The priest

As Druuna and the three soldiers threw their heads around in alarm, the hooded head of the priest appeared through the door. "Leave the slut and get out of here. There is trouble breeding." Then his head disappeared again.

The soldiers cursed, but they didn't dare protest the priest's orders. They jumped up at once, any thought of carnal exchange forgotten in a lightning's speed. Druuna was discarded like a worn-out bag of floor cloth. With a frightened gasp she flopped onto her naked behind. "What's the matter?" she asked the men.

"No idea," grunted Zach, as he pulled his military trousers back over his hips. "But if the priest says 'there's trouble', there'll be trouble."

"Yep," Robert agreed, scrambling into his clothes. "And I got no ambitions be at the receiving end of his fury, should things go amiss and we're to blame."

"But you can't leave me behind like that!" Druuna looked down at her naked body, turning around to show her bound wrists.

"Sorry, lass." Zach replied. "No way I push my luck by crossing that damned priest." He looked around at his fellow soldiers. "Ready, guys?"

"Zach, we can't leave her like that." Will looked down at Druuna, doubts showing through the wrinkles appearing on his forehead. "We can at least free her hands."

"No time for that."

Zach didn't wait for a reply, firmly grabbed his weapons and left throught the door. The other two soldiers exchanged a indecisive glance, then Robert grimaced and turned to follow Zach. "Please..." Druuna whined. Fear of being left behind naked and bond threatened to **** her. Her full breasts heaved with her horror-stricken breath.

"Screw it," Will murmered and took a step at Druuna's direction. The crouching girl lifted herself up on her knees and turned around to offer her secured wrists. To her grim surprise, Will made no attempts to release her bonds. Instead he just took hold of the rope around her neck and pulled her up from the floor. "You're too hot to be left behind."

Panicking, Druuna shook her head. A sudden numbness paralysed her. With wide open eyes she stared at the bag with her clothes the soldiers had placed on the floor in a corner of the room. She wanted to object, but for undiscernible reasons her tongue seemed to be numb. Will took a firm hold of her rope and pulled her through the door. Naked, except for her white running shoes and a blurred paint of milky ooze all over her face and certain prominent parts of her body, Drunna stumbled after him. Led by the soldier like cattle, they scampered down the stairs and out of the building. Will almost drove into the priest's back, who stood only a few feet in front of the mansion door. Zach had taken up a guarding position at the next intersection to the left, whereas the other soldier was having a watch on the right hand sideways. As Will and Druuna stepped out into the open, the priest turned his head around. Even though his hood shielded his face, Druuna could see the angry gleam of his eyes.

"Soldier Harmring. You'll have to answer to this insubordination when we're back in the secure sector." His head sprang back to look at Zach's direction without further notice of Will and Druuna.

"Sir, I thought you might want to keep her for interrogation..."

"Shut-up, Will," barked Zach without turning his head.

Will's face went pale. However, he didn't seem to be inclined to release his hold on Druuna's neck rope. When she feebly tried to test his grip, he reacted with a firm tug on the leash, that made Druuna stumble. The naked girl decided not to push her luck any further. Will grimaced at her and turned to Zach. "So, what's wrong?"

"The rabble has risen from its caves. I sense a massive hunger for rebellion against law and order."

The ice-cold voice of the priest chilled every one of the four humans around him to the bones. Irritated Robert and Will looked at each other. Zach held his gun with his finger ready to pull the trigger. Druuna tensed. For a moment she was afraid, that a horde of mutants would be making hunt on them. Then she heard distant voices swelling up through the metallic stillness of the sleeping city of wreackage and abandoned machines. Human voices! And before Druuna was able to graps its implications, a crowd of men and women came around a corner, two buildings away from them.

"There they are!"

A shout of anger rushed through the assembled crowd. However, when they saw the priest with his three armed guardians, their approach came to an halt.

"You people better get lost in a rush!" Zach shouted in his best military voice. "You don't know what kind of huge trouble you're about to pile up over your heads!"

"We don't care!" one of the men shouted. "We want justice! Law is with us!" Druuna looked at him more precisely and felt a mixture of relief and fear rushing through her spine. The man, and several others, carried small arms as well, even though the possession of any kind of firearms was strictly forbidden. If their anger turned into agression, the three soldiers would be hard-pressed to protect their cloaked superior. At least those folks didnt seem to carry open signs of The Disease. But Druuna also noticed not few faces who leered at her naked form with a mixture of hunger and disapproval.

"What kind of wrong has been done to you?" Zach shouted back.

"Villains! Rapists! Murderers! You have killed John Jones! A fine member of the 'hood. He had done no wrong. Never did. But you put him thru the hole!"

"He was infected with The Disease! There was no hope for him." Zach replied angered. It was quite obvious he despised this part of his job.

"No! That's not true!" a woman shouted and stepped up in front of the crowd. Her face was distorted from sorrow and pain. "My husband never got no disease. He was a good man. A good husband. Who will now feed his children!" She waved her hands up in the air in chagrin and he crowd roared with openly felt sympathy.

"He had sinned." The ice-cold voice of the priest silenced everyone in a hush. "He would not repent. The Lords had marked him with their sign for his signs. There was no hope for his soul." Red eyes gleamed with anguish under the hooded mask of the priest.

"My John never was no sinner!" the woman screamed and fell on her knees, her face buried in her hands. Two men stepped up and pulled her on her feet. Then the first row of protesters opened a small lane and the crying wife was led away. However, the crowd stayed put, many faces still beaming with unabashed fury. "If we can't get justice, we ask for compensation at the least." Again the first speaker raised his voice. "Mr Jones was a good man. If he has sinned, the Lords may know. But I doubt he had." The crowd murmered their approval.

"You people are crazy!" Zach shouted in return. "The proof of this one Mr Jones' misconducts were undeniable. Go home. One soul isn't worth the wrath of the sector administration on a whole 'hood."

"No way!" the man replied. "We havent much left to loose!"

"Yes, we're damned anyhow!" one hidden voice yelled fanatically. "You're damned. We're all damned!" And before Zach could reply once again, the crowd took up the chant: "We're damned! You're damned! We're all damned!"

Once more, it was the cold voice of the speak that stopped the uproar: "You shall have compensation!"

In an instant everybody fell silent.

"Compensation?" the speaker asked cautiously, as if he had been offered a poisoned apple.

"Yes. Compensation. Not compensation for that damned one's life and soul. His fate is now in the kind hands of the Lords. But we shall grant compensation for the evil that befell your community. Deep in my heart, I sense - I feel - the sorrow of the damned one's wife and children. I feel the shock, when you discovered that one amongst your own had sinned against the Lords. Sinned against The System. But The System is not without charitableness for its children. Therefore I shall grant your claim, to compensate for the shock of knowledge and the loss of one soul to the allurement of sin."

Hushed murmurs rippled through the assembled community. Raising an uncertain eyebrow, the speaker asked: "And what kind of compensation?"

"You can have the girl."