A Beautiful Prison Read Online Free Page B

anything at first, and when he had looked at all of them he moved back to the curtain and clasped his hands in front of him. For several seconds all he did was stand there, and a few of the girls started crying harder.
    “This is your last stop, children,” he said, and those words held a lot of meaning, but they were also cryptic. The older man tilted his chin to someone, and the men on either side of them stepped forward. In the blink of an eye they produced needles and proceeded to inject each girl. The ones that realized what was happening struggled at first from surprise and then fear, no doubt, but whatever they injected them with worked fast and soon the women were making low sounds and slumping forward. Whatever was in those needles couldn’t have been too strong, though, because the girls were able to stand up still. All of this happened within seconds, and Ruby turned and glanced at the man now moving toward her.
    “Please, I’ll do whatever you say. I don’t need that.” He didn’t even meet her eyes, and instead snatched her arm in a firm grasp, stabbed the needle into her, and depressed the plunger. A burning sensation started at the point of contact, and tears formed in the corner of her eyes.
    “You need to behave, and to appeal to the bidders, hence the little chemical persuasion we gave you.” The old man spoke without a hint of remorse, but then again Ruby didn’t suspect any person that was involved with kidnapping and selling women would have any morals or empathy toward the human race.
    She started to feel herself grow lightheaded, felt her arms become too heavy to try and hold up, and weaved slightly. She had been drunk once in her life, and the effects were similar, but more pronounced, more relaxing, and she knew that right now they were nothing more than droids for these men. She could still think clearly. But it seemed like it took a very long time for her mind to process the information.
    The first few girls were pushed forward. There was a shove from behind her and she stumbled into the girl into front of her. Her mouth became unbearably dry, and her tongue felt thick. She couldn’t stop the tears, couldn’t even force herself to do anything but put one foot in front of the other. Shaking her head to try and clear it only made the room spin and her stomach churn. There were a few steps that led up to the curtained-off area, but once she cleared those she stepped onto a platform. Lights beamed down and she had to close her eyes momentarily from the harsh glare. Ruby tried to lift her arms again, but they were just too heavy, and every step she took felt like she was trying to move through thick mud. When the girl in front of her stopped, hands grabbed Ruby’s arms and moved her into the position they wanted. She tried to cover herself, even if she did wear the god-awful dress, but she couldn’t find the strength. She wore no undergarments under the gown, and knew her nipples and the small patch of her pubic hair could be seen clearly through the paper-thin material. Although she didn’t hear anything aside from the occasional shuffling sound, she felt so many eyes on her that a light sweat started to form along her forehead. No one spoke, but each girl, starting at the front of the line, was pushed forward for a few seconds, and then immediately pulled back, as if someone discarded them. Ruby turned and glanced sideways, trying to focus, but her vision went from clear to blurry repeatedly.
    Each time a girl was pushed forward to whoever was watching them, the older man would state their age and whether they were a virgin or not. There were more non-virgins then there were virgins. When they got to the girl beside her Ruby watched as she curled into herself and started to cry harder. The old man whispered something harsh to her and she looked up at him with wide eyes. Everything was so fuzzy that she could see his mouth moving, but couldn’t make out the hushed words he said. But