“Come on slaves!” The man barked loudly. ‘Rise and shine!” For emphasis, the slaver rattled the butt end of his flog against the metal bars of the cages, as he quickly strode down the row of slave pens, making an unholy racket.

In her cell, Claudia jerked up, wrenched awake by the sudden noise. The young woman gave a quiet moan through her gag, as she struggled into a kneeling position, not an easy thing with her hands and feet shackled. She’d been dreaming about her old life again, before she had been abducted by white slavers and brought to this dungeon. Once again, the young woman found herself passing from pleasant dream into the waking nightmare her life had become. One she’d never awaken from.

Claudia sighed. “Another day…” she thought glumly. Truthfully, the former teacher had no idea if it was day or night. Trapped down here in the dungeon, she’d quickly lost all sense of time. It didn’t help that the slavers seemed to be messing with the clock, in order to disorient their female prisoners, shortening the day by a few hours, only to lengthen the next.

Adding exhaustion to all her other miseries helped to degrade Claudia even further. It made it difficult for her to think, to hold on to her determination not to let these slavers turned her into a submissive slave, her ability to resist or contemplate escape. As best as she could tell, it had been about a week since Claudia and the other women had been abducted. Was anyone still looking for them, she wondered, or had they been given up as lost?

The slaver hurried down the hall, past Claudia, waking the other captives. Glumly, she looked through the bars of her cage, to the ones on either side of her. Their miserable occupants glanced back at her. On her right was a woman about her age, with short blonde hair. She’d been here longer than Claudia had, though how much longer, she had no clue.

The cage on Claudia’s left held a young woman, girl rather she couldn’t have been much older than 18 or 19 years old. Her eyes were red; she’d spent a good part of the night crying, quietly to herself, curled up in one corner of the small cage. The poor thing had been brought here only two days ago. She was still trying to come to grips with the awful fact that her whole life had been overturned, in one awful moment.

Like Claudia, and every other prisoner here, the women were completely nude, save for the thick collars locked around their necks. Shackles kept the women secure at all times. They were also kept gagged constantly. Claudia had grown too loath the horrid rubber plug, the way it stretched her jaws apart, the way the straps cut into the sides of her mouth, the way it caused her to drool, uncontrollably.

The only time the captives were ever ungagged was when they were being fed. During that time, the slavers kept a close watch on their prisoners, to ensure they kept silent. Anyone foolish enough to try and speak was harshly punished. They didn’t want the slaves talking to one another, plotting escape, or even simply drawing some small measure of comfort from each other’s presence.

This enforced isolation from her fellow prisoners, more than anything else, pressed down on Claudia. During the long, mind-numbing hours of captivity, she fervently wished she could talk with the other women, ask them questions. Who were they? What sort of life had they had before now? What cruel twist of fate led to their capture?

There wasn’t much to do, curled up inside the tiny cage, apart from thinking. She would try and let her mind wonder back to happier memories, try to remember her life as a free woman. Inevitably, her thoughts would turn to her kidnapping. She’s replayed the awful event over and over again in her mind. Why had she gone to that store? What if she’d gone to a different changing room? Would it have made a difference?

A thousand what-if’s danced through her head, taunting her with possible futures where none of this had ever happened. Where she was still free, still blissfully unaware of how close she’d come to a nightmare of bondage and slavery. Unfortunately, when all was said and done, Claudia had gone into that store, she had gone into that dressing room, and now she found herself here.

Two or three times during the day, the slaves would be let out of their cages, to stretch their limbs a bit, after their cramped confinement and be exercised. The form this exercise took varied. They might be forced to run laps down the long, empty hallways of the dungeon, shuffling as fast as their shackled feet allowed, while the slavers “encouraged” them with whips.

Or the slaves might be put to work, carrying bricks from one end of a large room to another. When they had finished that, they turn around the carry them back, for no other purpose then to wear the women down, break their spirits...

Just then, one of the slavers walked up to Claudia’s cage. The young woman looked up through the bars, a worried expression on her face, as the man pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the door. She glanced over her shoulder, as the slaver reached inside and dragged her out. None of the other slaves on this block were being taken out. She whimpered, frightened, as the man brusquely clipped a leash to her collar. Claudia had learned very quickly, anything unexpected was unlikely to be good for the helpless slaves.

“Come!” The man ordered, tugging sharply on the leash. Stumbling forward, Claudia shuffled after him, struggling to keep up, as she was led out of the cell block. To her surprise, outside, two more slavers were waiting. Standing behind them, heads bowed were a dozen girls, chained together at the neck. “This is the last one.” One of the slavers said, as Claudia was added to the coffle. “Let’s go!”

Following the other slaves, Claudia hurried down the hall. The guards jogged alongside the women, keeping them moving. The girl in front of Claudia yelped into her gag as one of the men smacked her across her nude bottom. Claudia struggled to keep up the pace, to avoid making herself more of a helpless target then she already was…

After a few days of captivity, the former teacher had learned the layout of the dungeon, to some extent. Enough that she quickly realized the slaves weren’t being taken to any of the usual training rooms. In fact, she didn’t think she’d ever been taken to this part of the facility before. She whimpered in fright. That probably wasn’t a good thing…

At the end of the hallway, the slaves were quickly hustled through a doorway. The room they entered was richly furnished. Claudia’s eyes widened in surprise as she looked around, oil paintings hung on the richly decorated walls, crystal chandeliers lit everything in a soft yellow glow. The slave’s bare feet padded quietly on the deep, soft carpets. The furniture was made of stained hardwood and leather.

The captive women were lined up along one wall, opposite another door. Their guards unclipped the chains, linking them together. “Stand here, don’t move, keep your heads down slaves!” the lead slaver barked. Claudia hurriedly complied, eyeing the leather flogs the slavers were still waving around nervously…

Just then, the door opened and a trio of people entered the room. In front and bringing up the rear were two more slavers, acting as escort for the one in the middle. Claudia’s eyes widened in surprise. Striding into the room was a smiling Asian woman wearing a richly embroidered silk dress; her long arms were clad in long opera gloves. Her dark hair was pulled up into a formal bun, held in place with a jade comb.

Claudia stared, as the strange figure crossed the room to the line of women and their guards. Claudia couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen a woman wearing a dress, the small handful of female slavers wore the same uniforms as their male colleges. The slaves, of course, didn’t wear anything.

Whoever this woman was, she was no slave, that much was obvious from the swagger in her step as she paced down the line of chained prisoners, her heels sinking into the deep carpet. She glanced over the cringing slaves with a cold, haughty look.

“Eyes down, slave!” Claudia squeaked, more in surprise then in pain, as one of the guards smacked her behind with the open palm of his hand. Hurriedly, she directed her gaze downward. Out of the corner of her eye, the helpless woman watched as the strange observer paused in front of her.

Though she’d grown used to the leering gazes of the slavers, Claudia felt her cheeks flush with shame, as this woman ran her eyes over the former teacher’s nude body. The woman’s gaze was cold, calculating. Claudia cringed as she sized her up, like a cut of meat on display in a butcher’s shop. The corners of the woman’s mouth twitched up, briefly, in a cruel smile.

“Do you see any you like?” One of the slavers escorting the woman said, as she came to the end of the line. “These are the ones you requested to see, Miss Cheng.”

“Yes…” the woman, Miss Cheng replied with a nod. “I see one or two of them that show some promise.” Her soft, cold voice had a slight English accent to it.  

“Feel free to examine them however you wish.” The man said with a nod.

Miss Cheng went down the line again, stopping in front of several of the girls. With evident enjoyment, she reached forward and casually felt up the helpless girls’ naked bodies, groping their breasts, feeling their legs and buttocks. A few of the girls whimpered into their gags and tried to pull away. The guards held the girls still, as the woman continued feeling them up.

Claudia felt a ting of fear race down her spine, as the older woman stopped in front of her. Once again, she felt her cheeks heat up, as the other woman reached forward and casually cupped her small, round breasts. “Very nice…” Miss Cheng murmured quietly, feeling Claudia’s breasts through the cold silk of her gloves. With a savage grin, she pinched the captive’s nipples, enjoying the muffled yelp of pain from the helpless slave.

“I think I like you…” Claudia’s tormenter said, grinning. While one hand continued squeezing a breast, the other worked its way down Claudia’s body. Claudia whimpered, cheeks burning, as it slipped between her legs. She’d never been touched there before, at least not by another woman. Miss Cheng seemed to enjoy Claudia’s discomfort, as she teased the young slave, brushing her fingers across the lips of Claudia’s sex.

After a moment, Miss Cheng finished. With a nod, she stepped back, moving on to the next helpless girl. By the time she reached the end of the line, more than a few of the captives were crying quietly to themselves. Turning to her host, she spoke. “I see the things I’ve heard about your organization are true. There are some fine pieces of merchandise here.” Going down the line of sobbing slaves, she pointed. “I’ll take her…and her…her…” Claudia felt her heart skip a beat as Miss Cheng paused in front of her.

“…her…” As the slavers and their guest continued, the captive suddenly realized she’d just been bought. The guards quickly began manhandling their charges into two groups, the girls who had been bought, and those that had not. Claudia was dragged into line with five other girls. Quickly, they were chained into a short coffle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the rest of the slaves being led back to their cages, to wait for the next potential buyer.

“If you’d come with me, ma’am.” The head slaver said, deferentially to Miss Cheng, Claudia’s new owner, “There’s a few forms for you to fill out. In the meantime, we’ll see that your purchases are prepared for transport…”

At that, one of the guards grabbed the chain of the lead slave and tugged sharply. Whimpered into her gag, the girl stumbled forward. As she did, the chain connecting her collar to Claudia’s suddenly went taut. Hurriedly, she shuffled forward, across the room and through the door…