Wild Fire

by P. M. Briede

  This isn’t happening. I’m having a nightmare, that’s what this is, a nightmare! Surely life would not sucker punch me in the face so hard as to not only have me raped and murdered but also endure their mocking jests about my failed relationship!

  “Enough!” The frustrated voice belonged to Shorty. “Can we please get to the foreplay?” He grabbed his crotch for emphasis. “I thought we were going to maximize our time before killing her. But if all you’re going to do is talk, do you mind doing it while I warm her up for you?” At the other’s “sure” he wrapped one of the strips of sheet fabric between his two hands and snapped it. “I’ll even give you a head start,” he said to me.

  Taking whatever I could get, I took off down the hall, smashing pictures and vases as I went. When the first vase hit the floor, I heard them curse and come after me. My choices were to try and get out the front door or run upstairs. Problem was I didn’t have the chance to make a decision before a hand gripped my hair and yanked my head back. The momentum of having my head snapped back sent a wave of pain through my body and I lost the scissors. Damn it! Can I not catch just one break? Willing to lose my hair to protect my life, I pulled my arms to my chest and turned under the arm that had me. When my punch to his solar plexus connected he grunted and released my hair. Once free I spun around and swept his legs out from under him.

  My assailant fell into my coffee table but I’d lost sight of the other one. In that moment I started screaming Olivier’s name, praying he’d hear me. I only got it out twice before a gag was placed over my mouth. His hands were busy tying the gag so my arms were free and I started throwing elbows to his ribs. I picked up my foot and stomped on the top of his as I threw my head back. There was a loud crunch at impact and I heard him grunt.

  The pull on the gag vanished but it didn’t fall away. I wasted no time with it and took off down the hall away from him. I took one look back and saw him on the ground with both hands at his face. That was the true mistake I made and I realized it when I ran smack into the chest of a tall man. At first I thought it was Olivier finally coming to my rescue. However, with all the confusion I’d lost track of the other intruder and hadn’t realized he’d recovered from his crash into my coffee table to cut me off in the hall. Apparently, that one had been Squeaky which meant the one I’d just escaped from was Shorty.

  My head bounced off the wall Squeaky threw me against. “Get your ass up and help me,” he hollered at his accomplice. “We can’t take her one on one.” His hands held mine at the wrist and he was intent on pinning me to the wall with his body. If that happened I’d be theirs for the taking. I couldn’t let them double team me, the hallway, while wide, was too narrow for me to keep evading them.

  Shorty’s reply was muffled by his hands but I heard him stumbling down the hall. “Bitch broke my nose!” Hoping my aim was good, I threw a kick to Squeaky’s thigh, intent on dead legging him. He swore but my aim hadn’t been good.

  Squeaky threw me down the hall and into the arms of his partner. “You think you can keep a hold on her for a sec?” he hollered. “Just remind yourself of all the pleasures we’re going to get out of her. They won’t recognize her when we’re done.” I was caught by Shorty and his hands ensnared my upper arms and held me firmly against his chest, disabling me from elbowing him again. Every time I picked up my feet to get at his, he would throw me around to disrupt my balance.

  We didn’t struggle for long because Squeaky limped towards us. He pulled a restraint out of Shorty’s back pocket and tied my wrists together. Then he moved to my ankles. But instead of tying them together he tied one to his friend. When he was working on the one, I kicked him with my other leg but he took each one with minor reactions. Not that anything that had happened had been expected but this turn of events truly terrified me. My pulse was already racing and I tried to keep my mind from shutting down. I refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.

  When Squeaky was done with the one leg, he looked up into my wide eyes, took me back from his friend, and explained their designs. “You see kitten, tying your legs together just makes it more difficult for us to get inside you. This way when you’re pinned between us I don’t have to worry about you trying to close your legs. He’ll keep them nice and wide for us.” Us! Shorty was behind me. What the hell did he mean by us?!

  I found out soon enough. I heard a zipper being lowered and felt Shorty drop his pants. Once they were down, Shorty took me back from Squeaky and shifted until he was leaning against the wall. I could feel his erection at my butt while Squeaky tied up my other leg. I was about to be gang raped!

  All my intentions about not letting them break me and not showing fear flew out the window as the reality of my future sunk in. Tears streamed down my face and I heard my muffled shrieks of terror. They just laughed and Shorty started rubbing himself against me and moaning.

  Once Squeaky freed himself of his pants, his hand reached out to caress my cheeks. When his fingers met my tears he smiled and pulled his hand back to lick them off his fingers. It was the first true indignity I suffered and I knew there would be many more. The hunting knife flashed in his hand and he knelt before me, running it up my leg. With the skill of a hunter removing the skin off a carcass, he sliced away my pants. “I suggest you be still, kitten. We wouldn’t want to mar any of that porcelain skin of yours.”

  “Hurry up!” Shorty shouted. “I want to be inside her when I go. After the fight we just had I bet she’s nice and tight and hot!” Shorty was writhing behind me and licking the sweat off my neck. “She tastes so good and I bet she feels even better.”

  My pants were gone. All that protected me from them were my panties and they definitely weren’t going to do much. With two quick flicks of Squeaky’s wrist they were gone and he was pressed against me, perched between my legs. “Oh, no you don’t! I’m not inside her yet!” Shorty protested.

  Squeaky smacked Shorty on the side of his head. I got hit not only by Squeaky’s hand but also Shorty’s head. “Shut up,” Squeaky roared. “You’ll get your turn but I can’t wait for her any longer.” I closed my eyes and felt Squeaky’s head rub against me, searching for my entrance. “Kitten, after all we’ve been through. Why aren’t you wet and ready for me? No matter, you soon will be.”

  He reared back so he could forcefully drive into me, exacting as much pain as possible but it never came. Instead I heard something hit the floor a few feet away with a sickening crunch and there was only one way that could happen. But there’d been no noise, no footsteps. This had to be my mind protecting me from the truth of what was going on. Dr. Silverton said it was very common during major traumas. I considered this an extreme trauma! Well, at least the last images I’d concoct for myself before death would be ones of being saved.

  “Let her go!” That didn’t seem distant or dreamy. I tried to recall if I ever felt the breath of a person in a dream. The body behind me started quaking and every step Shorty took away from the voice was hampered by the ties that bound us together. “Charlotte, open your eyes! Quit hindering him. Come to me.”

  It couldn’t be! I’d waited for him and thought he’d come when everything was breaking. If he hadn’t heard that how had he shown up just in the nick of time? Too scared to be confronted with the reality of opening my eyes to see Squeaky and not Olivier, I squeezed them shut even tighter. “Damn it, I said let go of her!” Olivier screamed. Shorty was clinging to me as if his life depended on it and his excitement from earlier was gone.

  We were inching backwards which made no sense due to how they’d explained they were going to rape me. I decided it was time to confront my nightmares and slowly opened my eyes to see a bleary Olivier standing in front of me. So relieved to see him, my arms reached out for him. Olivier gently caught my elbows and pulled. However, I didn’t fall safely into his arms as the hands that were around my biceps intensified their hold and pulled me back. Since Shorty couldn’t run away from me, because we were tied together and his pants were down aroun
d his ankles, he was using me as a shield to keep Olivier at bay. I’m sure having witnessed what Olivier had done to his friend didn’t make Shorty eager to meet the same fate.

  Confusion, concern, and fear warred on Olivier’s face and the fire of his eyes was an all-out, angry inferno. I tried to catch them in mine. When I had them I looked down at the ground hoping he’d realize I was tied to my captor. “Son of a bitch!” Olivier growled when he did. Shorty almost had us out of the hall. I’m not sure exactly what he thought was going to happen. There was no way Olivier was going to let him get away, and definitely not with me in tow.

  Shorty tripped on something and I saw it catch the light. Olivier saw it too. It was the scissors. Olivier bent over, scooping them up and charged us. I prepared myself for his impact but instead of plowing into us he caught me in his arms to protect me while driving us back into a bookshelf. When we hit Shorty released my arms to protect his head from the books, picture frames, and other trinkets that rained down on us.

  While Shorty was distracted, Olivier cut my feet free and instructed me to bend forward as much as possible. I did as he instructed, leaning far enough over that Olivier had a clean shot when he punched Shorty in the face. As Shorty crumpled to the floor behind me, I tried to step away from him but my legs were wobbly from abuse and adrenalin. Ducking between my arms, Olivier swept me up and carried me into my office.

  I heard sirens approaching as he walked down the hall. With questions in my eyes I looked into his. “It’s Paige,” he told me in a shaky voice. Olivier set me on the chaise in my office and pulled his shirt over his head to lay it across my naked and bruised lap. “I called her when I heard them in the house. I’m so sorry. I filled up with gas after I left, afraid I would jump your fence to intrude on you if I went straight home.” Olivier moved to cut the restraints away from my wrists and mouth, but I jerked away and shook my head. Paige needed as much clean evidence as she could get and the ankle restraints were already gone. I wasn’t going to have those creeps get off on a “technicality” again.

  When Paige reached the house her panicked voice screamed my name as she took in the damage. Around my gag, I implored Olivier, “You’ve got to change. Pick someone, anyone. They can’t know it’s you.” I prayed he got enough of what I was trying to say and was relieved when his hair changed from brown to black, his skin took on an olive hue, and his face grew rounder. He finished just before Paige barreled into the room with two cops hot on her heels.

  “Charlotte! Oh my God!” Paige raced to me stopping just short of taking me in her arms and told the cops to fetch the paramedics. She rounded on Olivier. “Who the hell are you?! Charlotte, is he one of them?”

  A deep southern accent slid off Olivier’s lips as he addressed her. “Paige, it’s me. Look into my eyes.” The flames were raging in them. I noticed how labored his breathing was as I watched the rapid rise and fall of his chest.

  The paramedics entered the room, leaving no more time for explanations. Paige made to free me from the bindings as Olivier had, but I pulled away from her also. She couldn’t be the lead investigator on this case. It would hand it over to their defense. “Lt. Lochs?” one of the cops addressed Paige. “If she’s your friend you need to recuse yourself. We’ll take it from here.”

  Paige nodded and stepped back to stand by Olivier, swallowing the argument that was on the tip of her tongue. “I’ll stay out of the way but I’m not leaving her and neither is he,” she said instead. A member of the crime scene unit marked and cut the restraints while the paramedics worked around them to clean up the cuts on my face and arms. My left eye was already almost swollen shut from the blow I’d taken when Squeaky struck Shorty and me.

  The scuffle at the front of the house told me the cops were removing my attackers. I answered the preliminary medical questions so the EMTs could assess my injuries. One of them turned to Paige and informed us that I needed to get to a hospital for a rape kit. “NO!” I cried. “I wasn’t raped. There’s no need for that. They were close, but my friend came back just in time.” I’d suffered enough humiliation for one evening. I didn’t need to go through that also.

  “Charlotte, are you sure? We’ll not think less of you if it happened.” Paige’s voice was the only thing that was calm about her. She was shaking from the many emotions coursing through her.

  I nodded but they still wanted me to go to the hospital to get checked out. “Seriously, I don’t want to. Jeff here is a doctor from Mississippi who’s visiting family in town. They’re old family friends and we’ve known each other since we were kids. Jeff, you can check me out can’t you?” My voice was frantic and I hoped they attributed it to my attack. Truth was I did not want to go to a hospital and have all my injuries documented. Olivier could fix me up and that’s what I wanted so I could put this horrible night behind me.

  Olivier cleared his throat and confirmed he could while trying not to look shocked with the back story I’d given him. The CSUs shared a baffled glance before the one started imploring me again to let them collect samples as it would help the case. I knew they needed whatever evidence they could get and both men had rubbed their penises on me, so I conceded. “You can do all of that here. I know you can’t make me go to the hospital but I understand your need for evidence. Collect it here with Paige and Jeff as witnesses.” Everyone’s eyes in the room grew wide and I knew my request was crazy.

  The CSU turned to Paige. “Lt. Lochs?”

  “I’m not the lead. Go get the detective but we can’t make her do anything.” She said it more for my sake than for theirs.

  Other than agreeing that he was a doctor, Olivier had been silent since the New Orleans Police Department arrived. Watching him shift from foot to foot was oddly soothing. After a couple of minutes a man walked into the room. Looking pointedly into my eyes, he introduced himself as Detective Winters. He gave a professional nod to Paige and eyed Olivier speculatively. “Mrs. Grace, I am very sorry for what happened tonight, yet am amazed to find you in such good condition compared to their other suspected victims. I understand you’ll let us collect a rape kit but you don’t want it done in a hospital. Is that correct?” I nodded.

  “Alright, Carissa, are you able to do that?” the detective addressed one of the female EMTs. She nodded and dug something out of her bag. “Mrs. Grace, for your privacy I’m going to clear the room. I’m leaving Carissa to complete the rape kit and Hannah to collect photographic evidence of your injuries.” At his words the male EMTs and CSUs stood and headed to the doorway. When Olivier and Paige didn’t move, the detective fixed them in his sights. “You too, Lt. Lochs and whoever you are beside her.”

  Paige didn’t even flinch when she said, “We’re staying.” The detective looked at me and when I didn’t protest he left it alone and quit the room.

  Now that it was just the five of us, Carissa had me lay back on the chaise. She explained to me what was going to happen and bottom line for the most part it was going to be a pap smear. Knowing Olivier had dreamt of me naked but certainly not in the condition he was about to see me in, I expected him to be a gentleman and turn away. He didn’t but his eyes held mine, never straying any lower as Carissa and Hannah completed their jobs. They spoke of how his arms would comfort me and I found myself as relaxed as anyone possibly could be under the current circumstances.

  Paige walked to the door and instructed someone to go upstairs and get some clothes for me to change into as they were going to have to take the ones I had on for evidence. The disembodied voice denied her saying the intruders had been upstairs and the CSUs hadn’t cleared my bedroom yet. She shared a glance with Olivier. There were clothes in my size at his house from when we’d stored our shopping cover stories there but none of us could get them without blowing his new persona.

  Carissa offered some clean scrubs from the ambulance and Hannah was sent to fetch them. They were done with my bottom half by then, so I stood. At my bobble, Olivier was instantly there holding my hands to stabilize me with his e
yes locked on mine as Carissa helped slip the pants on. Holding my arms out, I cringed when she cut me out of my shirt. Olivier’s thumbs circled the back of my hands in a calming manner. The sound of the tearing cloth reminded me how my pants had been removed. That sparked another memory.

  “Paige! Where are the boys?” I anxiously asked. Please say their dad’s! Please say their dad’s!

  “They’re at Jim’s,” she nervously answered. “Why?” I’d never been more grateful for that despicable ex-husband of hers. I explained the comment Squeaky and Shorty made about having a plan for her too. With fear in her eyes she raced back to the door and hollered down the hall for Detective Winters. Before she finished telling him what I’d told her, he’d called in another unit to be dispatched to her home to sweep it.

  Finally, there were no more photographs to be taken or injuries to be treated but the ordeal wasn’t over. Detective Winters returned with another detective who gave his name but I didn’t pay any attention to it. I’d already met too many people this evening to care anymore. They informed Olivier and me that we had to give statements. After quite a bit of arguing from Olivier, he finally left the room with the other detective so they could get his separately from mine.

  Paige stayed with me and held my hand as I relived the nightmare that I found out had only lasted about thirty minutes. It had felt like a lifetime. I said I’d run into Jeff at the Cat’s Meow as a colleague and I were leaving to come home. Jeff offered to give me a ride instead and I accepted. After that I stuck pretty much to the truth of what had happened. Since I didn’t see how Olivier had pulled Squeaky off me there was no need to lie about his strength. I got tongue-tied when the detective asked me what brought him back to my house. “I’m sorry, I don’t know. You arrived seconds after he helped me get away from them. There wasn’t much chance for idle chit chat.”