“Yeah, party’s over,” Courtney said.
“Fire’s almost out anyway,” Gavin said. “Getting cold.” He rubbed at his arms. “Might have to climb into bed with you. Been drinking too much to drive.”
“No way,” Dani said. “You guys are going to have to sleep in your truck.”
She started toward the tent. Gavin grabbed her arm, his hands digging in.
I got up off the log. “Let her go!”
Dani tried to yank her arm free. “Cut it out!”
He pulled her down onto his lap, his arms wrapped tight around her body, one hand reaching up and gripping her throat.
“I’m sick and tired of your games,” he said.
Courtney and I were running toward Dani when Brian grabbed me around the waist, lifting me off my feet. All I could do was squirm as he tripped Courtney, who hit the ground hard. He kicked her in the side of the head. She lay in the dirt near the fire, eyes closed, a low moan coming from her throat. I grabbed the knife out of my pocket, jabbed it into the arm around me.
Brian yelled, then let go of me. I ran, the knife still in my hand, trying to get to Dani. Gavin had pushed her to the ground and was holding her arms behind her back with one hand, taking off his belt and wrapping it around her wrists with the other. She squirmed and kicked. He punched her across the head.
Brian tackled me. I hit the dirt hard, scrambled forward, but he grabbed my ankles, dragging me back as I screamed. I twisted and turned, tried to stab him with the knife, but my wrist was bent backward and the knife dropped to the ground. Brian’s large body was lying on top of me, his breath hot in my ear.
He sat up, pressure leaving my upper body, knees crushing the muscles in the backs of my thighs, a fist digging in between my shoulder blades. Sounded like a belt buckle was being undone, then my arms were tied behind my back, my wrists grinding together. Something else now, material tearing. I screamed as loud as I could. Something was jammed down my throat, fabric tasting of grease.
“Tie that other bitch up,” Brian said.
He threw me over his shoulder. His back was naked, my cheek bumping against his bare skin. He carried me to the truck, then tossed me in. I hit the metal with my back. I tried to shimmy away, kicking out with my legs. Brian climbed in, flipped me over. A knee pressed down on my legs, a hand gripped the back of my neck, fingers digging into the tendons. His body shifted, the weight pressing harder on one leg, like he was reaching for something. I screamed into the rag. He ran something through the belt around my wrists, wrapped it around, and pulled it taut. Felt like a rough rope.
Metal clanging against metal, like he was tying the rope to either side of the truck bed. Tie-down brackets? The weight shifted and pressed on the backs of my legs. Then the pressure was suddenly gone. A thud as he jumped back onto the ground. I wrenched my arms, but the rope was too tight. I tried to squirm around to see what was happening to Courtney and Dani but could only look over my shoulder, neck straining. The tailgate was open and I could see partly out the back, the dim glow of the fire outlining the boys, their upper bodies pale.
Courtney was still on the ground, a dark lump. I could just make out her blond hair, looked like her eyes were closed. Gavin knelt over her.
“Get her in the truck,” Brian said
He was carrying Dani over his shoulder. He dumped her in and she fell hard, her head smacking onto the truck bed, her screams muffled like he’d put something in her mouth too. He leapt in beside her as she kicked out, dragged her body up beside me. He flipped her over. Sounds again, like he was unhooking the rope from one side. The tension around my wrists eased but then tightened, like he’d threaded the rope through the belt around Dani’s wrists too.
Boots scraped on the truck bed as he climbed out. I tried to look over my shoulder again, caught a glimpse of his naked back.
“Get their stuff,” Brian said.
Courtney was tossed in, then dragged up on the other side of me. Her mouth was also gagged, looked like with half of a ripped shirt. Her arms were behind her back, but I couldn’t see what they’d been tied with. Our eyes met, hers terrified, the whites bright in the dark. The rope loosened again, then tightened as we were bound together. They’d pulled it even tighter this time. I could feel it pressing across either side of my butt cheeks, the belt and rope pinching the skin on my wrists. I could hear the guys taking down our tent. They weren’t talking but they were moving fast, their breathing heavy in the quiet night.
They threw the tent in the back with us, the poles clattering, then thumps as other things landed: our sleeping bags, packsacks, the cooler.
The hiss of water being poured over the fire, boots scuffing as they kicked dirt over the coals, logs being dragged back into the woods.
Making sure there was no sign we’d ever been there.
* * *
We bumped over dusty roads for what felt like a half an hour but might have only been fifteen minutes—I couldn’t tell, disoriented and panicked in the dark. Our shoulders bumped as our bodies slid each time the truck took a corner, the rope pulling painfully, making me moan and gasp into my gag. I tried to get to my knees, but the rope was too tight, could only lift an inch. On my right Dani tried the same thing. I sobbed helplessly, choking on the gag.
I tried to focus, searching for a scent, noises, big hills or corners, anything, but the road all felt the same. My wrists ached, pins and needles tingling up my arms. My jaw and cheekbone throbbed from where I’d hit the ground, my head pounded. I could hear country music coming from the cab, Gavin’s laugh, and moans and guttural noises beside me. I turned my head in either direction, tried to see my sisters’ faces. In the moonlight I could make out their lips stretched wide over their gags, their eyes shining.
Tears rolled down my face. I struggled to hold on to the sobs that were making me choke and retch and gag, but my body heaved with terror.
We hit a pothole and bounced up, which made the rope bite into the flesh at my wrists again. We drove on. Finally the truck slowed and came to a halt. I turned my head, tried to look up. All I could make out were trees.
The front of the truck opened, driver’s side. Footsteps coming around.
“We’re here, girls,” Brian said.
We heard one of them undo the tailgate, which dropped with a clatter.
The truck rocked as one brother climbed into the back, then rocked again as the other jumped in. I felt a hand touch my calf. I kicked up and out with my bare foot, something hard under my heel, the smack of flesh.
“Fucking bitch!” Gavin’s voice. He grabbed my ankles and yanked them down, pulling my legs straight and sitting across them.
Beside me I could feel Dani’s body heaving and jerking as she also kicked out. Courtney was doing the same. We were fighting for our lives.
“Stop moving or we’ll fucking kill you.” Brian.
We stopped moving.
A noise on the right, the rope being untied, tension easing around my wrist. Dani was suddenly jerked down, dragged by her ankles. The back of the truck bounced, then grunting noises, footsteps stumbling, like Brian was trying to carry her. A loud thump, something hitting the ground.
“Goddamn bitch.” Brian’s voice. Smacking sounds.
Gavin grabbed the belt around my wrists. His body shifted as he reached across and untied the rope on the other side of Courtney. His weight left my body. I tried to get to my knees, but my body was yanked backward by my wrists. Beside me Courtney was also being dragged out. He was using the rope around our wrists like a leash. We slid all the way out of the back of the truck, falling with a bone-jarring thud, my teeth biting my lower lip.
Now we were being dragged, still on our fronts, our shirts riding up, rocks and gravel scraping our stomachs. I looked over my shoulder and saw Gavin grinning in the moonlight as he pulled the rope. I tried to get to my feet, saw Courtney struggling to stand. Gavin gave the rope a hard tug.
I landed on my shoulder, pain shooting down my arm. I got back up onto my kn
ees. We tried to shuffle forward. A blow to the back of my head. I fell forward, my vision blurring, everything dark at the corners. I tried to get up onto my arms, but the ground rushed toward me.
* * *
Someone was whispering my name over and over.
“Jess, wake up.”
I opened my eyes, couldn’t see anything.
I was on a hard surface, rough and cold, felt like cement, my hands still tied behind my back. The gag had been removed but my lips felt tender, bruised, my throat sore and dry. I slowly rolled over, looking for Courtney and Dani. The room was pretty dark, only a bit of moonlight shining down from above me.
“I’m over here.” Dani’s voice on my right. I turned in her direction, could make out the shape of her body. “Courtney’s on your other side, I think.”
I heard a groan.
“How long have we been here?” I whispered.
“Couple of minutes,” Dani said. “Not long.”
I looked around, my eyes adjusting to the dark now, but I couldn’t tell how big the room was. It smelled of old fruit, like a storage room. I shuffled forward on my knees and turned around, looking above where I could see the moonlight. It looked like there might be a gap about a foot high at the top of the wall near the rafters, running the length of the room.
“I already stood up—it’s at least ten feet high,” Dani whispered.
“Where are they?”
“I think they’re outside the door.”
I heard voices to my left, raised with a slight echo, like they might be speaking in a hallway or a big room outside. Sounded like an argument.
Courtney was moaning again. I crawled on my knees closer to her, whispered in her ear, “Courtney, it’s okay.”
Her body jerked away and she let out a scream.
“Shhh,” Dani said.
It was too late. The voices had stopped. A scraping noise, like something was being dragged away. The door opened. The boys walked in, carrying our propane lantern, jeans hanging low on their hips. Gavin had a small belly, the skin floppy, and a dark patch of chest hair. Brian’s left arm had streaks of blood, from where I’d stabbed him. Their eyes looked excited and their nervous energy filled the room. I could smell sweat and beer and pot smoke.
Beside me Dani was sitting up, watching. Blood leaked from her nose and her cheek was scraped. On my left, Courtney was slumped against the wall. The room was only about ten-by-ten feet. The bottom part of the wall was concrete, about a foot high, then wood paneling all the way up to the rafters. There wasn’t any insulation in the ceiling and I could see that the roof was aluminum. The room was dirty, cobwebs hanging everywhere, like it hadn’t been used for years.
“Well, look who’s awake.” Brian walked over and crouched down in front of Courtney. He grabbed her face, turned it to the side so he could see the burn mark. Gavin watched from the doorway.
“Someone sure did a number on you,” Brian said. He turned her back to face him and smiled. “But you’re still a sexy girl.”
A tear rolled out the side of Courtney’s eyes but she was glaring at him. He gripped her jaw tighter and tighter until she moaned, then he let go.
He turned to me, still smiling. “Little sister, you’re awake too.” The smile disappeared. “You’ve been giving us a hard time. I’d stop that if I were you.”
Gavin came over, gave Dani a kick. She grimaced but didn’t cry out.
“You girls should’ve been a lot nicer to us,” he said. “A lot nicer.”
“What are you going to do to us?” Dani said, her voice hoarse.
“We’re having ourselves some fun,” Brian said.
“People will notice we’re gone,” she said.
“Yeah, right. All we’ve got to do is wait a little bit, then sell off your truck parts, and poof, just like magic you bitches were never here.” He looked at his watch. “But we’ve gotta get home now. Don’t worry, we’ll see you later.”
They headed toward the door.
“Can you at least untie us?” Dani said.
Brian turned and laughed. “No way, princess.”
“What about water?” I said. “We’ll die without water.”
They exchanged a look and Brian nodded. Gavin disappeared while Brian watched us, one of his hands idly rubbing his chest. He could’ve been sitting at home staring at the TV.
Outside I heard the truck door open and shut. Gavin came back with a four-liter plastic jug of water like I’d seen at the ranch. He grabbed a dirty pail overturned in the corner, flipped it right side up, and dumped the water into it.
“Let’s go.” Brian gave us another lingering look. “You girls be good, now. Don’t get into any trouble.” Gavin laughed.
The door closed with a loud click, sending us back into darkness. Sounds of something being dragged. Brian said, “Hold it there.” Hammering. A board was being nailed over the door, each blow echoing through the room.
* * *
We spent the rest of the night huddled together. We’d tried to undo each other’s bindings, putting our backs together, but they were too tight—the guys had retied our wrists when we were unconscious, wrapped pieces of rope around and around, like we were cattle being hauled to a slaughter.
“In the morning we’ll try again,” Dani said. “We’ll climb up the wall.”
“You know they’ll come back,” I said. My head throbbed where Gavin had hit me. My thoughts were foggy, my vision blurry if I moved fast.
“We’ll get out before then.”
“I think we’re in an old fruit-packing place or something,” I said.
“Probably,” Dani said.
“I really have to pee,” I said.
“Me too,” Courtney said.
We put our backs together again and shuffled our way to the corner of the room, hooked our hands into the waistband of each other’s pants and pulled them down, and took a pee. Then tried to sleep but we stayed awake all night, sometimes resting our heads on each other’s shoulders.
“What do you think they’re going to do to us?” I said.
“I don’t know,” Dani said, but I could tell she was lying.
“Yes, you do.”
“We’ll be gone before then,” she said again.
I closed my eyes, pressed my forehead into her shoulder, breathing her familiar scent, feeling the strength in her muscles, in her words.
* * *
When it got lighter in the room, sun shining through the gap near the rafters, which we now saw was covered with a clear sheet of plastic, we tried again to untie our hands. While one sister worked on the other’s bindings, the third called out instructions: “Try to get your finger under the knot, pull it to the left.”
But the knots were too tight and complicated, the bindings wrapped around and around in a figure eight. We also tried to get our legs through our arms, but none of us was flexible enough. Dani walked over to the door, backed up, and tried the knob with her hand, but we already knew it was pointless.
We decided Dani would crouch against the wall, then I’d climb up her back and try to see out the gap. I managed to get up, wobbling and trying not to lose my balance while Courtney and Dani called out encouragement, but I wasn’t tall enough—the gap was still over a foot away.
Next we tried my sitting on Dani’s shoulders as she slowly stood up, but we didn’t gain any height. I could see a bit of the plastic ripped in the corner, a faint breeze moving it back and forth, and treetops outside. She lowered me down.
“We have to try again, maybe with Courtney,” I said, my voice cracking.
“She’s only a couple of inches taller,” Dani said.
I screamed up at the gap, “Help! Someone help!”
Courtney stood behind me, joining in. “Help!”
We took turns screaming for help over and over until we were hoarse. Then sat, tried to catch our breath.
“What day is it?” Courtney said, her voice raw.
“Tuesday, I think,” Dani said.
> “Jess’s birthday.”
Tears came to my eyes, then I was sobbing in big desperate heaves. My sisters shuffled over, pressed their shoulders against my sides. I leaned into Dani, crying harder. After a while I sat back up, rubbed my eyes dry on my knees, took a few breaths.
The heat was rising in the building and we were covered in sweat, our hair damp. We couldn’t take our sweatshirts off with our hands tied, and the hot air pressed in around us. We had almost drunk the pail dry already.
“We should save the rest. We don’t know when they’ll be back,” Dani said.
“We have to get out before they come back,” Courtney said, her voice frantic. “They’re going to rape us—they’re going to kill us.”
We looked at each other, the words hanging in the air. I felt a sob build in my throat, choked it back, and turned to Dani.
“What are we going to do?”
“Get out of here.” She pushed at the door with her body, banged her shoulder into it, then kicked it over and over until I worried she was going to break her foot.
“Stop!” I yelled. “Stop, Dani!” But she kept kicking, screaming in rage. Finally she stopped, sinking to her knees in front of the door, her head hanging.
“They might let us go … after,” I said quietly, but I knew none of us believed it.
“We’re just going to have to find a way to get away from them,” she said, lifting her head back up, trying to sound confident, but I heard the fear.
“If we tell them we’re on the run, they’ll know we won’t talk about it,” Courtney said.
“They need to think people are looking for us,” Dani said, getting back to her feet and coming to sit beside us.
“Then they’ll have even more reason to shut us up for good,” Courtney said.
Dani looked away, squeezing her eyes shut like she was trying not to cry.
“I’ll do it,” Courtney said. “I’ll go first.”
“What are you talking about?” I said.
“Maybe they’ll leave you alone.”
“Stop it!” I said, desperate to stop the horrible thoughts and images flooding my mind. “We’ll fight them.”
“We already tried that,” Courtney said.
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