"What the fuck?"
It wasn't clear which one of the three men shouted out that line, they all shouted something but that one line stood out clear, as the bucket of water had hit all three of their faces and woken them up.
They blinked in confusion, clearly trying to figure out what had happened, where they were, who the man with the bucket was and why they were inside a cage. The man stood safely on the other side. Dean flew up first, yanking at the locked door.
"Let us out!" He shouted.
"Calm down," the man spoke.
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Dean shouted. "Let us the fuck out or I'll kill you!"
"How?" The man challenged.
Dean just stood there, anger still clear on his face, but he didn't say anything. The man was right. How was he gonna get out of the locked cage? Behind him Seth and Roman stood up too.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Howard and I'm your new owner," he said.
"Our what?" Seth squealed.
"Don't worry. I'll train you. In time you'll be my loyal watch dogs," Howard said.
"I'll rip your fucking throat out before I'll do anything you want me to do!" Dean roared.
"I have my ways to make you behave. You'll see," Howard said.
So far Roman hadn't said anything. He had been busy looking around, trying to look for a weak point or some sort of clue to where they were. The only thing he found was a young woman standing still up against the wall right next to the door. He locked eyes with her, wondering who she was. Something about her seemed familiar but he didn't know what it was.
"Can I play with them?" She took a couple of steps forward.
Dean and Seth hadn't seen her until then. They had been too busy focusing on the man.
"Marcy, no!" Howard snapped. "They're gonna be our watch dogs so I'll train them to attack. They might end up hurting you."
"I'll attack already if you'll let me!" Dean sneered lowly.
"Can I talk to them?" She asked.
"No. This is the only conversation we're ever gonna have with them. I just need to let them know what's gonna happen. After this they won't be allowed to use words again," Howard answered.
"Can I just watch them then?" She asked.
"Only when I'm in here," Howard answered. "Now go do laundry. I need to go to town for meat to feed them. I don't want you in here while I'm gone."
"Okay, daddy," she said.
She hummed as she walked out of the room. All three men turned their eyes back to Howard.
"Right, now that we're clear, I'm gonna go shop for some raw meat for you," he said.
"Raw? Why the fuck do you want us to eat raw meat?" Roman asked.
"You're dogs now so I have to treat you like it," Howard answered. "Talking stops now and don't you dare try biting me while I train you. You have no idea what I'm capable of."
"Let me out and show me!" Dean banged the palm of his hands into the iron bars hard.
Howard didn't say anything. He just smirked, walked out of the room and closed the door after him.
"What the fuck are we gonna do?" Seth asked.
"Try breaking down the cage," Dean answered.
"We can't," Roman sighed. "Look at the thing. It's worse than a fucking hell in a cell match."
"At some point he's gotta let us out to pee," Seth said.
"There's a bucket in the corner," Roman said.
"Great! Just great!" Seth rolled his eyes.
They stopped talking as the door opened again and the young woman came back in. Roman moved towards the cage, grabbing a hold of the bars and putting on the most soft facial expression he could.
"Marcy? Come here, sweetheart. We won't hurt you," he said.
"Don't do that," she said.
"Do what?" He asked.
"Try to lure me in. You think if you can get your hands on me that you can force him to let you go. It won't work," she said. "I know who you are. I know what you can do. I watch you on tv every week with him. That's how he decided you were gonna be the ones to take."
"So why are you in here when he told you not to?" Seth stepped up next to Roman.
She got a determined look on her face and took a few steps forward. She was still too far away to reach but she was getting closer.
"I can get you out of here," she said.
"You can?" Dean came up next to his friends too.
"On one condition," she said.
"Of course," Dean sighed.
"Take me with you," she said.
"What? Why?" Seth asked.
"I wanna go home. I miss my family," she answered.
"He's not your father?" Seth asked.
Tears showed in her eyes and she was fighting so hard to keep them within.
"Shit!" Roman said. "I knew I knew you the moment I saw you. Marcy Jones, right?"
"How do you know me?" She asked.
"You disappeared five years ago when you were 14. My daughter is currently doing a project on missing kids in school and she just showed me something about you two days ago," he answered.
The tears fell down her face and she ran to the cage, grabbing his hands through the bars. He held on tight to her hands while stroking his thumbs over the back of them.
"Take me with you, please. I can get you out of here," she pleaded.
"Of course," Dean suddenly seemed calm.
"So open the cage," Seth said.
"I can't right now. He carries the keys around his neck all the time. There's three keys. One for this cage, one for the house and one for the car," she said.
"Is that why you stay inside when he goes out?" Roman asked.
"Yes, he locks the door and the windows..." Her bottom lip quivered. "The windows don't open."
"We'll get you out of here. If you can get the keys and open the cage, I swear he won't hurt you ever again," Roman said.
"I'll get the keys as soon as I can," she smiled through her tears.
"How are you gonna do that if they're around his neck?" Dean asked.
She let go of Roman's hands and took a step backwards.
"When he goes shopping, he'll bring home wine. He used to get me drunk. These days he doesn't notice I just pour my wine into his glass or down the sink. When he's drunk, he always wants me. He falls asleep right after. I think I can take them without waking him up," she answered.
"No!" Roman reached through the bars to grab her but she was faster.
"It's the only way," she said.
"No, we can't let you do that," he said.
"It's okay. It doesn't hurt anymore. Not when I just lie still and don't fight him," she said.
She turned around and disappeared quickly out of the room. Roman turned around and slid down the bars with a haunting look on his face.
"It's gonna be alright," Seth said.
"It's not alright, Seth!" Roman raged. "She might be 19 now but she was only 14 when that creep took her. She was just a kid. I can't help but imagine it being my kid it could have happened to."
"Don't say that," Dean sat down next to Roman.
"Why not?" Roman stared at Dean. "She was just the unlucky one. It could have been anybody. She's suffered for five years in here in the hands of that... that... I'm gonna fucking kill him!"
"No!" Dean looked angry. "We're gonna get out of here, beat him for sure, but we're not killing him. What good will you be to your daughter if you go to jail?"
"We don't even have to beat him," Seth said. "If she gets us out of here, it's three against one. We're just gonna throw him in this cage and call the cops."
"I don't like this," Roman gritted his teeth.
"What other choice do we have? Do you honestly think he's gonna give her a choice anyway?" Dean said. "We can't do shit from in here other than hope she comes through for us."
A couple of hours later the door opened again and Howard entered with a bag in his hand. He didn't say anything at first. He just stuck his hand down in the bag and started throwing raw chopped meat through the bars so it landed on the dirty floor.
"Eat up, boys. You're gonna need your strength," he said.
"You little piece of shit!" Dean growled.
Howard walked out again but came back in shortly after with a cattle prod in his hand. Instantly all three guys moved back against the wall.
"One more word out of any of you..." Howard warned.
He turned around and walked back out, closing the door behind him again. They heard him call for Marcy as he walked away from the room they were in.
"That poor girl," Roman said. "Five years being held here."
"Hopefully she only needs to suffer one more evening," Seth said.
She was as sober as she could be. He thought she had been drinking but as always she had managed to cheat him. He was way drunk, having emptied almost two bottles of red wine alone.
He was in a strange mood. Happy and angry at the same time. Happy that he had managed to catch them, angry that they weren't giving in easy. He remembered how easy she had given in. He never understood that she quickly learned to just obey in order to stay safe. She never had given in to him in her mind.
If it was the happiness or the anger inside him that made him extra rough, she didn't know, but no matter how still she tried to lie, he was hurting her so bad to a point where she could feel her skin rip. She was on her stomach while he pressed her head down in the pillow by force, making it hard for her to breathe. On top of that he had forgotten to buy condoms, and having a child together was not in his plans so instead she had to suffer through him taking her anally.
"Best piece of ass ever," he said drunkenly as he finally rolled down from her.
She stayed on her stomach but kept her face away from him so he wouldn't see her cry. She was never allowed to cry. He would get more angry if he found out. He grabbed her shoulder and rolled her around on her back. He closed his eyes, luckily not noticing the tears on her face, and placed an arm over her stomach.
"Tell me you love me," he said.
"I love you, daddy," she said.
"Yes, you love me," he said. "My special girl."
The guys were pacing the cage. Dean had managed to kick most of the meat out again so they could walk on the floor without getting it under their boots. They all stopped and stood still as the door opened.
"Marcy," Roman grabbed the bars.
She didn't say anything. She just walked in, more slow than earlier, her face full of tears and her eyes so sad and full of pain. In her hand she held a chain with three keys. She unlocked the door and Roman went through first, wrapping his arms around her to silently tell her she was safe.
"Take us to him," Dean said.
She nodded as she slid out of Roman's arms and started walking out of the room with all three of them behind her.
"Can we go a bit faster?" Seth asked.
"I can't. It hurts," she answered.
She stopped in front of a door and pushed it open. The light was still on and Howard was sleeping on the bed. All three men moved up to the bed and stared at the sheet where she had been lying.
"Why is there blood on the bed?" Roman asked.
"Roman," Seth whispered.
"No," Roman looked at her. "What did he do to you to make you bleed?"
"Nothing," she looked down.
"In two seconds we're waking him up and I need to know just how bad I have to punish him," Roman said.
"Marcy?" Howard mumbled.
He didn't open his eyes though. He just mumbled her name, caught somewhere between being awake and being asleep.
"I'm here," she said.
"Get your ass back in bed so I can fuck it again," he said. "Mmm, best piece of ass ever. Way more tight than your pussy."
A giant roar was heard as Roman flew through the room and yanked Howard out of bed. The man was suddenly wide awake, trying to fight his way free as Roman slammed him up against the wall and planted his fist into his stomach three times and ending with an even harder blow to the man's crotch.
"Enough!" Seth yanked Roman away.
Dean grabbed Howard and yanked him back to the bed, forcing his head down to the blood.
"Look at that! You made her bleed like that!" He sneered. "That'll be your ass when you go to jail! No one likes a child rapist and I'll make damn sure every inmate will know that's exactly what you are!"
Howard started fighting again but Seth was there fast, grabbing one arm while Dean held the other, dragging the screaming man out of the bedroom and towards the room with the cage. Just before throwing him in there, Roman was there again, planting a knee up in Howard's crotch before Seth and Dean threw him inside the cage and locked it.
"Marcy! Special girl!" Howard crawled towards the bars. "Help daddy out. These men will hurt you."
Dean kicked at the bars which made Howard jump back in fear. Without another word Roman gently guided her out of the room with Seth and Dean following behind.
"Is there a phone in this place?" Roman asked.
"He keeps it in the car. Since I can't get out of the house, I can't get to it," she answered.
"Until now," Seth said and took the chain with keys from her. "I'm gonna run out and get it. Which way to the front door?"
She pointed and he sprinted off. He came back five minutes later with a cell phone in his hands.
"Already called the cops. They're on their way," he said.
"How do they know where to find us?" Dean asked.
"There's literally a street sigh right outside his house," Seth chuckled. "They said they'd be here in ten minutes."
"You hear that, Marcy? You're going home," Roman said.
"I'm going home?" She asked.
"Yes, you're going home," he confirmed.
He pulled her into his arms and rocked her slowly as she cried into his shirt. It was the least he could do and he wanted to do it. He wanted to comfort her and keep her safe until the cops would be there to take over and take her home. She was going home. They were all going home.