The Participants by Brian Blose Read Free Book Online

quietly. “For the record, Hess, this isn't
personal for me. This is just driving your lesson home.”
    Zack stared out the window without thinking,
forcing his mind to stillness. Whatever was about to happen to him
was going to be bad.

Chapter 9 – Elza / Iteration 1
    Rough hands startled her awake. An old woman
knelt beside Elza. “The hunters are back.”
    Elza sat up to assess her situation. The
captives huddled together while the returned brutes harassed the
assimilated women and wrestled with one another. A chill crawled
across her flesh as she watched them stir one another towards
violence. Suddenly, she understood the purpose of the captives. The
bonding ritual of the brutes required victims.
    She instinctively sought
the refuge of the herd, grasping at the other women, seeking a
sanctuary from the wolves circling their perimeter. The barbarity
of the tribe made sense to her now. Their culture reinforced
violence through the deliberate dehumanization of the weak. The
words of Hess came to her. I know what
will happen to these women. You want no part in it.
    Elza hardened her heart. Pain was fleeting
and there was no injury her body would not heal. She would endure
whatever the brutes did to her. Experiencing creation first-hand
was her purpose.
    The rowdiness of the camp increased as the
sun’s angle descended. Meat roasted on spits until hungry men
carved charred, bloody slivers free. Women cooked squash and made
fresh bread from acorns while in their midst captives starved. The
tribe was like a fire escaped from its pit, consuming everything in
its path as it spread death.
    A woman assimilated the
previous night screamed in the distance. Throughout the camp, the
brutes released a chorus of laughter at her distress. Elza buried
her face in the back of another captive. I
just need a moment to compose myself. Just a moment of peace. I can
face this.
    Kallig’s voice boomed from nearby. “Tonight
we have our way!”
    She flinched when the brutes roared in
anticipation.
    “Why do you do this, Kallig? Are you so
afraid of helpless women?”
    The roar died out, leaving
an eerie silence in its wake. Kallig’s deep voice responded to the
challenge. “Go away, coward! You are afraid of the women! I deal with them like a
man!”
    “I fear nothing, Kallig. Nothing. Everyone
knows I am no coward. I let deadly snakes live when they cross my
path. You fear women more than I fear vipers!”
    “We fear nothing, coward! We want our
fun!”
    Elza held her breath, waiting for Hess to
respond.
    After a moment, Kallig spoke again. “Sit on
your rock and watch real men, coward!”
    Elza looked up as the men surrounded them.
There was over an hour left in the day for their ordeal, assuming
sunset marked its end. If not, then she could only imagine how long
it would last. All night, maybe. Longer if they discovered she did
not stay dead.
    Rough hands seized one of the captives, a
woman covered with pox scars but possessing a shapely figure. She
squealed and tried to slip free. A man with a pronounced limp
slammed his fist into pox-scar’s belly, then pushed her face-first
to the ground. Before the prostrate woman could recover enough to
scream, the limping man drove his spear through the back of her
hand into the ground.
    Hands seized Elza’s hair. She found herself
forced onto her back with a man’s knee pressing on her middle so
that she could not take a breath. The man on top of her spit
directly into her face, then slapped her without warning. As Elza
struggled for air, more hands began to rip at her clothing.
    Screams and dark laughter came from all
around. Elza swung her arms and legs. In that moment, all that
mattered was escape. The man above her shifted his weight, letting
her fill her lungs with a gasp, then a fist smashed her nose flat.
Her arms and legs were pinned in rapid succession. Elza released
the precious air into a raw scream. Meaty fingers grasped her jaw
and shook her head.
    The ordeal was more real than