THE
VILLAGE
Chapter 9
Race
Against Time
"When you take a man's dignity, you steal their very soul." ANON
Derek and Dave searched the area at a radius from the car of about a hundred yards, but there was no sign of the missing men.
'There should be some kind of proof they were here.' Derek said in frustration. 'They would have known to leave a sign or something at least to tell us which direction they were walking.'
'There's something wrong about the whole situation.' Dave had his phone out calling Garcia.
'Are there any buildings of any kind within walking distance of here?'
'Nothing that I can see,' she said, 'but there is a patch of land that the satellite won't photograph – some kind of disturbance in the upper atmosphere.'
'Which direction, we'll go and check it out.'
'Roughly north west six miles. I'll send you the co ordinates.'
Dave cut the connection and seconds later they had the co ordinates on their PDAs.
Morgan started up the buggy and they set off over the hot dry terrain.
-0-0-0-
Julia stumbled over the dunes. She had never been this far from the village before and she was utterly terrified. She had been told stories of the outside world, and she didn't want to become part of it, but to return to the village would mean being forgotten. At least this way she was alive.
The elders often went into the world to collect food and supplies, but they never brought anyone back for fear of contamination. They spoke of a fearful place where people were killed and tortured. But then, people were killed in the oubliette.
As she ran and stumbled on, these thoughts were rushing through her head.
But most of all she couldn't get the look in the eyes of the older man out of her head.
-0-0-0-
Reid rolled painfully over onto his front and carefully opened his eyes. Blood from a cut on his forehead had run onto them and he wiped it away with a trembling hand. He blinked, trying to get used to the dim light in the dungeon. His wrists were still tied together and he had landed with his hands under him. He thought one of his wrists were broken. He sat up and tried to undo the knot with his teeth but it was too tightly tied.
He looked around for Aaron.
'Aaron, where are you?' he called softly. He squinted into the darkness, and caught sight of him, laying quite still, his arms outstretched, and bare bloodstained legs. Reid crawled painfully to him.
'Aaron, wake up, please. It's me, Reid.'
Aaron heard him, and wanted to react to him, but he was too beaten down to move. He wanted to clasp Reid's hand but his fingers hurt, and his broken arm was severely damaged. Carefully Reid checked him over. Aaron opened his eyes wide and groaned in pain when Reid touched his arm.
'I'm sorry, Aaron. I'm sorry I hurt you.'
'Is the..... woman here?' he asked falteringly, finding it hard to catch his breath.
'She's ok, Hotch. She escaped.'
'Bringing help .....for you.'
There was a clanging sound above then as the jailer stood on the bars.
'Be quiet down there!' he bellowed, and before Reid was prepares they were sprayed with filthy water. Reid tried to protect Aaron as best he could, but the pressure pushed him over and he landed on his hands. He cried out as loose bones in his wrist moved and the pain shot up his arm to his heart. He rolled onto his back and clutched at his pounding chest. Tears of pain squeezed through closed lids as he fought the pain. Aaron reached out broken fingers to him. Reid lay down beside him and looped his arms over Aaron and hugged him. Aaron pressed back onto Reid and held his hands gently in his. They lay still and hugged each other. Aaron passed out and Reid lay with him confused and afraid of what was going to happen to them now.
-0-0-0-
Julia felt more guilty with each step she took. She had run away from the men that were trying to help her, and even when she had the chance to help them she was too scared to do anything. She was totally exhausted and sat by a tree to rest for a while, but as soon as she was sitting down she fell asleep. She didn't hear the approaching dune buggy or see the two men get off it and approach her.
'What on earth?..........' Morgan said is surprise. 'Look how she's dressed!'
'Certainly not for a walk in the desert.' Rossi said, taking in her thick long skirt and high necked blouse. 'See if you can wake her.'
'Morgan shot him a look as if to say 'Why me?' and gently reached out and shook her shoulder.
'Miss, wake up now. It's not safe for you to be alone out here.'
The girl opened her eyes with a start. She tried to shrink back from him, but she was against the tree and there was no where to go. Morgan stepped back, aware that she was afraid.
'We won't hurt you.' said Rossi. 'Tell us who you are. We can take you somewhere safe.'
'Do you know Spencer?' she asked in a trembling voice.
Morgan put his hand out to help her up. 'We are looking for him and another man. Do you know where they are?'
'It is too late.' She said looking at the ground. 'They have been forgotten.'
'What do you mean? Forgotten?'
'Can you show us?' the older man asked her.
'I have just escaped from there, and I have been running ever since. I do not want to go back, please do not ask me to.'
'Just take us as close as you can, and we'll do the rest.'
They helped her onto the buggy and she sat between them as she guided them across the sand.
'You must stop here.' She said. 'You will not get the car through the forest.'
'Forest?' repeated Morgan. 'What forest?'
'The forest that surrounds our village.'
'There's a village out here?' Dave asked, perplexed. 'We have no record of a village out here.'
'It is a secret village.' she responded gravely. 'No one knows of it but we who live there.'
The buggy stopped and the three alighted.
'See there.' she pointed to the trees that Dave and Morgan could hardly believe they were seeing. 'Those trees are the start of a ring of forest that surrounds our village. Your friends are in the oubliette which is in a low stone and brick building at the edge.' She put her hand on Dave's arm. 'Please, get them out. They are good people.'
She turned from them and walked away back towards the dry hot desert. Dave and Morgan watched her go, both wondering to themselves whether they ought no call her back.
But getting their men out was more important. She was free and they could find her afterwards. They could not force her to stay.
'I'll let Garcia know what we are doing.' Morgan said and took out his phone. 'No service.'
'Then we're on our own.
-0-0-0-
Spencer heard a sound behind him but he didn't look round, He clung onto Hotch vowing he would die before he let anything else happen to him.
But it was not Hotch that they had come for. Two men prised his arms from Hotch and shoved him aside. It was Reid that they wanted. Two held him down on the cold wet ground as the other stripped him.
'You are forgotten – dead. We can do as we please to you. We are deprived of women so we take from you.'
Reid kicked and fought the men, but there were three of them and he didn't really have a chance. But he was not going to let them take what they wanted without a fight.
He glanced over at Hotch, who was lying unmoving where he had been dumped.
If you can survive this, Hotch, then so can I!
He raised his foot and kicked the man who was pulling at his clothes in the eye. He howled in pain and let go of Reid's trousers.
'you might end up winning this battle!' Reid said with dignity, 'But the war you will lose.'
The words earned Reid a punch in the mouth and his head cracked back onto the ground. For a moment he was dazed but that was all the time the third man needed to collect himself and resume ripping Reid's clothes off.
Reid squirmed in the hands of the other two men as his clothes were finally removed. The third man held his ankles and twisted him over onto his front. He sat astride the backs of Reid's knees and leaned forwards, biting at his shoulders and neck. Reid fought still, but his movement was restricted. One of the men had realised he had a broken wrist and every time Reid tried to move, the village elder twisted his wrist.
Reid was determined not to scream, but tears of pain mixed with the dirty water on the floor. His head was pressed down onto the ground as the man on his back raped him, and there was nothing Reid could do to resist.
The pain was unbelievable, and he suddenly knew what Aaron had been going through all the time that he thought he was dead.
Oh god, Aaron I am so sorry – I didn't abandon you. They told me lies – I am sorry!
When the first rapist had finished, he collapsed in exhaustion onto Reid's back and it was the turn of the next one.
This man was vicious. As he raped he bit into Reid's soft skin and drew blood, and the sight of the blood seemed to excite him all the more.
Reid groaned in agony as this man smashed into him, and blood began to flow. Reid tried to be somewhere else but the pain was too much and he just cried.
This man finished quickly and he changed places with the third.
Again, violent crushing movements, and he dug his fingers into the flesh of Reid's underarms, his nails cutting bleeding crescents in his white skin. Reid moaned softly as the man took his time and Reid endured the pain almost in silence so as not to distress Hotch who still hadn't moved.
When the third man had finished, they pushed him aside. Reid curled on his side and rested his head on his forearms.
Slowly he turned to see what they were doing, and to his horror, he saw that they were starting on Aaron again.
This was more than he could take. Intent as they were on their prey, they did not see Reid stagger to his feet. Reid dropped his arms over the head of the man crouching astride Hotch, and yanked him backwards. He pressed his arms together, using the ropes that tied his wrists as leverage. So full of anger was he that he didn't feel the pain of his broken wrist bones grinding together.
The man made gurgling choking sounds and died. The other two were on Reid in seconds, but not quickly enough to save their fellow.
One held Reid while the other beat his naked body. He tried to not make a sound but he couldn't help but cry out as he endured the beating.
A punch to the stomach, and Reid vomited onto the floor. The second was a kick to the groin, and Reid tried to curl forwards but was being held up and could do nothing to relieve the agony. The punch to the face and his mouth filled with blood. He felt his teeth loosen and he coughed blood. The man jabbed him in the solar plexus and took Reid's breath away. As his nervous system reset, and he couldn't breathe, the man chopped Reid in the throat. Reid fainted with the shock, and the man holding him let him drop to the floor, helpless in a bloody and beaten heap.
His face to the side, he forced open his swollen eyes and looked for Hotch. He wanted to get to him before they did anything else to him.
But the two men silently picked up the body of their friend, and climbed the ladder out of the oubliette leaving the beaten men in the filthy hole where they were going to die.
Pain in every movement, Reid dragged himself over the floor to Hotch and wrapped his arms around him and drew him close. Hotch didn't move this time, and soon Reid was unconscious as he held the cold body of his friend.
