by Rob Buckman
"Kim… Kim Drummond."
"Good to meet you, Kim. You up for a bit of legal work?" She looked at him a moment.
"I guess so."
"You aren't going to like it, but if we are to stay somewhat civilized, we have to do it."
"Do what?"
"I want you to act as defense counsel for these assholes… men of the gang that held you captive."
"What! You have to be kidding."
"No. By the laws of this and my country every person is entitled to a defense."
"I won't do it." She snapped, glaring at him in outrage.
"Okay, I'll just take them outside and slit their throats right now." Decker shrugged and turned away.
"What! Wait… you mean it… you'd just take them outside and slit their throats?"
"Too right he would lady, without a second thought." Joann snickered. Maybe for the first time, Kim Drummond looked around the group who'd rescued her.
"You're the only man here…"
"That's right."
"He's our Pack leader." Joann put in.
"Pack… leader."
"That's right. We're his Pack of bitches." She snickered. "What do the wolves say girls?" Joann asked. The whole room resounded with the cry of the wolf, followed a moment later by that of the dogs. He saw Kim Drummond shudder, and she was probably thinking that she'd fallen in with a worse group than the ones who'd captured her.
"You are all crazy…"
"You've got that right sister, and if you stay, you'll be one of the Pack as well."
"I won't be his bitch, that's for sure."
"Get in line and wait until you’re asked, girl." Joann laughed.
"Joann, behave yourself. You're scaring the pants off her." Decker smiled, despite his reprimand.
"Don't take them seriously. It's more of an inside joke."
"I see… I think. But… as you point out, every man… or everyone is entitled to a defense, and I was a defense lawyer."
"Good, we'll convene a court first thing in the morning. You can talk to you 'clients' after breakfast." With that, Decker turned and left to go and find the Doctor.
"Hey, Doc."
"What's up… sir." She said at last, smiling slightly.
"Need you and your assistant to go take a look at those girls we brought in."
"That was my next stop."
"Great. I need you to give me your assessment. How many are pregnant, injuries and so on."
"Not much on patient’s right to privacy I take it."
"Not here, not now. Our lives may depend on what state those girls are in. Hate to have one of them to go psycho on me at the wrong moment…"
"Or have a baby without your permission?"
"Come on Doc. You know as well as I do the chances of a newborn baby and mother would have on the march we are going to take." She nodded in agreement, and let out a sigh.
"Yes, I know, I'm sorry to say. So, if any of those girls are pregnant, I suppose you want me to abort it."
"Might be better. I doubt any of those girls would want to carry any of those assholes babies to term."
"I guess not." She gave him a nod, and picking up her bag of tricks took off down to the basement.
An hour later, she neared the end of the line with only two more out of the fourteen girls’ they'd rescued waiting for a checkup. Three of those she'd already checked were pregnant, and she knew she'd have to come to the moral decision to abort each of them.
"Next!" She called, and a moment later the grimy sheets used to give her and the patients' privacy during the exam parted, and in walked a tall, willowy auburn-haired woman in her mid to late twenties.
"Name?" She asked.
"Kim Drummond. You a real Doctor?"
"That I am. What were you before all this?" She held out her hand and shook with Kim. "Please undress. I'm Doctor Mason."
"Before all this crap came down on our heads, I was one of those bottom feeling scum suckers." Kim answered with a smile as she undressed.
"Oh, a lawyer."
"Right. All the way down Doctor?"
"Yes, I need to give you a complete examination."
“I understand. Have to find out if I'm pregnant, or have a horrible disease.”
"Something like that."
"You know those assholes killed all the girl's that got pregnant." For a second she saw the Doctor close her eyes in pain. "The moment the girl started showing several of them would take her off into the bushes, rape her one last time, or whatever, and then slit her throat." For a moment, Kim shivered. "I can still hear them begging and screaming at the end."
"We all have our nightmares, Kim."
"Yes, I suppose we all do now." By then she was lying on the makeshift examination table and the Doctor was going over her whole body with a magnifying glass. "Why the glass, Doc, losing your sight?"
"No, in this light, it's easier to see ticks that burrow into the skin."
"Oh, right."
"So, you lost all your men." Kim asked.
"Yes, within the first few days. The idiot of a commanding officer took all the soldiers and went off to play hero instead of staying here and taking care of us."
"You were in the military?"
"Not really. My husband was in the Army and I usually took a job on base as the civilian Doctor."
"So, he, your husband died with the rest of them."
"No. He was killed in the gulf war a few years ago. I stayed out of habit I guess. I see you shave. Did they make you do that?"
"Them? No. I just like to feel clean and smooth. Had the hair removed a few years ago. Only have to have a little work over once a year, but I suppose I'll have to take care of that myself, or let it grow out again."
"Turn over." Kim did, hearing Doc Mason wince as she did, knowing what she was looking at. "Oh my god. Your back is a mess. How often did they beat you?"
"Every day, mostly, and not beat, he whipped me."
“How come?”
"Because I refused to give in."
"It's a wonder they didn't kill you."
"No, the asshole leader felt it was a point of pride to break me and force me to give in to him to do whatever he wanted. Also, hanging me by my wrist and whipping me with a stripped branch was an object lesson to the rest of the girls."
"So, he didn't…"
"Fuck me? Yes, he did. He raped me a few times, but I didn't make it easy for him, so breaking me became his main goal."
"A painful way of resisting."
"To a degree. I like… well, in my high-powered line of work in San Francisco, I was competing with and against a lot of macho assholes, much like the leader and his gang, only better smelling. Once in a while I like to take an evening off and be… um… well, let's just say played submissive." Kim looked over her shoulder at Doc Mason, seeing a slight smile on her face.
"I understand. Sort of a way to balance your high-pressure world."
"Yes, that's it. So, getting a hard spanking or even a light whipping wasn't something I was a stranger to." Kim hissed between her teeth as the Doctor spread cooling ointment over her sore back.
"Do I need to examine your rectum, Kim?"
"No. You'll find a little tearing from being raped there once or twice."
"I'll give you a jar of this cream to use."
"Thank you, Doctor. Tell me about that cold-eyed killer you have hanging around?" Doc Mason raised an eyebrow at her choice of words to describe Decker.
"You mean Decker?"
"Yeah, that’s one mean mother if I’ve ever saw one. Is there any more like him around?"
"No, he's the only one to survive an aborted rescue mission they sent to get us."
"Oh?"
"His aircraft crashed about ten miles from here, and he was the only one to get out before it went down."
"Lucky him, falling into your laps, so to speak."
"You mean he's in a guy seventh heaven with a hundred, horny women at his beck and call?"
"Well, I
wouldn't put it that way exactly, but yes."
"Then you'd be wrong. He hasn't touched one single girl… or woman since he arrived here three weeks ago."
"Oh, he's gay then." Kim laughed. In answer, Doc Mason slapped her hard on her sore bottom. Kim yelled and sat up. “What the hell was that for?”
“Mind your tongue young lady,” she huffed, “he's our commanding officer… or Pack leader if you will, and deserves a degree of respect for what he's trying to do.”
“And what’s that!” Kim asked indignantly, rubbing her butt.
“Trying to save as many of us as he can. That's not to say that any number of women wouldn't turn down the chance to get in bed with him if he asked.”
"You included?" Doc Mason looked at Kim for a moment.
“I wouldn’t say no if I got the chance.”
"So, why hasn't he?"
"Have you ever heard the story about the wolf and the sheepdog?" Kim shook her head, so Doc Mason told her.
"So, he's the damn sheepdog I take it." Kim muttered after hearing the story.
"Yes, he is, and an honorable one to boot.
"And what is he going to do, save all our cute butts?"
"He's not going to do anything. He's going to train us to save our own cute butts and take us on a little hike."
“Why don't I like the sound of that little hike?”
"Because that little hike is going to take us up over the Sierra Nevada mountains to an army base near ‘Truckee’, about 400 miles from here."
"Then he's as crazy as a loon."
"Most SAS types are."
"SAS?"
"British 'Special Air Service'"
"Him?"
"Yes Him."
"I hear that all those guys are nuts."
"You could be right. Who else would even consider taking a hundred untrained civilians, let alone female civilians on a four-hundred-mile route march?"
"And you are all going along with this madness?" Doc Mason leaned closer until she was looking Kim directly in the eyes.
"Like Wolfman said. You have one of four choices Kim. One, you can cut your own throat, two, stay here, and starve to death, three, wait until the aliens start their search and destroy mission to wipe out the rest of the human-race, or four, get up on your feet, pick up a pack and weapon and move out with the rest of us. Your choice." Doc Mason delivered her assessment in a stone-cold voice.
"But… but… we could go up into the hills and hide."
"For how long. The Doctor shot back. "To date the aliens have probably wiped out over two or three billion of us. In the next year, one or two billion more are going to die from starvation, disease, and war over dwindling food and water supplies and god knows what else. If Decker is right, and I think he is. The Aliens will soon start putting their troops on the ground to seek us out and kill us. As far as we know, they don't want slaves, or pets, they just want to wipe us out and take this planet away from us. We are just in the way." As the stark realization of the situation sank in, Kim's mouth opened in surprise. She wanted to deny the Doctor's assessment, to think of an alternate way to survive, but couldn't.
“Do you know what the SAS motto is, Kim?" She shook her head. "It's 'Who dares wins'.”
"But… but… four hundred miles. He's insane."
"Most of his kind of sheep dog are. Get dressed and go find a place to sleep."
CHAPTER SIX: HEADING UP COUNTRY
Decker walked back and forth in front of the formation, coldly looking over the assembled women. On one hand, he wanted to say he was proud of the way they performed in the ambush. On the other he didn't want them to get an over weaned opinion of themselves. They had a lot to learn, and complimenting them before they were ready wouldn't cut it. When he did, he wanted them to feel it was nothing more than what they deserved. Not a pat on the back for being adequate.
"I was very disappointed in your performance during the ambush. Most of the first volley of arrows missed their targets. That is not acceptable. Alpha and Charlie team let the tango get way to close to our decoys before they struck. That could have got a lot of you killed, or injured, had the men been a little faster in getting their weapons into action. Delta team didn't watch their back and almost let two tangos walk in on us. You all know what would have happened if they’d both been armed with automatic weapons." Decker watched their egos deflate and their eyes drop. Perfect. Now the pat on the ass.
"Other than that, you did a lot better than I thought you could the first time out." That brought a few snots of disgust.
"I know you can do better than that, and you will the next time. No battle plan is going to survive contact with the enemy. An old adage I know, but a true one. You have to watch out for the unexpected and be prepared for it. Once we move out of here, we can be attacked from any direction except below, and who knows what the little green men have up their smelly sleeves. Constant vigilance is the order of the day. Once on the march, there is no safe haven. It's all enemy territory from here on out. Clear?"
"Yes, sir." The chorus this time sounded better.
"Good. Fall out and prepare for a trial. I'll be the judge advocate. Kim Drummond will be the defense lawyer; Grace will act as the prosecution. The new girls will be the witnesses, and twelve of you picked at random will be the jury. Let's get to it.
In short order, the room was cleared except for three tables and chair set out in a triangle. Decker took his seat at the center table and called the court to order. Three women and two dogs walked the prisoners in and forcibly sat them at the defense table. Grace and another girl took the last table. Both men had blood in the crotch area of their pants and both looked scared, tired, and disheveled.
"Madam Prosecutor, will you read the charges, please?"
"Yes, sir." Grace did, and as Decker had asked, kept it short, with kidnapping, rape, murder.
"How does the prisoner's plead?" Decker asked.
"Not guilty on all charges." Kim responded. That brought a few laughs and a few scowls from the audience.
"Silence in court. Any more outbursts and I'll have the court cleared." Decker glared at the surrounding girls. They fell silent. "Good. Bring in your first witness."
"I object your honor. I haven't had time to depose these witnesses, nor do I have a complete list…"
"Tough. We don't have the time to play around with all the niceties of law here. You will cross examine the witnesses when it's your turn, Ms. Drummond." She frowned, wanting to say more. One look at Decker's face and she changed her mind.
The verdict was a foregone conclusion, but at least they’d given the defense a chance to respond. Claims that the others did all the deeds went down in flames as witness after witness pointed the finger at the two men and denounced them for what they were. In the end, Kim had little to say in their defense, except to plead for mercy from the court. Decker gave them what they’d given the people they tortured, raped, terrorized, and murdered.
"It is the sentence of this court, that having been found guilty of the crimes as charged, it is my duty to pronounce sentence on you. Do you have anything to say in your defense before that?"
"I do, dick head. Fuck you! We've done nothing you haven't done. Stay alive." The burly man spat on the floor. “You bitches can do what you want. You are all a bunch of whores and skanks and should be on your knees sucking cock instead of pretending you are better than us. I saw what you did to those other guys, and it's nothing less than what we did."
"Your argument is noted for the record. I hereby sentence you to death at a place and time of the courts choosing. Take them away." An hour later Decker has the two men marched into the old base garage. The girls had cleared a space and the two men were stood there, clearly scared.
"Strip!" Decker ordered.
"What! Fuck you, asshole."
"Strip or I'll have these ladies do it for you."
"I'd like to see these bitches try." The burly man shouted as he put his fists up.
"Ladies, pleas
e strip these two down to their socks."
The two of them got in a few good punches, but as Decker taught them, they swarmed the two men, and quickly had their clothes stripped off. The two men stood there covering their bloody crotches, fear in their eyes.
"Guess we get to see all your inadequacies now, don't we?"
"What… what you gona to do with us?" The young man stuttered. "I didn't do nothin wrong…"
"Shut the fuck up you sniveling little weasel." The burly man reached over and slapped the other up the back of his head.
"Oh, I have a surprise for you. Ladies!" Decker looked over his shoulder and motion to Grace. The girls parted and the now fully dressed captives filed into the room. Instead of the combat BDU the rest of the girls wore, they were dressed in cast-off clothes. Each held a small knife.
"You like to terrorize people with your guns and macho bullshit. Well, here is your chance to do it again to the girls you turned into sex slaves." The fifteen girls, including Kim, despite her earlier reservations, encircled the two men.
"How does it feel now asshole?" A slight, seventeen-year-old girl shouted.
"Yeah. Let's see how macho and brave you are now." Another called.
"Wait… please. Shoot us, hang us, but don't let these crazy bitches near us."
"You should have thought of that before you became complete assholes and turned these lovely young women into your personal sex slave."
"Please…. No!" The smaller man screamed as the fifteen girls moved in.
It was bloody, as they took their time, gradually slicing and stabbing the two men until they looked like dog meat. Both died screaming and crying in terror as they bled to death. It wasn't pretty, but it did give all a lesson in how cruel and vicious they could be. Decker walked across the bloody floor inside the ring of panting, blood covered girls, slowly spinning in a circle to look at them.
"From now on, any man who dares to think he can make you his sex slave will meet the same end. Clear!"
"Awooo." The wolf cry bounced off the walls and broken roof, even making Decker shiver.
"Good. Go get cleaned up and dressed in combat BDU's. We move out at the end of the week." Decker felt a shiver run up his back when he heard the girls let out the wolf cry. He shook his head slightly, and a small grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. He’d created a monster, but there again, monsters tended to survive.