The Auctioned Bride

"Move it bitch!" the ugly security guard said as he shoved her along with the other girls. Sophia could hardly move her legs. She had been starved for two days to make her look slim and fit for the auction.

 The auction. The dreadful day that she had been groomed for her entire life was finally here and her soul screamed with exhausted agony. The big, ugly security men hoarded them into a rundown truck where a middle-aged woman was waiting. The woman walked past each girl, muttering words of distaste occasionally until she walked up to Sophia. A frown formed over her face.

"This one too fat." She said in her deeply accented English. "She pretty, very pretty but breast too big because she too fat."

Sophia felt like hitting the ugly hag as hard as her frail body could but that would have been too foolish.

"Do you want us to return her to the farms?" One of the security guards asked.

"No, we manage." She replied then proceeded to slap Sophia on her left breast. Sophia gave a little grunt but showed no other signs of pain. The woman smiled at this.

"She strong, she make good surrogate." Surrogate? Is this what her life was going to be reduced to? A mere breeding machine? Sophia fought back the tears that threatened to fall.

"No cry." The woman said. "Virgin girl like you bring me plenty money from rich men." With that, she broke into a witch-like crackling that was supposedly laughter.

The truck began to make its journey out of the dark compound of warehouses that held the biggest human farms in Europe. Sophia looked out of the little window as the buildings rolled by. Her entire childhood was fleeting by the window and she could only feel sorry for the other girls that were still held up in there. The ugly security guard that had shoved her earlier gave a low whistle and one of his colleagues got up and withdrew an electric teaser. He turned it on and it ignited with a wicked crackle. He smiled down at Sophia before poking her hard on her shoulder with its wicked point. She screamed and trashed about before the world slowly began to go dark around her.

"Sophia." A tiny voice called. "Sophia, get up." A little girl in a torn night dress was looking at her. Sophia struggled to her feet but her legs were still weak. Her head ached badly, and the world seemed to spin. 

"Who are you?" She asked. She could not remember meeting this strange girl anywhere before in her life but she looked vaguely familiar. She looked around and noticed they were back in the farms with girls of all ages huddled up in different corners. This is strange, she thought. The girls were normally kept in separate warehouses. Each warehouse housed a specific age grade.

"Don't worry about that for now. Right now you have to do something very important." The little girl said.

"And what is that?" Sophia asked confused. Her headache had begun to centralize in one spot and the world seemed to be spinning faster. Her vision became very fuzzy and the girls who were huddled together began to approach her. They gathered around her and began to pull at her dress. One girl pinched her thigh and she yelped. A taller one pinched her left breast. The world was now spinning very fast and her headache was now a rhythmic pounding.

"What do you want me to do?" Sophia all but screamed, the girls had begun to scratch her and little bubbles of blood began to appear all over her skin. 

 "What do you want?" She yelled at the top of her voice.

The little girl appeared in front of her with a bleeding nose and a ghoulish smile. "I want you to wake up."

"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up." All the girls around her began to chant and her headache came down on her like a heavy blow.

Sophia opened her eyes slowly. She tried to move, but she was tied and propped against her window. The bus was dark and quiet. All the other girls were seated but they were all unnaturally still. Light flickered into the vehicle from the window and Sophia could see nothing but trees outside the bus. A sign reads 'leaving old Standbridge.' The bus took a turn and continued down the country road. After several hours they reached the city. Sophia's eyes widened in amazement at the cars, the lights and all the people moving and looking so happy. 'So this is the outside world' She thought. Her ropes were tied too tightly and her wrists were hurting her.

 She moved slowly so as not to alert any of the guards. Beside her seat, there was an old, rusted piece of iron. She began moving up and down against it until the ropes snapped. She looked up and saw that none of the guards were watching her and proceeded to cut her feet loose. The bus slowed down to a stop and Sophia stopped moving. The guards began moving the unconscious girls one by one down the bus. Sophia sat still with the iron in her hand. 

The guard bent down to pick her up but noticed the torn pieces of ropes lying on the floor. He raised his head to look up at the sleeping girl only to see her fully awake and staring down at him. 

**** 

"Harry?" the big ugly guard that had shoved her called. "What are you still doing in there? We don't have all day mate." 

"Maybe you should go check on him." Another guard said.

"Hey hurry. Auction soon start." The old woman said angrily. She looked back at all the other girls standing weakly in a line.

"Take them inside." She said to one of the guards "Go bring Harry!" she yelled finally. The big guard rushed awkwardly into the bus, and the first thing his eyes saw was the object bundled on the floor.

"Harry?" he said as he slowly walked towards the object. Beads of perspiration ran down his face and his hand shook as he reached down into his pocket for his flashlight.

"Why you taking forever? Where Harry?" the old woman yelled. The guard took every step slowly until he reached the object. He turned on his flashlight and slowly directed its beam at the object.

"Where Harry? What going on in there?" the woman's voice came to him like he was in a trance. Why was he here? What was his assignment? Yes to find Harry. But why, he asked himself, was Harry on the floor of the bus with a bloody line cut into his fuckin neck. And then, like a train it hit him. THE GIRL. All of a sudden, his composure returned, and he walked back outside. The old woman looked up at him expectantly.

"Where Harry?" She asked.

"Harry is dead, and that bitch Sophia is gone."

The woman's face turned a deadly shade of white when she heard his words. She turned around and looked at the scared girls standing in the corner. Her hand dug into her bag to retrieve her inhaler and she took four quick puffs. The color slowly returned to her face, and she turned around to face the guard.

"FIND HER."