CHAPTER ONE

Come forth for the cattle call.

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening," the girl thought, running downstairs to the yacht. She paused for a second, feeling her heart trying to escape from her chest while she searched for a good hiding spot.

"Alli," she heard her name whispered and barely saw her friend's head poke out from inside a storage compartment that doubled as a bench. "Under the bed," she whispered hastily. The teenager immediately took her friend's suggestion, and dove to the floor, forcing herself to fit beneath the bed.

"Where's Sam?" She whispered, feeling her body squish between the carpeted floor and the bottom of the bed.

"I don't know," Molly admitted, now only her fingertips and her eyes poking out from the area where she was hiding. They both heard the footsteps quickly approaching, and in a flash Allison watched her friend disappear inside of the compartment. She struggled further underneath the bed as a pair of filthy boots came into her field of view. She heard two men whispering but couldn't quite make out what was being said. She watched one pair suddenly, and loudly walked away while the other stood still, keeping very quiet. Allison felt realization suddenly choke her, understanding what they were doing.

Seconds dragged on as Allison kept her eyes glued to the dirty boots before her. After what felt like forever she watched the man before her slowly lower onto his knees between where she and Molly were hiding. Allison placed her hand over her mouth, silencing her ragged breathing before closing her eyes. She didn't want to see the man who was about to find her. She just wanted to sink into the floor and fall through the yacht into the water.

With another moment of silence came a sudden and shrill screaming. Allison's hazel green eyes shot back open immediately, wide as she watched the pair of filthy boots struggling now with Molly's bare feet. Tears fell from her eyes immediately as she stifled her own cries.

"Wasn't there another one- Son-of-a-!" one of the men spoke before violently cursing. Molly hit the floor with a painful thud, and was able to make eye contact with Alli one last time before she tried to sprint out of the room. Both of the men were now preoccupied with Allison's best friend and forgot of the potential second victim.

Allison remained under the bed as long as she could before her nerves pushed her to get out from her hiding spot. Though she was only wearing a skimpy swimsuit, as was Molly, she didn't think to try and put on any clothes. Her curiosity was getting the better of her and she slowly made her way to the door that lead to the deck. Through the small window she could see two men, in black cargo pants and red cut off shirts, throwing Molly down to the floor next to her older brother's girlfriend, Sierra.

"It's okay, Molly," she spoke, though her makeup was ruined with tears. "We're gonna be okay."

"Isn't that sweet?" she heard one of the men say, his accent different than the others. By now Allison had pushed her luck, opening the door and proceeding up the few stairs on her hands an knees to get a better view. "The girl's taking care of the Chink," he laughed and Allison felt her stomach twist at the racist remark towards her friend.

"Fuck you!" Sam's voice shouted, though Alli couldn't see him from her spot. She moved as far left as she could and looked right to see the other side of the deck, which she couldn't before, and saw more men in red standing behind Sam. He was on his knees, his hands behind his back with a machine gun pointed to the back of his bloody head. He was barely recognizable to Allison.

"Fuck me?" The man with the mohawk turned around to face Sam now, a wide grin on his face. "You want to fuck me, hermano?" He asked while strutting over to Sam. "You think I'm pretty?" he asked, bending down to mockingly smile in Sam's pissed off and bloody face. Sam did the one and only thing Allison did not expect, and immediately spat in the man's face. Before, Alli had only known Sam to be shy and courteous, and a slight nerd. Seeing him this angry and defensive was more of a shock to her than all the blood seeping from his head.

"That," the man immediately stood up, wiping the blood and spit from his face, "That wasn't very nice. But you see," he spoke before immediately punching the side of Sam's face, Allison could almost swear she heard something break. "You see, you don't- want to fuck with me!" the man spoke, his tone changing from calm to pissed like someone had flipped a light switch. "Rip her fucking top off, man," he then turned around, pointing back to where Molly and Sierra were. Allison moved on the stairs again to watch one of the other men yank Sierra off the wooden deck, pulling out a large hunting knife to forcefully rip open Sierra's bandeau swimsuit top.

"No, please!" she cried, while she tired to keep the ruined fabric over her chest, and the man pushed her forward to the one who had given the instruction, the leader. He forcefully ripped the remains of the top from her body, throwing the colorful fabric overboard as he forced her arms behind her back, making her bare her naked chest to everyone on the yacht. "Please," she continued to whine as the man spun her around to face Sam once again.

"You don't fuck with me because I'll fuck with you. Don't push me," the man with the mohawk warned, pulling a knife of his own out. He dragged it across her chest first, as he spoke, before quickly holding it up to Sierra's neck. "Now tell me you're sorry," he demanded of Sam.

"I'm sorry," Sam spoke quietly after a moment of silence and resentment towards the man.

"Tell me you're my bitch..." The man smiled, though his patience quickly faded, "Tell me!" he shouted, pressing the knife harder to Sierra's throat.

"I'm your bitch!" Sam yelled back at the man.

"Good," the man was calm once more. "Good. Remind me to give you a biscuit later, yeah?" he spoke, taking the knife away from Sierra's throat to momentarily point it at Sam before sheathing it. "But moving on, you know the thing that really fucks with me?" he asked, turning around once more before violently shoving Sierra away from him so that she would fall back next to Molly. She immediately moved forward to try and grab Sierra but was yanked back to her previous position by one of the men.

"The thing that really fucks with me," the man spoke, as if in deep thought. "I swear this boat was supposed to have mother fucking American's on board!" His voice rose steadily until he was fuming again. "And all I get is that whore!" He yelled, walking to the back of the yacht, where Allison saw the Capitan and his son. "I didn't want these Chinks, I wanted Americans!" He shouted at the captain, who immediately began shouting back in Chinese. Alli knew a fair, though basic, amount of the language, thanks to Molly and Sam, but she was completely lost in what the Captain was saying. Apparently, so was the man.

"Do I look like I speak Chinese?" he asked, his voice still raised to a point of near rage. He grabbed out his knife once more, and instantly flung it across the boat, the blade sticking firmly in the wooden deck near both the Chinese Capitan and his son. "I speak English! English, motherfucker, do you speak it?!" he shouted, straining his vocal cords.

"We deliver, you pay now and go! You pay now!" The captain shouted back, and Alli was shocked that the man knew any English at all before realizing exactly what was happening. Her friends and herself included were being sold to these men.

"'You pay now'!" he mocked the captain in a horrible Chinese accent. "Fucker," he then mumbled, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a huge, bulky wad of Yuan. It had to be bigger than the man's fist, and wrapped up with several rubber bands. "There's fifteen percent, the rest is on shore. Boys," he clicked his tongue, before further directing his men. "Take the fuckers and our cargo ashore, you know what to do."

"You not coming, Vaas?" One of them asked, through a bandanna wrapped around his nose and mouth.

"Someone needs to watch the boat," the man, who Alli now knew as Vaas, smiled a toothy grin. "Besides I need a vacation from these fucks," he added, watching as Sierra and Molly were dragged up by their hair and puled out of Allison's view. She looked back to where Vaas was standing, and noticed something gut wrenching. The captain of the ship was staring directly at her.

She nearly screamed and ducked down so she was out of sight, her heart again trying to escape her chest. "Oh shit, oh shit!" Her mind raced before she decided it was safest for her to hide, even if the captain wasn't saying anything about her presence. Allison crawled back into the lower level of the yacht, silently opening and closing the door before standing up, and peeking through the window. She could barely see a sliver of blue sky from the little round window, and it was otherwise useless to her.

Outside, she heard the motor to a much smaller boat start up and she knew that she had possibly lost her friends forever. She wouldn't be able to do anything while Vaas was on the boat with her, she wasn't confident enough to try and attack him. She wouldn't be able to do much until the yacht was sailed back to China.

She couldn't keep herself from outwardly crying now, her whole body shaking as she braced herself against the door. This couldn't be happening, fifteen minutes ago everything was perfect. Shit couldn't go this bad that quick. Allison felt like she wanted to die. She wished this was all a dream and that she would wake up and life would be perfect again.

Allison fought herself to try and regain some composure, both wanting a clear head so she could figure out what to do as well as remaining unseen. She took in a few deep breaths, to the point of her lungs wanting to burst, before she managed to control the majority of her shaking. If only she hadn't looked out the window again, to see a pair of dirty boots and faded green pants making their way down the stairs and straight towards her.

With as little of a warning that she had, Allison quickly backed up and ran into the bathroom. She realized immediately that it was a stupid decision, but it was the closest hiding place, and she didn't have enough time to run back to the bed. She would have been spotted for sure.

The door she had just been peeking through slammed shut and Allison jumped nearly out of her skin while staring at the flimsy sliding bathroom door. Following the slam of the door, she heard unnaturally slow and heavy footsteps making their way towards the bathroom. Allison couldn't figure out if it was deliberate or not, and the thought of her already being caught finally froze her frantic heart. The heavy footsteps stopped right outside the bathroom door and Alli backed her self away from the door as far as she could before hitting the frosted glass shower door.

Allison held her breath, her back flat against the glass door as she stared ahead of her with wide eyes.

The breath she was holding slowly escaped her lungs as she heard the footsteps continue on past the bathroom door. Allison had nearly succeeded in calming herself down again before there was a sudden taping on the door. Her attention was again, fully on the bathroom door as she stood deathly still. The tapping came again, slightly louder and more pronounced than the first time, and Allison's hand immediately found the handle to the shower door. The attempt was futile, she knew that, but anything between herself and this Vaas was better than nothing at all. She stepped forward to open the door, then backwards to conceal herself in the small shower cubicle, her eyes glued to the bathroom door the whole time.

"Hello?" the man suddenly shouted, and the door shook horribly as he banged against it. Allison answered with a startled cry, her knees failing her and she collapsed into a small ball on the shower floor. "I need you to come out now," he laughed, before violently banging on the bathroom door once again.

Allison threw her hands around her ears and willed herself to just disappear, she couldn't do anything else.

"Don't keep me waiting out here, this is very rude," Vaas spoke. "Do you hear me?" he pounded on the door again, raising his voice. "Do you fucking hear me out here?!"

Allison sobbed loudly in response, her whole body shaking. She could hear him ramming into the door now, each time she heard the door cracking in half. Vaas didn't have to work hard to break the door down, it was only able to handle a few good hits before it exploded inward, showering the bathroom in broken plastic and wooden splinters. Allison's eyes shut tight from the short burst before she dared to peek sideways. Through the frosted glass she could see the colored shadow of him, moving oddly through the design on the frosted shower door.

There was a loud thud, causing Allison to jump once more and hide her face in her arms, as Vaas dropped something on the floor near the shower before he turned and began loudly rummaging through the bathroom. Allison didn't fully understand why she wasn't immediately killed or beaten.

"This is really amusing, you know," he spoke, once again calm as ever. "This little game of hide and seek. You're very bad at hiding though," Vaas admitted, Allison hearing velcro rip open and then plastic and paper clattering together into the bathroom sink. She couldn't fathom what he was doing, let alone why he was just letting her sit in the shower.

"Did you really think I didn't see you poking your head out on deck? A few of my hombres saw you too. Even the captain, but he didn't say anything. It's good to know there's still some good in the world, you know? He wasn't going to say anything about you. I guess I'll have to have a chat with him when we get back to the island... You still in there, chica?" He suddenly asked and Alli stopped breathing all together. She dared to look back through the glass and now saw he man sitting outside of the shower, the smell of chlorine bleach filling the small room. He reached forward and gently tapped at the glass, causing Allison to curl up tighter.

"Hello?" he chuckled while tapping slightly harder. "Don't make me come in there and get you," he spoke loudly, his fingers now still on the frosted glass. "You won't like it if I have to..."

Allison thought silently that she wouldn't like it either way. Giving herself up seemed less inviting until she realized that he might kill her otherwise. Vaas might kill her either way.

"Three..." Vaas started counting, drawing out the vowels at the end of the word, and Allison slowly looked over to his distorted figure through the frosted glass. "Two..." Vaas continued in the same tone and manner as before.

Allison couldn't think. She could barely breathe. She didn't know what to do between staying curled up, cowering in the shower, or open the door and give herself up to the madman. As he took his final warning breath in, Alli's hand flew to the shower door, palm flat against the glass, and pushed it open. However, she only used enough force to pop it open and let it hang loosely ajar.

"There you go," Vaas spoke quietly now, as he opened the door fully to reveal Allison still curled up on the floor of the shower. "What are you doing?" He had a dark bandanna tied high around his nose and mouth, but it wasn't enough to cover his slightly glazed eyes. Or the grisly scar he had that spanned from his left eyebrow to the middle of his scalp. Alli saw that the wound was still healing, the skin around the scar still swollen and raised, as well as slightly red with irritation. However he had received the injury, Allison presumed, it had been recent.

"Hey," his raised voice snapped her green eyes back to his from his scar. "I'm talking to you," he spoke, any feigned kindness gone from him. He suddenly offered up a dirty red rag, a few sheets of alcohol wipes stacked upon it. The rag itself, as it came closer to Allison, made her eyes water.

"Take this," he spoke, extending his arm closer for her to take the rag. "It'll put you out."

"Why?" the short question barely left her lips.

"Bleach and alcohol," Vaas spoke, avoiding exactly what Alli meant. "Puts you to sleep." She noticed an open gallon of bleach next to him on the floor as well as several torn open packets of the alcohol wipes scattered around the small room.

"Take it," he spoke and Allison, afraid of testing his patience, finally took the rag from him. "Put it over your mouth," Vaas then instructed, mimicking the motion with his empty hand, though his bandanna hung well below his jaw.

Allison was afraid of the contents of the rag, especially since Vaas had a bandanna to supposedly stop himself from breathing in the chemicals. She still obeyed him, despite this fear, and brought the rag fully to her mouth. Immediately she began to choke and involuntarily cry. The mixed chemicals stung horribly at her eyes, as well as inside her nose and down her throat. As she sputtered, Alli quickly pulled the rag away from her face.

"No," Vaas spoke, reaching for her hand with the rag. She immediately flinched, but had nowhere to go to stay away from him. "Like this," Vaas continued and firmly wrapped his hand around Alli's, moving the rag back up to her face.

Allison's eyes were wide, staring at Vaas as he held on to her and brought the rag back to her face. She could tell that he wasn't being forceful, but the fact that he had admitted this would make her pass out scared her. The way it stung when she took a breath in made her feel as if she was going to die.

"There..." he spoke, replacing Alli's hand completely as hers quickly fell limp while holding the rag over her nose and mouth. Within seconds, her eyes rolled back into her head and her body went limp, lumping over on the small shower floor.

Vaas knew that he had to take this girl to the island to ransom and sell her, but he didn't want to. He had a completely different idea of what to do with her.