Another Country

The pitter-patter of her quick feet on the brittle leaves compose their own soundtrack, underscoring her desperate need to gain more and more distance. Enid's bare feet propel her swiftly betwixt the multitude of tall trees. The last colours of dusk will soon withdraw from the sky, the ground, the trees and the shrubs, and the immense rock wall that rests purple in the dying rays of the sun.

Soon, it will be Enid, the intense blackness of a new-moon sky, and the men they've sent after her. The thud-thud of their quicker feet drum-roll ahead of their composers to petrify Enid. Some moments of catatonia conquer her before one last view of the darkening mountainous wall incites her feet to continue their song over the crunching leaves.

The sound of her running seems to temper under the increasing volume of theirs, and, in a thoughtless act of abject desperation, she takes to bellowing. Her mind is aflutter with shreds of emotion, thought, memories; was anybody going to answer her cries before those same cries led the hunters straight to her?

Anecdotes have been circulating in the land of men and women about a race of ostensibly female beings, twice the size of the average male and thus a great deal faster and stronger. In the seconds available, Enid's mind bombards her with a reel of daydreams it had fleshed out around the bones of these narratives; some of which recounted battles wherein a multitude of warriors had been overwhelmed by the cunningness and might of these female titans.

Enid considers the ages that lay between this day and the time of these supposed events, all the while hollering at the immense wall in front of her - tears beginning to glisten on her cheeks. She has no choice but to trust in the veracity of these tales, as it might be her only guard against being imprisoned and possibly - no, probably - raped.

When no semblance of life reveals itself at the top of the wall, she crashes to her knees on a bed of dead leaves, as if to accept them as the embodiment of her former hopes: nothing worth handling with care. While the rest of her body remains paralysed in futility, her eyes still dart about the space, seeking out a hiding. They quickly find a dense shrub that has its roots fixed in an angle formed by a bolder at the foot of the wall, and she darts toward it.

Their voices fall here and fall there in short utterings as though they are in fact looking for each other; but they are talking about her. Her breath refuses to obey her mind and hisses through her nostrils, impelling her to place a hand over her mouth and nose in an attempt to muffle the sound. Her own voice only becomes a problem when they are in sight; their uniform black boots strapped tightly up to their shins and grey cargo pants puffing above the tops - from Enid's low perspective, they appear as one person in a part of the forest sectioned off with mirrors.

She nearly squeals when a boot hits the ground a few paces away. The squeal is muted, but not the involuntary recoil that accompanies, resulting in the leaves stirring. The boot's counterpart makes an appearance, and both face her. Enid screws up her face as if in immense physical agony. Thunderous laughter is heard from above her before a strong hand reaches in to pull her up and out of the shrub by her hair. She screams and clutches the roots to try and counter the hard pull.

"Found it!" he roars maliciously.

"Please, no!" she begs, cheeks soaked and eyes pleading, "I just, I just..."

"I just, I just!" one of the others mock her in a high-pitched voice.

"Well," the catcher says again, "time to go home, sweetheart!"

"What?" another says, clearly affronted, "you mean we're not having a little fun with her?"

Enid begins to sob.

"Unless you want to do it so gently that nobody will notice... no, actually, we cannot have a little fun with her," the catcher says.

"Y-y-yes!" Enid gathers herself just enough to whimper; "if they find out...and there is no-one else I could have slept with before."

"According to?" the man who wants to have fun enquires.

Enid frowns; "according to me."

Their laughter echoes up and over the now-dark rock wall, and Enid's sobbing restarts. The catcher, still clutching her by the hair, slams her body violently against the wall, drawing from her a sonorous cry.

"What exactly did you think you were going to find here?" he asks, nearly spitting, "heh?"

She can only sniff, too embarrassed to put her thoughts into words.

He pushes himself up against her, pinning her to the wall and forcing her knees apart.

"No, no, no, please!"

"You are such a pretty one! Someone must have fucked you in secret already! Who do you think they'll believe?"

"No!" she wails.

The other men begin to holler, yelling encouragements and interjections of vulgar excitement. As the catcher begins to loosen his belt, something hisses through the air, ending in a crackle on the crown of his head. His body is at first motionless, before his knees gradually soften until his legs seem to give way beneath him, hurling the rest of him to the ground. The sound of crunching leaves is promptly transformed into a different kind of song.

Enid's wide eyes are fixed on the catcher where he lies lifeless on the ground. The other men quickly reach for their flashlights and shine them vainly in all directions. One-two-three-four somethings hiss through the air, cracking skulls and sending men to the ground. Dropped flashlights decorate the floor of the clearing with their beams, illuminating limbs and torsos that will ever move again.

A flashlight that lies further away catches Enid's brown felt shoes, pale legs and the hem of her white dress, lighting her up like a white orchid in moonlight. She doesn't know where to look. As soon as she is capable of movement again, Enid rushes to the nearest flashlight and begins to shine it through the trees, startling herself with its creation of their long shadows.

Her back pressed against the wall, she lowers to the ground and hugs her knees in tightly with one arm while shining the light about. It trembles with the quivering of her hands, so she rests it between her knees. What is there to do? Another hiss. No, it's not quite the same - it endures, it is lower and slower. It is coming from above. Before Enid can shine the light upward, a pair of long, muscular legs abruptly plant themselves like pillars on either side of her, giving her such a fright that she winces and drops the flashlight.

Thick silence. Solid darkness. The owner of the legs presumably squats, judging by the movement in the air and the sound of fabric brushing. A sharp light appears slightly above her, blinding Enid for a moment when she looks up. They speak, but it is not a language Enid is familiar with - all it does is help her pinpoint the position of their face and conclude that the light must be attached to their forehead, and that they are a woman.

Of course, she cannot help but entertain the idea that what she had been hoping to find is squatting over her at this very moment, but is not quite ready to just accept the possibility. The woman places her hand under Enid's chin - the palm big enough to easily cover Enid's entire face - and raises her head. Enid squints in reaction to the light.

The woman speaks again, her voice fluctuating in such a way that Enid is lead to believe she is asking a question. But, Enid's only response is to the harassment of the bright light, which she attempts to shield her eyes from with one hand partially covering her face. The woman continues her inspection of Enid's face, bringing the light closer as she leans in to inspect her jaw, ear and hair - fingering every part as she goes - and then moves on to the hands. She takes each of Enid's hands into hers, enfolding them in her own and muttering to herself in a tone of voice that signals awe.

She finally takes notice of Enid's discomfort and switches off the light above her brow. Presently, another susurration can be heard, accompanied by a louder voice, albeit from far above them, addressing the woman in the same language, at which time the woman quickly turns the light back on and pries Enid's knees apart rather forcefully. It doesn't take long for another pair of feet to crash weightily onto the ground. Even having expected it, Enid is startled by the powerful thump.

Again, she senses Enid's clear distress, and ceases. She says something to the other, and is answered by a deeper, slightly broken voice, making it hard for Enid to determine the sex. Their light is switched on as well. Enid is still raising her hands when the woman squatting over her covers her eyes - or, the top half of her face - presumably to shield her eyes for her. Enid is both surprised at and grateful for the gesture.

The other person moves in to have a closer look at Enid as well. They are silent awhile, and then a dialogue ensues; fragments of words and phrases are exchanged deliberately, thoughtfully. At some point, several questions seem to be directed at her, followed by silence and more dialogue between the two of them.

The silences grow longer and their voices, more serious. After the person ends what sounded like a light argument, the woman shifts to the side to make way for them to shuffle closer. Enid, still blinded by the woman's hand, jolts when the other suddenly hooks her long fingers around Enid's knees and begins to pull them apart.

"No!" she pleas - the first word she has thus far managed to utter.

They - that is, the ambiguous person - pause, and the two of them exchange some more words. Having failed to withstand their sheer strength and bring her knees back together, Enid resorts to shielding her parts with her hands - for whatever it is worth. Some words sound as though they are directed at her again; this time, they are uttered in a milder, almost soothing tone of voice.

The ambiguous one retakes their approach towards Enid, this time gently stroking her legs as if intending to console and placate. They hook their fingers around her knees again, stroking with only the thumbs now. In absolute disregard for the conscious instructions from her brain, the tension begins to drain from Enid's muscles and her legs part slowly. The woman carefully reaches for her hands and grips them firmly yet warily, prompting her to move them.

Enid surprises herself by doing just that, allowing them to lift her dress and see her underwear. She feels herself glowing red behind the woman's hand. They start up the conversation again, this time, in an almost hurried fashion. The ambiguous one reaches around towards Enid's hips to slip their fingers into her underwear and pull them down.

Promptly, Enid screeches, drops her hands between her legs and smacks her knees together, squeezing them with all the strength she can muster.

"No, please," she says, shrinking into a ball of petrified human.

Both of them retreat and watch her tremble for a moment before the woman takes to patting her head and stroking her hair, continuously repeating something that sounds similar to the word 'day'.

Another brief conversation is had and they finally switch off their flashlights. The ambiguous one speaks into the distance as if addressing an imaginary person. A voice can faintly be heard emanating from what must be a device affixed to her ear. Their conversation with the small voice ensues while the woman plays with Enid's hair, caresses her legs, hands and whatever parts are not wrapped in arms and guarded by petite, white knuckles. She places a hand on the bridge of Enid's foot and mumbles something to herself.

Her fondling is interrupted when the other wraps up their discussion with the little voice and speaks a brisk, almost formal-sounding, sentence to the woman. The ambiguous one then takes a firm hold of Enid under her armpits, nearly wrapping their hands completely around her torso, and easily lifts her off the ground until they are standing upright. Enid gasps at the distance that suddenly gained between her and the ground.

Her legs dangle some meters above a trodden bed of leaves. The giant hugs her in close, pressing Enid against their chest - they are wearing something hard like an armoured vest. Something cocks and the two of them are pulled rapidly into the air, the giant stomping their feet into the side of the wall as they propel the two of them upward. Sensing the immense increase in height, Enid instinctively wraps her legs around the giant's waist and tightens her hold around their neck.

The air slithers about them, causing Enid's skin to ripple with goose bumps. She tightens her grip with every other step taken closer to the top of the wall. Finally, the titan's charge comes to an end when they step onto the edge. Enid catches one final glimpse of the height and shivers, clenching her escort's proportionately thin waist between her thighs. Eaves hover above their heads and several voices can be heard closing in behind Enid.

...to be continued...