Captivity – Day 3: Saturday, May 6th, 2017
09:15 GMT+7 (02:15 GMT May 6th)
The B-52
Craig and Jennifer
Jennifer was getting annoyed.
She wanted to do something, but neither of them had any idea of how to rescue their imprisoned friends. It had taken five of them to rescue one person, so two would struggle to free four. She just hated the inactivity, although the rest was a relief. Craig was showing improvement from a medical point of view each day, which was a major relief. However, the commander was suffering psychologically; the commander blamed himself for the incarceration of his friends. Ignoring the gloomy commander, Jennifer set herself daily tasks to keep herself busy. One of those tasks was to patrol the area to ensure that they were still safe.
Therefore, that morning, she had awoken, nipped outside to pee, checked that the commander was okay, eaten some chocolate from her ration pack, and then grabbed her assault rifle all before she headed out into the jungle. The weather was typical: hot, humid, damp, and humid. The B-52 was fairly comfortable, to be honest, as it was cool within the aluminium skin but the moment you stepped outside, you were instantly soaked to the skin by the humidity – and then there were the bugs. Jennifer hated bugs, but the little blighters appeared to like her sweet blood. To get her mind off the 'little blighters', Jennifer focused on her task. Systematically, she searched the area around the B-52D wreckage in increasing circles out to about one hundred metres. That was a large area to search – about seven acres – and took her about three hours of trudging through mud, swampy water, and trees. She would stop regularly and simply listen to the area around her, listening for any movement or anything at all. Every fifteen minutes, she would check in with Craig via an encrypted secure radio channel using different frequencies to those originally issued to Mindy and her team.
It was her third walk around the area since they had arrived at the B-52, so certain places were becoming familiar to her. That also meant that she noticed when something was amiss, or when something had changed. That morning, she saw a boot print where none had existed the previous morning. It was fairly fresh, too, but what did surprise her was the size of the boot print. It was a lot smaller than she would have expected to find from a boot belonging to a Cambodian soldier – a tourist maybe? Probably not – there were no signs of other boot prints. Curiosity got the better of Jennifer and she headed in the direction the boot print indicated, her weapon raised before her. After another twenty minutes, Jennifer found more boot prints, although they looked like somebody had slipped or stumbled.
A little further on, Jennifer stopped dead. There, in the mud, she could see somebody crawling. The movements were spasmodic, and the person was struggling. As she had earlier thought, she correctly identified that it was not a Cambodian soldier. In fact, it appeared to be a child, but something was off. The clothing was very worn and very muddy. The 'child' also wore a pistol belt with a pistol butt readily visible in the holster over her right hip. There was also a large knife visible hanging over her left thigh. As Jennifer approached, the child rolled over and feverishly reached for the pistol. It was probably a girl underneath all the mud which covered her face and any exposed skin. The girl pulled her pistol – Jennifer's mind recognised it as a Chinese Type 54 pistol – but Jennifer was able to easily kick the pistol out of the girl's hands. The girl tried for her knife before giving up, tears spilling into the mud covering her face.
The girl then passed out.
10:40 GMT+7 (03:40 GMT May 6th)
The Jungle
Chloe
She could not believe what was happening to her.
As she raced through the swamp, she tried to put things into perspective, but her brain would not work properly after the harsh treatment of the previous days, and she just saw the obvious – that she was free.
That morning, she had been hauled from her cage; she had struggled, but she had been easily subdued by a few cracks from a rattan across her bare backside. The humiliation stung as much as the strike. She hated it. She really could not take much more of the abuse and the torment. As she was walked through the camp, she found herself being moved away from the usual places of abuse and she was stopped beside a large six-wheeled army truck.
"Get in."
Two words – but Chloe complied, climbing up into the truck and sitting down on the steel floor. Then, much to her surprise, clothing was thrown at her and the truck started to move as a man swung up to sit on one of the long benches which ran down the sides of the truck bed facing inwards. The man leered at Chloe's naked body for a moment before speaking.
"You dress."
Chloe hesitated but then she grabbed the trousers and a top – neither were her size, but they were better than nothing. Both items of clothing were made form a rough material, maybe local linen, Chloe surmised. Chloe was relieved to be covered up for the first time in days, but she was confused, very confused. The truck slowed slightly as it negotiated the turn outside the main gates of the camp and Chloe could not believe that she was away from the camp – she never wanted to see the damn place again. After a few minutes, the truck stopped, and the man grinned.
"You are free – go."
"My friends...," Chloe began.
"Go!"
Chloe jumped off the back of the truck and after a brief look around, she took off, running in a westerly direction, diving into the jungle.
10:45 GMT+7 (03:45 GMT May 6th)
The B-52
Craig and Jennifer
It took Jennifer half an hour to lug the girl most of the way back to the B-52.
She was met fifty metres out by Craig who she had notified by radio. He was shocked to see what Jennifer was lugging, but he dutifully helped carry the youngster the last stretch and then up inside the B-52. Craig instantly took custody of the pistol, a knife, several magazines of 7.62-millimetre ammunition, and several other items of bladed weaponry. Jennifer began to check the girl over, starting with her head and face, washing off the mud with small amounts of fresh water and baby wipes. The girl was still out of it, muttering unintelligibly. Finding no head injury, Jennifer began to strip the girl, her mind racing to find out what was wrong with the girl. So many things could cause the girl to collapse in the jungle – a lot of them fatal. Jennifer also had an identity – she had seen the tattoo behind the girl's right ear which matched that of her own two daughters, and countless other abused youngsters.
"What the fuck!" Craig exclaimed as he went through the girl's clothing once Jennifer had removed each item.
Jennifer turned to see Craig holding what had to be part of a snake.
"Holy shit! She's been bitten – I have anti-venom in my kit; see if you can identify the snake while I find the wound."
Jennifer began to rip off the remainder of the girl's clothing. The girl was not wearing a bra, despite having the need for one, and her panties were also non-existent. The girl's skin was in a very bad state, not to mention her feet by the time Jennifer got down there. Then she found it – just in the right calf; two puncture holes and some bruising.
"Here," Craig announced. "Malaysian Pit Viper it was."
Jennifer injected the anti-venom close to the original wound and then went back to cleaning the girl from head to foot.
"She's about fourteen, I'd say, maybe fifteen," Jennifer said as she continued to examine the young girl. "I'd say she's been hanging around this damn jungle for many months – her feet have suffered, but she's looked after them reasonably well. She has a urine infection which must be very painful – I have antibiotics and cream for that. Under this dirt, there's bruises, cuts and scrapes, but nothing serious that I can find. She needs rest and rehydration."
Jennifer proceeded to inject an antibiotic into the girl's right arm before hanging up an IV drip and inserting the needle into the girl's left arm and taping it in place. She then spread various different creams over different parts of the girl's body before covering up the otherwise naked girl with a towel as she lay on another towel, on the floor of the upper deck.
"Okay – now what?" Jennifer asked Craig.
11:35 GMT+7 (04:35 GMT May 6th)
The Jungle
Chloe
She was barefoot and the meagre clothing which covered her body was already soaking wet and muddy.
She would slip and fall regularly as she ran for safety. Her mind was racing in its fogged state, trying to figure out where she should go and what she should do once she got to wherever it was. She had no weapons, so she could not fight against men with assault rifles. Her physical condition was middling at best and she figured that even Anne-Marie could put her down right at that moment. She knew that she was not going to be able to get far – she had no supplies . . . nothing.
Her fogged mind was slowing her reactions which allowed her to come around a large mangrove tree and straight into the path of a four-man patrol. However, Shadow took over and she put down two of the men within a few seconds and she was moving onto the third when Chloe felt herself shoved to the ground and she found a man grinning down at her. The man pinned her to the muddy ground before Chloe felt a hand at her groin followed by her trousers being yanked down her thighs. She felt the muddy ground on her backside and she began to shake with fear.
The man fumbled at his own trousers and as Chloe looked downwards, she screamed out as she saw the man's erect penis poised between her legs.
..._...
Chloe screamed as she felt the tip of the man's member touching her inner left thigh and edging closer to her labia.
Then, without warning, the man's head was violently twisted around, and he was gone. Chloe could hear scuffling, and she heard a brief cry of pain from a soldier, then silence. Chloe scrambled to her feet, pulling up her trousers. She was surprised to see a young girl, maybe two years or so younger than herself. The girl wore badly fitting Colombian military fatigues and combat boots. She held one of the soldiers' Type 56-2 assault rifles and she appeared familiar with how the weapon functioned and how to use it. Chloe took a stab in the dark as she studied the brown-haired girl.
"I don't suppose you know where I can find the neighbourhood Predator, would ya?"
The girl scowled.
"Who are you and what the bloody hell are you doing out here?" the girl demanded.
"I'm Chloe, and I've been a prisoner of the Russians – they're busy fucking with me – you?"
"I'm Freya."
"What are you doing out here?" Chloe asked.
"Long story – now, let's get the fuck out of here."
Freya turned to the north and she began to run through the mangroves. Chloe followed suit, momentarily losing sight of the other girl. As Chloe came around a large tree, she stopped dead. Freya was out cold on the ground, her body half in the swamp. Men came out of the undergrowth and they aimed their weapons at Chloe. Chloe simply sobbed as she sank to her knees in the murky waters of the mangrove. It had all been a hideous trick and she had fallen for it, providing entertainment for the men as she had run through the swamps and forests in the earnest belief that she might have been able to make her escape. Chloe's delicately balanced mind snapped, and she began to shake with real fear, sobbing at the futility of it all. She looked up at the grinning senior sergeant as the bastard rammed the butt of his assault rifle into the side of her head.
Everything went black.
Captivity – Day 4: Sunday, May 7th
05:07 GMT+7 (22:07 GMT May 6th)
The B-52
Jennifer and Craig
The girl awoke screaming.
Jennifer was there in an instant and she dropped down beside the girl who had sat up and was looking around, a very confused expression on her face as she stared into the darkness.
"Calm down – you're safe," Jennifer said soothingly.
"Where am I?"
"What's your name, honey?"
"My name?" the girl responded. "I'm Ariana."
"You were bitten by a snake – do you remember?"
"I think so," Ariana responded, her tone uncertain.
"How long have you been in the jungle?"
"I don't know – what's the date?"
"May 7th, 2017."
Ariana considered that before responding.
"I've been out here for almost a year, I suppose."
"Okay, Ariana, I think you had better lie down and get some more rest, okay?"
Ariana took a brief look at the IV in her arm and she laid back down again, her eyes closing, and she quickly fell back to sleep.
11:07 GMT+7 (04:07 GMT May 7th)
The Camp
Dave
It was as if they did not exist.
Nobody came for them that morning.
Dave was very concerned because neither Joshua nor Chloe had returned the previous evening and they were still missing when he had woken up at dawn. Mindy was there, sleeping off the clubbing she had received the previous afternoon. She had looked spectacular as she had raced across the camp, assault rifle in hand – not to mention completely naked.
Only, it had not quite gone according to whatever plan Mindy had intended.
11:15 GMT+7 (04:15 GMT May 7th)
Mindy
Mindy awoke with a splitting headache.
She rolled over and she banged her head against the hard bamboo.
"Fucking hell!" she exclaimed, and Dave chuckled. "I am so pissed off; I don't know where to fucking start!" she growled menacingly. "Why the fuck does my head hurt so fucking much?"
"You were blindsided," Dave explained. "Some bastard caught you with his rifle and clubbed you in the side of the head."
"Oh, yeah – it's starting to come back to me," Mindy commented sourly. "I'm hungry – but . . . maybe not that hungry."
Mindy grimaced at the maggot-infested rice in her bowl.
"Fuck it!" she exclaimed as she downed the rice in three quick mouthfuls.
Dave chuckled as Mindy washed the rice down with the water from her cup.
"Are they at their morning torture?" Mindy asked Dave, indicating the missing pair.
Dave cringed.
"They never came back last night."
"Shit."
11:27 GMT+7 (04:27 GMT May 7th)
The B-52
Jennifer and Craig . . . and Ariana
Ariana awoke feeling like she had actually slept for the first time in months.
"You look better," Jennifer said. "I'm Jen, by the way."
"Hi – I feel better."
"I'm Craig, Ariana – pleased to meet you."
"A Brit and a Yank?"
"Long story," Jennifer replied with a grin.
"I owe you my life – when that snake bit me, I thought I was a gonna. How am I, Doc?"
"Well, considering that you are still alive, and your leg hasn't dropped off, then it appears that the anti-venom has worked," Jen replied causing Ariana to grin. "You have a urinary infection, but I gave you an injection of antibiotics last night and applied some cream to your more delicate areas."
Ariana's cheeks went a little red, but she did not comment.
"Here, I'll give you another shot of antibiotics and take out that drip."
..._..
Once Ariana was unplugged from the drip, Jennifer helped the young girl to dress.
"So, it's true, is it?" Craig asked the girl.
"What?" the girl and Jennifer asked together.
"Are you the 'devil' whom the locals tell stories about?"
Ariana blushed slightly.
"I have developed a slight reputation, I will admit," Ariana replied.
"You appear to be part of the local folklore, young lady," Craig commented.
"បិសាច," Ariana breathed to herself. {The Devil}
"You speak Khmer?"
"I've picked up a bit, here and there, sir."
Craig nodded approvingly.
11:40 GMT+7 (04:40 GMT May 7th)
The Camp
Chloe
She felt really cold and as she began to regain conscious thought, she felt herself shivering.
As her eyes became accustomed to the bright light above her, she found herself in a small concrete cell. She was lying on the bare concrete, still wearing the linen trousers and top which she had worn in the jungle. The clothing was tattered and muddy, but it gave no warmth whatsoever. Then her leg brushed against something and she found that she was not alone – the girl, Freya, lay beside her. She wore basically the same clothing she had been wearing the day before, only her jacket and boots were missing. A vicious bruise was visible on the girl's left cheek, indicating how she had been put down. Chloe tried to playback in her mind the previous day's events, but she could not make sense of them. The door to the cell burst open, and two Russian privates appeared. They made directly for the girl.
Freya was dragged out of the cell, screaming, genuine fear etched across her face.
Комната K
Freya
The girl had fought all the way down the concrete corridor.
However, the moment that she had seen the highly polished double doors, the girl had lost all colour in her face and she had struggled like her life depended on it – which it probably did. The two soldiers dumped the girl onto the carpet, hurting her. Freya jumped to her feet in a futile attempt to escape. She never saw the fist which struck her in the back. The two privates jumped out of the way as Freya fell forward, crashing to the carpet. She was grabbed and thrown across the room by the 'benevolent' senior sergeant. Freya landed on the carpet and she rolled into the colonel's wooden desk, screaming as her back struck the solid desk.
"Hello, Freya," Colonel Dimitri Petrovich Priabin said as he looked down at the fourteen-year-old girl.
"I did everything you asked!" Freya screamed out, tears of pain and fear streaming down her face.
"You killed two soldiers," Priabin pointed out.
"One tried to rape that girl – he deserved to die."
"I suppose he did," Priabin conceded with a wave of his hand. "Remember, we own you. Your life is ours, Freya."
"Я понимаю, ублюдок!" Freya growled. {I understand, motherfucker!}
Priabin grabbed the girl by her T-shirt and he lifted her upwards with ease before bringing her down and taking the side of her head off his desk. The girl was out cold as her body was allowed to fall to the carpet.
"Возьмите ее одежду и отправьте суку в клетку," Priabin ordered. {Take her clothes and send the bitch to the cage.}
12:00 GMT+7 (05:00 GMT May 7th)
The Cages
Dave and Mindy
Dave perked up as he heard excited chatter from the soldiers.
A group of soldiers were moving towards them, laughing. Then they spread apart beside a large muddy puddle. Dave noticed that two of the soldiers were carrying something. That something was dropped to the ground and as the soldiers began to remove clothing, Dave was surprised to see that it was a girl. The soldiers stripped the unconscious girl naked before they rolled her into the muddy puddle. Almost immediately, the girl came around and she began to splutter as she resurfaced, muddy water streaming from her hair. One of the soldiers grabbed the naked girl and he dragged her up to the cages, throwing her into the cage at the end, beside Mindy. The girl lay on the muddy ground, covered in mud, sobbing for several minutes before she finally sat up and looked around her.
Mindy offered an encouraging smile to the youngster who she thought could only have been about fourteen or so. The girl appeared a little surprised to see two naked people in the cages alongside her, however, she made no overt effort to cover up her body from Dave or anybody else.
"Hi, I'm Mindy, and this is Dave."
"Freya."
Mindy tried to place the accent – it was very plain . . . British maybe? Freya frowned as she saw Mindy studying her.
"Can you turn around, Freya?"
"Why?"
"Face the far side of the cage, please."
"You wanting to checkout my bottom?"
Mindy simply twirled the first finger of her right hand in a circle pointing downwards. Freya sighed as she turned to face the opposite side of her cage.
"Pull your hair away from your right ear so we can see behind it," Mindy directed.
"What the bloody hell for?" Freya demanded, her head snapping around to face Mindy.
Mindy repeated the same signal with her right hand and Freya reluctantly turned her head back. She reached behind her head with her left hand and seized her hair, pulling it across her back so it hung over her left shoulder. With her right hand, she bent her right ear forward. Dave and Mindy exchanged a look.
"Thank you, Freya," Dave said, and the girl released her hair.
"It's just a tattoo, nothing special," Freya stated.
The expressions on the faces of Dave and Mindy combined appeared to commiserate with Freya and there was obvious sorrow in Mindy's expression.
"You know what my tattoo means?" Freya ventured.
"We do," Dave replied.
"Oh."
16:00 GMT+7 (09:00 GMT May 7th)
Freya
She could not believe how bad her life had turned out.
For five years, she had endured what she could only describe as hell on earth, however, she had somehow found something even worse – a year in a jungle hell. The previous day had been the first fresh air she had felt in a very long time. It had also been the first time she had killed in over eight months. Spending six months in a concrete cell, pissing and shitting in a bucket, living on limited rations – it had all degraded the girl and no matter how good she was at suppressing her emotions and controlling her mental state, she was still a child and that had allowed the degrading treatment to gradually gnaw away at her and, in turn, it had reduced her to a nervous, useless wreck. Then, one morning – at least she thought it had been morning; it was so difficult to keep track when you lived underground – she had been hauled before that Russian bastard and her life had taken yet another step down into the seemingly bottomless pit of hell. That single event had finally broken her, and she had finally given in and ceased her resistance to everything.
The girl's mind was in torment at what she was doing.
She knew right from wrong, just as every child did, only, what she was being made to do was simply evil.
18:00 GMT+7 (11:00 GMT May 7th)
Mindy
As darkness fell, there was still no sign of Chloe and Joshua.
Mindy was beyond worried. Having them in sight, despite their injuries, was infinitely better than not knowing if they were even alive. Things were beginning to get out of control and Mindy was worried that they might never leave the jungle hellhole. Worse, someone might even die . . . Mindy was determined not to let that happen. Her mind had been constantly coming up with ideas and plans to escape – so far, none were suitable, not to mention the aborted run with the assault rifle while naked. Of all the things that she had done in her life, spending half a week stark naked was the strangest – and most annoying . . . not to mention, disturbing. Her mind kept drifting back to her friends and her family – she hoped that they remained safe. She worried about her children, especially Stephanie; how was she coping knowing that they were missing?
"Don't do anything stupid, Steph," Mindy grinned.
Sunday, May 7th
08:00 GMT-6 (14:00 GMT May 7th)
Glenview
Chicago, USA
Stephanie was about to do something stupid.
Only, she was not alone.
"What are you two doing?" Marcus demanded as he caught the two girls on the stairs leading up from the basement – and the armoury.
"Somebody has to fucking do something!" Stephanie blurted out.
"What she said," Megan added.
"I ought to smack your damn heads together!" Marcus yelled. "Actually, I will."
Before either girl could escape, Marcus grabbed both of them with his strong hands and he brought their heads together. Both girls screamed out in pain and Marcus released them. The man ignored the hurt looks from his daughter and granddaughter as he glared at them both.
"I know you both want to help them, but there is nothing that two young girls can do, okay," Marcus said calmly.
"I just want to help," Stephanie stated, anguish evident on her face.
"I know, Steph, believe me, I know. I've been through this with Mindy. I miss her like nothing on earth. I may have had misgivings about Dave in the early days, but he is like a son to me, the same with Joshua, and Chloe is like a daughter. It will be hard, girls, but Mindy always comes back and she never leaves anyone behind, you both know that."
Stephanie tried to say something, but instead she just crumpled into Marcus, hugging him tightly, shaking with the sobs which were tearing her apart.
Captivity – Day 5: Monday, May 8th
04:00 GMT+7 (21:00 GMT May 7th)
The Camp, Cambodia
Chloe
It was the same again, and it was getting worse than the actual torture.
Once the girl had been taken – she had never returned, Chloe had noticed with unease – she had seen, nor heard, anybody. It was like she had been forgotten. No food had arrived – not that Chloe missed the meagre rice dish which tasted so bland, she wished for anything to add just the minutest amount of flavour. She really missed the water, though – no matter how tepid and manky it was; she was parched. The day before, she had shouted herself hoarse trying to get the attention of anybody. She had been forced to piss down the drain in the centre of the floor which was only minorly better than pissing in the mud of your tiny cage. Sleeping had not been easy as the overhead light was never turned off. Chloe had cried herself to sleep, worrying about Joshua, Dave, and Mindy, not to mention her Rebecca.
She had awoken sometime later – how long, Chloe had no idea. She was starving, and she craved attention, but nobody came. She simply sat and cried. Chloe Bennett had sunk lower than she had ever sunk before. She was alone, and she had no idea how – or if – she was ever going to make it home to her family. She could not take any more torture. She could take any more humiliation. She just wanted to be home.
Her thoughts simply repeated themselves, over and over again, as she wallowed in her sorrow.
08:15 GMT+7 (01:10 GMT May 8th)
Dave, Mindy, and Freya
Another day dawned.
Dave and Mindy awoke to the usual sounds of an army camp starting a new day. Their new companion had not slept well, and the girl had huddled into a back corner of her cage, sobbing several times during the night. Yet again, they all appeared to be ignored. Dave and Mindy had received their rations the previous evening, but Freya had not. Mindy was still trying to figure out the new girl – she was obviously a Predator and suffering badly. It actually got Mindy thinking about how far around the world the Predators were. What was the girl doing in the Cambodian jungle? Mindy could not comprehend any reason for the girl to be there, and it had been a full year since Urban Predator had fallen, meaning that the girl had to have been in Asia for the past year. The girl was thinner than she should have been, but she appeared to be a good-looking girl, although the mud hid most of her features.
With nothing better to do as the heat built, Mindy lay down and she closed her eyes.
09:23 GMT+7 (02:23 GMT May 8th)
The B-52
Jennifer, Craig, and Ariana
"Help!"
Jennifer rushed up from outside, finding Ariana sitting on the upper deck, a concerned expression on her face. She bit her lip and she looked up at Craig who had appeared from the cockpit. Jennifer figured that Ariana did not want to say anything in front of the commander.
"Craig – a minute, please?"
Craig headed down below without a moment's hesitation.
"Please tell me you've got a tampon?" Ariana whispered.
Jennifer grinned as she dug around in her pack, producing three wrapped items. The look of intense relief on Ariana's face was moving as the teen grabbed the tampons, shoving two into a pocket while she shoved her trousers down around her ankles and she ripped open the tampon packaging before pushing the item up inside her vagina, removing the applicator.
"That is such a relief – it's been sodding months since I had anything to soak up the blood."
"I have never seen anybody so happy about a tampon," Jennifer laughed as the young girl blushed.
"Am I well enough to move yet?"
"Let's give it another day and then we'll see," Jennifer suggested.
"Yes, doc."
19:15 GMT+7 (12:15 GMT May 8th)
Dave, Mindy, and Freya
Another day had waned.
Ominously, there was still no sign of Chloe or Joshua. On a positive note, Freya received a meal along with Dave and Mindy. Otherwise, it had been yet another day with nothing happening. Dave spent the time resting and easing his muscles for an hour before launching into an hour of flexing his muscles as much as he could within his cage. Mindy did the same, keeping her body as fit as possible despite the cramped accommodation. Out of the corner of her eye, Mindy noticed Freya watching them both. Mindy had been able to tell that the girl had been broken – the eyes could tell so much to someone who knew what to look for. However, Freya began to duplicate Mindy's actions and once or twice, Mindy saw a miniscule smile forming. Mindy knew just what it was like to feel like you had lost everything. Mindy knew from bitter personal experience what it felt like to have nothing to live for.
That was what Mindy saw in Freya and Mindy wanted to do something about it.
Captivity – Day 6: Tuesday, May 9th
09:35 GMT+7 (02:35 GMT May 9th)
Joshua
Despite it having been a little over seventy-two hours, Joshua had no idea how many days had passed – one, two . . . ten, twenty?
He had lost track of the day/night cycle, being trapped underground and he had lost track of when he had eaten and when he had slept. He did know that he was very hungry and very thirsty. He had been pissing and shitting in a small bucket, becoming blind to the smell in which he lingered. Above ground, he had been thankful that they were allowed to shit somewhere else – a muddy, shitty hole which emptied directly into the stinking cesspit with which Joshua was so intimately familiar.
Joshua knew what they were doing. They were trying to wear him down by changing his routine. They were feeding him randomly and the light would go on and off at random times. His body clock was totally screwed up by the variations. At one stage, Joshua was certain that he had been fed three times within a single hour, but then they had not fed him for a lot longer. The same with the light. He would fall asleep when the light went off but awaken minutes later when the light came back on. As such, he was very tired. Finally, though, somebody actually came and talked to him.
"I think," the senior sergeant said simply. "You need a shower."
..._...
Twenty minutes later, Joshua was shivering, and he thought that he might never be warm again.
His body shook violently as freezing water pelted onto his back. They had strapped him in a doubled-over position to a bench and then turned on a showerhead directly above him. The water was so cold that every part of his body was affected, and he could barely feel the water pounding his back as his skin had turned numb with the cold. The water kept on for only ten minutes, but Joshua had no idea of the time and it had felt like an age by the time the showerhead had been shut off and he had been untied. The young man had stumbled as they had led him a few feet away to a chair beside a table and dumped him down.
"Tell me, you little bastard," the senior sergeant had yelled. "Where did you come from and who else is out there?"
Joshua had been unable to talk as his teeth had chattered out of control. All Joshua was able to do was slowly lift his right hand and then his middle finger before he collapsed onto the table top.
Joshua never really felt the fist which put him out cold.
11:17 GMT+7 (04:17 GMT May 9th)
Chloe
Her eyes had struggled with the harsh sunlight, but the warmth of the sun on her bare back had been a relief – they had stripped her of her meagre clothing before leaving her concrete cell.
At first, she had expected to see her friends, but no. It was to be Chloe's turn to visit the stinking cesspit and the moment the putrid smell reached her nostrils, she began to struggle. She had seen what it had done to Mindy. She had seen what it had done to Joshua. She did not want to suffer like that. The torment was really getting to her, and she had no idea how much more she could endure before she folded and broke completely. She just wanted to go home. She wanted to hug her little girl. She wanted to be with her friends. She wanted to be safe. The deprivations, the humiliations – she had had enough. The Cambodian soldiers ignored Chloe's sobbing as they forced her to lie down on the bare ground below the aluminium frame. Chloe gave up struggling as her wrists were bound and after a short while, she felt the frame move, lifting her upper body off the ground, followed by her butt and then her legs.
As she looked forlornly down at the ground, she saw the many eyes gazing up at her. It was all too much. She began to reconsider who she was and as she wallowed in her own sorrow and fear, her mind conjured up horrible visions of her future. She had never felt so low – never. As she had sunk downwards, she had seen the cesspit coming closer and closer. Then her feet had sunk into the murky depths and she had begun to shake. The shaking had only got worse as the muck had risen up her legs and then reached her thighs, then her stomach and on up to her breasts before finally stopping at her neck. The smell was putrid and unbearable so close. The feeling of the gloopy substance on her skin was beyond comprehension, not to mention the leeches which her mind was telling her were attaching themselves to her body and sucking her blood. As she struggled to breathe, her mind began to wander, and she saw visions of her family, including a vision of her young daughter.
"Becky, I love you," Chloe muttered as she passed out.