That night, Petunia lay in bed, dreaming. 

Ken Maynard was fucking her from behind, his cock in her ass. Ricardo Davis was lying on his back underneath her, fucking her pussy. Then Mark LeSaffre approached her, unzipped his pants, and put his dick in her mouth. The three men were sliding in and out of her. Her moaning sounded almost as if she were enjoying it. 

Then the three men came at exactly the same time…but instead of feeling come shooting inside her, it felt like three Creeps: one shooting down her throat, one deep in her vagina, and one through her rectum and into her intestines. The men withdrew, zipped up their pants, and went away. 

Now she saw the three men crawling naked in tubes inside her body: in her intestines, or blood vessels. They were sweating and fearful as they hurried to find an exit. 

Then, she realized that it was she who was crawling in what seemed intestines…then the intestines were the metal tunnels in Capitol…the ‘Escape Hope Initiative’.  

A door on the wall on the other side of the room opened, waking her and Sam, whose head was right by it. He looked into the hole leading to the tunnel. 

He and Petunia were still dazed by the effects of the blue Creeps given to them several hours earlier. That daze made them both uncertain if they were awake or still dreaming. In any case, that hole in the wall, seen so many times before, seemed once again like a fresh chance to escape. 

I sucked one dick too many today, Sam thought; I’m going. I hope this isn’t a dream. 

He crawled through the hole; Petunia crept over and followed him in. In her eyes, what she was seeing seemed to be a continuation of what she’d just been dreaming. As with Sam, though, she hoped she really had woken up. 

Those waves I see going up and down all around me, she thought; I sure hope they’re drugs, not dream. 

He looked back at her as he kept crawling, hearing her panting in time with his. “Petunia?” he asked in a slurred voice. “Is that you?” 

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m sick of…fucking people…I hate.” 

“Me, too,” he panted. “If yellow Creeps…get me, I’ll welcome them. I die…every day…I suck dick…and take it…in the ass.” 

“So do I,” she said. “I don’t know…if I prefer…escaping…or being burned…by yellow Creeps.” 

They kept crawling, then Sam saw light up ahead. 

“We’re almost there,” he said. “I hope it’s warm out.” 

“I don’t know…how long…we’ve been here,” she slurred. “We never see…a calendar…or a window…to the outside…anywhere.” 

“Yeah. And the drugs…disorient us…so much…that we never…know the day…or the month. I hope it’s summer…out there.” 

The light was getting larger, and though his vision was too blurry to make out what was outside, he saw a window. 

“Freedom!” he shouted with a shot of adrenaline. “Others have escaped…The Capitol staff…have announced it…It must be true!” He hurried ahead. 

************************ 

“That’s what you think,” Mark said, watching Sam and Petunia on the video screens in the Regulating Room, and hearing every word of their conversation through hidden microphones in the tunnel. He pressed a blue button. 

************************ 

From behind, Petunia heard the screeching noises. 

Gasping, she looked back. Only blue Creeps were coming. 

“Oh, no!” she said, her shock of fear adrenalizing her. “Hurry Sam! They’re coming! Blue ones…to take us back…to our beds!” 

“I ain’t…going back in there.” 

He reached the window and looked out, blinking to try to focus better: at first, he saw only a white glow; then…wind and snow! 

A shock of adrenaline made his whole body move in spastic jerks. Those waves before his eyes were gone, and the freezing horror outside had a cruel clarity. 

“Oh, fuck me!” he shouted. “It’s the middle o’ fuckin’ winter! And we’re fuckin’ naked!” He began sobbing. 

“It’s winter?” she screamed. 

“A fuckin’ blizzard outside!” 

************************ 

That’s right, nigger-boy, Mark thought with a smirk, then pushed a button opening the window. He pulled a lever, causing the floor of the tunnel Sam was sitting on to flip up, throwing Sam screaming out of the building and into a hill of snow. Get your aging black ass out of my building. 

************************ 

“Sam!” Petunia screamed as the window slammed shut. Oh, please, God, she thought; let this just be a continuation of my dream. It would be the sweetest nightmare, if only it weren’t real! 

She did so much sobbing for her friend that she didn’t even notice the two Creeps that wiggled their way inside her vagina and anus. She barely fidgeted as they snaked their way deep inside her body. She wept herself to sleep in two minutes. Only now would her dreams resume. 

Thea, walking away from her car the next morning to go into her office to work, felt her cellphone ringing in her purse. She took it out. 

“Hello?” 

“Ms. Cummings?” a female voice on the other end said. 

“Yes?” 

“I’m Officer Lena Van Gorder. I work for the local police department, under Detective Nichols, who’s connected with Capitol in a very friendly way, if you know what I mean.” 

“Really?” 

“Yes. I also know about your attempt to find out what’s going on down there yesterday. I learned through the grapevine that Capitol is hiring. They need someone to operate what’s called the Regulating Room, since they’ve let go someone there who wasn’t…well…working out for them.” 

“Oh?” Thea wondered if this ‘dismissed’ person was the one she was supposed to have met the night before. 

“Yes. Also, one of their junior managers is being transferred to another branch, one in Montreal, so they’ll need someone to replace him. I was thinking that if you could somehow convince Mark LeSaffre that you and your brother—disguised, of course—were people he can trust, you could get jobs there, then find the proof you were trying to find yesterday.” 

“Wow, thanks!” 

“Just giving you a suggestion. Gotta go. Can’t let Detective Nichols know what I’ve been talking about. Maybe we’ll talk again…or maybe not. Bye!” 

“Wait. Officer—“ 

She’d already hung up. 

****************** 

“Why are we meeting here instead of in your office?” Thea asked as they all sat at a table in a diner. 

“Because this has to be off the radar,” Van Gorder said. “My immediate superior, Detective Nichols, is on LeSaffre’s payroll.” 

“Oh, so that’s why you want us to go into Capitol instead of some undercover cops,” Guy said. 

“That’s right,” Van Gorder said. “LeSaffre has connections all over the police force, not just in the Toronto area, but all over Canada, and even in the US, where Capitol has other branches. He’s seen you two, but he doesn’t know you. You can disguise yourselves with fake beards. Ms. Cummings, dress like a man. Can you imitate a man’s voice?” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Thea said in a hoarse-sounding bass vocal fry. 

“That’s always got to be your voice,” the female cop said. “Keep all your mannerisms, speech peculiarities, and that kind of thing consistent, or else Mark will be suspicious. He’s paranoid as hell about his enemies. I looked into your histories and learned you both have studied drama and psychology, right?” 

“How did you know about our histories?” Thea asked, sneering and looking askance at the police officer. 

“It’s amazing what you can find out through the internet,” Van Gorder said. “But it’s true, right? You’ve both studied drama and psychology?” 

“Drama and psych for her,” Guy said. “Only drama for me.” 

“Whatever,” Van Gorder said. “I hope you have good acting skills, ‘cause you have to be as believable and natural as possible, to convince LeSaffre that you are real mafia men.” 

“We can,” Thea said. “We learned method acting in our university acting classes.” 

“What’s ‘method acting’?” 

“It means we have to learn how to be the people we’re acting as,” Guy explained. “Find stuff within our own personal lives that relates us to these mafia men we’re pretending to be, to make it more realistic, then we can—.” 

“Fine, whatever,” the cop said. “Anyway, LeSaffre will want references from a mafia man, since people with criminal backgrounds, but who are also loyal to their bosses, are the only ones he trusts. He hates ‘straight’ people and trusts only the corrupt. Evil is his good. I know a crime boss who can pretend you’ve both worked for him, Trevor McCluskey, whose gambling, drugs, and prostitution rackets are up in Winnipeg. LeSaffre gets a lot of his new men from McCluskey.” 

“How do you know this McCluskey will vouch for us?” Thea asked. 

“‘Cause if he doesn’t, his son will do ten years for armed robbery,” Van Gorder said. “Don’t worry about the details, I’ll work all of that out. Let’s just remember to keep quiet about all this. You’re lucky I didn’t want to take my vacation time this month, as Detective Nichols wanted me to; otherwise, you’d have missed your chance to get hired by LeSaffre. He’d have found two other people instead.” 

“And what’s in it for you, Officer?” Guy asked. 

“My sister got mixed up in prostitution. She went missing from one of McCluskey’s brothels in Sault Ste. Marie. Is she dead, or has she been moved into one of these Capitol branches? I’d like you to help me find out, and get her out if you find her.” 

“What’s her name?” Thea asked.  

“Mary.” 

******************** 

“Remember,” Thea told Guy, who was in a suit, “act all enthusiastic about working in Capitol and enjoying the benefit of fucking the girl of your choice, since that’s a perk Mark gives you as an employee.” 

“OK,” Guy said, making sure his fake beard was on right. “With my background in computer programming, I should be able to figure out this ‘Regulating Room’ job easy enough.” 

“When I got the management job, I realized it wasn’t so much because of my experience as a manager in a department store as it was my ‘attitude’ towards the ‘Commodities’. Those bastards actually call their sex slaves ‘Commodities’: how repugnant. Anyway, LeSaffre’s main concern is loyalty to his business, as that cop told us in the diner. I could sense Mark’s paranoia about being betrayed, looking in his eyes. I’ll bet you’re meant to replace the guy who disappeared when he tried to give us proof of the sex slavery and mind control. I couldn’t get that file he sent to my phone to upload, much less open, to give me the proof.” 

“I guess had that guy lived, he’d have given you the password, or something.” 

“I don’t know. Anyway, we can’t communicate by cellphone—they’ll track our calls and texts, as they did his.” 

“OK,” Guy said, straightening his tie. “I have to act like the lecher I was with Petunia.” 

“We both have to,” Thea said. “Which will be difficult for me, but we have to think like this Mark does. Total psychopath. No empathy, no pity. Shouldn’t be too hard for you, being male and all.” 

“Thea!” 

“Guy, every guy I’ve known has been like that, to some extent, at least: Dad, my former boyfriends. As for you, I’m hoping you can show me you’re a little better than that…assuming you can stop fucking Petunia and actually think of other people.” 

“OK, OK.” 

“Anyway, if you get the job, don’t only go for Petunia when they give us that ‘benefit’. You and I can only occasionally use that benefit to fake making it with her while communicating our plan to free her; if we choose only her, over and over again, LeSaffre will get suspicious, and maybe figure out that we’re the ones who met with him and Petunia in his office with Kay and Brennan. He might even have her killed, as extra revenge on us for trying to expose him.” 

“Right,” Guy said, having just finished putting on brown contact lenses to cover his blue eyes. “Ready to go.” 

“Good luck. Sound eager for the job. Bye.” 

“I will. Bye.” He left the house. 

******************** 

Guy went into Mark LeSaffre’s office trying hard not to fidget. He wanted to touch his fake beard out of fear that it was falling off, or was on wrong; but he also feared making it come off from touching it. This indecision led to more fidgeting, which he had to suppress. Mark was sitting at his desk. 

“So, Jack Mortimer?” Mark said, holding out his hand. 

“Yes,” Guy said, shaking his hand and sitting in the same chair he’d sat in, across from Mark’s desk, when he had been there with Thea, the lawyer, and Brennan. “I’m interested in the job opening for ‘Regulator’. Trevor McCluskey heard about the job, and sent me to you.” 

“Trevor McCluskey, eh?” Mark said, looking intensely in Guy’s eyes. “Another fellow, someone named Cameron Thewlis, said McCluskey referred him here, too, but for a management job.” 

“Really?” Guy said, hoping his voice wouldn’t sound too shaky to Mark. “What a coincidence. I guess you’re doubly lucky that he can help you out.” 

“I guess.” Mark looked over ‘Jack’ some more. “You know, you look a little familiar, Jack. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I feel I’ve seen you somewhere before…and I never forget a face.” 

“Well,” Guy said, keeping still, “Do you ever hang out in The Leicester?” He smirked lewdly. 

“That must be where I saw you! I bet I’ve seen you up at pervert’s row, checking out the strippers up close.” 

“Hey, man, that’s the only place I sit in The Leicester.” 

Guy and Mark gave each other a high five and laughed. 

“You’ll be pleased to know that we have two girls from there working for us here,” Mark said with a grin. 

“Which bitches?” Guy asked. “I wanna ‘Regulate’ ‘em!” 

Mark laughed. “Well, if you do your job well, you’ll be doing a lot more than just regulating them, Jack. What’s most important to us here in Capitol is loyalty. We have had the police and government on our side, ever since they legalized prostitution; but there’s always somebody who wants to fink on us and shut us down, claiming we’re doing illegal things here. We had to…terminate your predecessor for being disloyal, and termination here has a way of, let’s say, getting under your skin.” 

“I see,” Guy said, trying not to frown. He hoped the chill he felt slithering throughout his body wasn’t visible to Mark. 

“Loyalty, on the other hand, comes with great rewards. In regulating, you watch the sexual activity between our clients and our girls—well, most of ‘em are girls, but we have some men for the gay crowd and for desperate women. It’s like watching live porn videos.” 

“Sounds like a sweet gig.” 

“It is, but it gets better than that,” Mark went on. “We reward your loyalty by allowing you to enjoy any one of our girls that you like, for one hour each week, for free.” 

“Alright!” Guy roared. “Oh, sorry for the noise.” 

“That’s OK, Jack. Your enthusiasm is understandable and appreciated, actually. We’ll give you full training on all the equipment and technology, starting the day after I confirm your reference from McCluskey. Odd how he’s in Winnipeg and you’ve been here in southern Ontario, frequenting The Leicester. Well, he has businesses and contacts around here, too, of course. Anyway, if all goes well, you’ll be starting the day after tomorrow. How’s that all sound? Oh, and the pay is $30 an hour.” 

“That sounds like music to my ears.” 

“Capitol will make The Leicester seem like a convent in comparison, I promise you.” 

“I can hardly wait…pardon the pun.” 

They both laughed and high-fived again.

[sexual content]

A man took Petunia back to her room. 

“Strip,” the man said. 

As she was unbuttoning her white dress shirt, she thought, that lawyer and government worker paid no attention to my writing ‘Help me’ on their hands…as I knew they wouldn’t. I’ve seen them walking about here before: they must be working for Mark and Capitol in one way or another. 

She was in only her white bra and panties now. The man was ogling her with a smile. 

“Keep going,” he said. “Let’s see the rest of you.” 

She removed her bra, showing him her firm little breasts and thinking, I saw Guy’s eyes: he doesn’t believe Thea, either. He believes I like to fuck the clients here. I’m trapped here. She won’t be able to get me out. I’ll have to escape myself, or die trying. 

She’d pulled down the panties, and her bare feet kicked them aside. The man looked up and down at her nakedness. 

“Good,” he said. “We have a customer waiting for you.” 

**************** 

Thea went to a Starbucks, sat at a table, and stared at the Frappucino she’d bought. Guy didn’t leave with her from Capitol: he said he wanted to meet up with a friend. 

What am I going to do? she thought. I can’t get anyone to believe me, not even Guy. When I got in my car, I saw him going to the bus stop, so I guess he isn’t going back into Capitol. He’d better not be: I’ll kill him if he fucks Petunia again. But what can I do? I can’t stop him, or any guy from paying to have her. 

Suddenly, a recording of the chorus of ‘Sisters Are Doing It for Themselves’, by the Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin, was playing on her phone, telling her she had a text message: 

I work for Capitol. I can help you. Let’s meet in the Eastview Shopping Mall tonight, in front of the Starbucks. Will you be available at 8:00? I can be there then. 

Whoever this was didn’t leave a name, she thought. He must know it’s dangerous to snitch on the company. He must be a he: other than the enslaved prostitutes, what woman would ever work in such a degrading place? Ms. Kay must not know how corrupt LeSaffre is. 

Thea replied to the text message with, “I’ll see you there at 8:00 tonight.” 

***************** 

Jim read her reply on his cellphone. He thought, I’m a dead man for doing this; Mark surely is tracing my calls and text messages. But I can’t live with myself for doing what I’ve been doing. 

He watched the video screen showing the room nude Petunia went into. Then he saw the man about to have her enter. Jim’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw his face. 

Thank God they put an orange Creep up her pussy to make her compliant with him, Jim thought. I don’t wanna speak her words for her, the way I feel. Can’t believe that prick wants to fuck her so soon after that fake meeting. 

“So good to see you again, Petunia,” Guy said as he unzipped his pants. “I knew you liked your job.” 

She looked up at him as she knelt and took his cock in her mouth. He looked down and saw tears in her eyes. 

“What the…?” he said, then he moaned from the wet massaging of her lips and tongue. He raised his head and closed his eyes. 

She put her hand up his left pant leg. He felt her finger tickling his leg, rubbing a straight line down in a stroke. 

“Oh, don’t do that, baby,” he said, then he felt two more strokes, a short horizontal one, then another top-down one: an H. “Wait…oh!” Her writing and sucking were distracting him from the experiencing of either. “H…ah!…E…oh!” 

She wrote L…P, then H-E-L-P again. 

“Holy…shit!” he grunted. His heart was racing from both the feeling of her flickering tongue stimulating the underside of his cock, and from putting the evidence all together: her robot-like talking in the room with Mark, Thea, Kay, and Brennan; her writing finger; and the tears in her eyes. His brain was going in opposite directions—pleasure and guilt from what her mouth was doing. 

He came in her mouth, and saw some of it drip down her chin; but he also admitted to himself that he saw the tears in her eyes, at last, and he felt ‘HELP’ written on his leg again. 

“Thea…was right,” he panted as he put his dick back in his pants and zipped them up. He fell to his knees and faced Petunia eye to eye. Now he had tears in his eyes to mirror hers. “I’m so sorry, Petunia.” 

He wrapped his arms around her and fought to refrain from weeping. She put her arms around him and held him close. 

“You must hate me,” he whispered into her ear, burying his wet face into her neck. Now her finger was writing on his arm. 

N-O. 

“You…don’t?” he asked. “After what I’ve done?” 

N-O. 

“Can’t you speak?” he whispered in her ear. 

N-O. 

Keeping his mouth close to her ear and his voice as soft as he could, he said, “We’ve got to get you out of here.” 

Y-E-S. (Her hand was always shaky…) 

“And you like me, even though I took advantage of you here?” 

Y-E-S. (…yet her finger wrote with sufficient clarity.) 

“Did Capitol…drug you in some way?” 

Y-E-S. 

Of course, he thought; her shaky writing finger, struggling to communicate with me, proves how little control she has over her own body. “They’re controlling what you say, what you do?” 

Y-E-S. 

His erection was returning. Her writing finger is expressing her real thoughts, he thought; if she insists she still likes me, even after fucking her twice, maybe she’ll be OK with a third fuck. “They’re watching, and listening, aren’t they?” This was his softest volume yet. 

Y-E-S. 

“They’ll get suspicious if we don’t fuck, right?” 

Y-E-S. 

“Since you like me, even after what I did…and I feel like an asshole for asking, but I’ll respect your wishes if you answer no. Is it OK if we fuck again?” 

Y-E-S. 

“Really? You mean that?” 

Y-E-S. 

He looked in her eyes and smiled. Her tears were gone. Her smile seemed less artificial. 

“OK,” he said, unzipping his pants and pulling out his hard cock again. “I’ll be gentle. I promise.” 

He slid his cock inside her slowly, her sighing softly. As he pushed in and pulled out, he panted these words: “I’ll talk…to Thea…about…a plan…to get…you out…of here. Unh!” 

******************* 

“Good, they’re fucking again,” Free Mark said to Jim as they watched Guy and Petunia in the Regulating Room. “I didn’t like that pause between the blow job and now.” 

“You think he was whispering a secret message in her ear?” Jim asked. 

“It’s very possible,” Free Mark said. “When I walked in here, right when he came in her mouth, he didn’t look happy.” 

“After he leaves, I can play back the recording at a high volume so we can know if he said anything to her that we need to worry about,” Jim said. 

“I don’t think we need to worry about that right now,” Mark said. “For the moment, he seems to be just enjoying himself.” The only thing I need to worry about at the moment is that text message my computer caught you sending to Thea Cummings, he thought.

Guy and Thea sat in ‘Free Mark’ LeSaffre’s office with a woman lawyer and a government official, while Mark was out fetching Petunia. They’d been waiting for some time. 

“She’ll be drugged,” Thea said. “That’s why this is taking so long.” 

“We’ll need proof of that,” the lawyer said. 

“That won’t be easily given,” the government man said. 

Just then, Mark returned with Petunia, who for once was fully dressed. She sat on a chair beside Mark, and they were facing the other four. She seemed at peace. 

“OK, Petunia,” Mark said. “I understand you know Thea and Guy Cummings here, is that right?” 

“Yes,” Petunia said in a clipped voice. Oh, God, she thought; I want to scream out for them to help me, but I can’t even twitch! 

“Beside them are Ms. Patricia Kay, their lawyer, and Mr. Jules Brennan, who works for the Ministry of Labour,” Mark told her. “They have some questions for you about your work here.” 

“Are you happy here?” Ms. Kay asked. 

“Yes,” Petunia said with a smile that seemed fake only to Thea. “Everything’s OK.” Everything in me wants to yell, ’NO’, but this thing they put in my brain has my mouth paralyzed, except for what they want me to say, she thought; Can’t I even get a teardrop to roll down my cheek? 

“Are you sure, Petunia?” Thea asked, looking deep into her eyes.  

“Sure, why not?” Petunia said, still smiling. “The pay is great, they provide technology to ensure no spreading of STDs, and we have full protection against abusive clients. We’re fine here. I’ve never had such job security anywhere.” My body is a traitor to my very soul…and I can’t stop it! 

“Really?” Guy said. She may have acknowledged having known me, but she looks at me as if she’s never met me, he thought; her speaking sounds kind of robot-like, too. 

“Petunia,” Thea said, “hold Ms. Kay’s hand, and Mr. Brennan’s, too.” Her whole manner seems mechanical, she thought; her voice sounds almost like a recording. 

Petunia put her hands in those of Kay and Brennan. Please, you two, Petunia thought; feel my fingers writing ‘Help me.’ 

“What’s the purpose of this, Ms. Cummings?” Mark asked. “Is Petunia going to have a seance or something with Ms. Kay and Mr. Brennan?” 

“Yes, I don’t see why this is necessary, either,” Kay said. 

“Are we supposed to be turned on by Petunia’s tickling fingers?” Brennan asked. 

“Pay careful attention to how her fingers are moving,” Thea said. “It’ll all make sense to you in a minute.” 

“All I feel is random tickling,” Kay said. 

I knew they wouldn’t admit to feeling a message, Petunia thought as she continued trying to write; They’re on Mark’s payroll. 

“I think Ms. Cummings is wasting our time,” Mark said. 

“She likes to fuck, Thea,” Guy said. “I know.”  

She scowled at him, then looked with pleading eyes at Brennan and Kay. 

“Mr. Brennan! Ms. Kay!” Thea said. “She’s writing in your hands! H-E-L-P-U-S. Don’t you feel it? Haven’t you noticed how fake her emotions are, how robot-like she’s acting? Capitol has her drugged in some way. She’d never willingly become a prostitute! I know Petunia! I’ve known her for years. This isn’t the real her!” 

“Really, Ms. Cummings?” Mark said with a sneer. 

Brennan and Kay looked at Thea with cool incredulity. 

“You two are on LeSaffre’s payroll,” Thea said, then got up. 

You’re right, Petunia thought; and I can’t say a word to confirm it. 

“Oh, come on, Thea,” Guy said. “Be reasonable. There’s no proof of what you’re saying.” 

She glared at him, then walked out of the office and slammed the door. 

“Look, I’m sorry,” Guy said, getting up. “My sister’s real emotional sometimes. She can’t accept Petunia’s life choices here.” He looked over at Petunia, who showed no concern for Thea, but just stared blankly at a wall. “I’ll go get her.” He left the room. 

Finally, a tear ran down Petunia’s cheek. 

**************** 

“Good work,” a man in the shadows of the Regulating Room said to Jim, who’d been speaking into a microphone remotely connected with a microscopic device touching Petunia’s brain, thus making her say his words. The device had been put into her in a Creep. 

“To be honest, I’m not sure if I feel comfortable making her say that,” Jim said. “She’s tried to escape twice, remember.” 

“Oh, come on!” the man said. “I knew Petunia, too…carnally. I had her in a hotel room. As Thea’s brother told her, she likes to fuck. What you had her say to them was practically the truth. Creeps do ensure no spreading of STDs, we do protect our Commodities from abusive clients, and her youth, beauty, and skill in bed will ensure her job security. Remember, we sic yellow Creeps only on undesirable Commodities—older ones, ones that don’t make us a profit anymore, and—“ 

“But this is wrong, Mr. Da—“ Jim said. 

“And we also use the yellow ones on disloyal employees.” 

“Why do I have to go, too?” Guy asked. 

“To be an additional witness,” Thea said. “To add credibility to our case when the government official and lawyer do their investigation. Besides, you have to redeem yourself.”  

“Redeem myself?” Guy asked with a sneer. 

“Yes,” Thea said, grabbing his arm so he wouldn’t walk out of his bedroom. “I have proof that Petunia is being held there against her will. She used her finger to write a message on my arm. She did it with great effort, but she did it several times, enough times that I could tell there was a deliberate message she was giving me.” 

“What was the message?” 

“Help me—help us, I should say. She wrote the same thing, H-E-L-P-U-S, over and over again. The exact same strokes, so I know it was deliberate, not random tickling or something.” 

“Help us?” He remembered her ticking his arm with her finger. 

“Yes, and it’s obvious what she meant by that. She isn’t the only victim of human trafficking there. When I looked through the computer pictures of all the women—some men, too—all of them naked, I noticed that most of them were either black, dark-skinned East Asians, or Latinos. A few First Nations, too. Capitol is obviously luring poor people from the Third World and making them prostitutes, with the fake promise of a job opportunity, or something. But I’ll bet their poor families aren’t getting a cent sent home. I’ll bet Capitol is drugging them, too, to keep them under their control.” 

“She didn’t look high.” 

“Petunia didn’t seem high to me, either, but there’s no way she could possibly be enjoying what she’s doing over there. We’ve got to help her, and tomorrow, you’re coming with me.” 

************* 

In the cafeteria at lunchtime, Petunia again never saw Mary anywhere in the crowd of drugged, naked eaters. She sat at a table where a black woman and an Asian woman were whispering to each other. Petunia heard the name ‘Mary’ said a few times. Her heart jumped at the sound of the name, and she listened to them more carefully, straining against the drugs to focus her attention. 

“Do you buy…any of these stories…that some people escape?” the black woman asked in a thick African accent.  

“I wanna believe them,” the Asian said. “They give me hope.”  

“Maybe that’s…what they want, Arunny,” the black woman said. “They do it…so we don’t…kill ourselves…or something.” 

“Did you say…Mary…before?” Petunia asked them. 

“Do you know…what happened…to her?” Arunny asked.  

“Mary, the white girl…the redhead, right?” the black woman asked. 

“She had red hair,” Petunia said. “Yeah, Mary.” 

“Had red hair?” Arunny asked, jolting.  

“I think she was killed…last night,” Petunia said. “I hope I’m wrong…We tried to escape…When the Creeps came…and one crawled into me…as I was…losing consciousness…I saw her shaking…I think a…yellow Creep…burned her inside…to death.” 

“Don’t say that!” Arunny coughed, then covered her face so her tears wouldn’t be seen. She whispered. “Maybe you’re wrong…The drug…in the Creep…made you…see things.” 

“Maybe,” Petunia said. “I hope so.” 

“Mary was getting older,” the black woman said. “Her tits were sagging…I think they kill you…if you’re getting…unattractive…and you’re not…making as much…money for this place.” 

“Please don’t…talk like that, Kusiima,” Arunny said, fighting back tears. 

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Kusiima said. “You’re still young…and pretty…as I am…and you are,” she said to Petunia. “We should be safe.” 

*************** 

That night, Petunia lay in bed, emotionally exhausted.  

I don’t care if the door by the head of my bed opens, she thought; I’m not going out there tonight. Kusiima reassured me that I’m safe from being killed, because I’m still young and pretty, which means I’m still useful to this whorehouse; but no one asked me for sex all day today. I never thought I’d hope to service more customers than fewer. Is Guy coming back? Is Thea? 

Then, lying on her back, she followed her train of thought as it went back to her ‘work relationship’ with Ricardo Davis, the man who lured her into Capitol. Drugged and drifting off into unconsciousness, she was ruminating her way into a dream… 

Business trip to New York City with Davis…meeting Ken Maynard about some impressive new technology…something microscopic…powerful…Davis wanted in on it…to be in charge of distribution, or marketing…a lot of money to be made in it…I’d get a big raise, too… 

We met Maynard in the hotel restaurant…I wore no underwear…I’d hoped Maynard would like me…with his money, give me a better job than what Davis had given me…I was glad I’d tarted myself up for Maynard…He was handsome and charming as well as rich…Too bad he was just as bad as Davis, as I’d learn eventually… 

At dinner, Maynard dropped his fork and went under the table to get it…He saw my spread legs…my pussy…he ate me out…Davis was French-kissing me and feeling my right tit…He never seemed to notice how long Maynard was under the table…didn’t care…I came in Maynard’s mouth… 

After our naughtiness, Ken came back up with his fork…He and Davis talked about the business…about the technology…“coated in a soft, rubbery covering”…”will look like multi-coloured larvae”…like baby worms…I didn’t understand what they were talking about…I wish I had… 

“We want to expand up into Canada”…”We have contacts in Mexico and Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia, even India”…”get our Commodities from there”…”shipped right to you”…”help us get more in Canada, as you have already done here, obviously”…I heard Ken say all this to Davis…I paid no mind to it…I just played footsies with Ken…”You’ll make a ton of money, Davis”… 

In our hotel room, I let Davis fuck my ass…then Ken knocked on our door to give Davis something…naked, I went over to let Ken see me…Davis took a sleeping pill…when he was asleep, I went over, still naked, to Ken’s room, next door…I let him fuck my ass, too…hoped he’d like me enough to marry me…I’m so stupid… 

I had no idea there were hidden cameras in his room…in Davis’s room, too…in the hotel hallways, where Ken had me walk about naked with him… 

And now I’m back in Canada…Ken gave me over to ‘Free Mark’…was I in an airport?…I was always drugged with Creeps…There was the airplane ride with Davis to New York City…then the flight back to Toronto…then back to New York to be with Ken…Then ‘Free Mark’ took me from Ken…Now I’m in Toronto again…because Guy and Thea were here…I don’t remember another flight back to Canada…Did Mark take me back?…he must have, in a private jet or something…I just remember that party…Davis…Ken Maynard…’Free Mark’…other men…fucking me…fucking Ken’s maid, Rosa… 

Now I’m in Ontario again…I must be…