“Turn,” came the command.
The woman at least turned the flow to her feet while Rowan turned her back to her, gripping the rings harder and squeezing her eyes shut as the water assaulted her marked and tender bottom and thighs.
“Bend forward and grip the rings on the wall there.”
She glanced behind her. “I need to use…”
Without hesitating, the woman nodded to the guards, one of whom walked to her. Before he reached her however, Rowan bent over and gripped the rings, which were set about six inches above the floor.
“Legs wider.”
The toe of the guard’s boot nudged one ankle and she spread her legs, knowing they stood behind her watching, every part of her exposed.
The flow of water wasn’t softer but it was fast. The woman ran the hose along her bottom, not missing an inch of her most private parts. The cold temperature at least relieved her for an instant of the burn from the doctor’s injection.
It all lasted no more than a few minutes but Rowan’s face burned with humiliation.
“She’s ready,” the woman said.
Rowan straightened and turned. The guards took hold of her once again and the woman hardly paid any attention to her as she was taken from the room and returned to the first one. This time when she walked in, the female doctor looked at her and nodded. The guards walked her inside where in addition to the medical crew, Rowan could see standing behind the glass wall those collected to watch: Commander Norrin, Captain Amro, and the man she had glimpsed in the hall, Silas. Behind them stood several guards.
Silas’ eyes were hard and unreadable and Commander Norrin was talking, although she was not able to hear what he said. He glanced at her with a gesture of his hand and patted Silas’ back. Silas neither moved nor did the line of his mouth change. She did notice the fisting of his hands though before the female doctor spoke.
“Put her on the table on her stomach. We’ll need to dress her wounds first.”
* * *
Silas watched in silence even though inside, every cell in his body wanted nothing more than to take hold of Captain Amro’s neck and snap it first before killing the doctors in the next room. But he couldn’t do that. Not unless he wanted the blood of the people of his settlement on his hands. Not if he had any hope of finding out if Commander Norrin had lied to him or not. At least Commander Norrin didn’t look so eager to bear witness to the breeder’s ordeal.
The intercom was turned on so they could hear what was being said in the other room, but those in the examining room could not hear them.
“Shame to give such a breeder to him,” Captain Amro said, lust in his voice, his lecherous eyes never leaving the naked woman. Silas didn’t try to hide his disgust when the captain adjusted his crotch as the woman was forced onto the table, her arms raised over her head, the wrists bound together to the top of the examining table. Her legs were spread to the width of the table and strapped with the leather restraints there.
“The colony will be indebted to you, to your people,” Commander Norrin said, ignoring the captain. There was tension between the men, Silas could see that much.
Silas was the leader of one of the settlements outside of the colonies. Although he and the other settlers were known as barbarians within the colonies, their existence was tolerated as the colonies needed food and other goods produced by the outsiders.
Four hundred years ago, an asteroid had crashed onto Earth. The size of the thing had wiped out most of the eastern half of North America, but that wasn’t the worst of it. Some residue of the asteroid seeped into the world’s oceans, killing most of the marine life as it made its way across the world before infecting the water supplies of the people. They called it a plague and over the course of a few years, the majority of the population had died off before scientists had been able to find a way to cleanse the water and wipe out the bacteria. It was rumored the main colony kept that plague alive somewhere ready for use as needed, but Silas didn’t know much about that. What he did know was that there was a side effect to the serum the scientists used to clean the water. It had, over time, rendered the majority of the remaining population of women sterile.
Somehow, one breed of women had overcome this and the woman whom he watched in the next room was one of them. Although very similar to other women, they were simply called breeders now and used as such: to grow the population of earth. One distinct physical feature made it impossible for them to hide: their eyes. Although they varied in color from the palest spring green to the darkest emerald, they had slanted pupils, lending an almost feline look to them to match their rumored dispositions. It was said if they weren’t punished regularly as a reminder of their place in society, they became more animal than human. From what he was watching, Silas wasn’t sure he believed that though. These women were separated from society and each colony housed their own breeders. They were kept well hidden behind locked doors.