pounding headache he could feel building up at the base of his skull.
Now, he found himself walking, yet again, down a cage lined hallway looking through the one-way glass at perfect physical specimen after perfect physical specimen, all of them empty eyed. At the end of the hall he saw a hand printed paper sign with an arrow on it pointing toward a door. It said “MALE FERAL” He snagged the sleeve of one of the passing white-robed handlers.
“Excuse me for being completely ignorant, but what exactly is a ‘feral’?”
“ Ferals are individuals whose slave nature remained undiscovered until they became adults. Typically, lack of human intelligence and sensibility is revealed due to criminal activity or irresponsible use of credit leading to unpaid debts. This evening we have debtors who have offered themselves for sale to reduce the time the rest of their family must spend confined to a work farm.”
“Thank you.” Well. If I bought one of these I might be doing somebody some good.
As he stepped down th e hallway he caught his breath. These were still people . T hey had expressions, most of them hopeless, but some defiant. Their eyes revealed thought processes. He saw an enormous fat man, accompanied by four burly handlers, being let into one of the display rooms. He got to the inspection window before it was opaqued for privacy and felt riveted to the spot.
While all the slaves were fit and in near model quality physical condition, the body of the man behind the window could only fit the description of “perfect” or “superb . ”
How tall is this guy?
Even seated it appeared obvious to Evan that the man would stand taller than Evan’s six-two. Evan’s eyes skittered over the perfect skin and the long striated muscle, the impressive genitalia . His gaze linger ed on the broad shoulders and perfect arms before finally landing on the more than handsome face. A chill gripped his spine. He recognized the young man who was looking at his sudden visitor in absolute horror. It was Jeremy Paxton. He had been one of Evan’s students in a Senior Economics seminar he had TA’d while completing his last year in the MBA program at Stanford. For a while Jeremy had been a part of Evan’s friendship circle, coming to Evan and Justin’s dinner parties regularly.
He remembered Jeremy as being extraordinarily bright, funny and always full of energy and enthusiasm. In fact, fleeting thoughts about Jeremy had occasionally run through Evan’s mind. If he hadn’t been so totally besotted with Justin…something might have happened there, maybe. Even though Jeremy appeared to be straight, there were too many moments of eye contact , and eye fucking , for Evan to be completely sure. He felt a surge of urgent protectiveness.
From previous auctions he knew that the fat man must be a potential buyer going in to sample Jeremy. The glass wall went black and then he heard a muffled cry of pain. Followed by more intense, increasingly desperate screaming, and some gagging. Wincing, Evan backed up against the wall taking out his cell phone. His hands shook so hard he could barely press the speed dial number he wanted for his head of accounting and personal business manager.
“Jeff … it’s Evan. I need some information, and I need it fast.”
“Okay. What do you need? Take a breath. Where the hell are you ?
“I’m at a slave auction. I need to know a bout a debtor family named Paxton . I need to know how much the debt is, and I need to know how much cash I can lay my hands on.”
“Well, Ev, since you haven’t bought anything except food, and not much of that, for the past four years, and you had a healthy savings plan going on well before then; as long as you don’t want to buy New York City or something we should be able to swing it.” Jeff drawled . Evan heard him typ ing furiously at his