Nothing Left But Fear

by Russell, Adrian

  ‘Damn, these fuckers stink,’ Joshua grunted to Scott. ‘They’re worse than fucking pigs.’

  ‘And that’s even after we washed Smith down with the hose,’ Scott added, grimacing when the smell hit his senses.

  The room was dark, as although there were windows in the building, these had been deliberately boarded over. The room they had entered not only smelt bad, but it was also very warm. There was not much ventilation, and the metal corrugated roof acted like a huge radiator. This warmth created a humid atmosphere, which only added to the stench.

  The central floor was made of concrete. Down each side there were cages, which were all empty except for the two that were occupied. It was these that the men moved towards, but in particular the one with Carly Prow in it, who was screaming at the top of her lungs.

  Scott approached her and raised his stun gun.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

  Within what seemed like just seconds from when Carly had begun shouting, the prisoners heard the bolts being unlocked and the outside door bursting open, letting in shards of light. They both squinted as they watched two men rush in from outside.

  ‘Ah, you’ve woken up have you, and you’d better stop that noise, you stupid little bitch,’ Scott barked at Carly, as he wielded the electric prod stick. He then poked it through the bars to her cage and, as it touched her skin, she yelped in pain.

  ‘You fucker you, what the hell are you doing with me?’ she shouted at Scott, who pushed the stun gun against her for a second time, as she seemed to be defiant of his commands. The second charge of the stun gun threw her back against the rear of the cage, where she fell motionless and silent.

  ‘There you go, you fat bitch! That’ll teach you for yelling and making a noise!’ Scott yelled at her motionless form.

  Then he turned to stare at Graham and snorted, ‘What the fuck are you looking at, you pervert? Take a lesson from that, too, if you’re thinking of doing anything about it.’

  Graham averted his gaze from Scott and from Carly, who lay still with her head against the bars in an awkward position. The rest of her body was lying flat and her legs splayed apart, revealing her privates.

  As Scott turned to walk out, Graham asked in the politest voice he could muster, ‘Please, can we have some more food? Carly was just saying that she was hungry and I’m hungry, too.’

  ‘No, you little shit, you don’t deserve anything, and as for this little bitch she can continue to starve until we set her free in the wild,’ he snarled at Graham.

  ‘Surely, you could give her something, and, come on, you can’t let a lady out in the wild,’ Graham protested.

  With this, Scott turned and headed towards Graham’s cage, whilst the other man watched intently. As he did so, Graham pulled back as far as he could into the cage. He cowered, as he knew what this man could do and he didn’t want to be prodded by the stun gun a second time.

  ‘Look here, you have no idea who this bitch is and what she has done. She deserves to be here just as much as you do, so I’d be quiet if I were you, or you’ll be first in line again,’ he barked at Graham.

  ‘But surely we haven’t been that bad, and certainly not bad enough to be treated like animals,’ he dared to protest once more.

  With this, Scott poked the stun gun through the bars of the cage, as Graham tried to recoil even further back. But the stick was too long and caught him on the sole of his foot. His foot jolted up and his knee hit him square on the jaw, which in turn knocked his head back, causing him to hit his head on the bars behind him. Then it all went very hazy and he blacked out.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Scott returned to Druker’s office and updated him on what had happened. He explained that, due to the way they were behaving, he’d stunned both of the captives.

  As they were talking, they could hear the distinct sound of a Cessna plane overhead, and immediately knew that this would be the vet arriving. Both men walked out of the office, with Scott following his boss to the front door. As they looked out they could see the small aircraft on its final approach to the runway, so they made their way to the nearest Land Rover.

  Before they headed off, Druker shouted, ‘Hey, Josh! You and Ken get Prow out of her cage and to take her to the operating room. The vet has just arrived.’

  Scott automatically jumped into the driver’s seat, Druker got in on the passenger side, and the Land Rover jumped into life when Scott turned the key. He spun the vehicle around, pressed the accelerator and headed in the direction of the airstrip. As they were driving, Scott added a bit more detail about Carly, telling Druker how he thought she’d knocked herself out when she was thrown back onto the bars of the cage.

  Druker looked straight ahead as Scott was telling him about Carly, then said, ‘We don’t want that to impede what the vet is about to do, now do we? I did tell you to use that stun gun with caution, as we want our marks to be fit for release.’

  ‘I’m sure she’ll be okay,’ Scott reassured him.

  As they approached the airfield, the Cessna was taxiing back down the runway towards the hanger that Druker used to house his own plane. Scott pulled the Land Rover up to a convenient position, so that as soon as Roger got out of his plane, he could get straight in and they could get him back to the house.

  The small aircraft stood for a few seconds, whilst Roger let the engine run, in order to do his final checks before shutting it down. Druker had got out of the Land Rover in readiness to greet him, and walked towards the small plane.

  The door opened and Roger stepped out. He was a tall, skinny man in his fifties and had a full head of grey hair. His face lit up when he reached Druker, who gave him a huge smile. The two men shook hands and Druker invited him to get into the Land Rover for their short trip back to the house.

  Roger always carried his bag, which had all the equipment and solutions required to perform the procedure, which included the anaesthetic injections needed to put the patient out. The trackers were purchased by Druker and were held on site and he always hid them away in a cupboard in his house.

  During the short drive, Druker explained about how the project was going and how he now had three marks. He explained that one had already been out in the wild, but had been brought back because of tourists. He told him about the two new marks, and in particular about the one in the round house. Druker was keen to see whether they would be able to have both tracker units fitted today. He also hoped to get them both out into the field.

  Scott pulled the Land Rover up in front of the house and all three men got out.

  ‘Would you like a coffee, Roger?’ Druker asked.

  ‘Yes, please, that would be lovely, with a biscuit if you have one. Or a piece of Mulubwa’s cake would be even better, if she has made one,’ Roger replied cheekily with a smile.

  Druker looked at Roger, smiled back at him and, affecting a military stance, said, ‘Coming up! No problem, sir! And I’ll see if we have any cake for you, too.’

  Turning to his chief aide, he said, ‘Scott, whilst I organise that, will you take Roger to the operating room?’

  ‘No problem, Druk. Come on, Roger, she should already be there waiting for us,’ Scott responded.

  The two men walked off as Druker went into the house to get a coffee and a biscuit or cake for Roger.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Druker joined Scott, Joshua, and Roger in the operating room where Carly was lying on one of the two tables in the middle of the floor. The room was brightly lit with fluorescent tubes and had been set up as a sterile unit under the guidance of Roger. The operating tables were made of aluminium and were really designed for animal operations. Whenever Druker entered the room, the clinical smell always hit him, as it was cleaned on a regular basis and the chemicals used would linger in the air.

  Carly had already been sedated by Roger in readiness for the small procedure, and, as he arrived, Joshua and Scott were turning her over so that he could access the back of her neck.

  Roger’s v
et bag was open and he was taking out the necessary tools to carry out the operation, and was waiting for Druker to bring the tracker unit for him to insert.

  ‘Here you go, Roger, still in its packet ready to go,’ Druker said, as he passed him the new tracker unit.

  By now Roger and the other two men were masked up and Scott handed out a further mask for Druker to put on. He opened the packet containing the tracker and before he sterilised it by immersing it into a cleaning fluid, he sorted out the battery and tested the unit with the tester it came supplied with. He then proceeded to clean the area on her neck, in preparation for the incision, covered it in iodine and then proceeded to carry out the small operation to insert the tracker.

  ‘Good job, Roger,’ Druker said to the vet, as he finished sewing up the very small incision with dissolvable stitches.

  ‘Okay to send her out into the wild, Doc?’ Druker asked, almost impatiently.

  ‘I don’t see any real reason not to, as I know you like to have them asleep when you put them out there, so yes, okay,’ Roger replied.

  ‘You said there was another one, Druker?’ Roger asked, as he began to wash up and collect his tools.

  ‘Yes, he’s in the round house. I’ll take you to him right away,’ Druker replied.

  Roger closed his bag and they all left the operating room together. The place where the other mark was being held was across the courtyard. It was a small, stone building with a thatched roof and was circular in shape. The door to it was made of a dark wood and the building had a number of small windows, which were all framed in the same dark wood. Each of the windows had a blind, which prevented any one from looking in.

  The four men approached the building with Scott leading the way, as he was the one with the key to unlock the door, which he proceeded to do. He opened it and they all trooped in.

  In the centre of the room was a bed with a naked man on it, with his arms and legs bound. The man had a blindfold covering his eyes, together with a mouth gag, so that he couldn’t shout out. Joshua had put these on him earlier that day, firstly so that he couldn’t see the vet, but secondly the mouth gag was to stop him from shouting, as he’d woken up earlier that day and begun to shout at the top of his voice, for all to hear.

  The vet went over to the man and, as he stood by the bed, he opened his bag to get his sphygmomanometer to measure his blood pressure, together with his stethoscope to check his heart rate.

  The man on the bed was now writhing and trying to escape. Noises of protest were coming from his gagged mouth, as he was now aware of the men in the room. Roger ignored these protests and asked Scott if he could restrain him, in order to take his blood pressure.

  ‘It’s a good sign that he is struggling like he is. There can’t be too much wrong with him,’ Roger explained, as he unfolded his sphygmomanometer and placed it around the man’s right arm.

  The man heard what Roger had said and, now that Scott and Joshua were holding him, was protesting even more, but he was no match for the strength of these two men that had no trouble in holding him still.

  ‘If you don’t stay still, I’ll have no option but to inject you,’ Roger told his patient.

  With this the man settled down, but he continued with his verbal sounds, which no one in the room could understand, as he had the gag over his mouth.

  After the vet had checked the man over, Roger indicated to Druker that he was fine. ‘His blood pressure is a bit on the high side, as is his pulse rate, but then that’s to be expected with what he is experiencing right now.’

  ‘Thank you, Roger, so you think he is okay to have the procedure?’ Druker asked.

  ‘Yes, I don’t see any reason not to, and it makes sense whilst I’m here. What I’ll do is give him a sedative whilst he’s here and then if we can get Scott and Joshua to transfer him to the operating room, I’ll get straight to it,’ Roger replied.

  On hearing this, the man started to squirm even more, and made extra mumbling sounds through his gagged mouth.

  Despite the man’s movements and his mumbled protests, the vet prepared the injection to sedate him, and within seconds of the needle entering his skin, he went limp and fell quiet. Scott and Joshua transferred him to a nearby trolley bed and then wheeled him to the operating room, whilst Druker and Roger followed on behind.

  ‘I’m just going to get the other tracking device from the house, Roger,’ Druker said, as the two men followed the trolley bed.

  ‘Okay, Druker, no problem, I’ll get started with the patient in preparing him for the insertion for when you return,’ Roger replied.

  Druker split off and went to the house to get another of the tracking devices. Each device cost Druker around $6,000, as they were the latest technology in miniature tracking. These small tracking devices could be put under the skin, and were still able to receive a GPS signal.

  He went to his office to retrieve the next tracker and then headed back to the operating room. He was feeling pleased with himself about how his experiment was going, even though the first mark hadn’t lasted long at all, but after the tracker had been fitted to Konner, he intended to get Scott to take both him and the woman out into the field right away.

  When he arrived at the operating room, Carly was still lying on one table and was thankfully still unconscious. Konner was being prepared on the second operating table, with Roger and the other two men having masked up. He had already put the iodine on the area of skin on the back of Konner’s neck, in preparation for the incision to insert the tracker.

  ‘Ah, Druker, just in time. He’s all ready to receive the tracker unit, once it’s been sterilised, but please put your mask on again, before I start,’ Roger said.

  The small operation on Konner took no time at all, and soon Roger was stitching him up and finishing off.

  ‘How long do you think they’ll be unconscious for now, Roger?’ Druker asked.

  ‘Difficult to say for sure, but at least another half an hour I would say, but before I go I can top them both up with another small injection if you wish,’ Roger offered.

  ‘Yes, that would be good, as I don’t want either of them to come around too soon. I want to get them out in the wild right away, before either of them wakes up,’ Druker responded.

  Roger got another syringe from his bag, and administered an injection to Carly in order to keep her asleep for at least another hour. He then took a slightly smaller dose for Konner and injected him too. After that he packed his things away ready to leave.

  ‘Right lads, we’re all done here,’ Druker said. ‘So get to it and take them both out, but make sure they are far enough away from each other as we dare, but not too far to cause us a problem should we need to evacuate either of them. May I suggest Area Two, away from Area Three where we evacuated Smith from yesterday.’

  The men knew what to do and Druker left them to it, whilst he escorted Roger out of the operating room and back to the house.

  ‘I can’t stay, Druker. I have another visit I have to get to right away over at Mfuwe, so I’d better be off,’ Roger explained.

  ‘No problem, Roger. I’ll get you back to your plane right away and then when I’ve done that, I’ll pay your monies over right away,’ Druker replied.

  ‘Thank you, very much appreciated,’ Roger said, as they both walked towards the Land Rover.

  Druker waved Roger off at the air field and got back into the Land Rover to return to his house, whilst thinking, ‘this is all working out just right.’

  As he arrived at the house, Scott and Joshua were just setting off with the two marks in the back of the other Land Rover. Scott waved at Druker as they disappeared in a cloud of dust.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  Graham came to, after what seemed like seconds to him, but when he did, Scott and his colleague had gone. His jaw and head were throbbing from the jolt he’d received from the stun gun. He gradually got up from where he lay. He wasn’t really sure if it was the electric shock of the stun gun or the blow to his head
that had knocked him out.

  He looked over at Carly’s cage, but she was gone. He knew where she might be and shivered with fear, knowing all too well what she would be going through right now.

  ‘Oh, my god!’ he said out loud. ‘She’s out there with the lions and other wild creatures.’

  Night was drawing in, as the little light that filtered in through the small gaps between the wall and the roof lessened until he was plunged into complete darkness. He was surprised at how quickly the sun went down. As he lay there he wondered how he would ever get out of this situation and how he might escape. He also began to think about Carly again and what it must be like for her being out there in the dark. It was scary enough in daylight.

  The air in the building was chilly now, so it had gone from one extreme to the other, as during the day it was very warm, but now he was feeling a bit cold. Being soaked earlier hadn’t helped. There were no blankets and all he had was a hard, wooden floor to lie on and nothing for comfort.

  ‘At least they could have given me a bed of sorts,’ he whispered to himself.

  He needed to go to the toilet again and had no choice but to do this in his cage, but he tried to keep it to one corner. After relieving himself he tried to curl up into as small a ball as possible in order to keep warm and to try to get some sleep.

  As he lay there trying to fall to asleep, he heard a vehicle, which sounded like a Land Rover, draw up outside. The distinctive sound of the two diffs on the four-wheel drive vehicle came to a halt, and he then heard voices and the two doors slam shut, with the hollow metal sound of an open top vehicle.

  He struggled to hear what they were saying, and managed to pick up a couple of words within the sentences, which confirmed that they had indeed left Carly somewhere out in the wilderness. He wondered if it was in the same placed they’d left him. He heard one say, ‘I give that little bitch just twelve hours and she’ll be eaten alive.’ That was enough to know exactly who they were talking about and what they had done with her.