The Stolen 9
I don't own these characters; I just like to spend time with them. No other profit to be had.
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Thursday Day into evening
The day had been long and tiring for Kitty. Annie had appeared about an hour after Kitty had woke up with another pot, this one filled with a thin gruel for their breakfast. When she had seen to it that everyone had some, she gathered her pot and, as before, disappeared.
Soon after Annie left, the two men came out of the shack, dragging the girl with them and dumping her on the ground, just inside the entrance. Kitty ran to the girl, helping her to her feet and taking her back to sit beside the barn. Her blood boiled at the bruises she saw on the girl, knowing that they would be the least of her injuries.
Kitty sat down on the ground with the girl's head in her lap, as she tried to talk to her but the girl was inconsolable. Crying softly, she buried her head in Kitty's skirts and refused to respond. Kitty ceased trying. She knew it would do no good. The young women would have to deal with her assault in her own way. The only thing Kitty could do was offer comfort, and a lap to cry on.
Kitty was grateful when the girl finally fell asleep. At least, for a little while, the young woman would find some peace and solace from the traumatic evening before. One of the other girls came up and sat down beside them, looking at the girl.
Reaching over, she gently brushed the hair away from the sleeping girls face. "Her name's Liza," she murmured. "Me and hers from the same town."
Kitty looked over at the young woman. She didn't appear to be much older than the girl in her lap. "And what's your name?" she whispered, so as not to wake the girl in her lap.
"My names Maggie." Her voice reflected the sadness and pain in her features. "They hurt her bad didn't they?" she asked as her gaze returned to Liza.
Kitty nodded. "Yes they did." She answered regretfully.
Maggie continued to gaze at Liza for a moment then looked up with frightened eyes at Kitty. "They gonna do that to all ah us?"
Kitty remained quiet for a moment, not wanting to answer. She knew what lay in store for these women and girls, for her, but she didn't want to say it. Finally she shook her head and laid a comforting hand on the girls arm. "Maggie, I don't want you to worry about it. I don't know what these men have in mind, but I do know there will be people out looking for us. What we have to do, is just hang on, keep our heads up and wait for them to find us."
Maggie looked at that, hope replacing fear in her eyes. "You really think they'll be people coming to rescue us?"
Kitty nodded. "Sure." She pasted on a smile for the girls benefit.
Maggie nodded and then looked mournfully back down at Liza. "Sure wisht they had ah gotten here before she was took."
Kitty kept her thoughts to her self, as Maggie got up and walked away back towards where the other women sat.
As she watched her go Kitty looked at the other women in the enclosure with her. Most of them appeared to be just girls, no more than 20 at the most. There were a few older women, but Kitty noticed that all of them were very pretty. Apparently Manley's men had been very selective in their choice of victims.
'Victim', the word made her angry. She had never thought of herself as a victim of anything. Though there had been times, things had happened that she had no control of, she had always held her head up and refused to be helpless.
Glancing around her now though, she realized that was exactly what she currently was. Helpless. If those men came for her she knew she'd have little chance of fighting them off, and even if they didn't, she'd still stand little chance of keeping herself from being sold to someone just like Manley.
Her mind returned to Matt. The thought of him gave her strength, though she still had mixed feelings about his coming. She wanted him there, more than anything, at the same time she was afraid for him.
Shaking her head, she once again tried to think of a way to escape, but she realized it would now be harder than she had at first thought. Where before she had only herself to think of, now she had all of these other women to think of. She knew if she were to find a way out, she couldn't leave them behind. Just looking down at the bruises, clearly visible on Liza, she knew she couldn't do that at all.
A couple hours later Liza woke. Maggie and a couple of other girls had gathered her up and took her out of the heat, and inside what was left of the barn, leaving Kitty alone with her thoughts, which were currently going in circles. Watching Manley ride out, Kitty breathed a small sigh of relief even as she knew he'd be back.
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Matt and Tom arrived at the designated spot exactly at 5 pm. Though they knew they were being followed, they carried on as though they knew nothing.
Matt made a show of looking around the place innocently. "You sure this is the place, Jack?" he asked in a loud voice using the alias assigned to his partner.
Tom nodded as he walked up to stand beside him. "Sure am, Mike" Tom replied using Matt's alias. "Don't see no one around though. Maybe we're late."
"You ain't late," a gruff voice said from behind them.
Turning, the two men found a man riding up behind them.
"We're supposed to meet a businessman out here." Matt said eyeing the man suspiciously. "You don't much look like a businessman."
The man laughed. "Naw, don't guess I do" he chuckled. "Names Manley. If I ain't mistaken you two must be Dawson and Hines."
Matt nodded. "I'm Dawson, he's Hinds." He pointed to Tom.
Manley grinned. "Zeke said one of ya was a big man. Guess he weren't wrong in that."
'He told us a few things about you as well," Matt spoke up. "Don't look like he was wrong there either."
Manley broke out into laughter. "I can guess what that was."
He studied the two men for a moment longer, before he turned his horse around and kicked him up. "Let's go" he said.
Matt and Tom glanced at each other than mounted and followed.
TBC
gruel/ˈgruəl/ [groo-uhl] noun - a light, usually thin, cooked cereal made by boiling meal, especially oatmeal, in water or milk.