“I’m sick and tired of your games,” he said.
Courtney and I were running toward Dani when Brian grabbed me around the waist, lifting me off my feet. All I could do was squirm as he tripped Courtney, who hit the ground hard. He kicked her in the side of the head. She lay in the dirt near the fire, eyes closed, a low moan coming from her throat. I grabbed the knife out of my pocket, jabbed it into the arm around me.
Brian yelled, then let go of me. I ran, the knife still in my hand, trying to get to Dani. Gavin had pushed her to the ground and was holding her arms behind her back with one hand, taking off his belt and wrapping it around her wrists with the other. She squirmed and kicked. He punched her across the head.
Brian tackled me. I hit the dirt hard, scrambled forward, but he grabbed my ankles, dragging me back as I screamed. I twisted and turned, tried to stab him with the knife, but my wrist was bent backward and the knife dropped to the ground. Brian’s large body was lying on top of me, his breath hot in my ear.
He sat up, pressure leaving my upper body, knees crushing the muscles in the backs of my thighs, a fist digging in between my shoulder blades. Sounded like a belt buckle was being undone, then my arms were tied behind my back, my wrists grinding together. Something else now, material tearing. I screamed as loud as I could. Something was jammed down my throat, fabric tasting of grease.
“Tie that other bitch up,” Brian said.
He threw me over his shoulder. His back was naked, my cheek bumping against his bare skin. He carried me to the truck, then tossed me in. I hit the metal with my back. I tried to shimmy away, kicking out with my legs. Brian climbed in, flipped me over. A knee pressed down on my legs, a hand gripped the back of my neck, fingers digging into the tendons. His body shifted, the weight pressing harder on one leg, like he was reaching for something. I screamed into the rag. He ran something through the belt around my wrists, wrapped it around, and pulled it taut. Felt like a rough rope.
Metal clanging against metal, like he was tying the rope to either side of the truck bed. Tie-down brackets? The weight shifted and pressed on the backs of my legs. Then the pressure was suddenly gone. A thud as he jumped back onto the ground. I wrenched my arms, but the rope was too tight. I tried to squirm around to see what was happening to Courtney and Dani but could only look over my shoulder, neck straining. The tailgate was open and I could see partly out the back, the dim glow of the fire outlining the boys, their upper bodies pale.
Courtney was still on the ground, a dark lump. I could just make out her blond hair, looked like her eyes were closed. Gavin knelt over her.
“Get her in the truck,” Brian said
He was carrying Dani over his shoulder. He dumped her in and she fell hard, her head smacking onto the truck bed, her screams muffled like he’d put something in her mouth too. He leapt in beside her as she kicked out, dragged her body up beside me. He flipped her over. Sounds again, like he was unhooking the rope from one side. The tension around my wrists eased but then tightened, like he’d threaded the rope through the belt around Dani’s wrists too.
Boots scraped on the truck bed as he climbed out. I tried to look over my shoulder again, caught a glimpse of his naked back.
“Get their stuff,” Brian said.
Courtney was tossed in, then dragged up on the other side of me. Her mouth was also gagged, looked like with half of a ripped shirt. Her arms were behind her back, but I couldn’t see what they’d been tied with. Our eyes met, hers terrified, the whites bright in the dark. The rope loosened again, then tightened as we were bound together. They’d pulled it even tighter this time. I could feel it pressing across either side of my butt cheeks, the belt and rope pinching the skin on my wrists. I could hear the guys taking down our tent. They weren’t talking but they were moving fast, their breathing heavy in the quiet night.
They threw the tent in the back with us, the poles clattering, then thumps as other things landed: our sleeping bags, packsacks, the cooler.
The hiss of water being poured over the fire, boots scuffing as they kicked dirt over the coals, logs being dragged back into the woods.
Making sure there was no sign we’d ever been there.
*