“OW!”
“Be nice to the man with the sword. Now, try again.”
I felt a thin stream of blood sliding down between my breasts. “What do you want me to say?” I asked.
“Whatever works.”
“Maybe she can’t hear me. Maybe she’s already gotten away.”
“I don’t think so. Try again.”
“JUDY!” I shouted. “HE’S ALIVE. HE’S GOT ME. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT, AND MAYBE HE WON’T FIND…”
“Fucking…!” he blurted, and jerked the blade up.
While I tried to back away, the point sliced a vertical slit up the middle of my chest, missed my throat, and nicked the front of my chin. Then I was falling backward.
I slammed the ground. It smashed my breath out, but at least I didn’t land on anything terribly hard or sharp.
Steve lunged at me with the sword.
Its tip popped through the front of my skirt, pierced my panties and poked me.
“No!” I cried out.
And Judy, somewhere not very far away, shouted, “STOP IT! I’M OVER HERE!”
Steve turned his head toward the sound of her voice.
“LEAVE HER ALONE, STEVE! DON’T HURT HER! I’M RIGHT HERE IN CAMP WHERE YOU LEFT ME.”
“Okay,” he called. “Stay put, and keep talking till we find you.”
He raised the saber and stepped away from me. When the slack was gone, the cord grew tight and pulled at my wrists. To save myself pain, I didn’t resist. I sat up, then struggled to my feet.
“Speak to me, Judy,” Steve said.
“I’m over here.”
He towed me in that direction.
“Speak up.”
“Are you okay, Alice?” Judy asked.
“Sure. Dandy. How about you?”
“I’ve been better.”
“What’d Steve do to you?”
“He…”
“All right, all right, ladies. Knock it off. Just count, Judy.”
“Just die,” Judy said.
“Count. One, two, three, four…”
“Go to hell.”
When she said that, Steve jerked my cord. I stumbled forward. Arms stretched forward like a diver (thanks to the cord), I flew off my feet.
Not again!
I cried out, “AHH!” and crashed down to the ground in front of Steve’s feet.
“What’d you do to her?” Judy called.
“I didn’t do anything to her—you did.”
Instead of giving me time to stand up, he trudged backward, pulling the cord, dragging me.
“Alice?” Judy asked.
She sounded no more than a few yards away.
“RUN!” I shouted as Steve dragged me closer to her. “GET AWAY!”
“I can’t.”
58
THE AUDITION
He made me lie flat on the ground, face down, my legs spread wide apart and my arms stretched overhead. “Don’t move,” he told me.
Crouching just beyond my bound hands, he worked on the fire. He got a small blaze going, then added sticks from a nearby pile. The flames grew. I could feel their warmth. The fire crackled and hissed and popped. He added larger chunks of wood. Soon, he had a roaring, hot campfire with flames leaping two and three feet into the air.
“Okay,” he said. “Get up on your knees.”
I pushed myself up. Kneeling, I settled back on my haunches.
And scanned the campsite. It looked pretty much the same as last night, but Judy was no longer hanging by her wrists from the tree limb. I didn’t see her anywhere.
Leaving my hands tied together, Steve shoved my wrists in against my belly, then wrapped the cord around me a couple of times like a belt. He drew it backward and looped what was left of it around my ankles.
“Now,” he said, “stay put.”
He picked up the saber, then headed for the tent. Twisting sideways, I watched him. He flung one of the tent flaps aside, poked the saber into the ground nearby, then ducked into the dark opening.
A few moments later, he scuttled out backward. He was bent over, straddling Judy, dragging her by her upper arms. Her head was between his feet. She had it raised and turned sideways, trying to keep her face off the ground.
She was naked, of course.
And hogtied with rope—hands bound together behind her back, feet forced up and tied almost within reach of her hands.
As Steve dragged her toward me, she strained upward, arching her back. She managed to get her upper body off the ground so she was skidding along on just her thighs.
About six feet away from me, Steve hoisted her to her knees. Leaving her, he hurried over to the tent and retrieved the saber. With the weapon in his right hand, he took up a position midway between us but slightly off to the side where he wouldn’t obstruct our views.
Judy and I stared at each other.
The old, red bandana hung around her neck.
She looked awful. And beautiful.
Her sweaty body was smudged with dirt, smeared and streaked with blood. She gleamed like gold in the firelight. She was a battered ruin of welts, bruises, scratches and cuts. I’d given many of them to her myself.
Including a bullet wound to the right side of her head. The gouge from that was out of sight, hidden under the curls of her wet, blond hair. I knew she had it, though. And knew I’d done it.
Shot her. My God. Tried to kill her.
What’s the matter with me?
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“Shut up,” Steve said. “You can look, but don’t talk.”
So I kept on looking.
In spite of all the damage to her body, Judy didn’t seem beaten. Hurt, badly hurt, but not beaten.
She knelt like a proud soldier at attention, her body straight and rigid, belly sucked in, chest out, shoulders back, chin up. She had a fierce look in her eyes. The only sign of weakness or vulnerability—her lower lip was clamped between her teeth.
My throat felt tight and thick, but I managed to say, “I wish I’d never gotten you into…”
“Shut up,” Steve said.
“Go to hell,” I told him.
He smiled at me. “Better be nice. Only one of you gets to be my loyal sidekick. The other stays here, toes up, ticket cancelled, farm bought, dead as dirt. And I’m the sole judge. In other words, you’d better start kissing up.”
“Kiss my ass,” I said.
“I’m sure I’ll get to it sooner or later,” he said. “Now, let’s start the audition. Is everyone feeling well rested and fit as a fiddle?”
Judy and I looked at each other, but said nothing.
“Good!” Steve blurted. “Let’s begin. Who would like to go first?”
“Go first?” I said. “I thought we were supposed to have a fight.”
“All in good time, my dear. This’ll be a multi-part audition, with the fight as the finale.” Grinning, he added, “We’ll work our way up to it.”
“So what else do we have to do?” I asked.
“Anything I say. Now. Who would like to start? Do we have a volunteer?” He turned his grin from me to Judy. “How about you, sweet thing?”
She glared up at him, but didn’t answer.
“Remember, ladies, cooperation counts.”
“What do I have to do?” Judy asked.
“Competition number one?” Raising the saber high, he used his other hand to unfasten his belt. “The Great Suckoff!” he announced. His cut-offs dropped around his ankles.
Even though I despised him and he disgusted me, I’ve got to admit he had a wonderful body. All slender and smooth, with sleek muscles and a small, tight rear end. His penis stuck out straight in front of him. It was only about halferect, but already seemed pretty huge.
Resting the saber on his shoulder, he stepped out of his shorts and walked over to Judy.