Chapter 44

Two days in, he finally forced himself to creep out of the room he'd originally been put in. He walked down a long hall with numbered doors, most open but a few closed and locked. He hurried past those ones, not wanting to hear the screams.

The only things he could find in the kitchen were some questionable eggs, stale cereal, and a carton of milk. He sighed but got a small bowl out of the cupboard. It looked clean, but he washed it twice in the sink to be sure.

He kept his eyes down as he walked through the main front room back to the staircase. He froze when he saw someone approaching, but they just passed by without a comment. Kurt hurried up the stairs quickly after that, keeping his eyes on the numbered doors so he wouldn't end up in the wrong room. Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen... as he approached room Fifteen, he paused.

Usually the open doors meant an empty room and the closed ones held nothing but thumps, screams, and the occasional moan. At Fourteen, the door was wide open, however a naked girl lay on the bed, curled into herself and crying softly. Kurt walked in carefully, stifling a gasp at what greeted him.

The girl's dull blonde hair was a tangled mess, splayed lifelessly across the pillow. There were six cuts down her torso, starting just under her slightly bruised breasts and spaced out carefully down to her hips. There were still small drops of dark blood oozing out of the cuts, but it was nothing compared to what Kurt saw below her waist. Between her thighs and along the backs of her legs from her behind, there were large smears of blood. It ran down her legs and soaked into the sheets, leaving a dark congealed mess beneath her. The cuts continued on the back of her thighs and calves, four on each for a total of fourteen cuts up and down her body.

Kurt set his bowl down on the bedside table, reaching out hesitantly to touch the girl's shoulder. She flinched violently and cried out softly as her injuries were agitated.

"Are you... are you ok?" Kurt asked, mentally slapping himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Of course she wasn't. She shook her head carefully, trying not to hurt herself further. Kurt sighed and let his forehead drop onto the bed for a moment. "Do you need help? What's your name?" he tried, not wanting to just leave her like this.

"C-can you walk? You can come into my room. I… I think they have some medicine stuff in the bathroom." The girl stared blankly for a few seconds. "Can I carry you?" she nodded in consent, only making a pained face when Kurt slid his arms underneath her and gingerly lifted her into the air. She was severely malnourished, feeling much too light for Kurt's liking.

He set the girl carefully on his bed, making sure she was as comfortable as possible before rifling through the bathroom cabinet. He managed to find a small roll of gauze, a few cotton balls, and a clear bottle with tape on it marked 'rubbing alcohol' written in a messy hand.

Kurt walked back into the room and kneeled by the bed, near the girl's head. "This might sting." He warned, wetting one of the balls with the rubbing alcohol. Then again, he though, given what she's been through a little stinging won't matter. The girl clenched her fingers briefly when Kurt began cleaning her legs, but didn't do anything else.

There was a silence between the two as Kurt carefully cleaned and wrapped up her left leg. As he moved onto the right, the girl spoke.

"Alexandria." She whispered, eyes still closed. Her voice was broken and dry, but Kurt still understood.

"I'm Kurt." He whispered back softly. He stopped cleaning her cuts for a moment, looking her in the eyes. "You're gonna be okay Alexandria."

The impregnated silence continued as Kurt finished off her legs and chest, shrugging out of his button down shirt and helping her into it without a second thought. He found a glass downstairs, getting some water for her and refilling it whenever she ran out.

"What happened to you Alexandria?" he finally asked after the two had been silent for well past an hour.

Alexandria laughed hollowly. "You haven't been rented out yet, have you?"

"No. I was... requested, I think." Kurt tried to explain the situation, but frankly he had no clue what was going to happen.

"Consider yourself lucky. My Mistress died in a car accident ten months ago. I went back into the system, but no one wants a used submissive. Eventually I ended up here."

"I thought that the Black Market just sold submissives." Kurt mused, still unsure as to what she meant by 'rented out'.

"Most do. Some decide to make a pretty penny by whoring us out. The AUDs that come in can, as they put it, take us for a test drive."

"That's horrible." Kurt whispered, not knowing what else to say.

"This whole thing is horrible. Just wait a few days though, the ones who pay enough for a specific type of sub usually pick up within a week."

"Well that's... comforting." Kurt mumbled.

Attention staff, we have a code yellow. Repeat, code yellow. A voice echoed through the room suddenly. Kurt tensed as he recognized the voice of Jerome.

"What's a code yellow?" he asked, turning to a suddenly terrified looking Alexandria.

"Missing sub." She whimpered. "It's me, I wasn't in the room, I'm going to be in so much trouble."

"I'm not letting them touch you." Kurt growled protectively. He had no idea what was so special about this girl, but he had the inexplicable urge to shelter her.

"Thirteen's clear!"

"Fourteen clear!"

The voices got closer as doors opened and closed, Alexandria curling into Kurt as she trembled.

"Fifteen clear!"

Their door swung open. There stood Jerome, his face deceptively calm as always but a thunder in his eyes that Kurt didn't want to see come out full force.

"Found her!" he called over his shoulder. Several other men entered the room, coming straight for Alexandria. Kurt huddled her back into the corner that the bed rested in, shielding her body with his own. "Kurt." Jerome said firmly. "Move."

"No." Kurt ground out, glaring as three other men tried to get to Alexandria. "Leave. Her. Alone."

The goons looked back at Jerome, who groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Leave him." he decided, waving them away. "The client will be here in a few days, and she's not scheduled for a week. His owner will deal with him." he added, eyeing Kurt warningly. Kurt stared back defiantly until they had left.

*break*

A few days later, the two were sitting on the bed talking softly, when voices drifted into the room.

"I expect you've cared for him properly?" Kurt and Alexandria tensed.

"Of course sir. He's been quite the handful, but I think you'll be pleased with him." they heard Jerome assure.

"You had better hope so." The first voice murmured. The door to what had quickly become their sanctuary opened, and Kurt gasped in horror, scrambling back on the bed, desperately trying to get farther away.

"Karofsky."