by Selena Kitt
An hour later and she finally saw a gas station up ahead. Hallelujah! It only had one pump, and it didn't look like it even worked, but she had never seen a more lovely sight in her life. Pulling up and jumping out of the car with the engine still running, she jolted through the cascading rain to the front door.
"Excuse me," she said, realizing how good it felt to actually say something and hear her own voice. "Do you know what state I'm in?"
Okay, so maybe not the most eloquent way to ask for directions, but it was what came out, so she had to run with it.
She approached the man at the counter so she could get a better look. He had one lazy eye and the other had a cataract. An unfortunate situation indeed.
He said nothing, but just stared… well, his one lazy eye stared.
"Sir? Do you know what state I'm in? I don't have any signal, and my GPS isn't working. I have no idea where I am." She was either in West Virginia or Kentucky… or hell. She could definitely be in hell.
"Ummm, no. I don't live here."
Was he looking at her?
"Okay…" She wasn't sure how to respond. "Do you have a map?"
"A map of what?"
"A map of where we are." Was this conversation really happening? Was she in some crazy twilight zone talking to a half-blind gas station attendant who didn't know what state he was in? This couldn't be happening.
"I'm looking for Big Creek, West Virginia. Do you know where that is?"
"Ummm no. I don't live here."
"Do you have a phone I could use?"
"Ummm no."
"No phone?"
He just stared.
"Am I even in West Virginia?"
He continued to just stare.
"Okay, well… thanks."
She turned around and left as quickly as she entered. Dear lord. Jessa had no choice but to continue on and drive through the typhoon from hell. She couldn't stay with the cataract man with a lazy eye who didn't know what state he was in.
Mile after mile she drove. The road seemed to go on with no end in sight. On and on she drove in pitch-blackness and torrential rain, praying that a deer didn't jump out and total her rented crappy, white, mid-size vehicle.
The dim light of civilization up ahead gave her hope. Ah, life of some sort. Hopefully this person had a working eye. As she drove closer, she could see—and she almost shit herself—a Bates Motel. Okay, it was actually a Stop In Motel, but it looked like a spitting image of Hitchcock's slasher film's motel. Next to it was a diner called Peg's. Okay, Peg's it would be.
Jessa once again hopped out of her still running car and ran through the storm, knowing she looked like a crazed lady drenched to the core. There was a fairly large man, squeezed into clothes far too small for him, at a counter talking to an old lady who seemed to be ringing him up. His belly button showed, his fly was undone, and he was sweating even though it wasn't hot in the slightest. As Jessa looked around, she noticed there didn't appear to be anyone else in the diner but the two of them.
"Excuse me. I'm lost. I don't even know what state I'm in." Why she felt the need to reveal that fact, she had no idea, but again, she wasn't really thinking at this point. "Do you know where I am?"
The fairly large man turned, exposing the fact that half of his dinner rested on his shirt. Stains were everywhere. "I don't live here," he said.
Oh, for fucking Christ's sake! Really? Again?
"But this lady can probably help you," he added, saving Jessa from having a total breakdown.
Jessa turned to the lady, who was still focused on how to work the cash register. Jessa was two seconds from jumping the counter and ringing up the man's meal herself. The little old lady just tapped a key, paused, tapped a key, paused, and tapped a key again. She never looked up.
"I have no phone signal, and my GPS isn't working. I'm trying to find Big Creek, West Virginia."
She tapped a key, paused, tapped a key, paused, tapped a key, paused.
Finally, she handed the man his change and a receipt and turned her attention to Jessa. "Oh, honey," she started with a rattling voice that sounded like she had smoked ten packs of cigarettes a day her whole life. "You won't find any signal around here."
"Do you know where Big Creek is?" Jessa was losing her patience fast.
"Well…" She paused for quite some time. "You go down this road for another twenty miles or so. Then you will see some railroad tracks. Turn left, and then turn right, and then turn left again. After about a mile or so, you will see an abandoned lumberyard. Just keep going for another mile or so, and then turn left. You should see a sign pointing you in the right direction. And if you hold your phone just right, you may get a signal around the lumberyard."
Was this woman serious?
"Okay," Jessa barely answered, feeling defeated. If she just fell to the ground and curled in a ball, would the woman judge her? Would anyone judge her? "Can I use your phone?" Although she had no idea who she would call.
"No, honey. We don't have any signal in these parts."
"Land line?"
"No. The owner hasn't paid the bill."
What. The. Fuck.
"Okay, thank you," Jessa said as she turned, trying to remember the directions in her head.
"Oh and, honey," she called out to her, "watch out for deer. There are hundreds of them, and they like to jump out from nowhere."
As Jessa walked out the door, hoping not to drown as she ran to her running car, she realized that the fairly large man had disappeared. Oh, shit. Was he hiding in her back seat, getting ready to slit her throat? Or worse—was he going to knock her out and take her to the Bates Motel and kill her in the shower? Shit, shit, shit, she silently said as she glanced in the backseat, seriously expecting to find the fat man waiting with the knife he used to cut his steak with at dinner ready to stab into another hunk of flesh—this one living. Jessa quickly hopped in her car and locked the door.
Her journey to the pits of hell continued as she drove the dark road, trying to remember the directions and watching for deer to jump out of nowhere. Just as she was reaching the point of pure panic and was positive that she was truly lost, she saw the lumberyard the woman had spoken of.
"Yes!" she said out loud, not being able to hold back her excitement. And besides, maybe all this had made her batty. Who could really blame a girl for talking to herself when she'd gone way beyond a normal person's breaking point?
Pulling over to the side of the road, she grabbed her phone and hopped out of the car, grateful that the rain had let up enough that she could stand outside without getting drenched again. Holding the phone in the air, she watched the screen for any sign of a signal as she walked around. She noticed that across the street from the lumberyard was an abandoned church. Did anyone even live in this town? Not that she would blame everyone for moving away from this backwood hillbilly place.
"Look what we got here," a voice cut through the air from behind her. Jessa spun around just as two strong arms grabbed her and wrestled her to the ground.
God will be your GPS was the last thing Jessa Crowe saw before she was hog-tied and thrown in the back of the biggest piece of shit, white trash car she had ever seen. The sign with the black, block letters rested on a rusted stand in front of a dilapidated old Baptist church with an empty parking lot. Where the fuck was God as two backwood hillbillies kidnapped her? Where was God now that she struggled in a trunk about to get raped and killed? And where in the hell was God when she'd foolishly decided that renting a small cabin in the hills of West Virginia would be a nice break from reality?
Fighting against the restraints, she closed her eyes as she took deep breaths.
Calm.
Remain calm.
Face reality.
Fuck reality, Jessa Crowe. You are about to die!
Only moments ago, she'd been in control… okay, maybe not in control, but she'd been behind the wheel of her own car driving through a storm of the century. Why in the hell did she stop in a nearly non-ex
istent town in West Virginia? Where were all the people of the town? Could no one hear her scream? Was there not a soul who'd witnessed the attack? Well one thing was sure, Jessa would fight. She knew she would lose and die, but she'd be damn sure to scratch, punch and kick all the way on the journey where she'd meet the grim reaper. The cops wouldn't find her body at first—they never did find bodies fast. But when a hiker or hunter stumbled upon her remains dug up by some creature of the night, the investigators would be able to dig out the DNA of the men's flesh from beneath her nails. She would make sure to leave her violent mark as she took her last breath. This much she knew.
An hour passed—maybe two—and the smoothness of the road turned bumpy. Yes, she'd known they would kill her in the heart of the woods. There wouldn't be a soul to hear her scream. Just her and the hemlock trees. Several more hours of bumpy road jarred her entire body before, finally, the car came to a stop. She heard both doors open and close shut and prepared herself to go to war. The battle of her life.
The trunk opened, and when the fresh air hit her face, it gave her a renewed strength. As the men lifted her out of the car, she gave it her all. Gyrating her body, screaming, biting, and scratching, she would do whatever she could to leave her mark on these men; she would make damn sure their DNA was all over her. The early rising sun burned her eyes as she was forced onto her back and straddled by her captor. A punch to the face finally stunned her into submission, and Jessa had no choice but to succumb to her death.
Chapter Two
"Boys, we got ourselves a wild one! I got claw marks, and Willy got bit on the cheek!"
Jessa struggled against the bonds that were now only around her wrists. The two men shoved her forward, causing her to stumble on the rocky path. She looked around, foolishly taking in her surroundings. They would have to kill her now since she had seen not only their faces, but their hideout.
What was this place?
It looked like an abandoned campsite. Small barrack-like cabins surrounded a central area, with wooden benches lined in several rows around a mini amphitheater. In the middle stood a rusted flag pole with the American flag fluttering in the breeze.
These fuckers considered themselves Americans?
Flying next to the American one was another flag that Jessa didn't recognize. It appeared homemade and actually flew above the American one as if it were more important. Wasn't there some law against that? She mentally kicked herself for thinking these kidnappers gave a damn about any law. There was nothing but dense trees all around them, forming a natural wall or barrier. She was in the thick of the woods in the middle of nowhere in some abandoned campsite.
"Walk," one of the men ordered, breaking her from her observations with a kick to her calf. "Don't make me kick you the entire way."
Several men came out from the cabins as Jessa was kicked and shoved to the center area. Some of the men were dressed in worn fatigues, others were in jeans and filthy tank tops. Long hair, tattoos, dirty—yes, it was quite obvious that although this place had a slight resemblance of a military base, it was anything but. These men were not soldiers, regardless if they wore camo or not.
"Please!" she called out from behind the gag in her mouth. There was no use talking, but hopefully one of the now ten or so men gathering around her would take pity on her. They couldn't all be heartless rapists and killers, could they?
"Where's Rune? He's going to be happy with this one. She's prettier than the last few we brought in."
"What treat have you brought us today?" a voice called out from her right. All heads turned to a man walking toward her. He only wore a pair of fatigues and black boots. His chest remained bare, showing his muscled arms and six pack abs. Even though his body was of a God, his greasy hair and wicked smile took away whatever sex appeal he may have had. He approached until he stood inches from Jessa, so close that she could smell his musky body odor, and it made her want to vomit.
She refused to look him in the eye as he stood before her, raking his eyes up and down her body as if attempting to see through her clothing. Maybe if she didn't look at him, he would somehow let her go. Maybe he would realize this was all some sort of mistake, and she wasn't the one meant to be kidnapped. Maybe this day would not end in rape and death… if only she didn't look him in the eye.
"Where did you find her?"
"By the lumberyard. Can I make her mine, Rune? She's a pretty one."
"No way!" a man from the crowd called out. "I'm next in line for one. She's mine."
"Shut up!" Rune shouted, causing Jessa to flinch. She hated showing fear, but hiding the fact that she was terrified was impossible. Her body shook, and her knees threatened to collapse at any minute. Tears filled her eyes, but she refused to cry. "Decker hasn't claimed anyone yet, and he is higher rank than you all." Rune stopped examining Jessa's body to look around. "Where the hell is he?"
"He went out huntin' this morning. He should be back by nightfall," another man called out.
"Fine. Take her and lock her up with the others. Decker gets first dibs, and if he doesn't want her, then you all can fight over her." Rune removed her gag and asked, "What's your name?"
"Fuck you!" Jessa spat.
Rune smiled, placed the gag back in her mouth, and said, "Take Fuck you and lock her up with the other Fuck you and Go to hells. I'm sure she'll like the chain around her neck, just like the other Fuck you does." Several men laughed as they all turned and went back to whatever they were doing before her arrival.
Jessa was led to a larger building that looked as if it had once served as either a mess hall or an activity room. The windows had bars on them and the one door of the entrance had several locks, as well as a man with a shotgun sitting on a chair in front of it. The guard pulled out a ring of keys and began unlocking the door. Moments later, a near punch to the back shoved Jessa into a dark room. It took her eyes several minutes to adjust to the darkness to make out what was around her. Huddled against the wall were five women, naked and chained like animals.
"Take your clothes off," the man who led her ordered. He unfastened her hands and removed her gag, tossing it to the floor.
"Fuck you!" she screamed again in retort.
The man reached for his belt and pulled it free from the loops. He doubled it over in his palm. "I'll beat you until you do." The look in his eye, and the way he tested the belt by hitting it against his hand, told Jessa he meant business. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her t-shirt above her head.
"Thata girl. Keep it coming, and Daddy won't have to whip that fine ass of yours."
She removed the rest of her clothes, trying not to pay attention to the man who looked as if he may very well come in his pants just by watching. She also didn't look at the women in the corner, as if looking at the other kidnap victims made this nightmare all the more real. It wasn't until he placed a heavy metal collar around her neck that she looked up from the ground. The man hooked a long chain to the collar, dragged her over to the other women, and secured her chain to a hook screwed into the floor.
He then walked over to her clothes and picked them up, bringing her panties to his nose and taking a deep breath. "Mmm… a sweet one."
Jessa wanted to attack and gouge the bastard's eyes out, but the thick metal around her neck reminded her that her mobility had been greatly compromised.
"You ladies tell our new guest all the rules. If she gets a beating for breaking them, you all get a beating," the man declared before turning around and leaving.
Jessa fingered the collar, staring at the women who had all remained silent the entire time.
"Where are we?" she asked. "Who are these people?"
"Shh! Don't talk so loud," one of the girls whispered. "If we get too loud, the guard will come in and do whatever his evil mind is in the mood for."
"What do they want with us?" Jessa asked, in a whisper this time. "Why are we chained naked to the floor?" If they planned on raping and killing her, why hadn't they done so by now? Why were these women and
she being held captive like slaves?
"To breed," was the simple answer from a tinier girl with her knees pulled up to her chin. She had bruises along her thighs, and Jessa could see fingerprint marks on her upper arms. The busted lip she had still didn't take away from her beauty, however.
"Breed?" Jessa asked, taking in each of the women slowly.
"Yes, for our blue eyes and blonde hair."
Jessa now noticed that all the women, including her, matched this description.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Jessa said, loud enough that several of the girls hushed her again. "Those men out there plan on breeding with us? As in trying to get us all pregnant?"
They all nodded. "They do, and they have. There are others like us here. They're already lucky enough to be owned."
Jessa's head spun trying to make sense of and absorb what was being said. "Lucky enough to be owned?" Could she have heard that right? Had she stepped into a science fiction movie? Breeding? Owned?
"If you aren't owned, then you stay here chained up and fucked by all the men who aren't high enough in the ranks yet. So when we do get pregnant, it can be from any of the twenty or so men that have fucked us. It doesn't matter to them though. Just as long as more pure babies are made."
Pure babies? What the fuck were these women talking about?
"If I were you," the tiny, bruised girl spoke again, "I would focus on trying to be claimed by just one man for breeding. It's the only way out of this dark room."
The other girls nodded in agreement.
Jessa didn't know what to say. She fingered the collar around her neck, hating how tight it felt each time she swallowed. She scanned the dark room for any signs of escape. The only light came from small slits in the window, but it was enough that Jessa could see there was only one way in, and one way out. Each window had metal bars running vertically. They were in a prison—chained by the neck in a dark, dank room waiting to be bred.
"What if you refuse?" Even though Jessa asked the question, she already knew the answer.