by Day, Talia
Landing awkwardly in the darkness I felt my ankle twist painfully to the right. “It’s okay, it is just me… Felicia.” A soft voice came from the darkness. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to comfort you. We have all been exactly where you are. Don’t worry though, somehow, you start to cope.”
Her voice trembled and cracked as she spoke. 'Some coping,' I thought to myself as the woman, clearly broken, tried to console me. “Where are you?” I asked gently, moving forward towards her again and sought out her touch. My ankle was painful and throbbing but somehow the woman’s touch was enough to relax me and set my mind at ease, at least for the moment; I fell asleep.
****
When I awoke my throat was dry and my stomach was growling with hunger. “Felicia?” I whispered quietly.
“Yeah?” She replied, her hand stroking my damp hair through the bars. “When do they feed us? I am thirsty. Is there any water?” Up until this very moment I hadn’t thought about physical needs, as if my mind hadn’t considered the possibility of being here in this darkness for so long.
“Don’t worry, we aren’t any good to anyone if we are dead.” My heart sunk further into the darkness and a tear welled up, rolling down my cheek. I stuck my tongue out and savored the salt as it played on my taste buds.
The thud of footsteps approached, slow and menacing. It sounded as if the phantom was wearing cowboy boots, each step tied to an ominous metallic click. I felt my heartbeat spike and my chest constrict with fear. I didn’t know how much more of this I could take, the darkness, the not knowing, the continual fear.
Where was Jacob? How did I end up here? A slew of emotions suddenly overwhelmed me and I began to wail uncontrollably. Felicia pulled my hair forcefully, a warning to keep my mouth shut. But I was simply unable to control myself.
The sound of boots got louder and Felicia scurried to the far side of her enclosure. The boots kept on, louder now, until they finally stopped, just inches from me. “Don’t worry babe. A girl like you won’t stay caged for long. That is, not if you know how to fuck.”
I shuddered, disgusted by his suggestion. Turning and taking a few steps further he opened Felicia’s door and she began to whimper and fight as he pulled her from her confines. I screamed loudly, wishing and praying that my eyes would open and I would be at home in my bed, but my desperation was only met with darkness.
I have no idea how much longer I laid there on the hard cold floor, staring into the black void when I was startled by my cage door rattling. I curled into a ball and gripped the steel bars, afraid to find out what the other women already knew about being taken.
The man was laughing at my struggle as his strong arms wrapped shackles around my wrists, in the darkness, I had no chance to fight, no indication that they were coming. His fingers slid up my arms and under my armpits where they made firm contact with my breasts before continuing on and lifting me. I gripped the bars with all of my might but my efforts were thwarted by a heavy object that came painfully crashing down on my fingers. Pain suddenly throbbed through my hands, the cold intensifying the sting of the intense pain.
Screaming, I let the bars fall from my grasp and the man held me firmly and pulled me through the darkness. Finally, we reached the end of what seemed to be a long corridor, not that I could see it, but I could hear the echo of his steps against the walls. With a forceful tug he pulled a door open, blinding me with a flood of light. I squinted and my eyes teared up against the rays.
A moment later my eyes managed to adjust and I found myself in a makeshift locker room. The big man who had carried me tossed me from his grip and I landed hard on my bruised ankle, the pain making me wince and whimper.
“Wash up,” was all he said to me, his chin jerking in the direction of a shower. He was a thick man, his arms heavily tattooed and darkly tanned. A large scar ran across his face, from his left eye to the right of his lips. “Take your clothes off mami,” he urged me as his eyes ran up and down my body. I turned away from him, hiding myself from him as I peeled the damp and filthy fabric from my skin.
“Mmmm, wash your pussy good,” he called out from behind me, urging me forward. I was afraid he would rape me. We were alone and I could tell by his breathing that he was aroused as he watched me strip down to nothing. My eyes darted left and right, but there was no way to protect myself, nothing but a bar of soap in sight. I knew that whatever happened next, I would be at his mercy.
My mouth was so dry, and the allure of fresh water was enough to make me forget for a moment where I might be going after my body was cleaned. I turned on the spigot, holding my hand out and waiting for warmth. “That’s as good as it gets honey, now don’t waste any more time, wash up.” A low chuckle rose from behind me as he pushed me forward into the freezing water. I cried out in shock of the sudden cold rush over my bare flesh. Ice water, I was being forced to stand in ice water. My body was racked with chills and I quickly soaped up as instructed and scrubbed myself vigorously. All the while my body was suffering, I drank the water that ran over me. I had no idea how long it would be until I had another opportunity to drink, and I wouldn’t risk dehydration in a dark musty hole. When I had finished scrubbing, the man behind called out again, “That’s enough. Let's go.”
I shut the water off and turned around. He stood there, holding a towel out to me with his left hand, his right stroking his cock through his jeans. I took the towel and wrapped it around my body, hiding it from his depraved eyes. Grabbing my arm he pulled me forward and we walked through another hallway, this one brightly lit, with individual cells on either side. Ahead of me I could hear a woman whimpering as the bed below her creaked with each heavy thrust delivered to her by a grunting, straining man. I couldn’t help but look when we passed, and I was sickened by the ugly, fat, grey-haired brute who was holding down a young, tiny blonde against the bed.
She was turned in my direction, her face expressionless, not an ounce of emotion in her hollow eyes. My stomach knotted in disgust and horror. How could anyone get off on this? What the fuck had I gotten myself into? I wretched, and vomit came up to my throat, burning it.
The man beside me hit me hard against the side of the head, drawing my attention away from the disgusting sight, and diminishing my nausea. I fought the urge to cry. He drug me forward and opened a cage at the far end of the hall.
“Please, get me out of here! Help me! Help me!” I begged him, grabbing his arm and blocking the door of the cell. His thick arm pushed me back and onto the bed.
His lip curled into a vicious snarl as he held me to the bed. “I should break you now, whore,” he growled menacingly through his teeth, his hips pressing forward into mine, his cock still stiff beneath his jeans. He grabbed my hand and pressed it against his stiffness before shaking his head and lifting himself off of me. Tears streamed freely from my eyes as he walked out, slamming the cage door closed behind him.
My mind revolted from reality, and swept me away into daydreams about Jacob. His strong and powerful arms holding me safely to him. His lips upon my own, and his deep blue eyes that pierced into my soul. By my own admission there was something about his bad boy ways that had drawn me in so intensely. But now, fear for my life and future left me to wonder if I could ever look at him the same.
He was dangerous. His life was dangerous. If I made it out of here, would my mind ever be able to look at him without seeing flashbacks of the darkness? An image of the blonde from down the hall flashed through my mind. I could still hear the old man grunting and panting as the broken woman below him lay, dying inside. That would be me, I feared, broken and lifeless. It was in this moment that all sense of right and wrong was released from my conscious. There was only one thing to do now, and that was to fight, to the death if necessary, because it was not only my body but my soul at stake. I sobbed softly for the last time, my heart was growing cold.
Chapter 11
Gathering what strength I had was an ordeal in itself, but there was no option for failure. Examini
ng each inch of my cell I found that there was very little to consider, the room was essentially bare, minus a mattress that was covered simply by a sheet and a single pillow. It wasn’t much to work with, but, recalling the decayed mattresses I had seen at one time or another, I knew that there was at least one potential weapon in my cell.
Inspecting the fabric I found what I was looking for: a minute tear that would make creating a hold a much easier task. I could get only my finger into the small hole, but I spent the next twenty five minutes forcing the hole larger and larger. The fabric was tough and didn’t give easily, but my efforts were paying off. Another five minutes and I managed to squeeze my hand into the hole, I had covered myself with the sheet so my efforts would be hidden, should anyone be watching or come by without my noticing. I reached down into the mattress and felt exactly what I was looking for, the cold coil of metal that might be my one and only chance of escape.
It wasn’t easy, the metal was soldered at the ends, and without a clear sight of what I was doing, I feared that I might in fact be doing nothing. After another thirty or more minutes of fidgeting, however, something gave way and the coil now flexed easily, another few minutes and I felt confident that it would give. My heart was racing now, the potential to get the upper hand was literally at my fingertips. To my dismay the metal wouldn’t give soon enough, because voices from the hall were quickly approaching, and I knew that it was me they were coming for. Even as they opened the bars and harassed me to get up and present myself, my hand kept working. If I could just break it free! But it was too late, and I pulled my hand from the hole and played the role of the broken woman as they pulled the sheet off of me. It was the tattooed man from the shower, and this time, he had brought another man with him.
“Well get up girl and show Pedro what you have to offer.” My stomach knotted tightly as I took in the sight of Pedro. His face was leathered and covered in thick scruff. His hair long and dark and unkempt. His body was muscular but even the dark Hispanic skin tone didn’t hide the scarred tracks that followed the veins of his arms. I shuddered in disgust as he drew his fingertips to his mouth and tongued the space between his index and middle finger. “Yeah Chico,” Pedro said as he handed over a wad of cash, “she will do just fine. I'm gonna git it, yeah.”
I cringed as they finalized the payment for my services, crawling back against the wall and pulling my knees in defensively. “You’ve got thirty minutes, have fun,” Chico said as he turned and walked out.
As he approached me my eyes scanned him but his empty holster signaled to me that he had likely been stripped of anything that might be used as a weapon. I wondered briefly if this practice was in place to prevent the women from gaining access to weapons, or was in fact to keep the men in line. Shuddering, I cried out as he crouched down onto the bedside.
“Fuck you! Don't touch me! Jacob will kill you if you touch me!” The man didn’t care a bit about my feeble attempt at a threat. He unclipped his belt and reached out towards me, grabbing my hips and pulling me forward to him.
“Get the fuck off of me you piece of shit!” I screamed out, my hands flailing against him. He was strong, much stronger than I could ever hope to be, and it took him no time to grasp my wrists and press them tightly to the wall behind my head. I was completely helpless. His freehand dipped down between my thighs and he gripped me tightly as his face pressed closely to mine. “I am going to own you, bitch,” he snarled with a broken smile, his teeth rotted and dirty, his breath foul.
To my surprise, a voice came from behind my assailant. “Wait! What the fuck do you have to do with Jacob? Get off of her Pedro! She might be worth a whole lot more than the fifty you spent on her scrawny ass.”
I watched in disgust as Chico threw a handful of small bills onto the bed beside me. So that's what I was worth to them--my soul, my freedom, my entire being--fifty fucking dollars to fuck the life out of me? With every ounce of myself I wished that they were dead, that I could personally cut their dicks off and shove them in their throats.
“Oh come on, Chico, I want to take her virginity, these new girls are so much better. They scream,” he pulled my chin towards his and licked his lips. “They put up a real fight.”
He released his grip on my face and traced his hands down my bare chest, between my tits and continued to the tightly clenched space between my thighs. I mustered the little saliva I could, my mouth still achingly dry from lack of water, and spit in his face. “Oh yeah baby,” he grinned as he wiped the spit from his face and licked his finger, “That is what Papi is talking about.”
An unexpected blow threw my head sideways as his palm came crashing into me. I cowered as he continued to slap me forcefully, but it was only when Chico finally stepped in that Pedro’s blows stopped. My eyes were blurred with tears and my face stinging with pain.
“You better be worth something bitch, because I am coming back for you,” Pedro hissed as Chico escorted him out and into the cell across the hall.
“Just relax, this one's on me,” Chico said, leaving the brute with some other poor, innocent woman. I felt sick knowing that his rage would be taken out on her. Making a silent promise to the woman, I vowed that if I couldn't save us all I would gladly die trying.
Chico returned to my cell, his face pensive, probably contemplating what his cut would be if I were in fact a bargaining chip. “Let’s go,” he commanded, holding the door open for me. I pulled the sheet from the bed and covered myself.
Chico led me forward and though a heavy door that was bolted. He used a key and unlocked it, pushing me forward and up a set of stairs. We came to another door which was also locked. He grunted in my direction. “If you are wasting my time sugar, not only will Pedro have a go at you, but I will make it my personal duty to break you.”
He didn’t wait for my reply, pushing the doorway open and dragging me into the warehouse. Following the hallway I began to hear voices and my senses went on high alert; if there was an opportunity to get away, I wouldn’t miss it.
“We told you Chico, leave the dogs in the kennel, you can’t take them all home with you,” a skinny biker called out from my right as he approached us.
“Mmmm, but I can see why you would want this one to keep.” He pulled tauntingly on the sheet, but my hands grasped the fabric tightly to my body.
“Leave her alone Quip. Where is Trece? This bitch might be worth something.”
Quip grunted and pointed towards a door that was painted red. As we approached I began to hear whimpers and cries from behind the door. Expecting Chico to knock I was shocked when he threw the door open, exposing a tight-bodied blonde who was tied down to what looked like a torture device.
Her hands were bound above her head with thick leather cuffs. Her skin was creamy and pale white, except nearing her nipples, where some sort of sharpened clamps were tearing into her delicate flesh. Her legs were also bound with leather straps that held her thighs open; a bald-headed Mexican stood with his pants at his ankles.
“I tol’ you to fucking knock if the door was shut, I’m wit my girl!” He threw a whip-like device at Chico, hitting him in the chest. The girl on the table didn’t seem to care that we were there, her eyes had heavy bags beneath them and they were glossed over. She was fucked up, and I doubted if she even knew what was happening.
“This is the bitch we found in the yard—I think we might be able to trade her, she says she's Jacob’s cock warmer.” Trece took a step back, pulling his jeans up to his waist, and as he did I caught a glimpse of the table beside him. There it was, my freedom, gleaming back at me just a few feet away. Launching forward with all my might I flew through the air and came crashing down onto the table and onto the gun. The cold hard steel in my hand was like a gift from the gods above, and my heart raced as I rushed to the corner of the room and held the gun out defensively.
“Back the fuck off," I screamed in panic, unsure of what exactly to do now that I had the weapon. Chico’s face was contorted in what appeared to be a mixtur
e of anger and possibly fear as he took a step out of the doorframe.
Trece looked fucked up too, his eyes red and droopy. He still held his pants in his hand and looked lost as he processed the sudden change in the situation. An evil smile replaced his confusion as he stared at me and began to laugh.
“Ay mami, you are feisty.” His laughter grew more intense as he took a step towards me. “That ain’t gonna do nothing for you, unless you like a scratch and sniff.” In a vulgar motion he made his hand into the shape of a gun and turned to the woman strapped to the table, mocking me as his fingers slipped inside of her. He turned back to me, still grinning and chuckling.
I pulled the trigger.
It was an uneventful click that dissolved all of my hope, and I fought back the tears that threatened to flow. Sliding down the wall I hugged my knees and surrendered my hope for an escape. "Pull yourself together, Ally," I thought to myself. "Now is not the time for self-pity."
Trece lifted me from the floor and called for Quip to untie his girlfriend as he and Chico led me into yet another dark, dirty room. After Chico left and dead-bolted the door, Trece said, “So tell me Mami, how much are you worth?” Dialing a number into his phone I hoped that he was calling Jacob. Thankfully he was.
