Chapter 1 The Sleepers' Place
I can see the lights in the distance
Trembling in the dark cloak of night
Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing
A waltz on All Souls Night.
--All Soul's Night, Loreena McKennitt
I looked over my shoulder, my hair sparkling dimly in the dark. Lights from the large buildings of rich men cast a corona around the darkness of the slums. I was passed the slums, out into the field and on the gravel road that led to the Sleepers' Place.
At least, that was our name for it. Our being myself, my raggedly clad male fellows, and others of our kind.
We moved to the door. The inside smelled rankly of ice and rarely cleaned bodies and the pitiful attempts to spray away the reek. One of the workers in his white coat came up to us. On my right, Lucky wrinkled his nose. This one, barely over being a child by our standards, smelled as if he'd lost the spray-tag war.
"I know," he muttered. "Epic fail." He smiled wryly, his round face lit up. No wonder they'd been friends...
"Hey," Lucky barked, "can we get on with it?" I glowered as he showed his pointy little teeth--he'd had to file them to get them to where they'd been--and we marched down to the revival room.
The room consisted of what looked like a steel bathtub and nuclear-waste-dumped-in-green water. Leading to the tank on the ceiling was a set of tracks along which a Sleeper's container rolled. Sleepers...those lucky few who were frozen, preserved to wake later, free from a horrible death and an unburied corpse left to rot...
I watched the tank bubble as the container descended in. The space filled with a sea salty smell. I stepped closer to the tank. Wake up... I jerked around, eyes wide.
The others smelled them as well.
"Cops!" Lucky hissed. The doors burst open. A yelp sounded next to me as we ran. I heard the yell dully come after us as we raced to the slums: "Damn Dogs!"
Ch. 2 Made Stronger Than Wolves
Did they even tell the reason why
Countless sons and daughters sent to die?
Can you even comprehend the pain?
Tell me when you're out of time
In this lullaby
When your soul is frozen
Is that enough?
--Enough, Disturbed
We remembered. We remembered as we licked each other's wounds. Remembered how life was before the change.
We'd been normal animals, the way dogs are supposed to be. Four legs, fur, tails, ears. Then the war began. Why they fought, we didn't know. I'd been happy, until...
They started taking us. First strays, but soon they came to the families and demanded they help the cause. Yes, they could demand at that time. With so many dead, they could demand freely.
We were taken--my friends, my brother, myself and my family. The people were brought to barracks. The old became advisors, nurses, gravediggers.
The young went to the lines.
The experiments began.
We were to be made into new soldiers, stronger than their dying children. They had a plan--of course they had one. Why not? They had the technology. They could change our genes.
It took time and much pain. Many died in the first attempts before the process was perfected. After it was...there were so many needles, machines, and just as much agony.
Our faces shrank and rounded. Our limbs and bodies grew long. Long and naked. The whites of our eyes became visible. We screamed. Screamed in our primal voices--words weren't needed, for we were tools of war then.
We fought. Oh, we fought.
We filed our nails and our teeth for ripping and tearing out the throats of those we were pointed toward. We could scent the mines beneath our feet, located hidden enemies, and kill them just as efficiently. We heard the high noises--storms approaching, bombs, conversations.
We could see the colors and patterns Man saw. Their gift to us.
We killed, were killed...watched the little ones of our families fall. Our humans--those we were supposed to protect out of some form of loyalty. The war leaders called it a twisted pagan love display, when if we found one of our family we'd clean their wounds the only way we knew and falling on our knees hold them and scream to the sky.
Another gift of Men: we gained the ability to grudge, to hunt and kill on vengeance's impulse. We lived as always, as Humans would say, in the moment, but not memories festered. More harsh than any wound were the remembered faces of our children, most dying in our arms. Our Human children...
My remaining Human had become a Sleeper. Put into the care of Sleep to heal, to await the end of the war. The war had ended, as all wars must eventually. The Humans rebuilt a city for themselves. A shining white city from the ashes of their dead, rising up to relieve them of their cares and us.
What became of us? What of the Dogs?
We are second. Second and low, worthy of scorn. We became vagabonds, and those who couldn't wander created slums. Entertainment for the Men, their workers, anything they can't sully themselves with is left to us.
Our hearts and backs steadily broken, and the birds' stomachs are our graves.
Ch. 3 Awakening
So divine this life you live with
shattered lies,
It's all the price you pay when you're
living for the night.
--Cry of the Gypsy, Axel Rudi Pell (lyrics by Soto)
"Gypsy girl!" I smiled. I loved it when she called me that. My person smiled back. "Gypsy girl! Mwah!" A kiss on the head. I closed my eyes, blinked. "Go, Gypsy, go! Go, go, go!" I ran, caught the walrus, turned. Gone...
A whistle.
"Gypsy girl...!"
"Gypsy girl!" I blinked. I was curled up on my bed, the walrus toy, Dr. Phil, held tight against my chest. It was beaten up from hours, days of play. "Gypsy!" I glanced up. Sighed. A show call. I squeezed the toy, feeling the soft fur around the hard tenis ball innards. Set my chin on my pillow and sighed.
I didn't look like I had then, in my dreams. I was still tan and black, but in different places... No tail...
"C'mon, Gypsy!" I miss you...
* * *
I sat up, shivering. Why was I sleeping in a bath? I looked around. Lockers. I clambered out of the tub and pattered over the chilly floor, began rummaging in the lockers. I jerked on the clothes I found. The pants and shoes were too large--mens' wear--and the shirt pinched around my chest.
I climbed up the stairs, pushing open the door and stumbling out. Sunlight lanced through my eyes. I staggered. Gravel crunched under my shoes. I blinked, dragging my eyes open. A town came into view. I picked up my pace, hurrying into the solid streets.
It looked like they were made of cobbles.
People walked by, turning their heads and staring as I passed.
Weird...
Music lilted into the air. I looked. A man with shaggy hair was blowing through a harmonica. A second man was in a chair, strumming a guitar with his thumb. They both looked like hobos.
Between them was a box of coins and a woman dancing. Her long navy skirt billowed around her ankles as she spun and twirled on bare feet. Her short sleeved, low cut, white shirt shone in the sunlight. Gold hoops glinted on her ears. her hair, long and black, was pinned back from her face by a red, plain bandana. Her skin showed up tan against her clothes.
"What are you doing?" I jumped. The dancer was in front of me. She smiled. "You look lost." I stumbled back as she put her hand against the wall over my shoulder and leaned forward some. Her eyes stared at me, glancing away when I tried to hold her look. Long, hot chocolate eyes.
"Well, little lost one, what's your name?" I blinked at the clink of metal--she had dog tags.
"Kali," I managed, finally working my overstimulated brain. She blinked, looked me over again. Leaned a little closer, took in a long breath.
"You're wet. Dripping wet." I fingered my wet red-streaked hair. "Come on. Get dry." She turned, started walking.
"Wait!" She stopped. "What's--"
"Gypsy." She looked over her shoulder at me and grinned. "Come on. I won't bite." I chewed my lip and followed.
I went down the stairs through the door, Gypsy behind me. We went down another flight, rounded a corner, then descended a small step-ladder case into a basement like wooden room.
Thick beams crisscrossed slightly below the ceiling in large Hs. The beams stopped in front of a round, rumpled bed lit up by a small, narrow window.
"Don't you remember me?" I turned, about to say something intelligent like "Huh?", and froze. When did she...? Her clothes were in a small pile on the floor, except her tags, still on, hanging between her... I felt my face heat up and looked away, or tried to.
She moved closer, swinging her hips. "Don't you, Kali?" I backed up. "You wouldn't forget your pet, would you?" Her eyes were harder now, almost accusing.
"M-my pet?" I stammered, wracking my pounding brain. "My--my dog?" I couldn't help glancing up and down in a onceover. She raised a brow.
"Were you expecting someone less--"
"Busty?" I blurted. She snorted. More of a low-throated, seemingly annoyed grunt than a snort.
"Soldierly." She pursed her lips. "Speaking of busts, however..." She grabbed my wrist and pressed my hand up against her breast. I stared, gulped, tried to pull free. A low sound came from her throat, a feral chuckle no human throat could know how to perform. "What's the matter?" She blinked slightly as she moved my hand downward, moving my fingers aside to push my thumb and forefinger into tweaking her n****e. I looked at the wall.
"You did that before." I jumped as her voice whispered in my ear. "When I had fur and paws, you did that. Why not now?" My hand was moved down again, rubbing her stomach. Her leg twitched when it brushed a certain spot below her ribs.
"B-because..." I licked my lips.
"Because I look too human?" She moved closer. I stumbled, toppling down on the bed with her. She stared at me. "Because it feels good now, to you?" I bit the insides of my cheeks. She let her weight down on me. I winced as her leg dug into my crotch. Ow. She put her nose in my hair. "Heh. You smell like a Dog in heat. I'm surprised you're not going for my throat."
I swallowed, wetted my lips.
"What are you going to do to me?"
"Do? To you?" She looked genuinely surprised. For a moment. "That depends on you."
Ch. 4 Nature
This bold beauty and infinite loneliness
Of my childhood forest and sky
That beauty echoes through this journey
As the morning dawns, night tells it's story
Bold is beauty and my infinite loneliness
That's what man longs for his soul
The grave of my cradle, the place of my grave
Is the last one in the wilderness
--Erämaan Viimeinen, Nightwish
Gypsy shifted her weight, dropping to sit sideways on her legs, one hand pressing on the bed as she watched me. I sat up.
"What do you mean?"
"You're the alpha, aren't you?" She smirked, her eyes were mocking. "The one in charge, the leader?" She stood, tilting her head. "Well? Lead. Tell me what to do." I stared as she jumped up, catching her arms on top of the closest leg beam of the H. I remembered how high she could jump--as an animal--a good three or four feet.
"What do you like?" She flipped backward, lying on her stomach on the arm beam. I forced myself not to stare as her breasts hung over the leg beam. "S? M?" she continued. "Both? Ropes, chains, gags?" She laughed. "Don't look like that."
"Like what?"
"Embarassed. Like you haven't thought of sex or violence, killing. Like your mind's so virginal." She jumped down, hip-swinging over and holding up her tags. "Like you haven't had on a pair of these."
I looked at the floor. I gasped as she lifted me up to my feet. She looked down at me. "I remember looking up at you." I jerked forward as she lifted me again; Gypsy laughed, my arms around her neck. She shifted her arms, propping me up against her hips. I squeaked as we fell onto the bed--she'd turned around and dropped. "Baby." I glowered.
"I'm not a--"
"Yes, you are. Barely done with being one. Look at you: you're covered in dust and don't even notice!" I looked down. Dust was all over my clothes. "All over your face, too."
"What do you expect me to do about it?" I demanded. How can she be all motherly and the...n... She licked my cheek again.
"Mmm... Just hold still."
I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the di glow of the single candle at the bedside and the moonglow flowing in from the window slit. Gypsy let out a low groan as she stretched. I scooted closer.
"You know," she muttered, "Dogs don't like to be cuddled." She rolled so her back was to me. I sighed, moving to lie on my right side. She turned back around, locking me in her arms. "Unless they do it themselves."
Ch. 5 Something Essential
Nothing left to lose
Loving you again
--It's Already Over, Red
I blinked, letting my mouth spread open in a yawn. Kali sighed, shifting in her sleep. I smiled. I jerked my head up, growling. Lucky flinched. He leaned back, putting his hands up and ducking his head slightly.
"Easy. Don't go all mom on me." His nostrils flared as he sniffed. "Did you clean her too?" I let out another low growl. He bared his teeth as he backed up out of the room and shut the door.
Kali moved closer, hand grasping a tight semi-circle against my upper arm. I nuzzled into her hair, licking her ear a few times. She sputtered, looking up at me.
"Did I wake you?" She shook her head. I rolled my eyes. Suddenly, "Do you know how to kiss?"
My head fell to one side. Huh? Eloquent as always, I was. Kiss?
"I've...never really needed to kiss anyone. Dogs don't really kiss," I said, finally.
"But do you know how?" Kali persisted. Her blue eyes shone in the light of the now-a-waxy-stump candle, the red streaks fiery highlights in her dark hair.
"Okay, so I've watched some people." I rolled my eyes again, snorting. "It doesn't look like all that much. The male tries to eat the female's mouth. So what?"
"You've never kissed anyone." She smirked. I felt my face grow hot.
"What does it matter?" I barked. She fiddled with a lock of my hair.
"Not much. Just that I know more than you on something essential." Essential how?! I gripped her wrist as she began twirling my hair. My voice was low, eyes narrowed.
"Prove it."
Kali looked at me, eyes large--even the pupils. She tilted her head, looking as I had when confused. This was an intent look, though. She moved her head closer. I strained not to instinctively jerk mine up. She closed her eyes, paused, breathing against my lips. A whine was quashed in my throat. I wetted my lips, began to pant.
My heart skipped and stilled; the breath froze in my lungs. My brain tingled. I knew her lips were on mine, but it felt like the room didn't exist. Nothing existed, except this odd feeling. Then warmth--a real sensation in all of this?--slipped into my mouth, flitted around, and disappeared as she pulled back. I gasped. My eyes were stretched wide; I felt as one feels waking from an anasthetic sleep.
Kali smiled.
"Well?" She winked. "What do you think, Gypsy?" All my muscles slumped. I panted. "Gypsy?" I edged forward, performing a kiss this time. Almost jumped as she licked my lips.
The door fell open. I rose up, snarling, crouching over her. He laughed. He was dressed in purple and white. His hair was long and silver. Eyes hard and mocking. Cane bloody red. One of the ones we called Pimps. Kali flinched as he looked at her. I crouched lower.
"Aww. How sweet."
"Get out!" He narrowed his eyes. I shook my head from the floor, a long welt from the cane on my face. I grabbed it as it came down again, gagging as a hard shoe landed on my stomach.
"Get up and get dressed. You're going into the ring tonight. The crowd doesn't like damaged goods either." He turned, walking up the steps. "Stupid b***h."
I sat up, holding my stomach as I stood.
"G-Gyps..." Kali whimpered. Don't cry... Crying won't help... I looked away, pulling on a tank top and some loose, slitted pants. "Who was that? Where are you going--why?"
"Shh!" I shushed her, shrugging on a worn, brown canvas jacket. "Don't follow." I looked at her. "Stay. Wait." I hurried up the steps. If I'd looked at her face any longer, I'd have been the one sobbing.
Ch. 6 The Arena
Woahhh
I never give in
Woahhh
I never give up
Woahhh
I never give in
I just wanna be, wanna be loved.
--Wanna Be Loved, Papa Roach
Stay? Wait? The hell if I was going to do either. The trouble was I didn't know where they'd gone. I started down the street toward the bright cityscape of lights.
People were moving up and down the streets, most in suits and veiled hats and dresses. I saw one guy dressed in normal clothes, sitting on a moped type thing. I went up to him.
"Hey, do you know where the fight rings are?" He looked me up and down slowly.
" I didn't take you for the fighting type." A moment later he had a sizable bump on his forehead.
"Now?!"
"Okay! Okay, sheesh, I'll drive you there."
I pushed through the doors. A stadium's worth of sweats formed a square around where a ring would have been. Instead of a ring, a rail went around the edge of a pit. I moved forward, only to be filed into a ringside seat.
The pit had a sandy bottom. The walls were sheer. Suddenly, a voice sounded over some com system: "Please take your seats. Bets are to be completed."
Doors, unseen before, slid upward in the walls, leaving pitch sections. The crowd held its breath. Two shapes hurtled from the balckness, clashing and hurtling apart again. A scrawny, scarred boy was on the left, Gypsy on the right. Both were naked, except for Gypsy's tags. They circled each other, hands clawed, teeth bared, bent and snarling.
The boy lunged forward. Gypsy twisted to the side, catching him by the hip and shoulder and yanking him up off his feet into the sand. Her teeth were on the back of his neck just as quickly. The crowd boo'd.
Gypsy released the boy. He scrambled back through his door. A second door opened. Gypsy crouched down on her hands and feet. A large shape pounded through the opening. Gypsy tumpled in the sand with a huge, muscular male Dog. She snarled, clawing at his gut and snapping at either side of his face.
He sat up, straddling her as he punched her in the face until she jerked up, slamming her palm into his nose. He jumped off, holding his face as blood oozed through the gaps between his fingers.
She stood. Her left eye was beginning to swell. The male let out a yell, charging. She kicked at his side. He grabbed her leg, turning and throwing her across the ring. She rolled, digging into the sand and skidding to her hands and feet.
The male towered over her, grasping her by the throat and slamming her into th wall twice. She hung there limply. I shuddered. Gypsy snapped her eyes open, raking her claws up the man's face. She landed in a crouch as he dropped her, pummeling him with punches and kicks.
He moved back, then shifted his footing, avoiding the next punch and slamming his elbow into the back of her head. She stumbled, righting herself as he surged forward, plowing his massive shoulder into her back. She flew down into the sand, sliding a few inches and lying still, facedown. The man moved over to her side, turning her over with his foot. He leaned down and pulled Gypsy up by her hair.
The voice came on again: "Let's listen in on the brutality." A huge screen on a long arm came down from the ceiling and turned on. Teh screen had a close up of Gypsy, as if the man had on a hidden camera--where to hide a camera on bare flesh I couldn't know. She was seated on his leg--he was kneeling--body leaned back--the camera view switched for a second to show his arms crossed over her back, fists clenched--panting raggedly, eyes half-lidded.
The male's voice came over the speaker: "You really that weak? Can't do any better?" She let out a weak, breathy growl. "Let's take the last of that fight out of you then."
He stood, pressing her tightly against his chest. She struggled, punching and grasping at his neck, kicking with her legs. The squeeze constricted, his arms parallel bars across her back--the camera mostly only showed the back view now. He sank his teeth into her breasts. She screamed, but it died into pained gasps as the vice of his arms tightened further. The kicking grew to taps, then stopped. She shuddered. He gave a final squeeze.
"Oooohhhh..." The gasp came over the speaker. "I...I..." She rocked forward slightly. "I..." She slumped backward, her arms sliding off him, dangling in the air. "Ughhh..." The camera focused on her hands, trailing up her arms and hair before zooming out slightly to take in her face--eyes closed, mouth barely open--and breasts--crescent marks letting slip lines of blood like runny, red avalanches on mountains.
The camera zoomed out, taking in Gypsy's limp form and the man's triumphant smirk.
"It's a pity..." He bent his head, licking the blood off one of the bites. "...that someone so--" Gypsy had whipped her head up, slamming it into his. He jerked back, releasing her. She panted, a thin line of blood sliding down her face.
"Gypsy!" I'd jumped out of my seat and slid under the rail. "Gypsy!" She turned to look at me and stared. Her eyes were wide and full of fear.
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