by Cox, Paula
Not so fast. Not fast enough to cause this intentionally. But now that it had happened, she wasn’t about to just let it go. “Maybe I was just trying to catch your eye,” Lily said.
At that, Rex smiled, and brushed a stray lock of hair from his face. “Lucky for me,” he said. “Not so lucky for you.”
Meeting his challenge, Lily stood with a smirk. “So you can’t fix it?” she said as she tried and failed to stifle a laugh.
“Not all the way out here,” Rex said. “Wasn’t expecting something like this.”
It felt like a compliment, and Lily’s smile intensified under his dark gaze. “So you weren’t expecting me?” she asked.
This was fun. Rex hung his head for all of a second, but just as quickly he was back in her eyes. “Not at all,” he said. “But I’m mighty glad to make your acquaintance.”
She liked the drawl his voice and the curl of his lips when he smiled at her again. Even if he couldn’t fix the tire, Rex could take her to new heights and make her forget everything that she had left behind.
“How about I give you a lift to the next town?” he suggested. “Promise I’m good company.”
Of that she was almost certain, and Lily offered him her hand. “Lead the way.”
Climbing into his truck, she felt the pulse of the road under her feet. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rex’ gaze and trailing up and down her legs. Dan never looked at her like that, and if a stranger could do his to her with one glance, then she had to be on the right track.
“So what were you looking for?” Lily asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well you said that you weren’t expecting me,” she said. “So what do you want?”
Slapping her knee, he tossed his head back and flashed his teeth. “I could ask you the same question.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Lexus in the desert?” Rex said. “Have to be running away from something.”
She was about to tell him everything, but then she held back and shifted her gaze back away. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” Lily said.
“I wouldn’t,” Rex said. “Not really.”
He was playing it cool and she could go along with that. And he was right. Better to go to wherever he was taking her and tell him later. She would wait until the right moment.
“But here you are,” Rex said. “And here I am.”
She nearly lost herself in his eyes, and she was on the verge of kissing him when he brought the truck to a fast stop. “What happened?” Lily asked. “What–?”
“How about you stop talking?” Rex’ tone shifted into something dark, and Lily couldn’t think or act quickly enough to stop the curl of fingers, his harsh hold, as he pulled her across the wheel and forced her out of the truck.
“Hey! What do you think you’re–?”
“I said stop talking!”
Lily held her tongue for all of a second, but when Rex wrenched her arm, she found her footing and kicked his shin hard. Rex buckled, and Lily knew enough to take her chance and break into a run. Kicking up sand with each step, she raced into the depths of the desert. Without her car, she knew sweat would pour from her veins if she could just keep running. Then there would be the horrible cold and she wished that she had been more careful.
“Get back here, you bitch!”
She never should have left home. Dan was right; her father was right.
“I said come back!”
Rex’ hands nearly seized her ankle and, as he fell forward, Lily brought her foot back. Kicking anything that she could find, she crushed her heel into what she thought was his neck and she kept running. He wouldn’t catch her; she would find her car and find some way to bring it back to that dusty town. Or she would find someone who really wanted to help her…
A large white van suddenly blocked her path, and Lily screamed as a masked man appeared with a bat in his hands. As soon as she saw the new stranger, Lily stifled a scream and took off in the other direction. In her sneakered feet, she felt the sand pouring into her socks and slicing into her heels. She had to move fast. If she missed a single step, they would overpower her and…
“Slow up, bitch!”
Lily felt the bat smashing into her ankles and she fell into the sand. Choking on the grains, she turned to her back. She saw the man ready to bring the bat down on her head and, as she struggled to catch her breath so she could release a scream, Rex stepped back into view and snatched the bat from the other man’s hands.
“Not the face, you fucker!” Rex screamed. “She’s no good to us if she’s all banged up.” Rex waved the bat threateningly, but the other guy just laughed and turned his eyes towards Lily’s aching, terrified body.
“Don’t know about that,” the man said. “Ain’t no god damned beauty pageant.
Lily cowered as Rex added his laughter to the mix, creating a horrible chorus that filled her heart with fear.
“Fair point,” he said darkly. “Nice face, though. You think the rest of her is just as sweet?”
“No doubt.”
Roughly grabbing her arm, Rex hauled Lily to her feet, and she struggled to maintain her footing as he pulled her close. She wanted nothing more than to form a fist and crush the jaw, the lips that had seemed so appealing.
“Let go of me!” Lily screamed.
She managed only a few steps when Rex drew a knife from his pocket as his buddy continued to wield the baseball bat. “Lose the clothes,” Rex ordered.
“What… why?” Lily asked even as she realized what they wanted.
“We don’t got all day, cunt,” Rex threatened. “And Isaac is right on. Let’s make sure you’re worth it before we go to all trouble.”
Blinking back tears of terror, Lily summoned the strength to shake her head. “What trouble?” she asked. “What is it that you–?”
Grabbing a hunk of her hair, Rex forced her into his eyes again, and she whimpered at the feel of his breath racing down her neck. “You do it quick,” Rex started, “or maybe we just ice you now and give the vultures a special treat.”
Lily swallowed hard at the thought of her body gutted and limp. Alone as she was, she wanted a chance to get through this and see another day. A part of her actually wanted to get back home if she ever got the chance.
“What the hell are you waiting for?” Isaac said with a cold laugh.
Taking a small step back, her body went numb. As she closed her eyes, she pulled her shirt up over her head.
“Oh yeah,” Isaac said. “Nice.”
Lily’s face flushed with fear and fury as Isaac’s eyes settled on her breasts. She knew that if she kept going, his hands would be on her. Other parts of him would find their way inside her. But she couldn’t think about that now. She had to survive, and if that meant–
“Keep it up, cunt,” Rex said as pointed the knife in her face.
Reaching behind her back, Lily released her bra, and she hung her head when Isaac whistled his approval. Her first instinct was to shield her soft mounds with her bare hands, but she quickly thought better of it. Don’t make them angry. You’ll get through this. Somehow… Resigned to her fate for the moment, she kicked off her sneakers, and she let her jeans fall to her ankles. With only her panties for protection, she gritted her teeth and tugged the elastic band away from her quivering hips.
“I don’t know,” Isaac said as he stroked the hardness poking through his pants. “Bet she’ll still do alright even if her face is fucked up.”
Rex nodded in agreement and Lily suppressed the need to shield her head with her hands. She’d take the blow, the punch, even the blunt end of the bat. But she wouldn’t make a wrong move and give Rex an excuse to plunge the knife into her flesh.
“What do you say?” Isaac said. “Want to try her out before we hand her over?”
Rex stroked his own growing cock, and Lily trembled. Deprived of her clothes, her shoes, she knew she would never make it very far across the wide stretch of sand.
“I don’t know,” Rex said. “Maybe…”
Standing still, Lily felt Rex’ broad arm curl around her waist, and she whimpered slightly as his lips met her brow in a slimy kiss.
“Might even be fun to keep her,” Rex said. “See what she feels like.” He pushed his hands between her legs, and Lily shook as he probed her. “I’d love to get all up inside this,” Rex said with a smirk.
How had she let this happen? Hadn’t she been safe with Dan, yelling at her father, picking at waffles just hours ago? And now she was naked and trapped by two monsters. They were going to ravage her; every bone in her body wanted to fight them off. But she would submit if it meant avoiding the knife or worse.
“But this one is gonna fetch some price!” Rex screamed.
Isaac groaned his disappointment, but he wilted some under Rex’ gaze and scooped up her discarded clothing. Placing them in a pile, Isaac struck a match against the heel of his boot, and Lily whimpered as her clothes began to burn against the hot sand.
“Take a good look, bitch,” Rex said as he held her back close to his chest. Lily watched without speaking as her shirt, her bra, and her panties started to turn to ash. What would her parents… what would Dan think? Someone would find her car. They just had to. But there would be no trace of Lily. Was she doomed to become an unsolved mystery that would leave nothing but unanswered questions in the wake of her vanishing?
“Your new life starts now,” Rex hissed.
Before she could speak or think, Rex lifted her body off the ground and slung her over his shoulders. As they neared the back of the open van, Lily finally fought back and started to pound his back with her small fists. “No wait!” she screamed. “Don’t do this to me! Please let me---!”
Rex silenced her with a swift punch to the gut, and Lily collapsed in a heap on the van’s floor. In her dazed state, she felt metal bracelets curling and locking around her wrists, her ankles, and she could just make out the forms of Rex and Isaac as they plotted at the edge of the van.
“So you’ll follow?” Isaac asked.
“Don’t I always?”
“Think we’ll make it by dark?”
Rex stroked his chin and winked in the direction of Lily’s cowering form.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “And wait ‘til the boys see the belle of the ball!”
Lily tugged at her restraints as Rex crawled close to her side. “Please let me go!” Lily begged. “I won’t tell anyone! I swear I won’t! I–” Her voice was stifled by the feel of a burlap sack surrounding her head. Something leather was wrapped around her neck, and Lily panicked. She could barely breathe, and if she couldn’t see where they were taking her, she–
“Settle in, cunt,” Rex said. “Just a little road trip.”
He pushed her down, and Lily felt him leave her side as the van door crashed closed. The men’s voices became muffled, and when she felt sure that they were far enough away, she tried to remove the hood from her head. But her bound hands kept stopping just short of the strap around her neck. Lily kept trying, but when she found it a futile errand, she slammed her palms to the metal floor and screamed into the sack.
Where are they taking me? What’s going to happen to me?
The answer to her question came in the form of one of the sound of the van’s front door opening and closing. She heard a key turn in the ignition, and as the engine roared to life, her bound body banged against both sides of the van’s walls as the driver accelerated his speed.
“Comfortable, slut?”
It was Isaac. Rex had probably gone back for his truck. But she would see him again. And wish that she hadn’t.
“Why?” she moaned into the burlap.
Isaac laughed and drove faster.
“It’s our turn to bring someone to the dance,” Isaac said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Had our eyes on a little blonde waitress, but the Diesel Devils are gonna pay top dollar for you.”
Who were the Diesel Devils? What fresh hell was he leading her towards? Her father’s words suddenly echoed in her ears.
I need help now, Dad. Oh God…
The van paused, and she heard a door open and he sound of Rex’ unwelcome voice.
“Truck’s good,” he said. “Bitch’s car is a lost cause.”
So there wasn’t even that to point someone in the right direction.
“Let’s see how she’s holding up.”
Rex crawled to her side, and she sobbed as he examined every inch of her captive flesh. Despite her best efforts to turn her mind towards thoughts of escape, she felt like a piece of meat. Rex’ touch lingered over every contour and when his fingers settled around her cunt again, she froze. “Oh yeah,” Rex said. “They’re gonna pay top dollar for your sweaty muff.”
Leaving her with only her fears for company, Lily held her naked body close as the van kept moving, and she prayed that something would stop the torment on the long road ahead.
CHAPTER FOUR The van finally came to a stop, and Lily waited. She heard the van’s front door open and close, and, again, she was left alone.
I have to get out of this. This might be my only chance.
Scraping her nails against the van’s walls, Lily struggled to find a gap, a break, something in the latch that would bring her freedom. But the metal loop was securely fastened, and she had no choice but to thrash and pull, her desperate breath mingling with the burlap covering in her face.
Try as she might, she could not break free, and her soul sank. Still she kept tugging until she heard the back door open. Was it Rex? Isaac? Both of them?
Maybe it was one of the Diesel Devils, whoever they were, and Lily’s body stilled as the hood was finally, mercifully removed from her head.
“Here we are.”
It was Rex, and she wanted to strike him. He had pretended to be a dark knight in grizzled armor. And he was everything that her father and Dan had feared; her mother would have never let her leave if she knew that this was what lay in store.
“You fucking asshole…”
Rex smirked, and Lily shuddered when he pulled her close by her hair. Maybe he was minding her face, but he would bruise other parts of her. “Easy, slut,” he cautioned. “Remember, you flagged me down.”
Lily had set this whole thing in motion by running away, and as she was relieved at the loosening of her bonds, she was still a prisoner of fate as Rex marched her out of the van.
“This is gonna be awesome!” Isaac chimed in.
Both men gripped her arms, and Lily was pushed through an open steel door. It quickly slammed shut behind her, and Lily’s eyes struggled to adjust to the dark.
“Let’s put her in holding,” Rex said.
Lily’s bare feet pained her as they scraped against a rickety wooden staircase, and she whimpered with every step. Darker and deeper, she exhaled a small sigh of relief when the descent came to an end, and she basked in the feel of walking on flat ground. But any comfort left her as a horrible room came into view.
Oh my God… no…
The place was awash in bound and blindfolded girls, all of them shackled to the walls. Some cried and screamed at the sound of Rex and Isaac drawing nearer. Other seemed to sink deeper into the floor, resigned to their fate. Lily didn’t want to turn into that; she wanted to get out while she still knew what it was to be alive.
“No!” Lily screamed. “You’re not putting me here! I want–”
Ignoring her cries, Rex slammed her to the ground and chained her again. Reaching into his pocket, he produced a crimson bandana and tied it around her head. As soon as the light left her, Lily flailed and kicked. Rex stilled her with a pull to her nipple, and she retreated to the place where she could stay silent and simply hope to survive.
“Just shut up,” he said. “And don’t cry.” He pressed his hands under her chin. “Not a bad face,” he said. “But I’ll slash your cheeks if you fuck this up for me.”
Abandoning her, she started to pull at her blindfold when a soft hand met her arm.
The voice that hit her ears was raspy, gnarled, and Lily twisted her head in the direction of the sound. “What is this place?” she begged.
“They sell us,” she started. “Trade us when they get bored. I know it seems bad at first.”
Lily’s soul erupted into a scream. “At first? No! I’m not supposed to be here. I want to go home. Why–?”
“Not happening, honey,” the invisible woman said. “Best you just let all of that go.”
She pressed her hands to her ears, not wanting to hear the truth of her new situation. If she wished hard enough, she was home and safe. If Dan could find her now, he would beg forgiveness for his harsh words and simply rejoice in her return. She wanted to go back, but as the room of girls wept all around her, that seemed like a dream that would never come to pass.