Sallas 2: The Gilded Cage

Chapter Description: The final part in Anna, Ryan and Jane's story. Will hey finally get out of Sallas once and for all? Will they be stopped at the last hurdle? What is the world outside Sallas like?

I'm only able to write as much as I do thanks to the amazing support of my readers. Writing is my only income and I appreciate everyone who reads my stories more than you all can imagine. If you enjoy my stories and want to see updates a week before everyone else PLUS read 35+ stories only available on my membership sites please have a look at the links below. All support is very gratefully accepted ❤️

https://reamstories.com/elfy

https://subscribestar.adult/elfy

---

Anna crawled to the front of the speeding van and lifted herself to look out the window. Ahead of them, she saw a tunnel. She didn’t recognise where they were at all, but Thorn seemed to be exactly where she wanted to be. As they approached, she started pressing on the horn. Anna saw two heavy duty trucks, that had seemingly been parked to the sides of the tunnel opening, pull into the road, their own horns blaring.

Like a closing door they narrowed the gap. The van flew past, and Anna didn’t need to see behind her to know they were going to be blocking the way for them. She hoped there was a plan to get the drivers to safety as well. After all the bullets, things had calmed down a little and Anna noticed Thorn was breathing heavily, as if she had just run a race. She looked pale and there was sweat running down her face.

“Are you…?” Anna started.

“I’m fine.” Thorn cut her off, “Everyone back there, OK?”

“Yeah, a little banged up but we’re alright.” Ryan said. He was sitting against the wall of the van with Jane right next to him.

“Believe it or not, this is mostly going to plan.” Thorn let out a quick exhalation of a laugh, “We need to stop up ahead. The last stop before the coast.”

The van emerged from the other side of the tunnel and there were thankfully no government cars waiting for them. They were truly out of the city now; fields were stretching out in front of them along with occasional isolated buildings. After a minute or so on the road, Thorn turned the car through a gate on to a dirt track. She had slowed down quite a bit as they approached a large barn. Everything Anna saw on the drive from the tunnel looked sleepy and uninhabited, but this barn was an exception. As the van approached, she saw people running around in different directions, they were nearly all women. Thorn beeped in a specific pattern and the door to the barn was opened. For the number of people outside, it was just as packed inside, though part of that had to do with the half dozen vehicles squeezed in there.

The van came to a stop, and the doors opened a second later. Women in combat fatigues climbed into the back of the car and almost pushed Anna and her family out. Thorn was climbing out of the front seat at the same time.

“You’re hurt!” Someone exclaimed when they saw Thorn.

“It’s a through and through.” Thorn said, raising her good hand in a gesture to say she was alright, “Which car is ours?”

“Stay here.” The woman said, “We’ll take them.”

“No.” Thorn shook her head, “I made a promise and I’m seeing this through.”

“But…” The woman started.

Thorn looked at her. The hard gaze that required no words to accompany it, a look that to remind the woman who was in charge. The woman nodded and pointed towards a light blue car that looked at least twenty years old. Thorn started walking over to it, one of her arms still hanging limply.

“Everyone!” Thorn called out, “Let’s go! Come on!”

Anna, Ryan and Jane were chivvied along to the car Thorn had climbed into. Anna took the front seat whilst Ryan joined Jane in the back. Anna heard a comment being made about Jane’s diaper, when she turned around, she saw that her friend was leaking pretty badly.

“I think I was scared…” Jane practically whispered as her cheeks turned red.

It wasn’t just Anna’s group that was getting into cars. All of the vehicles, all very similar in colour and type were now occupied, each of them with four people. As they waited, a woman was leaning through the side window and doing a quick patch job on her commander. Thorn winced as bandages were quickly and roughly put over her wounds.

“Alright! Move out!” Thorn shouted out the window.

All the vehicles came to life, including the van that the four of them had arrived in. The doors at the other end of the barn to the side they had entered opened, and cares started moving out. Almost as soon as they were clear of the building, each vehicle turned to a different direction and started driving. Anna then understood that they were creating a bunch of diversions to make it as hard as possible for the authorities to find the right car.

The car Anna was in pulled out near the tail end of the line of cars and turned quickly before Thorn stepped on the accelerator. They weren’t on a road, in fact, it didn’t seem like many of the cars had headed back to the road. Instead, they were driving through a corn field, where the plants were so tall it was nearly impossible to see where they were going. It seemed Thorn had some idea though, as she didn’t seem concerned about hitting anything as she sped through.

“There should be a little road… Ah ha.” Thorn broke into a smile as the corn gave way to a small dirt road. It ran between the edges of two fields of corn.

“It seems so surreal.” Anna muttered as she stared out the front window.

“You doubted The Rose Resistance?” Thorn asked as she looked at her passenger.

Anna had to laugh despite the tension of situation. For the moment they weren’t being shot at or followed, there didn’t seem to be any danger, it was enough to let her relax, just a little. She hoped the other cars were having similarly easy times. She was still uneasy at the idea of so many people risking their lives for her as if she was someone important.

The fields thinned and ten minutes later they were turning on to a windy concrete road. They carried on along it. Anna strained to see where they were, but the road was lined with trees and hedgerows which afforded her only glimpses of the countryside beyond. It was somewhat of a shock then, when they made a left turn that revealed a sheer cliff in front of them. Beyond the drop was the sea, stretching to the horizon. Anna’s mouth fell open.

“Nearly there.” Thorn said as the car trundled along the road, turning gently until they were running parallel to the cliff.

Anna had no words. She kept staring out of the window with tears falling down her face. She hardly dared to believe that she was really seeing the escape she so desperately sought. That there was a boat ready to take them out of Sallas forever. She prayed she wasn’t dreaming, to wake up and find herself back in the house would’ve been a cruelty she didn’t think she would recover from. Jane and Ryan talked a little, Thorn joined in occasionally, everything a little strained from the tension they all still felt. Anna remained silent.

After fifteen minutes along the cliffside, passing various places to stop to admire the view or have a picnic, the land began to slope noticeably downwards. Ahead of them Anna could see a small dock and, her breath catching in her chest for so long that she thought she might pass out, there was a boat waiting.

Anna kept waiting for it all to go wrong. She kept waiting for the boat to pull away without them, or for the government cars to suddenly appear right behind them, shooting wildly. She looked out all the windows, but they were alone, no one was there to stop them. When she turned in her seat to look at her companions, she could see her own emotions mirrored back at her. Excitement and joy mixed with the anxiety of a completely unknown future.

The car drove down to the small dock and parked next to the boat. Anna nearly fell as she climbed out, her legs feeling weak after everything she had been through. She stared at the boat as if blinking might make it disappear forever.

“Well, here we-…” Thorn started. She was very quickly cut off by Anna who had almost jumped on her with a hug, “Woah there.”

“Thank you.” Anna said, her voice shaky, tears streaming down her cheeks, “I can never repay you…”

It didn’t seem that Thorn knew exactly how to react to such an embrace. When Anna let go, she saw that her rescuer seemed more unsure right then than in any of the high-adrenaline events they had just gone through. Anna looked at the small crew of the boat and saw them trying to hide smiles.

“Right, well, you’d better get going.” Thorn said after clearing her throat.

“Are you sure you won’t come with us?” Jane asked.

“I’ve got work to do here.” Thorn said, “And if I didn’t do it, who would?”

Anna helped Jane on to the boat where a couple of members of the crew, smiling and welcoming, took the woman below deck. Ryan climbed on to the boat as well, but waited by the side, waiting for his wife. Anna turned back to Thorn but no longer knew what to say. She felt as if she should’ve had some grand speech ready to go, some words of wisdom that would resonate forever with Thorn. She had nothing.

“Good luck, Anna.” Thorn said, “Live your life.”

Anna’s bottom lip trembled and she sucked it in. She nodded and then turned away from Thorn, turned away from her troubles, and turned away from Sallas. She stepped on to the boat with help from Ryan and then turned to face the dock as the sailors on board started to untie ropes. Even then, she kept expecting it all to go wrong, for a fleet of ships to come and blockade them, or a veritable army to stop over the hill guns firing.

“We did it.” Ryan said. He sounded shocked more than happy, exhausted more than excited.

“Yeah…” Anna smiled and leaned against him, accepting an arm around his shoulders.

“What do you think will happen next?” Ryan said, his chin resting on the top of Anna’s head, “Where are we going to go?”

Anna chuckled. From the way Ryan reacted she guessed he didn’t remember the reason why. The last question he had asked was exactly the same as the one she had said when they were leaving college together. Back then the great unknown was Sallas and facing a future where they were marked as troublemakers, where Ryan would have to work a dead-end job and where Anna was caught in limbo between being treated as an equal at home, and seen as little more than a child by society.

“I don’t know.” Anna answered truthfully, “I never really dared to home we would get this far.”

The boat’s engine had been idling, but now the revs seemed to increase and, ever so slowly, they pulled away from the pier. Anna felt a great anxiety being left behind, a weight she had been carrying for nearly her whole life getting ripped off of her shoulders. With each wave that the boat started to go over, she was increasing her distance from Sallas, every second taking her further from the place than she had ever been before.

“We should head below.” Ryan said as he gestured towards a doorway and some stairs.

“You go.” Anna said quietly, “I’ll be down in a minute.”

Ryan lingered. He only reluctantly let go of the hug, but he didn’t leave Anna’s side. Sallas was still in view, but it was getting harder to see details. Thorn had turned and hurried back to her car. She honked her horn a couple of times, the sound just barely reaching the boat, and the car drove away.

“I’ll be fine.” Anna said as she stared at the retreating view of Sallas, “You should check on Jane. This is the first time she’s left Sallas, she might be freaking out.”

“It’s the first time I’ve been out of the country too.” Ryan said, though it was clear he wasn’t exactly cut up about leaving. He kissed Anna on the forehead, “Don’t stay up here too long, you’ll get cold.”

Anna was finally alone, standing at the back of the boat with her hands on the rail. She didn’t leave the spot until the last of the Sallas coastline disappeared from view. As it faded into the distance, Anna let out a long breath, finally feeling free. She was a complex ball of emotions, she had imagined how she would feel leaving Sallas for most of her life. She had pictured joy, excitement, and even anger, but in reality, it was nothing. It would take a long time for the shock to wear off, for the new reality to set in and realise she was finally free.

Epilogue

The building was huge. Bigger than any place Anna had been in Sallas, without question. She had one leg crossed over the other as she sat in an otherwise empty conference room. It was just her, a long table, and a dozen unoccupied office chairs. She’s chosen the one nearest the window, which she looked out of at the city around her.

A few floors up from the ground, Anna could see the cars coming and going, the people walking, and if she hadn’t known better, she could’ve thought she was right back in Kingston again, like she’d never left Sallas at all. She didn’t really know what she expected. A city is a city, no matter where you are, but for some reason Anna had built up in her mind that the world would just look… different.

Anna smiled. She was looking down at the ground at the foot of the building. She saw a woman in a business suit, holding a hot drink in one hand whilst talking on a phone with the other. It was a sight as exotic to Anna as anything she had seen in their newly adopted country. A woman, clearly important, or at least self-important, who had a job and was an adult. Anna couldn’t look away. That was what she had wanted to see more than anything else.

When the woman got into a taxi that had pulled up next to her outstretched hand, Anna’s gaze followed the yellow car until she saw large billboard. It was something she had been looking at a lot whilst sitting in that room, a sight she had tried to ignore, to not let intrude on her newfound happiness, and yet it was one she couldn’t help glancing at repeatedly. The sign advocated for a new way of living, or rather, an old way of living.

“Don’t like the modern world? Return to traditional values.” The billboard advised. Followed by a link to a website to learn more.

This wasn’t an isolated event either. Since arriving in the country a couple of months previously, Anna had seen numerous billboards, a lot of people advocating for this lifestyle on the internet, and even some politicians clamouring to return to “traditional values.”

It had very quickly become clear what these values meant. The image on the billboard across the road, a smiling man and woman, blonde hair and blue eyed, with their kid in front of him. The man in a suit, the woman in a homemaker’s dress that seemed to fit the fashion of fifty years ago more than it did these modern times. Anna felt anxious just looking at it. Sure, it was only the extremists of this movement that were espousing the values of Sallas, with full on infantilisation of women, but whilst the diapers weren’t present, the ideas were.

It wasn’t something Anna had anticipated. The exporting of Sallas ideals on a world who didn’t know what life was like within the closed off country. The very world that Anna had risked her life to escape was now getting airtime on the news and online, with influencers quick to talk about how men were neglected and second class. Anna scoffed at the very idea, she knew what being a second-class citizen was really like, after all, and it wasn’t men having to give up some of their superiority to treat women like human beings.

“Sorry about that.” The door behind Anna opened and Jane stepped inside.

Anna turned in her seat and smiled at her friend. They had only been out of Sallas for a short time, but it already seemed like Jane had flourished. Without the oppressive atmosphere she had seemed to grow into her own person in a way that had been impossible before the escape. She now walked in, dressed like a woman rather than a girl and sat down at the table.

“Did you have any problems?” Anna asked.

“Nope, not at all.” Jane replied, “There was a stall in the women’s bathroom that had some extra space. I’m getting better at doing it myself, I had to do the tapes three times though. It’s much easier laying down to do it.”

“Well, hopefully you won’t have to do it at all soon.” Anna said encouragingly. She saw Jane raise an eyebrow in disbelief, “I’m serious. You’re doing great.”

“It just feels weird.” Jane said with a deep exhale.

“Which bit?” Anna asked.

“All of it.” Jane replied, “The fact that in any room I enter I’m probably the ONLY one in diapers. Hell, potty training in general is so strange. I never thought about it back in Sallas.”

Anna nodded her head and reached a hand across the table. Jane took it in hers. There had been teething problems for sure, but it was impossible to deny that they were all better off now. Anna was still getting used to walking around without any padding under her clothes, with no one staring at her, the fact she could go places on her own, or with Jane, without people batting an eyelid was a freedom she hadn’t really even thought about before leaving.

“Are you ready for your speech?” Jane asked.

“No.” Anna replied, “I mean, I guess I am. I’m just not sure about standing up in front of all those people and talking…”

“You’ll be OK.” Jane said reassuringly, “Ryan and me will be right behind you.”

As if on cue, the door opened, and Ryan walked in. He had gotten tired of sitting around and waiting to be told the main chamber was ready, so he had been off exploring the building. He came back in and sat down next to Jane.

“You look worried.” Ryan said as he observed his wife.

“It’s that obvious?” Anna asked.

“I know what to look for.” Ryan grinned, “Hey, if it’s too much, we could give the speech to someone here to read. I’m sure people would understand if you needed more time.”

“I made a promise to Thorn.” Anna said. She would’ve loved to run away and hide from what was to come but that wasn’t going to be an option, “People died to get us here. It’s time we started paying The Rose Resistance back.”

News out of Sallas had been sparse to say the least. The country was very closed off to most outsiders, it was as hard to report on what was happening in the country as it was to get news of the wider world when living there. Most news about what was happening in Sallas came from their government press releases, and if you read between the lines, you could sometimes even see some of the truth.

For instance, the fact that there had been no news about Thorn or The Rose Resistance gave a very strong impression that after the dramatic day of escape, the organisation hadn’t been crushed, Thorn hadn’t been arrested. If either thing had happened, Anna was sure Sallas would be crowing about it forevermore.

Indeed, once the three of them had been dropped off on the shore, one of the first things that had happened was extensive interviews about the internals of Sallas. It shocked Anna to know that some of the people recognised her and even knew her name. Her advertising hadn’t been restricted to just internal campaigns after all. One of the sailors who had guided the boat handed over a bunch of documents to the agents of Anna’s new home, they had been spirited away very quickly. No matter who or how Anna asked, no one would tell exactly what was going on. She remembered what Thorn had said and considered that she likely had some contacts with foreign governments already. They had to get their money and equipment from somewhere after all.

There was a knock at the door. Anna stood up before it had even opened. A woman in a suit stood in the doorway with a smile. Eve, the rather beautiful middle-aged woman, had been assigned to Anna as a liaison and to look after her in the government building.

“They’re ready for you now.” Eve said.

Anna nodded and picked up her papers. She took a deep breath and gave each of Jane and Ryan a hug. They stayed close together as they left the room and walked a short way down the hallway to a large wooden door. From the other side, Anna could hear murmuring of, admittedly mostly male, voices.

Anna took a deep breath as she prepared to walk in and address the masses of politicians and dignitaries in the auditorium beyond. She balled her hands into fists in an effort to steel her resolve. Before she could move forward, she felt a most unexpected feeling. There were hands on both of her fists. She looked to the side to see Ryan, prying open her hand so that he could hold it. On the other side, Jane kept hold until Anna loosened her grip. They both squeezed her a little and together they walked through the door.

--- 

With this story completed I have started a NEW story! "The Designation" is about a young man who is about to go into the Designation Office to find out if he will be made Big... or Little:

https://reamstories.com/page/lpjgftb4y2/story/mozb40hx8a1381/chapter/mozb42a128b2460

https://subscribestar.adult/posts/2486397