by catt dahman
She thought aloud. “Well, it worked once, and then they kept using what worked with adjustments.” Alice tested the cuffs, trying to slide her wrists out, checking the bolts, looking around for anything that might help them. She didn’t want to reassure Tara of anything because right then, she didn’t think Nate was safe or bringing help.
Tara and Connie had to feel the same oppression. But still, there would be something that came up, and they needed to be ready. “We need to have all the info and then figure out a plan to get out of this.”
“Really?” Bitterness edged Connie’s voice as she held up her cuffs.
“Yes, really. I know we are smarter than those assholes.”
“You think that now?”
“Yes.”
“There isn’t a way out. You think I didn‘t fight? “She showed Alice more bruises and bites along her nipples as she pulled down the top of her dress. “This is what fighting got me.”
The bites weren’t deep but horrific to look at. Damned if Alice weren’t going to fight anyway. “We can get out of this.”
Connie sighed. Moving, she pointed to the floor. “We aren’t the first. Look. Look at the names, anything clicking in your mind?”
Beside Connie’s leg, Alice saw something scratched into the concrete, marks lighter than the floor. She squinted. “I can’t see what it is from here.”
“It’s a name. Robin. Underneath you is another name. I think it says Jodie or Jolie”
Alice scooted and looked. Jodie. The name was small; the scratches weren’t deep, but it was a name. “Okay, so maybe we aren’t the first. They got out.” Her name wasn’t going to be scratched in until she gave up all hope of getting out.
Tara lay back on the cold floor and moaned, “No, it means we aren’t the first, but something bad happened to them if they aren’t here now. Robin and Jodie are gone now.”
Alice would have been in raw panic if she weren’t still feeling the effects of the drug, knowing she would start screaming and fighting the cuffs when it all wore off. For now, she was calm, and she needed to take it all in.
These women had given up hope. Information was power. “What did they do to you once you were here?” That was the more horrifying question she had. She could see they obviously had been beaten. Was there worse? What do they do once they have you alone?
With a sigh, Connie looked at her with sad eyes, tears welling up fast again. “Everything. It’s just as bad as you’re thinking.”
“I can imagine.”
“No, I doubt you can,” Connie said.
Alice refused to allow the hopelessness in. Rape, at least. Maybe even worse than that, but Connie and Tara weren’t going to tell her, yet. Their eyes said they were shut down on that topic.
Okay, well, Aaron and this Luke were going to have a fight and take some damage if they expected to do anything to her; she wasn’t going to cry like Tara or shut down. She would drag the information out of the women if she had to. “So, it’s Aaron and his son? And Luke.”
“Yes, Mike doesn’t come here much, only to give us food.
Then there’s Tom, Aaron, and Luke, and John. And Father. He’s their father, see; they’re brothers.”
Bible names. Odd. For kidnappers, but then she didn’t know any kidnappers. “Maybe a cult thing,” Alice snorted, “a family affair? Unreal.” The news made her gut go cold. That many? “And the wives?”
“No. There aren’t women. I mean…well, no women, I guess.”
Alice mulled that over. Four men, their father, and Mike. The odds didn’t sound very good, but to know was better than to wonder. Did kidnappers usually work with a crowd? Did crazy families do this?
“And they feed us?” Her bladder ache was in competition now with thirst and hunger. Her stomach growled.
“They do,” Tara said. “When I was brought in, it was all bare like this. If it’s the same, they will bring in stuff: pots and toilet tissue, mats and blankets, and food. We get Bibles, too.”
That told her more. Tissue implied the men at least wanted them clean (for rape?), and those items were for comfort. A Bible might be random, but it also might mean more with the names.
The walls were blank concrete; the room was large and was only disrupted by the floor drains and the women chained there. She whispered, “Anything that can be used as a weapon?”
Tara spoke, “I don’t think they listen. And no.”
“Do they want money, like ransom? Have they said?” That would be a more positive sign than if they wield knives and wear human-skinned aprons.
Connie shook her head, “No, Alice, they hurt us; there isn’t a lot of sense to this, okay? I mean, I asked Tara all this and tried to think of ways out. I begged. I was strong at first, and I bet Tara was, too. Everyone is, I guess, but then people break under stress, understand?”
But when you answer wrong, they hit you, and they say awful things and threaten you with horrible things.”
“They might burn us,” Tara was weeping.
“Yes, they say they will if we misbehave.”
“What?” It scared her, sure, but she also felt indignant. Behave?
“So we behave. We don’t know what they want except they are always angry, no matter how we try, and Father, he recites Bible verses to us, and when he does, you better memorize them if you don’t wanna be punched.” Connie rubbed at her stomach absently. “You eat when they say, and you do whatever they tell you and when they tell you. And when they want you.” Tears streamed down her face.
“You mean rape.” Alice went colder. She was going to pee in her pants.
Squeezing her eyes closed, Connie barely nodded. “You lie there, and take it, and if you are being nice, you get a shower afterwards. Aaron is the worst to me; he likes to pinch.”
Tara spoke softly, “No, Aaron isn’t so bad; he lets me shower and gives me soda. Luke is the worst. I think he broke my nose the first day.”
“My God, is this all about sex slaves?” Alice was furious. “Smut films and sex stuff?”
“No. They’re like religious nuts. You don’t fight, and sometimes one isn’t so cruel, and it doesn’t hurt,” Tara repeated, like a mantra.
“No. That would make sense somehow,“ Connie answered Alice. “But Father, he doesn’t…want us, yanno…he says things and asks questions, and you have to answer truthfully; he just won’t shut up; he gets into your head.”
“Well, good luck to him, then; he doesn’t want inside my head.” Alice grimaced.
Aaron smiled as he and another man came into the room. “Well, Alice, you seemed to have recovered, and by the way, welcome to our home.”
“Now that the formalities are over, can you give me a key and let us out of here? Sorry I can’t stay, but you know how it is.” She refused to smile back at a man who had terrified her and abducted her. No way would she make anything easy for them. “Key?”
The other man introduced himself as Luke and shrugged. “We can’t let you go; you just got here. We need you. I know this is all mighty confusing and a shock to find yourself here, but trust us, one day real soon, you are gonna be so happy to be here. Just let go and let us help you.”
“Indeed?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Changes are a-coming, and you’ll be happy and thankful you’re here and not out there when the world comes apart.”
“World comes apart? Seriously? End of the world kind of thing, huh? That’s a cliché’, isn’t it? I mean of all reasons, can’t you be original? Don’t you just want to be on the Most Wanted shows and gloat? The end-of-the-world stuff is very tiring.” Alice rolled her eyes.
Connie sighed.
This wasn’t the first time she and Tara had listened to this very same talk about how fortunate they were to have been chosen and how the world was ending, and how happy they would all be. Why they didn’t let people decide this for themselves was supposedly because they were women and not capable of such choices. ‘Wah, wah, wah’ was all Connie heard now when they spoke. Alice was
wasting her time, trying to talk logically.
Luke turned to the side as two other men brought in bags of things and then thin, slim mattresses and a pile of linens. Alice watched every move as the pile of supplies grew before them. The movements looked very practiced but not routine. She had expected the worst, so this wasn’t too bad.
“A few more, ladies, and we can get down to business with educating all of you and making you feel at home and happy,” John said, watching Alice with curious eyes. “You’ll understand a lot more as we go. Too much knowledge at once can be evil and cause harm.”
“Really?”
“You need to be prepared for truths, but right now, your mind is closed off with defiance and society’s lies. You have to be broken down before you can be built up properly.”
“Says the man who abducted us,” Alice said. She met his eyes. He was kind of handsome; all the attractive ones were married, unemployed, stupid, or (she now added) crazy, and kidnappers.
“There’s no reason to be rude,” Aaron said, readjusting his ball cap as he frowned. “These are just facts he’s giving you. Although you ladies have some anger and frustration, that isn’t uncommon for women. I promise that in time, there will be love, respect, and gratitude for our help.”
“I guess you think so anyway.” Alice could tell Aaron truly believed what he was saying; he did think that this would end with their thanking the men for rescuing them from the outside world. Delusions of grandeur. Paranoia. There were no doubts on Aaron’s face.
“All you need is some male guidance, and that’s what we’re here for. As said before, you’ll be mighty glad you’re here one day, soon.”
The men were organized and believed what they were saying. They had lean muscles that spoke of hard work. None looked mad or delusional and would pass as normal members of society. “Really?”
“I assure you that you will be very grateful.”
Alice sniffed, trying to look tougher than she felt. “Did Robin and Jodie feel that way? Where are they? What happened to them?”
John swung his head towards his brothers with a questioning glance and stark surprise. “Huh?” His face seemed to be more animated than his brother’s face.
“What would you know about them?”
Alice met Luke’s cold eyes. “I know they were women you took against their will, and something didn’t go too well; they sure as shit didn’t stick around happily and give you their thanks, did they?”
Before Alice could think, Luke was standing over her, and her head rocked backwards with the blow of the back of his hand across her cheek. He grabbed her hair in a clenched fist, dragging her forwards; his boot slammed into her stomach.
As her breath rushed out, Alice’s bladder let go, and she wet her jeans as she rolled into an uncomfortable fetal position. She hated peeing on herself, but, oh, her bladder felt a million times better. Despite the situation and pain, she shivered with relief that was almost wonderful.
“Don’t hurt her,” Aaron warned.
“We do not curse in this house,” Luke yelled into her face. “So few rules and you want to break them?”
“I don’t know the rules.”
Luke groaned and glanced to John who shrugged. “Then think about how you should be acting and what is proper under the circumstances and figure them out.”
“Go to hell,” Alice rasped. She was furious that she had peed on herself and wanted nothing more than to scratch this man’s eyes out for hitting and kicking her.
Although she was barefooted, she pulled her leg up and slammed it into Luke’s shin as hard as she could. His gasp made her glad that she had hurt him. Her cheek throbbed, her stomach ached, and her scalp burned like fire.
When he reacted by angrily kicking her back, she unleashed more kicks and used the distraction to pull herself up his jeans-clad legs until she was standing in front of him; had he not twisted, she would have smashed his testicles.
Her wrists were handcuffed, but she drew to the side and slapped his chin, having to swing upwards since he was a tall man. Another inch of chain and she would have gotten in a good pop. She hoped the other two women were up and ready to fight, but, of course, they weren’t.
Luke grinned at her and hit her in the nose, so it flooded with dripping blood. It hurt a lot and tasted bad in the back of her throat, but she was back at him, scratching and scrambling again. If it all went bad or worse, at least her blood DNA was all over the room, and it covered him.
Aaron stepped over to Tara, drew back one boot, and snapped it into her ribs as she tried to scoot away from him. She cried out, stopping Alice’s attack on Luke.
Alice froze, looking at Tara with her stomach in knots. Luke didn’t finish the fight but cocked his head to the side and nodded. “Shame for Tara to get hurt when you’re the one misbehaving. You wanna keep fighting and causing others to be punished, or can you behave yourself?”
Tara cast Alice a sad look that made Alice stop and sit back. “I did it; come after me.”
“No, Alice. If you misbehave, sometimes there are others who will suffer punishments. This is lesson one in rebuilding your soul and mind.”
“That isn’t fair.” Okay, like it or not, she had just learned a lesson: life was not fair here: her actions had consequences, and they knew ways to break people. Accepted.
John was out of reach and settled down to his haunches. “It is fair. We need a team that cares for its members; that is your lesson here, Alice. You are girls, and girls don’t have a call to fight with grown men like slatterns.”
“Slatterns?” Alice huffed “That’s silly sounding.”
“But it is a lesson.”
“There’s no reason to beat women who are handcuffed.”
Aaron hitched his jean up. “Look at Tara, her ribs are hurtin’ now, but look at her eyes, see that? That’s defiance.”
“She wasn’t defiant before you came, Alice. You have caused a stir,” Luke added.
“No, I’m not defiant,” Tara whined, “It hurts, but I’m being good, I promise.”
“Are you?”
“Yes,” she said, “I haven’t cursed or done anything bad.”
“Tom,” Aaron called for the fourth brother, “You and Cain almost done?”
“Yes,” Tom peeked into the room.
“We aren’t your team.” Alice tried to keep the focus on herself.
Alice felt bad for Tara since she had caused the woman to be kicked, but they couldn’t accept this; they had to fight. Who was Cain? The women hadn’t mentioned him. She wiped at her nose, willing it to stop bleeding, praying for the pain to stop.
Everyone was looking at Tara now, and Alice felt she had lost any control she had ever gotten, and her head was all confused again. Damn these idiots.
“Alice here, I think, responds to logic, so let’s try that,” Luke said. “You are here for your own good. You will see that in time. Right now, we are lookin’ for the right women for us, and you are candidates. Robin and Jodie were, too, but they failed.”
“Failed badly,” Aaron added.
Luke shrugged. “I don’t think we want a woman with no spirit and fight in her, and we don’t abide whores, but we have time to find more possibilities. If you throw away your chance, then we can’t be responsible for what happens to you or how you are treated if you refuse to cooperate. Isn’t that logical, Alice?”
“Not really.”
“It means to behave,” Connie said softly.
“What for? What are we here for?” Alice asked. “If you don’t like me, then let me go, and I’m out of here, easy as can be.”
Aaron sighed, “She’s not stupid; she’s just being ‘wise acre’.”
‘Wise acre’, “ Alice held back a laugh. “Why are we here?”
“Why? For us,” Luke said. “Five girls for five brothers or maybe a few extra gals.” He acted as if this made perfect sense. “It will make more sense as we go, the reasons for more women, but if you know your Bible, then you know hi
storically….”
“I’m so sure, it’ll make sense,” Alice muttered.
She had no more idea what this was about than when she had first awakened. They talked in circles. Sometimes they sounded more educated, and at other times, they used more Texas slang. All were dressed in clean denim jeans and shirts, had short hair, and were almost attractive in a plain way. They didn’t look like bad guys.
But they were kidnappers and woman-beaters and rapists. They might be murderers, too.
When they talked about wanting to collect more women who would be thankful for being there one day, they seemed very sane, at least in their own eyes and when they said it.
So far, she had decided that maybe they were part of a religious group or maybe a bunch of survivalists or both. That was all that fit the scenario, but she knew it wasn’t that simple.
“We’ll get the cuffs off, and you can get more comfortable and clean up,” Luke said with a hard look at Alice. Won’t that be better?”
“Yes,” Tara said compliantly.
“Before we go, how did you know about Jodie and Robin?” Luke paused in mid-turn, as if he had just thought of that and spoke calmly, in a friendly way that sounded very reasonable.
Alice thought it was an act; he hadn’t just recalled that. What a fake. He meant to know.
Alice shrugged, ignoring the pleading looks Connie gave her. She figured the men had needed a reason, an excuse, for a lesson, so whatever happened was already planned; they had just needed the excuse to use it.
John looked at Alice beseechingly. “You can tell us. I’m impressed and want to know how you knew about them. That’s amazing.”
It bothered them that Alice knew something and that they couldn’t figure out how she knew; there was no possible way for her to know those names, and, yet, she did.
Unconsciously, she covered one name etched into the concrete with her foot. They didn’t like secrets, and this was hers, and while they could threaten her and make her tell, they wanted her to give it over, out of fear or because they flattered her. She just stared back at the men and shook her head.
