Hannah was try trying to relax... letting her mind wander. Not a good strategy for winning "7 Wonders", but she didn't much care about that. Pick and pass, pick and pass. The other girls at the table chatted happily about social intrigue among the students or world events they'd read about on the Internet, but it all washed over Hannah. The common room was emptying for the night and students were trickling out in small groups, off to bed, and Hannah couldn't wait to follow them when the game was over.
"... and then she was all like, 'I can't breathe!', and I had to plug her nose to get her to open her mouth. The principal was just staring, probably trying not to pop a boner through his pants --" Ashley said, and the group erupted in laughter. Somehow she and Nicole made their work with the handmaidens sound fun and exciting, rather than horrific. Hannah still shuddered when she thought about their first capture.
"Hannah? Are there more?" Elizabeth asked.
Hannah looked up from her cards in a daze. "Sorry, more what?"
"More students? More prospects? You haven't gone out in a while."
"I've been helping Dr. Wilcox with the inductions. There are a few left to do, then maybe. But I get the feeling we're near the end."
Nicole nodded and put her cards down. "Me too. Shelly said she's reviewing our list, but my sense is that we're not going back out. We're it."
Elizabeth smiled. "Do you remember when we met, back on the Island? I just knew we'd be friends forever."
Ashley rolled her eyes. "You're so sweet, I'm gonna barf."
Nicole leaned in. "Something big is happening, soon. We have to stick together. We're sisters."
Sisters. Hannah's best friend Stephanie was one of the first new students brought in. Was she safer here, or at home? "What about Emily? She would have been better off without us," Hannah said.
Nicole reached out and touched Hannah's leg. "We'll see her soon. She's on the Island, right? I'm sure she's fine. Just recovering."
Hannah saw Ashley bow her head. She knew something, despite her protests, but she wouldn't talk. Hannah had devoted several nights to Ashley, pleasuring her, snuggling her, teasing her, begging her, but nothing. Well, nothing except a bunch of orgasms. Whatever she knew wasn't good.
Just as Hannah's mind was spiraling down this dark path, the dim lights in the common room flickered to full strength and a siren began pulsing loudly above their heads. The girls looked up, startled, and Shelly's voice buzzed over an intercom: "Attention, attention! Students and handmaidens, evacuate to the hanger immediately. Leave everything behind. We are under attack. Evacuate immediately." The siren continued while the girls sat, stunned; after a few moments, Shelly's voice returned, recorded, and the message repeated.
"Well, let's go!" Ashley said and hopped to her feet. "The hanger's only two floors up."
They ran to the stairs, but Hannah hesitated.
"Hannah, up!" Nicole said.
"I'm going down. There are still three girls in cells downstairs. I'm not leaving them for Shaper," Hannah said.
Ashley grabbed her arm. "You can't set them loose!"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"Maybe I can find something to tie them up..." Ashley said dryly.
"Meet me at the cells," Hannah said and ran down.
Hannah pushed her way down the stairs against the surge of girls rushing up. Many of them were naked, clutching a few belongings, and everyone was in shock. The siren continued blaring and Shelly's voice repeated every minute. Hannah ignored the questions thrown at her and lunged for through the wall of flesh and out of the stairwell onto the prison level.
The hallway was empty and relatively quiet compared to the stairs. Hannah grabbed a clipboard from the vacant guard desk and scanned the lines, devising a plan for the remaining prisoners. Where was Ashley? The traffic on the stairs was dying down.
A hand grabbed her arm. "Hannah, we have to go." It was the cadaverous Mrs. Carver, slightly disheveled in her standard white dress.
"I'm not leaving these girls down here," she said, waving the clipboard. "Ashley is on her way with some ropes or something, and we're bringing them up."
Mrs. Carver tilted her head. "They might be dangerous. Shelly said to leave everything behind."
Hannah brushed Mrs. Carver's hand off her arm. "They're not things, they're people! Are you going to help me or not?"
Mrs. Carver was poised to scurry away until Ashley ran up, huffing and carrying an armload of leather straps. Then she nodded and said, "Hurry."
"There are three girls left, let's start from the back," Hannah said, and ran down the hall to the farthest occupied cell. When she peered in, the prisoner was staring back out at her, wide-eyed.
"I'm going to open the door and tie you up. Are you going to fight us?" Hannah yelled through the thick metal door.
The naked girl shook her head and Hannah wrenched the door open -- as soon as it cracked, the prisoner shoved it and tried to run. Ashley dove and grabbed her around the legs, and Mrs. Carver jumped on her back. The girl struggled against their weight, but the two held her down. Hannah looped a leather strap around her neck and pulled it tight, choking off her breath until she held still.
Hannah dug her fingers under the leather to loosen it and leaned down close to the girl's ear. "This is for lying to me," she said, and smacked the girl across the ass with the leather binding several times, bringing tears to the girl's eyes. Then she took the straps and tied her forearms behind her back, cinched at the wrists. "Next time, it'll be more than a few swats on the butt." The girl sniffled and nodded, and Hannah pulled her to her feet and handed the lead to Mrs. Carver who took it and harrumphed.
They were ready when the next girl tried to run and they tackled her quickly to the ground and slip-knotted her neck. Hannah lashed her across the ass, too, and gave her the same warning as the first girl. The captive in the last cell came quietly, but they bound and leashed her, too.
Before entering the deserted staircase Hannah turned to her three prisoners. "I'm saving your lives, like it or not. This alarm means they're shooting to kill, and I'm your only hope to survive. Got it?" Possibly true....
The girls glared at Hannah sullenly.
"We don't have time for this," Hannah said. She grabbed a nipple of the nearest captive and twisted it hard in her fingers, following the girl to the ground as she collapsed and squealed. The girl balled into the fetal position and squirmed, but couldn't escape until Hannah released her and yanked hard on the leather strap, pulling the gasping, struggling girl back to her feet. "Am I clear yet?"
Tears ran down the pinched girl's face and neck as she nodded and sniffled, and the other two girls mumbled their assent, wide-eyed.
"Such finesse!" Ashley said with a grin and smacked the teary girl hard on the ass. "Let's go, cry-baby."
Hannah led the group up the now-deserted stairwell; as they ascended, the sound of the siren was overwhelmed by the cacophony of a war zone. Heavy curls of smoke poured down the stairs, smelling of metal and electricity, a scent that immediately threw Hannah back to Emily's apartment and her face-to-face confrontation with Shaper.
The security door at the top of the stairs was completely gone, and a torrent of rain poured down around the girls as they emerged into the hanger -- or what was left of it. The roof of the huge structure was completely gone, exposing the insides to freezing wind and rain. Bursting gunshots rang out from every direction, from sources unseen in the storm. A large aircraft was parked a hundred feet away and dozens of girls in small groups darted through the torrential rain and thick fog, up a ramp, and into the plane. The girls ducked as a roar came from above and a jet streaked by overhead.