“Show me,” Tom said. Alexa opened her mouth wide so that he could see she had swallowed it all.
“Good girl,” he said, finally smiling. “You can go to sleep now, female.” He ruffled her hair before walking away.
Alexa turned her head to look towards where Will, Mike and Martina were. All three of them were awake, with Martina, looking as tired and worn as Alexa felt now, kneeling between the two men. Alexa looked into Martina's eyes, gave her a crooked smile, and then laid down on her side, her back towards them. There was a lot about what had just happened that she wanted to think about, but sleep came over her in a soft, dark rush.
“Up, female! Time to get up!”
Alexa heard the words, thought for a moment that she'd get up in just a little bit, and then remembered how she had been woken up through most of last night. She sat up with a yelp of dismay, her still-bound hands moving to cover her bruised and abused ass. But no stinging blow came, and she suddenly realized that it was Mike who had spoken, not one of the Andersons.
She looked around the campsite. It took a while, because she kept yawning, but the Andersons seemed to be gone. Will was still there, with Martina, naked and bound, eating out of his hand. And Mike was there, standing over her and grinning hugely.
“What's going on?” she asked. “Where are the Andersons?”
“They left,” Mike replied simply.
“But... why?” Alexa felt confused, and annoyed that she'd been abandoned after submitting to them all those times. What was her status now?
“They had other business to attend to,” Mike answered. “But before they left they sold you to me, so you're mine now. Are you thirsty? Hungry?”
“Yes,” Alexa replied, so uncertainly that it came out almost like a question.
“There's not a whole lot left for breakfast,” Mike said. “But if we get a move on we can be in End in time for dinner.” He held out a piece of jerky. “Here. Eat. We've still got some water if you're thirsty.”
Alexa leaned forward and took a bite out of the jerky. This kind had a different flavor. She didn't know what kind of flavor it was supposed to be, only that it wasn't barbecue, and it wasn't bad. Hungry as she was, she quickly ate the three small pieces that Mike offered to her. She was ready for more, but she didn't get any. Instead, Mike held a water bottle for her and let her drink it dry.
It didn't take long to break camp. Will and Mike spent some time and care in covering the remains of the campfire with dirt and stomping it all flat. Alexa and Martina waited patiently in the meantime. The men had put their shoes on, but given them no other clothing, aside from their belts, which were looped around their necks. In addition, they'd put all of the females' remaining possessions in tightly-wrapped blanket rolls and slung them over their shoulders. Their hands were tied behind them.
They set out along the trail to End, Will in front, leading Martina along by the belt around her neck, Mike following, towing Alexa along behind him by her belt. They moved slowly enough for the females to keep up, even with their bound hands keeping them from using their arms for balance. From time to time they would stop for a moment and the females would be given a bite of jerky and some water. No one spoke. Alexa noticed that though Martina was half a head taller than Will, she followed along behind him docilely, like a well-trained dog, and even seemed to be hunching over to minimize the apparent difference in their heights. She wondered what had been done to Martina last night, and if Mike had participated. Then she wondered why she suddenly cared so much whether or not he had. Last night, he and Will had teamed up to capture the tall, blonde volleyball player, and it wouldn't have made sense for him not to sample her gorgeous body. Also last night, Alexa herself had been the captive female of the Anderson brothers. Mike had to have seen and heard at least some of what they'd done to her during the night.
But now... now, somehow, things were different, and she was confused. Last year, Will, the man who had caught her, had kept her to himself until her time was up. Being the female slave of one man, especially one as attentive and imaginative as Will was, had been exciting. One long night as the helpless sex toy of the Anderson brothers had left her with very mixed feelings about gangbangs. She didn't think she'd have been able to endure being their captive for very long, and there had been times last night when she'd have probably bailed out of the whole thing if Martina hadn't been there. She just couldn't bring herself to do that in front of Martina. She would never hear the end of it.
Now she'd been sold to Mike by the Andersons. There had to be some kind of protocol for her new situation, but Alexa had no idea what it might be. She wished for some time to sort it all out with Mike, but he didn't seem interested in talking, and she wasn't sure how to bring the matter up. She would wait until after they had gotten back to End, and then wait for the right moment.
They trudged on. They never stopped to rest, except for a moment or two here and there, when the man gave their females a little more jerky to eat and water to drink. As hungry as she was, Alexa was getting very tired of the jerky. She consoled herself with the thought of cooked food at their journey's end. And they kept walking. And walking.
It was getting close to the end of the day when they saw the rustic buildings of End up ahead. Alexa was so glad to see them that she was ready to sprint there, bound hands and bobbling boobs notwithstanding, if Mike wanted her to, but instead the men made their females stop so that they could remove their shoes. The last twenty yards or so before they reached a sandy side street of the town went very, very slowly, with much limping and yelping from both Alexa and Martina as they stepped on small, hard things. The noise attracted the attention of some people passing by, and they in turn called others over to have a look. As they entered the main street of End Alexa saw what had to be a large crowd for this place on hand to watch the little procession. She stood a little straighter, pulling her shoulders back, but at the same time she realized how dirty and bedraggled she must look after so much time in the woods. Well, there was no help for that at the moment.
She liked how the men watching looked at her as she walked by. The looks from some of the women were less welcome, but there was no help for that either. Back home in the city, she spent a lot of time and effort keeping herself in superb shape. She liked the attention that it got her, and it was great advertising for her personal fitness trainer business. Here, well, she liked to think that she looked even better naked than she did clothed. And she did have that exhibitionist streak that Will had commented on last year.
Martina seemed to have a different opinion about public nudity, though there wasn't anything about her body that she ought to want to hide. She stayed very close to Will, and hunched down even further, looking at the ground, trying to pretend that the onlookers weren't there.
They turned down the main street, heading for the barn. Before they reached it, a proctor came over and started talking to Will. Alexa couldn't quite hear what they said, but after a moment the proctor nodded, turned, and led the way to the barn.
Alexa followed Mike more than willingly. After so long in the woods and on the trail, the barn offered relative comfort and ease, an actual bathroom, even if it was on the postage-stamp size, and possibly some hot food that didn't come out of a fire-blackened can. When she entered through the big, swinging doors, it was all she could do not to let out a huge sigh of relief. Will led Martina to a stall near the rear of the barn, and Mike led Alexa to the stall next to that one. The two females waited patiently as they were relieved of their blanket rolls and their hands were untied. Their blankets were spread out over the thick layer of hay, and then the two females were allowed to go into their stalls and lie down. Alexa let herself go limp. Her ass still hurt, her legs hurt, and the soles of her feet had fresh bruises from only a few minutes ago. She'd had an opportunity to look at Martima's ass for most of the day, and from the marks on it, she figured that Martina had at least some of the same pains and twinges as she did. But none of that mattered at the moment. Nor did it matter that she was still in need of a bath and a good meal. For the first time in many, many days she could just rest, without having to keep an eye and an ear out for any sign that hunters were nearby. She wondered if other females felt the same relief, as temporary as it might turn out to be, once they had been captured and the first part of their adventure was finally over. As she thought about that, it occurred to her that most of them probably didn't, simply because they'd gone into the woods intending to be caught quickly, so that they could get to the good stuff quickly.
That thought gave her pause, as she wondered what Mike might have in mind for his newly-purchased slave. She was sure that he was talking to Will to learn whatever he could about her.
All this thinking was getting her nowhere and only making her even more tired. She'd feel a lot better after a nice, long nap. She snuggled into her blanket and drifted off to sleep.
“Up, female! Up!”
Alexa was up on her knees, her hands protecting her ass, before she was even fully awake. Mike was in the stall with her, standing in front of her, a coil of shiny chain dangling from his hand. She was still blinking and yawning when he put a loop of the chain around her neck and clipped it in place. Alexa merely looked up at him. She wasn't sure how much sleep she'd gotten, but she was certain that it hadn't been enough. Her mind felt foggy, there was a taste in her mouth, and all the bits of her that had hurt when she'd fallen asleep still hurt as much as before.
“We're going to get you females cleaned up,” Mike said. “You know the drill for that.” He gave the chain a tug. “Come on, female. Hands and knees.” He pulled on the chain and Alexa obediently crawled along behind him as they went to the opened back doors of the barn. She saw Will leading Martina by a chain around her neck. Martina was on all fours as well, and she presented an interesting view. They passed out of the barn and turned right, towards where the outdoor shower was. Alexa wondered if she would be made to wait while Martina was cleaned up, or if Will and Mike would wash them down together. And then she saw the small crowd that had gathered outside the barn to watch the proceedings. It was composed of men, for the most part, but she could see two women standing there as well, plus the proctor from earlier.
Alexa balked. Mike just pulled a little harder on the chain, and just about dragged her outside. To her surprise, they turned left. She saw what looked like a wooden cargo pallet sitting on the ground, with a bucket of soapy water next to it.
“Up onto the platform, female,” Mike ordered. “And stand up. Last time you put on quite a show for everybody. Now you get to do it again.”
Alexa whined in complaint. She was tired and hungry and didn't want to have to put on another show, not like this. It seemed that her exhibitionist streak had some limits after all. But Mike was insistent, and she had that chain around her neck, and she didn't want to get flogged anymore, so she got onto the pallet and stood up as ordered.
“Clean yourself up,” Mike said, giving the chain a flick. Trying very hard to pretend that the crowd wasn't there, Alexa checked the bucket and found that it had both a washcloth and a short-handled soft brush in it. She took the washcloth and began with her arms. She had no desire to put on a show as she had last time, flaunting her toned and limber body in front of a very appreciative audience. Then she glanced over to the concrete pad where Martina was. The tall blonde was standing, facing the crowd, her back arched, as cold water sluiced down on her from the showerhead above, making her nipples stand out boldly. She was running her fingers through her long hair, not quite washing it, but certainly giving it a thorough rinsing. Will stood nearby, holding the end of her chain leash, his back to Alexa, all of his attention concentrated on his tall, blonde prize.
Inwardly, Alexa snarled. All her reluctance to put on a show evaporated as she saw Martina putting on one of her own, and to an extremely appreciative audience. She remembered the fierce competition between them last year, first to be the last one caught and then to attract the most attention from the gawkers as they were exhibited naked in those cages in the big slave market in Gordburg town. She began to slowly, sensuously, was her breasts, closing her eyes and tilting her head back as she moaned faintly. Anything Martina could do, she could do better. At least she could here in Gordburg. When it came to female display it wasn't so much of what you had as it was what you did with it. Martina had a magnificent body, no doubt, with long, strong legs, a mouth-watering taut round ass and breasts the perfect size and shape for her frame, plus that long, thick, honey-colored hair. So what? Alexa had the same basic equipment, a bit more tone, more curves, and a flexibility she'd maintained through yoga. She could actually bend over backwards and touch the ground with her fingers, for one thing. And, even if her legs weren't as long as Martina's, she could stand on one foot and raise the other one up over her head. She wasn't going to try doing either of those things on the slippery surface of the wooden pallet, but she had other tricks she could use.
She got the washcloth sopping wet and then squeezed it out on the top of her head, looking upwards so as not to get any of the faintly-scented soap in her eyes. Then she tossed the washcloth back into the bucket and began vigorously scrubbing the suds into her short hair, in such a way as to make her breasts jiggle. She gave her hair a far more thorough washing than it really needed, and then went on to washing her legs, stretching each one out straight and bending to reach all the way down to her toes. Her legs done, she went back to her breasts and under her arms, following that up by using the short-handled brush on her back. She tried to pay no attention to what Martina was doing, as it might throw her off of her own game, but she saw the attention of the crowd switching back and forth between her and Martina as if they were watching a tennis match.