The motorhome swerved to avoid a car wreck, throwing Quinn into Cooper and bringing him out of his memories. The kids were crammed into the small amount of floor space in the camper. The biker guarding them was named Snake. He had a tattoo of a snake that coiled around his neck. His greasy hair and dirty clothes reeked of body odor and stale cigarette smoke. He had been keeping up a running commentary on all the nasty things that he planned to do to the girls.
Quinn looked over to Dara and Alex and was relieved to see that they both seemed to be unaffected by the man’s rant. Alex seemed to be far away in thought with a blank expression on her face. Dara had a look of concentration and was focused down at her feet. Josh had his back to her and she seemed to be nudging his bound hands with her boot. Josh kept trying to grasp her foot but with his hands tied he was having trouble getting a good grip. Quinn didn’t know what the two were trying to do but he didn’t want to bring attention to them so he looked away.
They were sitting on the floor and there was no way to see out the window to where they were going but based on the movements of the camper, they hadn’t left the highway they had originally been traveling on. At least they were going in the right direction, Quinn thought.
A sharp intake of breath from Dara made him look back to her and Josh. Quinn saw her sock start to turn red with blood and was confused until he saw the knife clutched between Josh’s bound hands. Quinn realized that Dara must have had a knife in her boot and Josh had managed to free it. Josh held the knife until the next time the camper swerved and used the motion to arch forward and slide it down the back of his pants. He then slowly pulled his shirt out of his pants and let it hang down to cover the back of his pants. When he was done he slowly wiggled and shifted until he was sitting sideways and could meet Quinn’s eyes. Quinn gave him a brief nod of understanding just as a boot was shoved against Josh’s side.
“What’s a matter, big boy? You gotta go potty?” Snake taunted him in baby talk. When he got no response from Josh, he chuckled and said, “Don’t worry. You’ll be pissin’ your pants soon enough.” He let out a laugh that sounded like a donkey braying.
The driver didn’t turn around but yelled back, “Shut the hell up, Snake! Leave them kids be until we get back to base. We don’t need any problems or Skull will be using us for entertainment tonight.”
“Ah shit, I’m just havin’ a little fun,” he mumbled like a chastised child.
After that, there wasn’t any more talking and it seemed to Quinn that they had been driving for about an hour when the camper began to slow down. They all swayed to one side as the camper made a turn and they could feel the road change to a rougher surface. It was only five minutes when they made another turn and came to a stop. The driver came around his seat and pointed a handgun at them.
“All right, kiddies, everybody off the bus.” He motioned them up. It was difficult to stand with their hands tied and finally Snake reached down and started to haul them to their feet. The driver opened the side door and bright sunshine filled the inside of the camper. He climbed down and motioned them to get out.
It was a relief to be outside in the fresh air. The smell of nasty sweat from the two bikers was enough to make them gag. Quinn took a look around and saw that they were parked in a graveled area that had ten motorcycles and a large white panel van. The building was a long one-story structure; an old store with a living area attached. There was an old style set of gas pumps on the far end that looked like they hadn’t been used in decades. A rough shove sent Quinn forward and he followed his friends toward the building. He looked at his friends and vowed that whatever happened he would do whatever it took to free them.
As Alex walked through the door, it took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust from the sun’s brightness to the dim interior. She tried to avoid the trash that was strewn around on the floor, but the place was a mess with empty beer cans and glass liquor bottles and other junk. As the room came into focus, she could make out a couple of old leather couches and a glass coffee table overflowing with filled ashtrays, beer cans and dirty glasses. There were two dirty women with stringy, greasy hair wearing skin tight jeans and low cut tight shirts sprawled on the couches. The women looked over with glassy eyes and not much interest when the kids were pushed into the room. Alex was shoved to the side when the leader, Skull, entered and barely kept her balance when one of the other bikers pushed her back the other way. Skull strode over to the two women and grabbed one of them and hauled her to her feet.
“Get up you lazy cow! Can’t you see we have guests? Go get the ropes so we can hook them up!” he yelled as he turned the woman and booted her in the butt, propelling her towards a door in the back of the room. He flopped down into the spot the woman had just occupied and started to search through the piles of empty beer cans. When he didn’t find what he was looking for, his face turned even harsher and he let out another bellow.
“DOG!!! Get in here!”
Within seconds, a short, skinny, weasel-faced man rushed into the room. In his hand was a dog leash and attached to it on all fours was a small boy of about eight or nine. He was naked except for a pair of dirty underwear that had rocket ships on them. His skinny body was covered with bruises and scrapes and what looked like burns. When he lifted his head up, Alex could see he had a black eye and crusted blood under his nose. With all the damage done to the child, it was the utter emptiness behind his eyes that broke Alex’s heart.
“Rat, let Dog off his leash. I want a beer… Make it two!” Snake commanded.
“Sure, boss, sure,” Rat said in a rush and reached down to unhook the leash from the collar around the child’s neck. “You heard him, Dog! Go get some beer and make it quick.” He punctuated the order with a boot to the child’s bottom. The boy made no sound as he scrambled back out of the room.
Skull turned towards the other woman still lounging on the other couch. “We’re having a party tonight, Baby. We’ve got some entertainment and I want a good meal. Go on out to that camper we just brought in. I took a quick look and they have it stocked up with all kinds of food. Get some stuff and you and Sheila can make us a feast.”
The woman stretched lazily and came to her feet. She sauntered over and straddled Skull. “If I make you a good meal, do you promise to share the entertainment with me later?” she asked him seductively.
Skull leaned back on the couch and looked the woman up and down with a smile. Suddenly, he bucked his hips and the woman flew backwards, landing on the floor between the coffee table and couch. Her head banged against the table, sending empty beer cans and ashtrays flying. She scrambled to her feet rubbing her head.
“Damn it, Skull! Why’d you do that for?” she whined.
“Take a good look, Baby.” He motioned to Dara and Alex. “Fresh meat, you watch yourself or one of them will be your permanent replacement.” He then bellowed out a huge laugh at the look on the woman’s face. “Get cookin’, Baby! And make it good. I’m tired of the crap you two have been feeding us.”
With a look of hatred directed at Alex and Dara, she stormed out to raid the camper.
The other woman, Sheila, came back into the room with her hands full of rope. Her voice was whiny when she handed the pile to one of the bikers. “We only have four sets of hooks put up so one of them won’t be hung up.”
“Whatever! Popper, just tie one of those boys to a chair for now. He can replace whoever dies first. Sheila, go out and help Baby in the camper. Popper, you and Rat get them kids secured in the back room. DOG!!! Where’s my damn beer,” he roared suddenly. The child came running into the room with two beer cans clutched to his chest. He placed them on the table in front of Skull and quickly dodged a backhand headed his way. The boy retreated into the farthest corner of the room and curled himself up.
Alex felt a man come up behind her and her bound wrists were pulled up higher that her arms would bend. She leaned forward to ease the pressure and felt the man push himself ag
ainst her bottom. “Yeah, baby, that’s the ticket,” he breathed into her ear.” Alex shuddered in disgust but said nothing. There was no point in antagonizing these men. It would be better to comply and wait for her chance to do something.
The pressure on her arms went away suddenly and Alex realized that the plastic zip-tie had been cut. She quickly brought her hands in front of her and tried to rub the circulation back into them. Looking at her friends, she saw that they had all been freed but they were having each wrist tied individually, with a loop left over. It didn’t make sense to Alex until she remembered what the woman said about hooks. Her shoulders tensed at the thought of hanging by her arms from hooks. As they were shoved into the back room, Alex craned her neck around to get one more look at the child curled up in the corner. Instead of being afraid, she felt a huge rage settle over her and sent a silent promise to the child that she would free him and give him vengeance.