Once in a Lifetime : Part 2

By Klumpy

Looking into her pained brown eyes, Thor felt suddenly weak and guilty. This lizard, hanging helplessly on the wall in front of him, her thick brown hair falling in silky cascades over her shoulders, seemed so innocent despite what she had attempted to do. She looked so frightened.

"There’s no need to be afraid of me. I won’t hurt you."

He went to touch her, but she made a squeaking sound and tried to draw away from him, although the shackles on her wrists and ankles restricted her. "No…no…please, just get away…" Once again, she tensed her legs, and more blood ran down the inside of her thighs. The mournful sound she uttered cut through Thor like a knife. "…oh my God…it hurts so bad…"

He sighed. When it came to females, he was no professional. Knowing what to say was a problem in itself. All the experience he had was from what his brother had told him. Girls are sensitive…but…they like guys to talk to them…or something…if only he could remember the exact advice. "Look…I know you’re in pain right now-"

"You think?" she interrupted, spitefully, "Did the moans of pain and flowing blood give you a clue?"

He growled. "You are my responsibility now. My duty. I can do with you what I want, so don’t try to get clever with me."

She managed a grin, but it was a curved, scoffing grin. "Fine, but you might want to wait a while before doing me. I’ve still got that other guy’s masculine taste in my mouth."

"Oh, so you liked that? I thought you were above his level of society, and yet you enjoyed letting him do that to you…like you were just a common…street walker." He lowered his eyes.

His reaction surprised her immensely. Her grin faded, and she lowered her gaze also, somewhat embarrassed about making such a dirty statement. It was unlike her to speak that way. "…well…I didn’t enjoy it. My body enjoyed it, but at the same time I hated it. He really hurt me…"

Thor looked at her again. His eyes were the color of fresh-cut grass. "…so…he did rape you?"

She swallowed. "…I…I’ve never had any experience like that before…and…then I had to go through the whole thing…"

"I knew it." he pondered out loud, "For one, I could tell he had done that to you. And from the look on your face, I could tell it was your first time." She lifted her head and smiled weakly at him. "You poor thing. Zared has an obsession, so I apologise for his actions. I’m in charge of you now, and I’m a virgin, so I won’t be of any danger to you."

"…that’s comforting, I guess. So, aren’t you going to get out your little knife and wave it at me again?"

"Not right now." He turned around and looked at the door as he said those words. He then crept over to the door, locked it, pulled the small curtain so that it shielded the view of the corridor, and then ambled over to her again. She stared at him, nervously, possibly expecting him to do something nasty to her…something that could only be done in private. But his expression remained soft, calm and innocent. "Tell me, your cousin…I need to know more."

If she hadn’t been feeling so exhausted and frightened, she probably would have snarled. "I won’t damn well tell you anything."

"Listen to me!" he yelled, much louder than he had intended to speak, "This is real important to me! I won’t use it to hurt you, I want to use it to help the both of us!"

Instantly, he regretted snapping like that. A few more tears welled up in her eyes. "If you want to help, don’t yell…I may not show it, but I get very upset easily…"

"…well…was your cousin called Diana? Please tell me."

"Why? Would knowing give you more cause to hurt me?" Once again, there was anger in her voice.

"No, but if she was Diana, then I knew her. She was friends with my brother."

She looked at him cautiously then. When he gazed into her eyes, waiting for her reply, he felt a warmth spreading from his toes up to his groin and then to his chest. He had never felt such a feeling before. It was probably nerves. She felt peculiar looking at him, too. A chill ran down her spine and departed through the tip of her tail. "…yes, Diana was my cousin."

His breathing stopped. Although it was the answer he had hoped for, it still gave him a feeling of shock and joy. He smiled at her, and she smiled back. "Cool."

She swallowed. "…wow…I’m glad someone here knows about her…other than the fact that she was brutally killed."

"She was killed because of being a traitor to this organisation. I think it’s ludicrous, since she was so loyal to the Boss, but that one mistake, whatever she did…resulted in her death."

Anastasia listened to him, still weak and dazed after what Zared had done to her. She really wished she had more energy and determination. "My body hurts…" she whispered, struggling slightly. It was impossible for her to forget about the pain in her legs and chest, and more blood fell down the inside of her thigh. She felt as though she had been ripped open.

"Oh, right." Thor reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a packet of tissues. He pulled a white tissue from the packet and unfolded it. "Do you want me to clean the blood off?"

She looked at him for a moment, silently. He certainly did not look threatening now that he was holding a tissue instead of a knife. "…Okay…just be gentle…"

He nodded and reached down to her legs, wiping some of the clotting blood off as gently as possible. As he did so, she tensed up, and more blood appeared. He wiped this new blood up as well.

"Thankyou."

"You’re very welcome." he replied, still wiping away some new liquid blood, "Does this hurt?"

She shook her head. "No. It feels nice. So soft." She moved her body slowly in rhythm with his strokes, making quiet moaning noises. "…sorry, but my legs are very sensitive…don’t mind me."

The last traces of blood were removed, and he put the bloody tissue into one of his spare pockets. "No problem. I’m glad it’s not hurting. So…getting down to business…" Anastasia winced as he said those words. "Now that I know Diana was your cousin, I need you to give me some more information."

She turned to look away from him. "How dare you take advantage of me? You’re…you’re just as bad as that Mendoza guy…"

"Hey, no matter how angry you are at me, you can’t compare me with Zared. Believe me, I am incredibly prudish."

She growled. "You both took advantage of me…using some sentimental story about your brother to get me to talk, and then cleaning my blood, and suddenly we’re right back where we started. Is the knife necessary this time, now that I have your ‘trust’?"

Thor sighed. "You’re very awkward. Come on, now. So, the Boss killed your cousin, so you came here to kill him for it. Is that basically it?"

"What other reason could I possibly have? I don’t know the guy personally."

"Well, I pray that you have some other reason. I need to tell my Boss something, but if all I can tell him is that you’re related to Diana, he’s likely to send a whole team of guys down here to torture you into talking. Can you make something up for me to tell them?"

She turned back to look at him. "Make something up? Hardly professional, is it?"

"I know, but you could be lying to me anyway. False confessions, you know."

She pulled against her restraints, as though she was going to bite him. "I am not lying!"

"There we are. Now, give me some lies to tell the others."

Smiling slightly, she lowered her eyelids, looking at him fondly. "I know this could all be a trick, but I haven’t got anything to lose. Okay then…tell them…I was sent by…an organisation of ape haters to kill the Boss and…cause an entire breakdown of your community."

Thor was dumbstruck. "…I think a story like that could land you in even greater trouble."

"No, I could pretend to give you directions to a headquarters or something…in return for my freedom."

He sighed. The strange feeling that she gave him was still lurking at the back of his mind. "I wouldn’t get my hopes up if I were you. The Boss never gives anyone their freedom, no matter what they do for him. Since you’re a girl, you’ll probably just stay here in this cell for the rest of your usefulness." She shuddered. "Occasional torture, usually. Just be thankful that Zared isn’t in charge of you any more. He always has to watch over the girls…the Boss lets him keep them for as long as they are useful." She shuddered again. "He loves female lizards…we once found a young girl lizard…she had to be a teenager, wandering around on our property. Without any questions, they just sent her to Zared…she was just a kid."

"Oh my God…did he…you know?"

Thor nodded. "He enjoyed her so much that he kept her chained to his bed the whole time. Then after several weeks, the Boss ordered to have her destroyed."

"Didn’t Zared care?" she asked, surprised that even someone as harsh as Zared could be so unfeeling.

Thor pursed his lips, pondering. "…well, he moped for a while afterwards, but that was it. We don’t really get any girls of any kind around here, and he craves girls so bad…once we caught a new trespasser, he forgot all about the old one."

"…what a heartless creep. I wish someone would…hurt him. If I could move my arms, I’d knock his block off!"

"Yeah…I really don’t like him sometimes. He makes me feel so stupid. But I’d never hurt him…we’ve known each other too long."

She looked at him…it was basically all she could do. At least she enjoyed watching him. "I guess I understand. I mean, since you’ve known him so long."

"Say, are you hungry?" he asked, "I haven’t been given any orders about what to feed you."

She laughed, sarcastically. "Zared told me that bread and water are all that’s allowed. He didn’t give me anything…except, you know…"

"Yeah. So, if you’re hungry, I can go get you something. Want me to? I’ll have to go check things out with Zared, but I will definitely fetch you some food."

Right on cue, her stomach gave a loud growl. He shot a peculiar look at her, and she giggled nervously. "…yeah, maybe a little bit…if it’s not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all. I’ll be right back. Stay here."

"As if I have a choice." She struggled against the shackles just to prove her point. She watched as he smiled warmly at her before leaving the room, pulling the curtain away from the window, closing the door quietly and rushing off to the right. She stared through the small window for several moments after he left, as though that was the reason he had bothered the move the curtain. And then, when she was completely alone, she tilted back her head and let out a high, fluttering sigh.

***

"Right, Okay, I got a good one here." Zared sniggered, leaning towards each of the other apes in turn. As was usual, about five or six simians were gathered around one table in the kitchen/dining room, talking and joking in a ‘friendly’ manner. Zared always seemed to find something to say, no matter what the situation, and the others always anticipated his participation. "This is such a good joke, you’re gonna love it."

"Oh, here it goes." Zeke muttered, "I can just tell what this joke is going to involve."

"Right," continued Zared, regardless, "there was this woman waiting at a station for a train."

"Is this is a story joke?" asked another ape, who sat farthest away from Zared.

He nodded. "Yes it is. Anyway, she’s waiting for a train, and she gets kinda bored. Looking around for something to do, she sees one of those mystical psychic machine things…you know, like in ‘Big’? That weird thing, fortune-telling thing, with like a person in there, and a card comes out. You know?"

Trahern rubbed his chin. "Yeah, I guess…just go on."

"Well, she sees the machine and she thinks ‘why not? I might as well give it a go’. She puts some money into the machine and a card comes out, telling her fortune. All it says is ‘In two minutes, you will fart’."

Zeke giggled.

"Okay, she’s kinda confused by it, but two minutes later, her fortune comes true."

Zeke squeaked with laughter.

"Oh shut up, Zeke. So anyway, she thinks ‘wow, that was amazing’, and goes back over to the platform to wait for her train, but it still doesn’t turn up. So, bored again, she goes back over to the machine and puts more money into the machine. A card comes out, this time saying ‘In two minutes, you will be raped’."

"Well, we all saw that one coming." commented the ape farthest away.

"Well, two minutes later, someone wearing a black cloak- er, no…an ape with burgundy fur and black hair drags her into an alleyway and rapes her. Man, he has a good time…but anyway, she staggers back to the platform, thinking ‘oh my God, that was amazing…plus I’m shocked that the machine was right again’."

Trahern looked at him in a peculiar way. "…Okay…are you going off the point?"

"No, I’m not. Anyway, she waits for the train again, but it still doesn’t show up, so she goes back over to the machine and puts some money in…this time, the card reads ‘With all that fucking and farting, you missed your bloody train’!"

"Oh God!" Zeke roared, clutching his stomach with the pain of laughter, "Man, where did you get that one?"

"Damn good, Zared! Jeez laweez, how do you get jokes that reflect your personality so well?" Trahern raised his shades, as if you show respect for the joke. Despite the organisation he was a part of, his eyes were open and friendly when his shades were out of the way.

Zared, pleased, leaned back in his chair, tucking his thumbs into his belt. "I thought you guys might like that one. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing to put myself in the story." He looked around the room as the other apes gradually came down from their temporary high. The sniggers gradually subsided, and they returned to normal, once again grabbing their meagre lunches from the plates before them. Whatever the semi-solid lunch was, it had a slight scent of bananas and apples. Zared grinned. "A girl I knew had to have an operation to remove a mouse from her stomach."

One of the munching apes dropped his fork. "Man, how did it get there?"

As Zared opened his mouth to speak, Trahern tactfully interrupted. "Is this another joke, Zared?"

"Of course."

"Well, does it involve the word ‘pussy’?"

He smiled. "Yes."

"Then don’t go there. I think we can work it out."

Zared’s face fell, and he too turned back to his lunch. He dug his fork into the mass, and it made a peculiar noise. "Man, my lunch is growling at me." he whined.

Thor then hurried into the room. Nobody paid much attention to him as he walked up to a cupboard and took out a loaf of bread. He then wandered over to another cupboard and took a knife, which he used to cut a large slice of bread from the loaf. Wandering back over to the other cupboard, he replaced the knife and went over to the sink, picked up a glass, and filled it with water. Still, nobody acknowledged his presence.

"Don’t mind me, guys. Just fetching some lunch." They obviously didn’t mind him, as they just kept eating.

He picked up a lunch tray and put the water in one of the compartments. Putting the bread on a chipped plate, he put that on the tray as well and walked up to Zared, who still ignored.

"Zared, is this the sort of thing that our new hostage should have? She told me you said bread and water are all she’s allowed."

Zared ate a chunk of his lunch and turned to Thor, still chewing. "Uh huh. That’s all. And don’t feed her too much. She must be allowed to be in some kind of discomfort."

"I think she has plenty of that right now."

"Go figure. Just maybe one feeding per day, Okay? Don’t shower her with things."

The younger ape nodded, and cast a glance over Zared’s lunch. He wrinkled his nose. "Man, what’s that?"

"We don’t know." said Zeke, dropping his fork onto his plate and pushing his chair back a bit, "It’s like something that’s already been digested."

"Eew!" said all the other apes at the table simultaneously, putting down their forks also.

"Way to put us off, dude!"

"I’m not touching it now."

Thor shrugged. "Well, I’d rather have some of this old bread than that stuff. Maybe I’ll get some for myself later on. See you guys later." He carried the tray with him out of the room, leaving the other apes in their vexed state.

"Damn, I’m starving, but this looks like puke to me now." growled Zared, "I guess there’s nothing left to do…except for me to entertain you guys with some more jokes."

Trahern crossed his arms. "Bring it on."

He sniggered. "Okay then. What does parsley and pubic hair have in common? You are going to die at this one!"

***

Anastasia was delighted when Thor returned. He hurriedly closed the door and pulled the small curtain across before approaching her, bearing the bread and water. Grinning, he held the tray, looking dreadfully cute. "Want me to put the bread in your mouth for you?"

"Sure." She looked down at the tray, feeling slightly embarrassed at the fact that she was going to be fed by someone else when she was perfectly capable of feeding herself. At least when her wrists weren’t secured above her head.

Supporting the tray with one arm, Thor picked up the slice of bread and held it towards her mouth. "Is this Okay for you?"

She nodded, trying to make herself feel more at ease with being fed by him. "Okay, so long as you don’t shove it all in my mouth at once." She opened her mouth, feeling rather babyish, and he moved the bread forward to her mouth. She took a big bite and chewed it, hungrily.

"I wish there was an easier way to do this." he sighed, "I’m so sorry you have to stay chained up like that. I personally trust you enough to have your arms free, at least when the cell door is locked, but I don’t have a choice."

She took another bite of the bread, and then one final bite. Thor was surprised at how much she could take with each bite, but he didn’t comment as it seemed like an inappropriate conversation topic. He held the glass of water up to her mouth next, as he understood that the bread was too dry to be much fun at all. She was more than eager to have a drink, and pretty soon the water was all gone.

"Man, that didn’t seem like much at all, and that’s all I’m allowed to give you for today." He took another tissue from his pocket and wiped some water from around her mouth. "I don’t think you look dangerous, you know. Keeping you chained up like this is just stupid."

"Yeah," she sighed, "but I have just committed a crime against your Boss, so I deserve this, I guess. It’s not pleasant…" She pulled against her restraints.

Thor put the glass back on the tray and placed the tray on the floor. He was feeling peculiar around her. She made him feel warm and soft inside, and his emotions kept nagging at him. He felt so unprofessional. Torture and torment were not for him. He was too loving and compassionate for it. He was also usually very practical, so allowing his feelings to cloud his judgement was decidedly unlike him. "How are you feeling now?"

"All hurt…" she sighed, "I think that pervert stole my bra."

"What?"

"Well, I was wearing one when I came here, and the next thing I knew he was…you know…touching me, and I didn’t have my bra on."

Thor shrugged. "I have no idea if he stole it…I know he obsesses with that sort of thing. Maybe he did take it somehow."

"What a perv." she growled, "If he releases these chains again, I’m gonna break his pelvis…just one well-aimed kick should do it."

"It’s weird, but I think he gets turned on by that funny smell you lizards make before you…you know. Before you do…that thing." The expression on her face was one of disgust. "Yeah, he goes crazy about lizards…more so than with our own species, even. He brags about it, too, and gives us the ins and outs of how it works with an ape and a lizard- hang on, that was quite a good one. The ins and outs…literally." His grin quickly faded. "Great, I feel sick now. Isn’t it gross?"

It was a short while before she responded, and she did so with a nod. "Yeah, disgusting. I mean, those parts you guys have-"

"And the stuff you lizards have…"

"Yeah…but, of course, I know all about it since someone just damn well shagged me."

Thor winced. "Yuck…and ‘shagged’? Zared uses that word no end."

"Yeah, that’s where I picked it up. He kept groaning it…oh God, he hurt me so bad. I won’t be any more use to anyone now…if I ever get out of here."

Sighing, Thor put his hands in his jacket pockets. In doing so, he realised that he still hadn’t removed the bloody tissue from his left one. "My guess is that you won’t ever get a chance to leave. You’ll have to stay here until you’ve coughed everything up, and, if you weren’t under my control, you’d be suffering more than one treatment from Zared per day…plus, of course, nightly pleasures." She stared at him. "Not that you need to know that." he said, smiling, "You’re my responsibility, and I’m going to keep you safe from Zared. And, so far as is possible, from the Boss as well. We need a chance to get to know one another better."

She giggled. "Sure."

"Okay, so, your cousin was Diana…she knew my brother…hey, I think I’ve got some photos of her in my room. I’ll go get them."

"Ooh, great. I’d love to see them."

He made a strange saluting action and set off to the door again, picking up the tray on his way out. This time, he didn’t move the curtain to clear the view through the window. Once he was gone, she couldn’t see out into the corridor, so she just hung her head. The stress on her ribs and arms was dreadful, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe, very gradually. Talking about Zared had brought the pain back to her legs, and she could still feel him bearing down onto her...the rawness and pain was excruciating.

"Yes…just one well-aimed kick…"

***

"Yo, Sam, what are you doing loitering in the hall? Haven’t you got somewhere to be?"

Sam, a slim ape with pale tan fur, sighed loudly as Zared walked up to him. He reached into the inner pocket of his suede jacket and pulled out a notebook and pen. The other ape had a tendency to start lengthy conversations, and for obvious reasons, Sam couldn’t take part orally. He scribbled something down on the pad and held it up in Zared’s direction: ‘Go Away.’

Zared shrugged. "How are you today, buddy? Got anything planned?"

Sam waved the ‘Go Away’ statement in the stockier ape’s face.

"Oh, don’t be silly. Anyway, I want to talk to you about the lizard on Mango Island. You are involved in it, aren’t you? I assumed so."

Sam scribbled some more. ‘Yes, I am.’

"Cool pen, by the way. Anyway, once more, I was wondering if the Boss had given you the papers? I’m just damn bored, Thor’s in charge of our hostage, and I really need something to do."

More scribbling. ‘Yes, I have those papers, but should I give them to you or not?’. Zared looked at Sam, and a smug expression was on his face.

"Aww, Sam, my dearest friend, please give me those papers. I need something to do, and I like knowing what’s going on in our humble little world." Zared smiled sweetly and clasped his hands together, begging while keeping his dignity.

Sam rolled his eyes and wrote another message: ‘I may be gay, but I’m not stupid, Zared.’

"Oh pleeease? I really want those papers! I can go get them myself if you tell me where they are."

Sam looked thoughtfully at him for a moment longer, and finally nodded his head. He clicked the end of his pen twice and wrote on his notepad for quite a few seconds. ‘I guess, if you’re that desperate. I gave them to Dean less than an hour ago. Go ask him.’

Zared stopped sucking up instantly. "Right, thanks. I’m gone. See you later, Okay?" Before he could leave, however, Sam grabbed the arm of his jacket and waved the notebook in his face: ‘Could you please get me a new pen? This one’s running out on me.’ Zared smiled and made a clucking sound in the back of his mouth. "Sure thing. See you later, pal."

***

"Okay, here they are." announced Thor, closing the door behind him upon entering the cell again, "I got a bunch of them."

Anastasia smiled appreciatively as Thor leafed through the photos of Diana, ranging from pictures of a teenage Di to very recent ones. She didn’t own any photographs of her cousin herself, so it was nice to see all the different images and ages of her late family member.

"This one was when we first started working here. Her hair was longer back then."

She nodded. "Yeah, I was so jealous of her hair…that’s why I grew mine in the first place, but I never really bothered to cut it again."

"You have lovely hair." he commented, "And this one…that was when my brother turned twenty-three. We had a little party for him, and Diana was with him the whole time. She got the decorations together." He selected another photo, showing Diana in a bikini sitting on a beach with Oro and Thor. "Zared took that one…probably because of her bikini in the foreground. That was our ‘organisation vacation’, as the Boss likes to call it. We went to Parrot Island for a fortnight. I think the main reason for that particular holiday was that the police were trying to track us down, but it was fun."

"Wow," she commented, "for a heartless Kremling-Haters organisation, you seem to have pretty good…relations with each other. I mean, holidays from your Boss, throwing parties for your friends…I wouldn’t mind being part of a community like that." She watched as he changed the photo. "Hey, what’s that one?"

He sighed. "That’s another one of Zared’s photos. We all had a formal dinner together to celebrate our victories on Kremling Cove Island."

"Kremling Cove? Never heard of it."

"That’s because we renamed it ‘Ape Isle’ as soon as we took over." he said, almost shamefully, "We all had to wear tuxedos, the Boss said, and Diana wore that lovely black dress. It was fun, but the only really formal thing we’ve done in years. The Boss usually just leaves us to do our own thing after giving us a few basic orders. He expects us to know everything he does, but nobody complains since he’s, well, the Boss."

"Wow…" she said again, "you look so dressed-up in that tux. Very nice."

His pale cheeks blushed pink. "Thankyou, Anastasia."

"Oh, call me ‘Anya’." she suggested, "That’s what Diana used to call me, because she couldn’t really pronounce my name when we were really little…she never really called me Anastasia, even when we were both grown up."

"Well, you just call me Thor. There aren’t any abbreviations, sadly."

She tried to cheer him up a bit. "I think Thor is a lovely name. What is it? It’s…that God of Lightning, isn’t it?"

"Yeah." he grinned, "How do you know that?"

"I’m just well-read. It’s a very good name for you, because your hair is yellow and spiky, like lightning."

Mechanically, Thor ran his fingers through his hair upon receiving that compliment. "Spiky, but soft." He shook his head, making his hair ‘float’ strangely, almost as though he was underwater. "Want a feel?"

Her face fell. "Sorry, can’t. I’m not in control of my arms any more."

"Oh yeah…sorry." Although he had only just met Anastasia, Thor felt as though he had known her for years. For some reason, he was strangely at ease when around her, and didn’t feel at all that she should be chained up to a wall. The innocence in her face was enchanting, and all he wanted to do was remove the restraints. Sadly, he wasn’t in a secure enough position to do so. If he tried anything out-of-step on his first serious assignment, he would never get another chance again. As far as Anastasia was concerned, he felt as much at ease as though he was chatting to her over coffee. It was because of his feelings of unnatural security and trust that he kept forgetting that she was an enemy and that she was chained up to the wall in front of him. Even the small fact that she couldn’t stroke his hair made him feel guilty.

She was feeling mixed emotions herself. She liked Thor. She admitted to herself that she liked him a lot. Probably because Zared had been her only previous company, and a rabid hyena would have been more welcome than Mr Mendoza, but she felt there was something about Thor that made him differ from the others in this society. So long as Zared never went near her again, staying in the cell would not be too bad. Thor was nice to her, at least as far as he could be, and she was looking forward to getting to know him better.

"You know, if I was loyal to my Boss in any way, I would be torturing you right now." he said, thoughtfully, and she tensed at the idea of being abused, "But then again, he’s not my favorite ape in the whole world, so I don’t think I will."

TO BE CONTINUED…