“You better get that attitude in check,” he warned her gruffly, pointing a finger at her in return. “I told Henry I’d look out for you and I intend to do that; but I’m not gonna stop what you got comin’ to you.” He paused for a breath while she shifted her gaze back to the scene before her.
Continuing, he rasped, “You’re in a whole new world now. You’re not a full member, but Eddie wants you to be. That is your purpose. That is why you exist. Eddie owns you, and you’ll do what he says or you’ll pay the price. Now, get up and get back to camp at a reasonable hour.” Standing, he did not wait for her.
Tori sat for some time longer, considering his words, the anger simmering inside of her. As the sun made its way across the sky, the words 'reasonable hour' echoed in her ear. Not wanting a full repeat of the night before, she stood reluctantly and opened Eddie’s gift once more. Tossing the box onto the ground, she slipped the knife into her pocket and made her way back to the cabin.
As soon as she arrived, it became clear that her definition of 'reasonable' was somewhat different than what Eddie had in mind. Walking up to her while shaking his head, he mumbled how she always had been a stubborn girl. Then he calmly reached up, poking the patch of tender skin that Tony had dressed with clean gauze only a few hours before. Stepping back, Tori covered the spot with her right hand, the stabs of pain intense. Her reaction made Eddie grin as he walked away.
The Dragons set about preparing dinner as usual, but Tori knew that usual was gone forever. She could feel the guys looking at her, watching her as she moved, and it made her uncomfortable. She had no friends, as none of them could be trusted. She caught a glimpse of Henry, who kept to the edge of the group to avoid her, and she felt a wave of guilt inside her. Henry had once been a respected member of the Dragons. Because of her, he had lost his position, and that brought her immense pain.
Tori did her best to lie low for the preparation of the meal. During the consumption, she caught bits and pieces of reference to the events of the night before in the conversation. She felt almost certain that the group members were looking for an encore. Another fire was built, and she ate her meat and potato in silence, while crouching next to the flickering flames.
She didn't like the sight of it, knowing it meant trouble having a fire so many nights in a row. While the group ate, they only spoke at sporadic intervals. After most of them had finished, they called for a little contest—battle of the Silver they named it.
Immediately, Tori knew it to be some kind of drinking game; a common event when they had a fire. She had seen nights like this many times in the past, and a surge of apprehension rose inside her chest.
Drinking games meant there would be loud boisterous voices, old stories would be retold, and most of them would be sloppy drunk well before midnight. On occasion, fights would break out, and for that reason, she would almost always slip off to the safety of her hammock as soon as she had eaten. She would then spend the night watching and listening from afar. Remaining crouched by the flames, she considered trying to slip away as usual, but a hand clamped down on her shoulder, and she knew tonight there would be no escape.
The group descended into general chaos with bottles being brought out from all over the camp, and a chair placed at the table where she had awoken naked, earlier in the day. Eddie instructed her to sit.
Tori stood, staring at seat as if it were a rabid dog, and a hand came across to poke the tender spot on her chest. Startled, Tori's hand shot up to protect the injury, and she turned, surprised to see it had been Red who had done the poking.
Gerald Farrell, or Red by his nickname, was Eddie's twin brother. They were identical twins, although they were nothing alike. Eddie had grown up to be the leader of the pair, and Red the follower. They had been inseparable through the years. They went to school together, they joined the marines together, they rode together. Clenching her jaw, Tori swore to herself they were going to die together, and she fingered the new knife in her pocket.
Red indicated the metal stand and again instructed her to sit. After a brief look around the group, Tori stepped forward and took a seat. As she did so, she noticed that Henry had turned his back and walked away, headed North in the direction of her favorite tree. She would have given anything to have been walking with him. He tramped slowly, his footsteps thumping heavily, and she knew her dearest friend was in purgatory and could not bear to watch what surely awaited her as the night wore on.
Tori sat in the chair while five shot glasses were placed on the table in front of her, and she could feel her palms begin to sweat. She had seen the guys drink many times, but she herself had never tasted alcohol. As the glasses were filled, they gave her the rules, which made no sense what so ever, and then she was told to drink. Nervously, her left hand shaking as she reached out, she picked up the first glass and tried to keep it from spilling.
Her right hand slipped back into the pocket and stroked the knife. Raising the glass to her face, the stench of the brew burning her nose, she took a small sip of the vile liquid and almost dropped the glass in her lap as she coughed. The group burst into laughter at her feeble attempt and Tori could feel her face growing crimson in a mixture of embarrassment and rage.
David grabbed another chair and positioned it beside her, designating himself as her coach. Taking the second shot, he demonstrated how to slam the drink down, instructing her not to taste it. Giving her an encouraging slap on the back, he waited for her to give it another try.
Still stroking the knife, Tori manage to get some of the third shot down, while most of it spilled down her front and onto her folded legs. Continuing to play the role of coach, Dave gave her a brief recap on the directions, along with an all inspiring, you can do it fist pump.
Tori managed to down the fourth and fifth glasses, proclaiming loudly, “That's not even all the same shit,” which the crowd met with a loud cheer, and the glasses were refilled.
Staring at the line, she could see that one of them held a clear liquid, like water with almost no odor. Three were various shades of gold, and the last looked like a deep auburn.
This time, she reached for the clear glass, thinking the color could make a difference in the taste, and managed to get the drink down with crossed eyes and nose wrinkled in disgust. At that point, she realized that they were judging the contest based on the expression on her face when she drank. Still stroking the knife, she downed the next four in quick succession, trying not to make a face as best she could. This only made the group laugh harder as they filled the glasses again.
While she sat staring at the process, Tori suddenly felt overly warm, and longed to remove the jacket. However, she knew by doing so, she would no longer have possession of the knife she intended to use to defend herself. She chewed on her lower lip, noticing it tingled as she bit on it.
After several minutes, Tori ran her tongue over her top lip a few times and reached for the first glass in the row, this time downing it quickly, slamming the empty back in place on the table. She swallowed the next four just as easily, and a loud cheer went up from the group as she stood up and proclaimed herself the winner, intending to cut for her bunk at that point.
Heading her off, Eddie stepped up and asked if she were ready to take her clothes off yet. Tori laughed out loud at his request, pointing out she never wanted to have them on in the first place, and dropped the jacket to the ground. The alcohol had hit her quickly, and her mind had become a mess of confused thoughts and conflicting ideas.
She could feel hands groping her and tried to push them away, grasping at the memory of resisting. She noticed several of the guys had taken up spots around the edge of the firelight and sat on the ground watching the spectacle in amusement. Trying to hold on to her sober self, Tori put her finger in Eddie's face, “You aren't going to touch me tonight,” in the most menacing voice she could muster.
“Oh yeah?” he countered with a snort, “You always were a stubborn little bitch.” He pushed up against her, forcing her to back
pedal until she reached the table, bumping into it with her rear end. The glasses were gone, and a tube lay in their place. She could barely make out the giant K on the front of it through her swirling vision. “Take your clothes off, Tori,” he commanded.
Tori realized at that moment she had removed the jacket and the knife was gone. Unable to give up, she took a swing at him while hands grabbed her from both sides, forcing her down onto the flat surface, lying face up. She began to scream obscenities at them as they pulled off her boots and removed the lower half of her clothing.
She could feel a sting on her upper left bicep and flailed wildly trying to push them off to no avail. With her lower body bare, they rolled her over, face down on the table, and she could feel her hands and ankles being bound. She pulled profusely with her right hand, but then realized that the two hands were connected somehow, as pulling with one only forced the other underneath.
While she struggled with her hands, trying to figure out how to free herself, she could feel fingers rubbing and touching her in places nothing ever belonged, and a cold oozing could be felt running down the crack of her rear end. As Eddie positioned himself, then forced his way inside, she grabbed the edges of the table, unable to scream, as if her lungs had clamped shut in the agony.
Reaching forward, he grabbed the back of her hair and lifted her face off the flat surface so he could reach her better. Turning her head, he bit her on the ear and hissed, “You’re my girl, you stupid bitch, and you always will be.” As he worked and moaned, Tori stopped resisting, her mind and body suddenly frozen in helplessness, and a few moments later the blessed blackness fell.
Win or Lose
The next morning, Tori awoke lying across the table much the way she had been the day before. This time, a short rope hung from her left wrist, the burn on the right matching it, a tell-tale sign of what had occurred. As she sat up, her body ached, and a wave of nausea sent her spewing vomit on the ground as she collapsed to her knees.
“Well, that's pretty disgusting,” remarked Tony as he walked up, first aid kit in hand. Getting to her feet, she sat on the table, and he began to inspect her wounds. When she remarked that she felt awkward with the bottom half of her body naked, he replied, “Doesn't matter, this has to come off too,” as he lifted her shirt off over her head and began unstrapping the bra.
She didn't bother to resist, and simply sat fully naked as he removed the dressing from her breast and examined the marks closely. While he worked, he began to talk, and through the pounding headache, Tori realized she was about to get a lecture.
“You realize you can't win. Not even close. There are eleven of us not counting Henry. Now, I know you’re strong, and you’ve worked hard all your life doing whatever we asked you to do. And we both know you can fight—I’ve seen you, and you’re actually pretty good. But you're not gonna win. Not against all of us.” Finishing the bite, he moved on to the fresh burn mark that had blistered up on her left bicep.
“Take this, for example,” he indicated the injury, “This is what you get when you fight. You get hurt, and you still lose.” He paused for a few minutes to get her a bottle of water, and she began to sip on it slowly. The morning sun hurt her eyes, and he could see her suffering. Normally he wouldn't give a rat's ass if she suffered. He welcomed it, in fact, having hated her since the beginning.
“Why the hell are you so stubborn?” he asked pointedly. “You always got a hard head, like you’re gonna get your way. Henry spoiled you for too long, I think, letting you have your way.” Tori made no effort to reply and continued to drink the water.
Tony gave a long sigh, running his fingers through his short blond hair as he stared off into the distance. He could tell taking care of her would be harder than he thought if she didn't get some sense knocked into her soon. Cutting his eyes to look at her, he noted that she stared down at the bottle, wiping at the moisture on the side with her thumb.
“Tell me what you want then,” she muttered.
“What I want? It's not about what I want. It's about what Eddie wants. Eddie's in charge. You gotta do what he wants. Look, Tori; you're a smart girl, we both know that. Smart as they come, I mean that's why you're here. But you gotta use your head and not pick fights you can't win. You gotta do what you gotta do.” He began waving his hands to add emphasis to his words.
“See, we all gotta do what we gotta do. When we get back on the road, you gotta know your job, and this,” he pointed between her legs, “This is your job. As far as anyone outside is ever gonna know, it's your only job. Eddie's gonna give you other jobs, and them jobs are a secret; a secret you guard with your life.”
Tori stared at him in a state of confusion. Disgusted, he continued to clean her wounds in silence. When he finished, he handed her the second set of clothes that had been purchased for her. “Now, you have to go ask Eddie for permission to go to the creek to wash your other set. He ain't gonna like that. On the road, gotta take care of your clothes, or go dirty.”
Tori slipped on the lace panties and winced when they rubbed against her raw posterior. Sore from the previous night, she suddenly felt very glad she had not been awake for the majority of it despite the hangover. After putting on the rest of her uniform, she looked down into her boots to make sure she hadn't picked up any creepy crawlies and turning them upside down, banged them against the table before sticking her foot in, just as she had seen the guys do many times.
Tony watched as she got dressed, and for an instant his expression softened, as if he actually felt sorry for her, being alone with twelve men all these years.
Tori picked up her wad of soiled clothing and sighed. Tony was right, and she knew it. Henry had always helped her out with her clothes, and she actually had taken pretty good care of her three or four pair of shorts, her sandals, and her shirts until her chest exploded, and they didn't fit anymore.
They only made trips down to the creek to wash and get water on schedule, so asking for a special trip would be rough. She could see Eddie over under a tree, working on his bike, getting ready for their departure. Trudging slowly, she practiced in her head what she wanted to say, trying to be meek and submissive, and praying he wouldn't poke her tender breast again.
With soft footsteps, Tori stopped next to Eddie and waited. He stood, giving her a look up and down, wrench in hand. She suspected that he knew what she wanted, even before she asked. “May we please go down to the creek so I can wash my clothes,” she spoke in a small timid voice he had never heard before. He smiled to himself at her attempt to grovel. She would have to do a better job, and she knew it.
“You know we’re leavin’ tomorrow or the next day,” he replied, “You be a good girl and we’ll make a trip for you before we head out. Right now, sit down here with me an’ let's get these bikes tuned up for the journey.”
That’s a strange request, Tori thought as she dropped her load of garments next to the tree. She never spent spare time working with Eddie. She had always been Henry's girl, and would prefer to be on the other side of the compound strumming his guitar. But things had changed, and she knew she would have to get with the program if she were going to survive.
Kneeling down next to his small box of tools, Tori wrinkled her nose at the grease and poked a few of the items with one finger.
“You know what any of them are?” Eddie asked in a more cheerful tone than he typically used with her.
“No,” she gave a flat, noncommittal response.
“Well then, its time you learned,” his voice became curt at her surliness, “This is a wrench,” he said waving the tool at her, and proceeded to explain what he did and why.
Tori listened intently, trying harder to please him. Moving through the steps of the procedure, she began to ask questions, but she could tell it irritated him, so she tried to be quiet. A short time later, curiosity got the better of her again, and she posed another query, this time receiving a glare of contempt at her lack of knowledge. For a moment, she thought he would strike her, an
d she rocked back on her heels to avoid the blow.
“Hey guys,” Henry made his presence known. “I need t’ have a word with Eddie for a minute, baby girl. Why don' you grab your stuff here and put it away, an’ you can come back and learn more ‘bout motorcycles after lunch.”
Tori could see the anger in Eddie's eyes, for a moment too scared to move, and not knowing what to do. Eventually, she seized the pile and headed towards the cabin, actually relieved the lesson had ended.
When she arrived at the small structure, she went about putting together a light lunch for herself of meat and cheese, and had started making a second for Henry before she realized it really wasn't her place anymore to do so. Everything is so messed up now, she lamented to herself.
She completed the second meal and wrapped it for later, and then began nibbling at hers. While she ate, other members of the group came in and also had a bite to eat. None of them spoke to her, and she shifted uncomfortably as they moved around behind her, laughing and joking with each other, leaving her to feel forlorn and alone.
Three of the guys had gone hunting, and they returned with the meat for the night's dinner. In the midst of their haul, they had captured an anaconda, about five feet in length. Normally, she would have been very pleased, as she loved the taste of the snake meat. With the events of the past few days, Tori no longer felt joy or cared about what they ate. Reluctantly, she set about helping them clean the carcass and prepare it to be cooked.
While they worked, Henry and Eddie made their way up the hill. Henry's face appeared calm, but Eddie looked cross, his brow furrowed in an angry scowl. Seeing the second lunch she had prepared, he barked some obscenities, assuming it had been for Henry.
Henry looked down at the offering, then over at the girl, who shook her head and pointing at Eddie, “No, it's for you,” she tried to cover for her blunder. Feeling overly tired, Tori excused herself from the cleaning party by rinsing her hands, and heading towards her hammock.
A New Life Series - Starter Kit Page 7
