Chapter One

Sister John ladled potato bacon soup into bowls while Sister Mary Sebastian and I put on makeshift leather boxing gloves in a corner of the barn. We wore tee shirts and jean shorts with bits of lace showing underneath, fetish gear the soldiers had looted somewhere. Sister Mary Sebastian’s dark skin contrasted with my freckles. Our close-cropped hair lay concealed by the coifs and veils that our captor had insisted we wear.

“I expect you to be as obedient as ever,” were the last words Sister Mary Sebastian, Sister John and I had heard from our Mother Superior before we were led away.

As obedient as ever.

That had been a signal, most definitely, that the trio of the biggest troublemakers in the Sisters of Celestial Endurance were to do whatever we could to end the occupation of our convent.

Captain Rackham stood before a makeshift arena, stacked hay bales supporting hurricane fencing set up in a sixteen-foot octagon and wired together. “Alright, you reprobates, here’s how this is going to work! You guys stay in your fucking seats. I don’t care how charged up you get, this is not going to be a riot! I will personally shoot anyone that even comes close to that cage. We don’t know what kind of mutant clap they got, so none of you are going to be dipping any dipsticks!”

It was an insult, but since the big boom all kinds of viruses and stuff have gotten out of control,...