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I had become so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn’t kept track of the wolf running along the same route as me. I looked up and noticed it was gone. I felt a flush of disappointment, until I turned my gaze to the road ahead and saw its yellow eyes gleaming in the glow of my light. I clamped my hands dramatically and brought the bike to a halt. The rear wheel lifted off the ground, such was the abruptness of my stop.
“What the hell are you thinking?” I barked, glaring at the wolf. Sometimes animals did the stupidest things. I hung my head and inhaled, trying to catch my breath. I shook my head and tilted it towards the wolf.
“Well, what do you want? Have you come to tell me I’ve come the wrong way?”
The wolf tilted its head back and I was filled with an unsettling feeling. There was something almost human about it…as though it was looking at me like a person would, as though it could understand me. I brushed off the feeling because it was crazy, but in this dark night with the full moon shining down upon me in the middle of this barren road it felt like anything could happen. I told myself that I was being foolish for even thinking that the wolf was leading me along this path, but then I wondered if actually the wolf stood in front of me because he was trying to tell me that I should stop.
I looked to the right and didn’t see anything, and then I looked to the left. My mouth dropped open as I saw Jackson and Logan coming towards me. I wondered where Jamie was. I kicked the bike and tried to rev the engine to flee, but the men’s strides ate up the ground and were on me before I could do anything. I flailed my arms wildly and tried to aim for their weak spots; the eyes and the throat. I scrambled down from the bike and lashed out with everything I could. My foot hit something and a I heard a grunt, but soon enough two strong arms were holding my arms behind my back and I was unable to break free, no matter how much I struggled and writhed. Logan had me in his clutches. I felt his warm breath against my neck. Beside him was Jackson, rubbing his face, which I must have struck in my mad attack.
“What do you want?” I yelled. Jackson turned away without saying anything. I screamed for help, but we were in the middle of nowhere and my words rose through the air harmlessly. My heart sank as I realized that I had failed. Not only had I failed to save Mel, but I had failed to keep myself safe as well. I asked myself how this could have happened, how I could have been so careless, and I couldn’t come up with an answer.
7
Logan dragged me into the forest. We left the road behind and were surrounded by trees. I looked for any opportunity to break free, but Logan’s grip was firm and I soon realized that I wasn’t going to get anywhere by struggling, it was only making him angrier and taking us longer to get wherever we were going. I figured that it was better for me to act harmless and weak, hoping to lull them into a false sense of security so that when I had an opportunity to escape I would be ready to seize it. I also wanted to see Mel and make sure that she was alright. I looked around, but the forest was nondescript. Shafts of moonlight broke through the trees, but otherwise it was almost pitch black. I stumbled frequently, but Logan was as sure-footed as a mountain goat. I had no idea how he could make his way through the woods like this without a flashlight, but I had other things to worry about.
I tried to keep calm. I told myself that if I still had my wits I could make it out of the situation alive. I doubted they wanted to kill me because they could have done that already, and if they wanted anything else…well, I would recover eventually. It made me wonder how Amy had gotten free though.
I heard the crunch of leaves and the snapping of twigs and branches as we stumbled through the forest and eventually came to a large cabin. The air was still, the night cool and dark. We were in the middle of nowhere and I doubted that anyone else in the world even knew this place existed.
The brothers still hadn’t said anything to each other and they were ignoring my pleas and questions. I was trying to get them off-balance, but if I was right and they did have a military background they evidently had the discipline to ignore me. Everything began to fall into place in my mind. I realized now why they had been so secretive in the bar, and probably why Jamie had been so skittish. He probably didn’t want to go along with all of this but was forced to by his older brothers, and so he might be the key to get me out of this.
I bit my tongue as I was led into the cabin and taken to a room. I hoped to be with Mel so I could at least check that she was alright, but I was on my own. It was a small room with a bed and a window and a closet, which was empty. The window was locked as well, and I heard a bolt being slid after the door closed. I hammered on the door and then struggled to get the window open. The glass was thick and I would need something else to smash it with if I was to get it open, but there wasn’t anything readily available in the room. I searched the closet and then hopelessly sank onto the bed, holding my head in my hands. I cursed myself for being captured and for not doing more to prevent Mel from coming with the men in the first place. Knowing her they probably didn’t even have to try hard to get her here, not that they had had to try hard with me either.
That wolf troubled me...it had to have been just coincidence that he stopped me when he did, and yet it was the perfect location for the brothers to capture me. Did they somehow have control over the wolf? Had they tamed such a savage creature? If so, then were more formidable then I originally imagined.
I moved to the door and pressed my ear against it, hoping to hear some of what they were speaking now that I wasn’t in their immediate company, but all I heard were muffled sounds. I thought that I could make out Jamie’s voice as well, but I wasn’t sure about it. I waited and sighed and tried to see a way out. I tested the walls and the ceiling, but this place had been made well. I wondered how many other women had been sitting in this room before me, and how many made it out alive.
I had no idea how much time had passed before I heard footsteps coming towards the room. I leaped back on the bed, trying to feign weakness and fear, although I didn’t have to do much to fake the latter emotion. The door opened and Jamie stood there.
“Here’s some food,” he mumbled, and placed a tray on the floor. He turned to leave, but I asked him to wait and he paused.
“What am I doing here? Where’s Mel? Is she safe?”
“She has served her purpose,” Jamie said after pausing momentarily, and then he left before I could say anything else, closing the door behind him. I was left with more questions than I had before. I had no idea what he meant by Mel serving her purpose. Did that mean she was dead? And what purpose did I have to serve? Was this just a random attack where Mel and I had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was there more to it?
I had plenty of questions, but no answers, and I didn’t think that any answers were going to present themselves to me. My stomach growled as I picked up the tray and brought it back to the bed. There was a glass of orange juice and a plate filled with toast, bacon, and eggs. The aroma tantalized my taste buds and I was unable to resist the allure of the food. I wanted to, because I didn’t want them to think they had power over me, but I knew I had to be at my full strength if I was going to get out of here.
As I sat there on the bed in the room I was taken back to my childhood, reminded of all the times when I sat in my own room listening beyond the door to my parents fighting. I always felt alone then, and I felt alone now, even though I knew that somewhere in this place Mel was being held captive as well. I gazed out of the window at the world outside and wished for freedom. I didn’t know what these men had planned for me, but I wondered if I was ever going to be released. I thought of the little girl in the house I had visited earlier, my young half-sister, and was at least grateful that if one of us had to suffer this fate it was going to be me. She should be spared this fate, as should Mel.
I numbly ate the food, which didn’t taste as good as it should have because of my state of mind and the turmoil roiling in my gut. When I finished I cried out in the hope that one of them would come to collect the plate. When they didn’t I used the tray to try and smash the window, but I wasn’t strong enough. The plate and the glass were plastic as well, so I couldn’t even break them to fashion weapons out of sharp shards. It seemed they had thought of everything, and I was in a dire situation.
8
I had just about fallen asleep, my body giving into the fatigue, when the door opened. The room was dark, but a light was shining from outside and it cast the figure standing in the doorway in soft light. I cracked open my eyes and sat up.
“What do you want Jackson, if that is your real name?”
“It is. Come with me.”
“And why would I do that? Why would I do anything you command? I get it, you know, I’m pretty sure I’ve got you all figured out,” I said, my mind working overtime. In fact, I wasn’t sure, but I could take a pretty good guess given the information that was available to me and I hoped to figure out more information from his reactions.
“Oh really?” Jackson said, arching an eyebrow. Men always thought they knew more than me, especially men like Jackson. They liked to think of themselves as superior, as though a fragile woman like me couldn’t ever fathom what was going on in their minds.
“Oh yes.
I get it, I mean, you three were probably out there in the Middle East giving your lives for the sake of the country and when you come back you find that the country isn’t grateful at all, and you start to wonder why you even went out there in the first place. I’ve met people like you before. The lines of morality get blurred. There are different rules out there. People do different things. You take liberties. You do what you want and there are no consequences and you start to get used to that life, and when you come back you think why not? Why not just carry on? It’s not like people are treating you any differently anyway. To them you’re just a ghost, so you might as well have your fun where you can get it.
But it’s not that easy, is it? This world isn’t the same as the one you experienced out there and it’s not so easy just to change it back. So you have to hide in places like this, and take out your desires in the dark, but you’re not fighting a war anymore. You don’t have anything to win. You’re only hurting other people and yourselves. And what about Jamie? Was he even in the war with you or did you just rope him into this because he was easy to manipulate? I’m sure he was always proud of his older brothers for going off to fight, but does he look at you with pride now, or is he just filled with fear? I think I know which.”
