

Bearses pulled Rabbit upright and off her feet to rub his rough beard over her unprotected cheek, "Did she have you lick her spot or does she like it the other way around?" With one fist he smacked Rabbit’s crotch. "Maybe she likes it face down or maybe she likes you face down?" The same hand snaked around to pinch Rabbit’s ass. The crowd hooted encouragement for the sick game. "Don’t you be keeping us guessing, girl! Tell us!"

"She no like funkin’ me. No touch her, no more," Rabbit’s voice cracked as she confessed her shame. "Bearses, she no want to make warm. Bearses, I gonna freeze?"

Bearses shifted his hands to cradle Rabbit more than torment and restrain her, "I guess you will at that, Rabbit."

The crowd howled with laughter. Rory watched as Bearses let go of Rabbit and she sank to her knees. Tears streamed down the woman’s face which only served to fuel the crowd’s amusement.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Rory bellowed. She proceeded to shove the now silent gawkers out of the way. "Bearses, you better stay out of my business or we are going to have a problem. A very big problem." Rory stormed up to Rabbit and yanked her to her feet, "STOP CRYING!"

Rory instantly regretted shouting. Before her, in the stark daylight was the same wide eyed, fear she saw last night. Somehow it was worse to see it in full detail. The tears had stopped but Rabbit continued shaking violently. Rory realized what she had just done to Rabbit was worse than the torture Bearses put her through moments ago.

"I’m sorry," Rory softened her voice and placed both her hands on Rabbit’s shoulders in an effort to still the quaking. "You’re not going to freeze. I’m not going to let you freeze. Just keep your hands to yourself and we’ll be okay, you and I."

Bearses’ laughter broke the moment, "Sweet! How splendid you two could make it up. But, now it’s time to be getting to work. The day’s a wasting, my fellow felons. No breakfast for Rabbit or Rory. Let’s be on our way."

Rory could not move fast enough to keep Bearses from dumping out the breakfast pot. The contents drained down into the porous ground. There wasn’t even a puddle to scoop a morsel from.

"Son of a Bitch!"

Rory raced toward the pompous tent leader. She was going to deck him. Less than two feet from her target, Bearses grabbed his left forearm and the metal bands fastened around Rory’s wrists slammed together. She dropped to the ground at Bearses’ feet.

"No, you don’t get to be a bad ass here. I’m in charge of an orderly tent. You obey me and you’ll get by. You defy me and you’ll be hook up by the wrists on the punishment post all day long. Got it?"

Rory could not move her arms an inch. The bands hummed and sent tiny shock waves of pain through her entire body. There was nothing she could do but surrender.

"Got it," her voice was weak and broken. Nine months of agony and humiliation hit home as she lay shivering in pain, face down on the rough, concrete like alien ground.

"That’s a good girl. I knew you’d be one to see reason. Now, let’s get to work."

Rory felt the bands release. She gently moved her sore body to test its strength. It took several attempt to move to her knees. The group of prisoners from her tent were quickly breaking up to follow Bearses. Rory wondered if she would be strong enough to get up off the ground on her own.

"Ma’am, gotta go. Up and go," Rabbit was squatting next to her. "Rabbit get a whippin’ if you don’t up and go."

Rory ignored the woman’s words, "Give me a hand, will you?"

Rory reached out to steady herself against Rabbit. The woman flinched back. She winced as she gave a sideward look at Rory. Rabbit was obviously waiting for beating.

"No touch, no ‘fuckin’ you, you break my neck, right? Teasing Rabbit, right? Want me to slip some more so you pound me?" The words were whispered.

Rory wanted to scream but the scene before her was too pitiful. Rabbit was scared stiff. Rory idly wondered if Rabbit was frightened by everybody or if it was just herself who instilled so much fear in the young woman.

"Or maybe only those people who threaten to kill her actually frighten her," Rory sadly thought to herself. "I’m not teasing you. I need help to get to my feet. This kind of touching doesn’t count. It isn’t fucking or anything perverted like that."

Rory reached toward Rabbit again and the woman let her steady herself. The pair managed to get Rory up and walking after several tries. Rory kept her arm over Rabbit’s shoulder even when they caught up to the others. The group was moving toward a large hill.

Rory took in her surroundings for the first time. The penal colony was obviously below the surface of the planet. Because of the porous nature of the rock formations, light from the four suns New Earth revolved around streamed in creating an orange glow against the red rocks.

The heat was like a physical presences. Rory thought is was similar to being submerged in an ocean of still water up to her nose. It created pressure all around her body making every movement deliberately effortful. However, unlike the night before, there was no wind.

"Is it only windy at night?" She asked Rabbit

"No light, cold wind. Light, hot still air."

"How long you been here?" Rory really wasn’t interested but asked to kill time as they made their way to the work site.

"Always."

"What’s that suppose to mean?" Rory snarled thinking Rabbit’s answer was meant to be sarcastic.

A woman near them answered, "She’s a tent rat. She came with the tent. Born here. Took the Old Earth team a while to get sterilization procedures right."

"Who the fuck asked you?" Rory’s anger was close to boiling over after a morning of degradation.

The woman turned and faced Rory, "My name’s Petra. My man is Jeff. We take care of Rabbit when she’s between owners. She makes warm with us, right Rabbit?"

"Yep, very toasty warm," Rabbit blushed as she smiled for the first time Rory could remember.

Rory was embarrassed by the exchange, "What in Hell are you trying to tell me other than you have a lovely threesome?"

Petra frowned at Rory, "Don’t be a pig. We share a berth, not our bodies. Jeff and I don’t want the girl to freeze. If you’d open your eyes you’d be able to figure Rabbit out. Look at her neck." The woman explained and pointed, "She’s branded a thief and a murderer with a little two after each scar. Rabbit is marked with both her parents’ crimes. The thief, her mother, was repatriated just after I got here. Rabbit was three or five or something like that. Age is hard to guess for native New Earthers. The murderer was a long time dead before that. Rabbit inherited her father’s life sentence." Petra started walking again and Rory and Rabbit fell into line behind her, "Rabbit has always been here because she was born here more than twenty five years ago.

"So, why’s she still here?" Rory asked as she glanced at a blushing Rabbit.

"That’s the government policy. New Earthers get the lengthier of the parents sentence."

Rory didn’t respond. Her heart ached at the thought of a baby born in such a terrible place. A baby with a mother who would leave her all alone and helpless. Instinctively, she tugged Rabbit a little closer to her side.

"Sorry," Rory quietly sniffed but Rabbit didn’t understand what Rory was sorry about.

Once they climbed to the work site, Rabbit showed Rory how to use a wooden mallet against the porous red rocks. The rocks shattered under the force. Large white stones trapped inside the hill were then easily accessible. The stones were loaded into buckets with thin skis attached to their bottoms. When the buckets were filled, Rabbit exchange an empty bucket for a full one and dragged the full bucket to a waiting transport wagon. The manual labor required from each prisoner was back breaking.

"Ma’am, you slow," Rabbit stuttered quietly shortly after midday.

"What?" Rory was beyond exhausted.

"Two buckets too slow," Rabbit held up two fingers. "Gots to hurry. Guards punish."

Rory swung her mallet at the woman, "Back off!"

Rabbit fell back on her ass. The mallet came within a hair’s breadth of her head. She scramble away from Rory but never broke eye contact with the incensed prisoner. She waited until Rory returned to smashing the rock wall before she raced for relative safety.

When the evening siren finally blew, all the prisoners dropped their mallets. A collect groan went up as the groups began the long march back to their respective tents. At the foot of the hill, stood several heavily armed guards. Nearby, armored flat bed vehicles sat with waiting drivers. Due to the weaponry involved, there was no possibility of a prisoner uprising against even such a small band of guards.

"HOLD!" A guard slammed his baton against Rory’s chest forcing her back several steps.

She glared at him but held her tongue.

"You came up a bucket and a half short of your quota."

Rory shrugged, "Call it first day jitters."

"Three point penalty. Move your bitch to the punishment post at once."

The guard wave toward an erect T bar several feet away. Rory was about to give a smart mouth answer when she felt a small hand on her hip, pushing past her. Rabbit was following the guard’s order to the post.

"Wait a minute…,"

Rory’s argument was stopped when the guard hit his left arm. Rory’s wrists slammed together. She dropped to her knees as the magnetic pull trapped her wrists to each other and the ground. However, there was no pain this time.

Rabbit walked to the post and pulled her shirt off. Her back was a map of injuries both old and new. She leaned against the post, stretching her arms wide.

"Promise not to move and I won’t tie you," the guard spoke in a gentle manner.

Rabbit’s voice was soft, "Promise, sir."

The guard grabbed coiled rope from the backside of the post. He shook it free as he strode around Rabbit in order to face her naked back. Rory could see the ends of the braided rope were loosened and knotted.

"No, don’t," she gasped as she realized what was about to happen because of her, "please."

The guard brought the rope down across Rabbit’s back with a fierce crack. Rabbit shuddered but did not cry out. A second sickening snap opened the skin at the midline of her back. Still, the woman remained silent. The third strike left a livid red welt from her shoulder to the opposite hip.

"Get dressed and go home," the guard recoiled the rope and placed it back on the post tact.

Rabbit stumbled a little as she moved away from the post. She quickly found her shirt and pulled it over her head. Slightly disoriented, she staggered back towards the tents.

Rory’s wrist bands released and her hands flung wide almost knocking her backward. She clawed her way across the harsh ground in order to catch up with Rabbit. Once Rory was upright and running, she caught up with the dazed woman quickly.

"Why, why, why?" Was all she could ask as she took hold of Rabbit by the shoulders.

Rabbit’s cheeks were pale and her breathing was in short pants, "Don’t know what why, you mean?

"Why did you step in for me? Why take my punishment?" Rory had to slip her hands under Rabbit arms as the woman’s strength failed.

Rabbit’s eyes were rolling back in her head but she muttered the dreadful response, "Whippin’ bitch, I’m your whippin’ bitch. Take punishment. Take what you earn."

TBC

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