From time to time each man would just disappear into the forest alone; it was not an unusual practice in the middle of a forest with no toilet facilities. However, this was not the only reason. Both men would go off to simply breakdown and cry without affecting the other. It was cathartic and they both did it out of pure necessity. The visions of that particular day in Afghanistan were vivid in their minds and they probably always would be. They had seen many things together and a multitude of atrocities besides seeing some of their comrades blown to bits by IED’s (Improvised Explosive Device). One day as they were returning from patrol they saw a Muslim woman walking up to the sentry post with what looked like a loaf of local bread she had baked by way of a gift. The vehicle that Paul and Andre were in was rocked by the explosion and they were thrown sideways by the blast. It had not been a woman in that Burka, it was a Taliban suicide bomber and he had blown himself up and taken three other men with him. They had been friends of Paul and Andre and when the guardhouse blew apart they never had a chance. This sight had played on their minds for some time. Then a few weeks later a similar event occurred when Paul and Andre were on patrol in a local village. One is never really sure if the locals are friendly or not. When a burka clad woman approached them carrying a small bundle in her arms Paul told her to stop. In fact both he and Andre told her to stop and signaled her to do as well. She didn’t and kept coming towards them. Once again they warned her to stop but she ignored them. This time, remembering the episode at the gate, Paul opened fire. Too late they realized their mistake. The bundle she was carrying was her child and Paul’s bullet had killed the baby and then killed the mother too. He then fell to his knees screaming No! No! No! repeatedly. He had done what he had to do – but there was no consoling Paul after that. It’s a dilemma that the soldiers faced daily, were the locals friendly or not, were they actually women or not? If you are wrong your comrades may be killed and they are reliant on your judgment to stay alive. Nine times out of ten your instincts are correct, this time due to the gate incident, Paul erred on the side of caution and the result was tragic. Andre and Paul were numbed by this and quickly led away by their comrades. It was an unfortunate accident caused by the war and this innocent woman and child were simply collateral damage. Paul and Andre however couldn’t forgive themselves. If only he had waited a few seconds longer he would’ve seen it was a child – but then, had it not been they’d now be dead. That said, he had still shot an innocent mother and her child and he just couldn’t forgive himself. That was the reason both these men would go off alone, sit down on a fallen tree and just sob. Paul had the same recurring nightmare and was haunted by seeing the angelic ghost of a baby crying and asking why? Who wouldn’t be affected by that?
***
Across the lake and several miles to the west was a logging operation. Paul and Andre were totally unaware of its existence as the sound never carried that far. Just across from that on their side of the river, but a little farther West again was a hunting lodge. Paul and Andre were not as isolated from humanity as they thought, but as yet, they had no idea either place existed.
Maureen McLeod certainly knew it existed as did all the other unfortunate women who had been lured there and then been caught up in this the web of deceit. They all now fully understood how a fly must feel when caught in a spider’s web. They were very much aware of what fate awaited them, but they were powerless to escape and avoid it. They had all been led off to the various cabins with the man who had drawn their number to await that fate. They found that although the cabins were Spartan to say the least, they were spotlessly clean. That of course was courtesy of the women who had just left for home. There was no point in unpacking their case, they wouldn’t be staying there long as tomorrow would be a different scene altogether. In fact none of them got the chance to even open their cases. Once the cabin door closed behind them the men began undressing them immediately. Offers to assist were refused; they were going to do it their way. There was no finesse used here and while the clothing had not been torn off them exactly – it wasn’t far short. A romantic interlude it wasn’t. They were stripped naked, then looked over in detail and physically explored by their hands from head to toe. There were no gentle caresses being given and then the women were invited to undress them too. Well it was a command rather than an invitation and once they were naked the women were obliged to demonstrate their oral skills on them. They were advised that it would be in their best interests to perform admirably and failure to satisfy would merit punishment. It was the start of the initiation phase.
The following morning after the men had all gone off to the site the women all sat together for their breakfast prior to their having to perform their household chores of washing and cleaning. The tales told all had a familiar ring to them. Each woman had had her physical flaws pointed out to her; all of them failed in their oral sex efforts – well so the men had claimed. Then when it came to their performance in bed they failed miserably at that too.
“We have the same trouble every time” they had been told. “Whenever we get a new guest wife we have to train her. What is it with you women? Your husbands must have been going crazy, you are useless sexually, it’s no wonder you are now on your own? When you leave us those deficiencies will have been corrected. Trust me; you’ll be a sex goddess by then.”
Each woman got the same speech - almost verbatim it would seem. Each of them being told to sharpen up for the next nights exploits. None of them had been physically beaten or even marked in any way. They would not be until all six men had been with them. At that point the men could have their pick and from then on they would belong to that man. The humility, embarrassment and degradation they had suffered so far would pale in comparison to what lay ahead for some of them. At the end of that first week they now knew that Gwen was right – they were not human beings and they stank far worse than any dung heap. As for their breath; that would indeed make a pig vomit, and you dare not strike a match in front of them.
Now they had all been permanently assigned to one of the men all bets were off. They could now be beaten for just about anything, from leaving the cap off the toothpaste to not ironing a crease out of his shirt. Having a headache was a non-starter as was being too tired. When the man came home you had to be ready, full of the joys of spring, and willing to do whatever he asked whenever he wanted you to. On occasion he would come home tired and expect you to take the lead and rape him for a change – and god help you if you didn’t. All the women had experienced that. Once a week they had a group dinner and invariably a drunken orgy would ensue. The wives would prepare this banquet and wine would be served, along with god knows what else including drugs. In actually reality they could just as easily have served up string soup with cardboard croutons for the notice the men took of their culinary efforts. They just inhaled the lot with no gratitude whatsoever. It was the dessert that they were interested in – and the women were the dessert. As the evening wore on it was open season for anyone to screw anyone else – but only for one night. There was only one rule –you couldn’t damage anyone else’s woman. That meant they couldn’t be whipped and marked, or given a beating with their fists. They could rape her and make her perform and do other vile things to her – but she must not be injured by it, only their so called husbands could do that.
Maureen found that the psychological pain was far worse than the physical. She had been placed in all kinds of positions, been raped and given oral sex to another man at the same time and then been raped again. They all had, but some had been brutalized beyond belief and definitely scarred for life. Maureen had been beaten, spanked and whipped, but not so badly that she would be marked for life. As the women congregated each morning after breakfast all the stories would come out regarding who had done what to whom – they were not fairy tales. Their self-esteem had been sunk like the Titanic, but probably much deeper.
One morning as they gathered for breakfast they all noticed that five of the women were missin
g. When Maureen looked around she saw that Gwen was one of them. When she enquired she was told that Gwen and four other women were going home tomorrow and had been taken to the hunting lodge across the lake. A plane would come for them in the morning and they would be flown to Thunder Bay and then home from there. The following day Maureen did in fact hear a plane and she saw it coming down to the lake to land but her view was obstructed and she didn’t see it actually land. Two hours later she saw it skimming across the lake and then take off, presumably for Thunder Bay with the five women on board. She was correct as to the planes destination, but wrong in assuming that the five women were on board.
***
Upon arrival at the hunting lodge the five women were met by the lodge manager.
“Good morning ladies, welcome to Cupid’s Hunting lodge. It’s a strange name for a hunting lodge I know, but we have this arrangement with the logging camp whereby they send over a few ladies once a month to give a little romantic interlude to our hunters. They have been here for two weeks and they have missed feminine companionship for that time. You ladies have been invited over to - how shall I put this - to relieve their frustrations. Now these men may well be a little more refined than your logging camp husbands, but they still have the same carnal expectations. Right now they are out hunting in the forest so that leaves you free to roam around the grounds at your leisure to discover how beautiful they are. Tonight when the hunters return you will have dinner with them in the dining room and then later in the evening you will provide them with all the comforts of home - if you get my drift. As a reward, in the morning, before your flight home, you will be taken on a scenic canoe tour as there really is some magnificent scenery just around the headland. It would be a shame to come here and not see that. The plane will leave for Thunder Bay at 1:30 pm but you will be back well before then. Are there any questions?”
“Where do we leave our suitcases when we go on the canoe trip?”
“Oh they can be left here in the lobby, they’ll be quite safe.”
“How long will this canoe trip take?”
“It usually takes two hours, but that depends on you and how much you wish to see, it really is quite beautiful. So if that is all, Ladies, enjoy the rest of your day, you will be flying home tomorrow as you know. I need hardly remind you that when you get back into main stream life it may be in your best interests to forget about your brief visit up here. Polite society may not quite appreciate having you ladies around their husbands once they learn what you have been doing and how sexually proficient you are now. Single men may be enthralled by your new found expertise, that is true, but as for marrying such a woman – forget it. They couldn’t bear the thought of their friends knowing what you were doing up here, even if it was somewhat involuntary. It’s just a thought, but one you should keep in mind. The ladies that were here before you certainly observed those suggestions. I heard only last week that two of them actually got married last month. I very much doubt that had told their husbands about their vacation up here – but so what, they did get married and it can happen to you too. Keeping a few secrets adds to a woman’s mystique and this is one secret that is definitely worth keeping to oneself as I am sure you will all agree.”
When the hunters returned, they were paired off prior to going into the dining room in a “get to know you session”. These men appeared to be from all walks of life, but they certainly had money. They were far less brutal than the lumberjacks, but something was off about them all the same. The ladies were indeed wined and dined and taken to bed, but they were not subjected to the same degree of brutality. The men had showered before dinner and they were clean, and did not give the women the impression they were in a pig sty with a huge slimy boar on top of them as they were back in the logging camp. However Rape is rape no matter how you wrap it up, but these women thought this was the last time they would have to suffer this indignity. They were quite right in that assumption –but for the wrong reason.
The following morning all five women were on top of the world, their ordeal was finally over. Today they were headed back to civilization, to their friends and their families. This horrific experience could be put behind them and all of these inhuman bastards could now be made to pay for what they had done to them and hopefully be sent to prison. They would have preferred the death penalty, but that was no longer an option in Canada.
Right on schedule at 9:30 am the canoe arrived to take them on this scenic excursion. Apparently it was named Cupid’s Arrow Bay due to some rock formation so they were told. The lake itself was quite beautiful right where they were, so if it were to be better just around the headland it must be something else and definitely a sight to see.
The manager was there at the dock to see them off and he told then that coffee and biscuits would be waiting for them upon their return. With his last words still ringing in their ears, they set off in the canoe with a man in the back paddling. As they rounded the headland they saw a really magnificent scene. The foliage on the trees was truly amazing and very picturesque and the colors were simply spectacular.
“Ladies take a long hard look at this scenery; you’ll never see such a sight again.”
He was absolutely right about that, but the women were still completely unaware of the terror they were about to face. A little farther up the lake the man pulled the canoe over to the bank and told the women to get out. They had seen the rifle in the canoe from the start, but they were told it was a safety precaution in case they encountered a bear or a wolf or something equally dangerous. That was perfectly reasonable and they saw nothing wrong with that statement at all.
“Okay ladies; gather round please”, the man said as he slung the rifle over his shoulder. “Now I don’t know what the lodge manager told you earlier, but whatever it was you can forget it. That guy is just full of BS. He wouldn’t know the truth if he fell over it. Here’s the real deal. This place is called Cupid’s Arrow Bay for a specific reason. The hunters use crossbows here and not rifles, they are far quieter and don’t alarm the prey as they draw near. Our guests at the hunting lodge pay a lot of money for this extraordinary weekend excursion. It is the conclusion of their stay with us. They get to have sex before they go out on their final hunt to kill their prey. Magical sex at that, where any and all fantasies can be involved to the fullest with you ladies as their sexperts as we like to call you. It is a unique feature that we alone offer to our guests and why they keep coming back. Our competitors do not offer that option. Then after a satisfying evening of fine dining and glorious sex, our hunters then go on their final hunt to kill their prey. Oh! Did I forget to mention that you are to be their prey? This way their wives will never find out what they have been up to with you – no divorces and no future paternity suits. I’m sure you can all see the wisdom in that. The condemned man always gets a hearty meal in prison before he is put to death – we can surely do no less. You had a hearty meal last night and in addition you had one final sexual romp, even the condemned man doesn’t get that pleasure. Incidentally, for what it is worth, the men all thought you were truly great in bed, ladies. Apparently you have indeed become sex goddesses – well according to these hunters anyway. Each and every one of them was very satisfied by your erotic performance they told us. Well done, ladies, we do try to keep our guests happy and contented, so thank you for that. It works out very well for them and for us of course as they pay a lot of money for this. Unfortunately it is not so good for you, as you are now going to play a game of life and death – “Yours”. When I fire this gun you will have a one hour head start before the men come after you with their crossbows. If they find you they will kill you – you have to make sure they don’t. Everyone is fully motivated here and the adrenaline levels will be running high. They don’t want you to escape and alert their wives as to what they have been doing and you ladies wish to remain alive. There is no stronger motivation than that. Good luck ladies and God help you – nobody else can.”
With that he sp
un his rifle round and fired one shot that could be heard back at the lodge. The clock was now running – and so were the five women.
Chapter Four
***
The familiar sound of the rifle crack sent both Paul and Andre diving for cover instinctively. They both looked at each other anxiously and awaited the next shot – but it never came.
“I guess there must be a lone hunter out there, Andre.”