The sudden shout and blast of bright white lights stunned me for a moment. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen such an array of lights…who the hell were these people…that they could use electricity so wastefully? Huge steel doors parted and beyond which a further set of doors opened showing a brightly lit corridor beyond.

I must have looked like some medieval peasant who had just been shown television because Trey laughed at me and trotted forward.
“Come on into hell you mad bitch…you’ll be right at home im sure”
I saw Celine bite her lip and shake her head before she pointed in the direction of the lights and I walked between her and Trey. The doors were huge and there was a constant blast of air that came from beyond…almost like the air that always came out of tube tunnels when a train went by…not that there have been any tube trains for….well, a while now.
My mouth fell open as we pushed on, down the corridor which sloped downwards at an alarming rate. We came to an area where there were screens and changing rooms and strange lights hung from the ceiling of the tunnel.
“Go behind there, get undressed and change into some of the clothes there”
I looked at Celine with alarm. Backing off slightly…what the hell was this…?

“No, no…don’t worry, it’s for disease protection. We burn all clothes brought in from outside…especially if they have,” she looked at the deep dark crimson stains across her coat and my jeans, “fluids from infected individuals. Please do as we say. You’ll find a shower behind there too…wash yourself off, then change into an outfit you find comfortable.”

I paused for a moment, before Celine began to pull her own clothes from her body, Trey having gone behind another set of screens…for a moment I considered crossing to join him there…unwilling to put myself at risk to this woman’s powerful abilities to…to…dominate my actions so completely. But I could sense that would have enraged her and quickly joined her in undressing. I lifted my gaze briefly, eyeing her body now so completely exposed as she entered the shower. She was beautiful. Stunning. Even though she was as bruised and cut as I…her body moved with a hypnotic power that had me drifting next to her under the warm water of the shower.

I lifted my shaking hands and…gingerly…reached for Celine’s back…the blood caked there wasn’t shifting…her back was to me…my fingers were so close…her otherwise pale skin drew me like a moth to a flame. But just before my fingers touched her, she turned and gasped…I pulled back instantly, returning them to my hair…my eyes cast down at the floor. My face flushed red in mortified horror at what I had nearly done. I washed my hair and felt dirt and blood seep from my long locks, my body covered in fresh bruises that seemed to highlight the many scars left from my rape and whipping those many years ago.

I crushed my eyes shut as I shuddered thinking about that awful pain…and my hands balled into fists. When I opened my eyes again I saw Celine staring back at me, her powerful gaze lancing deep into my soul and I wondered again about her own past. I risked a brief smile at her…