Crossing the Line

by Bobe, Jordan

  The three knelt there sobbing at the grave that had set off the entire day’s events. Brute had witnessed, for the first time, what happened to the babies that were born to the bitches if they were female. He had tried to get the baby back and had been beaten for it. Aaron had hit him harder than ever before. Aaron who thought Brute was nothing more than a senseless killing machine. Aaron who had turned his own sons into monsters. It was Aaron’s fault that Brute had gone feral.

  The sobbing was cut short when a deafeningly loud growl came from directly behind them. Brute pushed Ivy and Tracy aside a moment before the enormous mass smashed into his back. Ivy gathered her wits and looked as Juggernaut lifted Brute from the ground and threw him through the air.

  Brute smashed into the earth on top of three of the small crosses. He didn’t miss a step in moving out of the way when the other dog leapt at him. He sprang to his feet and grabbed Juggernaut by the throat. He lifted the bigger man from the ground without as much as a grunt of exertion.

  Juggernaut snarled down at Brute’s face and punched him upside the head. The first blow made Brute stumble back a step, but he did not loosen his hold on Juggernaut’s thick throat. Juggernaut punched him again, but this only caused Brute to tighten his grasp. The dogs snarled ferociously at each other.

  Juggernaut clasped both of his fists together and brought them down on the top of Brute’s head. Brute fell to his knees, his hands finally releasing their hold on his attacker. The enormous fists began pummeling Brute about the face and head. The blows were so powerful that they actually tore open the skin in places. Blood sprayed as his head turned from side to side under the force of the blows.

  A normal man would have fallen unconscious after only one or two blows, but Brute was not a normal man. Instead of passing out from the blows he launched himself forward and put his head between Juggernaut’s massive thighs. He rose to his feet suddenly, causing his attacker to flip end over end. He smashed into the ground and Brute leapt onto his back.

  He beat at Juggernaut’s back and the side of his head in a flurry of movements that seemed far less calculated than they actually were. He knew what he was doing. He hit each nest of muscle precisely where it would cause them to knot up. He grabbed Juggernaut’s thick hair and lifted his head from the ground and brought it down a dozen times in a minute. As he released his hold on the mane, he punched the giant in the back of the head.

  He climbed off of the other dog and growled. He turned back toward the girls, but before he could take a step Juggernaut grabbed him by the ankle and yanked his legs out from under him. His face collided with the ground hard enough to crack his right eye socket and break three of his teeth off at the gums. He raised his face out of the dirt and howled with pain.

  Juggernaut got up onto all fours and snarled. Brute forced his anguished body into a similar position and glared at the other dog. Blood ran from both of their faces as their eyes locked. They lashed out at each other like animals. Their long finger nails worked like claws, tearing into each other’s flesh. The exchange lasted for a few moments before they locked their arms around each other like wrestlers.

  Juggernaut flipped Brute onto his back and punched him in the ribs. Two of the bones broke with the single blow. Brute returned the punch, his knuckles smashing into Juggernaut’s clavicle and snapping it on the right side.

  Brute capitalized when his opponent staggered back with his eyes wide from the pain. He launched both feet up in the air and they landed directly in Juggernaut’s abdomen. The dog flipped end over end before landing on his massive shoulders, driving his chin into his chest and causing the broken clavicle to compound fracture.

  Brute picked him up from the ground by the shoulders and threw him against a tree. Before he could bounce back Brute launched himself at him, ramming him against the thick trunk. The tree’s ancient core creaked loudly. Brute stood and let the other dog fall to the ground. He stood over Juggernaut panting and wincing with pain.

  “Brute no kill,” he said. He knelt down next to Juggernaut. “You Brute’s brother. Brute no kill.”

  Juggernaut sat himself up against the tree and coughed blood. Brute wiped it away as it speckled his face. The dogs seemed to appraise each other in silence. They cocked their heads from side to side. Once Juggernaut snarled, but it was not with the same fury as before. This seemed to go on forever, but the exchange actually lasted less than a minute.

  “You remember?” Juggernaut asked. “You remember Juggernaut?”

  “Big brother,” Brute said and laid a hand on Juggernaut’s chest. “You protect Brute. You teach Brute. Brute love you.”

  Juggernaut nodded his head and let out a distinctly human sob. He reached out and lovingly grabbed Brute by the sides of the head. “You remember mama?” he asked.

  “Beautiful mama,” Brute nodded. He looked over at Tracy. Juggernaut followed his stare and smiled. It seemed an impossible feat without any lips, but he somehow managed it. “She look like mama.”

  “What Brute doing?” Juggernaut asked.

  “Brute kill masters, be free dog. Look, see the girl puppies? They kill so we kill.”

  Juggernaut looked at the remains of the crude cemetery and nodded. “I know. I saw when I was little. That’s why I attacked dada.”

  Brute laid his head on his brother’s chest and let out a loud sob. “Brute miss you, Juggernaut. Brute love you.”

  “I love you,” Juggernaut said. He hugged his brother tightly. “We will kill them all.”

  Brute nodded his head. He got to his feet and helped his big brother to stand. The two enormous men limped through the ruined graveyard over to the girls. Ivy looked up at them in wonder and terror. Seeing how huge Brute was had been a shock, but his brother was even larger. She didn’t know people could get so big.

  “Brute find girls now,” Brute said. “You come.”

  Ivy and Tracy stood and followed after Brute, who continued to help his brother walk. The battle had only lasted a few minutes, but it seemed to have injured both of the giants grievously. They limped and dragged their feet.

  Ivy felt somehow more at ease now. She knew the pack would be attacking the sentinels, tearing them to shreds. That meant that Juggernaut and Brute could accompany them to their friends. It would not be long before it was all over. She tried to imagine how she was going to be when she returned to her life of normality and wondered if she would even be capable of doing that. Would she really be able to finish college and start a career after having been through everything she had been through? She didn’t know, and she seriously doubted it.

  Tracy must have been thinking the same thing because she said, “We’re going to need a shitload of therapy after all this.”

  “Fuck the therapy, skip right to the pills,” Ivy said.

  As they passed the front of the barn the bitches came out from their hiding spots in the shadows. They began following after the quartet at a safe distance. The women had not been in captivity as long as the male dogs, but they had still succumbed to some animalistic behavior. They did not walk upright, but hunched over. And Ivy had yet to hear any of them speak. Also they sniffed at the air every time something moved in the darkness.

  Ivy imagined what they would look like should a stranger happen on them. One big fucked up family. Or maybe one of those troglodyte tribes from The Hills Have Eyes series. Either way, she was pretty sure they wouldn’t get fucked with by anyone without some serious firepower. The giants alone made their little pack seem ominous, the filthy nudists behind them looked like cannibals and the college girls in the middle were packing heat and seriously pissed off.

  “We might just get out of this shit alive,” Tracy said, once again seeming to read her thoughts.

  Ivy gave her friend a pat on the shoulder. “If those big guys have anything to say about it we’re going to be just fine.”

  36

  Anna was forced to sit in a wicker chair in the kitchen. Her wrists and ankles were bound tightly with telephone wire. H
er hearing had come back slightly, but everything was still ringing. Sitting across from her was a man that they had identified as Mort. Sitting next to him was a man named Ethan. The other four men; Charles, Leigh, Lonnie and Buck were standing behind Deloris with their arms crossed and grim looks on their faces.

  “You are a strong young lady, aren’t you?” Deloris asked. The question seemed rhetorical, but after a moment Anna realized she was supposed to give a reply.

  “I wouldn’t have thought so yesterday,” Anna answered honestly.

  “People never know how strong they are until they are put to the test,” Deloris said. “And you, my lovely dear, have passed every test you’ve been given. You survived being beaten, raped, and being forced to watch your friends being murdered. You survived because you are strong.”

  “I survived because I was lucky,” Anna said.

  “Survival isn’t about staying alive, love. It’s about staying alive and keeping a hold on who you are. I know you’ve undergone changes, but they were necessary in order for you to make it this far. I really must admit that I am proud of your strong will.”

  “Not to mention you have remained beautiful throughout it all,” Mort grinned. One of his front teeth was black from a dead root. His lips were chapped as well as his skin from far too much work in the sun. He leaned forward and ran a scarred tongue over his lips. “You are beautiful, girl.”

  “Mind your manners, Mort. This is your only warning,” Deloris snapped at him.

  “She is a looker, though,” Leigh said. “No offense meant, miss. What are you, Irish?”

  “No, I am German, Scottish and British,” Anna said.

  “Ah, a mix breed. Mutts make the smartest puppies,” Deloris smiled. “They get the good parts of each of their breeds.”

  Anna shook her head, not understanding what the woman was talking about. “I’m not a dog,” she said.

  “No, you’re not a dog. You’re a bitch, though. You could be a breeder and for the dogs.”

  Anna looked from Deloris to each of the men. She didn’t understand what was being said, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She felt the numbness coming over her more and more every second. It was getting worse than it even was when she killed Greg.

  “So you want me to make puppies for you?” she asked. Deloris merely nodded her head. “I’m not a biology expert, but I don’t think it’s possible for dogs to breed with people.”

  Deloris smiled and moved her chair closer to Anna. She handed her a photograph in a cheap fake-gold frame. Anna looked down at the picture and was instantly mortified. It was of four little boys tethered to a clothes line by dog tie-outs. The boys couldn’t have been older than ten, but they were the size of full grown men.

  “Aaron came up with the idea and volunteered his four boys as the test subjects. He used Human Growth Hormones and we got better results than we could imagine. The only problem was that two of the puppies didn’t make it. Their bodies grew too fast and their brains didn’t develop correctly. We had to put them down. The other two, though, they were proof that we were on to something.”

  “Imagine if you not only were able to give birth to healthy babies, but babies that could be twice the size of a normal man. It’s evolution that we’re talking about here. Our dogs are the next step in human evolution.”

  “Evolution is a natural process, it’s not mankind’s right to force things along. Nature will run its course when it’s time for us to evolve,” Anna said.

  Deloris smiled warmly. “Look at mankind as it stands, dear. We’re all so concerned with appearances and money that we don’t pay attention to what actually matters. We need to become stronger. We need to think of progressing to the next level of mankind. My dogs don’t get sick, they don’t feel pain unless it is very intense, and their senses are all enhanced.”

  “So you want me to be a mother to your next generation of freaks?” Anna asked. “You’ll have to excuse me but it doesn’t sound like a dream job to me.”

  Deloris smirked and shook her head. “It’s amazing to me how such a beautiful, educated woman can be so stupid. We’re not giving you an option. If you were going to die we would have already killed you. I need more breeders.”

  “I’d rather bite off my own tongue and choke myself to death on it than to be a part of your fucked up family.”

  “We could just cut it out,” Deloris said. “I don’t like to be threatened, you little bitch. I’ve been running this thing for years. I’ve done it well and I’ve made a fortune. I don’t give a shit if you think you’re something special. After tonight you will realize that you are nothing more than a piece of shit. I’ll let each of my boys have a turn with you and when they get done I will have them shit on your face when they’re done.”

  “You don’t scare me, bitch,” Anna said. “Jesus Christ could be sitting right next to you nodding His head and agreeing with you and I would still think you’re the most disgusting, evil thing on the face of this planet. Goddamn cunt.”

  “You’re hoping to get shot, aren’t you? Well, it’s not going to happen. I don’t have a lot of use in colored people, and besides the way I see it you owe me. You and your fucking friends have caused me a lot of problems.”

  “We’ve caused you a lot of problems? I paid good money to rent your house and you have the audacity to come and kidnap me? It seems to me that you owe me a fucking refund.”

  “Someone needs to shut this bitch up. Mort, why don’t you show our guest how we gag sluts around here?”

  A sadistic grin spread across Mort’s face. He walked across the room and punched Anna across the face hard enough that reality swam out of focus. She felt his fingers dig into her cheeks and pry her teeth apart. A moment later flesh pushed past her teeth and rammed into her throat. As the thickness of his manhood pressed against her uvula and then shoved it against the back of her throat. She gagged, bile rising up from her gut.

  Mort was relentless. He shoved her head farther down on his manhood. He kept his fingers between her teeth, ensuring that she could not bite down. She began to panic. She couldn’t breathe.

  “That’s enough, Mort,” Deloris said.

  “But I ain’t caught my nut yet,” he said. He shoved her head so that the full extent of his cock was inside her mouth. She felt the hair on his testicles tickling at her chin. Tears spilled freely from her eyes. For a moment, just a moment, she thought she was actually going to die choking on dick.

  Mort’s erection slipped suddenly from her mouth and she leaned over to retch all over the floor. When she regained her wits she looked up and saw Leigh dragging Mort over to the table. He slammed Mort against the table and slammed his erection down on the table top. Deloris grabbed the tip of the screaming man’s cock and glared at him.

  “You have no right to disobey me, Mort,” Deloris snapped.’

  Deloris turned to Lonnie and frowned. “It’s time that we teach your little brother a lesson, Lonnie.”

  Lonnie nodded his head and walked across the kitchen. He pulled a meat cleaver from a wooden block full of knives. He calmly walked back to the table and looked his brother directly in the eye. “You really should have listened, bro,” he said.

  Anna watched intently as Mort struggled against Leigh’s tight grasp. The man did not let up on the bear hug. “What the fuck is wrong with you, Lonnie? You can’t cut off your own brother’s dick!”

  Lonnie didn’t say anything as he brought the cleaver down. The blade sliced cleanly through the cock and lodged into the tabletop. Leigh shoved Mort away from the table. He fell to the floor at Anna’s feet. Blood pumped out of the stub of his cock. It puddled around him quickly. He screamed shrilly.

  “Shut him the fuck up,” Buck said.

  Lonnie pulled the cleaver out of the table and walked over to where his brother was rolling around on the floor. He knelt down and struck the man between the eyes with the heavy blade. Blood sprayed up out of Mort’s face. The first blow didn’t kill him, though. He screamed lo
uder than before.

  “Someone hold this fucker still!” Lonnie screamed. He looked over his shoulder at the other men and found most of them looked mortified by what was happening. “Don’t be such fucking pussies, someone hold him down!”

  When he turned back to Mort the wounded man slugged him directly in the Adam’s apple. He fell back with a gasp. Mort pulled the cleaver out of his forehead and launched himself at his brother. He hacked Lonnie on the shoulder. Even in his wounded state he managed to do substantial damage to his older brother. The blade cracked the clavicle and bit deep into the meat. It spliced an artery and blood gushed out onto the floor.

  All eyes had turned their attention from Anna to the brawl going on between the siblings. She quietly pulled against the bindings keeping her held fast to the wicker chair. She knew even if she got free from the chair she wasn’t going to survive. But she would rather take at least one or two more of the sons of bitches before she died.

  As she pulled on the ropes she heard the creaking of the chair. The chair was built terribly, probably homemade. She mustered all of her strength and courage and flipped the chair back. She crashed to the floor and felt the desired effect instantly. The back broke off of the chair along with the two back legs.

  Deloris was the only one that seemed to notice her bold move. All of the men had gathered around the bloody fight happening in the center of the floor. Charles moved in to help Lonnie and slipped on the blood. He fell directly on his back and the wind instantly rushed out of his lungs.

  Anna got to her feet and pulled against the ropes as hard as she could. The arms of the chair separated from the seat and she was free enough to be mobile again. Buck finally noticed that she had outsmarted them. He rushed for her at full speed and came to a sudden stop when she shoved one of the arm posts straight through his left eye. He gasped with pain and fell to his knees. Anna swung the other arm and lodged the broken piece deep in the side of his neck. When she pulled it free blood gushed from his spliced carotid artery.