Murder in the Forest, Chapter Four
Note: This is a Mature story. Just a reminder.
Courtney Cassidy groaned and shook her head. She was groggy, but registered faintly that another girl's voice was calling her name. It took awhile for the words to register, as her consciousness cleared.
"Go away," she murmured, coiling into a fetal position. She gradually realized that she was restrained and shook her head to clear it as the voice called again.
"Courtney, damn it, wake up! How much of that drug did they give you?!"
Courtney registered what the voice was saying now and she sat up looking around, trying to take in her surroundings. She tried to lift her hands to her throbbing head and realized that she was handcuffed, the cuffs fastened to a chain around her waist. It took only a brief moment after that for her to wake fully and also register that she was nude and that her ankles were also chained and that there was a chain from the center link in the ankle chain, connected to a large iron ring in a cement floor! She was in a cell with fenced walls, the sort of thing that one might find in industrial fencing, with metal posts supporting strong wire fencing. The fence reached to the ceiling of her room, a height of about eight feet. There were no windows, and there was a solid wall behind her and on one side. The fence ran in front and on one side and she noticed now that there was a section of fence that provided a partition between her and another girl also confined here. The solid wall was again in place on the far side of that girl, and each had a mattress and a cheap blanket. There were no clothes in sight; the other girl being as bare as she was. She grasped that they wore earrings about the time that she was able to distinguish what the other girl was saying.
"Courtney! Can you understand me? This is Melissa Winters! We were in high school together? Can you hear me? Dammit, wake up! They gave me drugs when I was brought here, too, but it took me only maybe ten minutes to recover once I opened my eyes. Are you okay? Answer me! I see you moving."
Courtney shook her head and focused on the other girl, thinking what she'd said and the name she'd given. "Yeah, okay, Melissa. We were cheerleaders together, but you were a grade behind me. You want to be an actress someday. I remember now. Where the hell are we? What's happening, and where are our clothes?"
Melissa sighed in relief. "Okay, I'll tell you everything, but please sit up and try to listen. The men who took us are going to be back in here soon to take me for a walk, or so they promised. They let me go outside a time or two a day if no one is around. They chain me differently and I have to wear a round ball gag thing and a blindfold, but I can feel the sun and breathe fresh air. They said when they brought you in that you can take a walk, too, beginning tomorrow, if you please them."
Courtney stared at the other girl, remembering her face now. Yeah, okay, Melissa, the wannabe actress. Her head was clearing rapidly now, and she wanted answers.
"Where are we and who has us? The news said that you went missing about a week ago. The cops said there was no way to tell if you were kidnapped, were lost in the woods, or were just a runaway. What on earth is going on here?"
"Okay," repeated Melissa. "Just listen and ask questions after I brief you. I can tell you most of it. First, I was kidnapped on my way to the library. I graduated the year after you did and I'm in junior college now. I'm like, a Drama major, okay? But taking all the usual classes required for most degrees. Whatever. Anyway, these guys, two of them, just walked out from between other cars and turned me around and one tied my wrists behind me with cord while the other held me with a hand over my mouth. Then one stuck a needle in my arm, telling me to hold still so I wouldn't get hurt by either them or the needle. They said that it'd put me to sleep, whatever drug they gave me. It did, and I woke up here, naked like we are now, and chained this way.
"I was left alone until they were sure I was awake, I guess. Then they came in and made me kneel in front of them and told me that I was a prisoner and that if I wanted to live, I had to obey them. They told me that I could be a live slave or a dead brat. That's what they said. I could hardly believe my ears and I told them off, big-time. I mean I come from a good family. I was a cheerleader and I'm popular on campus. Even my teachers like me, except for old Mrs. Ryan and I think she hates my guts because I'm young and cute, like she does other girls I could name. My dad is a doctor! Mom is in the social register. We host parties for important people. Who were they to just grab me off the street and strip me and make these threats? What the hell did they mean by that slave stuff? This isn't ancient Rome or modern Arabia or wherever they still keep girls like that! "
"So what's the deal now?" demanded Courtney. "What are they going to do with us? Sell us in the Middle East? To some drug lord? You've been here a week? What have you learned? What do they make you do?"
Melissa blushed scarlet. "Courtney, this isn't going to please you, but you're going to find out and they told me to tell you, anyway, so they'd have to answer fewer questions.
"I've had to, uh, please them, doing what they said. I refused at first. See that ring hanging from the ceiling above you? There's one in my section of this cell, too. Well, they tied my wrists up there and whipped me until I thought I couldn't scream any louder or longer. They told me to scream all I liked, because no one was going to hear me. We're somewhere pretty remote. That's why they let me out in the sun sometimes. No one's going to see, right? Anyway, that whip stings like a swarm of hornets. It doesn't leave marks on you for long. They told me that they don't want to mark girls; just make them comply. And the louder I screamed, well, they started laughing. They enjoyed it; thought it was funny!
"You may as well know now that they said that you're going to be whipped, too, at least once, to let you see that they can do it and have you experience what it feels like. And they have this hole in the floor in another room. It's all icky and they say that rats may be able to get in there through the sewer, maybe even snakes. They locked me down there; all curled up in that confined space with the steel grille locked above my head. I was in there for almost three hours and when they came back to tell me that I was going to be whipped again and then put back in that horrid little cramped space for the rest of the night…I told them that I'd do what they wanted; not to hurt me or abuse me anymore. I was terrified, okay? Before you judge me, wait and see how you feel after they do that stuff to you! And they had worse, stuff that we can talk about later. But I bet you aren't any better than me or most girls. You'll do what they want, too. Don't judge me until you meet them. These guys are 'way scary. But if you do what they want, they don't hurt you and if you perform what they want well enough, you get a piece of chocolate or a soda or some fruit, things like that."
"What if they don't like the way you do something?" asked Courtney, dreading the answer. "And what do they want you to do?"
Melissa blushed again and walked over to the partition between them, the limit of the chains on her feet. "Courtney, this is going to be awful, but it's what we have to do. They told me that if I didn't obey soon, they'd kill me and take another girl. I think they mean it. You'll be in the same boat, I'm sure."
Courtney felt hollow dread in her stomach. "Just what do they want? Sex, I guess?"
Melissa looked down and shrugged. "Yeah, like that was really hard to guess, right? But they like other things. They made me dance for them, too. They knew that I was a cheerleader and that I danced in the senior class musical review. By the way, you remember the scandal when the teachers found out about what Jennifer Fowler promised the football team if they beat Lakeville High? " Jennifer had been a cheerleader with the two captives.
Courtney grimaced and rolled her eyes. "When she told them they'd all get blow jobs from her and Mary Snider? Yeah, Coach Johnson walked in unexpectedly and caught both girls with their clothes off and on their knees in the locker room. They nearly got expelled and so did several players. So? Oh, wait: are you telling me that these guys…"
"Yeah, " blushed Melissa. "We could sure use Jen and Mary here. They'd be a real hit with our captors. Get the picture? Have you ever given a guy one of those? I did it a few times with two guys I dated, but I can't say that I was as experienced as Jen and Mary had the reputation of being. And these bullies make sure that you do it really well, with all sorts of suggestions about just how they want that. If not…" She looked at the ring hanging from the ceiling.
Courtney shuddered. "They whip you?"
Melissa nodded. "Oh, Courtney, I hate that they took you, too. But I'm glad to have company. I just hope we satisfy them. I think they're the creeps who killed those people in the news, the ones where some people think a Bigfoot did it. I've been afraid to ask, but they can be really mean if you try to refuse them whatever they tell you to do. My advice is to give them any thrills they demand and hope they go easy on us. Oh: This is really bad, too. They told me to tell you that if you don't do what they order, we'll both be punished. Not just you. I hate that. But please, for my sake, do what they want. You're going to have to, anyway. They did me by force the first two times. Then, I was tired of that pit in the floor and the whip and their threats and I haven't resisted. We need to keep them happy. I'm truly frightened, the worst I've ever been. Oh: I hope you aren't a virgin? If this had been my first time, it'd probably have been even more traumatic. But I did it with my prom date and a few times later, too "
Courtney replied, "I'm not quite a virgin, I'm afraid, but I'm not the class whore, either. I haven't done it much, so don't believe anything you hear about me because of what I do, my job, I mean. Don't read too much into it. But I wonder if they took me because of where I work."
The blonde girl looked at her curiously. "So, what do you do? I haven't seen you for over a year. I work at an ice cream store."
The Cassidy girl shuffled her chained ankles and cleared her throat. "I, uh, well; I kind of dance three nights a week at Harry's Boobalicious club. Like, I'm a topless dancer. And I give lap dances, too. But I don't screw anybody but guys I really like, mainly one from school. That's how I'm putting myself through college and moving away from home soon, I hope. And the money is pretty good, most nights, especially when tourists or hunters are in town. Same for conventions. But like I said, don't judge me for my job. Several of the girls there are in college. We're not the sluts that some assume that we are."
"Okay," said her new friend. "That's cool, I guess, and if we dance for these horse's rears, it may buy us some time if they maybe are thinking of killing us and moving on."
They heard a rattle at the door at the top of the stairs that led out of the room. A lock turned as keys jingled.
Melissa hissed, "Look out. Here they come. Go kneel on your mattress. Watch how I do it. Please don't do anything to upset them. They're probably going to give you a warm welcome, anyway."
Scared speechless, Courtney did as told, trying to present herself well to whoever came down those stairs. She glanced at her cellmate and tried to mimic the seductive, submissive, open-thighed kneel that she saw there. She hoped desperately that someone had seen something when she was captured and that the police were looking for them now. But she doubted it. Despair rose in her and she began to shiver. She realized with disgust that she was crying. Why me; why us? her mind silently screamed.