Chapter 25
Mark and Randy had been walking along the road for about fifteen minutes. They were walking in single file, with Mark leading, when he suddenly stopped and put up a hand. “Shhh!” Randy stopped and strained to listen for whatever Mark had heard. At first he heard nothing but the usual forest sounds; birds chirping, creaking branches, and buzzing insects. Then another sound began to mix with it. It was a light thumping, like someone running . . .
Suddenly, Mark ran into the trees at the side of the road and Randy followed him a split second later. They flattened themselves on the ground behind a rotten log and listened. The sound was getting louder. Definitely someone running. No, more than one person. And fast. He chanced lifting his head just enough to see the road. Then he heard another sound, the revving of an engine. As he watched the road in the direction of the engine sound, he couldn’t believe his eyes when Amy and Tanya came around a corner at a full run, wearing only t-shirts and hiking boots. The thumping they heard was their boots hitting the hard packed earth in the center of the road. He sprang to his feet and jumped out onto the road just as they were about to pass their hiding spot. Amy had turned to look back to make sure their pursuers hadn’t caught up to them and Tanya yelled and pointed at Mark. Amy looked back just in time to just avoid barreling into him.
“Mark!” Tanya squealed and threw herself into his arms. Randy had by now emerged from his hiding place, not believing the sight of these two beautiful and half naked girls running through the woods. Amy was also very happy to see them, but the sound of the approaching vehicle cut their reunion short.
“Quick! Hide! They’re coming!” she said.
Mark pointed to the log he and Randy had been hiding behind. They scrambled into the trees and hit the ground just as the black van came into view, bouncing along at a dangerous speed for the tight road. Amy snuck a peek as it careened past them. John was in the passenger seat and it appeared that Ralph was driving, although she didn’t get a real good look.
Mark and Tanya were huddled together and when the van passed, she hugged him again, then kissed him. “Oh, Mark! I’m so glad to see you! I knew you’d come for us!” She hugged him again. Amy looked at Randy, who was in turn looking at her. When they had dove for cover, her t-shirt had ridden up to her back and she was lying in the dead leaves with her ass completely uncovered. She looked down and saw what happened then shrugged. Any modesty she had left was eliminated the night before.
She held out a hand to him. “Hi. I’m Amy.”
Randy stared at her offered hand for a moment, then shook it. “Uh . . .hi. Randy.”
“Nice to meet you, Randy. Pardon me while I cover my ass.” She sat up and tugged the shirt down so that she was somewhat covered. Mark looked around.
“Where’s Sheri?” Tanya fought back tears.
“Th . . .they caught her!” She stammered, her voice breaking.
Mark looked at her. “Who?”
Tanya was too choked up to answer, so Amy spoke up. “Bill, John, and three other guys. They . . . they’ve been, uh . . .” She didn’t want to say it in front of Randy, who she had just met.
“They’ve been raping us!” Tanya blurted out, then fell into Marks arms, sobbing. Mark held her, and felt his rage rise. He wasn’t a violent person. In fact, his whole life he had avoided conflict. He had never been in a fight in his life. But now he was pissed off. He let Tanya embrace him for a few more seconds, then gently pushed her back to arms length.
“Where is Sheri?” he repeated firmly.
Tanya pointed up the road. “Back there . . . at the cabin.”
“How far?”
Tanya paused, glancing at Amy. Amy spoke up. “We don’t know. We ran away into the woods and just happened upon the road. It can’t be very far though.”
Mark pulled out his cell phone. “Shit . . .no signal.” He snapped it closed and thought for a moment. “Randy, can you get them back to the van and then go for help? I’ll go get Sheri.” Randy nodded without hesitating.
“Sure, but don’t you need my help?”
Mark shrugged. “I could use an army, but it’s more important to get Amy and Tanya to safety. I can handle these assholes.” He pulled the gun from his jeans and checked the cylinder. Amy and Tanya stared at the gun with wide eyes.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Mark?” Amy asked, her eyes going from the pistol to his face. He shook his head gravely, gave Tanya a quick kiss, then stood up.
“No, I don’t want to, but Sheri needs help and right now, I’m it. Bring the cops as fast as you can. And stay in the woods until you get to the van. They may have spotted it so make sure the coast is clear before you leave the woods. If . . .” He paused, glancing at Tanya and Amy. “When I get Sheri, we’ll hide in the woods somewhere that we can see the road.” Randy nodded and held out his hand.
“Good luck. I’ll see you later, man,” he said. Mark gripped his hand, smiled grimly and nodded.
Tanya and Amy both hugged him. “Thank you, Mark,” Amy said and kissed him. Tanya also gave him another kiss and told him to be careful. He watched them slip away through the trees, then began to make his way toward the cabin, his heart pounding in his chest.
Chapter 26
Sheri screamed and twisted her body in a vain attempt to get away from Jerry’s clutches, but he carried her back to the cabin with apparent ease and threw her onto the couch he had been asleep on a few minutes earlier. He wiped his brow and glared down at her. She cowered onto the couch, pulling her legs to her chest.
Bill came in, panting after his run through the woods after Amy and Tanya. His eyes burned with anger as he looked down at Sheri, then he turned his ire on Jerry. “How in the fuck did you let three girls sneak past you!?” Jerry looked down and shrugged.
“Sorry! Fuck, man, I was asleep!”
Bill moved closer. “Sorry! You’ll be fucking sorry if they get to the cops!” He turned to Sheri. “You fucking little whore! If I don’t catch your friends soon, you are going to die!” He reached down and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her to her feet. He didn’t wait until she was able to stand, but dragged her out onto the porch. She tried to make a run for it when he momentarily released her, but he quickly grabbed her by the back of her t-shirt and pulled her back. He grabbed the collar of her shirt with both hands and ripped it from her body. Then he pushed her forward over the railing of the balcony and began to unfasten his pants.
“Hey!” he yelled loudly. “You other two whores! If you can hear me, I have your girlfriend out her on the porch and I’m going to fuck her up the ass until she passes out, then we’re going to wake her up and do it again until you give yourselves up!” He dropped his pants and placed his cock at her inflamed asshole. Sheri closed her eyes and prepared to be anally raped again. She felt his cock pushing against her swollen, burning back door when a voice called out.
“Hold it, asshole!” Mark stepped out of the woods about twenty feet from the front porch. Bill shot him a puzzled and slightly amused look.
“Who the fuck are you?” he asked, zipping his pants back up. Sheri looked up and saw Mark. Relief flooded her face, until she realized that he was alone. He had no chance against these guys! On the positive side, maybe he had been able to help Amy and Tanya.
“Mark!” Sheri cried and tried to push herself up, but Bill shoved her back and held his hand on her back.
Mark’s voice was a little shaky, but he didn’t back down. “That’s not important. You should know that the cops are on the way. They know who you are and they have the pictures the girls took.” He was slowly advancing closer as he spoke, but Bill wasn’t impressed. In fact, he seemed amused that this puny little fuck had the balls to face him.
“Is that right? Well, I guess I should be pleading for mercy, shouldn’t I?” Bill’s manner was calm. Mark noticed his eyes flash momentarily to his left, but before he could look, Steve came out from around the corner of the building and swung his fist at his face. Acting purely on instinct, Mark ducked and he missed his face, but the blow struck his shoulder and was enough to send him reeling across the clearing. He tripped over a football-sized rock and sprawled onto the ground in front of Sheri. She gasped and cried out his name, but Steve was on him a second later, hauling him to his feet by the scruff of his neck. Something caught Sheri’s eye as he did. Mark dropped something. She strained her eyes into the foot long grass that sprouted in clumps around the rocky ground. At first, she thought she had imagined it, then she saw it. It looked like a gun! What would Mark be doing with a gun!?
Steve hauled him over to the foot of the porch steps. Bill grabbed Sheri by the arm and pulled her along as he went down to greet this annoying little shit that was causing him more headaches on an already fucked-up day. As Steve held Mark, Bill looked him over. He wasn’t much. Just a scrawny little punk who thought he was going to be a hero. Sheri struggled in his grip. He spotted a coil of rope lying on the porch and grabbed it. He pushed her to the ground and wrapped it around her feet a few times, then tied it securely. There was still ten or fifteen feet left, so for good measure he tied the other end to one of the porch foundation blocks.
“Now you stay put while I take care of Junior, here. Then we’ll get on with your punishment!” He left her lying naked on the ground and turned back to Mark. “Now, did I hear you correctly, boy? Did you really call me an asshole?” Mark didn’t reply, but struggled in Steve’s powerful grip. Bill hauled back and punched him in the stomach. Mark doubled over, retching. Bill grabbed him by the hair, lifted his head up, and hit him again. This time, Mark doubled over and puked. Bill jumped back just in time to avoid getting it all over his feet, then grabbed him by the hair. “Why you little . . .”
“Let him go.”
Bill spun around. Amy was on her knees, pointing Mark’s gun directly at him from fifteen feet away. He could see her hands shaking, the short barrel swaying. Where the hell did she get a gun? The little shit must have dropped it, he decided. That was why he was brave enough to confront him. He wondered for a second if it was loaded, but then he saw the bullets in the cylinder and slowly raised his hands.
“Easy, now. You be careful with that,” he said, his voice calm, but with a slight hint of panic. “It may go off and hurt someone.”
Sheri just looked at him. A calmness seemed to descend over her and her hands stopped shaking. She held the gun steady, still trained on him. He took a step toward her and she cocked the hammer back, her eyes locked on his. She couldn’t believe she could be this calm while pointing a loaded gun at another human being. But then again, he wasn’t really human in her mind. “Don’t take another step or I’ll shoot,” she said in a low, flat voice.
He hesitated, then smiled and spread his hands out to her. “Sheri, come on now, you don’t want to shoot me.” He took another tentative step toward her.
She didn’t think. The gun was pointed at his chest. She lowered it so it was pointing directly at his groin. She saw the fear rise up his eyes a second before she pulled the trigger.
The noise was deafening. Bill screamed, both hands going to his crotch as he fell to the ground. Blood began to seep through his fingers as he lay screaming and writhing in agony. Steve took one look at him, then at Sheri, who was moving her aim to him. He let go of Mark, who fell to his hands and knees, and ran screaming down the road. Mark looked at her, then at Bill, whose girlish screams were beginning to wind down to a sobbing wail.
“You . . . you shot my . . . dick off!” he cried, writhing in pain. “You . . .fucking bitch! What have you done!?” Sheri aimed the gun at his head, her eyes still cold and calm. Bill’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “No! Please! D . . . don’t k . . .kill me!” She held the gun steady, inching closer on her knees. Mark managed to get to his feet, still clutching his stomach.
“Sheri . . .” He gasped, shaking his head. “Put the gun down. It’s over. He’s not worth it.” She looked up at him, but kept the gun pointed at Bill’s forehead.
She slowly turned her eyes back to Bill. “You don’t know what they did to us, Mark,” she said calmly, her voice as hard as steel. Mark nodded and stumbled toward her.
“Not everything, no, but Amy and Tanya told us some of it.” She looked up at him again.
“You found them? They’re all right?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I think so. My friend Randy is taking them for help. The cops are on the way, Sheri. Please, put the gun down.” Bill moaned, his hands still clutching his ruined dick. “Look at him, Sheri. Wouldn’t it be better to let him live like this? He’ll never be able to do what he did to you to anyone again.” A smile crossed his lips. “Hell, he can’t even whack off anymore!”
This brought a slight smile to Sheri’s face. The thought of ole’ dickless Bill giving blow-jobs in prison came into her head and she slowly lowered the gun. Bill moaned and lay his head on the ground. He was close to passing out from the pain and blood loss. Mark came over to Sheri and gently took the gun from her hands. Then he used his pocket knife to cut the rope from her ankles.
“Let’s find you something to put on,” he said softly. They went into the cabin and Sheri located their backpacks in one of the other rooms. She dressed quickly, then they gathered up the packs and went back outside. Bill was still conscious, but he was fading fast. As they walked past him, Amy kicked him in the kidneys. He cried out and started moaning again. She smiled to herself as they left him writhing on the ground and headed off down the road.
Chapter 27
Randy, Amy, and Tanya crouched in the woods at the edge of the road. They were looking across to Randy’s minivan. Unfortunately, Ralph’s van was making slow passes back and forth and they hadn’t dared make a run for it. Amy was getting more frustrated with every passing minute. After all they’d been through to get this close and not be able to escape from these bastards! She leaned over and whispered to Randy. “Do they know you’re here?”
He shook his head. “We followed Ralph here, but we were careful. I’m pretty sure he didn’t suspect anything or he wouldn’t have come straight here.”
Amy nodded. That made sense, but he may have seen the van and not realized he was being followed until they saw it parked here. Just then, an unusual sound reached her ears. It sounded like a shot, followed by a piercing scream. They all exchanged a shocked look. None of them believed that Mark would actually use the gun. But the shot had come from the direction of the cabin. ‘Oh, shit,’ Amy thought.
The look on Randy and Tanya’s faces told her they had come to the same conclusion. Someone had been shot. The van continued it’s slow crawl along the road. It seemed that they hadn’t heard the shot or the scream. Amy looked back in the direction of the cabin.
“Maybe we should go back,” she said. “They may need our help!” Randy looked at them in their dirty t-shirts and mismatched boots. He shook his head.
“No. You two stay here. I’ll go.”
Amy and Tanya exchanged a look. “But you can’t go alone! What if . . .” Amy stopped herself. She was about to say what if it was Mark who’d been shot.
Randy shook his head. He was no hero, but there was no way he was going to put their lives at risk. He told them so in a surprisingly authoritative tone of voice. “You two wait here.” He pulled the keys to the minivan from his pocket and gave them to Tanya. “If you get a chance, get the hell out of here and send help.”
Tanya looked at the keys in her hand, then back up to him and nodded. She hugged him tightly, then he stood up to go. Amy squeezed his hand as he passed by and smiled up at him. “Be careful, Randy.” He gave her a grim smile, then looked over at Tanya, and then he was gone, swallowed up by the dense foliage. They could hear him moving through the trees for a few minutes, then silence. The van made another pass.
Randy moved as quietly as he could through the woods back in the direction of the cabin. He hated to leave the girls alone, but Mark might need his help. That was definitely a gunshot, and he hoped Mark was all right. He made his way to the road that led up to the cabin and reached it just in time to see a man run by. He seemed terrified and kept looking back over his shoulder, as if someone was chasing him. After he passed, Randy peeked out from behind a tree in the direction he had run. The end of the road was only about a hundred yards away. Randy could see him reach the end and look frantically up and down the other road. Then he jerked his head to the right and ran off yelling and waving his arms.
Randy watched for a moment to see if he was coming back, then started up the road in the direction of the cabin. He had walked less than a hundred yards when he heard a rustling in the bushes next to the road and froze.
“Randy!” Mark said, stepping from the woods with Sheri right behind him. Randy’s face flooded with relief to see them. Mark looked around, his face alarmed. “Where are Amy and Tanya?”
Randy took a second to slow his heart, then pointed back in the direction he had come. “In . . .in the woods across from the minivan. They keep driving past it and we haven’t been able to get to it.” He took a deep breath. “We heard a shot and I thought you might need some help!” Mark looked at Sheri, her face expressionless, then back to Randy.
“We’re fine, but Bill needs an ambulance. And quickly.”
Sheri snorted. “Fuck him. Let him die, the rotten fucker.” Randy looked at her, then back to Mark, his face puzzled.
“Bill got shot?” Mark nodded and Sheri spoke up.
“I shot his fucking cock off, and I’d do it again.” Randy stared at her, his eyes wide with disbelief. Before he could say anything else, they heard the roar of an engine coming up the road.
“Shit!” Mark exclaimed. They jumped into the trees and snuck as far back as they could into the bushes. The beat up old van came tearing up the road, bouncing and scraping over the ruts. It flew by them and went for a another moment until they heard it skid to a stop, doors slamming. Mark stood up and grabbed Sheri’s arm. “Let’s go!” The three of them ran through the woods, deciding it would be too dangerous to use the road, and Randy led them back to where he had left the girls.
When they reached their hiding spot, they were nowhere to be seen. Randy could see their footprints in the dry and crumbling moss they had knelt on, so he knew they were in the right place. He looked out onto the road and saw Amy and Tanya sitting in the minivan. Amy was in the driver’s seat and as he stood up to wave to them, they heard the van roaring back down the road. The minivan starter cranked and the engine roared to life. Mark and Sheri stood up next to Randy and they all began waving frantically at them, trying to warn them that the van was coming.
Amy put the van in gear and looked out onto the road, checking for traffic. She caught movement across the road and looked up to see Mark, Randy, and Sheri waving frantically and pointing up the road. Sheri! They’d rescued her! She stared at them, but they could tell from the puzzled look on her face that she didn’t grasp what they were trying to tell her.
She waved up at them, trying to get them to come down and get in the van, but then the black van roared out onto the road, its’ rear end fishtailing on the loose gravel. Ralph was in the drivers’ seat and he quickly straightened the van and shot off down the road, spewing gravel from the rear wheels. At the last second, Amy and Tanya ducked down in their seats and the van roared past them, covering everything in a thick layer of dust. They all began coughing until the dust cloud settled. When they could see again, they collected up the backpacks and made their way cautiously down to the minivan.
Chapter 28
Randy was driving while Amy and Tanya put on their clothes. Mark filled them in on what had happened up at the cabin while Sheri sat stoically, occasionally looking out her window.
” . . . and when he came closer, she shot him! Right in the balls!” Mark was saying. Amy and Tanya looked over at Sheri in total shock.
“Sheri?” Amy asked, touching her arm. Sheri turned slowly to look at her, her eyes vacant and her face holding the same expressionless look it had since she had pulled the trigger. “Are you all right?” Sheri stared at her for a long moment, then slowly nodded her head almost imperceptively.
“Bastard deserved it,” she said quietly.
Tanya reached across and touched her hand. “Damn right he did!”
Mark looked over at Randy. “We need to call the cops.” He unclipped his phone from his belt. “Wouldn’t work back there.” He flipped it open. Still no signal. But they were in between two low mountains. It would probably work once they hit pavement.
A few minutes later, they hit the paved highway and the tires squealed as Randy accelerated from the gravel onto the asphalt. Mark checked his phone again, then tossed it onto the dash. No one spoke as they raced back toward town, the shock of the last two day’s events weighing heavy on their minds. Amy took Sheri’s hand. Sheri turned from the window to look at her, but her eyes had a cold, detached look that scared her. It was like they belonged to someone she didn’t know. Mark looked back at them and Amy’s confused expression.
“She’s in shock, Amy,” he said, a concerned look in his eyes. “We need to get her to a hospital right away.” His eyes went to Tanya, then back to Amy. “All of you.” Tanya began to cry again softly, but these were tears of relief and anger. Amy put an arm around her and held her, tears also running down her cheeks. Sheri watched them for a moment, then turned to look back out the window, her eyes dry. They sped on into town.
– The End –