by G J Stevens
Despite feeling the bed moving and his shape coming towards me, all I could think of was that I’d seen plenty of full coaches heading one way towards the factory, but never had I seen a coach full of people heading in the other direction.
The coaches arrive full. The coaches leave empty.
They were still there. They were the people I’d seen strapped to the beds.
I took a deep breath and I closed my eyes. I could feel his warmth near me, his torso touching mine. His dick slapped between my legs and I yelped with my arms springing outward. My left hand caught at the side to the sound of glass smashing, followed by a rush of air I soon realised could only mean one thing.
With a sudden brightening of the room, Ally screamed and Frank jumped from the bed. Ally’s hand took mine, pulling me up and I turned to see the bed alight just as she pulled me away.
I’d caught the candle, the wax spilt, soaking into the sheet to make a giant wick. Ally and I backed up to the corner of the room, coughing and spluttering. We held each other tight as Frank first threw the ice bucket over, then sprayed champagne, killing the flames.
He turned back toward us, his face calming and his dick limp.
“Are you okay?” he said, looking at Ally, then me.
“I’m fine,” she replied.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. There was a knock at the door and Frank rushed to the spy hole.
“Everything’s fine,” he shouted through the door. “Just a little accident. Everything's under control.”
He walked to a small bag and pulled a hip flask from inside, unscrewed the lid and took a sip, then passed it to Ally.
I took it from her as she’d finished her gulp.
Frank blew air out. “That was close.”
“What a mood killer,” Ally said, grabbing at our clothes and passing mine over. The room stank of burnt plastic. I pulled on my things.
“I’m really sorry,” I said.
“It was an accident,” Frank replied. “We'll do this someday,” he said, looking back at me.
I forced a smile and nodded.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated as Ally rubbed at my shoulders.
“Don’t worry, but we better get back home,” she said, and I nodded, cowering as she handed over my coat.
Frank kissed each of us on the cheek as we headed out of the door and the waiting car.
Relaxing into the leather seat, I took a deep breath.
“Ally, can I tell you something in private?” I said, switching my look to the driver. I couldn’t wait any longer.
“Of course,” she said, pushing a button on the door handle and a dark pane of glass rose between the driver and the passenger compartments. “What is it?”
“I saw something,” I said, but Ally didn’t react. “I saw something when that guy was ransacking your house.”
Her eyelids gave the tiniest of movements.
“What did you see?” she said, her voice low.
“When he opened those doors in the study...”
“The wardrobe?” she replied.
“It’s not a wardrobe,” I said, taking her hand in mine. “There was a ladder going down through the house, going underground.” I tightened my grip on her hand as she reeled back in surprise.
“A ladder?”
I watched as tears welled in the corner of her eyes.
“Metal rungs set into the wall. A ladder that went down into a room, to a tunnel.”
“You went down there?” she said, wiping the corner of her eyes with the backs of her hands.
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to reassure her. “When I hit the guy with the paperweight,” I watched as she flinched back as I spoke, “he dropped the knife down there and I didn’t feel safe without it. In case he woke up.”
“I thought you said you headbutted him?”
I shook my head.
“But you went down to the tunnel?”
“Yes. And I saw things.”
“What things?” she said, leaning forward and drawing in a deep breath.
“They had these CCTV monitors. The house. The drive. They were all on there. And there were these other rooms.”
“What rooms? What did you see?” she said slowly, leaning back to the leather.
“There were patients in beds, on trolleys. It’s some medical facility.”
“Oh right,” she said, shaking her head. “I guess it’s something to do with the factory?”
“But that’s not everything.”
“Go on,” she said slowly.
“There were operating theatres. People having procedures. Or tests.”
“Okay. It doesn’t sound like anything to worry about.”
I held her hand tight. “The people were still awake,” I said, looking straight into her eyes. “Ally, the coaches come in full of women and kids, most of which are disabled, but they leave empty. They were testing something on them. I’m sure.”
“Oh my god,” she said, her eyes wide.
“Are you sure they weren’t films?” she said with her hand over her mouth.
“No, they weren’t. They’d be illegal. I can’t even begin to tell you what was going on.”
She hugged me close. “We must tell Frank.”
I pulled away, but still held her by the shoulders at arm’s reach, looking deep into her eyes.
“No, we can’t. He’s a part of it.”
“No. What do you mean? He can’t be.”
“The entrance was in his study,” I said, my eyes wide. “Do you remember the white knickers I was wearing the night we…?” I said, nodding towards her.
She grew a grin. “The pair you weren’t wearing, you mean.”
“Yes, those. They were on the desk down there.”
“Oh my god,” she said. The smile vanished. “I don’t... I won’t believe it. This can’t be true.”
“It’s true,” I said, grabbing her towards me as she struggled, tears streaming down to the tops of my arms.
“What are you going to do?” she said in my ear.
“We’ll get away. We’ll get far away, call the police. I know people that can help.”
“You know people? What do you mean?”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ll be safe.” I held her in my arms, pulled her tight.
As I looked at the window, the car passed the turn-off for our little estate.
I let Ally go. “He’s going the wrong way,” I said, pointing out of the window.
“It’s okay. I told him to take us some place quiet."
I nodded, despite not recalling when she’d said anything to the driver. I shook away the thought, watching as each of the bars in the strip malls wound by the window.
We stopped at a fifth place; a low building with neon signs bright in the dusk. With the carpark deserted, we doubled the patron count as the driver left us to it.
I ordered two double scotches with no ice as Ally headed to the toilets. The sharp oak vapour reminded me of the tainted smell on my clothes.
I took a booth and Ally came back, her questions firing at me as she sat opposite, downing the drink.
“You set that fire deliberately, didn’t you?”
“I had to. I couldn’t go through with it. Not with him. I wanted to with you, but not with him after what I’ve seen.”
She looked around the room and back at me, pushing two fingers in the air at the barkeep.
“You should have said something before, in the car on the way there.”
“I was going to, but you carried me off to another place,” I said, leaning towards her, my hand going across the table. “I want to be with you. I want to take you some place safe.”
She stared back, her eyes seeming to long for my touch, but she kept her hands by her side. Her gaze stayed fixed on mine as the new drinks arrived.
“Drink that,” she said, when the bartender arrived back behind the bar. “You’re going to need it.”
I took the first drink down in one, shivering as t
he fumes burned at the back of my nose.
“You’ll come with me?” I said, pushing my hand across the table for a second time.
She curled her bottom lip into her mouth and gave a shallow nod. “Where will we go?” she said, downing the rest of her drink.
“Anywhere. Wherever. As far as we can.”
She raised her fingers in the air and I shook my head.
“Not for me. I need to keep a clear head for the journey,” I said, lifting myself up from the seat.
Unfolding a bill, I changed it for a roll of coins at the bar and headed through the double doors to the toilets and the payphone.
I recognised the faces of the two guys stood at the end of the short corridor. I recognised the face of the guy moving to stand at my back as I turned.
Through the porthole behind him I saw Ally staring out of the tall windows into the distance as pain showered across my skull and the world faded to black.
34
I woke in a hotel room a few storeys high, if the dark view out of the tall windows could be believed. I had no idea in what part of town.
Sitting upright in a dining chair in the middle of the room, a pair of empty large double beds nestled to my right. I couldn’t see a screen but behind me a TV blared with some sport involving commentators shouting at each other.
My legs wouldn’t move; something held them firm to the chair legs, my hands bound at my back.
There was someone, more than one someone in the room by the sounds of the slow, relaxed breath just heard between the pause of excitement from the TV.
Peering down, I could see I wore the same low-cut top and skinny skirt I’d blacked out in, the tang of smoke rising to my nostrils.
The TV clicked off, but no words followed. A door opened and I felt another presence.
Frank came around from my side, squinting at me, sizing me up. Was he trying to figure if there had been a mistake somewhere along the line?
I took away any ambiguity.
“You monster,” I said in the lowest voice I could muster. I didn’t need to hide my emotion. I’d none for him.
I watched as his eyes relaxed and a deep grin turned his lips upward.
He stared for a great while, then took a deep breath. “I’m sorry it had to be like this,” he said.
I believed him, but only because he wanted what I had.
“You’re not denying it?” I said. I wanted to hear it in his own words.
“What do you want me to say?” he said, but he didn’t give me a chance to reply. “Do you want me to apologise for trying to find the end of pain? Do you want me to apologise for helping to end all future suffering?”
“Your cause is noble. Your methods not so.”
“Giant leaps can be made if some people just make a few sacrifices.”
“Sounds like something out of the mouth of a Nazi,” I replied, raising my brow.
“No. They were trying to build a super race. They were trying to build a super solider. I don’t care who benefits. Young or old, black or white.” The corner of Frank’s mouth rose in a sneer as he shook his head.
“As long as they have the money?”
Frank laughed, raising his eyebrows. “We live in a capitalist world, my dear Cat.”
“I don’t think the guy who broke into your house had the same idea,” I replied shifting in the seat.
“You figured him out. Well done.” His smile grew.
“He was one of your early patients, wasn’t he?”
“He was,” he replied, slowly nodding.
“You left him without being able to feel pain.”
“Remember back to your school days. No one gets it right first time. Science is all about experimentation. Trial and error.”
“Tell me what he wanted?”
Frank shook his head. “This isn’t a question-and-answer session.”
“What is it then?”
“A goodbye.”
“What did he want?” I repeated.
Frank smiled and turned to the lights in the streets spreading out across the alien view from the windows.
“He was a little premature. He thought I’d finished my work. He thought I’d had a breakthrough.”
“He thought you kept the cure at home.”
“Yes. We’re close, but not there yet. He’s pain free now, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear,” he said with his cheeks bunching.
“How many more coaches full of women and children will you need before you get a breakthrough?”
Frank turned back to face me with a forced grin as he leant down close to my face, but not close enough that I could reach him with a swing of my forehead.
He took a deep breath. “You were so promising, Cat. I was going to offer you a job. I would have looked after you. Set you up for life. Now I’m afraid it all has to come to an end.”
“I don’t care what you do to me. Where’s Ally? What have you done with her?” I heard the door open and could smell her sweet perfume before she came around the chair and stood by his side, dismissing a hope of her tied at my back and in the same position, but reversed.
As I smelt her enter the room, I hoped to see mascara lines down her red puffy face from the tears she couldn’t stop from flowing. The other half expected what I saw; she was perfect. Dressed in tight black leggings hugging the muscular curve of her thighs I’d known for a short time, with a baggy short T-shirt on top. She wore no makeup and I couldn’t sense any lingering smoke.
Worst of all, she wore a bright, wide smile.
Rage built up inside me, but I directed inwards at the small tears running down my cheeks.
“I’ll miss you, Cat,” she said, tucking her arm behind Frank’s.
“So sweet,” he said. “We could have been amazing together, us three.”
Squinting, I tried as best I could to hold back the emotion, turning away as Ally spoke.
“We better get going,” she said. “I can’t bear to watch these things.”
I felt my heart ripped from my chest and it lay under her heels as she ground it into the floor.
Had any of it been real? But then again, did that matter now?
It was over, but I couldn’t let go just like that.
Why had I let this happen? The warning signs had been there. I knew how much of a great liar she could be. I knew how capable she was of putting up a convincing front. But still I let it happen.
I looked up as I watched their feet disappear around to my back, replaced either side with three pairs of men’s slip-on shoes and the football players with their jackets off, a Beretta holstered under each arm over a crisp white shirt. Each wore lurid grins, growing as Frank’s voice came from behind.
“Oh boys, be careful. She knows people,” he laughed, as I heard his voice get quieter with the distance. “Oh and I almost forgot. Don’t let the poor thing die a virgin. She’s still on the boil from earlier.”
It was Ally’s voice I heard next.
“Three times over,” she said, as the door muffled their laughter.
35
Lost for words, I looked to the carpet. I felt as if a wild animal had ripped me open and devastated my insides.
Numb. Destroyed. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t do anything but sit in the chair.
I could only just lift my head as the trio laughed, their jokes turning to arguments about who would go first.
I recognised one of the laughs, but I summoned no will to move as fingers ran roughly through my hair, not flinching as each took turns to paw at my breasts.
I watched the left-hand bed as they discarded holsters, flinging shirts on top and trousers next; their hunger more important than the creases.
I let silent laughter leave my lips when I realised they would have to untie me if they were to have any chance of achieving their objective. I let their voices charge my anger.
“How do you want to do this?” said a deep voice at my back, the voice of the guy who’d found me unconscious in the study; the
gentle arms that laid me to rest with such care.
“Fucking untie her and shove her on the bed,” another said more urgently, somewhere further behind.
“I mean, front or back. Do you want to see her face as you do it?” the first guy said.
“Shit yeah. Untie her arms, too. You can hold her down as I break the seal,” he said, laughing.
The other two didn’t argue. Pressure pulled at my wrists as whatever bound me loosened, replaced with hands wrapping tight, pulling my arms towards the floor.
Another crouched at my feet, the guy from the study again. As he went to his knees he leant forward, pushing his head to my lap and took a big draw of breath.
“Fucking come on,” a new voice said. Nate. “Get on with it.”
The guy looked up at me and stared into my eyes as he spoke in a softened voice.
“Look. Just take it for what it is. It’ll soon be over,” he said, as if to reassure me, then put his head back down to my knees and picked at the knots by my ankles.
It wasn’t long before I felt another presence at my side and a cold steel blade resting against my neck.
A deep voice spoke slowly at my ear. “Do as we tell you and you might actually enjoy this. Do anything else and I’ll fuck you with the knife when I’m finished. You understand?”
I nodded as hard as I could without pushing against the blade.
“Are you going to let us do this the easy way?” he said.
I nodded again and felt the pressure release from my arms and the guy at my feet release, backing off as he looked towards me. The metal had gone from my throat. I sat still.
“Now stand, but no quick movements,” the same voice said.
I stood.
“Move to the bed.”
I turned and for the first time I took in the room and the faces of the other two guys; I was right. Nate stood next to another guy I’d seen at the party. Neither had been at the hotel when I shot the guy protecting their boss. None of them had seen me in action, but would probably have heard about it.
Each of them stood in black boxers with black socks pulled high. Two were tenting out towards me, but Nate had his hand down his front, rubbing himself up and down.
Gulping for show, or that’s what I told myself, I drifted towards the empty bed.
