A few minutes later the engine of the truck rumbled and shuddered, and we were moving again. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep, hoping I wouldn't throw up if I was laying down.
We only stopped at deserted buildings and quiet rest stops for Rachel and me to be allowed to use the bathroom. Rachel was awake and would walk now, though she refused to speak to anyone.
After a while I took a package of doughnuts and a bottle of Coke and wound my way through the furniture and boxes to the back, where Rachel lay on her blankets.
“Rachel?” I had to speak loudly to hear myself over the roaring of the truck engine. “Are you hungry?”
No response. After a few more tries, I left the food and drink next to Rachel where she could see it, and went back to my spot. I sat under the table, my head hunched a little to avoid scraping it on the underside of the wood, sipping a Sprite.
It was much the same for the next two days. Occasionally Master and Travis would stop the truck and some furniture or boxes would be removed. I soon lost my hiding place under the table. Besides these deliveries, we drove straight through the nights, only stopping for a few hours in the daytime. Gradually the truck and the air outside grew warmer. We were moving south. Plains and desert gave way to trees resplendent in fall colors.
Then we reached our destination. Master let Rachel and me out of the truck and we emerged near the edge of a lake that was surrounded by dense forest. There was a small, run-down cabin in the trees just out of sight of the water. Master made us go inside the cabin and then he left. We must have already dropped off Travis off because he was already gone.
The cabin had no electricity or running water. It was a little one room thing, with a single bed, a worn leather loveseat, a table and chairs, and bucket in one corner half hidden behind a curtain strung between two nails. There was a short kitchenette on one wall, the counter holding a sink with no faucet and a bucket underneath the drain pipe. There was no fridge or any way to cook, except for the bag of charcoal beneath the counter that probably meant there was a grill outside.
The lock was on the outside of the door. As soon as Rachel and I were inside, Master locked us in and left. There was maybe half a dozen gallon jugs of water on the table, along with an assortment of canned and dry foods.
As soon as we were inside Rachel silently crossed the small room and curled up on the bed. The loveseat sat underneath the single window by the door, and I chose this as my sleeping place. I sat and watched as Master returned to the truck and started the engine. He slowly pulled the vehicle around in the gravel-covered clearing around the cabin, before driving back down a thin driveway and disappearing into the forest.
Chapter 25: New Girl
Rachel and I were left alone in that cabin for six days. I soon discovered that while we had been left with plenty of canned food, there was no can opener. A silly thing to be upset about in light of everything else, but I cried about that for a good two hours when I couldn't get to the sliced peaches I wanted to eat. A search of the drawers in the kitchenette revealed some utensils and napkins. I managed to use a butter knife to painstakingly poke holes in the top of a can until I was able to get to the food inside.
I found a little notepad and pen in one of the drawers and when I couldn't stand the loneliness and Rachel's hostile silence anymore, I wrote entries for my journal. I wrote in words as tiny as I could manage to save space. There was little to relate besides the thoughts swirling in my head that had no outlet except onto the paper.
September 25 (??): I'm not even sure what day it is right now. The days sort of blur together without a clock or anything to mark them.
Rachel just lays on the bed. I wish if she isn't going to do anything, she'd at least let me sleep on something more comfortable than this couch. It's way too short and my neck is always sore. She just lays with her back to me and stares at the wall. I never know if she's asleep or awake. She hardly even eats or gets up to use the bucket. I'm worried. Sometimes I wonder if she's even alive.
September 26: I feel like a wretch complaining right now. Even now I have so much more than I had chained in that basement for so many months. But I'm cold, and I desperately want a shower, or even to be able to wash my hands. The whole cabin smells awful and makes me feel so sick. The smell of vomit makes me always feel on the verge of throwing up. I can't even get the window to open.
September 27: I hope Master and Travis come back soon. I can't believe I so quickly forgot what it feels like to be completely alone with no one to talk to. Maybe Travis is right...I should be grateful. He's done the best he can for me within the limits of his world.
I never considered the fact that Master wanted to kill me after I tried to escape. I always thought they killed Sophie because she had miscarried, but they let me live because I was pregnant. I never thought Master would actually kill me. Then again, before that night, I never thought either of them was capable of killing anyone. Letting us die, yes, but not killing us in cold blood.
And now another girl is about to join us. Oh, God, please let her figure out what's happening before it's too late. Please let her escape.
September 28: I'm still not sure I have the right date, but I'll figure that out whenever we go back.
I realized today that my belly is already growing. I can't be more than what... 2 months at the most? I don't know. The beginning wasn't as obvious as it was last time. Maybe it's just because I already had another baby.
My little boy...I miss you so much. Someday I will get you back. And you and your little brother or sister and I will all be a family. You have a grandma and grandpa that will love you so much once they find out about you. You might be sitting up now. You are probably smiling. You must be so big. I miss you so much that my arms ache sometimes. I still dream about you. There is and will always be a hole in my heart until I find you again.
September 29: Rachel hasn't eaten for two days. All I've seen her take is a little water. I really hope Master and Travis come back soon. Travis's methods may be harsh, but at least he will get her to eat. It always worked for me when I wanted to die.
September 30: Six days. Almost a week in this tiny cabin. My legs itch. I need to walk more than a few feet in one direction.
Even as I was writing, I could hear a rumble gradually growing closer, and the semi truck appeared through the trees. I stuffed the little notepad and the pen into the pocket of my sweater. By the time Travis had walked onto the porch and unlocked the door, I was standing ready with my sweater on and my journal entries safely concealed.
Travis seemed happy. My heart sank as I realized this meant that they had been successful.
“Time to go home.” Travis hugged me tightly and kissed me full on the mouth. As soon as he turned around to pick up Rachel, I gagged and scrubbed my mouth clean on my sweater.
“You ready to go?”
“Yes.” I followed him back to the truck. Master pulled the doors open as we approached, and I climbed in. All of the furniture and boxes were gone. It appeared he was now transporting rugs...piles and piles of them. Well, at least they'd be more comfortable to travel on....
For a moment I hoped that they actually hadn't manage to catch the girl they had gone after. Then I spotted the limp body chained to the side of the trailer. She was unconscious, and still clad in a tight, thigh-length red dress with a dangerously plunging v-neck. That, combined with her impossibly tall stilettos and fishnet tights, made me wonder if she was a prostitute. Still, she looked well fed and clean besides the dried blood on her wrist and her cheek. Maybe just a regular girl with a strange, and rather provocative, sense of fashion. Whatever she was, she was definitely dressed for a date.
“Hey. Keep moving.” Travis, still standing on the ground,poked the back of my knee and I realized I'd frozen in the trailer entryway.
I stepped forward to allow him to lay Rachel inside. As soon as she was inside, he helped Master close the doors and I was left in the great metal box alone with my two silent companions.
***
“Help! Where am I? Somebody help me!”
I woke with a start, my heart pounding, half certain I was back in the basement and the last few months had just been dreams of a mind fevered with insanity.
But no, I was still in the truck as I had been when I fell asleep. The cries came from the girl chained to the wall. She was awake and struggling, her smeared mascara framing blue eyes wild with fear.
I crawled over to her. “It's okay. Calm down.”
She froze and stared at me as if I was a ghost. “Who are you? Where am I? What's going on?”
Was it better to tell her the truth, or to try keep her calm? It would be pretty much impossible to do both. “Just calm down. You're only going to hurt yourself fighting the chains like that. I'm Sarah. What's your name?”
The girl stilled, panting. “Regina. Please, let me go.”
I shook my head. “I can't.”
Regina screamed and yanked at the chains holding her wrists. “Please! I have to go home!”
“I'm so sorry.”
“At least tell me what's going on. Are they going to kill us?”
I shook my head. “No, not kill us. Not right now, anyways.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“It's better if you don't know beforehand.” I didn't expect Regina to react well to this, but her response was more violent than I expected. I retreated to my bed on the rugs as she struggled and screamed. Even in the dim light I could see the fresh blood starting to stain her wrists from the force of her struggles.
Watching the new girl, I had the disturbing thought that I had actually been lucky not to wake up until we reached the prison. The rumbling and rattling of the truck would only add to the panic that Regina was experiencing.
When we finally stopped for a bathroom break, we were parked in the lot behind a deserted gas station. Travis hopped into the trailer and approached Regina, whose screams redoubled as she tried to pull away from him. Travis grabbed her arm and plunged a syringe into her neck, and the struggling girl was soon unconscious.
I was a little disgusted at myself when I realized that I was relieved for the noise to stop. The screaming made my nerves raw and made my heart race until I felt like I had been drugged.
After two days of the journey back, I had resorted to crawling underneath some of the rugs and stuffing my sweater in my ears. It helped with the cold, too. Now when we stopped, there was snow on the ground. The wind howled with unrelenting ferocity, sometimes shaking the trailer from side to side in a frightening manner.
When we stopped to sleep, it was at the hotel where we had stayed on the journey out. Travis opened the doors and gave Regina another dose of the drug to keep her quiet. I sat on the edge of the trailer as I waited to be told whether we were going into rooms or not. The wind was bitterly cold through my sweatpants and sweater.
As I sat there and waited for Travis, I noticed that Rachel was very pale and shivering, even though beads of sweat stood out on her forehead. She didn't protest when I put the back of my hand to her cheek.
She was burning up.
“Travis?”
Travis passed me and jumped down. “What?”
“I think Rachel's sick.”
Travis laid a hand on her forehead. “She's definitely feverish, but I don't know what you expect me to do about it.”
“Can't you get her some medicine?”
Travis laughed and gathered the limp girl into his arms. “You want her to have medicine, you'll have to take that up with Master.”
“Why can't you get it?”
“I'm not risking Master's wrath. Which will happen if I buy anything he hasn't approved. If you want to take that chance, then by all means feel free.”
It wasn't a chance I was willing to take either. I just shook my head silently and followed Travis.
We were all in one room this time. There were two beds instead of one. I kept my eyes on the floor to avoid Master's gaze, and as soon as I found a blanket I crawled into the corner behind an armchair.
Travis laid Rachel on a bed before leaving, only to return a few minutes later with Regina. He laid her on the other bed.
I watched through the space between the chair and the wall as Travis sat on the bed next to the catatonic Rachel and pulled out his laptop.
Master approached the bed where Regina lay, limp and quiet against the pillow. He smiled as he ran a rough finger down her cheek.
“You did good, son. This one won't be missed, and we know she'll make a good breeder.”
How does he know that?
Travis crossed his arms and leaned back against the bed headboard, watching his father caress Regina's face. “I got lucky. She thought having a rich husband would help her get custody back.”
My stomach heaved as I realized what he meant. This girl already had a child. To these men, she had already passed some sort of test, and was less of a “risk” than girls like me whose childbearing ability had been previously unknown.
I shuddered and buried deeper into my corner when Master began to unbuckle his belt. Travis went back to staring at his computer screen as if he had no awareness of what was about to happen.
I prayed Regina would stay asleep, but no such luck. She woke up a few minutes in, and began to scream. I stuffed my blanket into my ears and hummed to myself, trying not to hear the sounds of her panic and the impacts as Master slapped her. He liked it when we fought. He liked to smack us around while he hurt us. Like it made him feel more powerful. Travis still liked to rape me, but at least he was more likely to separate his types of assault rather than combining them into the same session.
I was shaking by the time it was over. Master buckled his belt, and instructed Travis to put her to sleep again. I breathed and cried into my blanket, trying desperately to shut everything else out.
God, please, please let me sleep. Let all of us sleep.
Chapter 25: Winter's Kiss
I crawled out from beneath the rugs as the truck shuddered to a stop and the engine stilled. After so long on a gravel road, I knew we must be back “home”. Soon Travis opened the doors and I hopped down as soon as I could, taking gulps of the frigid air. Another moment of Regina's screams, and I would go crazy.
Travis loaded Rachel into the bed of the pickup and did the same with Regina once he had tied her wrists and ankles with zip ties.
The horizon behind us was dark and threatening with the approach of a winter storm. I climbed into the cramped pickup cab next to Travis and watched the storm through the window as we drove up the hill to the house.
“Where do you think you're going?” Master asked when I got out and headed for the porch.
“I was just going...”
“No. You'll sleep in the barn like the rest of them.”
Head lowered, I walked next to Travis to the barn. With Master watching, I went quietly into my stall. Rachel went next to me, and Regina beyond her. The barn was so cold, even with the industrial sort of heaters that glowed red on the tops of the walls.
We were left alone in the barn. I burrowed into my nest of blankets, shivering. At least Master had let me keep my sweater and pants, unlike the other girls. Regina had been forcibly stripped and dressed in a gown by Travis once she was in her stall. Now she was screaming and throwing herself against the walls.
As the hours dragged on, the storm rolled in. I could hear the distant staticky sound as the snowflakes fell on the barn's metal roof. The wind swirled through every little crack in the building and made the barn creak. Even though the blankets smelled horrible, any part of me that was outside of them quickly became in danger of frostbite, so I huddled underneath them and breathed shallowly through my mouth.
The barn quickly grew dark as nighttime approached...or maybe it was just the clouds blocking the sun. The only light was the glow of the heater rods.
There was a flash outside, follo
wed closely by the rumble of thunder. I hadn't even known it was possible to have thunder with snowstorms. Even in captivity, I was learning something.
Snow fell harder, swirling in through the cracks in the sides of the barn. Regina was sobbing and kept hitting the wall. She must be covered in splinters by now. I could see through the knothole that Rachel lay still and shivering under her blankets, groaning with pain.
“Rachel? Are you okay?” As usual, there was no answer.
“Let me out!” yelled Regina, throwing herself against the wall so hard that the whole structure shuddered. “Let me go! I won't tell anyone, I promise! Just let me out!”
“It's no use,” I called to her. “You're just going to wear yourself out.”
“I've got to get out of here! Please, let me out! Sarah, help me!”
Chained Page 18
