Sofia the Runner

Jack enters through the door and sees the dirty little woman cowering and shaking out of fear of the big wolfhound. He lets out a loud raucous laugh and yells, "Ok Hank, you're scaring that one terribly!"

Sofia takes a deep breath and extends a shaking hand to the hound. Hank quiets and licks the waif's hand, her neck and face.

"Well Runner...seems that Hank likes you. I would take that as a compliment little one!"

Sofia shows a bit of a grin, pleased at the response she gets from the massive puppy!

Jack strips off his coat and sets his chair in front of Sofia. "Alright Runner Sofia...stand before me so I may inspect your substance. It is important for me to decide if the effort to maintain you will be worth it...or should I return you to the market from which you came."

Sofia's body freezes and she shakes at the mention of going back to that horrible place.

Jack sees the fear that his words invoke and decides to take a milder tone. In a softer voice, "I promise young one, I will never send you back to those horrible people. Now stand before me so I can get a look at your condition!"

Sofia rises and stands before him, head down, being very careful of her back, not wanting to reopen the painful wounds.

Jack eyes the tiny delipidated human before him. Sofia is filthy...her blonde hair matted and tangled horribly. Her clothing, if one could call it that, was filthy and mostly threadbare. She stunk like a barn beast...which is understandable due to her spending most of her life in a shed or a barn.

"Raise your head and look me in the eye girl." Jack demands.

Sofia softly murmurs, "Thank you for the food. It was the best food then I ever had."

Jack looks at the poor thing and feels a bit of pity...but that doesn't last long. It is imperative that he finds out everything he can about this waif. It is a dangerous game they are playing. To be caught harboring another man's property can lead to long prison time if not the death penalty.

"Sofia, you need to listen to me. I know you have been through hell. You must be completely honest with me and answer all my questions thoroughly. If you do, I will protect you...if you don't, I will turn you over to the sheriff in a flash. Do I make myself clear woman?"

Sofia slowly nods her head, mostly out of pure fear at the mention of going back to that horrible place.

"Look at me and speak to me when I address you!"

Sofia shakily looks at Jack and says in her small voice,

"I understand master."

"Very well. Although, I said address me as Sir. I am not your master! In fact, you may call me Jack from now on. Now remove those rags so I can assess your health as well as any damage you may have."

She again nods, then slowly removes what she has on. She stands there, feeling ogled, as she has been her whole life.

Jack inspects his latest acquisition. He glances at Hank...Hank stares and then lies down, eyeing Jack with his sad eyes. This woman, still of a young age...Jack believes her to be 2 decades of life past, has lived through hell. She is emaciated...covered in lice...and rail thin. Jack notices the brand above her left breast, the number 13, sunk into her skin by a crude branding iron. He instructs her to turn around so he can check her back side.

Sofia slowly turns, knowing her back is covered in whip scars, some of them open wounds she recently incurred for no reason other than the sadistic joy of the slavers.

As suspected, Jack shakes his head at this one's condition. Besides the filth issues, her back is covered with the scars from being beaten severely by whatever heathen claimed her to be his. He notices that some of them are open wounds, highly infected wounds in a necrotic state. The smell of her rotting flesh is too much. Jack takes note of the crude 13, branded into her right ass check, He knows how to remedy that situation, as he has done it before. It will be painful for Sofia, but it may go far in saving her life in the future.

Jack stands, walks across the room, then returns draping a newish blanket around Sofia's shoulders. He imagines it is the only gift she has ever received in his life. She jumps a bit as he lays the blanket over her.

"Relax," he whispers. "Now have a seat, while I heat some water for cleaning you."

Jack pulls a chair from under the table and sets it in front of the fire. Sofia looks at him curiously and slowly sits. She hugs the blanket tightly to her and without making a sound, tears flow down her cheeks. Jack's heart skips, imagining this is the first real gift she has ever received in her life. A cozy blanket and a seat near the fire! He removes the leg iron from her ankle.

Jack fills a steel cauldron with water and hangs it over the fire. In no time it is boiling hot. He carries it outside and pours it into one of the large vats of river water he collected earlier. He then steps inside and says,

"Sofia, I need you to understand the dangerous game we are playing. I need to know that I can trust you. You must tell me you will not run. Take note that if you do run, you will not get far. Hank will hunt you down and enjoy consuming a large part of your torso. If you elect to stay, and you ever disobey me or fail to do as you are told, I will slice your throat and bury your carcass in the forest. If you cooperate, I promise you I will protect you and make it possible to at least live the rest of your natural life in relative peace. Now state your choice loudly and with conviction!"

Sofia stands and defiantly looks Jack in the eye. With tears running down her face and her body shaking viciously she commands every ounce of intestinal fortitude she can muster stating,

"I will not run! I wish to live!"

Her eyes never waver, even as her body tries to abandon her.

Jack stands and surveys his charge.

"Wise choice woman! Understand, I realize you have been through some pain in the past. I also recognize that you have a will to survive because you became a Runner."

The path forward over the next few weeks will be painful at times. In order to heal you, we have to clean your wretched wounds. Then, we must build you physically and mentally to your maximum capabilities."

"The world is a cruel place. The good Lord knows I don't need to convince you of that. Just know that there is light on the horizon for you. Now let's get started!"

Jack opens the door to the shack and invites Sofia out onto the porch. Sofia steps outside and Jack holds out his hand for her blanket, he points at the vat of steaming water with the other. "Alright Sofia...let the games begin. Drop your filthy carcass into the vat!"

Sofia slowly sinks into the steaming water. She produces a little squeal and a hiss at the pain of her wounds being flushed by the heated water.

Jack eyes the little woman slithering into the warm water, wondering if she can remember ever having a real bath in her life. He holds out a cake of soap to her. One he found rummaging through his wife's things, which have been packed away for 10 years now since her death. Sofia has no idea what it is he is giving her, but she sniffs at it and the flowery smell invades her senses. Jack is encouraged by her response, a flash of light in those dark eyes.

This is called soap. You wet it and rub it on your skin to clean yourself. Have you never used it before?

Sofia looks at him and slowly takes the cake. She eyes him as she sniffs it again, the flowery scent fills her nostrils, and she involuntarily shrieks. A memory flashes through her brain of a time when she was a little girl and her then master's wife had this. The memory of that woman's scent never left her. It was the very same only coming from the cake of...She looks up at Jack, turning her head to the side and with a questioning look mumbles "Soap?"

Jack erupts with a raucous belly laugh and smiles widely at Sofia. "Yes...soap! It is yours to keep missy. I certainly have no use for things that appeal so greatly to women!" he roars. "Now wash yourself and cleanse that body of the years of filth you have accumulated!"

Sofia giggles and squeals with delight and sinks underneath the surface. No one had ever given her anything like that before. Jack was pleased to see the young woman smile and actually enjoy the thrill of being alive instead of only feeling absolute misery.

Sofia was having the time of her life, splashing, washing, rinsing. She stands to wash her lower half and provides Jack with a very good view of her anatomy. Although her skin is very red from being exposed for the first time in a long time, she absolutely presents a very interesting female form. Jack watches as she slathers the soap suds over her torso, her hands roaming over her small but firm tits, her slim hips and taut ass.

"Hmm," Jack nods to Hank. "Ole buddy, I just may have a breeder here!"

Hank huffs and lays his head down on his paw. Jack can't help but watch with great interest as Sofia washed her ass, legs and the blonde hair around her pussy. He feels the same stirrings in his loins that engorge him every couple of weeks when he travels to town for supplies and his dalliances with one or so of the tavern whores.

It pains him somewhat that he is about to rip the joy out of Sofia's flirtation with pleasure. He has to clean the open wounds on her back. As she rinses and then relaxes in the swill of the funky water Jack says,

"Sofia, this is going to hurt like hell, but if I don't scrub the rot out of your wounds, you won't survive."

The simple pleasure Sofia is experiencing, the feeling of being relatively clean, so soothingly relaxed by actually bathing in warm water as well as the flowery scent of the soap the brute sized man gave to her, comes to a crashing halt.

Sofia's mood sours immediately. She drops her eyes and lowers her head, knowing full well that Jack is stating the truth. Her past experiences confirm to her once again that life is a series of painful events.

But she reminds herself that she made it out of the slaver's grasp, finding her way here, not by design but by pure luck and stumbled into a seemingly comfortable and safe situation. Accepting her reality, she extends her arms and grips the rim of the vat.

Jack steps off the porch and slides a short rope over each of her wrists. He then ties the ends of each to the large rings on the outside of the vat.

"This is for your protection Sofia. You have to remain still no matter how painful this is going to be."

Sofia nods and accepts the flat piece of wood between her teeth that Jack provides. As soon as he rakes the horsehair brush across her back the first time Sofia lets out the most hideous scream which echoes through the woods for half a kilometer,

Hank jumps from his slumbering position on the front porch and snarls at the horrific screeching sounds. The fur on his back stands upright as he bristles, not completely sure the small woman in the vat is capable of such emanations. Jack knew it would do no good to drag this process out, so he viciously rips the brush repeatedly across her back, raking the rotting flesh out of her wounds. The girl passes out again, her mind short circuited by the pain of the ripping and tearing of her flesh.

After twenty or so brush strokes, Jack steps back and surveys his work. He nods at Hank and says, "Go find me some maggots boy."

Jack calmly places his hand on Sofia's shoulder. He slowly unties the ropes from the vat and lifts the naked passed out girl from the vat of water. Carrying her up the steps of the porch, he straps her wrists and ankles to the support poles, spread eagle. Hank returns with a rotting log full of white squirming maggots, which Jack scrapes off the log and applies the hungry critters to the wounds on Sofia's back.

Sofia comes to and immediately yanks and kicks at her restraints. Within 30 seconds, she stops and lets out another blood curdling scream, as the feeling of the maggots crawling on her back, eating the residual necrotic flesh drives her insane. She struggles and screams with tears running down her face for 30 seconds until she again passes out. Jack looks at Hank and shakes his head. Hank stares at Sofia and then back at Jack, his eyes wide with pity for the girl.

"C'mon boy, let's go inside. We need to leave this one here to start healing."

Jack takes Hank inside and shoves his poker into the fire, waiting for it to heat up glowing red. He looks at Hank and takes the poker out of the fire.

"Don't be upset Hank, this hopefully will go a long way to keeping her safe."

Sofia is starting to stir as Jack steps out on the porch. She is able to open her eyes, as the gnawing of the maggots turns into nothing more than a vibrating numbness. He stands in front of her and raises the red-hot iron for her to see.

"I have to change the numbers that they branded you with."

Sofia reels in fear, remembering the pain she felt when first she was marked. Before she can plead with him, Jack shoves a piece of wood between her teeth again, this time tying it around her neck so she can't spit it out.

He quickly applies the iron to the original mark above her breast. As the iron scorches deeply into her skin she bites through the wood piece and writhes in pain.

Again, she passes out from the pain.

Jack works through the smell of burning flesh and turns the 13 into a 48. Admiring his handy work for a second, he then turns to Hank and shrugs his shoulders.

"Not bad for an amateur huh boy."

Hank dances tippy tapping on his pads and spins around acknowledging his style, happy that the screaming has stopped. Jack slides behind Sofia and does the same to the number on her ass cheek, carving a 48 out of the 13.

Jack steps back for a second as the smell of burning flesh is a yin and yang assault on his senses. He fills a bucket with fresh water and slowly, carefully, washes Sofia from head to toe. He wipes away the maggots from her wounds. He then applies a tallow salve to her wounds as well as her new brandings. Untying her, he carries her into the cabin and slips one of his wife's old sleeping gowns on her. He lays her down on some fresh straw for the night.

"Well Hank, only time will tell if this one recovers. Let's go to bed and get a fresh start in the morning."

Hank whimpers softly and pads his way over to Sofia. He sniffs her up and down before turning in a couple circles. He then lies down beside her, wanting to comfort the poor girl. She has had a very traumatic day.

Sofia stirs and moans quietly, hugging Hank close to her. She no longer fears that he would harm her. Hank nuzzles her neck and huffs, the strange scent of her freshly cleaned skin relaxing him. The activities of the day drained them all and they slept soundly through the night.