by S. J. Lewis
“I’m not as certain as I was yesterday,” Alexa shrugged. “But I’m here now, so I guess I’ll stick it out.”
“Well, that’s not the most positive thing I’ve ever heard a woman in your position say,” Lydia commented.
Alexa had no answer to that, so for a while the two of them were silent. Then, after a while, Alexa heard that buzzing sound again.
“It’s begun,” Lydia announced. “I have to go now. Best of luck to you.”
“Thanks,” Alexa replied as she made a beeline to her stacked gear. She didn’t know how much time she might have before hunters began sweeping through this area, but she didn’t want to waste any of it. The first thing she checked was her backpack, making sure that it held everything she’d stored away in it last night. It did, so she shrugged it on. When she straightened up to ask Lydia one last question the other woman was nowhere to be seen. For a moment she just stood there, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the knowledge that she was completely on her own now. Then she went back to work.
Her extra supplies were all food and water, packed in three waterproof bags made of heavy, camouflaged cloth. She hefted one of them by its thick handle of webbing. It seemed heavier than she remembered. There was no chance she’d be able to lug it very far, but if she could find a good hiding spot for it she wouldn’t have to. She began to search around. In a very short while she found a big, hollowed-out log that might suit her purposes. The bag proved to be a very tight fit, but she managed to stuff it far enough back in the log that no one would see it unless they got down on their knees to look in. That done, she went back and got one of the two remaining bags. A hasty sweep of the area turned up no ideal hiding places, so she resorted to stashing it inside a blackberry thicket and throwing some leaves over it until she thought it was as concealed as it was ever going to get.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed since the competition had started. It would have been nice to have her watch, or even her cell phone, since it had a time function. There was so much she didn’t know. She’d seen maps of the area ‘north of the main road’, but hadn’t been allowed to carry one. She’d tried very hard to memorize it, but even if she had a photographic memory it wouldn’t have done her any good at the moment since she had no idea where she was. For a moment she simply stood still, feeling very much alone and very much on her own. She shrugged the feeling off and picked up her last bag. It was just as heavy as the others had been, but she decided to carry it with her until she found some landmark she could recognize easily and stash it somewhere near there. She hoped she’d be able to find the other two later. The hollow log and the blackberry thicket would be easy enough to spot once she got near them, but she thought that she might have a little trouble getting near them. The forest here looked entirely unremarkable. She shrugged and kept walking. There wasn’t anything she could do about that now.
The bag was heavy enough that she had to make frequent stops and put it down on the ground for a while. She was moving slowly anyway, trying to stay in cover and not make any unnecessary noise while at the same time straining her ears for any hint that other people were nearby. She saw no one, she heard no one, and later in the day she came to a small stream that trickled its way through the woods. She laid the bag aside and sat down on a mossy rock to rest.
She was feeling pretty good right now. The weather was warm and mild, and she’d had just enough exercise to feel pleasantly pumped, as if she’d just completed her warming-up exercises. She looked up to see where the sun was, and noticed that it was to her left, and lower than it had been when Lydia had taken the bag off of her head. Okay, that meant that she was heading north. Good. That was the way she wanted to be going. It was away from the main road, and so, probably, away from the men who would be hunting for her and her friends. She wondered where those friends were now, and if she would run into any of them. She hoped not. Until this contest was over she hoped that she wouldn’t run into anybody at all.
As long as she was moving, she didn’t have to think. But she had to rest from time to time, and when she did she couldn’t help thinking. Thinking made her uneasy. There was more than just her shapely white ass riding on this competition. Martina had talked everyone into putting up money on a bet. Whoever won the competition would get the money. It was a considerable sum, and coming up with her share of it had strained Alexa’s resources to their limits. If she didn’t win, it would take her a long time to pay off the debt she had run up. The thought only reinforced her grim determination to win. She had to win. She wanted the money, to be sure, but even more than that she wanted to finally beat those arrogant, beautiful, well-toned bitches at something.
She had always been the ‘also-ran’ in their loose-knit group, never placing higher than third in any athletic competition she entered and usually coming in lower than that. She was in superb shape, and she worked very hard to keep herself that way, but it seemed that no matter how hard she tried there was always some woman faster, stronger, more skilled or more ruthless than she was who came in first. Well, in getting as far as she had she’d beaten four of the bunch already. That left just three to go: Martina, Lynette, and Naomi. Since she wasn’t competing with any of them directly, she thought that she had a pretty good chance. In any case, none of them, herself included, had any experience in this kind of contest, so they should all be starting out more or less even. Actually, she might even have the edge now. She’d spent a lot of time learning all she could about hiking, camping and wilderness survival, keeping her efforts secret from the others. Nothing had quite prepared her, though, for how very alone and vulnerable she felt right now.
Resting was necessary, but resting meant thinking, and thinking led to doubts and fears. Alexa stood and picked up the bag again. There was a pile of rocks on the other side of the stream that might be a good hiding place for it. Once she had stashed it away she could keep moving without having to stop so often. The next thing she’d have to do would be find some safe place to sleep tonight. Would the hunters be active at night? They weren’t supposed to have any special equipment, so maybe not.
Chapter Two
Once she’d picked out a concealed spot for her sleeping bag, Alexa munched on a trail mix bar and considered what to do next. It was very quiet and peaceful out here in the woods. Actually, it was a little too quiet and peaceful for her. She was used to having other people around, and this solitude made her feel strangely uneasy. She wondered how the apparently legendary Elf-Girl had dealt with it. But from what she’d heard, that woman had been very active the whole time she was out in the wilderness, so maybe she didn’t have time to get bored.
There was still a lot of daylight left, and she didn’t feel like just hanging around her intended campsite until it got dark. For all of the supplies she’d picked up, she hadn’t thought to bring along anything to read, and she regretted that now. Maybe she could pick up something at one of those trading posts Lydia had mentioned? She’d have to find out, but not today. She might as well do a little exploring and familiarize herself with the area. She could follow the little stream and see where it went without worrying about getting lost and not being able to find this spot again. She’d travel light for this first exploration, bringing along only her canteen, some snacks to munch on, and a few other things. After hiding everything she wasn’t going to be carrying under some fallen leaves, she set out. There was a temptation to walk briskly, but she resisted it. It seemed better to go slowly and carefully, keeping a watch out for any intruders.
During her walk, she began to realize all of the things she was missing out here. There were no other people which was actually a good thing, but she didn’t have a watch, a map, or any way of telling how far she’d walked. How many steps to a mile, anyway? And how many miles was it from one end of this place to the other? The sun was slowly settling in the direction she was walking, so at least she knew that she was heading west. She really didn’t know much more than that, though.
She was just making
her way around a big thicket when she heard voices coming from somewhere up ahead, too far off to make out words, but near enough to know that at least one of the speakers was a man. She hunkered down behind the thicket and slowly moved to a spot where she could peer around her cover. One of the things she’d picked up from all the books she’d read was that if you were trying to not be noticed you didn’t break a skyline when you wanted to have a look.
She saw two men, dressed in rough clothes; talking to a woman clad in an identical long black dress to the one Lydia had worn. A moment later, she realized that it was Lydia herself. A little ways past the trio, Alexa could see a two-story wooden building, partly obscured from view by the trees and shrubs. It looked like an old farmhouse, worn dark gray by wind and weather. Was that one of the trading posts Lydia had mentioned? If it was, finding it so early was a stroke of luck.
One of the men said something, and Lydia laughed. Alexa still couldn’t make out any words. She did notice that the men’s attention was focused solely and intently on Lydia, and that made her feel a bit safer where she was. That thought prompted her to look around behind her to see if anyone was sneaking up on her from that direction. She saw nothing. While that was a relief, she wondered just how paranoid she’d be by the time all this was over. She turned back. They were still talking. Finally, Lydia simply nodded, and then the three of them walked off towards the building, the men following closely behind her. Well, there was no way of telling what was happening there, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to go and check it out in person. Alexa slowly straightened up and had another look around. Satisfied that she was alone, she made her way back to where she’d left her sleeping bag. It should be safe to spend the night there, but it would probably be a good idea to relocate tomorrow. If she could go downstream to the trading post, if that’s what it was, someone could come upstream from there and maybe find her. She didn’t intend for that to happen.
It was getting dark by the time she got back. She took the time to arrange her little campsite. She still seemed to be very much alone, but she decided to forego a hot meal for tonight. It would mean starting a fire, and she didn’t want to risk it. Later, if she found a more sheltered spot, she’d build a fire. She didn’t feel particularly hungry at the moment anyway, since she’d had a huge breakfast shortly before she let them bring her out here. The darkness grew and closed in. Now she could hear crickets, and something making a high-pitched shrilling noise that seemed to come from everywhere. Somehow, none of the books she’d read had told her how noisy a forest could become at night. She lay quietly on her opened sleeping bag and thought back over how she’d come to be here. There was nothing else to do but go to sleep, and she wasn’t feeling tired.
***
They all knew each other. They often competed with each other in one kind of sport or another, and while they were friendly, their contests had an edge to them that was almost ferocious. Even outside of athletics, there was still a simmering competition between them, since they were all attractive women, young, superbly fit, and eager to stand out and be noticed. It was not an easy thing to be a part of that group, and Alexa had wondered why she had been allowed to join at first. It was only later on that she realized she was ‘safe’, and that was why. She wasn’t as tall as most or as hot as any of the others, and didn’t excel at any one sport as most of them did. If she entered a competition she could be relied on to put up a good effort, but never to take first place. So, she was accepted because none of them saw her as a real threat. The discovery had galled her at first, and then she came to accept it as she had accepted never taking first place. Besides, where else could she bask in the glitter and glamour, albeit on the fringes, of gorgeous women athletes? As long as she was with them, she could enjoy at least a bit of the high life, and occasionally draw the attention of a good-looking man who had been rebuffed by some other member of the group. That had been flattering to begin with, but after a while she found that she resented being someone’s second or third choice. But what else could she do, being the only beta amongst a pack of alpha females?
It had been a bright and brutally sunny afternoon around a plush hotel pool and they’d all had a teensy bit too much to drink when Martina had begun a familiar diatribe of hers about how boring and safe most of their contests were.
“Now, take the Mayans,” she said after another sip of her margarita. “Or was it the Aztecs? Well, it doesn’t matter. Whoever they were, they had this game that was all about putting a ball through a stone hoop without using your hands. The winners were treated like gods. The losers got sacrificed.” She snickered. “I wonder how their gods felt about getting the losers sacrificed to them instead of the winners. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the competition, but lately it just seems to me that whether I win or I lose all that happens is there’s another tourney down the road.” Alexa, listening from a distance, didn’t try to correct Martina about who got sacrificed.
“Yeah, and you usually win,” Lynette spoke up. She was tall, with long, light brown hair and looked absolutely stunning in her tiny black bikini. Years of skiing had kept her body toned and hard. Since Martina’s preferred sport was beach volleyball, they never competed head-to-head. Well, not in sports, anyway. Martina’s butter-yellow bikini was every bit as barely there as Lynette’s.
“Yeah, but how long can that go on?” Martina responded. The drinks were making her a bit less cautious than she usually was. “Let’s face it. We all make good money at whatever sport we’re into, mostly from endorsements. But how many years have any of us got before we get elbowed out by someone younger and hungrier?”
“What’s your point?” piped up one of the other women there. Alexa thought that her name was Mara, but she wasn’t sure. “We all know this, even if we don’t talk about it much.”
“I’d just like to try something different before I get too old,” Martina said. “Something more edgy. Something dangerous.”
“Skiing’s dangerous,” Lynette spoke up.
“So’s snowboarding,” Nikki put in. “You could break your neck.”
“No, no, no,” Martina shook her head and banged her drink down on the table. “I’m talking about something you go into knowing for sure that you’re putting your ass on the line.”
“Like what?” Lynette asked. She leaned forward, smiling, clearly waiting for an answer.
Martina looked around the table, apparently realizing that she’d said more than she’d meant to. Being Martina, she shrugged and went on anyway. She leaned forward herself and lowered her voice so that only the women at the table could hear her. Alexa had to move closer, and she tried to do so unobtrusively.
“I’ve heard of a place,” Martina began, “where the game is men hunting women.”
“What? Like that TV show?” Lynette asked. “I watched it once. Thought it was kind of lame.”
“No, not exactly like that,” Martina shook her head. “It’s not something where if you get to some spot you win, and even if you get caught you’re safe. Nope. In this game, if the men catch you they get to fuck you.”
Alexa saw Lynette’s eyebrow creep upwards. “That sounds like that weird website, with guys shooting women with paintball guns,” the skier said.
“Oh. That.” Martina waved a hand dismissively. “That’s all fake. I think. Anyway, it’s got nothing to do with what I’m talking about.”
“Uh…they get to fuck you?” Nikki drew back. “I don’t know about that.”
“What did you think I meant when I talked about really putting our asses on the line?” Martina snorted.
“How did you hear about this place, dear?” Lynette asked.
“I have a friend,” Martina shrugged. “She thought I might be interested.”
“And are you?” Lynette’s smile turned into a smirk.
“It’s another form of competition,” Martina replied, looking at her. “So it’s a little interesting, yeah. And I was thinking…”
“Yes?” Lynette prompted
.
“Hardly any of us here ever get to compete head-to-head,” Martina said. She kept her gaze fixed on Lynette. “Haven’t you ever wondered which one of us would come out on top in that kind of contest? I know I have. Well, here’s a chance to find out.”
“Is that a dare?” Lynette asked as she stared back at Martina. There was a palpable tension in the air.
“It’s an idea,” Martina replied. “I think the whole thing is kind of interesting. What do you think?”
“I think I’d have to know more about it,” Lynette answered with a lazy little smile.
***
And that was how it had started. Somehow, Martina and Lynette had talked six other women, Alexa included, into joining the contest. Well, to be honest, Alexa thought, she hadn’t needed all that much convincing. A lot of that was probably because she’d had a bit too much to drink that afternoon, and as the beta female she’d had to sit in the one chair that wasn’t shaded by the big umbrella looming over the table, so she wasn’t thinking clearly. But once she’d agreed to be a part of it, something inside of her wouldn’t let her back out, not even when Martina suggested that they all bet on the outcome just to make it all more ‘interesting’. She’d expected it all to happen soon, but apparently it was a lot more complicated to arrange than Martina had led them to believe. It was probably more complicated than Martina had believed herself. There were physicals that they had to take, but those were nothing compared to the barrage of psych evaluations they were all subjected to at intervals over the next six months. Some of them didn’t seem to have anything to do with sex or fantasies at all, while others were almost embarrassingly probing and clinical. They were also separately shown a number of explicit videos. Some of them had whipping, some had what looked and sounded very much like mild sexual torture, most of them involved some sort of bondage, either with ropes or chains or straps, and every one of them had very graphic sexual content: Straight, oral and anal. Those had been a bit rough for Alexa to sit through, especially with all the wires that hooked her up to all those different machines, checking on who knew what. Sometimes she felt like she was reenacting a scene from ‘A Clockwork Orange’.