Chapter fifty-one
They planted anchor about three Islands away from the one they left. The first thing Damian did was to send Bruce and Chako to check the place out. The big cat went with them, everybody else stayed on the boat. Four hours later, the advance team returned. There was nothing living on the Island. No signs of people or animals.
This Island was every bit as charming as the one they left. The greens were plentiful, and the air clear. There was even a fresh water stream less than a mile to the South of them. They decided that the best move was to set up camp near the coast like they did before. It could be advantageous to have the sea at their backs.
All cleaned up, and having been able to sleep in peace for the first time since the white men showed up, the girl soon showed that, far from being wild, she was highly cultured, intelligent and articulate. She was the child of what was once the Island's black elite.
She said her name was Elizabeth.
She didn't know where the white soldiers came from. A rumor went around among the people who lived outside the cities, that they were ghouls who rose out of the grave. White people had long lived in the Islands but after the great sun flash, they all died. None were seen for so long after that, people almost forgot they ever walked among them.
Damian figured the soldiers emerged from underground bunkers. Since so much time had passed since any Whites were seen, that meant they rode out the aftereffects from the breach, underground. Almost five years underground. With the way the earth had changed, that meant they couldn't possibly be full-strength physically, so how did they manage to defeat and kill all the young men? Damian suspected that, besides the fifty rebel women Elizabeth talk about when telling her story, and maybe a few men who may have been killed, most of the people simply did not fight back, either out of superstition, awe, or fear.
She said when the white men appeared, they immediately started killing all the young men and boys, except for those who cried and begged the hardest for their lives. Then they spent months raping all the young women until most of them stopped resisting. Those who showed no signs of giving in, were bound hand and foot and separated from the others. The ones who stopped fighting were forced to work with the old men and women, building the compound, and doing whatever else the white men had for them to do.
There were about fifty women like her, who were still resisting weeks later. The white men started treating them better than anyone else. They were given more food, housed in the first buildings built and given all kinds of gifts. One by one, the rebellious women started going with the white men under their own freewill. After a while, all the women but she and 12 others were with the white men as willing Mistresses.
The white men gave up trying to win her and the other 12 over with kindness and started raping and beating them again. Two of them was tortured to death in front of everyone because they bit their Assaulter's penis off.
When after a while, the ten of them, who were still surviving, still wasn't broken by the brutality, they were turned over to the Native men who had chosen to sell their souls to the white men, in exchanged for their lives. Most of the ten rebel women found being treated like dogs, by the black Enforcers, a better alternative to being mistresses of the white men. Six of the white men harbored such respect and affection for the rebel women that they had tried to force into their beds, they secretly protected and adorned them. The women's black Keepers were only fronts for their white, secret admirers. Compared to everyone else, the six women lived like queens as they took from black hands what they refused under torture from white hands.
Elizabeth was one of those six holdouts. But even a cushy slavery like the one she was under was more slavery than she could live with. Even though she was no longer in bonds and not even bossed in her home, much less the fields, she still took the first opportunity she got, to run.
Two days after she escaped, one of the black Enforcers had stumbled upon her while she was sleeping under a bush. He tried to take her back. She fought the Enforcer like she fought Bruce. He forgot all about taking her back and tried to kill her with a knife. She took it from him. Cut her hands in the process, but cut his throat worse. She had been on the run since. Both the white men and the Black Enforcers made it personal--one of the white men in particular. They wanted her, but she was fast, learned to sleep with one eye open. Fear so heightened her senses, she learned to hear and react like a rabbit--even when she was dozing.
She had eluded them for three weeks after killing the Enforcer, but she knew she wasn't going to elude them much longer.
She saw the boat arrive. Had hidden out of sight until she saw who was on it. She saw Damian, Chandra, Sheree, and Chako, and saw hope. Then she saw Steve, Patrick and Jane, and fled back into the dense.
The next day, she saw the Iowees playing. Had watched them a long time with fascination. Was compelled to try to talk to them so she approached them. They screamed. She knew she must have looked like some kind of monster to them. She wanted to show them that she meant them no harm. Then the big cat came out of nowhere. She thought it was going to attack her, but she was too scared to move. But it didn't attack her, it just sidled up to within a few feet of her and sat down, watching her unblinking. She moved, and it snarled, baring its fang as if saying I'm not going to hurt you if you don't move, but if you do move, I'll eat you. She didn't move, was growing fascinated, losing her fear of the cat. Then she saw Bruce running towards her like so many men had done over the weeks. Her body reflectively jumped, the big cat growled, the man yelled; she panicked and started running as fast as she could.
No one had ever caught her before. She went insane with fear when Bruce tackled her. Started fighting with all her soul force. That was the last thing she remembered until she woke up and saw Chandra sitting in front of her, looking at her like her mother used to do when she was a little girl, and mother thought she was asleep.
She remembered saying mama, but even then she knew Chandra wasn't her mother. She felt so much like she remembered feeling when she was a little girl, safe in her room with her mother, she said it anyway. After living in terror for so long, she sensed when she was safe--when someone was with her, who would fight to protect her. She remembered Chandra walking over to her and laying down beside her. She remembered turning towards the pretty woman and falling asleep.
This Island was every bit as charming as the one they left. The greens were plentiful, and the air clear. There was even a fresh water stream less than a mile to the South of them. They decided that the best move was to set up camp near the coast like they did before. It could be advantageous to have the sea at their backs.
All cleaned up, and having been able to sleep in peace for the first time since the white men showed up, the girl soon showed that, far from being wild, she was highly cultured, intelligent and articulate. She was the child of what was once the Island's black elite.
She said her name was Elizabeth.
She didn't know where the white soldiers came from. A rumor went around among the people who lived outside the cities, that they were ghouls who rose out of the grave. White people had long lived in the Islands but after the great sun flash, they all died. None were seen for so long after that, people almost forgot they ever walked among them.
Damian figured the soldiers emerged from underground bunkers. Since so much time had passed since any Whites were seen, that meant they rode out the aftereffects from the breach, underground. Almost five years underground. With the way the earth had changed, that meant they couldn't possibly be full-strength physically, so how did they manage to defeat and kill all the young men? Damian suspected that, besides the fifty rebel women Elizabeth talk about when telling her story, and maybe a few men who may have been killed, most of the people simply did not fight back, either out of superstition, awe, or fear.
She said when the white men appeared, they immediately started killing all the young men and boys, except for those who cried and begged the hardest for their lives. Then they spent months raping all the young women until most of them stopped resisting. Those who showed no signs of giving in, were bound hand and foot and separated from the others. The ones who stopped fighting were forced to work with the old men and women, building the compound, and doing whatever else the white men had for them to do.
There were about fifty women like her, who were still resisting weeks later. The white men started treating them better than anyone else. They were given more food, housed in the first buildings built and given all kinds of gifts. One by one, the rebellious women started going with the white men under their own freewill. After a while, all the women but she and 12 others were with the white men as willing Mistresses.
The white men gave up trying to win her and the other 12 over with kindness and started raping and beating them again. Two of them was tortured to death in front of everyone because they bit their Assaulter's penis off.
When after a while, the ten of them, who were still surviving, still wasn't broken by the brutality, they were turned over to the Native men who had chosen to sell their souls to the white men, in exchanged for their lives. Most of the ten rebel women found being treated like dogs, by the black Enforcers, a better alternative to being mistresses of the white men. Six of the white men harbored such respect and affection for the rebel women that they had tried to force into their beds, they secretly protected and adorned them. The women's black Keepers were only fronts for their white, secret admirers. Compared to everyone else, the six women lived like queens as they took from black hands what they refused under torture from white hands.
Elizabeth was one of those six holdouts. But even a cushy slavery like the one she was under was more slavery than she could live with. Even though she was no longer in bonds and not even bossed in her home, much less the fields, she still took the first opportunity she got, to run.
Two days after she escaped, one of the black Enforcers had stumbled upon her while she was sleeping under a bush. He tried to take her back. She fought the Enforcer like she fought Bruce. He forgot all about taking her back and tried to kill her with a knife. She took it from him. Cut her hands in the process, but cut his throat worse. She had been on the run since. Both the white men and the Black Enforcers made it personal--one of the white men in particular. They wanted her, but she was fast, learned to sleep with one eye open. Fear so heightened her senses, she learned to hear and react like a rabbit--even when she was dozing.
She had eluded them for three weeks after killing the Enforcer, but she knew she wasn't going to elude them much longer.
She saw the boat arrive. Had hidden out of sight until she saw who was on it. She saw Damian, Chandra, Sheree, and Chako, and saw hope. Then she saw Steve, Patrick and Jane, and fled back into the dense.
The next day, she saw the Iowees playing. Had watched them a long time with fascination. Was compelled to try to talk to them so she approached them. They screamed. She knew she must have looked like some kind of monster to them. She wanted to show them that she meant them no harm. Then the big cat came out of nowhere. She thought it was going to attack her, but she was too scared to move. But it didn't attack her, it just sidled up to within a few feet of her and sat down, watching her unblinking. She moved, and it snarled, baring its fang as if saying I'm not going to hurt you if you don't move, but if you do move, I'll eat you. She didn't move, was growing fascinated, losing her fear of the cat. Then she saw Bruce running towards her like so many men had done over the weeks. Her body reflectively jumped, the big cat growled, the man yelled; she panicked and started running as fast as she could.
No one had ever caught her before. She went insane with fear when Bruce tackled her. Started fighting with all her soul force. That was the last thing she remembered until she woke up and saw Chandra sitting in front of her, looking at her like her mother used to do when she was a little girl, and mother thought she was asleep.
She remembered saying mama, but even then she knew Chandra wasn't her mother. She felt so much like she remembered feeling when she was a little girl, safe in her room with her mother, she said it anyway. After living in terror for so long, she sensed when she was safe--when someone was with her, who would fight to protect her. She remembered Chandra walking over to her and laying down beside her. She remembered turning towards the pretty woman and falling asleep.
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