by R. A. Rock
“That’s right.” Brett was clearly pleased by this fact. “This is my territory and no matter the reason why you were there, you’re not allowed. I have the right to capture you and hold you prisoner.”
“Who gives you the right?” Yumi said, her face doubtful. “That can’t be the law.”
Brett laughed out loud at that.
“Law? There are no laws.” He looked around at all of us, an amused expression warring with confusion. “Where are you people from anyways?”
None of us answered.
No laws? What the fuck?
“Ah, talkers I see. Well, maybe a few days locked up will loosen your tongues. And if not, a few months in my prison camp doing hard labour will.”
We didn’t speak.
He smiled again.
“I’m intrigued by you strangers. And I will have your story. Soon enough. I hope you’ll enjoy the hospitality of my camp.”
Then he laughed at his own words.
The sound didn’t comfort me in the least.
Where the hell had we ended up?
And what did he mean that there were no laws?
This was Canada. I was pretty sure it was, anyway.
There had to be laws.
“Oh and take off their pretty bracelets and put them in the safe,” he told his henchmen. The five of us glanced at each other, trying to hide our panic. He couldn’t take those. We needed them. “I’ll trade them to those savages in Wabowden for some of their homebrew. I’ll say something for those fucking Indians. They know how to make birch wine.”
Great. Not only was he ignorant. But he was racist, too.
Oh this was bad.
But there was nothing we could do.
We were his prisoners.
“We can’t give you these bracelets,” Yumi objected.
The man who had captured us stepped forward and put a gun to her temple, looking at the rest of us.
“Give me the bracelets.”
We removed the so-called bracelets, and he collected them for Brett. I stared at the devices in his hand and my heart pounded in anger and fear. There was also helplessness in the mix, which I didn’t like.
The idea had been to allow ourselves to be captured in order to get some intel, not to become prisoners and lose the most important things we owned — the only things that would get us back home.
Fuck. I had seriously screwed up.
The man who had captured us, grabbed me by the arm and shoved me unceremoniously out of Brett’s impromptu throne room and into the night.
He and his men took us to the jail, which was a small shed on the edge of the camp. They pushed us each roughly inside. When my turn came, I stumbled on a rock on the ground and fell, hitting the wall and knocking my head pretty hard. This made the whole structure tremble. I slid down and tried to clear the dizziness from my head.
The door slammed shut and I heard a padlock close and rattle. There was silence and the five of us were left alone in the darkness.
CHAPTER THREE
YUMI
“What did he say?” Audrey asked in Primary as soon as we were alone in the small metal shed that Brett was using as a jail. “Tell me right now. I can’t stand this not understanding anything.”
“Keep your voice down,” I said, frowning. The guard had just padlocked the door and might still be standing outside. I began feeling my way around the wall. Maybe there was a window. The floor was soft dirt beneath my feet and there was an earthy smell in the little space.
“We have to escape,” Grace said, with an edge of fear to her voice that I didn’t like.
“No one’s going to hurt you, Gracie,” I said, using her old nickname. Chad and Shiv and I exchanged glances. Grace had had a pretty traumatic experience the last time she had been taken prisoner and though she was much better now, she obviously wasn’t quite over it.
My fingers ran over the smooth corrugated metal, finding nothing but more wall. I found the corner and continued down the next wall.
“I can take care of myself,” she said, not sounding very sure of that fact.
Without warning I bumped into some crates. My exploring fingers felt that they were set against the wall and went up past my head. I needed someone with plenty of height.
“Hey Shiv, come here,” I said and listened as he got up and fumbled around in the dark until he reached me.
“Can you move these crates into a smaller pile? There might be a window behind here that’s big enough to get out. I stepped back as Shiv took down the top three crates and piled them beside the others.
Damn.
There was a window but it was small. Not even I could fit through it. Still, the moonlight coming in lit up the tiny room so that we could at least see each other.
Shiv moved back to Grace. He sat down and put an arm around her. She leaned into him. Her fear upset me. Grace was the sweetest, kindest, best woman in the world. She was like a sister to me and I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her or any member of my team. Plus, she was right. We had to get out of here as soon as possible.
“Of course you can take care of yourself, Grace,” I said. “You’re all good fighters. It’s just. You know I can’t help being…”
I glanced around at them all.
“Protective.”
“We know,” Chad said and I bristled at his tone but ignored him.
“He told us that we were his prisoners, Audrey,” I said, finally answering her question. “And that there were no laws here.”
“No laws?” she glanced around at us, her anger fading into confusion. “Is that right?”
I shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter. We still have to get away from this guy and these people. I know we came here for reconnaissance, Chad, and obviously we’ve gained some info. But I really think we should leave as quickly as we can because this situation is way more dangerous than anticipated.”
“I agree,” Chad said and I gave him a surprised look.
He did?
“I think that it was a serious mistake to let them take us and I’m sorry about that, guys.”
He gave everyone an apologetic glance.
“You couldn’t have known it would be like this,” Grace pointed out. And she was right. We could never have imagined that we would end up here.
“But how do we escape?” he added and crossed his arms, staring at me. Obviously he expected me to have an idea.
I surveyed the shed which was small and had been built rather haphazardly out of pieces of scrap metal. In spite of this, it seemed sturdy and would not likely be easy to break out of. And the door was padlocked. We would need to get someone to let us out.
“We’re not going to get out of here without someone unlocking that door,” I said, finally giving in to my fatigue and sitting down across the room from the others.
“You sure?” Chad said, banging his shoulder into the wall. It shuddered. “It seems flimsy.”
“You think we should knock it over to escape?” I said, giving him a bewildered look. How hard had he knocked his head? That was the dumbest idea ever. “Even if we could knock it over…”
“That might be a little loud,” Shiv interrupted me, rapping on the metal side and making a clanging sound that probably reverberated through the whole camp. “And would bring every inhabitant in this camp over to see who was escaping.”
“Good point. I don’t know what I was thinking. ” Chad rubbed his head and I felt a stab of worry that I quickly suppressed. I wasn’t worrying about Chad anymore.
Grace and I met eyes and I saw my concern mirrored there. We needed Chad sharp, so I hoped he wasn’t badly hurt.
“Okay, we’re not going to knock over the noisy shed,” Grace said, trying to keep the conversation on track. “So what is the plan? When someone comes in, we attack?”
“And do what exactly?” Audrey said. “Give us the details.”
“We’ll do a straightforward distract and overcome. Someone will distract the guard when th
ey come in and then someone will disarm them from behind and we tie them up and sneak out.”
“What about the gate?” Shiv pointed out.
“There’s got to be a way out from the inside,” I said, thinking hard. “At the very least, we threaten the guards to open it.”
“Doesn’t sound too difficult,” Grace said. “And for now?”
I shrugged, leaning back against the wall and closing my eyes.
“We wait. I suggest you get some sleep.”
***
But no one came.
The night passed and morning came.
And still no one came.
We banged and yelled, asking for food, water, and to use the washroom, but still no one came. By mid afternoon, I was thinking furiously.
It was as if Brett had forgotten about us. We had used a little area behind the crates as a bathroom. But after almost twenty four hours without water, nobody was peeing much.
We were hungry and thirsty.
And my plan definitely wouldn’t work if there were no guards coming and going from our prison.
“Okay, we need a new plan,” I said, standing up and starting to pace. “I hadn’t expected him to not even give us water. And I had thought that someone would come in at some time…”
My comment was interrupted by a loud commotion outside, followed by a tense silence. And in the quiet, we heard the distinct sound of a padlock being unlocked.
Then with a screech of the hinges, the door swung open.
CHAPTER FOUR
YUMI
A moment after the door was thrown open a man stepped through into our makeshift cell. The late afternoon sunlight spilled through the door, splashing us with golden light. It was a new guard. He was carrying ropes and had a sidekick who was pointing a gun at us.
“Get up.”
“What’s going on?” Grace said, trying to hide her anxiety and not going a very good job of it.
“Hands up.”
We all held our hands in the air. The guy with the gun had it pointed at me. Every once in a while, he would switch to pointing it at Chad, then back to me. He seemed nervous.
The man with the rope stepped over to Shiv and motioned for our friend to hold his hands together.
“What’s going on?” Chad repeated in a firm tone of voice.
“A beating.” The guard’s curt answer was almost lost as he was busy tying Shiv’s hands.
“What?” Grace said, scrambling back until her back hit the wall with a loud clang of the metal. “We’re going to be beaten?”
“Not you,” he said. “Another prisoner.”
“And we have to watch?” Shiv said, clearly not impressed with the idea. He winced as the man tightened the ropes around his wrists.
“That’s right,” the guard said. “Public beatings. We have one every week. Keeps everyone in line.”
“Because you don’t want to be next?” Grace said, her breathing too fast. I hoped she wasn’t having a panic attack or something. I moved a step closer to her, my forearm touching hers, in an attempt to help her calm down.
“I won’t let anyone hurt you,” I whispered, a vision of her bloody back flashing through my mind.
Nobody would ever hurt Grace again. Not on my watch.
“No, because you don’t want to be next,” the man said, moving on to Audrey’s wrists.
I met Grace’s eyes and I didn’t like the alarm I saw there.
When he was done tying our wrists, he preceded us out of the shed and the guy with the gun brought up the rear. We were walked out and the five of us were lined up along the outside wall of the building, with the two guards on either end.
In the open area in front of us, a crowd was gathered. It seemed as though the whole camp was there facing Brett and an unknown woman. We were at the back of the crowd because of where the shed where they were keeping us was located.
“What the hell’s going on?” Grace whispered to me as if I would know. But she’s a talker, so she talks. I shrugged and waited to see what was going to happen.
“I’ve gathered you here today,” Brett began. “To show you what happens to those who betray me.”
The guard with the gun put it away but seemed to be paying more attention to us, than to what Brett was saying. He stood beside me and I felt his greasy gaze ooze over me.
A quick search of the crowd and I identified men and women that were likely security — not that they needed any for this bunch. Everyone looked depressed, sullen, dirty. Their slouched bodies and shifting eyes gave the impression that they wanted to be anywhere but here.
This did not improve my opinion of this Brett character. What had he done to these people that they were so afraid and apathetic? Why did they stay here with him?
I gazed at the woman standing at the front of the crowd beside Brett. She was medium height, with brown hair. Her clothes looked well worn but they were clean and had been mended. She stood tall, gazing at something far off in the distance and appearing to completely ignore Brett.
There was no fear in her eyes but something told me she knew what was coming and was determined not to show any weakness. That was something I understood and I immediately liked her for it.
“There’s been muttering amongst some of you,” Brett went on with a pleasant smile that didn’t match his cold eyes. “Complaints about food, about your lodgings, about the raiding parties.”
The silence grew deeper and I wondered how a group that was already completely quiet could become more so.
“You should know that these complaints will not be tolerated. These whispers are treason. And traitors will be punished.”
I saw the woman set her jaw a moment before Brett drew back and punched her hard in the head. She stumbled and let out a gasp but regained her footing, all the while maintaining her stoic expression.
“Fuck,” I heard Chad mutter.
My stomach tensed in sympathy for her.
Nobody else in the crowd made a sound. Eyes were downcast and bodies were rigid. This was how he kept his control over these people then. Figured.
I looked around at the guards and Brett’s security they all looked resentful, as if they hated this bullshit.
“This woman,” Brett said, hatred lighting up in his eyes. “Betrayed me. Left me. She went to Sipwesk and took up with a fucking Indian.” He punctuated the last two words with punches — a left, then a right.
Ah, so this wasn’t just camp justice.
This was personal.
That somehow made it worse. That this woman was once someone who had been his girlfriend and he was now beating her up was just fucking sick. I wondered what their relationship had been like back then.
The woman held her ground, her eyes looking unfocused for a moment until she pulled it together. Her lips pressed together for a moment but otherwise she showed no reaction to the derogatory term.
When Brett said Indian, he wasn’t talking about someone like Shiv’s parents who had come from India. He was talking about a First Nations or aboriginal person from North America — they had been misnamed when that stupid Columbus arrived here and thought he had found India.
The term was used as an insult by ignorant people. And though the woman was probably insulted on behalf of her boyfriend, it seemed she wouldn’t give Brett the pleasure of any sort of reaction. She was impressing me more and more by the minute.
“Left me,” he said, and then spat on the ground. “For a fucking savage.”
Another insult and a slap to the face. He was really on a roll. The woman ignored him and stared at some point past the crowd. Bruises were blooming on her face and her lip was split but she didn’t show any signs of crying or anything like that.
This woman was tough.
“Too far, Brett. You’re going too far this time,” the guard muttered to himself.
And the face of every security guard that I was keeping tabs on in the crowd seemed to be beyond furious. As if they were trying to stop themselves from charg
ing up there and kicking Brett’s ass. I speculated that maybe this woman had been popular when she lived here and everyone was seriously angry at Brett for beating her up in front of them.
How the fuck long was this going to go on?
I wasn’t sure I could handle much more of this guy beating up some chick right in front of us. I glanced over at Chad and he gave me a head shake. I frowned but held back.
For now.
“And she will be punished for her betrayal,” he said, giving three hard slaps to her face and making her stumble a little.
As her body turned, I noticed that she had a baby bump. I would recognize one anywhere. I had had one not that long ago and it was unmistakeable. It couldn’t be fat. She had no fat on her, as if she was nearly starving. And the belly was smooth, round, and firm.
She was fucking pregnant.
At that moment, Brett hauled back and punched her in the stomach, making her finally react.
“No,” she yelled, wrapping her hands around her belly and turning away.
He kicked her in the back making her fall.
Oh hell no. He did not just hit a pregnant women in the belly. There was no way I was going to watch this any longer. Chad must have caught sight of the look of outrage on my face.
“Yumi,” he hissed. “Don’t.”
“Seriously?” I whispered, turning to him. “He just punched a pregnant woman in the belly. And you’re going to tell me don’t? Really?”
At the front, Brett was pulling the woman to her feet so he could hit her again.
“Shut up,” the guard said to me but it seemed half-hearted. I ignored the guard and Brett, keeping my eyes on Chad.
“Pregnant?” he said, aghast. He spoke so softly I didn’t really hear it but I saw his lips move. He mustn’t have seen what I had seen. Probably no one had. I had only caught it because of the angle I was on and she had turned slightly so I could see her profile. Plus I was a little obsessed with pregnancy at the moment, which was why I had picked up on it.
Chad’s mouth drew into a straight line of fury.
“Go. We’ll back you up,” he said and I waited no longer.