by Sage du Toit
A door slammed on the other side of the house and the woman clamped her lips together and ushered them into the closet with all of their stuff. Sam couldn’t help but think, not another closet! But it was a big walk-in closet and the door had been cracked open, so there wasn’t anything strange about them peeking out of the door.
The woman unlocked the bedroom door and ran into the bathroom where she quickly flushed the toilet.
“Meagan! Where the fuck is you?” The baldheaded man flung the door open to the bedroom. “What the hell you doin’ in here? Yo’ ass suppos’ to be in the kitchen! How the hell did you get yo chain unlocked?”
Demurely Meagan bowed her head as she came out of the bathroom, “Sorry Rob, I had to go to the bathroom really bad and I didn’ want to mess the floor.”
“Well I hope you washed your hands.” They watched out of the closet as he grabbed one of her hands and twisted her arm around and pulled it up her back. “You pull that shit again and I will beat you to a pulp! You needa lesson now.” He bent Meagan over the side of the bed and pulled her dress up. He undid his pants and they dropped halfway down to his knees with the weight of his guns that were on his belt.
Sam pulled away from the door, she didn’t’ want to see this man raping a woman. Tom didn’t pull away, instead he pushed the door open and slammed the butt of the shotgun against the back of the man’s head, all in one quick motion.
The man didn’t drop to the ground like Tom expected, and the butt of the gun hitting his head made a strange clanging sound. The man started to turn but Tom grabbed him in a head lock and Meagan turned around and kicked him in the crotch. Sam couldn’t help but admire the direct contact she had with the man’s engorged appendage. He stopped struggling with Tom and put his hands down to protect his crotch as he moaned in pain.
Tom said, “Well you certainly deserved that! Now, you are going to tell us where those kids are, or I will tie you up and let her do whatever she wants to you. I will even supply her with knives and tools and tell her what to do to make sure you suffer the most pain.”
The man’s eyes were rolled back in his head and his face was starting to turn blue from the pressure Tom was exerting on his neck. Sam took the duck-tape out of Tom’s bag, then removed the man’s guns from his belt and Meagan told her there was another one in his boot, so she removed that one too. They taped his hands together, then his feet together and put tape over his mouth. Tom pushed him on to the bed and taped his hands up over his head to a rail on the headboard.
Sam noticed there were deep rub marks on the headboard, probably from where he had chained Meagan up, like the other woman was chained now. Sam had noticed that Megan had marks on her wrist and Meagan confirmed it, when she said, “How do you like being tied up? You look more comfortable than you make me!”.
Tom pulled his big hunting knife from his belt and he started to give Meagan instructions on how to use it to inflict the most pain. Sam felt her stomach getting queasy at the thought of the things he was telling Meagan, but then she looked at the man’s face and realized how much it was affecting him. Even if Meagan never touched him with the knife, the threat of those things being done would probably be enough. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his bald head. Tom took out another knife and held it to the man’s throat as he ripped the tape off his mouth.
“Now…she is ready and willing so how about you tell us where those kids are?” Tom was downright frightening. Sam stood over by the door, listening for anyone outside and trying not to show any emotion on her face.
The man stammered, “It was all Will’s idea! He said we had to do it dis way to keep the women in line! Da kids are in a little house tha’s off on the side of the property.” The man nodded his head toward the west side of the house.
Sam thought he broke too easy. But then again, he had done some awful things to this woman, so the threat of letting her do what she wanted to him was probably enough. Tom put the tape back over the man’s mouth and then told Meagan to not hurt him too bad yet…they were going to see about the kids and then they would be back, once they confirmed he wasn’t lying.
Chapter 16
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Meagan promised them she wouldn’t hurt him too bad. She said they should probably avoid going around to the back of the house. Will was most likely out there going through their supplies. She said he was very excited about all of the guns they found yesterday and he was probably checking them over. Sam was fuming! Those were their guns! But if it distracted him long enough for them to go check on the kids, it would be worth it! She planned on getting them back anyway!
They decided to go out of the window and told Meagan to leave it unlocked and the curtain slightly open. Sam hesitated before leaving and wondered if she should mention Meagan’s mom, but she wasn’t sure if that was the old woman they were talking about. She decided that the additional news about her mom would probably push Meagan over the edge and thought it would be better to wait until later. That way they could also confirm she was dead.
Tom went out first and then helped Sam out. Once they were outside, Sam opened her bag to check on Lucky, she hadn’t moved much since they left the confines of the closet and she was a little worried about her. Lucky poked her head out of the bag and looked around and then pulled it back in. Sam shrugged and they started heading over to the far side of the house, opposite of where they came around originally.
They carefully made their way through the woods until they came upon a trail leading through the trees. They followed it and it came out behind a small cottage that was made with the same stone as the big mansion. The small house sat perpendicular to another road that must run around to the lake on one side and the other road that connected with the front of the house. They cautiously made their way through the trees and around the house. As they reached the side of the house, Sam noticed something against the side of the house that was wrapped up in a blanket.
On closer inspection they saw a small wrinkled hand hanging outside of the blanket and Sam assumed this must be the old woman that had died last night that the man mentioned. Maybe it was another old woman and not Meagan’s mom. But either way, this had to be the house where the kids were.
The windows on the house had been boarded over on the outside and the front door had a padlock on it. Certainly, they hadn’t locked the kids in the house with no supervision after the old woman died. Sam got the impression that these kids were all pretty young.
Tom broke the lock off with his small pry bar and they opened the door. There were four kids huddled on a couch together and a fifth one hiding in a corner behind a bed. The house was more of a cabin, it was a large single room with a kitchenette, bed, couch and an old TV. There was a door open showing a small bathroom.
The four kids on the couch looked terrified. They were all skinny and their faces were streaked with tears. Sam guessed the oldest of them was probably seven and the youngest was maybe four. The boy in the corner stood up when he saw them and Sam saw that the kid had a blackeye, but she recognized him as the boy they saw in front of the store yesterday.
“Hi kids, my name is Sam and this is Tom, we are here to rescue you. We won’t hurt you, we promise. We are going to take you to a safe place.” Sam was hoping her simple words would reassure the scared children.
The boy in the corner stepped forward, stutteringly he said, “A-a-are you t-t-the l-l-lady w-w-wit da cat?”
Sam unzipped her bag and Lucky jumped out and on to the bed. Lucky walked over to the boy and stuck her head out toward him, almost like she knew he had just asked about her.
The boy gently stroked her head, “T-t-those k-k-kittens are hers?” he asked questioningly.
Sam nodded her head and said, “Yes, and we are going to rescue them and your mom too. So, will all of you come with us?”
A tall girl that looked to be the oldest of the four kids on the couch stood up and vehemently said, “But we can’t
go outside, the poison outside will kill us!”
Tom knelt down in front of her and calmly said, “The poison is gone now, as long as you are with us, you have nothing to worry about.” He pointed at Lucky, “That cat is very special, if there is any poison around, she will yowl and scream and refuse to go anywhere near the area of the poison. So as long as she is with us outside, you will be safe. Okay?”
The young girl looked at Lucky and then looked at the two of them. Sam could see that she was struggling with her fear, those men had not been treating them well and they all looked to have bruises. She hoped they hadn’t done more than that to them. The girl was biting her lip and she walked over to the bed and held her hand out to Lucky. The cat came up to her for a pet and the other kids followed the girl over to the bed. Soon they were all petting Lucky and she was patently letting each of them touch her and even nosing some of their hands.
The young girl looked at them and said, “My name is Violet, I’m nine years old and those bad men have locked us in here a long time. Grammy was taking care of us as best she could…”, the tears were streaming down her face and she was trying to talk through her sobs.
“But, this morning, Grammy wouldn’t wake up and when that man brought us our food for the day, he wrapped her up in the blanket from the bed and took her outside. I don’t know where she is now.”
She had hopeful tears in her eyes and pleadingly said, “I don’t know what to do without Grammy and I miss my mommy and I know those bad men have her, they take me to see her sometimes, so that she knows that I’m still alive, and I know they are hurting her too, so if you can save us, please, please save my mommy too.”
All of the kids turned around and looked at them with hopefulness. Sam realized she had said she would save the one boys mom, but she didn’t say anything about their mom’s. “Of course! We are going to save all of your moms!” Sam turned and looked at Tom. She didn’t know how they were going to do it, but Tom nodded at her and she could only hope that he would have a plan.
“We need to go now, and we need to go fast, but quietly. It’s cold outside, are there any more clothes or blankets in here y’all can use to wrap up in?”
Violet pointed to a small wardrobe that was in the corner of the room and Sam opened it and saw it was full of men’s clothes. She pulled the shirts out and had each of the children put the large shirts on over their clothes, it was better than nothing. Sam wondered how long they had been in here. Their clothes were threadbare and she could see an effort had been made to keep them clean, but it had probably been too much for the old woman to handle.
Sam wanted to clean them and feed them but knew time was of the essence right now. As they were getting them all dressed, Sam asked Tom if he had a plan. He said he had a few ideas but they would need to hurry before the other men got back. Once the kids were all bundled up as best as they could be, Violet picked up the smallest child and Sam and Tom picked up the other two.
The little boy with the black eye told Sam his name was Ryan and when she asked him, he said he was eight years old. She told him to follow behind Violet, who was going to follow Tom and Sam would come in behind them. Sam tried to put Lucky back in her bag but she didn’t want to go, so Sam left her out, she could follow her and it would be easier since she had to carry the small child. She asked him his name but he wouldn’t answer her, Violet said his name was Caleb and that he was three, but he didn’t talk much.
Tom closed the door as soon as they were all outside and put the lock back on to make it look like it was still locked. They edged around the cottage and took the trail back to where they had cut in on it. Tom followed their own tracks back to the front of the house and to the window of Meagan’s bedroom. Lucky went off a different direction and Sam decided she probably needed to relieve herself and she knew she would find her later.
As soon as they were under the window, the window was raised and Meagan was sticking her head out looking at all of the children. Her hand was covering her own mouth and tears were streaming down her face. Sam looked into the room and saw that the man was still on the bed but he wasn’t moving. Meagan had pulled a blanket up and over him so Sam couldn’t see what she had done to him or even if he was still alive.
Meagan took the child from Sam’s arms and pulled him through the window. Sam climbed up through the window and Meagan moved off to the side, rocking the child back and forth and mumbling his name quietly. The boy was crying quietly and had his head buried into her neck. Sam and Tom worked together and pulled each of the kids into the room through the window. Sam cautioned them all to keep quiet.
Once everyone was inside, they shut the window and closed the curtain. Sam looked over at the man on the bed who was still not moving. She lifted the blanket discreetly, so the kids couldn’t see under it and saw that Meagan had already taken her revenge without waiting for them to get back with the kids. There was a large puddle of blood on the bed between the man’s legs, and a gaping hole where his genitals had been. She had sliced them off clean with the sharp knife Tom had left her.
Sam couldn’t blame the woman, but they might have needed him if they didn’t find the kids. She decided it wasn’t worth saying anything, since they did find the children. Meagan’s chain was also on the floor in the corner, she must have found the key on him and unlocked herself.
Tom asked Meagan a few questions and then wrapped the man’s body up in the blankets from the bed and put him in the closet and shut the door. He told Meagan to keep the kids in the bedroom and to keep them quiet.
They went out the bedroom door and directly across to the other door that wasn’t locked. Inside was Ryan’s mom, chained to the bed post and shivering under a thin sheet on the bed. When she saw them, her eyes got wide and she quietly gasped.
Sam shushed her and told her they were going to rescue her. Tom pulled another tool off his belt and Sam saw he had a small set of bolt cutters. Sam decided that Tom was a walking tool box. Sam held the woman’s arm and steadied the handcuff while Tom carefully cut through the cuffs. Sam quietly talked to the woman to help reassure her. She told her that her son was in the next room and they would take her to him. She asked her what her name was and the woman told her it was Denise. Tom had to apply a lot of pressure to the bolt cutters to get it to go through the metal but once it did the cuff fell off the woman’s wrist. They quickly wrapped her in the sheet from the bed and took her across the hall to where Meagan and the kids were.
When Ryan saw his mom, he ran to her and started crying. The woman wrapped him in her arms and was holding him tight. Sam told Meagan to get the woman some clothes and for both of them to dress in anything warm they could find.
Sam knew that time was running short. They didn’t know what situation the rest of the woman were in or when the men would be coming back. Tom told her they needed to get more guns and he had a plan.
Based on what Meagan had told him, there was an entrance to the garage off the side of the kitchen and Will was in the garage with all of their guns. Meagan said that sometimes she took the men coffee and since Rob had come inside, Will wouldn’t be suspicious if she brought him a cup outside. They decided it would be a good plan to help distract Will, all she had to do was get his back to the door so they could sneak out.
Meagan put her chain back on and went to the kitchen. She poured a hot cup of water from a kettle on the stove and added instant coffee to it. Sam smelled the coffee and desperately wanted a cup for herself but knew that now was not the time.
Meagan lead them to a door and they stood off to the side so that Will wouldn’t see them. Tom instructed Meagan to leave the door partially open when she went out. She went out the door and they watched as she walked across the garage and out of sight.
Tom was peeking through the crack in the door and he nodded to Sam and quickly went out the door with Sam following closely behind him. It was a three-car garage with the middle bay door open to admit light. The first bay was closed and shadowed in darkness that h
elped to provide them with a bit of cover as they exited into the garage.
The garage was packed with boxes and piles of loot. The center bay had several tables set up and their guns were spread out on the tables with boxes of ammo neatly stacked next to each gun. Will was on the far side of one table, with his back to them as Meagan was holding out the hot cup of coffee toward him. As he was reaching for the coffee, Lucky came through the open garage door all puffed up, growling and hissing. At that same moment he must have heard the scuff of their boots on the concrete because he started to turn around to look behind him and Meagan threw the scalding hot coffee in his face.
He screamed and lashed out to hit Meagan just as Tom sprinted across the short space, vaulted over the table and landed a solid kick right in the middle of Will’s back, knocking him to the ground. Luckily Meagan had moved out of the way to avoid Will’s hit, otherwise she would have been knocked flat underneath him. Tom quickly knelt down with his knee in the middle of Will’s back and Sam heard a sharp snap and the man quit moving. Tom had broken his neck.
It all happened so fast that Sam was still standing at the door. Meagan was standing off the side with her mouth open in surprise. Tom stripped the guns off the man’s body and then dragged him over to the far side of the garage. While he was doing that, Sam asked Meagan if she could go release her sisters and get everyone downstairs. Meagan shook her head no and said she would need help because they were all handcuffed to chains like Denise and herself had been. Tom pulled his bolt cutters back out and the two of them went back into the house while Sam started collecting all of the guns and ammo.