by Jon Mills
The boys were sitting on their beds playing cards. Though it may have seemed odd to anyone looking in, to them it was a way to keep them sane. There was no point banging on doors and crying out to be taken home. The cries of a missing boy would fall on deaf ears and at times invoke a beating. All of them had come to accept that if they were still breathing, that in itself was sufficient.
Several bolts on the door were unlocked and immediately they each stood to their feet. They were instructed at all times that if anyone entered the room they were to stand by the beds and to not make eye contact unless spoken to.
“Joshua. Come with me.”
Billy glanced at him. All of them knew to stay quiet. Joshua in many ways had become like the big brother of the group. He had told them there might be a time that came when they would take him and he might not return. If that was the case, they were to remain strong. Do whatever they had to do to survive.
Joshua followed the man that was known by the title “The Boss.”
The door sealed behind him and they looked at each other but said nothing. They didn’t even want to go there in their minds. It was a strange thing to find that their sense of comfort and security came from each other. It was all they had to hold on to. An hour, perhaps two passed and the doors opened up again and a new kid was shoved in. He landed hard on the floor and groaned. Once the doors were closed, Billy glanced over at him. He was panting hard and he had dark bloody stripes across his back as though he had been whipped. Gary was the first to approach him. The kid immediately cowered back, and then he lifted his head.
“Danny?” Billy said. His fearful eyes locked onto Billy and then he burst out crying and hurried over to him. Billy had known Danny not only because they worked for the same paper but they attended the same school and though they didn’t hang out together, both of them had a mutual respect for one another.
“Where are we?” Danny said, tears flowing down his flushed cheeks. His eyes darted between the other boys. Danny Grant had short ginger hair, his face was freckled and he had the body of a bird. Why on earth they took him was a mystery. Billy had come to understand that more often than not they took boys that fit a certain profile. All of them in the room were dark-haired, except for Joshua who was blond. Joshua had said they only took kids who looked good, who looked as if they could take a good beating or had hardly any marks on their body. Though freckles weren’t exactly birthmarks, they certainly made Danny stand out. His were dark and heavy like acne. At times it almost looked like someone had splattered tiny droplets of paint all over his face. It was unusual. He figured that someone had specifically requested him.
“We don’t know where we are but as long as you do as they say, you’ll live.”
“Live?”
Billy looked at the others, he knew what was coming. It had been done to him and it was done to all who entered the room for the first time. A camera in the corner of the room panned their way and they knew they were under the watchful eye of “The Boss.”
Gary started to undo his belt.
Billy knew this time he would be giving instead of receiving. The thought sickened his mind. He shook his head and raised his hand up.
“No.”
“You know what has to be done,” Gary said.
“Look at him, he’s suffered enough. Maybe later?”
“No. It’s now.”
No one in that room wanted to sexually abuse the kid but it was what they expected to see. It was like some sick game that repeated itself each time a newcomer entered their midst.
“Billy. If we don’t do it, they’ll only force us to do it.” Gary looked over at Keith. “Tell him, Keith.”
Keith nodded. “When I first came in here, Joshua refused to do it to me. I wished he had as they came in and not only beat both of us within an inch of our lives but they…” He trailed off trying to recall whatever horror had been done to them. Billy didn’t want to hear. He was already sick of the shit they put them through.
For a brief moment he looked down at Danny and considered it again. It would be over fast. There was no beating involved. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t just the fact that it was Danny, or that he was injured, it was that they had already pushed him to his limit.
“Have you never fought back?” Billy asked the others.
“Don’t be stupid.”
The door opened and they all stepped back. Joshua came inside and closed the door behind him. The sound of multiple locks driving home into their secure position resounded. Danny immediately cowered back into a corner.
“Please. Don’t. Not again.”
Billy frowned looking at the fear in his eyes as Danny glanced at Joshua. His eyes darted between the two of them and he realized what Joshua must have been told to do. He’d been the one that had whipped him. It was how they did it. It reinforced their control over them and gave them even more damning evidence that could be used against them. They recorded it all. Whenever any of the boys had doubts about what they were doing. Whenever there was any hesitation in what they were asked to do for clients, they had the videos of what they had done to other kids shoved in their faces. “You think the police will understand? You will go to prison as well. You are as much to blame for the abuse. There is no way they could tell that you were forced to do this.”
Even though “The Boss” had forced Billy’s hand to slit Louis’ throat, there were many times he had brought him out to punish kids he had never seen before. In those times there was no one forcing him, at least no one appeared on video or was heard. All instructions were given before they hit the record button.
“What’s going on?” Joshua asked.
“Billy’s having doubts about the kid.”
Joshua came over to Billy. “You know what will happen, don’t you?”
Whether it was just Billy’s mind unraveling before him, or the fact that he knew Danny, he couldn’t do it.
“I’m not doing it.”
“Then you will reap the consequences. All of us will. You want that on your head? The guilt of one or the guilt of all of us being punished?”
“Why don’t we just refuse? They can’t keep punishing us.”
“No. But they can kill you and me. And I will not have you put me or them in this position.”
“I know him, Joshua.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
He went to walk past Billy and Billy grabbed his arm. “Joshua. No.”
“Get off me now.”
Joshua shrugged him off and then went over to Danny who was cowering in the corner. He started screaming as Joshua dragged him by the back of his collar over to one of the beds. Billy couldn’t take it any longer. He rushed up to the camera and began to shout.
“How long are you going to keep doing this to us? You sick fucks! Can’t you see that he’s suffered enough?”
It was clear that Danny was in pain. His back was still bleeding badly.
Billy went over to Joshua and pushed him back.
“Leave him alone.”
“Don’t do this, Billy,” he said.
Gary and Keith looked on like helpless sheep. They did whatever was required of them and never questioned it. He knew all too well that if Joshua told them to beat him, they would have done it. It was just who they were. They were used to the system, the rules of the room and the control of their gutless master.
Joshua came at him to push him out of the way but this time Billy fired back with more than a shove. He swung a right hook and it caught Joshua in the side of the jaw. His head flipped to one side and when he looked back, his nostrils flared and his hands balled.
Right then all chaos broke out. Joshua lunged himself at Billy and they fell back onto the bed and over the other side. “You stupid idiot. I told you,” he shouted as he rained down several punches on his face. Billy tried to cover his face with his forearms but it was useless. He clawed his way out from underneath Joshua and staggered to his feet. For
a few minutes they went back and forth, trading jabs and slamming each other up against the walls until Joshua finally got the better of him and knocked him hard in the teeth.
Billy fell back to the ground and hit his head against the concrete floor. Darkness crept in at the side of his eyes. In fragments he saw Joshua looming over him.
“Stay down.”
Then he saw him move over to the bed and the three of them picked up Danny and began tearing off his clothes.
“Billy,” Danny shouted. “Don’t let them do this to me.”
“Shut up. It will be over soon,” Joshua said. He repeated the same thing he had said to Billy the day he arrived.
Billy spat blood on the ground and rolled over onto his side. Joshua’s words were still ringing in his ears.
“If you want them to do it. Do it to me, just leave him alone,” Billy muttered as he rose to his feet. He looked up at the video camera and said it again.
There was no answer that came back. There never was. When they answered, they showed up in person and that was never a good thing. The other boys in the room stared at him as Billy staggered over to the bed and undressed. They looked at each other in confusion. Who knew what was going through their minds? He knew they didn’t want to do it. The only reason they repeated the cycle was because they wanted to avoid punishment. He couldn’t blame them for that. But this kid had been punished enough.
When Billy had removed his underpants and tossed them at the camera in anger, he shouted, “There. You satisfied?”
There was no answer and yet all of them were waiting. Perhaps hoping that for just once “The Boss” would show some mercy. Billy’s eyes fixed on the speaker in the corner of the room. There was no sound coming and for a minute or two he figured that maybe, just maybe they weren’t watching. Were the camera and speakers just another part of their sick game? To make them think they were always under a watchful eye?
Then, a voice was heard over the speaker.
“Joshua. Do it to both of them.”
“No. No. That’s not what I meant,” Billy cried out.
Danny looked at Billy and the reality of what was about to happen came crashing in.
Chapter Nineteen
Henry’s wife, Maggie, set a steaming hot cup of black coffee in front of Jack. They were seated at an unusual table. His interest in it must have caught Henry’s eye as he commented.
“Cut directly from a redwood. One solid slab.”
It had been smoothed out and a thin layer of varnish had been placed over the top but it was quite something to behold. Then again, most of the décor in their home seemed unique. There was no theme. It was like they just snatched up whatever caught their eye. Henry went on to recount the history of the property. The home had been in the family for years, passed down from his father and grandfather and one day it would belong to Jenna.
“Been married long?”
Henry chuckled. “Long enough, isn’t that right, honey?”
“He’s lucky to have survived,” she said.
Jack noticed Henry give his wife a mischievous smile.
“So Mr. Winchester,” Maggie said taking a seat and sliding a plate of home-baked goods towards him.
“Call me Jack.”
“Jack. Anyone special in your life?”
“No.”
“What is it you do?”
All of them looked on curiously, awaiting his answer. He’d been asked that question numerous times since he had left New York and most of the time he would dodge it or give a vague response. It wasn’t that he didn’t know. He knew he helped people. The what was never something he was unclear about, it was the why. He still wasn’t entirely sure why he put his own neck on the line for others, other than some personal need to find amends for having lived a life that was less than admirable.
“I help people out who’ve slipped through the cracks.”
“The cracks?” she enquired.
“The justice system. You know, those who were let down by those who should have been helping but for one reason or another didn’t.”
She made a face as if weighing his answer before taking a sip of her drink.
“So, they let you out wearing those scrubs?” Henry asked with a look of amusement on his face.
“Not exactly.”
“Am I am going to receive a phone call from the police?”
He nursed the coffee between both hands. “Let’s hope not.”
Maggie raised her eyebrow a little and made a gesture to Henry.
“Excuse me a minute,” Henry said rising from the table and heading out with his wife. Jack assumed she was going to give him heck about bringing a stranger home that had some criminal background.
Jenna was chewing on a piece of a cookie. The moment her grandparents were out of the room she began throwing questions at him.
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
He glanced at her.
“Why would you ask that?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, after the state we found you in, I figured you must have been in a lot of fights. Just curious I guess.”
He wasn’t sure how to reply to that. Thankfully Henry came back in before he answered.
“Jenna, go give your grandmother a hand bringing in some of the eggs.”
“But we did that this morning.”
“Jenna,” he said in a stronger tone of voice. Jack had a feeling that his presence in the home wasn’t going to sit well with his wife. No matter how swayed Henry was by his granddaughter, a wife’s words carried weight.
“Jack, you want to bring your coffee into the living room?”
“Sure.”
He got up and followed him through. On the walls were all kinds of animal heads.
“You a hunter?”
“I’ve done a fair bit of it in my time. Yeah. I don’t get out there as much as I used to. The work here on the farm tends to keep me busy since our help went off to college.”
“You minister and farm?”
“Have to, those tithes don’t pay much.”
He took a seat across from him on a large brown leather couch. At the center of the room was a stone fireplace. Above that hung a double-barrel shotgun and either side two deer heads.
“Quite the trophy.”
“Ah, that’s nothing, come, I’ll show you my collection out back. Everything that is caught is eaten. Nothing goes to waste, except the head and well, as you can see.”
He led the way into an even larger room. There was a pool table at one end and a large flat-screen TV at the other.
“I spend a lot of my time here at the end of the day. It’s my space, Maggie doesn’t tend to get on my back as much when I’m in here.”
“So it’s your man cave.”
“Yeah, something like that.” He grinned and took him over to a section of wall that was covered with animal heads.
“For a minister, this seems like an odd way to spend your free time.”
He laughed a little. “Oh right, you probably envision me with my head in a Bible or having tea with some old lady talking about her troubles, right?”
“You don’t?”
“Oh, I do my fair share of that but a man needs to unwind. There’s nothing like being out there in the wilderness. Sometimes I go out and catch nothing but the day has never gone to waste.”
“You take others with you?”
“We have a small group of us that heads out around hunting season, yeah. Why, you interested?”
“That’s not the kind of hunting I do.”
Henry shot him a glance and he must have remembered what his wife had told him. They took a seat and he leaned forward in his chair.
“Jack, we have a bed here that you can use for the night. I wouldn’t mind having you stay longer but my wife is a little finicky about strangers, especially ones that show up in hospital garb and look as though they have gone twelve rounds with Muhammad Ali.”
He nodded before taking a sip of his
drink and letting the warmth slide down his throat.
“I understand.”
“Do you? I don’t want you to think that I’m kicking you out but…”
“Hey look, Henry, there’s no need to explain. I’m grateful that you even helped me out at all. Anyone else might have just left me there.”
“One other thing.”
Henry looked as if he was trying to find the words.
“Go ahead.”
“What were you really doing there?”
Jack set his coffee on a side table and leaned back. He studied Henry and perhaps it was because he reminded him of John Dalton that he decided to tell him. By the time he finished, Henry looked thoughtful. He posed a few more questions to Jack and within an hour he had practically told him his life story. There was something about the way he listened that made Jack feel as though he was in a therapy session. There were very few people that knew about his past and yet he seemed like he could trust him.
When he had no more to say, Henry breathed in deeply and looked up at the ceiling.
“It’s sad. Evil is rampant in every facet of society. I wish I could say that what I preach on a Sunday could help but more times than not, those who need to hear it will never darken my church’s doorway.”
His eyes flitted over to Jack. “I might not agree with what you are trying to do, or what you have done, Jack, but I understand. It takes guts to make a decision to change your life. I’m not exactly sure what you’re doing is best but I would be lying to say that I haven’t thought about taking matters into my own hands.”
Jack listened quietly trying not to interrupt him even though at times he felt as though he needed to defend his actions.
“You a believer, Jack?”
“In?”
He motioned towards the ceiling as if a deity was above them.
“I wouldn’t consider myself a religious man, no, Henry.”
“Then I will save the sermon for another day. Come, I want to show you something.”
Henry groaned as he rose to his feet, and Jack stepped in to give him a hand.
“Man, it sucks to get old,” he muttered before chuckling. He followed him to the back of the room where there was a small door that had a lock on it. He took out from around his neck a key that was hanging loosely on the end of a piece of string. Once he unlocked the door, he turned on a light and Jack’s eyes drifted over a small arsenal of weapons: a .22 Ruger rifle, 12-gauge Remington shotgun and many others that he couldn’t even recognize.