A Bad Plan is better than No Plan at all

Katie stood up and started pacing back and forth in front of Zoe, her fingers flicking back and forth. The red-head clutched her bowl in her bare lap and watched her, eyes bright and bare feet flexing against the rug with nervous tension.

“Ok…” Katie started, nodding her head as though she was leading to something, “Ok, so… maybe there isn’t anything we can do to stop this, not right now, But… when will you have to go for another run?”

Zoe whimpered, “I… I don’t know, tomorrow morning probably… that’s… it seems to have a kind of routine?”

“What time?”

“I… uh… this morning it woke me up at 5?”

Katie nodded, “Good, ok… no, that’s good… ok… so… Zo I think… you just need to do what the collar wants tomorrow…”

The red-head mewled, her chest tightening.

“Listen,” Katie held up her hands, “everything that has been going wrong for you so far has been because you haven’t done what it wants right?”

Because I didn't...?

Zoe blinked, wracking her brain to try to follow what she’d done wrong. She hadn’t run when it wanted her to… and she’d cut off the activity tracker, which had resulted in the collar and, she guessed, losing her clothes. The red-head bit her lip, looking at Katie with a mixture of guilt and anxiety.

Where is she going with this?

“If it’s trying to motivate you maybe… maybe you just need to be more proactive… like, what happens if you go for a run before it makes you?”

Zoe’s left foot started to bounce with nervous energy, “I… I don’t know…”

“I think we should find out”

There was an anxious pause before Zoe blinked in realisation and shook her head,

“I can’t get dressed…. I can’t… I can’t go for a run naked!”

“I think you might have to” Katie said simply, “We'll get up at 4am, get you ready and you can run before it tells you to... what if it rewards you by giving you your clothes back?”

Zoe’s bottom lip trembled and she spluttered weakly, “No! no no… I… I know how it rewards me… It… I don’t think…”

Katie’s eyelids fluttered which made Zoe’s toes curl knowing the blonde had witnessed her last ‘reward’ as well.

The blonde stopped pacing and turned to look at her, her cheeks matching Zoe’s own pinkness, “I… I don’t think you have a choice ok? I just… a 4am streak… It should be quiet then right? The town is practically empty when I get up normally so it will be even quieter then… how many people did you see yesterday morning?”

She hesitated to answer, not wanting to endorse this plan, “No… no one…”

Zoe’s heart started racing again at what her friend was suggesting – she had thought Katie would be able to help her, not encourage her to fall further and further into the tightening web of depravity this cursed collar was pushing her down. Katie wanted her to run, naked, for 5 miles... in public...

The girl reached up to run her fingers around the cursed cold metal around her throat again, whimpering as her fingers felt the distinct shape of the horseshoe.

Katie crouched down in front of the red-head, placing her hands on her bare knees to look up at her reassuringly, “And you can run somewhere quiet, right? I mean… you can go into the woods maybe, just do a loop through there and then come back?”

Zoe whimpered and shook her head, “It tells me where to run...”

Katie paused, “What?”

The naked girl let one hand go from the bowl to clutch her blanket tighter to herself, the memory of what the collar had done to her nipples still fresh in her mind. The feeling of them being toyed with as she ran, teased at each intersection – the humiliation of knowing she had been controlled and steered by her own breasts...

Pony…

Zoe glanced up apprehensively, “It… The last time it steered me… I didn’t know where I was going until I was going...”

Katie paused, “Ok… then… maybe, look… you’re fast… even if someone sees you what are they going to do? You can outrun anyone…”

“I can't r-r-run naked!” Zoe pleaded weakly.

Katie squeezed her knees, “Sweetie... I don't think you have a choice. The only thing you can choose right now is running naked at 4 or running naked at 5...”

There was another awkward beat of silence as Zoe sank deeper into the blanket, her eyes wet and frantic as she trembled, trying to fathom what other options she had. This was insane – and yet Zoe realised they didn’t have many other choices. They couldn’t call for help, who could they call and how could she even hope to explain it before she had to run again? Before she was whipped again?

She couldn't escape - she'd tried that once already and whatever curse she had put on herself had done this to her instead.

Escape isn't an option, hiding isn't an option... what's left other than complying...?

Her mind raced, but she couldn’t see any viable route out of this, the only plan they had, the only thing she could even think of to try was this.

Do what the collar wants…

The very fact that she was even contemplating it made Zoe’s head spin.

Am I really going to do it…? Run naked around town on the slim chance that it might let me wear clothes again?

“What if it doesn’t work…?” she asked, voice cracking with nerves.

Katie took a deep breath, “Well, then… then we’ll have to come up with something else to try… I don’t think you have a choice Zo. It’s going to make you do it anyway so… why not try to do what it wants before it asks and see if it rewards you for it? I don’t know what else you’re going to try to get your clothes back…”

Zoe closed her eyes and took a deep breath which she held for several long, agonising moments. She felt Katie's fingers drum nervously against her bare knees as she blushed brighter and brighter. Her bottom lip quivering, the red-head finally breathed out with a quiet nod,

"Ok... I'll do it..."