My new master was tall, intimidating, and sexy. Many masters were tall, and all of them were intimidating, but it was pleasant to find one that had a sexual appeal. Most masters were old, and many were overweight, both of which were only compounded by the fact that they were cruel. My new master struck me as fair-tempered, just, and perhaps even kind. But it didn't matter. This master would not keep me any longer than any of the others had, and I had already resolved myself not to keep any new masters.

After the kiss, the master allowed me to have a sandwich from the fridge. I don't think the master quite knew how long it had been since I had last eaten. He stayed in the kitchen with me while I consumed it, then seemed terribly shocked when I vomited into the trash can. The few moments my stomach had been full had felt good, but I had known that my stomach could not hold anything as heavy as a sandwich after being empty for over four days.

Surprisingly, once I had finished vomiting, the master heated me a can of soup, then once again sat with me while I ate, at a much slower pace this time. Having already vomited, I managed to keep the soup down better than I had the sandwich.

Once I had finished eating, the master took me into the bedroom and to a small bathroom adjoining. I was given my own toothbrush, which was common for a slave to have since no master wants a slave with bad teeth, and the master and I brushed out teeth together, which was uncommon, as masters tended to want to be above their slaves even in such matters. Slaves were often not permitted to use the same bathroom as their masters, and certainly not the same toothpaste.

I was unsurprised when the master changed for bed with me in the room, but I was again surprised when he motioned for me to sleep with him. He must have seen my confusion, as he was quick to reassure me that he had not gone back on his word and he was still not going to take me. Instead, this only served to confuse me more. It was common for masters to go back on their words, but masters usually had slaves sleep on the floor, not in the bed with them. Still, I managed to attribute this strange behavior to the fact that I was his first slave, and he probably had not yet learned how much abuse a slave could take. In the most literal sense, the slave's life was in his master's hands.

It was the middle of the night when I made my move. The clock read 1:28, but my cue was actually my master's deepened breathing. Once I knew he was fully asleep, I slipped out of the bed and headed to the closet.

Many masters kept their slaves naked or almost naked all the time not only to use the sexually, but also a deterrent for a runaway slave. My master, however, was so green that he had not put a lock on the closet, and I managed to find a pair of drawstring pants and a shirt that would fit. As I put them on, I realized that, other than the robe, they were the first real clothes I had worn in months. Once clothed, I quietly searched the bottom of the closet and eventually came up with a pair of shoes which, tied as tightly as I could manage, just barely stayed on my small feet.

From there, it was a simple matter to slip down the stairs and out the back door. Once outside, I began to run away from the house and parallel to the road, as I didn't want my master to find I was gone and run me down in the car. I knew that it was going to be a long walk to find another house, and I knew that I looked like a vagrant, so there was little hope of finding help, but as long as I could find a tool shed of some kind I could manage to get this collar off, and that was my real aim. Anything after that was just bonus, but I had to get the collar off. I had worn my collar for so long... it was suffocating me. It had been for years.

My first clue that the escape was not going to be as easy as I had predicted came when I noticed movement in the trees to my left. The night was dark, but the sky was clear, and the moon's light managed to cast a glow over everything, so that it was easy to see shadows and movement, but difficult to see anything else. Up until that time, I had been walking, but once I saw that I began to run. I was certain that my master had not come to run me down on foot, and I had seen no signs of a dog living at the house, but there was certainly something in the forest with me. I hoped it wasn't wolves.

My fear of wolves was put to rest when a voice yelled, "Hey you! Halt!" Instead, I ran as fast as I could, but I had not counted on being chased. My shoes were too big, and made running difficult. The man who was chasing me was fast, and quickly gained on me. I huffed and struggled, but I was out of shape from my months in the cage, and had not gained back the calories necessary to run long distances. Compounding my problem, there was suddenly another man to my left, who was faster than his partner and quickly tackled me to the ground.

I went down hard, with the man on top of me, but not as hard as I could have. The man seemed more intent on keeping me down than hurting me, and once he was certain I was immobilized he removed most of his weight from me. As it was night, my eyes had adjusted to the darkness and almost invisibility, and were painfully startled when one of the men suddenly turned on a flashlight. I had to close my eyes, so I couldn't see the two men holding me down.

"Is that the...?"

"Yeah, that's 'im. Didn't think he'd be so young, though."

"'S a shame, but the commander can keep 'im out of trouble, if anyone can."

"Up you go," on of the men said as the two lifted me to my feet. I stumbled a bit at the sudden movement, but finally managed to stand.

"I'll take him back to the house. You radio the commander and tell him we're bringing him back. Take the air patrol off of standby."

"Will do."

Air patrol? Commander? What kind of master was I under, that he could have such military power?

It didn't matter, though. I had tried to run away. My master would surely return me to the cages, and this time they would not wait around for someone new enough to take me on. This time they'd simply kill me.

For a fleeting moment, as the guard dragged me back to the house, I thought about trying to run again, but my chances of even getting away from the grip the guard had on my arm were so low that I didn't even bother. There was no way I could out run them, especially now that I was winded and my ribs hurt from being plowed to the ground. I would collapse before running three feet.

Master met us at the door and took me from the guard.

"Did he give you much trouble?" my master asked.

"Nah, he's just a kid. He probably wouldn't have made it much further anyway."

"Hmm. Well, thank you for returning him. I will be more careful in the future. We can't risk him getting away, not at this point. Good night, soldier," master said, dismissing the guard. I wondered why master was so bent on keeping me. I knew that it was considered extremely humiliating to let a slave get away, not to mention dangerous, but surely master knew that he could simply trade me in for a different slave. I was nothing important. I wasn't even expensive.

Master pulled me inside and shut the door slowly, looking tired. I wondered if it was because I had disturbed his sleep, but something told me it was deeper than that. This was the kind of fatigue that you feel right down to your very bones, when it seems like there's nothing good left in the world. I had felt that way many times, but I had never seen a master look so... forlorn.

"You know I'm going to have to punish you, right?" he asked, still not looking at me.

"Yes, master."

He turned then, and I could see that the fatigue had been pushed into the background, and he was a master once again. He stepped up to me and began pulling his clothes off of my body. Both sets of the kitchen lights had been turned on and it was very bright. The bruises on my abdomen and shoulder contrasted greatly with my pale skin and I wondered if this would annoy master even more. I already had my scars, and now with these bruises I was even less aesthetically pleasing.

But master wasn't focused on my shoulder. Instead, he carefully poked and prodded my chest around where one of the large bruises was. He was not gentle, but it couldn't be said that he was hurting me, either, so I assumed that this was not part of my punishment.

"It doesn't look like you broke anything; however, any more such activities and you could land yourself in the hospital," master said. It didn't sound like a threat, though, as it had with my other masters. Master allowed his hand to trail one last time over my stomach, then stepped back.

"Follow me," he said in a stern voice.