Fortunately, the bushes also line the lower part of the high wall. I decide to slip around that way, looking for a place where nobody will see me go up and over.
The sheriff lives like a king. This compound of his holds so many buildings, and I am sure, riches. Out beyond the city limits, life is brutal and rough and short. But it’s also free.
I creep along through the undergrowth, hoping I’ll find some opportunity for escape. A less well guarded stairway, maybe. Or perhaps an opportunity to scale the wall. If I can find some handholds, get high, I might be able to plot a route out of here that doesn’t involve getting caught.
The wall is smooth to the touch, and too tall to make a leap up to. I am stuck, for the moment, though I am still more free than I was inside that house with Mattias and Elias.
They will notice my absence soon, I am sure, and then the entire compound will be in an uproar. The sheriff is selling my flesh to a horde of lustful, powerful men as I crouch here, stuck in this bush that offers shelter, but no further avenue to freedom.
“Trissa!”
I hear a male voice hiss my name. It’s Mattias! How the hell did he find me?
“Trissa, come here now!”
I crouch down even more. Through the bushes, I can see him walking around. He seems to have some kind of idea where I am, but he can’t see me.
He’s getting closer and closer though, and there’s only so far I can sink down before his keen dark eyes pick me out.
“There you are.” There’s relief in his voice. A lot of it.
“How did you find me?”
He holds up a slim piece of plastic with colored lights on a screen. “The collar around your neck tracks you.”
“Oh.”
“Oh,” he echoes sternly. “Stay quiet and come with me. Quickly. If you’re seen out here, it will not go well for any of us.”
He and Elias bundle me back to the house. The relief at having me back seems to outweigh their anger at my attempted escape. I take the opportunity to plead my case. Mattias doesn’t seem evil, not like the sheriff. Maybe he will listen to me.
“Please,” I say. “If you have any humanity at all, let me go. I don’t belong here. You said so yourself.”
His expression softens, but not in the way I want it to. He speaks to me like I’m a silly little girl who is worried about something she shouldn’t be.
“You need training, that is all. I am sure you will have found a suitable owner. You’re too expensive to hurt, Trissa. You’re going to have a good life.”
I don’t find his words reassuring.
“I had a good life. Yesterday. And I’m going to get out if you help me or not.”
He fixes me with a stern look. “Rebellion won’t help, Trissa. You have to learn to obey. Come here.”
“No.”
Elias palms his face as Mattias yanks me over his thighs. This spanking was inevitable. Of course I am being punished for trying to escape. Why not. Why not punish me for breathing. It is basically the same instinct.
As his hand meets my ass, I curse him. I curse him with every word I have, and some I don’t. Some I don’t know the meaning of, but they sound bad and that’s all that I care about.
“You fucking asshole microchip! I hope you fester in customer service forever!”
“What are you saying, girl?” The spanking stops for a moment.
“I am saying I hate you.”
“Indeed, but customer service microchip?”
Now he is swearing at me! How dare he!