Apex Predators

by Natalie Bennett

  They killed so heartlessly, so why were they alive? Where were they taking them? She tried to break free one last time before her head was yanked back and a rag was pressed over her nose and mouth. She tried not to inhale or breathe in but was hit in the stomach. She knew she was tossed in the bed of the truck as she lost consciousness.

  When she woke she knew a few different things were very wrong. She had a sack over her head and a tight gag over her mouth. Her wrists were tied down to the arms of a wooden chair to the point of biting into her skin. She was down to only her bra and underwear.

  Her feet were on a hardwood floor and the room she was in was drafty and she could hear sobbing and whimpers coming from the room.

  Male voices were speaking. “Remove the sacks and make sure they are all awake.” A strong masculine voice commanded.

  She heard the flutter of the sacks being removed and then hers was as well.

  It took her a minute to adjust to the lighting. The room was dark until bright florescent lights flipped on. Piper was awake and tied on one side of her Kira was on the other also tied and awake.

  There were multiple other women and a few men in the room all down to their underwear and tied the same way. Men she didn’t know and the four who took them removed the sacks. Her eyes landed on the two men at the front of the room watching this all silently.

  If the men before were considered sexy these two men were ethereal and had to be related. They had to be at least six feet or a little taller, they were dressed impeccably in dark navy suits not a stitch messed up. They both had gorgeously shiny black slicked back hair that ended a little passed the nape of their necks.

  They had smooth tan skin and perfectly proportioned facial features.

  She could tell they were very well toned and muscular based off the way the suits were hugging their bodies and how broad their shoulders were. One had the brightest green eyes she had ever seen and was sipping a glass of what she assumed was whiskey as he sat in a plush black arm chair.

  The other had the brightest blue she had ever seen sitting in a chair beside him but his eyes were searching the room his own glass idly in his large hand.

  “All of the sacks are removed master.” Eye patch said and stood at the front of the room to the side of the men. Master? Was this like one of those dirty romance novels she read? She sure as fuck hoped not. That was a book this was her life. “Thank you, Skulls.” The blue eyed man said.

  The men in suits were silent for a minute. She wondered how old they were. They looked about thirty-two, thirty-three years old. The only sound in the room was a quiet sobbing from somewhere behind her. Piper and Kira both seemed calm like she was despite the circumstances.

  She knew having an all out freak out would do nothing but draw attention to her, make a scene and get her nowhere but maybe killed or hurt.“I would like to welcome all of you to me and my brother’s home.” The green eyed man spoke now. Obviously no one could respond or had much a choice in being here.

  “You will be going through the Apex trials to be sure you are worthy of being a permanent guest among us.” The blue eyed man spoke now, his eyes looking around the room and landing on her. She wanted none of his attention even if just for a minute as he seemed to study her.

  His eyes landed on a pretty blonde in the front row with her. He didn’t speak but Skulls and another man moved forward and untied her wrist and drug her to the front of the room to the man.

  He looked her over and smiled. She looked terrified. “Let us demonstrate how this will work if you succeed in passing the trials.” The green eyed man smiled now and rose as well and another man rushed to take his glass for him. All eyes were on the three in the front of the room now. Even the sobbing had stopped.

  “If you pass, your life will be long and pleasurable.” As he said this, his hands roamed to the blonde’s breast and he cupped them. She shook her head no and made sounds behind her gag. The green eyed man moved to the other side of her and cupped her other breast as it was let go and moved his hand down to her underwear.

  She was crying now and understandably so. This was so hard to watch. The blue eyed man did the same motion as his brother and they slid their hands into her underwear. It was apparent what they were doing when the women jerked to get away but she was held tight.

  The room was still silent aside from the blonde starting to breathe heavier. None of the other men batted an eye or paid it much attention. This was clearly a usual occurrence in the home. They just watched the room closely.

  A cart of some kind that looked similar to a doctor’s exam bed was wheeled to the men. The woman was quickly placed on the bed and her underwear were removed. She began to panic again.

  She tried to close her legs as they were shoved apart but the blue eyed man just pulled them apart again and held them to the side. His brother began kissing her neck.

  She wanted to throw up, this was disgusting. It got worse as the man removed his very large cock for everyone to see in the room. It was huge, long and hard. She wanted to stop him from what he was about to do. He shoved into the woman and she cried out around her gag. He wasn’t gentle with her at all.

  Piper shook her head and looked down at the floor. Kira and she glanced at one another both their faces a mask of disgust and sorrow for the women. The women’s cries turned from panicky to pleasure so quick she had to listen to be sure that’s what she was hearing. What the hell? She was enjoying it? That became more apparent when she gripped the man’s arms. She looked down herself now. This was horrible.

  Chapter Four

  The woman’s sounds had grown louder and louder before it was clear she finished. The man pulled out of her when he was done himself. He got himself back together and turned and faced them. His brother lifted the trembling women up on the table to a sitting position.

  “If you fail, you die anyways. If you piss us off, try to escape or harm one of us? You’re dead.” She looked back up and wished she hadn’t. She watched in horror as the man tore into the woman’s neck like a….? No, she refused to believe what she was seeing.

  This had to be a sick twisted cult or something. Vampires weren’t real. The blonde screamed behind her gag in pain for a few seconds before she went limp.

  He pulled away from her throat and wiped a little trace of blood from his mouth and grinned. Clear as day fangs retracted back into his gums to end in little points.

  Her heart tripped over itself. This was not real! The blue eyed man smiled and they let the woman’s lifeless body drop her eyes frozen open.

  “Get them prepared.” The men left from the room.

  The lights shut off and they were plunged into darkness. She couldn’t even see her own damn hands, people breathing and a few now quietly sobbing were the only sounds in the room. She had no idea how long they were left like that. She could hear laughter and soft music coming from the house they were at. Her hands were bound tight and when she had attempted to move them the rope seemed to grow tighter on her wrists.

  Her butt was numb, she was freezing and she was tired but refused to fall asleep like this. She heard a door swing open and lights were turned on blinding everyone in the room. She watched and heard people being untied and led from the room one by one in small groups.

  When it was their turn her wrists were untied and she was yanked up by a man she hadn’t seen yet, Piper and Kira were drug along with her. She was pulled down a dark hallway of what had to be a very large home. The woodwork was dark black and the hardwood floor was a dark brown and black patterned design.

  She was led down a black set of stairs then another before entering a small hall off of an enormous kitchen she was drug through a door and into a very large atrium and out another door to outside. The house was an enormous gothic mansion. How fitting. She couldn’t see anything around at all but very tall trees.

  They were led towards what looked to her like another very large house but as she got closer she realized it was a very large stable. Two large doo
rs stood open and as she was drug inside the large structure her feet skidded across the brick flooring.

  The stalls were on either side and seemed to stretch on forever. They were dark brown at the bottom with hard black bars at the top. Other women were already locked inside of the ones she was led passed. Her gag was removed and she was shoved into one and watched as Piper and Kira were shoved on either side of her.

  She could see them through the tiny gaps in the upper portion of the wood pallet stall walls. Her stall door was slid closed and she heard a heavy chain hung and locked on the outside. The floor was bare concrete, something that resembled a toilet was attached to the back wall, on the other side of the wall was a small ratty mattress and a sleeping bag for warmth.

  The only window in the stall had been bricked over. The only light was a single bare bulb that wasn’t on.

  Soft voices could be heard from all around. “You guys okay?” She asked Piper and Kira. “I’ve been better.” Kira replied. “What do you think this Apex Trial is and did you see that guys teeth?” Piper asked. She would like to know what this trial was as well. “I saw them, I don’t believe it. Do you think it was?” She asked them. Piper scoffed as if to say of course not. “Kira?” She called when she didn’t hear anything. “I’m not sure, I’ve heard rumors but I never thought they were true.”

  They were quiet after that each lost in their own thoughts. They had to find a way out of this, a smart way out of this without getting the same treatment the blonde just got. They had family they would look for them right?

  She realized she didn’t want her family to find her here. They killed so carelessly she knew they wouldn’t hesitate to take out anyone that found her, yet, what about her car and the cop? That was a sure sign something bad had happened.

  It was two days before anyone came back into the barn. They were in constant darkness besides one dim overhead light in the barn aisle. She thanked God there was at least a working toilet. They were all hungry and in desperate need of showers.

  She was lying on her mattress staring up at the barn ceiling when she heard a loud shriek. She jumped, heart racing but all she heard was a spraying of water. After about twenty minutes of this her door was unlocked and slid open. Eye patch or Skulls, grinned at her and motioned her out. “Don’t speak, and don’t try anything.” He swatted her butt and laughed putting her in line behind Piper and before Kira. Three other girls they didn’t know were in line with them.

  They were led down another aisle of stalls to where a few open horse wash stalls were. She, Piper and Kira were sent to one stall together.

  They were handed bars of soap and then hit with freezing water from the pressurized hose. It was stinging to say the least. “Wash quickly.” They rushed to get as clean as they could with a single bar of soap and cold water being aimed at them individually. They were still in their bras and underwear. When they were done they were told drop the soap in a round waste bin and were taken into what would have been a large tack room.

  “Put these on.” They were each handed a folded small stack of garments. She unfolded the black bundle. It was a short cap sleeved black dress with white tri. It reminded her of a french maid outfit without the white skirt. They each put theirs on and they fit perfectly ending a good few inches above the knee. The other pieces were white fish nets that stopped above their knees and black flats.

  Once dressed, they were led to a room directly beside the tack room where two men waited and were changing the needle of a tattoo gun. She had no idea what they planned to do with that but she soon found out. They tattooed each of their wrists underneath with a number. Her number was 320 in black permanent ink.

  Chapter five

  Her tattoo was covered with ointment and gauze and they were led to brush their teeth and brush their hair out. When they were finally led back to the stalls little trays sat on each of their beds. Oatmeal, a banana and two bottles of water sat on the trays. A plastic spoon and a napkin were laid beside the bowl.

  She pretty much inhaled the still warm oatmeal, bananas and drunk the water. She felt much more human again and a million times cleaner. The three of them were talking about the tattoos when a third woman joined into their conversation.

  Her name was Dawn and she had a soft voice, she was another blonde who had been taken out of the stalls with them. They pretty much all had the same theory. Her number was 320 so she was the 320th woman they had taken. Piper was 319 and Kira was 321.

  That was beyond disturbing on so many levels. “You said pretty girls never stuck around. Is this why you think?” She asked Kira. “Look at these women, this is exactly why. It has to be.” She agreed with her. “There traveling to other cities to, no way are all these women from this small ass town.” Piper stated. She also agreed with her.

  Their conversation was stopped when they started hearing the sound of chatter and laughter from somewhere in the stable. Stall doors being slid open could be heard as well. It wasn’t long until their own doors were opened and they were pulled out. They were walked in a line again down an aisle towards the sound.

  They were stopped and stood in a line behind other women from the stalls. She looked to her left through a rectangular pexiglass window into a huge indoor arena. The ground was covered in flat smooth sawdust. The ceiling had long glass skylights, two very large mint green chandeliers hung from the ceiling.

  A painted low gray brick wall and a metal white railing went down each side of the room filled with people. Above on a higher level on a long couch of some sort sat the two men in suits sat on it looking at the crowd.

  “Well, ladies this is the first night of the Apex Trials.” A large man spoke from the front of the line. “You will be sent out in pairs of two, a weapons wall is at the opposite end of the arena. The only way to win is to kill or lose and be killed.” They all just stared at him.

  “The only way to kill a vampire is to harm their brain or chop off their head, if you win you will go on to part two in two days. Good luck ladies.” He grinned brightly. She was still stuck on the whole vampire thing. She still refused to believe they were real.

  They watched through the window as a voice boomed over a PA system. “Welcome to this year’s Apex Trial, we have a lovely batch of new contestants that will be joining us in just a moment.” The large audience loudly applauded.

  After the voice was done speaking the first two women from the front of the line were led into the arena. A lone short haired brunette stood in the center smiling at them. “Let the Trials begin!” The voice boomed out and the girls were left in the center with just the brunette.

  None of the three women moved at first. The brunette looked harmless. The crowd was yelling for them to do something. Suddenly the brunette lunged forward like a snake going for a mouse and grabbed one of the women up by her throat. The next second the woman was soaring across the arena and landed hard on the ground.

  The crowd started hooting and hollering. No one should be that strong. She had tossed the woman like a football. The second woman had the sense to dodge the brunettes attempt to lunge at her. The brunette was fast though and snatched her on her second try.

  The woman she grabbed couldn’t get away and she looked away as her neck was snapped and she was dropped to the ground. The crowd cheered loudly. The little brunette had just killed the two women with lazy ease. Her own stomach turned as the next two very scared women were pushed into the arena and the two dead bodies were removed by men in overalls.

  The next women stood a little further apart from one another and from the brunette looking slowly between them. One of the women was heavier set with a short shaved hair cut but she was still pretty, the other was a prettier red head with a thin but curvy body that you could make out in the black dress.

  The brunette went for the red head first but the bigger woman had her back and grabbed the brunette by her hair and used her weight as an advantage and took the brunette to the ground. The red head ran forward to help her.


  The brunette went to get up and the bigger woman slammed her to the ground by her shoulders and sat on her pinning her arms. The crowd was going crazy now.

  She could see bets being placed and the two brothers talking to one another and gesturing to the red head. The red head made it to the wall and randomly grabbed a weapon, a spiked wooden bat. This was sick, how could they just sit back and watch this?

  The brunette surged up from the ground and with her arms still pinned she bit into the heavier woman’s neck.

  The woman screamed and was flipped off of the brunette as she tore into her. As she stopped screaming the brunette went to get up but the redhead swung the bat.

  The bat stuck in the back of the brunettes head and she screamed now as the red head jerked her back and pulled the bat out and wasted no time bringing it down on her face. The brunette twitched once or twice and then stopped moving completely. Blood covered the arena floor where the two bodies lay.

  The crowd cheered loudly and the redhead was promptly escorted out another door than the one they were by. A truck came and cleaned up the arena and smoothed out new sawdust. The announcer clicked on announcing Kim finally being taken down and by a bat of all things.

  That caused some laughter. She was a nervous wreck and her stomach was in knots. This is how it went. A new vampire was brought into the arena, a very large man. He took out duo after duo. She turned away from the window after a minute.

  She heard the announcer say something about a four on one but she didn’t know they meant her in that four until the doors were opened and there were only four of them left. She was ushered into the arena and the doors closed behind them. Piper and Kira stood on either side of her they glanced at one another. How were they going to win this?