Page 227 of Malice and Surrender
“No, we have been given our instructions. We know what we must do. Let’s not question the Father’s wishes. He does know best,” the first woman said.
“Yes, Deist,” at least four other voices said in unison. The water around me splashed and moved, and I would’ve jumped out if I could when multiple hands touched my body. I smelled something flowery and figured it must be soap as the woman directly behind me rubbed the silky lather across my chest and over my breasts. Her fingers softly twisted my nipples between her fingers until they were hard.
“You do have pretty little buds,” she said, and squeezed them harder. “To bad we don’t have more time.” She spent all her time playing with my breasts and would’ve sworn that she was sucking on them.
Battling back the fear to be able to think straight was almost impossible as time ticked on. They didn’t miss a single spot and even held my leg above the water to do my feet. I fought against the drugs and could twitch two fingers now, but it was still not enough. A hand slid between my thighs and rubbed along the sensitive folds of my pussy.
“Check to see if she is satisfactory for the Father,” the woman behind me said as she continued rubbing my nipples. I wanted to stand up and yell at them to leave me alone. The finger massaging my pussy slid inside, and once more, I was violated. If I wanted to fuck multiple women, I wanted it to be my choice, not the demand of some lunatic. Instead of feeling dirty or tainted like before, I got angry. No angry wasn’t a strong enough word, I wanted them all dead. I didn’t care why they were like this, I just wanted them to be wiped from the earth for good.
“If we were allowed, I’d keep you,” the one who asked earlier said. She had a distinct voice. “You have a very tight womanhood and I would’ve enjoyed tasting you. Father will be pleased.”
And if I could, I’d cut your tits off. Now get your finger out of me.
I wanted to scream and rage. My foot suddenly flexed, and one eyelid parted slightly. Suddenly I didn’t care about the woman and her finger anymore. The only thing that mattered was my body's movements. They were tiny, but the more parts I could move, the greater my chance of getting out of here in one piece.
With my partially opened eye, I glanced at the women leaning over the tub as they touched me with hands, sponges, and coarse scrub brushes. It was hard to focus at first, but one of the women leaned closer, and it was a good thing that I couldn’t make a sound. Her neck and the side of her face were carved with patterns and symbols, the scars deep enough to stand out from the rest of her unmarred skin. The closest comparison I could think of was an old Star Trek episode, but those people were supposed to be aliens.
I focused in on the symbol near my eye and it looked like a round circle with a star in the middle and the outline of horns that turned into the letter Y.
Maybe I’d judged them prematurely. Maybe staying here wasn’t a choice. Maybe they were victims like me,but the crazy got to them one mutilation at a time.
My body felt raw and sore everywhere by the time they were finished. I thought they would call Dave to get me out of the narrow tub, but instead, they all picked me up at once and laid me out on something hard. I made sure not to try and open my eye any further, but I couldn’t help wanting to know that was going on. As if I was a child, they dressed me in a white robe, the material itchy against my sensitive skin.
The first woman, whom the others called Diest, opened the door. “She is prepared for the next stage.”
Next stage? How many stages were there? No, this was good. The longer they kept me from going to this Father guy, the better. With each passing second, I felt more of the drug wearing off.
Dave once more picked me up and carried me out, and again I laid like I was dead across his arms. He walked me into another room and put me on a bed where a man in a dark grey outfit chanted and waved smoke over my body that smelt like weed more than anything else. Were they trying to get me high now? I held my breath for as long as possible and only took shallow breaths.
“She is ready to receive the mark,” Dave said.
I felt like I was traveling through terrifying magical doors, each one more confusing than the next, but this last stop was where the real panic began to set in. The room was stifling, and as Dave laid me on the uncomfortable table, I noticed the wood-burning stove in the corner. It looked like one you’d see at a hunting cabin on television, but the long black piece of metal the man pulled out was another matter.
Dave pulled up my sleeve as the other man walked toward me with the glowing cattle brand. I recognized the symbol from the side of the girl’s face, and it dawned on me they weren’t cut. They’d all been branded. I didn’t want this, I didn’t want any of this, and I tried to command my body to roll off the bed, but other than a few more jerks from my feet, my body didn’t respond.
No, no, no
As the man got closer, my legs twitched up to my hips, but it wasn’t enough, and a moment later, that bright red poker touched the outside of my shoulder. I screamed, but the sound came out like a weird moan, and the scent of burning flesh tainted the air. Searing pain radiated down my arm, and the room swam.
I braced against the pain, my teeth clenching together.
“You like that, Raine? Feel the evil inside of you leaving your body?” Dave asked. He’d completely lost his mind. There was no other explanation because to believe any of this was a way to cleanse me of evil was ludicrous.
The second man took the brand away, and my head spun more. The pain was immense. I thought I knew what pain was, but I wasn’t prepared to have my flesh burned off.
No, you cannot pass out.
Don’t pass out.
Dave picked me up again, humming as we walked. His gate had changed from earlier. He walked slowly and deliberately with each exaggerated stride. I flopped around in his outstretched arms and knew I would look asleep or dead to anyone watching, but inside, I was trying hard not to come undone and lose focus on my opportunity.
The humming grew louder as more voices joined in, and a shiver raced down my spine. It was hard to see my surroundings while hanging upside-down, but it was dark with the soft glow of flickering candles and a single sun spot that glowed like a beacon.
There were a lot of people. The humming was so loud that it felt like a thousand voices together as the sound vibrated through my body. I could just make out the bottom edge of what had to be black robes as they swayed against the floor.
This was a cult.
The way Dave and the Father addressed one another, the group of subservient women that Father had called his wives—cleansing, chanting, branding, and now more people in robes.
