Sue awoke in her car with a start. She immediately grabbed at her neck and the top of her head. When she touched neither collar nor pointy dog ears she breathed a sigh of relief. A feeling of deep betrayal shot through her body as she cursed her subconscious, yet she squirmed a bit in her seat, noticing that her panties were more than a little wet.
Fortunately, she didn’t have time to think much about this discovery as she noticed Megan walking into the front door of the apartment building. Sue took a quick drink of cold coffee and another drag off the vape pen and waited for Megan to come back outside.
Only twenty minutes later, Megan returned back to the street and started down the sidewalk. She seemed to be in quite a hurry. Sue wondered if Donna had told Megan about their visit. After letting Megan get a short distance away, Sue started trailing her in the car. Around the corner Megan got into her own car and sped away. Sue took a deep breath and started after her.
They drove across town for nearly an hour. Sue cursed again and again as she almost lost her prey, but each time she managed to spot her again. She tailed Megan down to the shipping docks where both their cars were soon lost in a maze of warehouses.
Sue kept her distance, as Megan pulled into one of the smaller buildings. She casually drove by and parked her car a few blocks away. The streets were deserted, but Sue wished she had more than her can of pepper-spray and a few karate lessons to rely on if someone should want trouble.
Gripping the small canister she made her way back to the building. The front garage door was shut. So, Sue crept around the outside and hoped that she might find another way inside. There were no windows all the way around, but she did see one door around back. With another deep breath she quietly made her way up to the door.
She tested the handle and much to her satisfaction she felt it turn. Her momentary joy evaporated when felt someone behind her. A moment later, before she could react, everything went dark as a bag went over her head and she felt hands grab her.
She heard the creaky door burst open and she was dragged through.
***
Sue was hauled perhaps twenty feet and then roughly plunked down in a chair and handcuffed. The restraints reminded her of how helpless she felt in her dream earlier, and her panicked, frantic breaths filled the tight space of the hood making it heavy and hot.
She felt hands going through her jacket pockets.
Then she heard a woman’s voice, “See, she’s working for the HPPS!”
“Fuck…” Another woman’s voice replied.
“Should we…should we kill her…I--” the first woman hesitantly proposed.
There was a pause. Sue felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest as she waited for the response.
“Are you out of your mind? I didn’t get out of that bastard’s house just to go to prison for murder!”
“But she’s—a part of the problem! She’s a traitor to all women. If we’re going to liberate our sisters from slavery…”
Sue shook her head. She had to think fast, “No, no I’m not…” She started. The closeness of the hood made taking clearly very difficult. “I only work for them because I have to…just let me explain!”
There was another pause. Sue took the opportunity to explain how she was only doing it as an alternative to the draft and that she hated the whole system. It felt so good to let it all spill out for the first time and know that the listeners agreed with her—if they believed her.
Sue ended with. “If you want to free our sisters then I can help.” It sounded silly when she said it out loud, but it’s what she believed. Didn’t she?
Tension hung in the air as Sue waited for a response. Cold and blessedly fresh air washed over Sue’s face as the hood was torn off. She blinked away the harsh light and found herself facing two women about her age in a nearly empty warehouse. One was Megan the maid and the other was an Asian girl. Sue blinked a few more times and did a double-take. It was the lost puppy girl, Boji, but she looked very different with all of her pet gear off, no makeup, her hair in a sensible ponytail, and dressed in plain jeans, a t-shirt and sneakers. More than that, every trace of empty-eyed cuteness was gone and replaced with a stern, hard expression and demeanor.
As if sensing her thoughts, the Asian woman spoke, “Surprised to see me like this? You were looking for a lost puppy girl, right?”
Sue nodded, not quite sure what she was expecting. What did pet-nappers look like anyway? How many pets kidnapped themselves?
Holding up Sue’s ID, she continued, “As you can see Susan, I don’t need any rescuing…especially not from the HPPS.”
“So you wanted Megan to help you get away?” Sue asked. “But why didn’t you just wait until your contract was up? Why did you keep signing every year?”
“Do you know what “Boji” means in Korean?”
Sue shook her head.
“It means “pussy.” Do you really think I liked having to answer to that name every time that sick fucker called to me?”
Sue’s eyes widened as she squirmed uncomfortably. She could only imagine having to endure such awful humiliation. And for a moment she wondered what kind of name she’d be given if it were up to Mr. Richter.
“My real name is Sarah, Sarah Kim,” she added and took a deep breath, which seemed to calm her a bit. “Richter is a very powerful man. When my service was almost up he offered me the contract and threatened to ruin my father—my whole family—if I didn’t sign. So, I did…I think he just made it a yearly thing to taunt me….Megan saw how miserable I was, even though the pet sitter and Richter made it pretty hard for me to show it.’
Megan spoke up, “Yeah, after I asked her if she was okay a few times she spelled out “help me” with the kibble bits from her dish.”
Sue smiled and nodded, “That’s pretty clever.”
“I guess…” Sarah shrugged. “So, with the help of her ‘friends’ they were able to get me out.”
“What friends?” Sue asked, momentarily forgetting that whoever these ‘friends’ were, it really was her job to track them down too.
Megan spoke up, “No way, Sarah! We don’t know her at all yet. Besides, you don’t call the shots. I do. You’re just two days out of pet gear!”
Sarah glared at Megan and then looked back at Sue. She hesitated.
Sue was about to open her mouth and declare are all the things she’d wanted to say since she’d worked for the HPPS. The draft, the ComPet® program, all of it was disgusting, misogynistic, and despicable. She wanted nothing more than to tear the whole thing down. She wanted to see the men and the women who voted the whole system into place hung. She wanted everyone who profited from ComPet® to suffer right along with them, but she never got the opportunity to speak her mind.
The back door crashed open and Sue heard an intimidating male voice call out, “Hands up! You’re under arrest!”
***
Sue sat with a blanket around her shoulders and clung to a warm coffee cup with slightly shaky hands. The police along with additional HPPS officials had arrived and quickly subdued Sarah and Megan, before releasing Sue. Her boss, Mr. Cross, had arrived shortly after and had taken a seat with Sue while she recovered.
“How did you know where to find me, sir?” She asked. It was weird to see him outside of the office. As ridiculous as it was, she sort of imagined that the paunchy, gray-haired man lived at work.
“Just because you weren’t put into service as an animal, doesn’t mean you weren’t chipped like one. They did it during your initial medical exam.” He chuckled. “It was easy to track you.”
Sue nodded slowly, a bit annoyed that no one had told her, but she was reluctantly thankful that she had been.
“L-let go of me!” Megan cried as she was hauled past in handcuffs by two unyielding officers. “Fuck you, Susan! You bitch!” She snarled as she was placed inside the backseat of a police car. The door slammed shut. Sue could still see her ranting and raving from behind the glass.
Sue lowered her head. She felt awful, but hoped that she didn’t look to despondent in front of Cross.
“Miss!” One of the officers called. “We need the representative from the HPPS to sign for the evidence.”
Cross pointed at her. “That’s you, kid.”
Sue stood up, “I guess that’s me.” She wandered for what evidence she would be signing. Stepping around to the back of a police van her heart sank. There was Sarah—or she Boji again?
The poor young woman, after only a few days of freedom was back under cruel and humiliating bondage. Her hands were wrapped and bound behind her with what looked like yellow police tape. Her legs were folded over and bound tightly with the same material. Over her mouth they’d placed a black, leather panel muzzle whose straps looked like they were digging into her face painfully. Across her forehead, breasts, and belly there were white stickers with “Evidence” written in big black text. Was that all she was, evidence?
Sarah—Boji made eye contact with Sue for a moment. She looked so pathetic, so desperate. Her eyes implored Sue for help as the tears fell. It was a million times worse than listening to Megan curse at her.
“Just sign here, miss!” The officer said, showing Sue a tablet.
Sue took the opportunity to look away. She signed and didn’t look at Sarah—Boji again. A she walked away she tried to close her ears to the sobbing and to the words of one of the officers.
“Aw, I think she misses her owner! Don’t cry, darling! We’ll have you back safe in your gear and to your owner in no time!”
Sue cringed again.
“What have I done?” She wondered. “Why didn’t I fight them too?”
***
Megan’s show trial, and that definitely what it was, happened a week later. It only lasted an hour, most of which was taken up by the opening statements of the prosecuting lawyer and the judge. The formerly confident and pretty blonde who had talked about liberating her sisters from slavery stood alone with no representation. She was unwashed, with her long blonde hair matted against her pale cheek, barefoot, wrists and ankles shackled, and dressed only in a torn, stained and wrinkled orange prison smock that barely reached the middle of her thighs. TV cameras made sure to show her disgraceful appearance to the whole country to ensure that the consequences of disrupting the ComPet® program would be known.
Sue watched from the back of the courtroom. She hadn’t wanted to have come, but she’d been required to by her boss. She’d thought she might be asked to testify, but no witnesses were called at all, which was a relief, at first anyway. The prosecutor declared Megan’s crime and then showed clearly doctored photos of Sarah—Boji being found by authorities. Boji looked confused and miserable and then was equally as happy as authorities took her into custody. Sue squirmed in her seat as she thought about what really happened. Again, she felt the urge to speak out, but what would that get her? How would that help Megan or any woman? She’d only be joining her in whatever terrible punishment awaited her.
After the “evidence” was delivered the judge paused as if ruminating. Then he spoke, “Miss Megan Hills…” He paused. “I have seen many cases in my twenty years as a judge, but yours may be perhaps the most despicable. You tried to steal the property and happiness of a man who is a community figure, a pillar of society, a philanthropist, a job creator, and a true friend to his community.” Everyone in the courtroom looked over at Mr. Richter who was sitting in the front, with the kneeling form of his puppy girl by his feet. Sue couldn’t see Boji’s face from behind, but she knew the PetSitter would have her lolling her tongue out, smiling vapidly at the prosecution of her would-be savior for all to see, regardless of what agony was spinning between those doggy ears.
“Perhaps worse than that, you took a poor, innocent, vulnerable service animal away from proper care, from protection, and from her happiness. You represent a self-centered aspect to society that must be dealt with harshly if we’re to have a better world. As this case was being deliberated, no one was willing to speak for your character, not even your own mother…I can think of no better way for you to leave this self-centeredness behind than by being put into service yourself.”
Megan looked up in wide-eyed disbelief.
“I hereby declare you property of the ComPet® program for such time until they wish to release you. Case closed!”
As the verdict sunk in Megan suddenly came alive again. She struggled and screamed as two officers hauled her from the room. Her cries alternated between cursing ‘the system’ and begging just to be sent to prison.
Sue left the courtroom in a daze among the throngs of people who had come to attend. She walked by reporters interviewing Mr. Richter. Boji was by his feet clad in her fluffy, white puppy gear. Sue also noticed that Boji’s face looked different with a heart-shaped black heart on the tip of her nose and three black spots on either cheek. They looked like tattoos.
“Yes, I’m so pleased to have her back!” Mr. Richter spoke into several microphones. “And Boji is so happy to be back isn’t she?” He added as he patted the back of her head and looked down at her.
The reporters and the cameramen turned their attention towards the puppy girl. Sue wanted to duck out, but she stood watching from a distance, transfixed on the scene. Boji was clearly miserable, anyone should have been able to see that, but when Mr. Richter looked down at her, she came to life. With a great big smile she pushed out her breasts and let out an enthusiastic “woof!”
Everyone chuckled at the “charming pet” and Mr. Richter went on answering questions. “Yes, she was so happy to be back home that she signed a lifetime contract with me. You should have seen it, she actually begged for it!”
Sue saw the tears fall from the corners of Boji’s eyes even as her mouth remained contorted in the joyful smile. Unable to watch or listen anymore she scuttled outside to the warm spring afternoon.
“Sue, there you are!” It was her boss. “I need to talk to you.”
Sue tried not to look as sick as she felt. What had that bastard Richter done to that poor girl’s face?
“You did an excellent job finding that lost puppy, but you’ve discovered much more than you realize.”
Interested, Sue looked up at him.
“Megan Hills wasn’t just a lone, hysterical girl. We found some troubling materials in her room at her mother’s house and in that warehouse. Besides supplies for making pipe bombs and a few firearms with ammunition, we found some subversive literature. We’re still studying it, but it comes from an organization referring to itself as F.E.R.A.L. They seem to think that they stand for Freedom, Equality, Revolution, and Liberty, whatever that’s supposed to mean. This is definitely the most interesting time for you to become an official HPPS Inspector.” He held up a silver badge. “Congratulations.”
Sue smiled and looked at the shiny badge resting in the palm of her hand. Thoughts of the fate of Megan and Sarah were far away for a moment.
Later she’d have time to reflect on what she’d done.
Later.