Sam the Ham

Two Collars

PZA 5th Anniversary 2007-2012 Story

Richie peddled his bike down the paved road before turning down a dirt covered driveway. Paddling down the driveway he skittered to a sudden stop sending up a cloud of dust right in front of Michael's brother's new car he was hand washing.

"You little bastard! I just finished washing that." Thomas a large 17-year-old hurried around the front of his car and started to wipe down where some of the dust had planted.

Internally Richie flinched at the sharp tone. He didn't like being yelled at and it unnerved him into silence. He was used to being bullied at school and found silence usually worked best. Thomas shot a glare at Richie who just looked down.

"What you're not even going to say sorry? Little bastard" Thomas said.

"Sorry." Richie offered swinging his legs off of his bike.

"Little bastard." Thomas said this time dismissively.

Richie quietly walked his bike into the open garage and leaned his up against Mike's. Without looking back at Thomas he knocked on the door that led into the house. A moment later it opened revealing Mike's smiling mother.

"Dear, you know you don't have to knock, especially when you call to say you were coming right over."

"Sorry," Richie said smiling up at the overweight woman.

She put a hand on his shoulder and laughed. "You're so polite, why can't any of that rub off on Mike?"

"Because Richie is too polite," Mike's prepubescent voice came from behind his mother who shifted to one side to let Mike pass.

"There is no such thing as too polite," she chastised.

Mike slipped past his mother and spun around a broad smile on his face. "Let's agree to disagree on that. Now if you don't mind we're going camping."

Mike's mother let out a long sigh. "Yes, yes, you to run off. Remember though you're supposed to be back by morning. Richie I promised your mother that we would take you into town tomorrow for the Feast of the Bull parade. Mike is supposed to go home with you then right?"

"Yes ma'am. I really appreciate you letting us camp out even though it's a holiday."

Mike made a gagging sound while his mother smiled. "It's the Feast of the Bull. Not exactly one of the major holidays."

"Will be back for breakfast," Mike said before smiling. "I didn't pack anything besides some candy bars anyways."

Mike's mother laughed. "Yes, you would show up just to eat. Be safe you two. I'm going to do some errands so I will be gone for a few hours, but I'm leaving the back door unlocked just in case you need anything."

"Thanks mom." Mike hesitated and then ducked in to give her a quick hug which she returned. Embarrassed he broke away and darted towards his backpack. "Come on Richie let's go."

Richie started after his friend as they headed into the woods. He didn't notice that his own backpack brushed against Thomas's car, his zipper leaving a small scratch. Within a minute they had disappeared from sight, but when Thomas found the scratch a moment later as he went over his car one last time he knew how it got there.

Richie and Mike talked as they walked. The conversation would've been boring to anyone else, but to them it was fascinating. The simple act of being together made both happy as if all of their worries fell away like raindrops from a window.

They camped in the same area by agreement with their parents. It was a field that was close to a road. The road was only screened from the field by a row of trees and rarely used at night. There was a stream nearby that was rarely more than ankle-deep and woods everywhere else. With a little imagination it was easy to imagine they were completely alone.

Richie watched as Mike set up the tent by himself. It was a small tent and a quick task. The tent was only big enough for one man and being two adolescent boys it was just big enough for both of them. It helped that Richie was small for his 12 years and preferred to cuddle up right next Mike who never complained about the arrangement.

After a few minutes Mike straightened and slapped his hands together to clear off imaginary dust. "Well, that's that. Now what is this surprise you were telling me about on the phone?"

Richie smiled and shrugged off his own backpack and opened the back zipper. Smiling he pulled out to slave collars. They were thin black pieces of leather with adjustable collars and two small metal boxes painted matte black to match. "I found these when we were cleaning out the attic. My mom says they were back when my dad used slave labor for his contract business. That was before the Abolitionists and the Blues had the reforms passed."

20 years ago a slave was able to do any work from farm work to accountant. In theory there were two types of slaves. The first type was a penal slave. People convicted of crimes would serve the government seven days a week, 12 hours a day. They worked on public work projects, usually without the use of heavy machinery except for when it helped the project. They served out their sentence and were freed or if they had a life sentence worked until they couldn't work anymore and then were euthanized. Only the most committed abolitionists complained about that.

The second type was called rent slaves. Like the penal slave thread slaves were owned by the government, but they could be rented out to individuals, groups or organizations for the duration of one month with an option to rent them continuously for a set fee every month. The theory was they would provide a mobile workforce appearing when needed and disappearing when not. At 70 they were retired to the pens, which were like retirement homes only they weren't given expensive medical care. The pens were a half win for the abolitionists.

Unlike the penal slaves most were either born into slavery from to slave parents or sold at a young age. The government had allowed parents to sell children at the age of five at a price of 10,000 tax-free credits. Children were also considered seasonable assets in the case of debt. The former process had been done away with but the latter was still in effect.

The trouble had started when some enterprising executive and done the calculations and realize that renting in training a slaves to do some job was actually made business sense. Slaves were not only becoming waitresses, but receptionist and accountants. The Blue party which drew support from the lower and middle class had teamed up with the abolitionists a then small group to institute reforms.

Now, rent slaves could only be rented by individuals who could employ at home or in selected agricultural positions. Many small business owners have been left with their slave collars which were a one-time purchase from the government and had been largely kept just in case they could afford a household slave.

Mike smiled thinking he understood. "And what would you like to do with those?"

Richie smiled embarrassed. "Could you like pretend to be my master when we play?"

"If that's what you want why did you bring two?"

This time Richie blushed and he could feel his face turned beet red. "Because I think you would look nice with one on too."

It wasn't uncommon for boys to mess around with each other like Richie and Mike like to do. In fact it was even encouraged so there were no accidents with girls. If either of them ever admitted that they had feelings for each more than just friendship they would both be social outcasts.

Richie knew he liked Mike and Mike knew Richie knew. Many of the girls who played with each other also thought Mike was very attractive. For 12 he was incredibly well muscled was a great butt and beautiful calves. He was good at sports, popular and outgoing. Richie knew Mike wasn't particularly well endowed, but he loved the finger length organ.

In contrast Richie had no idea why Mike liked him. He was small for his age with a large head that made him look like he was always about to fall over. His feet and hands were also too big for the rest of his body. He was scrawny and when it came to sports the best he could do was scream his head off while cheering Mike on. Even his privates were weird with large balls and a shaft that hung below his balls giving his privates a bell like appearance.

Richie was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice as Mike came to stand in front of him until he blocked out the sun. When he looked up arms wrapped around him, his lips were covered by another's. For half of a second he did nothing surprised, but then he responded. Opening his mouth he invited the boy he loved in. Their tongues met and danced around until reluctantly they withdrew.

Richie stared up into Mike's eyes and leaned into him feeling safe as he saw the same feelings reflected back at him. Then Mike frowned. "Wait, we can't."

Blood had been diverted away to more important parts of Richie's body and it took him a second to figure out what Mike was referring too. "What? Why not?" He heard the whining, but didn't care.

Mike smiled. "Once a collar's on a can only be removed with the electronic key. You need to work for the government to have that."

Richie pushed away from his friend smiling and held up one and connected it to itself. He jiggled it a little to show it was secure and then disconnected it from itself. "The batteries are only good for a year. Without power it's just like a dog collar."

Mike held out his hand for the collar and tried it himself before shrugging. "I guess the batteries dead. Okay, I guess it could be fun as long as I'm the master."

They both laugh. They were friends and both cared about each other but each knew Mike was the leader of the two of them. Richie wouldn't have it any other way. Taking a step back Richie straightened his neck trying to extend it. "I'm ready."

With collar in hand Mike stepped forward and place the collar around Richie's neck clicking it together before adjusting it so the metal box was at the back of Richie's neck before tightening it. What neither of the boys knew was that the collar had two settings. When not sealed it operated on a lower power setting that could keep a charge for decades. There was a small sensor in the black box that could tell when it came in contact with a warm body. Once that was activated it sent a signal to the rest of the collar. The collar around Richie's neck was now fully activated transmitting his location to anyone with the proper equipment.

Mike stepped back and cocked his head. "You look pretty good. I wouldn't mind owning you."

Richie liked hearing that. The thought made him hard. It wasn't an entirely unfamiliar thought. He had seen slaves around. One of his few other friends had one. She was maybe 40 and cleaned the house and was an excellent cook. She had always been nice to him, a lot more than that friend had been sometimes. Still, you saw slaves everywhere. Slaves were not allowed to have money, but you saw them at the supermarket hoping their owners shop. Last time you went to the supermarket with his mom, he had seen a girl about his age picking over the fruit and another boy about seven just following behind his owner.

Richie thought it must be nice, not having to make major decisions. Next year he had to choose some classes to take. Right now he wasn't sure what to choose, Mike didn't have that problem, but he had confidence. He wished he could be like his friend, but Richie knew he wasn't. Every time he made a decision, he immediately thought why it was the wrong decision. His parents offered advice, but whatever he said he wanted a class they supported it. He wished his only concern was to pick out the ripest fruit.

He felt a poke on his four head and he looked up at Mike. "You there Richie? Are you zoning out again?"

"I'm fine," Richie said feeling embarrassed. "Come on put your collar on."

"You're demanding slave," Mike said. He felt the other collar and examined it like he did the other one, but instead of offering it to Richie to put on, he sledded over his own neck and connected it. "How do I look?"

"Sexy," Richie said.

"Well I'm hard. Let's go to the stream."

Walking back into the woods and went down slight hill until they came to a small but fast-moving stream. The trees were high overhead and the ground was covered in fallen leaves that crushed underfoot. Here the occasional car was never heard and they had never been disturbed by anyone here. There was one larger rock that would have been covered in moss if the boys had not peeled it off. It had been doubtlessly good dropped by a glacier long ago or maybe moved by the stream when it was flooding.

Richie appreciate it the quiet, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around to see Mike with a serious expression on his face. "You're my slave, are you not?"

"Yes sir!" Richie said straightening.

"That's master." Mike corrected.

"Yes sir master!" Richie said trying not to smile.

Mike laugh. "Just master will do. Now, if you're my slave why are you wearing clothing? I don't remember giving you permission for that. You are to be naked all the time unless I say otherwise. Isn't that right?"

"Yes master. Those are your orders."

Well, I'll give you to the count of five to get those things off without being punished. If you don't make it in time I'm going to turn that lily white ass of yours cherry red. Understand?"

"Yes master."

"Good. One, two."

Richie thought it would've been like a race, but when Mike reached the number two, he pulled off his shirt and tossed it to one side exposing is pale chest.

"Three, four."

Richie kicked off his shoes, but one caught crossing a second to delay before he could start undoing his pants.

"Five, six."

Richie didn't know why Mike was still counting. He would be punished now even as he undid his pants and pulled them down with his underwear.

"Seven, eight."

His jeans were tight and a hard to pull off. The good news is when they did come off they took one of the socks with them.

"Nine, ten."

Richie got his last sock off just as Mike reached ten.

"You took to the count of ten! You just took your time to didn't you? I think you like being punished."

The idea of being punished wasn't bad or Richie. In fact he liked it and Mike knew he liked it. Mike thought it was a little weird but was happy to oblige mostly because it made Richie happy. "I'm sorry master. Please discipline me."

"You're damn right I well." Mike said in a firm voice. "Go stand on the log!" Richie started to walk slowly in that direction which caused Mike to shout, "Run!"

Richie broke into a run, the leaves crunching under his bare feet. His feet were always protected could feel each leaf as it broke and when he stepped onto the lucky could feel the rough bark and smooth moss. The log was narrow and when he tried to stand straight up he lost his balance at first taking a step down before bringing his foot backup. Bending a little at the waist he stuck his butt out to one end and put his hands on his knees to find balance.

"Because you took to the count of ten," Mike said slowly walking over to the tree, "I'm going to give you ten swaps."

The impending spanking had a strange effect on Richie causing his penis slowly start to become enlarged. He could hear Mike coming to a stop in shifting around to find the right footing behind him. Richie closed his eyes knowing there wouldn't be any warning.

The first smack came on his right cheek, so low that it was almost his thigh as Mike shouted. "One!"

The blow almost knocked Richie off his precarious perch as the sound of flesh hitting flesh filled his ears and pain shot from his butt. He curled his toast wishing he had had talents to dig into the wood as the second blow landed higher on the same cheek as to the third. The next blow landed very close to his anus as Mike shouted. "Four!" The next blow landed almost in the same spot as Mike shouted, "Four!" Again.

Richie knew that Mike had said four twice, but as a slave he couldn't object. When the fifth swat came it was on the same cheek. There was a moment of silence before he heard a rustling leaves that told Mike was moving to the other side of them. Then the sixth swat came on the fresh cheek.

Mike repeated the process on the other cheek this time double counting the number eight. When he was done Richie felt like his butt was on fire and rubbed it with both hands. Strangely though he was hard, almost painfully and he diverted one of his hands from rubbing butt to rubbing his front before Mike snapped. "You can't touch yourself without permission."

"Yes master," he said with a whimper.

"Now come down from there. I don't like you being taller than me."

Richie stepped down, but unbeknownst to the two boys there had been a third observer to their little activity. Thomas had discovered the scratch on his car and knowing where his brother was camping intended to pound the shit out of him. He heard the counting before he found the boys and nearly laughed when he saw them. Thomas knew his little brother was a fairy despite his athletic abilities. He knew the same thing about his friend having caught them more than a few times being far too intimate for just buddies helping each other out.

The sight of slave collars gave him an idea. If the little fairies wanted to be slaves well you could arrange that. Pulling out his cell phone he called the slave police saying the two new boys his family had just purchased had wandered off. He even put a little concern in his voice saying they were young and he thinks they were lost in the woods. He didn't have to leave a name or anything like that because the collars would have all the information they needed. The collars couldn't be from active slaves, he knew that. Once everything was shorted out would be one long shameful ride back home. With one more look at the two boys he turned around and walked back. He had a date after all.

"Why would you hide this beautiful body from me?" Mike demanded after a minute.

"I'm sorry master," Richie said.

Without warning Mike reached out his hand and grabbed Richie's hard member. Wrapping his fingers around it he ran his thumb up the underside of it. "You're beautiful. Do you know how beautiful you are?

It took a massive effort for Richie not to push deeper into his friend's hand. "Master I'm nothing. You're the perfect one. I think about you all the time. You're so beautiful."

"Oh, you like the way I look?" Mike said knowing the answer. "All right, you may undress me and gaze upon my beauty."

Richie bit back a laugh. He recognizes the line from a movie they had recently watched, only in the movie it had been said by an old hag.

Reaching out he pulled off Mike shirt with a little help and let it fall to the ground before he dropped to his own needs and started untying his friend shoes. He took one shoe off and then the sock before repeating the process with the other foot. When he reached up to undo his shorts Mike grabbed his hands.

Richie stared up at the boy questioningly and saw him smile. "Use your teeth."

Licking his lips Richie sat up on his knees which just barely brought him to crotch level. He bit the cloth and tried to pull it first, but brute force wouldn't work. Carefully using his tongue and pulling on the fabric eventually got the button through the narrow fabric. After that it was easy using his tongue he lifted the zipper and then bit down on it using his teeth. Pulling his head down pulled the zipper down.

Mike helped him pull down his pants and stepped out of them leaving them only in his boxers with the familiar looking bulge. Without being prompted Richie reached up and bit the waistband of Mike's boxers and pulled them down. He could feel Mike's organ slide across his face. Once the boxers were past his knees he used his hands to pull them down the rest of the way before looking up at the erection.

Mike's balls were perfectly proportioned to his body, but his shaft look a little small. Richie didn't care; he loved the person it was attached too.

"Do you like my cock?" Mike asked.

"Yes master, very much." Richie replied.

"Then show me how much you like it."

Richie leaned forward and kissed the other boy's ball sack. He stuck his tongue out and licked one side tasting salty sweat and then the other. Going down he tried to place both balls in his mouth and move them around with. Before he spat them back out and kiss the base of Mike's shaft. He felt hands go to the back of his head holding him gently as he moved up Mike shaft. Upon reaching the tip Richie opened his mouth slipped down taking the familiar length into his mouth until there was no more. For a few seconds he just held it there enjoying the warmth before moving up a little and carefully pulling back a little and pressing his lips down and pushing back down. That slid Mike's foreskin back keep his throat and Mike gasped. It took another few minutes for Richie to bring Mike to a climax and by the end of it his jaw was sore, but his salty reward was well worth it.

Richie smiled as he sat back on his hunches and showed his reword to Mike before swallowing it. Mike's face was flushed and he was breathing heavily. After a minute leaned down and kissed Richie on the lips before pushing him back and against the log and returning the favor for Richie.

Richey hugged his arms across his chest as Mike moved up and down his larger shaft. Between wearing the collar, being ordered around and the spanking he had been on edge and shot quickly. Almost as soon as Mike's mouth was off of his member, though, Mike's hand shot out pinching the skin between his balls pushing them to either side.

"I want you to be sure that I didn't do that to make you feel good. I just like sucking cock is all."

"Yes, master."

Mike smiled and leaned forward to place a kiss on his lips. After a moment Mike said, "I'm already hard again. You really are sexy in that collar."

Richie smiled and was about to thank his master when he heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Well, look what we got here."

Mike shot to his feet as Richie sat up and looked over to see a man may be in his late 30s standing about 10 paces away. He was in a light green uniform and it took Richie a second to realize the man was part of the slave police. They had been so lost in each other that they haven't heard his approach.

"If they were my slaves they get a good whipping for wandering off, especially since they'll have to pay the pickup fee again if they want them back."

Richie's mind was frozen, but Mike laughed nervously. "Hey, we are not slaves, really. We just put the collars on for fun. See." When he reached up to take the collar off, it didn't unhook like it had earlier. He tugged a little harder and then frantically as the men started to laugh.

"That's not even a good excuse. What you just put the collars on and thought it would be fun to report two missing slaves?"

Mike tugged at the collar again. "Wait, you can call my mom." Mike protested turning to face the man who had just spoke.

Richie watched Mike not sure where to look and that was why he saw the dart hit him in the back. A second of shock appeared on Mike's face as he crumpled to the ground.

"It's late and I want to go home. Just dart them and we can drag them back to the van." The man who shot said.

Richie's mind had been freeze mode but when he saw his friend fall he jumped to his feet and started running not thinking where he would go or what he would do. His mind had short-circuited and all he wanted to do was run.

He made it to the edge of the river before the dart hit him in the back. He had enough time to register the pain before he felt numb and he fell forward splashing into the water. He was fully conscious as his nose touched the muddy bottom. He had enough control over his body not to breathe in the water, but as he floated to the surface his lungs started to hurt and he felt his bladder release.

Just as Richie thought he couldn't hold his breath any longer he was yanked out of the water. His head low back was dropped to the ground next to the stream.

"Dammit! If you kill him I'm not covering your ass." One of the men snapped.

"Relax, they're not made out of glass."

"Yeah, remember when you broke that once arm? They took it out of your paycheck. You kill one they'll fire your ass."

"He's breathing." The man said running his eyes down Richie's body. "Nothing's broken either."

The man bent down and picked Richie up swinging him over his shoulder and all the boy could do was move his eyes. The man's shoulder was pushing into his stomach making it hard to breathe, but he couldn't even adjust himself a little.

The two men bickered as they walked through the woods and to the road. Richie couldn't see anything but the man's shirt, but he heard a door open somewhere and then he was dropped onto a metal floor on his side. It was only a dull pain and then he felt a pressure against his back that was warm, but it was like it was through a thick quilt.

He tried to look around but there wasn't much to see. His nose was only a few inches away from a metal wall. The engine started and they started moving. The men had ceased their bickering and had started talking about what they were going to do on the day off.

The entire time Richie's mind was screaming. The idea of being a slave had appealed to him, but being hit with a dart by a member of the slave police, thrown in the back of van and now not knowing what would happen simply terrified him.

By the time the van came to a stop Richie was beating himself up thinking how stupid and useless he was. It felt like a long time before the van stopped and the back doors open. He felt a hand grabbed his ankle before being pulled back onto something hard. When he was pulled out of the van he had a brief glimpse of sky trees and pavement, but then he was rolled onto his stomach his head placed through a whole and all he could see was the pavement. His eyes watered and tears fell as he felt himself being rolled somewhere.

He felt the impact of the door as whatever he was being wheeled on hit it and then the cold air wrapped around his still naked body and he felt shame. There was more movement around him and then the beep and one of the men said, "Dammit."

"What's wrong?" A new voice, a woman's voice came from his other side.

"The collar is registered to an active account, but according to the computer they don't have any slaves."

Richie's heart leapt at that. Surely they would know something wasn't right. If they let him call his dad he could come down here and fix all of this. He heard the door slam open again and the man who had wheeled him in said. "Bring him closer. Richie felt himself moved to the side and a moment later there was another beep. "Same thing."

The woman swore under her breath. "Damn software. A few weeks ago they send out a memo about delays in registrations. Some glitch they haven't worked out yet."

"Could we just call the owners of the collars?" The man asked. "The information is all here."

Yes Richie thought, called. Mom or dad would be there.

"The procedure is to call the main office and they contact the owner." She paused for a second. "They've clocked out for the day. I'll send the message but they probably won't get back to us until tomorrow or well the next day with the holiday. Just stick them in the holding pen until then." She fell silent for a second and then Richie felt a hand on his butt. "Why is this one so wet?"

There was a moment of silence and then one of the men said. "When we darted them he fell down a hill and rolled into a puddle."

The woman laughed. "Yeah stuff like that happens. I ones darted this one woman who had just taken some really interesting drugs. She ran and ran, right into a parked bus. Clean both of them up give them the antidote before sticking them in the holding pen."

"Yes ma'am." The two men said in unison.

Slowly it sunk into Richie that they weren't going to call his parents. He was going to be stuck here and no one knew. He would've screamed if his throat would've let him, but instead he just cried more. In one part of his mind that was still working he realized that Mike was going to hate him. In its own way that thought was worse than being stuck here.

Richie was moved again but couldn't see anything clear through his tears. He hardly felt anything as his hands were shackled above his head, but then he heard a small electric motor and felt himself being pulled free from the platform he had been lying on. His wrists were pulled up and his back bent at an uncomfortable angle. It was relief when his legs felt free and smacked into the ground.

Squeezing his eyes shut he push the tears out and for a second he could see where he was. He was in a room lined with tile, but before he could figure out what was going on he felt cold water hit him in the back of his head. The cold water moved down his back, over his butt, down his legs and hit the back of his feet. The water stopped for a second but he could still hear it running. When the water shut off again there was an electric whirring sound and he was twisted around by 90�.

That was how Richie got his first glimpse of Mike since they had been captured. It was only at his back, but with his head hung low he looked completely defeated. It hurt Richie so much that he hardly felt the water hit the side of his head and go down his body again. Then there were turned again and this time he got a blast of water right in his face. He tried to close his eyes, but he couldn't do it tightly and the water got under his eyelids stinging. It crept up his nose and some went down his throat and open mouth. Then they were turned one more time and there last side was hit with a good dose of water.

When the water finally stopped a bright hot light was turned on. For several minutes Richie could feel the water evaporating off his back and then without warning he did a 180� turn. Now facing the light he tried to squeeze his eyes shut and failed. When the light was turned off it was a relief at first, then he's felt very cold.

Opening his eyes Richie saw one of the men approaching him. An arm was wrapped around his hips and he felt his wrist released. His arms fell limply against the man's back and he was carried away again. He was carried around for a few minutes before he heard a metal door sliding and then he was swung over the man shoulder placed on his feet and the man let go. Unable to control his body Richie fell. The man caught his arm stopping his dissent for a second only to let him go a second later. His head hit the cement floor. Richie heard the door shut and a moment later it opened again.

Richie wasn't sure what was going to happen next but he felt something pressed against his neck and then a cold spray. He recognized the feeling of a spray gun. They were what the doctors used to give immunizations. Then the door closed again and he heard the man's voice.

"When you can move drink some water, but sip. It takes a while before you get all the feeling back."

Richie wished he could cry some more, but although he wanted to the tears didn't come. He heard a squeak and a second later someone was staring down at him. Richie try to turn his head and for the first time he could, if only a little.

The boy's skin was pale and he was naked like them. The strange thing though was he didn't have any hair, not even eyebrows. "I'll get you your water." He smiled. "I have never been darted, but I know what it's like not to be able move."He disappeared and a second later Richie heard the running water.

Slowly Richie's body re-awoken and pain came first. His shoulders and arms hurt from being hung by them and his head heard from his collision with the floor. With effort he was able to roll over and hit into Mike who was right next to him.

The boy came back saying. "Here let me help."He pulled Richie to the wall and propped him up. Richie was able to help little with that but he still felt mostly numb. For the first time Richie was able to look around. The room was completely closed with cement blocks and the cement floor. There were three bunk beds with one toilet that had a sink in the back of it. The only source of light came from the center of the room that had a cage around it casting striped shadows.

The boy went back and helped Mike profited him up against one of the far beds, but Richie couldn't look at him. He couldn't bear to see the hate there.

The boy walked over to the sink and picked up a cup from where it had been hidden and walked over to him. The boy was naked except for a red collar around his throat. Vaguely Richie remembered that a red collar meant not currently rented. His cock was flaccid, but perfectly shaped and proportional to his body. Under different circumstances Richie would be hard.

"Water?" The boy said kneeling down to be at his eye level.

Richie was able to nod his head and sluggishly move his tongue which stuck to every surface of his mouth. "Yes."

The boy bought the cup to Richie's lips and he tried to move his arms to help, but they felt like they weren't fully his. Some of the water dribbled out of the side of his mouth down his neck and his chest and the boy pulled the cup away.

"Sorry." The boy tried to wipe the water away with his hand before he stood and went over to Mike to do the same.

Over the next few minutes Richie went from being able to move his head a little and twitches fingers to move his limbs again. He still felt a little groggy and there were a lot more little paints all over his body. On top of all that he felt very sleepy.

"Richie? Are you okay?" Mike's voice sounded a little slurred.

His heart leapt at his friend's question. "I guess. I hurt in a lot of places." His voice sounded weird still.

Mike laughed. "Me too."

The room fell silent for a few more minutes until the boy spoke up again. "Does either of you want more water?"

"No," Mike said before Richie could even open his mouth. "What's your name?"

"Me?" The boy said. "Ralph."

"Ralph, I never met a Ralph before." Mike said. "Do you know how we can call someone here?"

"Call someone here?" Ralph repeated. "Not really. I mean I suppose if we started fighting they would probably break us up, but why would you want to call one of them here?"

"Because we're not supposed to be here," Richie said his voice almost sounding normal. He tried to move his arms and legs again and they felt a lot better now.

"You mean you're supposed to be with your owners? I thought you try to run away? I mean they darted you. I always wanted to run away but never had the guts."

Richie grabbed one of the poles of the bed and pulled himself onto the lower mattress. "We are not slaves. It's all a misunderstanding."

Ralph laughed, but it didn't sound nice. "What? Of course your slaves you have a collar just like me. Are you still new to all of this?"

"No," Richie said sitting up and looking at Ralph. "We were just playing in the woods and they got us confused with someone else." Now that he thought about it, nothing made sense. Even with the collars activated there's no reason why the slave police would've shown up unless they were looking for to slaves.

"You're wearing collars," Ralph said jiggling his to emphasize his point.

"We were just playing. They're my dad's. We just were pretending."

Ralph cocked his head. "You were pretending? To be slaves?"

"We thought the batteries were dead." Mike said coming to his defense.

Ralph looked at Mike and then back at Richie. "Seriously?"

Richie nodded.

Ralph was silent for a second just looking at them. "You're fucking idiots." With that said he turned around and climbed into the upper bed of the unoccupied bunks turning his back on them.

Richie felt like he was going to vomit and he wasn't sure why. With no clock it was hard to tell how much time passed, but slowly he felt the numbness leaving his body. When he thought he was up for it Richie stood and walked to the cell wall with the door and started calling out for someone.

After several unanswered calls Ralph shouted. "Would you shut up!"

Richie turned around scared only to see Ralph sitting up in his bed his feet dangling off the side. Mike stood a little wobbly, but clearly ready to intervene. Ralph didn't move as he spoke.

"They can't hear you and even if they could they wouldn't care. As far as they're concerned you're a slave and nobody cares. You said you wanted to pretend to be a slave? Well this is it. I've been a slave all my life always wearing one of these as long as I can remember." He touched the collar around his neck. "The first time I was rented was just after I was five. You know who wants a five-year-old slave? Well it was some rich guy who's doing some spring cleaning. I did a lot of dusting which isn't so bad, but he also wanted to use my mouth. You know what happens when someone cum in your mouth and you can't spit it out? It goes down your throat and chokes you or goes up your nose and burns. It can burn for hours. That was the first person who rented me for two months and he liked my little mouth.

Ralph looked down at the floor but continued talking. "My second and third were not so bad. One liked to throw parties and would have me stripped naked so they could paint me. One time when they were having a fundraiser for some animal shelter, they put a dildo up my butt with a tail attached. I would walk around all night with a tray on my head. About halfway through my ninth year I was too tall for them and they got someone else."

Ralph drops down from the top bunk, landing as quietly as a cat. He looked like he was just about to cry with his lip quivering and when he spoke his voice sounded like he was about to break. "Then there was my last master." He looked directly at Richie and smiled. "My last master bought me and a girl at the same time. For the first week it wasn't so bad, just cleaning and stuff."

"Then he took us on an hour drive to one of his friends house where there was going to be a party. They called it a punishment party. We were stripped naked when we arrived and get a necklace with a coin around it. That kept us safe. We got to watch as they beat and raped slaves that had been bad that month. One of the slaves who was a little older than myself was being punished in a special way. He was naked like us, but he had a word written on his chest. I can't read but I was told what it said. Want to guess what it said?"

Richie shook his head no not want to hear it, but somehow unable to stop listening.

"Urinal," Ralph said the word slowly pronouncing each syllable. "Every time someone had to be he would take this piece of pipe inputted in his mouth and let them go. My master told me if I ever missbehave that's what he would have me do at the punishment party. When we got back he shaved both of our heads and our eyebrows. I have not worn clothing or have had hair since."

A choking cry escaped Ralph's throat. "He ran into some financial problems and had to give one of us up."Ralph's lips were pursed together and then he said something that shocked Richie. "If my next owner wants to do something like that with me, putting in my mouth, butt. I'm just going to kill myself." Then Ralph crumpled and sobbed. His cries were a lot louder than anything Richie had produced and like Ralph said no one came.

Richie didn't remember crossing the room or putting his hand on the other boy's back but he remembered Ralph looking up at him crying and asking a question he couldn't answer. "What did I do?"

The rest of the night passed in a blur for Richie. Ralph cried for what seemed like hours and then he stopped and he remembered Mike holding him for a long time. The light never turned off, but at some point they fell asleep.

Richie usually slept pretty well but when he woke up, he knew it had only been a few hours. Mike didn't sleep much better and when Ralph woke up they just sat around and talked for a while. Ralph seemed to have lot of questions and despite the way his previous master treated him, little bit about TV shows. Apparently the man wasn't always around.

When someone finally came to feed them it wasn't what Richie was expecting. The man who had been one of the two who darted them yesterday said he would look into the story as he poured out some weird looking food, but he seemed patronizing. He slipped it between the bars and left without even hearing the end of the story. The food was terrible. It was a sort of pace they had to scoop up with their fingers, but by that time Richie was so hungry he didn't much care. They had to drink a lot of water to get it down and with only one cup that was a little tricky.

A few minutes after Richie had finished eating, though, he started to feel unnaturally sleepy. "I don't feel so good," he announced.

Ralph supplied the answer. "The food is drugged. It's a holiday so he doesn't want to be here and if we are all a sleep there's nothing for him to worry about. They usually do that. When my other masters would travel on the holidays they would usually leave me at one of these places."

"Why didn't you warn us?" Mike asked sounding as if he was struggling to stay awake.

Ralph shrugged as he collapsed into a bed. "It's not so bad."

The next thing Richie remembered was being shaken awake. For a second he thought he was back at home with his mom trying to wake him up. The unfamiliar mattress and the sensation that he hadn't moved for hours killed that fantasy.

"Richie your parents are here." The voice was that of the man who had fed them yesterday.

With effort he was able to open his eyes. The light hurt and they felt sore. "What?"

"Come on." The man said. "Get dressed."

With a great effort he tilted his head up and saw on the edge of the bed his clothing from yesterday. He didn't remember them picking it up, but it was there. With his brain still foggy slowly got dressed seeing Mike doing the same thing. He remembered Ralph and glanced back at the boy who was just laying on his bed staring at them as they got dressed. Richie wanted to say something, but he couldn't think of anything and just ended up waving as they were hurried out of the room. Ralph waved back at the last second

They were guided into an office and before Richie could really make anything out of the room he was wrapped in a hugged.

"Oh, Richie I'm so glad you're safe."

"Mom?" Richie's mind slowly recognized the voice and he looked up as he felt her fingers go to his throat. She turned and demanded. "Why is this on him?"

Richie slowly looked around the room still feeling disconnected but seeing his friend Mike in a similar embrace with his mother and father. There was a woman sitting behind the desk and although he had ever seen her he guessed that was the woman from yesterday.

"Ms. as I explained to you the boys apparently put those collars on themselves. Now that's a misdemeanor, but as there are under the age of majority they wouldn't be charged with putting the collars on themselves. The phone call is a different matter. That is a crime punishable by at least six months as a penal slave and considering the consequences I think the maximum of five years would be laid out by a judge." She smiled and leaned forward on her desk. "We are willing to overlook both as long as you don't raise a fuss. It would be unfortunate if we would have to get to the bottom of this."

"Yes, we agree," Michael's mother said.

Richie looked up at his mother who had a scary expression on her face. "Just get that collar off my son and we'll leave."

The process of removing the collar was simple. One of the men pressed something to the back of the collar which fell off. Their moms let them to the parking lot while their fathers sign some paperwork. Richie still felt a little groggy but the fresh air was bringing him around. The two family cars were parked side-by-side in the idea of lying down in the back just seemed great to Richie.

He glanced at Mike who still looked more worried than confused. "Are we okay?" Richie asked him.

Mike took a second to respond and when he did it was to wrap Richie in a tight hug and kiss him on the top of his head. It was a very public display of affection in a parking lot with their parents only a few steps away. It was an act of more than friendship.

"We're okay. It's just; I don't think Ralph will be."

Richie's mind cleared a little more remembering the other boy. After his outburst he had been nice and he had been nice to them before that too. Now that he was safe he worried about Ralph too. In Richie's heart that was the moment he became an abolitionist.

The End