Bintou's POV

"Jesus. Did you just get out of bed or something?"

Bintou sat on the couch, watching her soap when the door rang at three P.M. When she opened the door, she saw Samantha standing there. Terror in her eyes, she looks like she just got out of bed. Distant sweat marks from bed, morning hair, morning breathe. She's glad to see her.

“Yes. I needed some rest, sorry I overslept.”

She is trying her best not to sound scared, and she is doing a good job.

“We should have been done by now. You better have a better excuse for that. We're creating an army here, no time to rest!”

“I don't but I do have a surprise for you... and a gift.”

“Show me.”

Samantha opens her back and lifts Clerence and Gerald out.

“This Clerence is by far the strongest normal I ever met. Throw her in the arena and she will proof it.”

Bintou looks at Clerence, with an impressed look. She is almost as tall as an Amazon. Samantha could very easily be right. Perhaps this one could be a high commander even.

“And what about him?”

“He is the gift. I know that your male storage is... running low.”

Gerald looks terrified at Bintou. Only her face tells him that he will not like this outcome.

“Hm. Put him in a cage with her. I'll see what to do with him.”

Bintou picks them up and puts them between her huge breasts. She is wearing an extra tight bra so her flesh walls push extra harder against the two. The two Giantess' walk upstairs to the attic. They both pick up a cereal box and feet all the humans in the attic. Bintou sees that the box is already empty.

“This box cost me a lot, and you just eat all of it in a few minutes. You're all too expensive, it'd be better for you to leave my home rather sooner than later.”

She takes the trapped pair from her breasts and places them in an almost empty cage. There are only two other women in there, both from the same African village. One is native African, the other one Australian.

“Newbies, meet the Australian and African-something pair. I'm sure you'll like each other just fine.”

Bintou walks to Samantha who stands in the center of the arena.

Clerence's POV

“What's going to happen to us? And what is this place?!” Gerald is starting to panic. The African woman walks to the man and calms him down.

“Breathe slowly. Don't panic in front of her, it can cost you your life.”

Gerald takes her advise and is already relaxing.

“So what the hell is this place?”

“This is Bintou's attic. The circle formed by those Cola barrels is the arena. She let's all her female slaves fight for their lives, and takes the winners to some place.”

The other woman, the Australian, comes forth as well.

“She gets high a lot, and then tells us about it. There is an abandoned Vault a thousand KM East of Minsk, in the former cit of Voronezh. There is a rebel research team there who will turn all the winners in her personal army. The only reason she waited so long to let us all fight was because she needed the “Chosen One” or something. I don't know who he is, but she has him, and now we all have to fight.”

“Wait, hold on.” Clerence now spoke her fist words in the cage.

“Who is this Chosen One?” She asks the Australian woman.

“I have never seen him or her, or even heard of a Chosen One. But from what I can make of her trips, this person's DNA is what she needs to make an advanced FEV. And she has it, so now she'll form the army.”

Clerence thinks about Oliver. He got captured by Bintou, and the other Special Forces made it clear that he is very important.

“Is he alive? Do you know anything else?”

“She got high this morning. Told us that she has this person's DNA. I'm sorry, I doubt he is still alive. And do you know 'him'?”

“Yes... but it's irrelevant. Who are you two BTW?” Trying to deflect from the subject.

“My name is Lesedi. I'm from a tribe in South Africa, but moved to the same town Hayley lived in. We got captured by Bintou's forces and were unlucky enough to be taken with her.”

“We have been her for nearly a full year...”

Clerence looks at the two Giantess. They're writing on a piece of paper. What are they writing, she wonders. They give out quick looks to the cages and then write something down. Every now and then a number comes out of their mouths. Are they writing down the cage numbers?

“But why are you here?” Lesedi asks Gerald. “I have never seen a man in the attic, it's only the women who fight here.”

“I really, really don't know. All I know is that these iron bars keep me away from Bintou for now.”

Then suddenly, Bintou starts yelling and barking commands. The four poke their heads out of the iron bars to look at her.

“Team death match, twelve vs twelve. Cage #31 vs Cage #17. "For those who are new here," she looks at Clerence's cage, "Here, (she points at the Arena) we let the gladiators fight for their lives. Those who are in the winning team will be placed in two separate teams, who will fight as well. The winners will be taken aside. The dead will be thrown into the garbage bin. The surviving losers who survived will be taken to my cabinet. So make sure you either win or die.”

Indeed. It's best to die then to be taken to her cabinet. Clerence doesn't know what it is, but her guess is that everything is better than to be at this psychopath's mercy. Samantha and Bintou lift up the cages with the numbers “31” and “17” on it. They are placed on either side of the Arena. The Arena is about 30 by 30 meters, covering most of the space in the attic.

Clerence can hear the screams of the people in the Arena. All the cages are on shelves. Probably so everyone can see the fight. The four have a perfect view. Samantha places a box next to both cages. She opens it, and Clerence sees it's a small arsenal. Gladiator weapons. Both cages have the same choices as the other.

The box contains some spears, some baseball bats, a few machetes and even a medieval long sword. All the weapons look old and used, with the blood and damage to proof how often they have been used.

“I'll tell you all you need to know Clerence.” Lesedi says to Clerence. “You seem like a warrior already, I'm sure you'll have to fight with us. Best to prepare you.”

“Go on.” Clerence says.

“Bintou and Samantha always fill the cages in a certain order. A mix of small and weak women, more average build women, and always one or two big and strong women. We only are a small cage, and it's easy to guess that we are the small and weak ones. You, on the other hands, are obviously strong. I mean, I am about 5”7, while you are..”

“6”5.” Clerence says.

It's true. She's almost the size of an Amazon, and almost as strong. She always has been one of the taller, stronger ones.

“Right. Now, we are only with the three of us. Odds are we'll join another cage that's low on numbers as well. what you must do, is go for the long sword. It's too heavy for most, so having someone holding it always gives the team a great advantage. The rest of us will choose another weapon. As you saw, the choices are a baseball bat, a machete, and a spear. These weapons, including the sword, are usually the weapons Amazon's and Behemoth's use. That's why Bintou let's us wield those weapons.”

The women have all chosen a weapon. Most aren't that noticeable. About half of them are as big as the two women standing next to her, roughly 5”9. A few make it to 6”1, but there is one outstanding woman. While the other ones grabbed the spears, baseball bats and machetes, she took the Long Sword. A white body builder with a blond pony tail. She is about as tall as Clerence, but from the looks of it, much stronger. Clerence is a strong woman, with some muscles to show for. But nothing compared to this woman.

She sees Bintou talking to Samantha. From what she can make of it, she says: “Samantha, see that woman? That body builder, now that's a catch! Strong, and enthusiastic. We might not even have to brainwash her.”

The woman looks at her enemies. They have a few descend looking ones, but none can match her. The one holding the sword on the other side looks terrified at her direct competition.

“Let the fight begin!”

The fight took about four minutes. They started of with a lot of hesitation, no one daring to make a move. Until the body builder came forward. She rushed to her direct opponent. The scared woman tried to defend herself, but quickly realized the body builder had slashed the sword out of her hands. Expecting to get executed on the spot, the body builder punched her in the face, followed by a kick in the stomach. Before she could stand up, the body builder hit her on the side of her head with her knee. Out she went.

In the end, the body builder was responsible for the death's of five people. Her cage had won, obviously. With five survivors against the now awake word carrier from the losing team.

“Brilliant! I haven't seen such a fight in... in ever! Cage 17, I'd be thanking this warrior on your knees. I doubt any of you would have survived, had she not been on your team. She even made sure her opponent survived. My assistant will take her to my cabinet, I'll have fun with her later.”

That was Samantha's mark, and she picks the woman up. The woman cries and begs for help and mercy. Bintou enjoys it, and then orders Samantha to put her in a yoghurt bow in the fridge. The body builder smiles at the sight of her opponent being taken downstairs.

“Hmm... you. You can join... What's your name?” Bintou asks the body builder.

“Joyce.” She answers.

Bintou points at a teammate holding a spear.

“You can join with Joyce. Watch her closely, you might learn something. It's the final match of this cage, winners vs winners. Joyce and this pathetic person against the three other winners. GO!”

The three women look at each other, and all attack Joyce at the same time. They realize, of course, that Joyce is the only threat. Two of them hold a spear, the other one a machete. But Joyce had anticipated this. With a quick move she dodged the spear, and sliced her sword through the woman's chest. The other two quickly followed as well.

Joyce's teammate hadn't done anything. The body builder's moves were so fast, the three gladiators were dead before she could even have a chance of reacting.

“I hope you will never fail to entertain me. I'll put you in the “Victory cage”. I promise you I will make sure you get the fourth promotion. How does Commander of all Armies sound?”

“Perfect. But I won't share that cage with this bitch.” Joyce points at her 'teammate'. The teammate is shocked, and terrified now. What is she going to do? With a quick move, she thrust her sword through the poor woman's belly. The dying woman gave her an expression of confusion and betrayal. Bintou looks pleased at Joyce. It's not like that woman would have been mutated by Bintou either way.

“Wait! You haven't tried out my surprise. Try her now, I'd like to show you what she can do.”

Samantha just returned. She looks at Clerence with a smile.

“Kissing my ass hu? I knew you liked my ass, haha.” Bintou laughs at her awkward joke. Clerence looks embarrassed at Bintou, but the African Giantess gives her permission.

“Go get her. She's in that cage over there.”

Samantha walks to the cage. The four see the blond Giantess opening the cage. Again not without resistance, Samantha takes Clerence out of the cage and moved her to her face.

“Listen to me. I promised Bintou that you are a real warrior. Just win a match, so we both won't die.”

“I can kill whoever fights against me, but I'll never join your fucking Empire.”

“Oh please, like I haven't heard that one before. We have a master hypnotist on our side. Even you will fall in just an hour. All that matters now, is that you win. Win, or I'll kill your friend in that cage.”

“Fine. But tell me this. What happened to Oliver? Is he still aliv...”

“Hurry up in there! I've got an army to assemble.” Bintou yells to Samantha.

“Coming! Just win the goddamned fight.” she whispers.

“Place her in the Arena and give her a spear. She'll fight Joyce.”

“Wait, I thought she'd fight some other chick.”

“No. If she's as good as you said, she can beat this one. Now just put her down so we can start.”

Samantha puts her on the other side of the Arena. There's blood everywhere, and the dead bodies are scattered around. Joyce unsheathes her sword. She looks vicious at her new opponent.

“You're going down, bitch!” The woman yells from the other side. Clerence ignores it and picks up a spear from the floor. It was still in the hands of a gladiator, who had been laying dead now for several minutes. The body builder stands right next to the sword that the other woman carried. She can try to reach it.

“Remember Samantha, “ Bintou says, “If she loses, I'll make sure you won't lie to me a second time.”

Bintou slabs Samantha on her big ass, and pinches it. Samantha is getting nervous and scared.

“Let the fight begin!”

The body builder makes a dash at Clerence. She thrusts the sword toward her enemy. But Clerence has already figured out how she can beat her. This woman may be as strong as an Amazon, but Clerence is far more agile. With a simple move she dodges the sword, and sticks out her leg so that the body builder trips over it. She hits her face against a Cola barrel, that forms a wall.

“Fuck. Get here!”

But Clerence remains calm. The body builder makes another dash. Clerence is nearly hit. She blocks the sword with her spear, and jumps away. A second attack follows. Joyce aims for her head, but Clerence dodges the attack. She then trusts her spear forward, and managed to hit the body builder. It's a small cut in the hip. The two women take a few steps back to take a quick rest.

“Why are you doing this?” Clerence asks.

“Why do you think? I have to survive!” Joyce answers back.

“You're lying. I know it. Why do you want to join her army?”

“Chatting time is over!”

Joyce jumps forward and slashes the sword forward. Clerence only just escapes the steel by moving to her left. She's glad to see that the sword's got stuck. Joyce had not noticed that Clerence stood against a barrel wall, and her sword got stuck right in it. Clerence thrusts her spear into the woman's chest. She thinks that this will put her down, but with some kind of super human strength, Joyce pulls the sword out and attack Clerence again. The first two attacks are stopped by the spear.

But the attacks are so intense, that her spear breaks into two parts. She barely escaped from the third strike by jumping back. But now, the way to the sword lays open. She rushes to it. The body builder follows her right behind her. Just when Joyce reached her, Clerence reached the sword. With all her strength she thrusts it into the body builder's stomach. This time however, the woman collapses, and poses no threat anymore.

Clerence crouches down to speak with the woman a final time.

“You're done. Now tell me, why do you want to join these monsters?”

“Because... Cough (she coughs up some blood) Because they are the future. There is almost no resistance left. We can't beat them. If we want to survive, we must … cough … join them. And now, you will. Congratulations.”

She coughs up some more blood and dies.

"We have a winner. I'll take her to the Vault myself. I want all the prisoners to be sorted out in three days. We have the DNA now, so I want to form the army ASAP. After that, tell your associate to set the plan to kill Mother Maya in motion. After I've taken this woman to the Vault, I'll tell Mother Maya that we're ready to start the progress on the FEV2.0. That's when your ally kills her, so I won't be suspected.”

Clerence, still numbed by the dying woman's last words, is lifted up in the air. Bintou opens her mouth and puts her in. “This is the only way to smuggle you out of the city without getting caught. I'd hide you somewhere else, but I respect my future commander too much for that.”

Bintou moves downstairs with Clerence in her mouth, and leaves Samantha to finish it up.