We bumped over dusty roads for what felt like a half an hour but might have only been fifteen minutes—I couldn’t tell, disoriented and panicked in the dark. Our shoulders bumped as our bodies slid each time the truck took a corner, the rope pulling painfully, making me moan and gasp into my gag. I tried to get to my knees, but the rope was too tight, could only lift an inch. On my right Dani tried the same thing. I sobbed helplessly, choking on the gag.
I tried to focus, searching for a scent, noises, big hills or corners, anything, but the road all felt the same. My wrists ached, pins and needles tingling up my arms. My jaw and cheekbone throbbed from where I’d hit the ground, my head pounded. I could hear country music coming from the cab, Gavin’s laugh, and moans and guttural noises beside me. I turned my head in either direction, tried to see my sisters’ faces. In the moonlight I could make out their lips stretched wide over their gags, their eyes shining.
Tears rolled down my face. I struggled to hold on to the sobs that were making me choke and retch and gag, but my body heaved with terror.
We hit a pothole and bounced up, which made the rope bite into the flesh at my wrists again. We drove on. Finally the truck slowed and came to a halt. I turned my head, tried to look up. All I could make out were trees.
The front of the truck opened, driver’s side. Footsteps coming around.
“We’re here, girls,” Brian said.
We heard one of them undo the tailgate, which dropped with a clatter.
The truck rocked as one brother climbed into the back, then rocked again as the other jumped in. I felt a hand touch my calf. I kicked up and out with my bare foot, something hard under my heel, the smack of flesh.
“Fucking bitch!” Gavin’s voice. He grabbed my ankles and yanked them down, pulling my legs straight and sitting across them.
Beside me I could feel Dani’s body heaving and jerking as she also kicked out. Courtney was doing the same. We were fighting for our lives.
“Stop moving or we’ll fucking kill you.” Brian.
We stopped moving.
A noise on the right, the rope being untied, tension easing around my wrist. Dani was suddenly jerked down, dragged by her ankles. The back of the truck bounced, then grunting noises, footsteps stumbling, like Brian was trying to carry her. A loud thump, something hitting the ground.
“Goddamn bitch.” Brian’s voice. Smacking sounds.
Gavin grabbed the belt around my wrists. His body shifted as he reached across and untied the rope on the other side of Courtney. His weight left my body. I tried to get to my knees, but my body was yanked backward by my wrists. Beside me Courtney was also being dragged out. He was using the rope around our wrists like a leash. We slid all the way out of the back of the truck, falling with a bone-jarring thud, my teeth biting my lower lip.
Now we were being dragged, still on our fronts, our shirts riding up, rocks and gravel scraping our stomachs. I looked over my shoulder and saw Gavin grinning in the moonlight as he pulled the rope. I tried to get to my feet, saw Courtney struggling to stand. Gavin gave the rope a hard tug.
I landed on my shoulder, pain shooting down my arm. I got back up onto my knees. We tried to shuffle forward. A blow to the back of my head. I fell forward, my vision blurring, everything dark at the corners. I tried to get up onto my arms, but the ground rushed toward me.
*
Someone was whispering my name over and over.
“Jess, wake up.”
I opened my eyes, couldn’t see anything.
I was on a hard surface, rough and cold, felt like cement, my hands still tied behind my back. The gag had been removed but my lips felt tender, bruised, my throat sore and dry. I slowly rolled over, looking for Courtney and Dani. The room was pretty dark, only a bit of moonlight shining down from above me.
“I’m over here.” Dani’s voice on my right. I turned in her direction, could make out the shape of her body. “Courtney’s on your other side, I think.”
I heard a groan.
“How long have we been here?” I whispered.
“Couple of minutes,” Dani said. “Not long.”
I looked around, my eyes adjusting to the dark now, but I couldn’t tell how big the room was. It smelled of old fruit, like a storage room. I shuffled forward on my knees and turned around, looking above where I could see the moonlight. It looked like there might be a gap about a foot high at the top of the wall near the rafters, running the length of the room.
“I already stood up—it’s at least ten feet high,” Dani whispered.
“Where are they?”
“I think they’re outside the door.”
I heard voices to my left, raised with a slight echo, like they might be speaking in a hallway or a big room outside. Sounded like an argument.
Courtney was moaning again. I crawled on my knees closer to her, whispered in her ear, “Courtney, it’s okay.”
Her body jerked away and she let out a scream.
“Shhh,” Dani said.