The day was a blur to Shawna.

After hearing the good news that she would be allowed to stay, Gabe had removed the poultice he had put on her foot and had her walk around for him.  Shawna was pleasantly surprised to find that she had little pain as she walked, and her smile was thanks enough to Gabe.

Then he and Vicky gave her a second examination, and Gabe let Vicky in on their secret.  Vicky was understandably concerned, but what made Shawna happy was how non-judgmental Vicky was about her condition.  The nurse only wanted to help Shawna get better.

After they were done, Vicky took Shawna on a slow tour of the Compound, and once more Shawna marveled at the sights.  She was very impressed with how self-sufficient the community was, although Vicky added that they still brought in some supplies from the town at the bottom of the mountain.  At the mention of the town, Shawna got a little nervous, but Vicky didn't seem to notice.

They ate lunch in the Great Hall, and Shawna ate very little, her attention divided between her worries, her increasing need for a drink or a snort of cocaine, and all the naked skin around them.

Shawna was especially captivated by the skin; there were SO MANY good-looking men around.  All of them looking fit and buff, and most wore little more than their loincloths.

Since this was just lunch, only a part of the community was eating in the Great Hall, most people eating where ever they were at the time or away from the Compound for some reason.  So Shawna was able to pick out individuals rather than look at everyone en mass.

One man in particular caught her eye because he was eating alone.  He wore just a pair of leather pants and looked stronger than a lot of the men here, the muscles of his arms and chest well defined.  Shawna was admiring his tan when the man looked up and caught her staring at him.  He looked surprised for a moment, then his face clouded and he looked away.  Shawna continued to watch him for a few minutes more as he kept glancing her way.  She got the impression he was not a happy man, he looked like he was in pain.

Eventually she had to look away, she felt like she was intruding on something private.  She was therefore startled when she saw a woman sitting at a table with her hands bound behind her.  The woman sat calmly chatting with several other men and women, and Shawna watched in fascination as one of the men would occasionally feed the woman a tidbit of food from his own plate.  There was no sign of distress or anxiety from the woman at all; if her hands hadn't been bound, she would have appeared perfectly normal.

"What's going on?"  Shawna eventually asked Vicky.

Vicky looked up from her sandwich and licked some juice from her lip.

"What?" she said, trying to swallow.

Shawna inclined her head toward the bound woman a few tables away.

"Oh, them!  That's nothing.  I know it might look strange to you, but it's okay.  They're just playing."

"Playing?"  Shawna asked.

"Sure, you know, it's just a game."

"You mean people tie each other up here for fun?"

"Well, not everyone.  Usually it's more of a lover's game, but we played tie-up as kids as well.  It's all in fun most of the time!"  Vicky smiled, remembering some of those fun games as a kid.

"Most of the time?" asked an increasingly confused Shawna.

Vicky suddenly looked concerned.  "Didn't Gabe tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"About the rules!  Gee, I guess I'd better fill you in.  We have rules here, laws.  All the usual ones you would find in any community, plus a few more.  No women are allowed out after dark without an escort, women aren't allowed meat or alcohol, the Head of House is responsible for all discipline within his house, stuff like that.  Punishments for breaking the rules can be anything really, as long as it reasonably fits the severity of the crime, and bondage is sometimes used as a punishment."

"You're kidding?" Shawna said.

"Nope!  I tell you, it's kinda fun to be made helpless for a little while in play, but when you have to spend a few days without the use of your hands in a very uncomfortable position you tend to remember what you did wrong.  Dad would use it sometimes on us kids and it was very effective, but normally you don't get punished like that until you're an adult."

"Who decides your punishment?"

"The Head of your house.  In my case, it's my Dad, until I get married.  Then it would be my husband."

"Sounds a little barbaric to me," said Shawna.  "Does it apply to men too?"

"Er...kinda.  It depends on the man.  A father can discipline his son until his son makes a home for himself and his own family.  After that, the community elders determine punishment.  Also if something really serious was done, the head of that person's house can choose to pass it on to the elders, or to Paul."  Vicky looked down at her food for a moment.  "Does all this bother you?"

Shawna shook her head slowly.  "I'm not sure.  To be honest I'm not thinking straight enough to really be concerned about it right now.  But if you say the system works, then I guess it isn't my place to fault it."

Vicky looked Shawna in the eyes for a moment.  "I was supposed to take you to the baths after lunch, but I think first I'll take you someplace else.  There's something I think you need to see."

"Okay," Shawna said, curious.

The two women bussed their dishes to the busy kitchen area, and Vicky led Shawna out of the hall the opposite way they came in.  Shawna limped along beside Vicky, wondering where they were going and wondering how long she could keep her craving under control.  As it was, she was sweating more than she should have been by the time they reached their destination.  For a moment though, she forgot her cravings as she beheld the sight before her.

They had come to a junction between two major corridors inside the huge huts, and this enlarged area held six sets of stocks, two of which were occupied.  One held a man, bent over almost at a ninety-degree angle, his head and hands trapped tightly between two pieces of wood.  He was completely naked except for the rope about his waist and the gag in his mouth.  He looked tired and worn as he gazed up at the two women.  Across from him was a woman, also naked except for her waist rope and a gag.  She stood a little straighter in her stocks because she was a little shorter, but it still looked to Shawna that she wasn't enjoying this at all.  Shawna also noticed sitting in a corner, another woman who quietly watched the newcomers.

"Don't tell me these people are doing this for fun!"  Shawna said to Vicky.

"No," Vicky said, shaking her head and looking serious.  "This is punishment, never for fun."

"What did they do?"

"Adulterers.  They were caught together a week ago in his home by his wife.  He automatically went before the elders for judgment, and her husband decided to send her as well."

"Adultery?"

Vicky gave Shawna a sharp look.  "We treat marriage here very seriously, much more so than in your world.  What they did was very wrong, very wrong indeed!"

Shawna felt taken aback.  "So the...elders...sentenced them to this?"

"For a start, yes," replied the younger girl.  "They get two hours a day to sleep but otherwise they both stay here.  In another day, I think Clarise gets returned to her husband, and he will continue her punishment privately.  John here will stay another couple of weeks I think."

"She goes back to her husband?  Is that safe?"

Vicky gave Shawna another look, like she was an idiot or something.  "Sure it's safe, he's not going to beat her if that's what you think.  No doubt her life will be made rather uncomfortable for a while, but the men here don't beat their women."

Vicky's face softened as she suddenly remembered the story Shawna had told to cover her injuries.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Shawna, I forgot!"

Shawna almost didn't catch what Vicky was talking about.  "Oh...it's okay."

"Look, she'll be fine, I promise.  She and her husband will get some counseling from Father Logan, and hopeful they'll be able to put their lives back together again."

"And if they don't?"  Shawna asked.

Vicky didn't answer, instead she left the area, and Shawna began to follow.  As she walked she wondered what the community would do to her if they found out she had just robbed a bank.  She did NOT want to end up in those stocks.

---***---

"I can't get undressed out here!"  Shawna said nervously, looking around.

"It's okay, really it is," said Vicky.  She had slipped out of her skirt and top and was pulling off her loincloth.  "Besides, the hot bath would do you some good!"

Shawna was looking around at the two dozen or so men and women sharing this bathing area with her.  Vicky had brought them outside behind one of the Compound buildings to where several large sunken hot tubs sat churning.  Many of them were occupied, and the areas around them were filled with others standing or sitting, completely oblivious to their nudity.  Shawna felt that the moment she began to undress, everyone here would stop what he or she was doing to turn and stare at her.

It reminded her strongly of those times when her father would use her shame against her.  Because of her father, Shawna had never been comfortable naked again.

"It's okay, really!"  Vicky said gently.  She had stepped down into a tub and was waist deep in water.  She held her hand out to Shawna and waited.

"Isn't there some place more private?"  Shawna asked.

"There is the bath house inside, but there's probably just as many people in there as out here.  Besides, I like to enjoy the outdoor tubs while the weather is good enough to use them.  Now come on, nobody's going to stare at you."

Shawna teetered on her indecision for a moment, before reluctantly slipping off her dress.  All she wore under it was her loincloth and waist rope, and as she pulled out the cloth, she tried to keep her breasts covered with one arm.

She was very uncomfortable about all this, yet something inside her wouldn't let her run away.  It was the same sort of courage she had when in the grips of her father's latest humiliation, or Dirk's for that matter.  It was better to give in and get through the moment rather than break down crying.  She pulled the loincloth out from under the rope about her waist and gingerly stepped into the tub.  The water was surprisingly warm, and it seemed to swirl about her as she sat down.

"Feel better?" asked Vicky, a concerned look on her face.  Vicky had gotten a good look at Shawna's bruises in the sunlight, and she looked a mess.  Shawna sunk her body until only her head was above water, and then she nodded.  The warm water did help her various aches and pains, and she had always found taking a bath to be helpful when it came to her cravings.  If she could stay here a little while, she might be able to make it a little longer.

Vicky gave Shawna a smile and reached over to the side of the tub for a bar of soap.  "Good, then I'll wash you down while you relax.  You haven't had a decent bath since you got here!"

Shawna looked alarmed.  "Er...can't I wash myself?"

Vicky laughed.  "Sure, but I AM a nurse, and it's my job today to take care of you.  We may seem kinky to you outsiders, but we're not THAT kinky!"

Shawna couldn't help smiling, and she felt a little sheepish.  "Sorry, it's just..."

Vicky smiled and handed Shawna the soap.  "Don't worry about it.  Just let me know if there are any places you need help with.  I doubt you are as flexible as you need to be at the moment."

"Thanks," said Shawna, relieved.

"You know, if Gabe had brought you here, he wouldn't have given in so easily," laughed the young women, getting another bar of soap for herself.  Shawna smiled and thought about the good doctor giving her a bath.  'Somehow,' Shawna thought, 'I might not have protested as much either!'

Shawna tried not to watch as Vicky soaped herself down, but the young woman stood unashamed in the middle of the tub in water that only reached up to her waist.  Shawna felt she could never be that brave, and crouched low in the tub to wash her own body.

A shadow flitted over her, and a man walked past the tub.

Shawna instinctively covered up, but Vicky just smiled and said hello and continued on with her washing.

Embarrassed as hell, Shawna rose a little in the water and peered at the man who had gone by.  She was startled to recognize him as the man she had watched in the Great Hall.

He pulled off his pants and loincloth and settled into a tub as far away from the group as he could get.

Vicky saw who Shawna was looking at and sighed.  "Poor guy," she said.

"What?"  Shawna asked her.

"That's Grady.  His wife drowned a few months ago, and ever since then, he's been a bit of a recluse.  He took her passing pretty hard."

"I'm sorry," whispered Shawna, now realizing what the man's pain was all about.

"It's okay.  We're sure he'll be okay, you just have to let grief work its way through to the end."

Shawna nodded, thinking of Dirk and wondering why she hadn't yet felt like grieving for him.  He hadn't been THAT bad...had he?

"How are YOU doing?"  Vicky asked her, after dunking under the water and rinsing herself off.

"Okay, but it's hard to do my back."

"Turn around."

Shawna did as she was told and felt Vicky move behind her.  She felt the girl's hands on her bare back and then a sponge.  It felt good to be washed, although it still unsettled Shawna a bit to be sitting naked in a tub with another woman.  She knew that these people had successfully separated nudity from sexual involvement, but it was going to be a lot harder for Shawna to copy that.

So she tried to distract herself by watching Grady take his own bath until Vicky was done.

"We'd better go in," Vicky said, looking up at the sky.  "It looks like it might be storming later today."

Shawna looked up and saw a deep bank of cloud moving slowly toward them, and she shivered.

---***---

It was no good.  She couldn't handle much more.  She HAD to have a fix of some sort!

Shawna laid on her bed in her little room at the clinic.  It was dark with the heavy overcast, with just a little daylight coming in through the skylight above her, and she was supposed to be napping.  Doctor's orders.  Vicky was out in the clinic somewhere, and Shawna thought about what else might be there that she could use.

She hoped that her knapsack was there somewhere; she just needed a few minutes alone with it.  But Shawna was never left alone, either Vicky or Gabe watched over her at all times.  There had to be a way to be alone.  Shawna sat up and felt a wave of nausea pass over her.  She was also trembling, and she knew that it wouldn't be too much longer before she began to feel REALLY bad.  She HAD to do something now!

She crawled out of bed and slipped her dress on before leaving the room.  She found Vicky curled up on a large floor pillow under a wall mounted oil lamp, a book in one hand.  The girl had removed her clothes except for her loincloth, and looked startled at Shawna's sudden appearance.

"Hi, couldn't sleep?" Vicky asked her, concerned at the woman's apparent condition.

"Too warm, and my mouth feels like my tongue has doubled in size," said Shawna truthfully.  "I don't suppose you have any ice, do you?"

"Ice, how will that help?"  Vicky asked.

"When I've gotten like this before...I've found that a little ice to suck on helps me.  But I doubt you'd have any here would you."

Vicky smiled.  "We do.  There's an icehouse buried under the food stores.  We put ice from the river in there during the winter and use sawdust for insulation.  That, and being so deep, means it stays very cool down there and it usually lasts all the way through summer.  I can go get you a little if you like!"

"That would be great, Vicky, thanks!" said Shawna.

"Will you be okay here?" Vicky asked.

Shawna moved toward one of the waiting room chairs.  "I'll be fine, I can just sit here until you come back."

"Er...not there.  Use the pillows," Vicky said.

"What?"

"You have to use the pillows or the floor.  Only men get to use the chairs."

"You're kidding, right?" Shawna asked, amazed.

"No, it's another of our rules.  But it's okay, the pillows are much more comfortable anyway.  I'll go get your ice.  Was there anything else you needed?"

Shawna wanted to say a glass of vodka to put the ice in, but instead shook her head.  She made a show of limping toward the pile of pillows and Vicky left the room.

As soon as she was alone, Shawna went back to the examining room and began to search in all the cupboards for her knapsack.  She also kept an eye out for any medical alcohol or other drugs she could use in a pinch, but she came up empty.  Many of the cupboards were locked, also there was a door next to a large wooden tub that was padlocked shut, and Shawna didn't feel up to breaking anything open.  But she WAS feeling rather frantic by now and couldn't keep still.  She searched the rest of the clinic, but paused at one door.  She thought it led to Gabe's apartment.  Did she dare go in there?  Shawna thought not, and then remembered that beer was served to the men in the kitchen area.  Perhaps she could sneak over there and get some!

The trouble was, she had just sent Vicky in that direction and she might bump into her if she went there herself.  Vicky would try to stop her.  To Shawna's increasingly addiction driven brain, that meant sidetracking Vicky somehow, but how?

Shawna remembered seeing one drawer filled with thin leather cords and what looked like gag sticks like the ones she saw the people in the stocks wearing.  She quickly collected some of them together and found a heavy ceramic bowl in a cupboard.  Then she waited for Vicky to come back.  It wasn't long before Vicky returned with a cup of ice in her hands and the young nurse didn't see Shawna hiding behind the door, neither did she expect to be hit on the back of the head.

Shawna wasn't sure how hard she had hit Vicky, but was glad she hadn't killed the girl.  Instead, Vicky lay dazed on the floor, half senseless in pain.

A part of Shawna's mind realized that she had gone too far, that hitting Vicky like this was not going to be easily explained or forgiven.  Shawna wondered what the hell possessed her to do such a thing, but she couldn't stop now.

She got down next to the girl and began to tie her up using the leather cords she had found.  She was inexperienced at binding someone up, much more used to being on the receiving end when Dirk wanted rougher sex than she was willing to give him.  But she did a credible job of tying Vicky's arms behind her and pulling her into a hog-tie.  The cords dug deep into her skin and she struggled slowly as her senses came back to her.  She also growled into her gag but was unable to make any intelligible sounds.

"I'm sorry, Vicky.  But I just have to!"  Shawna said, and she left the bound girl behind as she left the clinic.

Shawna wasn't sure where to go, but she knew she had to leave the Compound.  She had no clothes except for the simple dress she wore and no drugs, but she couldn't stay here anymore.  Heading up the mountain to collect her money seemed to be the best idea she could come up with, so she made her way toward the nearest exit.

As she reached the stairs that led up to one of the many doors out of the huts, the rain that had been threatening to come down all afternoon finally started.

It made Shawna pause, but she figured that if she stayed, the water she would be in would be very hot indeed.  Besides, the cold rain would help her concentration, she thought.

So, not knowing about the closet full of wet weather leathers next to her, Shawna stepped out barefoot into the rain and hurried to the nearest gate in the huge wall that surrounded the Compound.  No one saw her leave.

---***---

"I thought you said she'd be no trouble," growled Paul Anderson.  Gabe looked away, angry with himself for being so stupid.  His inexperience in dealing with addicts had gotten his kid sister hurt.  It had become full dark outside before Gabe Miller had returned to the clinic, several hours after Shawna had ambushed Vicky and tied her up.  He spent a few minutes untying her and tending to the nasty bump on her head before he yelled for someone to go get Paul.

Paul Anderson immediately sent out word that he needed men for a search party, and everyone began to gather in the Great Hall.  While he waited, Paul interrogated Gabe, getting out of the poor doctor the real reason he wanted Shawna to stay.

He was not happy with what he heard.

"You and I will talk about this later, Doc!" he said as the hundred or so men who showed up to help took their seats.

In the back sat Grady, wondering what was going on.  He wondered if it was a drill, as Paul did sometimes stage a search and rescue for the men to keep them all in practice.  Living up here on the mountain could be dangerous, and Paul liked to know that when they had to, the men who lived with him could get organized.

If it was a drill, it was lousy weather to have one in.  Grady could hear the rain pounding the high roof over their heads, as could several other men who occasionally looked up at the sound.

But when Paul started to explain what happened in the clinic, Grady realized this wasn't pretend at all.  He, like the others, didn't care at all for what Shawna had done to one of their own, but unlike the others, Grady felt a little apprehensive about going after her.

It was because of what he saw in this very room at lunch.  Looking up from his plate, he had nearly dropped his fork in surprise when he saw what he thought was his wife sitting across the room.  He quickly realized though, that it had only been the visitor; but for that brief moment, Cheryl had been alive for him.

He would have been the first to admit that he wasn't handling the loss of his wife well, but he hadn't thought himself so far gone that he would be imagining her appearing everywhere.  Yet, while Shawna and Cheryl only superficially looked like each other, there was something about the way Shawna held herself, the tilt of her head, the shape of her eyes, which connected with Grady.

He noticed it again when he saw her later at the baths, and vowed to keep away from her.  He was not looking for that kind of complication in his life at the moment.  He had only just begun confiding in Father Logan about his inability to sleep, and was far from ready to seek any close contact with others.

Grady mused over these thoughts, only half listening to Paul describe what kind of search he wanted, so he was startled at the sudden interruption.  "What are YOU doing here?" Grady heard Matthew Anderson, Paul's younger brother, say in a loud voice.

"I'm here to help!" replied a distinctly female voice.  Grady looked up to see that Rhianna, Matthew's new wife, had come into the room.  She had pulled on some of the wet weather gear already, and to Grady looked strange so covered up.  Matthew usually like to have Rhianna in the briefest outfits he could get away with making her wear, so she was used to showing a lot of skin.

Rhianna stood with her fists on her hips, looking at all the men staring back at her.

Paul, who was standing on the stage in the corner, took a step down toward her.

"Go home Rhianna, we'll take care of this," he said.

"For God's sake Paul, I can help.  I'm trained for this!" Rhianna said to him.

"We don't need you, you're not supposed to be here."

"Yeah, I know; like a good little wife, I'm just supposed to wait at home for my man!  Cut it out, Paul.  I'm just as good at this than any of you guys, plus I'm a better tracker than most of you!"

"Go home, before I have you taken home!"  Paul was not in the mood for one of Rhianna's attempts at female liberation, although like most of the men in the Compound he sometimes found her efforts amusing.

Rhianna turned to her husband who was red with embarrassment.  "Matthew, will you tell your brother that I can help!"

"Yeah, Matt, tell him," laughed one of the men behind him, and Matthew knew then that another round of jokes at his expense was going to flow through the Compound.  As much as he loved his wife, she did have a way of showing him up from time to time.

"Rhianna," he said quietly, "go home, now."

"Like hell I will.  This is far too serious for your little domination games..."

"SHUT UP!" yelled Matthew, cutting her off.

Rhianna closed her mouth, startled.

"Wife, you aren't needed or wanted here.  In fact, you aren't even supposed to be out of our apartment without an escort, and I didn't see you come in with one, so I KNOW you deserve a punishment for that at least!" Matthew said, his embarrassment fueling his temper.  "Go now, before you get into MORE trouble."

Rhianna couldn't believe her ears.  "What the hell was the point in my learning all those survival skills if I'm never allowed to use them for something like this?"

Matthew got up from his seat and walked toward her, the rest of the men in the room silently watching the drama.

"You learned those skills," Matthew said, "so that if we ever had to search the mountain for YOU, we'd know you'd still have a chance of being alive!  WE will take care of this, and YOU will wait for me at home.  Now turn around!"

"But..."

"TURN AROUND!"

Rhianna knew she was beaten, she could see it in his eyes.  Maybe in private she and Matthew could have had a proper conversation about this, and she was sure that he would have been reasonable about it all.  But here, in front of the other men, he had to uphold his image.

Men ruled here, and while the women were made comfortable and treated with dignity and respect, there was no doubt that the real power in the Compound resided with the men and the men alone.  She wasn't just fighting the stubbornness of a few men, but the weight of seventy years of rules, laws, and traditions that made the Compound what it was today.  It was a no-win situation.

Silent at last, Rhianna turned her back on her husband and placed her hands behind herself, in the customary back-to-back position.  Someone tossed Matthew a leather thong, and he quickly bound her wrists, looping the cord about her thumbs and little fingers so she would be unable to turn her hands.

"Take her home, and make sure she doesn't leave!" ordered Paul.  Matthew nodded and, amid a few shouts of "Better make sure she don't tie YOU up!" and "Figure out who wears the pants before you come back!" and some general laughter from the group, he led her out of the Great Hall and back to their apartment.

The excitement quickly died down, and Paul resumed describing the search he wanted them to make.  First the Compound, and then the surrounding area heading down the mountain toward town.

He hadn't noticed that while Rhianna had drawn the attention of the room, Grady had gone out another way.

Not wanting to be partnered with anyone for the search, he decided to head out by himself.  He missed hearing how Paul wanted the Compound searched first, and headed straight for the nearest Wet Weather closet.

---***---

Shawna was soaking wet, cold, and very lost.  She had thought it would simply be a matter of going uphill and had started to follow a trail that seemed to lead in the right direction.  But the trail twisted around, then disappeared altogether, before the darkness closed in and the rain made it impossible to see very far.

She eventually came across the river, flowing swiftly across her path, and she thought in her drug-starved brain that she needed to get across.  It wouldn't have been something she would have tried in the best of conditions, but there was something else driving her now, something that didn't care for her safety, just the next high.

The water level was low, only about thigh deep.  Yet it was cold with snow run-off and rain.  She stumbled forward against the steady current until she was almost midstream.  Then disaster struck.

Her injured foot gave way and she slipped on a hidden stone.  Her foot plunged deep between two rocks and got wedged tight.  Suddenly Shawna was trapped; unable to pull her foot free, she was stuck in the middle of the river.

Here the depth was waist high, and unknown to her, the rain was going to make the river level climb rapidly in a very short time.

Crying in pain, and half numb from the cold water, Shawna struggled to get free but couldn't do it.

And the rain just kept coming down!
 
 

End of Part 4