Carnal Helotry

[Orin]

Warning: This story is rated NC-17 for heavy language, violence involving blood and gore, and graphic and mature sexual themes.

The ominous drone of motion and industry resounded through the immense enclosure. Plumes of smoke and fire billowed forth from various apparatuses, blinding showers of sparks raining down from above as workers toiled away at their tasks. The grubby individuals littered the walls like insects against the towering mechanical fortifications at every side, giving the massive complex the look of some sort of human ant colony. Taking a breath in the dank, murky environment was a punishment in itself; little more than a sniff of the toxic atmosphere and your throat was blazing. The population of the locale seemed largely unfazed, though, undoubtedly due to prolonged exposure. All the same, the coughs and wheezes resonating through the busy visage were a constant. Put simply, the peculiar milieu was both nauseating and captivating at the same time, as was readily apparent by the bewildered faces of a poorly clothed group of humans being led through the frightening chasm of steel and fire.

A young female stumbled over a bit of metal, receiving a painful jab in the back of her ribs in return. She cringed weakly, regaining pace with the others behind and before her. The girl’s striking yellow eyes scoured the expanse around her, wide in a cocktail of curiosity and horror. The dreary song of tarnished chains ground against her eardrums, the ancient shackles literally grinding against her burning ankles. An amplified verbal bark sounded out nearby, snapping the girl and the ones around her out of their listless trances.

“Pick up the pace!” A gruff male voice bit out over the deafening white noise.

She groaned helplessly, quickening her step with the others. A man in grimy and outdated battle armor motioned the group ahead with a heavy firearm laid in his arms. His face was only half visible; a bizarre metal breather slung over the lower half of his face, rust and oxidation painting its plating. A menacing scar ran over his bare scalp, coming to a gruesome knot above his right eye.

The assembly shifted suddenly as a younger looking male staggered out of line and into a dash. Somehow he had undone one of his foot’s restraints and was now scampering away with the unlocked cuff flipping wildly behind his left. The masked man turned towards the commotion with a wicked gaze, his weapon immediately trained on the fleeing captive. Without a second thought, he pulled the trigger, a flash of light dazzling the young woman’s eyes as it tore out towards the runner. A wail of pain bubbled forth from his vocal chords as the bolt seared through a leg, sending him tumbling face first into the floor. The armed man muttered something to one of his partners before breaking off towards the fallen young man, spouting an inaudible string of remarks at him before kicking him in the side and rolling the poor man over to his back. A large woman shifted into the girl’s line of vision and she leaned to the left on her tiptoes to get a better look at what was going on.

A violent of exchange of words reached her ears, followed by a pair of gunshots. Her stomach rolled as her eyes caught a glimpse of the scene before her; the armored male storming away from the other, now motionless and swimming in a pool of vile fluid. She turned her head away as a wave of nausea cut through her belly and a wash of vomit poured out her mouth and onto the ground in front of her.

The girl wiped back a stray lock of deep brown hair and resumed pace with the rest.