“Get away from me!” Lacy screamed, so loudly that everyone in the room woke immediately.
But Boris had made his decision.
“So that’s how it’s gonna be,” he growled. “Well, that’s fine with me – better even!”
He grabbed at her shirt and tore the top open. The sight of her naked breasts inflamed him and he came at her with full force. Lacy was ready for his move. She delivered a solid punch to his face with her free hand, bloodying his nose and stunning him momentarily. In a few seconds he flew back in a rage. Lacy screamed as loudly as she could, and clawed at his face, tearing off strips of skin.
Boris screamed in pain. He had forgotten about sex, and was now bent on killing her. He delivered a brutal punch to her right eye that nearly knocked her cold. He raised himself up for a final attack. Suddenly he was lifted bodily from the ground, as if by magic. His legs pumped uselessly beneath him like he was riding an invisible bicycle.
Looking more closely, she realized that he was being held up by the collar by a huge man she hadn’t seen before.
“Lights!” the man bellowed, and instantly additional light flooded the room.
“What the hell’s goin’ on here!” the man roared.
“Hugo…” said Boris, trembling. “Nothin’s goin’ on. We were just talkin’ and suddenly she starts screamin’ for no reason.”
“He attacked me!” shouted Lacy.
“She’s lying!” Boris yelled, still floating at the end of the other man’s arm.
“Shut up!” bellowed Hugo. Boris was immediately silent.
“You got any idea how much money we could make with this one?” The big man said. “It’s bad enough you wanna’ sample the merchandise, but now look what you did to her eye. Who’s gonna’ want her lookin’ like that?” Lacy reached her free hand up and felt her right eye. It was bleeding and painful, and she could already feel it beginning to swell. Hugo shook Boris like a rag doll.
“I’d throw you out the fuckin’ window right now,” the big man said, “but I need you to look after the girls.”
“Please don’t hurt me! Please don’t hurt me!” Boris whined pathetically.
Still holding Boris in midair, Hugo rotated him until they were face to face, and punched him in the head with such force that the smaller man flew several yards across the room, landing in a crumpled heap. He lay so still that at first Lacy thought he was dead, but in a few seconds he began to groan pitifully and writhed feebly on the ground.
“You touch another one of these girls, and I’ll rip your balls off and shove them down your throat!” the big man yelled. “You got that?”
“Yeah,” Boris whimpered almost inaudibly, still lying on the floor.
Hugo stomped away, leaving Boris where he lay.
Lacy kept her eyes on the injured Boris, just in case. He lay still for a few minutes, then finally managed to stand shakily, and eventually staggered past her and out of the room. He glared over at her as he passed, and she could see the pure hatred in his eyes.
“That was the big boss, Hugo,” whispered Mei-Lien. She examined Lacy’s eye, saying, “I think your eye’s going to look pretty bad. You’re lucky – maybe you won’t have to fuck anybody till it’s healed.”
“Great,” said Lacy, doing her best to re-attach the top of her shirt. She was too exhausted to care. She lay down and was immediately asleep.
When she awoke the next morning, her eye was throbbing with pain and so swollen she could barely see out of it. She spotted one of the ‘free’ girls walking around the room, and motioned her over.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” she said to the girl who, wearing a bored expression, unlocked her chain and took her arm. The girl led her toward the bathroom, which was through the main room’s only door and down a long corridor.
“What’s your name?” Lacy whispered to the girl as they walked.
“My name?” she answered. “’None of your fuckin’ business’ – that’s my name.”
Lacy didn’t attempt any further communication.
“Who is that girl?” She whispered to Mei-Lien after she got back to her place.
“That’s Serena,” said Mei-Lien.
“She’s not very friendly.”
“Oh… She hates everybody, that one. You should stay away from her. Nobody likes her.”
That day, Frank, Jun, Boris, or combinations of those three, led a series of disgusting looking men through the area where Lacy and the others were being held. Lacy couldn’t hear much of what was said, but it appeared that the guide, or guides, would point out various girls and list off their ‘features’ along with a price. Several times they brought a ‘John’ over to Lacy, hoping that he might be interested in spite of her battered face. Mercifully, none of them were interested.
She spent the day lying low and trying not to be noticed. She prayed that none of the Johns would find her mutilated face attractive, and slept as much as possible in a desperate attempt to overcome the crushing terror.
The captives were brought some stale bread and water in the morning, and nothing else until early evening, when they were finally given a tasteless, but hot and welcome stew that looked like it might even have meat in it. It smelled bad, but she attacked it ravenously. After dinner the traffic of Johns picked up but, possibly in answer to her prayers, none of them chose her.
That evening, she managed to catch Serena’s eye, and gestured that she needed the bathroom. This time she made no attempt at conversation, and just followed silently as the girl led her to the bathroom door and waited outside. She stole a glance at Serena as they walked. She was young and still beautiful, with long chestnut hair and deep brown eyes, but her face was hard and seemed to mask some deep anger and pain.
Lacy endured the disgusting toilet, made an attempt to wash her hands, and peered into the fragments of what was left of the mirror at her disfigured face. Most of the right side was a deep purple colour, and so swollen that her right eye was almost shut. The overall purple shade was generously interspersed with sickly blotches of yellow. She examined the hideous mess thankfully and smiled.
She was about to leave when she heard loud shouts coming from outside. She snuck up to the bathroom door and peered down the hallway. A drunk man in filthy clothes was arguing with Frank, who was trying to drag him away.
“You’re gettin’ the fuck outta’ here!” yelled Frank. “Those girls are our merchandise. You beat on one of them, that hurts our business.”
“I didn’t touch her, the bitch!” slobbered the drunk.
“She says you did,” said Frank. “And she’s got the black eye to prove it. We’ve already got one girl out of commission, we don’t need any more.”
Frank had the man’s left arm pinned behind his back, and was pushing him from behind toward a door that Lacy assumed was the exit.
“Get that lying whore in here!” yelled the drunk. “I’ll show her what we do to little liars!”
“Shut the hell up!” yelled Frank, and he punched the drunk in the back of the head, driving him forward.
“Hey!” The drunk yelled, and somehow used the momentum to yank his arm out of Frank’s grip. He stood facing Frank, with his back to both Lacy and Serena.
He shouted: “I paid for a good time, and all I get is this snotty bitch that won’t do anything I want!”
The drunk staggered backward several steps, and for a second looked as if he was about to fall over, but he finally regained enough control to remain standing. Frank made to move toward him, but the man found his balance and began to move backward more quickly.
He was rapidly approaching the bathroom door where Lacy was hiding. She backed into the shadows. She glanced in the other direction. Serena was standing at the far side of the door. The drunk was headed directly for her.
He paused just before the bathroom door, only a couple of yards in front of Serena, and bent down almost double. At first Lacy thought he was in the process of collapsing dead-drunk, but instead, he lifted his pant-leg and pulled a tiny gun from his boot. He continued to stagger backward, now pointing the gun at Frank.
“You fuckin’ pricks,” he slobbered. “Tryin’ to rip me off… I’m gonna do the world a favour and put ya’ outta yer misery!”
Frank saw the gun and backed away. The drunk staggered backward, more through drunkenness than intent, and half-walked, half-stumbled into Serena.
He jumped forward in shock; he hadn’t noticed her standing there. He turned and stared at her blearily. Serena was paralyzed with fear. The collision seemed to snap the drunk out of his stupor. Rushing forward with unexpected quickness, he grabbed Serena by the hair, swung around behind her and jammed the gun under her chin.
“You assholes think you can fuck with me!” He screamed. “Get me another woman or I’ll blow her head off!”
The drunk pushed Serena forward, the gun still pressed under her chin. They passed the doorway of the bathroom, so that Lacy was now behind them, no more than a few feet away.
Frank laughed. “You gotta be jokin’, man. Go ahead. There’s plenty more where that one came from.”
The drunk was silent for a second, confused at Frank’s remark.
Finally he yelled, “You think I’m kiddin’?” then fired a shot into the ceiling and hauled down on Serena’s hair, forcing her to her knees. He pointed the gun barrel down on the top of her head, about to execute her.
Lacy was terrified. She backed further into the shadows, but she hadn’t seen a mop standing against the wall. When she bumped against it, the handle fell and landed with a clang on the metal sink. The drunk wheeled around in panic, waving his gun dangerously, searching for a target.
By the time he spotted Lacy she was already on the move. She leapt out, grabbed his gun arm with both hands, and hauled down and back with all her might. The drunk screamed as his shoulder separated. The gun fired into the opposite wall then flung from his hand and fell clattering to the floor. He released Serena’s hair and collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.
Lacy grabbed Serena by the hand and ran with her away from the injured man. For the first time she noticed Hugo standing outside one of the nearby rooms. Frank rushed forward and grabbed the gun still lying on the floor. He ran over to the prone drunk, and without the slightest hesitation fired a bullet into the man’s skull. Lacy screamed.
Frank kicked the man’s dead body several times in disgust, then swaggered toward them. As he passed, he stopped for a second in front of Serena, as if expecting some reward. Serena sneered at him in revulsion, and slapped his face so hard he dropped the gun. Frank charged at her, but was immediately hauled back by the massive arm of Hugo.
“Bitch!” screamed Frank.
Hugo picked up the gun and shoved it into his belt, while still holding Frank at bay.
“You stupid fuck!” he yelled at Frank, grabbing him by the throat with his enormous right hand, “Don’t you know enough to check the Johns for weapons?”
“I did check…” pleaded Frank.
“Yeah, you checked… you fuckin’ moron… Get outta my sight.” Hugo released his grip and Frank began to move away. “Get the fuck out!” bellowed Hugo, and Frank took off. Hugo stomped angrily back to his office, yelling back at Serena: “Clean up that mess, for fuck’s sake!”
Lacy glanced over at Serena. The girl was shaking, as if her world had collapsed. Lacy was surprised. Serena had been so cold and unfeeling before.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Serena answered. “Help me clean this up.”
Serena found an old sheet, and together they rolled the body onto it and dragged the awful burden into a corner of the building that was commonly used to for garbage. They went back and wiped the blood from the floor, and Serena led Lacy back toward the main holding area. Just before they got there, she whispered, in a low, deadpan voice, “Thanks for helping me.”
She led Lacy to her place and re-attached her chain without speaking.
The next morning, Serena took Lacy on her usual trip the bathroom. As soon as they were out of sight of the other girls, Serena spoke to her, “That’s quite shiner you’ve got there.”
“It really hurts,” answered Lacy, surprised at the other girl’s sudden friendliness, “but I guess it could have been a lot worse.” She stole a glance at Serena. The girl’s eyes were red and puffy, like she’d been crying.
“I saw what happened with you and Boris,” said Serena. “You’re quite a fighter, aren’t you?”
“My Auntie Becky told me that there are some bad people in the world, and you have to be able to take care of yourself.”
“Well, your Auntie Becky was right as rain. You know that Boris wants to kill you now, don’t you?”
“I guess.”
They had reached a point about half way from the holding area to the bathroom when Serena suddenly stopped them both and glanced anxiously up and down the corridor. She turned to Lacy.
“I’ve got to get out this place,” she whispered. She studied Lacy closely, as if trying to gauge her reaction. “I’ll die if I have to stay here any longer! I know a way out but I’m scared to do it alone. I need somebody to come with me who’s got the guts to do whatever it takes. You interested?”
Lacy scanned Serena up and down, trying to decide if she could be trusted. Her limited experience with people made it a tough decision.