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[b][u][center]The Domesticated

Chapter 11

Sponsored by Kime_Requiem

By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

Ekundayo reached the cells before the humans were aware of any real problems. The keycards worked just as they hoped, unlocking the main cell doors. Better still, Muto and the others had already gotten most of the chains unlocked. Only a few of them still remained bound, and that was solved swiftly.

“What’s the plan?” the hyena said.

“Depends. What’s around the corner?” Muto asked.

“Two, three dozen humans, most of them with more tranquilizers. And one really fast guy with a knife.”

“How fast?”

“Very. Couldn’t see where he drew it or put it away.”

Muto nodded, holding out his hand. Someone handed the maned wolf one of the spent tranq darts, and he held it like a knife.

“I’ll take care of him.”

“What about me?” Ekundayo asked.

“You just keep telling us where to go. Heh. You’re a good fighter, kid, but this is [i]my[/i] job.”

“…”

“Trust me. You’ll get to kick enough ass – quiet.”

Muto’s ears flicked, and a second later, Ekundayo heard it, too. There were people coming down the passage, and they were moving fast.

The formerly-restrained anthros did the same. They rushed to either side of the tunnel exit, pressing themselves against the wall. Ekundayo joined them, and when the humans left the tunnel, they struck.

In less than a minute, they’d taken down ten humans and gained ten tranq guns. Not a lot, but better than nothing, and a hell of a lot better than what they had a moment ago.

“Anyone got experience with these?” Muto called out.

Three hands went up, and they all got a pistol. The others were distributed at the maned wolf’s discretion, while Ekundayo looked down the tunnel again.

Mr. Bostir was the one that he was most concerned about. The other humans might or might not try and kill them. There might be some – however unlikely – that would be a little more stupid and just put them to sleep for a while. That man, however, would see to it that there was nobody around to tell the story of what had happened here. The humans would be the only ones to leave the caves, if he had his way.

“Which way?” Muto asked.

“Straight ahead, and then…second left,” he remembered after a second. “After that…not sure, but there’s no doors, no security things. It’s all caves.”

“That’s –”

CRACK!

The sound of a gun – a real gun – caught their attention. Every anthro went wide-eyed, but Muto actually grinned.

“Well…that changes things…”

#

Brecht handed his rifle back to Nina, the mouse already ejecting the spent ammo and slotting another bullet into place. His pistol was already in hand, barrel bouncing as he pumped two shots at the cave guard that was still standing. He didn’t want anyone getting the bright idea of sticking their head around the corner and shooting back, whether or not they were armed with lethal weapons.

[i]Damn Alton…damn stupid man…[/i]

The warning had gone up, alright, and they had a surprisingly large number of defenders to deal with. He’d expected the Snatchers to be a relatively small band, perhaps two dozen at most, but if they were, then they were all outside the cave. No chance that they were leaving the Domesticated alone inside, either, which meant that they had at least as many inside, all fortified and waiting for him and his to come through.

“Weapon.”

“Here, Master.”

Taking the rifle back, he sighted up the slope to where the Snatcher had popped behind the rock. He waited, two seconds passing before moonlight glinted off the barrel of a smaller rifle. He pulled the trigger –

Ping.

The rifle barrel swung away, a scream following.

“Forward.”

His men moved professionally, his Domesticated doing the same. Behind them, Alton hurried up to him, roughly keeping pace, though with far less practice.

“You’re a crack shot, man,” Alton said with a laugh.

“Practice, Mr. Schelton.”

“Are you going to leave a trail of blood here? It’ll be quite the story for the news.”

“I’m getting my property back.”

“My soon to be property, you mean.”

“Provided that more training is not required,” Brecht said.

Nina opened her mouth, and he held out a finger to the mouse. She didn’t like it, but she kept her mouth shut.

“Forward,” Brecht repeated.

They made it as far as the cave mouth before the defenders returned fire. Darts, mostly, though there was a bullet here and there that concerned him. His Domesticated quickly moved out of the way, taking positions around the cave mouth. A nod at the two foxes of the team sent them climbing up and around the opening, scouting the area, making sure that there were no secondary tunnels that would let the Snatchers take them by surprise.

The rest looked back at him for orders. He gestured for them to hold position for now, shaking his head.

[i]Mostly tranqs, but a few real guns, too…[/i]

Which meant that any charge had the chance to turn deadly, now. And considering the damage that his reputation would take if Mr. Schelton decided to be a hero, that meant that he had to be [i]very[/i] careful how he approached this.

As the rich brat tried to step back the rocks that kept them covered, he grabbed his ‘sponsor’ and pulled him back. Alton grunted.

“You can’t tell me you’re stopping here. What about the beasts?”

“They’re already in the caves. And thanks to you, there’s no sneaking in, anymore,” Brecht said.

“They could have sniped us from up there. I did you a favor.”

“Then please do not try and do me an injury. I’d hate to see what that looks like.”

“Come on. They’re probably shipping the beasts out already. I don’t want to lose this slave.”

“Shipping them – how? Where?” Brecht asked, gesturing around them. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re not exactly anywhere that they can just sneak them out. The Snatchers are pinned down. They know it, we know it. The only advantages they have are location and hostages; if we push now, then they’ll hold the former and kill the latter.”

“…”

“I know what I’m doing. So shut up, and let me think.”

#

“What do you mean, he’s here?” Ekundayo muttered as they reached the next tunnel intersection. “He wouldn’t come.”

“He did.”

“How do you know?”

“That crack earlier? Only one gun I know makes that sound,” Muto said. “And Master made it custom for that. It’s a trademark.”

“Impossible.”

“If anyone could find us, it’s him.”

While he understood having great confidence in another warrior, he seriously doubted that it was that simple. There was no way that Brecht would have tracked them down that fast, particularly with the broadcast being only a few seconds ago. While there was something going on, it was clearly a human problem, not one of theirs.

Theirs, unfortunately, had just gotten that much harder.

They hadn’t seen Bostir yet, but there was a large clump of humans ahead of them, just down the tunnel. It was a long, narrow tunnel, the sort that only allowed someone to go one or two at a time, and it was completely straight, meaning that there were no bends to take cover behind. Worst of all, it was at least fifty feet long, meaning that once they started running, they were completely exposed until they reached the cavern on the far end.

[i]And there’s too many of us to easily sneak through…[/i]

Dozens of anthros at a distance meant very little when the enemy was all armed. If they were lucky, they’d get maybe two collections of shots off, and that might, might take out a couple of the humans down the tunnel. After that, though, they’d be all pinned down, and there were other humans still in the tunnels behind them, searching for them.

[i]Ten down in the cages, but still at least twenty more behind us, as well as Bostir. Plus the ones ahead…[/i]

The anthros didn’t quite have the numbers that he had hoped for. Gritting his teeth, he looked back down the tunnel. That was the way out. They could all smell the fresh air out there just waiting for them. They just had to [i]get[/i] there without getting shot.

“Any bright ideas?” Ekundayo whispered.

“Other than sneak forward as quiet as we can? Nothing,” the maned wolf muttered. “But we can’t stay here, can we?”

“Seriously thought that the security guy would have a better idea.”

“My job’s to keep people from getting in.”

“Well, you messed up there,” he muttered.

“What was that?”

“…Nothing.”

But there had to be something. He wished that he could think of something better, but he had come from jungle and savannah, not from the tunnels and mountains. This was not his natural habitat. He didn’t know how this worked, didn’t know how the tunnels came together. Hell, he barely had an idea of how to keep moving through it. The humans knew the layout more than he did.

But they were so close. There had to be a way out. Had to be.

He gritted his teeth, wondering if it was worth it to try and bait the humans back, when –

CRACK!

Muto smiled again, watching as one of the humans hit the ground, head torn open, body still.

“I told you. That’s him.”

“…”

The other humans responded with a rain of bullets and darts, shooting back down the tunnel. Muto and Ekundayo had the same idea. There was a distraction, and they were going to use it.

“Move,” Muto muttered, and they ran.

#

“Goddammit!”

Brecht pulled his rifle out of Mr. Schelton’s grip, dragging the other man out of the firing line before he could get hit a second time. The bastard had gotten impatient and tried to solve it with a trick shot. Admittedly, a very good trick shot, but one that had pissed off everyone inside at the same time.

Thankfully, the dart had only grazed his sponsor, not embedded itself in him, so he was only a little loopy rather than completely dead to the world. Shaking his head, he shoved the brat against the rocks, kneeling down behind cover.

“Well, this is a fine situation,” he muttered.

“Reports from the foxes, Master. No secondary tunnel.”

“Not what I wanted to hear, Nina.”

“We aren’t miracle workers, sir,” the mouse said.

“I know…I know.”

Shaking his head, he waited for the latest flurry of shots to end, then poked his head around the edge of the rock. He had a split second to see the barrels of far too many weapons pointed his way before ducking back behind the rock again. Ping ping spang.

“This little idiot…”

“Master, he is still conscious.”

“And drugged up to the gills,” Brecht muttered, tempted to kick the brat. He didn’t, but he was tempted. “This just got so much –”

“AGH!”

The scream came from down the tunnel. And it came from one of the defenders. None of them had fired, or moved. Which meant –

“FORWARD!”

Brecht’s roared command was followed instantly, with him leading the way. He threw himself over the rock and opened fire, taking two in the back with his pistol before he tossed it over his shoulder. Nina was already reloading, and he was sighting down the rifle again. It looked like the Domesticated had started freeing themselves…

#

The rush had done its job. They were upon the humans without a single casualty. With battle joined in melee, the fight was all but finished. With the covering fire from outside, it was finished.

Muto put down his opponent, and Ekundayo sat on his, shaking his head as he caught his breath. They’d gotten through, managed to get past everyone without a single casualty to the kidnapped Domesticated. It was something of a miracle, all things considered, and they were all grateful for it.

They were just about to leave – and he was just about to start making his way into the wilds for a few days – when the ‘master’ showed up. Brecht stepped into the cavern, shaking his head as he shouldered his weapon.

“Well…you certainly made things easier for us,” the human said.

“Master,” Muto said, bowing his head. “Thanks for the cover.”

“Thanks for rushing them from behind.”

“It was the best moment for it. Knew it was you soon as I heard your gun.”

“…Glad you were listening.”

Ekundayo shook his head, waving his hand. They both turned to him.

“Hate to break this up, but there’s still at least as many humans still in the caves. Including someone named Mr. Bostir.”

“Bostir…Henry Bostir,” Brecht said. “Hmmm…now that explains things.”

Ekundayo shook his head. It didn’t explain anything to him, but he didn’t really care. He had just fought his way free, and now…now, he was basically caught again. The hyena leaned against the wall, shaking his head slowly.

“What’re you going to do to me now?”

“Now? Nothing. You are going to stay here and wait. We are a number of miles from my home, and there is little in the way of safety for an untrained Domesticated outside of their owner’s home,” Brecht said. “I have plans for you – good plans – but they will require some more time. I give you my word that things are going to be better, but for now, I have to attend to this…Bostir.”

“…So, what, you’re just going to trust me to stay here?”

“I’m going to command you to do that. Whether you follow that command is up to you, but your reputation rests on it.”

“…”

“Come, Muto.”

The human and his maned wolf jogged back down the cavern, followed by most of the armed Domesticated that had come with him. The others, freed as they were, sat down rather than trying to run.

Ekundayo looked at them, shaking his head as he looked down the other tunnel. Freedom lay at the other end of that rocky passage…but without any way to get back to where he belonged, was it really freedom? Or was it just the ‘freedom’ to keep running away for as long as he could stay ahead of Brecht and the other humans?

For better or worse, he had been captured, and he had been collared. In the eyes of all the other humans in the world, he was a Domesticated, and that meant that he didn’t have freedom.

[i]Except for what I can trick them into giving me…[/i]

Muto had explained that part well enough, and the Snatchers had reinforced it. The more that he pretended to go along with them, the more that he could trick them into giving him, and the more that they would believe that he couldn’t do anything against them. If nothing else, it would allow him the ‘freedom’ to do things without them checking in on him, or thinking that he could possibly be responsible.

He sat down, sighing. Life…life was not easy.

#

Henry Bostir. Known to most slave-traders as the Furrier for financing his ‘Snatching’ operations through the sale of furs and hides taken from Domesticated that he had ended up killing, Mr. Bostir had been a thorn in the side of the industry for some time. He was a problem of the highest sort, and they had a chance to put him down.

“Muto. Are you armed?” Brecht asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well?”

“Gun and dart.”

“Here.”

Handing a knife over, Brecht waited for Muto to get a good grip on it before rounding the next corner. Unsurprisingly, they found themselves face to face with a cluster of Snatchers. The humans gasped, their eyes going wide as they started to pull their guns up –

Snikt.

One went down instantly, the tranq dart that his security chief had been carrying instead of a knife taking the human in the throat. As he hit the ground, the rest of Brecht’s people came up behind him, holding lethal weapons to the Snatchers’ dart guns. They stared for a moment, then slowly lowered their weapons.

“Where’s Mr. Bostir?” Brecht asked in as neutral a voice as he could.

“…”

Snikt.

Armed with the only dart gun among them, Muto took down one of the remaining five. The other four gibbered, pointing back down the hall.

“Good. Get out.”

They were more than willing to run off. He didn’t worry about what they might do. Four humans were not going to be a problem for the Domesticated waiting at the cave entrance. They might be a trifle annoying, but no more than that. He and his Domesticated moved further in.

It didn’t take long to find the film set, nor the people that were waiting there. Mr. Bostir stood by the camera, one hand at his waist, the other on the camera itself. Brecht nodded at the Snatcher.

“Mr. Bostir.”

“Mr. Brecht,” the older man said.

“I take it that you were responsible for kidnapping my property.”

“No more responsible than you were for bringing them here.”

“You’ve cost money, time, and lives tonight.”

“It’s not all business,” Mr. Bostir said.

“Everything is business of one sort, Henry. It’s just a matter of professional or personal business.”

“And this is personal.”

“Well, whatever it is, it ends today.”

“Are you going to shoot me, then?”

“No.” Muto interrupted them, the maned wolf stepping between Brecht and the Snatcher. “You and I are going to have this out. Master’s not getting any of your blood on his hands tonight.”

“…Hmmph. A beast wants to fight. Typical.”

Brecht said nothing. This had been his plan, more or less, once he had learned that Henry was here. There was little point in shooting the man. There would be no trial; Snatchers were thieves, and a slave trader, properly registered as he was, was allowed to protect his property properly. He would not be charged for anything.

But that didn’t mean that he didn’t believe in a certain amount of karmic justice. Allowing Muto to be the one to do the job just felt right.

“You have a knife, I’m told,” Brecht said. “And that you’re quite quick with it.”

“…The hyena.”

“Indeed.”

“He was too smart to be that dumb…”

“Indeed. But let’s see just how fast you are with that thing. Muto will only use a knife, as well. If you can out-fight him, I’ll let you go.”

“…You’re lying.”

“No.” Brecht smiled. “I just have that much faith in him.”

“Let’s dance, asshole,” Muto growled.

#

Ekundayo’s heart had more or less settled down, no longer pounding away, when the half-drunk human arrived. The wobbling male tilted one way, then the other, making his way through the exit tunnel and looking around. His eyes were glazed over, and if there had ever been someone that looked like he needed to be put down for a nap to sleep it off, it was him.

But the hyena was willing to ignore him. As a matter of fact, that was what he had planned to do.

Then, the stranger ruined it.

“Mmmph, fuck, you look even hotter in person,” the human muttered, wobbling and shambling his way across the cavern. He poked Ekundayo in the chest. “And so strong.”

“Go away,” the hyena muttered.

“Nah…nah, not yet.”

“I said, go away.”

“Mmmph…uppity little slave, ain’t ya?”

“…”

“Come on…lemme get a good look at you…”

Looking wasn’t what the human was doing at all. As a matter of fact, the human’s eyes were rolling around as if they couldn’t focus on anything, as if he was high or something. His fingers were doing all the ‘looking,’ and they were wandering all over the place, touching, pulling, fondling, tweaking whatever they could find. They ran over his chest, finding his nipples and rubbing circles around them. They ran over his chest, over his stomach, past his abs and –

“Mmmmph…fuck…”

The human actually grabbed him by the dick, touching and stroking it. Ekundayo had to grit his teeth not to punch the human right in the mouth at that point, fighting the urge to just remind him that he was a person, not a thing.

Then those fingers went to his balls, rubbing them. They were sweaty, of course, from the running and fighting, but of all the things that he had imagined, he did not think the human would have pulled his hands back and sniffed them.

“Mmmph…fucking musky, too.”

“…”

“Man, you smell good.”

“What is wrong with you?”

“Come on, slave. Show me a good time.”

The human tried to push him over, tried to knock him off his feet, but when one person was drunk and the other was sober? Well, that didn’t really work. The human stumbled instead, hitting the ground, groaning.

“Nnngh…I’ll have you punished for that.”

“For what?!” Ekundayo shouted. “For just sitting here.”

“You’re a…a slave. You do what you’re told…I wanna…wanna have fun…”

“Fun…fun?!”

Something shattered in him at that moment. Something that he had been holding back, some anger that he’d been controlling. He lunged for the drunken sot, shoving him over onto his back. The human grunted from the impact, but didn’t fight it as Ekundayo stood over him, shoving his foot down in the human’s face and grinding him into the stone.

“Fun…you call this…fun…”

“Mmmph…”

“You aren’t my master. You aren’t even human right now. You’re just…someone that needs to learn a lesson.”

“Mmmph…then fucking…teach me…”

“Oh, I plan to.”

He dragged his foot back, his claws curling at the last second to rip through the human’s clothes. Untouched skin, probably barely ever seeing the sun, was exposed. He stomped down as he exposed that weedy little shaft between those pale legs. It jumped against his foot, throbbing.

“I’m going to teach you what a bitch you are…”

#

The fight began, and Brecht was honestly impressed. He had half-wondered if Eku had been too panicked to get a good read on Henry, but the Snatcher chief was surprisingly good with his blade. He danced with it like a man possessed, a demon of speed and dexterity. He tossed the blade from hand to hand in artful style, too, the narrow point shifting quickly and making it hard to tell just which hand would make the eventual strike.

Fortunately, Muto was just as good.

[i]He’ll strike from the left,[/i] Brecht predicted, and Henry did. Darting in after a faked punch from the right, the blade danced in, meaning to take the maned wolf in the ribs. Muto spun around it, cutting high.

A miss, sadly. No, a near-miss. Henry darted back with red across his cheek, just enough to stain down to his jaw.

“Nnngh…beast…”

“Heh. Domesticated,” Muto said. “Properly.”

“No such thing.”

“Let’s find out.”

They danced again, coming close and parting. This time, it was Muto that took the mark. A red line along his chest, right over one pectoral. Not deep, and closed quickly.

[i]Striking low this time…[/i]

He recognized the type. Someone that was feeling out weaknesses, seeing how his opponent responded. Henry was fighting like someone that wanted to break his opponent, that wanted to show off just how much fancy footwork and artful slashes could hurt someone before taking his win.

That wasn’t how Muto fought. He knew how the maned wolf had fought when he’d first been introduced to the estate as a much younger male. He knew how he had trained Muto to overcome the instincts that Henry was trying to draw out. Pain didn’t make Muto stupid the way that some Domesticated would get.

Pain made Muto focus.

So, when the maned wolf took a cut along the outer thigh, it didn’t make him lash out. It didn’t make him do something that would give Henry an opening. All it did was make him lean in and take the opening that Henry gave him. The human jumped back, gasping for breath as he held a hand over his side.

“What…”

“Stab me, I stab you,” Muto said.

“But…”

“I’m a Domesticated.”

[i]And that means, he has control. More than you have.[/i]

Henry had the one trick, and he just kept using it. He would try and hit Muto in as painful a spot as possible, and the maned wolf would either dodge, taking advantage of the opening that the human gave him, or would just take it, and deliver the same response to the opening that was left behind. Every time, Henry pulled back a bit further, getting more and more panicked in his motions, more erratic and less focused.

It was rather lovely to watch, in all honesty. The slow lines of red that appeared all across the Snatcher were a perfect representation of the slow destruction of the human’s ideals. Henry’s belief that the Domesticated were animals, that they were hateful little things that could never be trusted, could never be trained, were being shredded bit by bit with Muto’s continued demonstration that he could not be provoked with pain, that he would not offer the openings of a wild animal.

And then, Henry made his greatest mistake. He tried to run.

Even as the wounded man turned on his heel, throwing his knife over his shoulder, Muto was ready. A quick clang followed the deflection, and the maned wolf flicked his arm back. The blade danced, flickered, and flew.

“Guh!”

Henry gasped as the knife hit him in the back of the neck, embedding itself within his spine. He stiffened, then fell forward, blood rushing out of the wound. Of course, that wouldn’t be what killed him; Brecht knew where the blade had landed, and knew that the cut had severed most of the nerve connections to the rest of the body. It went past simple paralysis; the heart would be losing its connection to the brain in short order, the same with the lungs.

The usual ragged breathing had begun, and Muto shook his head as he returned to Brecht’s side.

“Not taking the knife?”

“Don’t need it, Master. Might as well let the bastard die with it.”

“…I suppose we can afford a new one.”

“I’ll take it out of my pay.”

“Fair. Let’s see to your protégé.”

“Heh. Still thinking of selling him?”

“In all honesty, no. Schelton is a bastard…but I may not have a choice. Let’s get back to the others.”

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: The break-out and rescue continues apace.

Tags: M/M, Foot Fetish, Nudity, Fighting, Maned Wolf, Hyena, Human, Drugged, Stupid, Fight, Anger, Musk, Death, Series,