Fertile Fields

Tim Miller

Copyright © 2015 Tim Miller

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Cover photo by Rosa and Laura Pantoja of Luna Designs and Creations.

Cover model: Peggy Howes

Chapter 1

Bronson Sinclair looked into the camera. Manuel had been working with him for years and was the best camera guy in the business. He couldn’t imagine doing this job with without him. His amazing camera working abilities are what won his documentary “Jail Bait” so many awards. “Jail Bait” was about a human trafficking ring being run out of Austin, Texas, which involved a local judge sentencing young women to halfway houses that were fronts for prostitution rings.

Bronson’s friend Julia had gone undercover for him and helped expose the whole thing. There had been rumors about it for years, but anyone who looked into it either turned up dead our found themselves framed and charged with a heinous crime usually facing life imprisonment. Several city and police workers went down once the film went public. It had been a dangerous job for Julia to take on, but she insisted on it; she was always tough that way. Bronson had tried to talk her out of it, but she pushed through and came out with some good footage. Manuel got some excellent material as well, and the next thing you know he is on the Today show talking about it.

This project might be even bigger. As Manuel finished setting up the camera, he gave Bronson a thumbs up.

“West Texas is a quiet and desolate area,” Bronson said into the camera. “But it is what you can’t see that may be the most dangerous. There is a church in West Texas called ‘Church of Fertile Fields’ and very little is known about who or what they are. For one, the name itself is quite odd since there are no fields or farms anywhere near their location.”

“Rumor states, Fertile Fields is a secret cult devised women and men. However, some suggest that these women of the cult are used as breeders, for raising the children, and preparing a new generation of followers. Yet, at the same time, this tiny community in the middle of nowhere manages to recruit from other parts of the state.”

“This past year, I’ve been contacted by three families, each have had daughters in their twenties, and each left their home to start life anew in the church of Fertile Fields. Sadly, none were heard from again. The church has no website or phone, but I’ve sent some letters to the church and did receive a reply from a man who goes by Prophet Drake. In his letter, the prophet denied knowing anything about these missing girls, but invited us to tour their church and compound.”

“He said it was time the world knew who and what they were. The letter included a map with the church’s location circled. I decided this would be a great opportunity to examine this group and uncover what they are about and if they are as dangerous as the families of the missing girls have suggested.”

“Whatever we find, you will be on the journey with us. We’ll go on a voyage to what remains of the old west and visit one of the few communities left that has not welcomed the twenty-first century. You will see what we see and maybe in the process we’ll get some answers as to what happened to the missing women whose names are Karen Giles, Jennifer Rubio and Roxanne Martin.”

“And cut,” Manuel said as he stepped away from the camera.

“How was that?”

“That was great. I think we got everything.”

“Sweet.”

“You sure about this trip? It sounds kinda scary. Not sure I want to sniff around in the wilderness with some creepy cult,” Manuel said.

“Yeah I’m sure. I was shocked when I got the letter back to, but I been looking for a new project and this seems perfect. There hasn’t been a good satanic panic in over a decade, this should scare the shit out of some people. Besides, you’re still weirded out by this after the sex trafficking film?” Bronson said.

“Satanic panic? These guys are satanic? And yeah, at least those guys weren’t Satanists.”

“I don’t know, I just like the phrase. Either way they are weird as fuck.”

“You think they got those girls?”

“I don’t know. I think they know who they are at least.” Bronson said as Manuel finished packing up the camera. Bronson went over to check his bags and grabbed them. As he walked out to the Expedition, Julia and her girlfriend Sheri were there loading some bags in back.

“What’s up Geraldo?” Julia said. She always called Bronson “Geraldo Rivera” since he couldn’t stand the guy. Ironically, Geraldo had asked to interview him on FoxNews but he’d had to cancel the interview when he got food poisoning that morning.

“Nothing, just packing up. You girls all set?” Bronson asked.

“Yeah mostly. Just got a few more things.”

“You sure you girls want to come along? This could get dangerous.”

“Oh yeah, I’m such a delicate flower, never done anything dangerous before.” Julia said.

“How about you Sheri, you ok going along?”

Sheri put her arm around Julia’s shoulders and leaned up against her.

“I’ll be fine. I got Julia here to protect me. She’ll keep you safe too if you ask nice.”

“Thanks, I might need that,” Bronson said as he threw his bag into the back. Manuel came out lugging the equipment as they all helped him load everything up.

“Is that everything?” Bronson asked.

“I think so,” Manuel said. The girls all nodded as Bronson clapped his hands.

“Great! Let’s hit the road.”

They piled into the Expedition as Bronson started the engine. They left the San Antonio city limits and within an hour they were in the middle of nowhere. South Texas did that to you. One minute you were in a huge city, the next you may as well be on the moon. No buildings, cars or gas stations for hundreds of miles.

Even though there were no radio stations working out that far, Manuel plugged his phone into the console and played his Spotify playlist which consisted of mostly classic rock. Bronson could live with that. The girls slept for a good part of the drive. After another two hours Manuel began looking at the map.

“There’s a road up ahead here. It says on the map it’s not marked but it will be on the left.” Manuel said.

“Ok, I’ll keep an eye out.”

Just ahead Bronson saw the road. It was an unmarked dirt road that appeared to head off into nothing.

“That’s it,” Manuel said. “You sure we want to do this?”

“Hell yeah. May as well see what is out there. Don’t worry. I brought my gun.” After a few incidents a couple years ago, Bronson had bought a Taurus snub nosed .357 magnum to take with him on such trips. He’d never needed it, but you never know.

“Well that’s comforting I guess,” Manuel said as the Expedition headed down the dirt road. A huge dust cloud rose up behind them as rocks and gravel kicked off the bottom of the SUV. “Hopefully it’s not much further.”

“I hope not either. Maybe there will be a welcoming committee.”

As they drove, with the dust and dirt drifting around them, Bronson had no way to notice the discarded human bones lying on the side of the road. Or the large cross that had years fallen over which had a human skeleton nailed to it. As the Expedition neared its destination, a teenage boy on a hill watched them go by through a pair of binoculars. He keyed his two-way radio once it was past.

“It’s me,” he said. “The reporter is here.”

Chapter 2

The road got bumpier and bumpier as they bounced over potholes and avoided larger holes in the road. Some of the bumps jarred the girls awake.

“Are we there yet?” Julia asked.

“I think we’re pretty close” Bronson said.

“Are we on a dirt road? Where are we? Holy fuck.”

“We’re somewhere.”

They followed the road around a large curve and through the mesas and rock formations.

“At least it’s pretty out here,” Julia said.

“Yeah, it’s lovely.” Manuel said.

They drove up a large hill that curved around. When they got to the top, Bronson saw it. He was expecting more of a camp or compound. This was much more modest. There was a small church at the top of the hill complete with stained glass windows and a steeple. This was built from wood and with shingles missing and the window shutters were hanging loosely. As they pulled up to the church, Bronson stopped and shut the car off.

“Where is everyone?” Manuel asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure someone is around.” Bronson said as he climbed out of the Expedition and walked to the church door. Just as he reached the door, it swung open revealing a short man dressed in khaki shorts, a t-shirt and a fedora.

“Welcome!” the man said. “I’m Eli! You must be Bronson, is that right?”

“Yes, that’s me,” he said. “This is my cameraman Manuel,” he pointed to Manuel as the others filed out of the car. “This is my production assistant Julie and her girlfriend Sheri.”

“Oh girlfriend?” The man asked. “You must be lesbians!”

The little man had an almost hokey tone of voice, like you’d hear on an episode of “Leave it to Beaver.”

“Uh, yeah. We’re lesbians, that’s us!” Julia said giving a thumbs up. The whole situations suddenly felt really awkward.

“I don’t think I’ve ever met any real lesbians before. Like how does it work?”

“What do you mean?” Julia asked.

“Like for sex. Do you guys just use your fingers? Or you just both lick each other?” After he spoke, he stuck out his tongue and flicked it up and down causing all of them to cringe.

“Umm…” Julia began.

“Could we have a look around? Maybe get some filming in? I’m sure Julia would like to talk to you more about her…uh, lesbian-hood, but we’ve been on the road for a long time.”

“Oh yes! Of course! Where are my manners? Come on inside. We’ve been expecting you. There is a nice feast waiting for all of you. The Prophet will be joining us later, but he said to make sure you were all fed and comfortable.”

He turned and walked them inside. The church looked like a normal church except the carpeting was black and instead of wood pews, there were dozens of chairs and benches lined up. They reached the back of the church that opened into a banquet hall. There was a few tables pushed together with huge bowls of food filled sitting on top.

“Go ahead and help yourselves,” Eli said as he grabbed a plate and began scooping it full of food. Bronson grabbed his and began scooping food onto it. He wondered where they got some of this. Not like there was a grocery store nearby. One bowl was full of salad. Another was filled with fruit. At the end of the table was several slabs of ribs and a pan full of steaks. It all smelled good. Bronson filled his plate before having a seat at the table. There was a water cooler at the end of the table with some tin cups stacked next to them. Bronson filled his cup and had a seat across from Eli who was shoveling food into his mouth.

Manuel sat down as Julia and Sheri sat down last. Eli looked at Julia’s plate and noticed she only had salad and fruit.

“You’re not gonna have any ribs?” he asked.

“No. I’m vegan. I don’t eat meat.”

“Don’t eat meat? A lesbian vegan? We sure hit the jackpot here!” He laughed as he looked around. “But for real though you gotta eat meat.”

“No, I don’t actually.” Julia said, trying to remain patient “Meat isn’t even good for you. Not to mention the way animals are raised and then tortured and killed. No, I don’t have to eat anything I don’t want to.”

“It’s ok,” Bronson said trying not offend their host. “Julia hasn’t eaten meat in years. I imagine she’d get sick if she tried.”

“Fair enough,” Eli said. “So The Prophet tells me you’re filming a documentary about the church!”

“That’s right. Figure you guys have an interesting community here. He thought it would be a good way to let the world know what you’re about.”

“Oh yes! That is excellent!”

“Did he ever mention the girls I wrote about? Jennifer Rubio, Karen Giles? Either name ring a bell?”

“No? I don’t believe I’ve heard those names. The Prophet sure didn’t mention them.”

“When will he be joining us?”

“Oh soon. Very soon.”

“Great. So tell me, what is it you do here? I know it has to do with fertility and bringing children into the world. But like who do you worship? Do you worship God or a god?”

“Yes! Great question! We are devoted to the Goddess Freyja. Goddess of love, beauty and fertility. All we do is to honor and please her.”

“And how do you do that?”

“It’s a way of life here. We bring children into the world. The kids help with harvests and hunting. By raising them to know her ways she is pleased and continues to bless us with a healthy harvest and plenty of game for food.”

“Sounds interesting. You think The Prophet would be willing to go on camera for an interview?”

“I don’t see why not. He’s a very kind and gentle man. I think you’ll like him.” He looked at Julia and Sheri and winked. “He especially loves lesbians!”

“Wow, that’s um…great.” Julia said. Sheri just looked around not sure what to think.

“It is! So yes, you’ll see when you meet him what a wonderful man he is. I do have a question for the lesbians. How do you breed?”

“Excuse me?” Julia asked.

“How do you breed? Like have babies? Do you have sex with some man to get pregnant or what?”

“Well, we have only been dating a few months so children hasn’t really come into the discussion. However, a lot of lesbians will go to a sperm bank or something and get inseminated.”

“Inseminated?! How?”

“Like a doctor, he takes sperm someone has donated and put it inside her to fertilize her eggs.”

“Sounds so sanitized. I’m sure that isn’t what the Goddess Freyja intends. Love, sex, and children are beautiful things. What you just described is very unnatural.”

“Yeah well, I wasn’t asking what you thought about it.”

Eli put his hands up in surrender.

“Ok, ok! My apologies. There is a lot we never see and do out here as you can imagine so I’ll have lots of strange questions I’m sure.”

A door opened and closed from down the hallway followed by loud footsteps.

“You hear that?” Eli asked. “The Prophet! He’s arrived!”

Chapter 3

A tall man walked into the room. He had long white hair pulled back into a ponytail. He walked with a cane, but he had to stand at least six-foot-five. He gave a warm smile as he walked over and greeted Bronson.

“You must be Bronson! So nice to meet you. I’m Prophet Drake.”

Bronson stood and shook his hand.

“How is your meal? Everything tasting good?”

“Yes,” Bronson said. “It’s very good.”

“Good. Good. I’m happy to hear it. Is Eli being a good host?”

“Yes, he’s um, he’s doing fine. Thank you.”

“Yes. He can be a bit weird, I know. I send him to meet any guests to try and work on his social skills. He doesn’t have the same filter the rest of us do. He’s a good man though. Just says whatever is on his mind.” The Prophet patted an embarrassed Eli on the shoulder. He took a seat as Eli prepared a plate of food.

“So your drive here was pleasant I take it?” The Prophet asked.

“It was fine, boring, but fine.”

“Yes, there isn’t much to see out here for most. There is if you know what you are looking for. Once your eyes are opened, this is a beautiful world of wonder.”

“Know what to look for? Like what?”

“In nature. This is our earth, our home is raw beauty in and of itself. Your friend the vegan here should understand that.”

Julia looked around confused as to how he knew she was vegan unless he was listening in before he arrived.

“That is what we do here. We live our lives each day to honor the earth and to enjoy nature the way it was intended.”

“Sounds good enough. In your letter, you said you never met those girls?”

“No, I’m afraid not. They may have joined a church, but it wasn’t this one.”

“But their families specifically named this church. Why would they do that?”

The Prophet shrugged.

“Ask them. Over the years we’ve made enemies from all over. You’d think a little church in the wilderness with no ties to the outside world wouldn’t draw any attention, but it always seems to find us. When I got your letter, I thought hey! What a great opportunity the Goddess has provided us to see us for who we really are.”

“And who really are you, Prophet?”

“We’re a group of loving people who care about the earth and care about each other. That can’t be all bad can it?”

“I’d say no I guess.”

“Good! Good! You’ll see. First thing tomorrow Eli will show you all around.”

“How about an interview? I’d love to talk to you on camera.”

“And you will, I promise. You guys have had a long drive. Eat up and enjoy your meal.” The Prophet said as he tore into some ribs. The rest of the group ate in silence. By the time he was finished, Bronson was stuffed. For a group living out in the middle of nowhere, they could sure cook. Maybe they grew their own food out here. He’d find out tomorrow. Once they finished, The Prophet stood and smiled.

“That was a great meal. Was sure fine meeting you folks tonight. Eli here will show you to your quarters. It’s not like the fancy hotels I’m sure you all are used to, but you’ll find it quite comfortable.”

He nodded to them as he walked out the same back door from which he entered. Shortly after he was gone Eli stood.

“So! Are we ready?” he asked. The rest of them stood and followed Eli out of the church and into a large field. In the field were dozens of cabins scattered about. There were other people outside, some hanging laundry. Others were working in gardens. Bronson wondered how they gardened anything out here. It was so blasted hot and dry. The other cult members didn’t look up or acknowledge them at all.

They finally reached a set of cabins on the edge of the field.

“Here you go. One is for the ladies and the other for the gentlemen.”

“Sounds good. Can we go get our things from the truck?”

“Oh yes! By all means! I’ll be retiring myself. I’ll see you folks in the morning.”

Over the next hour, they got their bags and gear from the Expedition and headed back to the cabins. Manuel put the camera together and shot some footage of the rock formations and then the compound itself. On the far side behind all the cabins there was a large barn. The doors were all closed and there were no windows.

“You see that?” Manuel said. “That barn?”

“Yeah, I see it,” Bronson said.

“I wonder what’s in there.”

“I don’t know. We’ll check it out tomorrow. I’m beat.”

“So what did you think of The Prophet?” Julia asked.

“Not sure yet. He seems like a nice guy. Very pleasant.”

“Yeah. He was that. Eli is a fucking weirdo though.”

“Oh don’t be like that. I think he likes you,” Bronson teased.

“Yeah. No thank you,” she said.

“So what do you think so far?” Bronson asked.

“Other than Eli, seems cool so far. You keep asking about those girls. You really think they’re here?”

“I don’t know. Like I said, their families were certain they were.”

“What if they are here? You going to get them out?”

“I don’t know. As a journalist I really can’t or shouldn’t. Just get it on film and turn it over to the authorities. Then what if they don’t want to leave? Lots of things to consider.” Bronson said.

“I guess you’re right. This can’t be as weird as Jail Bait at least. I almost got my damn throat cut on that one.”

“I remember. I’m sure this will be nothing like that. Just some hippy weirdos. But you never know.”

“All right. We’re gonna get some rest,” Julia said as she grabbed her bag and headed into the cabin. Sheri followed behind her as the door closed. Bronson looked around and took everything in for a moment. He wasn’t sure what he was going to find here, he just hoped it made for a good film.

Chapter 4

“So, this doesn’t creep you out at all?” Sheri asked Julia when they got inside the cabin. The cabin was very simple. There was two small dressers and two bunks. There was no air conditioning which would make sleeping or anything for that matter extremely uncomfortable.

“Why would it creep me out?” Julia asked. She had to remember Sheri didn’t live her life and hadn’t done the things she’d done. Sheri worked in a coffee shop and went to school. Julia’s dangerous life was part of what excited Sheri, she had told Julia as much. That was fine, she wasn’t totally sure if bringing Sheri on this trip was the best idea. On the surface it didn’t seem dangerous. Nothing close to Jail Bait.

“I don’t know; just this whole cult thing. What if it turns into Jonestown or Heaven’s Gate or something; what if they try to sacrifice us?”

“Stop already,” Julia laughed. “No one is getting sacrificed. They’re a fertility cult. If anything they’ll have us join in some orgy.”

“With Eli.”

“Ewww!” they said in unison.

Julia walked over to Sheri and wrapped her arms around her waist and kissed her softly. They stood there kissing for several minutes when there was a knock on the door. The both jumped as Julia opened the door. It had already gotten dark outside, really dark. They had a lantern to keep the cabin lit. Bronson was standing outside as she opened the door.

“What’s up?”

“Manuel wanted to walk around and get some footage of the camp. You want to come along?” Bronson said.

“Weren’t they going to show us around tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but I figured we can at least get an idea of the layout. I doubt they will show us everything tomorrow. So this way we can maybe find some stuff we’re not supposed to see.”

“Sure, I’ll tag along.”

She told Sheri who said she wanted to lie down. Julia was ok with that. Not sure she wanted Sheri coming along and getting freaked out if they saw something weird. Julia stepped outside where Manuel was standing behind Bronson.

“You don’t have a light?”

“I’m using the smaller camera with the night vision. I don’t want to be obvious about it.” Manuel explained.

“Makes sense.” Julia closed the door and walked out with the two men. It was almost pitch black out already with a little light from the moon as well as from the cabins around the camp. They came across some gardens and noticed some cabins were very small while others were quite large. Maybe those were for families. There was an actual house sitting on a hill overlooking the entire compound. Julia figured that was where The Prophet stayed.

“I want to check out that barn,” Manuel said. “Its way away from everything and no one seems to go near it.”

It was almost two hundred yards away, but they reached it finally. It was closed up and totally dark. There was a huge chain and padlock on the front double doors.

“Shit, locked.” Bronson said.

“You think you can pick the lock?”

Bronson looked at her and laughed.

“Yeah, cause I’m Magnum P.I.”

“Smartass.”

“I’m going to do a quick intro here. Let me know when you’re ready Manuel.”

“I got you.”

Bronson cleared his throat and stood in front of the barn.

“Here we are at the compound of The Church of the Fertile Fields. So far, they have been polite and accommodating. We are getting a tour tomorrow of the facility, but we decided to night to do some of our own exploring. Here behind me is a huge barn that is secured with a padlock. I have no idea what may be in here, but I plan on asking them tomorrow. So far The Prophet Drake has agreed to an interview during our stay. As in the letter, no one here claims any knowledge of the missing girls. We hope to find out more and maybe speak with more residents of how they are being treated and their knowledge of the girls.”

Bronson nodded as Manuel lowered the camera.

“Should we head back?” Manuel asked.

“I guess so.”

As they began walking there was a scream from behind the barn. It sounded like a woman, but not a single scream. It was a series of one loud one and several shorter ones. Bronson looked at them and motioned them around the barn. In the back there was a dark trail that led up a hill. They started up the trail and noticed they heard more screams and even moans? Yes, they were moans.

“What the fuck is going on?”

“Maybe they’re fertilizing each other,” Julia said.

They walked up until they reached several large rocks surrounding a large clearing. There was a bon fire burning inside the clearing. They crouched down behind a rock and could see dozens of people rolling around the field. Though Julia quickly noticed they were all naked and on top of each other. Some were grouped in couples. Others were in groups of five or more. One old man had three girls way younger than himself lined up and was nailing them from behind.

Manuel set up the camera and began shooting as much as he could. Most were too far away to make out their faces, but he was able to zoom in a little bit.

“Holy shit,” Manuel said. “Some of these are fucking kids.”

“What?”

“Yeah look.” He handed the camera to Bronson who looked for a bit.

“Jesus Christ. Look at this Julia.”

She took the camera and looked through. The old man she saw earlier was with four girls, but each of them looked no older than ten or eleven. Another old man had a little boy of not much older than six or seven pushed up against a rock and was thrusting him from behind.

“Oh my God. What the fuck? We have to stop this.” She said.

“No! We can’t. Get all this on film and give it to the Texas Rangers. If we try to intervene no telling what they’ll do.” Bronson said.

“Fuck. There’s an old woman in there with a teenager banging her.”

All over it was mismatched groups. There were several young adults too, but there was no grown-up on grown-up action. It was all an adult with a child or several kids. Julia wanted to throw up. She handed Manuel the camera.

“I’ve seen enough. I want to leave,” she said.

“You mean leave the compound?” Bronson asked.

“Yes. Leave the compound. Go home, now.”

“We can’t do that. This is just the start. I’ll bet those girls are here and who knows what else they are into. Besides, not only do we need this as evidence, but imagine how much we can make off this documentary.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Hey. We are already putting our necks out on the fucking line. May as well get paid for it. Right? You’ll have a cut too. Remember? You’re a partner in this. You get a cut. It won’t be small, that I promise you.”

“I don’t want a cut. This is bad. This is really fucking bad. These people are a psycho-fucking-pedo cult.”

“Let’s go back and get some sleep. See what they say in the morning and how they are acting. I guarantee this is the tip of the fucking iceberg. Who knows what we’ll uncover out here. This shit is gold.”

“Whatever.” Julia said as she started down the hill and back to her cabin.

Chapter 5

“Wake up kids!” Eli called from the doorway. “Rise and shine!” Bronson stirred in his bunk as Eli pounded on the wall. He looked at his watch, it was just after 5:30 a.m. The sun was already up and Bronson was already covered in sweat. He hadn’t slept well, at all. It was a combination of the heat and humidity, lest we forget having just witnessed his very hosts conducting a pedophile sex-orgy. None of those things were comforting, but he wanted to stick this out.

“Want me to wake up the rest of your gang?” Eli asked. “I can wake up the lesbians if you want.”

“No, no. I’ll get them that’s fine.” Bronson said as he sat up and pulled his t-shirt on.

“No problem! I’ll give you guys a few minutes. Then meet me outside for your tour.”

Bronson nodded as he got dressed and then woke the girls up. Once they were dressed they headed outside where Eli was waiting.

“We figured first you can take a quick tour then come in for some breakfast. How does that sound?”

“That sounds great.” Bronson said.

“Good! Good.” Ok, let’s get started.

They walked around the rows of cabins and came to one long cabin with a red cross on the front.

“This is our dispensary. Doctor Jarvis is our physician here. So, any health problems or medical care you may need, just stop by here.”

Bronson looked at Julie and Manuel who seemed somewhat impressed. Sheri was looking around indifferent. Bronson wondered if Julia told her what they found last night.

“Over here is the meeting area,” he walked by a large pavilion with dozens of chairs lined up underneath a huge canopy suspended by several poles. “The Prophet often holds his meetings and services here as well as weddings and such.”

“What’s in that big barn?” Manuel asked pointing at the huge barn behind the cabins. Eli’s mood darkened as he shook his head.

“No one but The Prophet and his designees is allowed in the barn.”

“But what is in there?” Manuel asked again. “The thing is huge.”

“Just The Prophet’s personal belongings. Nothing for you to concern yourself with.”

He continued walking as Manuel looked at Bronson. Chances are he was thinking the same thing. They needed to get into that barn. Who knows what treasures awaited in there? It could really be just storage, or it could hold the dead bodies of the missing girls. Even better, it could hold the missing girls but still alive and being held prisoner. Bronson didn’t like the way his thoughts were going. That was one of the dangers of his job. He often had to record and uncover many horrible things. He should feel terrible about them. Yet those horrible things made for good film and made him a lot of money. So often, he had to remind himself what he was experiencing was someone else’s nightmare.

Eli walked them along the edge of the compound and pointed to the large house on the hillside.

“The house on the hill is the residence of The Prophet. Once again it is off limits to visitors.”

As they walked through the rest of the compound they saw several gardens. Some residents had goats tied up behind their cabins. Bronson was also amazed at how much green grass there was on the grounds. At times he felt like he was walking on a golf course. They must have had a water source somewhere.

They reached the chapel once again where Eli led them in to the same hall where another meal was prepared. This time it was breakfast. There were bowls filled with eggs, sausage, fruit and bread. Branson wasn’t sure where they got all this food, but he was starving.

This time, there were other cult members sitting around the table. Three women and two men. They looked up and smiled as the group entered the hall.

“Go ahead and help yourselves to some food,” Eli said.

“Will The Prophet be joining us today?” Bronson asked.

“I’m afraid not. He is a late sleeper. You’ll see him at morning service though. Here are some folks who wanted to meet you guys though. Tina, Esther, Gloria, Tom, and Jacob.”

Branson nodded and smiled at each of them as he went and grabbed a plate. Once he got his plate he sat down with the rest of his group and began eating. Finally, he decided to ask some questions.

“So how long have you guys been with the church?” he asked, though he couldn’t remember which of them was who.

“Most of us have been here since the beginning, for about twelve years. Tom just joined earlier this year,” one of the women said.

“Wow, twelve years. You’ve been out here this whole time?” Bronson asked.

“No, we moved here about a year after I joined. We were in El Paso at first, we met in a small building. The Prophet said the Goddess wanted us out here so we can practice our faith in peace.”

The first thought that came to his mind was the sex act with children he’d witnessed the night before. He wondered if these people were a part of last night’s activities.

“And you’ve been happy here? Getting everything you need?”

“Oh yes. More than I could ever hope for. If paradise truly does exist, this place has to be it.” She had a near dreamy look on her face as she spoke.

“How about you Tom?” Bronson asked the man. Tom was the one with the short hair and beard. “You’ve just arrive basically.”

“Yep, and I’m kicking myself for not coming sooner.”

“Really? Why do you say that?”

“Because it is so beautiful here. I mean look at it. We are one with nature. We can freely practice our faith.”

“And your practice, that’s something I wanted to ask you about. What does that consist of? Like rituals or how does that work?”

Tom looked almost embarrassed for a moment as he looked at Eli.

“Well, I guess there’s a lot of ways we practice.”

“I know you have services, do you have rituals?” Tom asked.

“Yes, we do. A few.”

“Are any of the rituals sexual in nature?”

“I think that is good for now. Is everyone through eating?” Eli chimed in. A few people were eating the last few bites. “It’s time to get to the pavilion. The Prophet will be speaking soon!”

Chapter 6

They gathered around the pavilion, Bronson and his crew stood in the back as Manuel set up the camera. After several minutes, every seat was full and finally The Prophet Drake came walking up to the podium and stood. He put his arms out as the rest of the followers stood.

“Children of the Goddess, may our Loving Goddess love and keep you.”

“Praise Freyja!” they said in unison.

“Most of you may noticed we have some special guests with us today. Bronson Sinclair is here. He is a renowned filmmaker from our home state of Texas. He contacted me asking about some young women who had gone missing. As you know the outside world is quick to blame us for their problems. We live up here in the wilderness in peace, yet they see us as a threat. Why do you suppose that is?”

People clapped and some cheered as he continued.

“We all know why. So far our guests have been treated well. I have promised Mr. Sinclair an on camera interview. This way the world will know who we really are. Let them see we are just like everyone else except we choose to remove ourselves from the world of drugs and violence. He we live close to mother earth and share love and compassion for one another.”

Bronson noticed there were no children in attendance. But he’d seen several kids last night at the sex ritual. He wondered if that was The Prophet’s version of love and compassion.

“So while our guests are here,” The Prophet continued. “We will all treat them as if they were one of our own. They may talk to some of you and ask you questions. Feel free to discuss your life here with them. We have nothing to hide.”

After he finished speaking, he stood and led the group in a song. Bronson didn’t know what it was, he’d never heard it before. The members all knew it, they held hands singing along with their eyes closed and swaying. Looking at the people in the group he noticed they were of varying ages. Some were elderly while others were in their twenties with a few in their thirties and forties. Branson looked off to the side at the barn which was sitting in the sunlight.

He was positive there were children there last night. Could they be in the barn? He had to know. Somehow he had to get into that barn. Tonight, they would get in there. He didn’t know how to pick locks, but there had to be a way. Finally, The Prophet dismissed everyone as he walked over to Bronson.

“Well, how was your first service with us?” The Prophet asked.

“It was great. You’re an excellent speaker.”

“Oh, thank you. Just lots of years of practice is all.”

“So you ready to do that interview?”

“Now?”

“Sure. We can just take a seat, you got your camera all set up. May as well go for it, unless you’re not ready.”

“Oh no. This is great.” Bronson said as he pulled up a chair. Julia smiled and patted him on the shoulder. The Prophet sat across from him as Manuel adjusted the camera.

“Hey everyone, Bronson Sinclair here. I’m with The Prophet Drake the leader of the Church of the Fertile Fields. He’s been kind enough to agree to sit down for an interview with us. Prophet Drake, thank you for having us.”

“Thank you Bronson. It’s an honor to have you here.”

“So first question, what made you start up this place? To come out in the wilderness and set up a whole community?”

“Oh sure. We’d been traveling around the country trying to find a home for several years. Being in the Bible belt, you can imagine how hard it may be for a pagan-like church to get along. No matter where we went, our homes were vandalized, people sent us death threats. One of our buildings had been set on fire. It was just not safe.”

“I can understand that. How is it you find new members way out here? I know you have some who just joined recently. How is that possible so far removed?”

“Oh we have internet out here. I have a work area in my house our recruiters work out of. We have satellite internet and some other things to reach out to hungry souls looking for a meaning to their existence. Our arms are open to all of them.”

“Just what is the Church of the Fertile Fields? I’ve seen people say it’s about the goddess Freyja.”

“Yes, yes that is right. Instead of worshipping a god who tells us to behave, to not have sex and not enjoy life. We worship a goddess who truly embraces love and human sexuality. We are sexual creatures who are here to enjoy sex as well as populate the earth. Even though you didn’t see it today and I’m sure this will be nice and titillating for your viewers, is that we do sometimes have sex rituals. Just part of communing with the Goddess. And no, you can’t film that.” He said, chuckling as he said the last part.

Bronson laughed as well.

“I’m sure that is quite an intimate event. I wouldn’t want to intrude on that,” Bronson lied. “So I want to ask you about the missing girls I’d written to you about. I know what you said off camera, but I wanted to get you on the record for our viewers if that is ok.”

“Sure. I will tell you none of those girls have ever shown up here. I greet all newcomers and I’d know it if they had been here, and they have not. I’m not sure why their families have blamed us. My heart goes out to them. If there is anything I can do to help you find them, feel free to contact me. I’d be happy to lend you any of our resources. As a father myself, I can’t even imagine missing a child.”

“You said you have children. Are they grown? Are they a part of the church?”

“They are as a matter of fact! They’ve been life long members and are also on my leadership board.”

“Do they, take part in the rituals as well?”

The Prophet let out a laugh and shook his head.

“Now Bronson, that’s a bit out of bounds don’t you think?”

“I guess so. My apologies. One more question for you.”

“Go ahead son,”

“I assume Prophet Drake isn’t your real name. Can you tell us what your real name is, and how you became The Prophet Drake?”

“My birth name isn’t important. It reflects who I came into this world as, but I am no longer that man. Once I discovered the Goddess Freyja, and pledged my devotion to her, I became Drake. Once others recognized my ability to communicate with her they began calling me The Prophet and it stuck. So here we are.”

“One last thing, I know I said one more question, but this is bugging me. The big barn in the back of the compound. I noticed its locked up pretty tight. When I asked Eli about it, he looked almost frightened. What is in the barn? Can we have a look in there?”

“I’m afraid not Bronson, once again, we are getting out of bounds. I think it is time to wrap this up.”

“Great sir. Thank you so much for your time.”

“Sure son. Thank you for being here. I need to head inside. It will be lunch time soon. You folks enjoy yourselves. Remember, make yourselves at home here,” The Prophet said as he walked off. Bronson watched him go, and despite how smoothly the interview went he couldn’t get the images of the children being raped during that weird ritual last night. It made him wonder what tonight would bring.

Chapter 7

When night fell, Manuel wanted to get his footage. He’d been waiting all day for it. The rest of the crew was going to go with him, but they had fallen asleep before it was even dark. How could they sleep? After today and the stuff they saw last night, he was wound so tight no way was he sleeping. He grabbed the handheld camera and headed toward the barn.

He’d been working with Bronson for several years. They went to film school together and had always made a good team. Bronson was more of the visionary. He saw things behind what was really going on. The story beneath the story he called it. Manuel’s skills were on the technical side. He was good with cameras lighting, knowing just what lenses to use and when. Manuel could shoot on a Go Pro and make it look like it was shot with a high end camera. That wasn’t easy to do. Together, their skills complimented each other and they were reaping the rewards. He hoped this excursion would bear even more fruitful.

The night was calm and humid. No other members were out and about. It seemed once it got dark everyone in the compound must head inside. That or go and fuck kids in the wilderness. He reached the barn with no trouble and looked around. The padlock was still on which he expected. He walked around the sides of the barn and toward the back where he found another door. This one was a set of sliding doors. It was locked also. Except being a sliding door it was on a track.

He pulled it and it pulled out almost a foot. Manuel was only five foot seven and thin, so he tried to squeeze through. Sucking in his gut, he pushed the door out as far as he could and kept sucking in until he was through, the door banged as it snapped shut. He held his hands up trying to keep the noise at a minimum. Inside the barn it sounded like a bomb went off.

Once the sound died down, he turned on the camera and looked through the night vision. Once he got a look through the barn, he almost dropped the camera. There were cages, the size of large dog cages. Dozens of them lined up. All were filled with kids. Some looked to be little more than toddlers. Others were in their teens. It seemed to be an equal mix of boys and girls. There was a stairway in the far side leading to a loft.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Manuel whispered. He turned the mic on as he walked.

“Ok, I’m inside the barn at the Fertile Fields compound. We were told this place is off limits and now I know why. What you are seeing here is dozens of cages of children. Not sure where they all came from. If they’ve been abducting kids, then someone has to be looking for them.” He walked to the steps and made his way up into the loft. Up there, was several more cages, about five or six containing women.

Two of the women were pregnant. The pregnant ones were asleep. The other three were awake and looking at him with blank expressions. He immediately recognized Karen Giles, Jennifer Rubio and Roxanne Martin. Except they were much thinner and Jennifer was one of the pregnant ones.

“Jesus Christ. Are you girls ok?” he whispered, but none of them replied. “I’m here to help you. Your families hired us to find you.”

“You better get out of here,” Karen said. “You can’t help us. Just go.”

“What? They don’t know I’m in here. We’re going to get you out.”

“How? With your camera?”

“Look, we got this footage. We’ll send it to the Texas Rangers. They’ll be here by morning.”

“I’m not getting in trouble over this guy,” Roxanne said and lie down with her back to him. Manuel was a bit confused. He thought they’d be glad to see someone coming for them.

“Well, it appears there is a fox in my henhouse,” a voice said from behind him. He turned just as someone turned on a flashlight. He could see silhouettes of four men standing there. Fuck. One of them stepped forward. It was Eli. He could tell by the hat and he was she shortest. Though his chipper tone had abandoned him.

“We invite you to our home. Give you free reign to film whatever you want here. And what do you do? You violate the one single rule we give you. That’s really upsetting Manuel. I had thought better of you. I thought we understood each other.”

“Look man, I…I had to see what was in here. I had no idea. Here. You can have my camera and just take the footage. We’ll leave right now.”

“I’m afraid you won’t be leaving after all my friend,” Eli said as one of the bigger men stepped forward carrying something in his hand. A cattle prod. Manuel figured out what it was only after it was jammed into his ribs and sending thousands of volts through his body. He dropped the camera as he fell to the ground. Pain shot up his side and through his whole body. His muscles constricted as if his body were clenching a fist. For a few seconds he couldn’t get his breath.

Eli stood over him and knelt down.

“There are certain lessons that come with breaking our rules. You are about to learn all of them Manuel.”

One of the other men grabbed Manuel’s hands and bound them behind his back with duct tape.

“These girls here. They’re not our prisoners. They are fulfilling their destiny. The Goddess has special plans for them. And now she has plans for you.”

“You can’t hurt me. Everyone knows I’m here. Bronson has connections. People will be looking for us.”

“That may very well be. And they may find you. But it won’t stop anything that is about to happen to you now. You can look at what is about to happen in two ways. You can look at is as the worst suffering you’ve ever experienced, or you can look at is as a cleansing. Few people are granted this kind of cleansing before their death. You should be honored. Your life will finally have some meaning.”

“You’re fucking insane,” Manuel said. “Let me go. Bronson won’t stand for this, neither will the authorities!”

“The Goddess is our only authority my friend. You’ll be learning that real soon.”

Manuel tried to struggle as they pulled him to his feet. Another jolt with the cattle prod took the fight out of him. He looked up as one of them stomped him in the face. The last thing he saw before it went dark was a huge foot closing in. As it made contact he prayed not to wake up again. His prayer would go unanswered.

Chapter 8

Sheri tossed and turned as usual. Coming along on this trip had been a bad idea. She fell asleep cuddled with Julia but moved to her own bunk when she woke up covered with sweat. It was so hot and sticky in that cabin. It was almost cooler outside. So much for some alone time with Julia or any actual adventures. This place just felt like a grown up bible camp.

Looking out the window, the sun was starting to rise. She had no idea what time it was and really didn’t care. Julia snored ever so lightly as she slept. How could she just sleep like that? Watching her girlfriend sleep, she couldn’t get over how amazing Julia was. Besides being smart and beautiful, she was the toughest girl Sheri had ever met.

She had watched “Jail Bait” not long after they met and was blown away by that girl. Not only did she go undercover among the human traffickers, but she recorded a lot of it and managed to get away once her cover was blown. It wasn’t shown in the film, but because she had been “sold” during the movie, she’d wondered if Julia had to have sex with some of the men. She probably did, but never spoke about it and Sheri didn’t want to know.

Their relationship had been a good one so far if not a little strained. The straining was at Sheri’s own doing. Not on purpose mind you. Julia was just so intimidating. Everywhere she went, both men and women just flocked to her. Everyone wanted to be close to her. Plus, she was so tough and all around incredible. Here was Sheri, a waitress. What the hell could she offer someone like Julia?

Her insecurities believed Julia was just slumming with her until she found someone better. She didn’t want to believe that and Julia often assured her that wasn’t the case. Yet for some reason she couldn’t let herself believe Julia really was that into her. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Julia jumped awake as Sheri looked outside. It was Bronson.

“You guys seen Manuel?” Bronson asked.

“No,” Sheri said looking at Julia as she sat up.

“Manuel?” Julia asked. “Where’d he go?”

“I don’t know. We were going to check out that barn last night, but I was so exhausted I fell asleep. I’m worried he went to look himself.” Bronson explained.

“Shit. You think he got caught?” Julia asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Are we in danger?” Sheri chimed in. Each hour that passed, this trip made her more and more nervous.

“No,” Bronson said. “I’m sure its fine.”

A Land Rover came driving through the compound making a beeline for their cabin. After a minute, it stopped in front and a tall blonde haired man stepped out.

“I need you guys to come with us. The Prophet wants to see you,” the man said.

“Have you seen our friend?” Bronson asked. “He’s missing.”

“I know. Get in.”

They piled into the Land Rover as the man stepped on the gas and drove them out the back of the compound and up a small dirt road that wound through the hills. So, this was how you got to that big house. Within a few minutes, they were parked outside the large house. The man led them inside and into a huge living room with several couches and a big screen TV. If camp was some kind of religious pilgrimage, The Prophet wasn’t exactly roughing it.tr

“What do you think is going on?” Julia asked.

“I have no idea. Unless, he tried to look in the barn and got caught.”

“Shit, I hope not.”

“Me too, but why else would we be here?” Bronson said.

Finally, The Prophet came lumbering into the room using his cane. He stopped in the door way, looked at each of them and shook his head in disgust as he made his way to one of the couches.

“I have to say Bronson, I hadn’t expected this. I thought you were different from the others. You didn’t strike me as one of the other outsiders. Turns out, you’re just as bad, if not worse,” The Prophet said.

“What are you talking about? Where is Manuel?”

“Oh, he’s being tended to. I assure you. First, I want to say something. I opened my home to you. I invited you here in good faith. We fed you, housed you, and gave you free reign of the grounds. We only asked one thing from you.” He shook his index finger pointed in the air. “One thing! So what do you do? The one single thing I ask you not to do. And for what? For some cool footage for your film? So, you can destroy everything we stand for here and everything I’ve worked for? We all have choices and some of those choices come with consequences. I’m afraid you and your crew have made a seriously bad choice.”

He picked up a remote and turned on the TV. Instantly, on the huge flat screen appeared an image of Manuel. Except he was naked and tied with his hands behind his back to a large post. His forehead dripped blood. He looked like he’d been severely beaten.

“What the fuck?” Bronson said. “What are you doing? What is going on?” He jumped up but the door burst open and several men came rushing in. Two men grabbed the girls easily. Julia tried to fight, but the man picked her up and slammed her on the coffee table. The table split in half as Julia busted through face first. She lie on the ground motionless as Sheri screamed. The man picked her up and threw Julia over his shoulder while the other grabbed a handful of Sheri’s blonde hair and dragged her out of the room behind the other man.

Two men stood before Bronson holding guns. Bronson put his hands up and looked at The Prophet.

“You’re making a mistake. A lot of people know I’m here.”

“Everyone tells me that, yet no one has ever come for anyone,” The Prophet said. “Don’t worry. You’ll all be well taken care of. I have special plans for each of you. You’re about to have a much greater impact on the universe than you would have with some silly movie.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Take him away,” The Prophet ordered as one of his men grabbed Bronson’s arm and dragged him outside. They loaded him into the back of an SUV. The girls must have been in another car as he was alone with his captors. They drove down the road and around the back of the compound and stopped outside the barn. As they walked him to the door, he suddenly no longer wanted to know what was inside.

Chapter 9

Bronson walked through the barn door as they slid it open. Once he was inside he froze. The sight of all the cages holding the children didn’t look real. It had to be something from some movie set. Most of them were boys, but there were a few young girls. They were filthy and the whole room smelled like shit and piss. Some were crying but most had dead expressions on their faces as they looked at the floor.

“What’s wrong sport?” the big blonde haired man said. “Not what you thought you’d find in here?”

“I had no idea what was in here, and sure as hell wasn’t this. What the fuck is wrong with you people? What is this?”

“This is our life force and our future. I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Yeah. You got that right. You’re sick motherfuckers.”

The man took the gun and pistol whipped Bronson along the temple. He saw stars as the gun cracked against his head, knocking him to the ground. Bronson’s head throbbed as he worked his way up to his knees while blondie stood over him.

“You think you’re better than us? You have no fucking idea what we are about here city boy. So, you might want to watch your mouth.”

“Yeah,” Bronson said as he stood.

“Come on. In here.” They walked through a back room that opened into a huge kitchen. Though as they walked through, it looked more like a butcher shop from hell. There were chains hanging all over with carved up human torsos dangling from them. There were several steel benches with workers carving up limbs and other various body parts. Bronson wanted to throw up at the sight of it.

“What’s wrong sport?” Blondie said. “You thinking back to those great meals we served you earlier? Good sausage huh?”

At that, Bronson dropped to his knees and threw up until his stomach was dry heaving. The smell of his own vomit made him even sicker as he heaved and wretched until he couldn’t go anymore. Blondie pulled him back to his feet.

“Oh come on now. Until you saw this, you thought our food was great. No different than what you people do to animals. You just don’t see the actual slaughter.”

“You raise these kids here like cattle?” Bronson asked.

“No,” Blondie said. “I wouldn’t say that. We worship the goddess of fertility. She in turn provides us with children. The children provide us with more children, which provides us with new and growing membership, workers, breeders, and as you see, food.”

Bronson couldn’t even process what the blonde man was saying. Breeders? Food? Members? What?

“You see, city boy. The human race is entirely self-sustaining. When left to pure Darwinism, it truly is survival of the fittest. We have children here, the ones who are less than perfect are used for food and sacrifices. We’ll raise them to early adulthood so there is plenty of meat. Some we eat young. The meat is much tenderer in a toddler than a teenager, just not much of it. Kind of like eating crabs. A lot of work for very little reward. The ones who are healthy become adults and join our community and help with gardening, building and even leadership positions.”

“Girls serve even more purposes. Ones who are fertile and healthy become breeders. We had one young lady who gave us twelve healthy boys in twelve years before she died. Then, she provided us with a great feast. She is highly revered in our church. What every woman should aspire to. She was only thirty years old. I bet in your whole life you will never have that much meaning.”

Bronson didn’t even know what to say. By now they had reached a door in the back of the butcher shop of horrors. This door opened into the room holding Manuel. He was slumped against the post and passed out. Bronson’s eyes went wide as blondie struck him again with the pistol. There were two other men in the room with Manuel. One of them was Eli. Once Bronson hit the floor he heard Eli’s voice.

“Strip him and tie him,” Eli said.

The big men grabbed Bronson and despite his weak attempt at struggles, they ripped and cut his clothing off him and bound his hands behind his back across another post. Manuel was across the room from him, but still not moving.

“Is he ok?” Bronson asked.

“He’ll live,” Eli said. Eli no longer looked like the dorky little man from earlier. He’d removed his hat and had a perpetual sneer that wasn’t visible earlier.

“Where are the girls?”

“Oh, the lesbians? They will be taken good care of. Don’t you worry.”

“I told him what we do here,” Blondie said.

“Well thank you Leon. By the barf smell on him, I take it he didn’t handle it so well?”

“To say the least,” Leon said.

“Typical. It’s ok. He’s about to get his first lesson.” Eli walked to another door and pulled it open. “Hey, Jackie, could you come in here please?”

A woman came walking who stopped and smiled when she saw Bronson. She looked to be in her fifties or older, her skin was dry and wrinkly and her smile revealed she was missing almost all of her front teeth.

“Damn, he looks good!” she said.

“I knew you’d like him. He’s all yours honey.”

“You are too kind, Eli.” She said as she removed her shirt revealing a pair of saggy boobs that reminded Bronson of a pair of large raisins. She took off her shorts and walked over to Bronson who tried to move away, but he couldn’t move at all. Leaning in, Jackie licked his ear as she began stroking his cock. From close up, he could see her complexion was worse than it looked from further away. Her face was riddled with pock marks with a large mole sticking up from her upper lip.

“You got a nice dick honey,” she said.

Closing his eyes, he tried to think of something else, but his body betrayed him as his cock grew hard at her touch. She leaned in and began kissing him on the mouth, he could taste her mole as she pressed her lips onto his mouth, shoving her tongue as far into his mouth as she could while massaging his erection.

Finally she pulled away and knelt down, taking him into her mouth. He didn’t want to like it, but it felt good; her lack of teeth seemed to work to her favor. Her mouth sucked the tip of his cock as she massaged his balls, occasionally licking his shaft at its length before sucking again. After a couple minutes he was coming close to climaxing.

“Wow Jackie! Work your magic! He loves it!” Eli called out.

She stood and bent over in front of him still massaging his cock. She rubbed it against her pussy which he tried not to look at. Her labia hung several inches down and her ass was covered in acne. He closed his eyes as she slid him inside of her. The inside of her pussy was tight and dry as she worked herself back and forth bouncing off his cock. He wished she would just go away but he was helpless to her whims. He especially wished his mind could control his dick and just force it to go limp, but that wasn’t happening. His body responded to her every touch, even though he was repulsed.

“Come on baby,” she said as she grind her hips against him. “Gimme that cum. Give it to me honey.” She grounded harder and faster as he tried to hold it in, not wanting to blow his load inside her. Finally he gave up, relaxed and let himself go as he ejaculated inside her. She let out a moan as she cried out. “Yes! Shit! Yes! Fuck me baby! Fuck me!” slamming into him until his cock stopped erupting. She stepped away and kissed him on the cheek.

“Thanks lover, that was hot,” she said as she got dressed and walked out. Eli stood there with a big grin on his face.

“See we’re not that bad. I bet you thought we were gonna kill you. Instead you got yourself one fine piece of ass. I think she likes you so she’ll probably be back for more.”

Leon walked behind Bronson and untied his hands from the post and dragged him over to the wall. He ran the wire that bound Bronson’s hands through a couple metal loops in the wall and tied it tight. Bronson was now facing the wall, but partially bent over. He didn’t know what was going to happen next, but didn’t really care. In his time, Bronson had had many regrettable sexual encounters, but never had he felt so dirty and violated like he did with Jackie. All he wanted to do was run far, far away from her and this place, but it didn’t look like that would happen.

He looked behind him to see Leon removing his clothes. As the tall blonde man pulled his pants down, he slapped Bronson on the ass.

“Hang on sport,” Leon said. “It’s my turn.”

Chapter 10

Julia woke up inside a large cage. She looked around but didn’t see Sheri anywhere, but there were other cages next to her with other women. She recognized one of the girls as one of the missing women they were looking for. Her head throbbed from the blow she took earlier, but it wasn’t too horrible. From the looks of the building, she assumed she was in the barn they’d been wondering about. There was no sign of Bronson.

“Hey, sorry they got you guys. Are you with the Mexican guy?” the girl in the cage next to her said.

“Who?” Julia asked.

“The Mexican guy with the camera. He snuck in here last night. I told him to get out, but they got him first.”

“Fuck. Manuel. Yeah, we’re part of a film crew they invited here.”

“Yeah. I don’t think anyone is going to see your movie.”

“I’m Julia.”

“Hey. I’m Karen.”

“Karen Giles?”

“Yeah.”

“Your mom contacted us. My boss Bronson. That’s why we’re here to find you.”

“Yeah. How is my mom?”

“She’s fine. She’s worried sick for you.”

“I know. I was so stupid.”

“How did you end up here?”

Karen wiped a tear from her eye as she looked around. The only clothing she had on was a loose tank top. She was rail thin as the top barely hung on to her tiny shoulders.

“I didn’t want to be in college. I didn’t know what I wanted to do but that wasn’t for me. I met a girl online and we talked and she told me about this place. She said it was like heaven on earth. Sexual freedom was celebrated, everyone took care of each other and smoked weed and shared everything.”

“That does sound great,” Julia said.

“Yeah it does. So the lady had me meet her, her name was Denise, if that is even her real name. We met a few times for coffee then finally made plans for me to come out here. I left my mom a note and left for here with Denise. For the first few weeks it was great. Yet, the sexual freedom part was kinda strange. Most the men here, when I got here, were older, like in their fifties. They made me have sex with them and it was just bizarre. It was like fucking my dad. I don’t like older guys. Some of the other new girls did. Jennifer preferred older guys. So I guess she liked it ok. Then, there was the rituals. Where we all get naked and worship the goddess. I didn’t mind that part. I’m kind of a hippy, I go skinny dipping and like being naked.”

“But then they brought in the kids. It was a big sex ritual, but they wanted me to have sex with a twelve year old boy. It was just so wrong. I’m not sure why, other than the fact they said his seed was more pure. They wanted me to get pregnant by this kid. So I told them no. At first they were ok with it, but then got more forceful. Finally, a bunch of them held me down while the boy raped me. After that, they brought me in here and locked me up. I guess the other girls protested too and now here we all are.”

“Jesus Christ,” Julia said.

“I know. Now I just sit here all day. They bring food and occasionally one of the boys to have sex with. Thing is, they keep the boys in cages downstairs. I’m not sure why, but the ones they brought to me don’t even look like they’re enjoying it. It’s all so mechanical. A lot of times the guards or whoever rapes me too. I’m pretty much just a fucking hole in a cage now. At least until I get pregnant.”

“We have to get you out of here.”

“How? We’re locked in cages that are locked inside this barn. They got people watching everything. There is no getting out. Just do what they say or else they’ll really hurt you.”

Just then footsteps approached as a couple of men appeared. Both were in their sixties, though one of them was rugged and leathery looking. He was the one who opened the cage and stepped inside.

“Well hello there. I’m Donald. They told me there was a new girl here, so I figured this would be a good chance to get acquainted. The other man stood outside the cage with his arms crossed. Julia had slid to the back of the cage not knowing what he was going to do.”

“Now, don’t worry there honey. I’m not gonna hurt ya. You just need to suck my dick,” he said as he slid his pants down exposing a shriveled and uncircumcised penis.”

“No way,” Julia said.

“Now come on. You make it sound like you have a choice. Get over here. It won’t hurt you. Hell, you might even enjoy it.”

She got on all fours and lunged at him, knocking Donald off balance as she raced by him and through the cage door. All she had to do was beat the second man, but she was too slow. He caught her just as she got outside the cage and punched her in the side of the face, knocking her to the ground. Her mouth filled with blood as her lip exploded over her teeth. She lie on the ground dazed as the second man dragged her up by the hair.

“Back in ya go.”

“She don’t want to suck, that’s fine,” Donald said as he took her by the hair and forced her onto her stomach. She wanted to kick and fight, but the punch knocked her almost senseless. She was starting to get her bearings back when she felt him shove his penis inside her. In her mind, she was screaming and fighting with all she had. Her body, however just lie there as he held her down thrusting her repeatedly. All she could do was close her eyes and wait for it to be over.

Chapter 11

Manuel woke up to the sound of screaming. Once his vision cleared, he saw Leon pounding away on Bronson’s ass. Manuel had gotten the same treatment earlier. He wasn’t positive but it felt like his asshole had ripped open. It was still throbbing even after they knocked him out. His little adventure had put them all in danger. He had no idea it would be this bad.

“Leave him alone!” Manuel yelled. “Get off him!”

Eli looked over at him and then wandered his direction until he was standing feet in front of Manuel.

“Man, just let them go. They won’t say anything. Take the cameras. You can keep me here even. Just leave them go,” Manuel said. Eli laughed before slamming his knee into Manuel’s exposed testicles. Manuel felt the blow clear in his throat as he doubled over, but unable to move to protect himself as Eli blasted him again in the nuts. Manuel heaved trying to get his breath, but all he could do was make rasping sounds.

“Maybe you should shut your mouth,” Eli said. “We tried to be nice to you. Nice time is over. Now it’s playtime. You know what is funny? The Prophet said he had faith in you guys. That he felt by Bronson’s letter that you all were sincere. So, I made him a bet. I bet him if you broke any of the rules, he’d hand you over to me and my crew. Sure enough, here you are.”

“Aren’t you clever,” Manuel said.

“I think so.”

Manuel was trying to avoid the sight just behind Eli of Leon anally raping Bronson. As if the visual wasn’t bad enough, there was the slapping sounds coupled with Leon’s moaning and Bronson’s painful grunting.

“Leon is like a machine you know. Maybe I’ll turn him loose on your lesbians next. See how they do with a nice fat dick.”

“Why do you want to hurt us? Why even invite us out here if you didn’t want us to know what you were up to? You were clearly getting away with it.”

“The Prophet seemed to think it was time the outside world knew who we are and accepted us. He hoped it would be a step to the world accepting our whole way of life. I told him that would never happen. I think he’s been isolated far too long. You guys are proof of that. Within hours after you left if we let you, I have no doubt state police and helicopters would be showing up. No thank you.”

He walked over to the wall and picked up one of the cattle prods and walked back over to Manuel.

“I hope you know we are going to kill you. I mean, that’s a given right?”

“So get it over with then,” Manuel spat.

“Oh soon enough,” Eli said as he pressed the cattle prod into his nuts and sent several waves of electricity though his scrotum and then the rest of his body. Manuel twitched and gyrated as Eli laughed watching his suffering. After a minute he stopped and pulled the prod back. Manuel heaved and gasped trying to get his breath as the pain slowly subsided. Leon was mercifully finishing up as he climaxed inside Bronson’s ass. While he felt bad seeing Bronson go through that, he was just glad it wasn’t him.

Eli came walking toward him again, this time holding an ice pick. He grabbed Manuel’s penis and held it up as he teased his urethra with the point of the pick. Shards of pain shot through him with each poke.

“I bet you’re wondering if we’re a bunch of fags aren’t you? Anal rape and playing with your nuts. Now, I’m about to shove this ice pick right up your dick hole. I mean, I’d be asking the same thing. What’s wrong with these guys? They just like to play with dicks and buttholes. I’ll admit, it’s a legitimate gripe, but let me tell you, there is a reason we like to fuck with your genitalia. We are a fertility religion. We are all about the sex. The greatest pleasure you experience in life is done through the use of your genitals. Conversely, the most painful and humiliating things you can ever experience is through the abuse of your genitals. Once, we have marked someone for death and humiliation, its ass rape and genital mutilation time. So, you probably already know, but this is going to hurt like hell.”

Eli grabbed Manuel’s shaft and thrust the ice pick all the way into his dick hole. Manuel screamed as pain shot through him like fire. He thrashed and struggled against his bindings as Eli twisted and jerked the ice pick around like a joy stick. He finally withdrew it as Manuel stopped screaming.

“How was that? Was that too much?” Eli asked.

“Please! Please stop! Please! Just kill me! You can kill me, just do it, please!” Manuel begged.

“Sorry buddy. Not quite done yet. We’re just getting started really. Got lots more pain to put you through before we can end it.”

“Fuck you, you fucking freaks!” Bronson yelled from behind.

“Well! He speaks!” Eli said as he turned around. “Go ahead and hang him back up Leon. I’ll get to him in a few.”

“I’m sorry Manuel!” Bronson called out. “I’m sorry I got us into this.”

“It’s ok man,” Manuel said.

“How noble of you. That makes me wonder. You two are good pals. I’ve never tried this before.” Eli walked over to a table and picked up a gun off the table, and then a hammer. He walked to the center of the room and dropped the hammer on the floor. Holding the gun in the other hand, he ordered Leon to untie them both.

“I thought we could play a game,” Eli said. There is the hammer. One of you is going to kill the other with the hammer. The one who lives is free to go. On your mark, get set, go!”

Chapter 12

When Donald finally finished violating her, he shoved her backe as she rolled to the corner and pulled her feet up against her chest. Hugging her knees to herself. Before today she had never been so much as assaulted, in her life. One guy had tried to get pushy with her years ago, but she kicked his ass. No one had messed with her since. She was a tough girl and always took pride in her physical strength and fighting abilities.

Never before, had she been so over powered and outmatched in such a way. She couldn’t begin to describe how sickening and humiliating it was.

“Oh come on now,” Donald said as he fastened his pants. “You act like I tried to kill you or something. Just gave you some good dick. Figured you could use it.” He looked over at Karen who was staring at him through the cage. “What the fuck are you looking at? You want some too? I think I have some left for you, but we can go to the rough stuff for you if you want to stare me down.”

She looked away as he backed out of the cage and closed the door. There was scream from the cage behind her. This from the pregnant girl who had been asleep up until a few seconds ago.

“The baby is coming! The baby is coming!” she screamed. Donald and the other man ran around and into her cage. Julia couldn’t see what was going on around them, but heard her huffing and puffing as Donald kept saying, “Come on and push. Give it a good push!”

The woman screamed several more times, as Donald kept yelling.

“Push! Push! Push!”

The woman screamed again which was finally followed by a baby screaming. Donald cut the cord with a knife and stood up holding a baby covered in afterbirth. The other man handed him a towel and he wrapped the baby while whipping it off. She could see from the cage it was a little girl. Something was wrong though. The baby had a cleft palate.

“Goddammit,” Donald said. “This is the second one she had with a cleft palate. Ugly ass kids.”

“What do you want me to do?” the other man said.

“Hold it,” Donald said as he handed the baby girl to the man. The man took the baby as Donald walked into the cage.

“My baby! I want to hold my baby!” the woman cried. Donald drew his hunting knife and slit the woman’s throat in one slash. Julia screamed as blood gushed and squirted from the girl’s neck as her body twitched before going still. Julia held her hands over her mouth to stifle any further screams. Donald grabbed the baby and they walked to a bench on the catwalk in front of the cages. The baby was screaming like crazy. Julia wished she could at least hold her and comfort her.

Donald lay the baby onto the bench and lopped its head off with the knife in one clean swipe. The baby went silent as Julia immediately fell forward and threw up. She heaved and lurched as what little food remained in her stomach came up. This could not be real, and there was no way she could be seeing what she was, but it was all too real.

“Take this and the mom to the butcher shop,” Donald said as he handed the other man the baby’s lifeless body. He was holding the infant’s head in his other hand as if it were a grapefruit. Once the man was gone, Donald walked back over to Julia’s cage and opened the door.

“Quite a sight, huh?” he said.

“You’re fucking sick,” she said. He was holding his knife and tossing the baby’s head up and down.

“Yeah you would say that, but have no idea. You come here with your shiny cameras and your smart phones thinking you know it all. You don’t know shit and you’re no better than anyone else.”  He took his knife and began cutting into the top of the severed head, and peeled away chunks of bloody flesh, cartilage, and what little skull there was.

“See? A baby’s skull is very soft. You can just cut right into it,” he said as he dug into the head with his knife and pulled out a chunk of brain. Holding it up for a second, he ate it right off the knife. “Another thing about an infant, especially a newborn like this one. They’ve not taken in any part of their world yet; so, their meat has no impurities, very few if any toxins. They are the purest.”

He dug in and took another bite. “I see that face you’re making like I’m so disgusting. Many ancient cultures believed by eating another person’s brains you were taking in their soul. Others believe eating a child’s brain was the key to eternal youth. I, on the other hand, simply like the way it tastes.” He dug out several more bites as Julia looked on in horror.

“Now that girl back there, we gave her two chances. Both babies were born deformed. That tells us that the Goddess has cursed her for some reason. We thought the first might be a fluke, so we tried it again. Yet, she birthed another deformed one, so she had to go. Notice I didn’t cause her any extra pain. I made it nice and quick. Problem is, we are down a breeder. Luckily we got you and your little girlfriend.”

“You don’t fucking touch her,” Julia said.

“Too late. We’ll see which of you gives us a better offspring. Give us a couple girls and we’ll have more breeders. Some healthy boys, and we’ll have kids to help out with chores, in the fields and other duties. Give us fucked up ones like this kid. Well, he’ll be a snack and you’ll be on the butcher’s table. Give us a few good ones and maybe convert to our way of life, you might just get out of that cage in one piece.”

He scraped his knife through the baby skull, digging out the rest of the child’s brains as if he were scooping out the last of the ice cream and licked his knife clean. Once he was done, he tossed the empty head at Julia who dove clear out of its way. It rolled and stopped near her foot, the child’s lifeless eyes staring up at nothing.

“You think about it. Gonna have one of our boys pay you a visit. He’s a handsome fella so you just might have some fun.” Donald said as he closed the cage and walked away.

Chapter 13

Two Weeks Later

Bronson had been moved to his own room in the past week. If that is what you wanted to call it. Instead of tied to a post, hands were tied to a set of pulleys stretching his arms out to the sides just over his head. He didn’t know if Manuel or the girls were still alive at all. He just hung there each day and occasionally, Leon would come in and ass rape him for hours on end. He hadn’t seen Leon in the last day or two and hoped to continue that streak.

He lost the feelings in his hands within hours after being moved. His toes barely touched the ground. Eli came by a couple times a day to feed him, however he tried to resist eating. The food was left-over guts and waste product from whatever humans they had just butchered. After a week, he couldn’t help himself though. He was so ravenous, he ate the whole thing. Eli laughed as he spoon-fed him the bloody gruel.

Bronson had even licked the spoon clean. One fun thing Eli liked to do was parade their latest victim around in front of him. It was usually a kid. Most of them were boys who couldn’t shoulder the work in the fields or whatever other hard labor they had them do. The last one had to be around thirteen years old. The boy came in with just a pair of shorts on and his hands tied behind his back.

The boy’s expression was empty as he kept his eyes to the ground. Eli walked the boy right in front of Bronson and forced him to his knees. He then placed a large bucket in front of the boy and angled his head just over the bucket before slicing the boy’s throat. Each time, the kids would gurgle and twitch before their bodies shut down. Bronson wondered how much they actually felt before they died, or if it was just all in their nervous response.

He also wondered when it would be his turn. He couldn’t imagine they were just going to keep his crew and himself alive indefinitely just for the fun of it; for all he knew, the rest were dead and he’d resigned himself to his own death. At this point, anything would be a relief over his constant torcher. On top of his physical suffering was his own humiliation. Due to the constant ass rape, his bowels had let loose days before. Whenever he’d eat, within an hour it would all exit his body on its own accord; essentially, he had lost all bowel control. He found it odd that of all the suffering he’d been through, that his biggest horror was the humiliation, but there it was.

The door burst open and Eli came walking in. At least he didn’t have another kid with him.

“Good evening sunshine,” Eli said. “How are you today?”

Bronson just stared at the floor. He didn’t even want to look at the guy.

“That good, huh? Well we have a surprise for you today. You’re being set free.”

At first, Bronson didn’t think he’d heard him right.

“What?”

“You’re being set free. I’m going to untie you and walk you out.”

Eli reached up and cut the cords loose on each of Branson’s hands. He fell to the ground, unable to hold himself up.

“Well come on. I’m not carrying you out.”

Bronson struggled to get his legs beneath him. After weeks of not bearing any weight, they were shaky at best. Finally he pulled himself up and stumbled to the door way. Eli walked behind him and let him out the door. They walked through the kitchen and into the main barn where Eli got to the door.

“What about my clothes?” Bronson said, since he was still naked.

“Clothes? I said you were free to go. I said nothing about clothes. Now go, before I change my mind.”

Eli pulled the door open as Bronson stepped outside. It was nighttime, which wasn’t obvious from inside the barn since his room had spotlights on all day and night. The air was warm and muggy as Eli slammed the door shut behind him. He began stumbling away from the barn. His first thought was to look for his friends, but he was so tired and weak, he decided to head for the road.

He got about fifty yard from the barn when dozens of torches lighted up the darkness ahead of him. Holding the torches was what Bronson assumed were church members. It was hard to tell since they were all naked and wearing plain white masks. They had torches in one hand and long knives in the other.

“Goddess be praised!” One of them called out. “You have offered us this sacrifice.”

“What the fuck?” Bronson mumbled. The group was at least twenty or thirty yards in front of him.

“We shall honor you, our sweet Goddess, by purifying this sacrifice!” The man said as he raised his blade while the rest of the mob cheered and began charging at Bronson.

Whatever shakiness was previously in his legs was now gone as he turned and he took off in a dead run in the opposite direction. So much for getting to the road.”

He ignored the pain in his feet as he ran across rocks and stones, heading to the trail that led up the hill. Upon breaking the hillcrest, regret over the choice to scale the hill began to take hold. The top of the hill is where they were having their bonfire and orgy ritual that first night, obviously they wanted him to go this way.

He turned off the trail and through the rocks and brush. Sharp rocks tore at the bottom of his feet as sticks and twigs ripped through his face and body as he ran. Behind him, he heard the mob, though he hoped to gain some ground on them this way and double back to the road. Once he was further into the woods, he stopped to catch his breath; he didn’t dare to look at the bottom of his feet. It seemed the mob was far enough behind him, as he had not heard them in some time.

As far as he could tell, he needed to go to his right. It was dark, but the moon was full giving him some decent illumination. Once he caught his breath, he shifted to his right and began working his way down the hill. Though, in this terrain, the hill felt much steeper going down. He reached the bottom as the trees opened up to a clearing. As he stepped out into the clearing, he realized he was back behind the barn. Working his way around, he could hear the mob still up the hill. Thankfully, they’d lost sight of him.

From the barn, it was almost two hundred yards from there to the next cabin. The rest was all in the open. Looking around, he wanted to make sure it was clear before he made a run for it. He counted to three in his head and took off, even though his run was more of a slow limp. His legs were on fire and his feet were almost numb from the pain.

He was barely a quarter way there when he heard the mob screaming. They’d seen him. As he looked behind, they were charging him and closing in fast. He tried to move faster but his body had reached its limit. His strides got shorter and shorter as his legs grew heavier and heavier. Soon it felt like he was running in quicksand as he heard their footsteps behind him, getting closer and closing in.

Finally, his legs gave out entirely. He tumbled face first into the grass and slid on his chest for several feet. Rocks poked and cut him as he slid. When he came to a top, they were already on him, grabbing his arms and pulling him to his feet. The man who had spoken earlier came walking up, looking him up and down. The man had on nothing but the mask. The crowd seemed eager to cut him down right there.

“Not here!” he called out. “This is a worthy sacrifice. To the altar!” He yelled as they crowd grabbed Branson’s arms and legs, lifting him into air. They carried him toward the trail and up the hill. They already had the bonfire going as they carried him to a large post lying on the ground and lay him on top of it. As they bound him to the pole using metal chains, he looked up to the full moon and hoped, if there were a Goddess, she’d take him quickly.

Chapter 14

Sheri sat in her cage as Donald returned with food. This time he brought her a hot meal on a plate. This was eggs, sausage and toast. Her strategy had been to go along with things and hopefully they wouldn’t hurt her; so far, it had been working. Instead of resisting or arguing with Donald, she offered to blow him. He was a bit surprised by the offer and didn’t turn her down. Even though she was a lesbian, she had dated guys when she was younger. She knew how to give a blow job and she gave Donald one for the ages.

He liked it so much he came back later for another. Within a few days, he told her he wanted to have sex with her. One of the girls next to her had told her the way he’d raped Julia. So, she decided to save herself the beating and she didn’t fight. She went along with it as if she were into him. She kissed him, gave him head and she’d almost climaxed a couple of times. None of it turned her on at all, but during sex her body did its own thing.

“Hey girl. Here’s the food I promised you,” he said as he sat the tray down in front of her, which included a can of soda. She had no idea where he got that clear out in the middle of nowhere, but she wasn’t going to complain.

“Cunt,” the girl in the cage to her right said. Sheri ignored her and began eating. She didn’t know the woman’s name. Since day one, the girl had been giving her shit.

The food tasted so good as she scarfed down each bite. Donald stood over her watching. She finished the last of the eggs and washed it down with the soda. Once she finished, Donald was already removing his shirt and undoing his pants. She got the hint and pulled her t-shirt off revealing her naked body. He walked over to her as she got on her knees and went to work on his hard cock.

After blowing him until he was rock hard, she got on all fours as he slid in behind her, thrusting her from behind. This time he didn’t last very long. In barely a minute, he was ejaculating deep inside her. She wondered if he’d planned on getting her pregnant. For some reason he made the other girls have sex with one of the boys from the cages down below. She’d only had to have sex with him. Once he was done, Donald sat back as his dick dangled between his legs.

“Damn girl,” he said. “You sure got some great pussy. It’s a shame you been wasting it on girls. But not anymore.” He stood and pulled his pants on, then his shirt and shoes. “Get dressed. I want to show you something.”

Sheri wasn’t sure what that meant. In the past few weeks, all she’d seen was the inside of that cage. Donald had never been violent or abusive to her. If anything, she figured the other girls got what they deserved. Every time he showed up, some of them would scream or fight. One tried to scratch him all to hell. If they just went along with it and maybe tried to be a little nice, Donald was very nice. Nice for being a guy keeping them in cages anyway. She pulled her t-shirt back on, her only article of clothing. What could he want to show her?

“I’m not in trouble am I?” her stomach tightened up as he helped her to her feet. The only girls who left their cages never came back. Sheri was positive they weren’t headed back home.

“Trouble? No! Nothing like that. Come on. You’ll like this.”

She followed him past the catwalk and past the row of cages. It was hard to avoid the death stares she was getting from the other girls. She didn’t see Julia in her cage since she was unconscious from her last session with Donald. They reached the stairs and walked down to the main floor where the boys were locked in row-after-row of cages. She could hear some crying and some screaming. From her cage, she could hear them too, but down here, it was much worse. It was like being at a dog pound but with kids.

He opened a door and they set foot outside. It was hot and sunny outside. The sun felt so hot, she thought it was going to burn through her skin.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Right here.” He walked her to a Range Rover where she got in the passenger seat. They drove across the huge field back toward the compound. He pulled up in front of one of the cabins and walked her inside.

“This is my cabin. You’ll be staying with me now. As long as you behave.”

Was he serious? She looked around the inside. It wasn’t a five star hotel, but compared to the cage it was The Hilton. His cabin had actual beds, a kitchenette and a generator that produced electricity for the air conditioning. He also had a bathroom and shower.

“So, you’ll stay here with me. You’ll sleep in my bed, you’ll help out around here and you’ll join the other women in their daily chores. If you get pregnant and give me some healthy sons, you might become a mother and not just a breeder. How does that sound?”

It sounded like it sucked ass but she wasn’t about to say that. Honestly compared to her recent predicament this sounded much better.

“Sounds good,” she said flatly.

“Now some rules. You are to never resist me at all, for anything. You do not try to make contact with your friends; they’re here and they are being tended to. None of that is your concern. Do not, under any circumstances, try to escape or try to contact anyone on the outside. It’s near impossible here and if you try I’ll know. If you break any of these rules, you’ll be killed immediately. The Prophet will probably do it himself and I’ve seen him kill folks. He is not quick about it. Trust me. He looks like a feeble old man, but when it comes to doing the Goddess’ work he’s zealous as hell.”

Sheri nodded as he explained. All she had to do was fuck Donald, have babies and do whatever it was the other women around here did. Sounded easy enough. All of it sounded better than that damn cage.

“Now I have work to do, but you can get settled. Go take a shower, and get some rest. When I get home this evening, I’ll expect you to be ready for me.”

As he turned, there was someone at the door behind him. It was Eli.

“You’re not stealing from work are you?” Eli said, looking at Sheri.

“No sir. The Prophet thinks she’s ready.”

“It’s only been a few weeks.”

“Right, and she’s never shown an ounce of resistance. Not like her dyke friend.”

Hearing them talk about Julia made her wince, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. She didn’t want to think about Julia. She loved her dearly, but it wasn’t like she could help her now. Nothing she did would save Julia at this point. The best she could do was save herself.

“If she fucks up, I’m holding you responsible,” Eli said.

“She’ll be fine. Don’t be mad cause she liked me better than you.”

“Go fuck yourself Donald,” Eli said as he turned and walked away. Donald turned to Sheri and laughed.

“Dumb little bastard has all these women in cages and he still can’t get laid.” He put his hat on and walked outside closing the door. Sheri immediately headed to the shower and jumped in. As the warm water poured over her, washing the dirt away, she had a feeling she would be showering quite often in her new conditions.

Chapter 15

Manuel had been taken to one of the cages. They kept him in the front where he could watch everyone coming and going. A few times a day, Leon would come in and rape him, each time getting more and more brutal. This day, Leon came in holding a large knife and wearing a big smile on his face.

“Well hey there stud. Ready for some playtime?” Leon asked.

Manuel lie curled up in the back of the cage shaking. Shaking, partially due to fear, but also because they barely fed him but a few scraps of food a day. He was so weak and beaten down he wasn’t sure how much longer his mind could hold on. His days were filled with strange visions, many of which he wasn’t sure were real and or imaginary.

Earlier Leon had come, but had grown a set of horns while violating him. His eyes had blazed red as he laughed. Manuel wasn’t sure if he’d imagined the whole thing or possibly just the shape shifting. Either way, he didn’t want to see Leon again, ever. Looks like he wasn’t going to have much choice.

“Don’t let the knife scare you. I had to carve someone up earlier. I have different plans for you.”

Wonderful.

Leon stepped inside the cage getting closer to Manuel who moved further back against the cage. If he could turn himself into liquid and ooze himself out of the thing, he’d have done so long ago. If anything, he’d have been happy just dying right then and there.

“Will you kill me?” Manuel said. “Please? I’ve done everything. You’ve hurt me more than I could have ever imagined. Please, just end it for me?”

Leon knelt down next to Manuel and put his hand on his back. For a moment, Manuel thought he saw compassion and even pity in his eyes.

“Hey, poor guy. I know I’ve hurt you a lot. And you’ve been a real trooper. You really have! Unfortunately I am going to have to hurt you a lot more.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Leon repeated. “It’s what I do.” He held the knife up and looked at it. “You know, on second thought I think I might use this on you.”

Manuel wanted to scream, but all he could do was cry. He was completely helpless against this man who had him at his mercy, yet chose to exercise none. Leon took the knife and grabbed Manuel’s hand and pulled him to his feet. He raised Manuel’s other hand and bound them together around the cage, holding him on his feet, as Manuel could barely stand on his own. He mostly hung there trying to push himself up. The wire ties burned into his wrists as he tried to keep it from ripping his skin off.

“I haven’t done this in a while, so I think it’s far past due for me to try this,” Leon said as he took the knife and cut into the skin just above Manuel’s hip. He cut all around Manuel’s waist making the incision deeper as he went. He cut all the way around Manuel’s body and cut up from his belly button up to the center of his chest, and made a Y incision as if he were doing an autopsy.

Manuel jerked and cried out but was too weak to offer much more resistance. Leon placed the bloody knife into a sheath and reached up, digging his fingers into the chest from the incision. The blood and flesh made a squishy sound as he pulled the flaps of skin away on his chest exposing his rib cage and muscle tissue. He was careful not to cut through the muscle so Manuel’s viscera wouldn’t spill out.

Manuel screamed as his chest cavity was exposed. Leon cut the loose flaps of skin away and began cutting away at the rest of his torso, slicing away as chunks of skin piled up on the ground around them. Before long, Manuel had no skin on his upper body except his arms and face. He began shivering as Leon began slicing the skin off his arms.

“I’m cold,” Manuel said.

“I’m sure you are, no worries, I’m sure you’ll be dead soon. I’ll keep you alive as long as I can though.” Leon grunted as he carved away the skin on each of his arms. Despite the temperature being so hot, Manuel was freezing. Due to shock or lack of skin, all he knew was he was freezing. As far as pain, he couldn’t even feel the knife anymore. Some level of shock had to be setting in as he felt lightheaded and dizzy.

As Leon looked up at him again, the horns had re-appeared on his forehead. He finally let out a loud scream that even startled Leon. The sudden movement snapped Manuel out of his trance and the horns disappeared. Leon just laughed as he began carving the flesh off Manuel’s legs and ass. Finally, Leon held the knife up inches from Manuel’s face.

“Ok bud. Your pretty face is next, sorry.”

He didn’t just carve away his face. Leon cut all the skin off his face, the top of his head and his ears. Once he was finished he wiped off the knife and held it up to Manuel so he could see his reflection. All he saw was a mass of blood and tissue. He screamed, unable to recognize the monster now before him. The reality of his own death suddenly set in. There would be no surgery, nothing could fix him or put him back together. The shivers got stronger as he realized it meant his body was shutting down; there was nothing he could do about it, nor did he care to even try.

“Hope you got a good look, it’s the last thing you’ll see.” He thrust the knife into Manuel’s eye socket as pain screamed through his head all up and down his body. He felt his eyeball pop and fluid filled the socket and ran down where his face used to be. Leon used the knife to dig the rest of the eyeball out of the socket. He tossed it aside and started on the other eye. The instant it made contact everything went black, but he could still hear and feel. Manuel was still conscious through this nightmare. To finish, Leon removed the other eye and laughed.

“Dude, you’re a mess,” he said.

Manuel screamed again as he felt the knife inside his mouth this time, cutting into his tongue. Blood ran down his throat as Leon sawed away until his tongue fell out of his mouth. Now all he could do was scream and make sounds that made no sense as blood sprayed from his mouth.

“Looks like we’re done Manuel. It was nice knowing you. I’m just going to leave you like that. You’ll be dead in a few hours then you’ll be at peace. Yet, you’ll be able to hear me in the cage next door for a while.”

He heard Leon walked out and lock his door as he hung there unable to see or speak, just dangling near death. After a few minutes, he heard blood-curdling screams in the cage next to him. The boy in that cage was only eight or nine years old. After a minute, the screams no longer sounded human but something like a wild animal sound. He wished he could cover his ears, but his hands were still bound to the cage. After several hours, his body and mind finally gave way to death. The last thing he heard was Leon’s laughter and the little boy’s inhumanly screams.

Chapter 16

Julia woke up on her stomach with something forcing her down, making it hard for her to breathe. Once her head cleared, she realized Donald was on top of her, raping her from behind. He liked doing it when she’d been asleep, especially after one of her beatings. Earlier he wailed on her painstakingly good; he was determined to break her, but she refused to crumble.

Some of the girls over time would give in to him and began to just give up sex voluntarily. A few girls even got into it, or at least acted like it. Julia refused to give him that satisfaction. One of the girls next to her had said he took Sheri somewhere the other day and she hadn’t been back. While that would normally be cause for concern, the girl also told her Sheri had been giving it up to him without a fight since they got there.

Knowing that stung Julia. Chances are Sheri was doing it as a means of survival, but it still stung all the same. Julia had been able to resist. Sheri apparently gave up without any kind of a fight. She tried not to think any more about it. Donald was finishing up inside of her. This had become so routine. If it wasn’t Donald, it was one of the boys. It made her sick but she wouldn’t play along. One kid couldn’t have been more than twelve years old. She just lay there and let them go at it. Each time she looked for a chance of Donald letting his guard down or something, but he was a strong man and careful one at that.

He never turned his back on her and always had one eye out. If he brought one of the boys, each time Donald would have his turn after the kids were done. At least the boys were somewhat gentle. They weren’t trying to hurt her. They also seemed to be enjoying themselves, but she got the impression they had been born and raised here like animals; they didn’t know any different. They even grunted like animals when fucking her.

Part of her considered playing along with him to see if that would get his guard down, but she couldn’t stomach the idea. Once he finished he stood over her.

“You know you could learn a lot from your girlfriend. She knows how things work here. I’m sure you’ve heard. That girl knows how to give some head. She has a real nice and tight pussy too. That’s something you wouldn’t appreciate. Don’t worry, she’s staying with me for good now. That’s right, your girlfriend has been promoted. As long as she behaves, she’ll become one of us. You could too if you didn’t act like such a bitch.”

“At least I don’t have a tiny little dick,” Julia said. “Pretty tough guy. No woman will give it up to you so you just have to poach pussy in cages.”

He smiled as he walked to her and backhanded her, knocking her across the cage. She landed on her side as blood filled her mouth. She’d already lost a few teeth from his beatings and could barely see out of her left eye. No telling what long-term damage had been done, not that it mattered. Julia knew she was not getting out of this place alive. Best she could do was hurry the inevitable or hope they make the mistake that sets her free.

When she was undercover for Jail Bait, they had found her out, except they thought she was a cop. Fortunately, she had been unrestrained and near a door. When they went after her, she kicked off her heels and was able to out-run them. She hit a busy city street where they knew better than to try to capture her in front of so many witnesses. Had she slipped and fallen at the wrong time or slowed down she’d have been done for.

Donald stood over her laughing.

“I’m getting pretty sick of your mouth and cuntish’ attitude. The whole ‘feisty’ thing, I’ll admit was kinda hot at first, but now, it’s just getting old,” he said as he knelt down next to her.

She smiled and spit blood in the center of his face, knowing she was going to get a serious punishment for it. He sat there shocked for a minute before standing up, taking out a handkerchief and wiping it off.

“Ok. You just fucked up good.”

“You gonna rape me again with your tiny dick?” She said.

“Nope. I got something else for you.” He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her out of her cage. He pulled her along the catwalk and down the stairs. She hadn’t had time to pull her shirt back on, so he was parading her naked in front of all the other captives. He took her down to the main floor into the center of the huge room. There were dozens of cages around where the boys were howling and rattling the bars as they saw her walk by. He threw her to the ground and kicked her in the stomach.

Taking out his keys, Donald walked down the row and unlocked each cage. She counted a dozen, but there may have been more. Several naked boys emerged slowly. They circled around her as Donald backed away. Each boy was filthy, all much worse than the ones they’d brought her upstairs. Their hair was long and matted as if they’d been living in the wild. A few of them were growling as they approached her.

“Ok boys!” Donald said. “She’s all yours!”

They closed in around her grabbing her by her arms and legs. She struggled and fought as they held her down. Two of them forced their way between her legs fighting for position as they prepared their hard dicks for entry. They shoved each other back and forth before deciding to both just shove their cocks in as far in her as possible. She felt her flesh tearing as they both slammed at her broken vagina, while another boy tried to shove his dick in her mouth. She pinched her mouth shut, but he began punching her in the face. More teeth cracked and broke until she opened up and took him into her mouth just to make the hitting stop.

She tried not to wince from the pain as both boys came inside her and moved, making room for another one. The next round included only one boy, but he was bigger and far more rough than the others. There were hands all over her body while others bit at her tits and nipples. Blood running down her breasts as more wild boys joined the fray. She didn’t know if it was possible to will yourself to die, but at the moment death could not come fast enough.

Chapter 17

Bronson struggled against the cross they’d tied him to. They used wire bindings, which cut into his wrists and arms. He didn’t know what they had planned, but he wasn’t liking it one bit. One of the naked, masked figures came lumbering toward him, standing over him. The man removed his mask to reveal The Prophet.

“I’m really sorry it had to come to this Bronson,” he said.

“Please. You don’t have to do this. No one has to die here.”

“I’m afraid they do. The Goddess demands it. You’ve come into our home and defiled our sacred field, our fertile field.”

“You mean that barn full of kids? That you torture and eat like cattle?”

“They are a resource provided by the Goddess, we all are really. Some of us are fit and chosen for life on earth. Others are chosen to become part of the earth. It’s all out of my hands.”

“Bullshit, you can stop any of this.”

“I’m sorry Bronson. This was an experiment. Now we know outsiders can never be trusted.” He put his mask back on and stepped away joining the crowd who was now circling the bonfire.

“Oh blessed Goddess! We thank for this sacrifice that you have provided. We now return him to you! May his burning flesh be pleasing to your senses!” the Prophet yelled as a group of men began pulling on a set of cables hung over a pulley. As they pulled, the large cross lifted Bronson off the ground. Once it stood to its full height he was at least thirty feet in the air or more, several feet above the bonfire alone.

The crowd danced around the fire and cheered. After a few minutes they began pulling the cables, this time lowing him face first, slowly toward the fire. He struggled and thrashed against his bindings, but to no avail.

“Prophet! Please! Don’t do this! Please!” he screamed, but no one responded. As he got closer, his naked genitals grew hot as he felt the heat on his face. He wished if they were going to do this, they’d just drop him into the flames. Instead, they moved him inch by inch, ever so slowly into the fire. The tips of flames licked his face and body just enough to begin the painful scorching. They held him there for a few minutes as he tried to cry but the heat dried up his tears.

As they lowered him into the flames, the heat was too much to bear, but he couldn’t avoid it. Flesh on his face and cheeks began blistering and popping as the skin on his body followed suit. They pulled him clear out of the fire providing a few seconds of relief. He gasped for air when they lowered him back in. He kicked and bucked wildly against the heat and wire restraints, which were now starting to burn into the skin his arms and legs.

The crowd cheered more wildly as he sank further into the flames. By now, he could feel the fire consuming his whole body. His flesh popping and bubbling right off the bone as he screamed. He had never felt pain like this before nor did he realize this kind of suffering existed. He could feel the flesh melting off his face and body as he let out one more scream before his tongue melted right out of his mouth.

His eyeballs were next as the bubble and popped out of his head, their fluid sizzling within the fire. He could still hear the cheers of the crowd before the cross tilted further forward. His head began to hurt and swell as the pressure built. The pain intensified beyond comprehension, until his skull finally gave way and cracked open. His boiling brains bubbling out into the fire as his pain faded away for good.

Chapter 18

Five months later

Sheri looked at herself in the mirror. Her baby bump was getting bigger. Being a mother hadn’t been in her original plans, but here she was. Donald had sex with her several times a day. For a guy in his fifties, he sure had a sex drive. She had gotten use to the sex. Not to say she ever enjoyed it, but she didn’t dread it anymore. It had just become a part of her day, like laundry.

A car pulled up outside as she pulled her shirt back down. She didn’t think Donald would be back for a few more hours. Once she reached the door, Eli was standing there.

“How’s it going mama?” he said.

“Hey. Good I guess. What’s going on Eli?” she never did like the guy. He was always creepy and asking things about being a lesbian.

“Do you use strap on’s with each other?” he once asked. She didn’t even know what to say to that. She was certain he had a thing for her. The only times he ever went to talk to her was when Donald wasn’t around. She got the impression they didn’t like each other. At least Eli didn’t care for Donald. Eli was short and looked like a high school science teacher. Donald looked like he just came out of a jungle safari and was much taller.

Not that it matter, she wasn’t attracted to either of them. The only reason she put up with any of it was fear of her life. Now she had the baby to worry about. A part of her worried Donald would take the baby away to be with the other kids. She didn’t think he’d do that to his own child, but so far nothing here made sense. She didn’t want to talk to Eli, but no way to avoid it now.

“Oh nothing. I just thought I’d check on you and the little one,” he said. “How are you both doing?”

“We’re fine. The baby won’t be here for a few months yet.”

“Oh it will be here before you know it,” he reached up and patted her belly, taking her by surprise.

“Oh, hey!” she said as he put his other hand on his shoulder.

“You know, I know a few tricks on how to help you relax and to relieve some of the soreness you may be having.”

“No, I’m fine. It’s no big deal.” She was sore, but wasn’t about to let him touch her.

“It’s ok, really,” he said as he moved around her, trying to rub her shoulders. She stepped away again and spun around. She could see where this was going and didn’t want to go there. As she turned around, the friendliness had disappeared from his face.

“You know Sheri, I’ve always liked you. I’ve always been nice to you and treated you like a lady. Yet you continue to look at me like you’d rather eat shit than be in the same room with me. Now why is that?”

This was awkward.

“I don’t know. I’m with Donald. You know that.”

“You’re his hostage! I know what he does to you. He rapes you, orders you around and treats you like shit. I’d take good care of you,” he said as he began running his hand along her belly, sliding his hand up her shirt.

“I’d love you and make you feel really good.”

She grabbed his hand and stepped away, this time he grabbed her arm.

“Bitch! I’m going to show you who is a real man!” Eli pushed her up against the table and pushed her back. He ripped her shirt open and punched her in the face then pulled her shorts off. She tried to kick but he hit her several more times. He then held his fist like it was a hammer over her stomach.

“Stop kicking or I’ll give you a fucking abortion right here,” he warned. She froze as he tossed her shorts to the floor and began undoing his pants. He took out his small, but hard little penis and pressed it against her when the door flew open. Donald was standing in the doorway and looked furious.

Eli froze like a deer in the headlights as Donald pulled his knife. Before Eli could scream, Donald had cut his throat from ear to ear. Blood sprayed and gushed all over Sheri as Eli staggered and stumbled around the cabin. He finally fell to the ground as blood pooled on the floor around him. Sheri looked up at Donald who stood over Eli’s body holding the knife.

“Shit,” he said. “You ok?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t want to. He forced me, he was hitting me,” she explained, terrified Donald would take it out on her.

“I know. I never trusted him. He’s a little snake.”

“So what now?”

“Now I have to think of something. He’s been with The Prophet from the beginning. The Prophet won’t be happy.”

“What will he do?”

“Probably kill us both, and sacrifice the baby. That or sacrifice all three of us. I’ve seen Eli do this kind of shit before. He does what he wants. I’d warned him when I brought you to be mine you were off limits. I guess that just encouraged him more.”

She wasn’t liking the sound of any of this and didn’t want to be sacrificed.

“So what do we do?”

“After it gets dark I’ll take his body into the hills and bury him. I’ll have to stash his car too. Maybe they’ll think he ran off.”

Sheri sat looking at Eli’s body and wondered how much longer she had before her own throat was cut. Though part of her felt relieved knowing Donald was scared. While it frightened her, it showed he was willing to break the rules if it suited him. Maybe in light of this, she could talk him into taking them away from there. It was definitely something she would mention once he calmed down. She just hoped she could stay alive that much longer.

Chapter 19

Julia lie in her cage staring up at the ceiling. What day was it? What week? She didn’t remember and it didn’t matter. Since that day months ago when Donald threw her to the boys below, her mind had snapped. From there, each day and hour blurred in with the next. One minute it was time for sex, then time to eat, and then time to be beaten.

They all took turns with her now. She’s stopped fighting ever since she stopped feeling. The sex no longer hurt, neither did the beatings. Most of her teeth had been knocked out. Her nose was perpetually broken and she hadn’t seen out of her right eye in months. A girl in the cage next to her asked if she wanted to die. That was a funny question to her. She was dead. If there were such a thing as zombies, she was it. Walking dead girl, rotting from the inside out.

Her cage door swung open as another man came walking inside. She’d seen him before, but he’d never spoken much to her. She had no idea why he was coming in her cage now.

“Come on you ugly bitch,” he said. “It’s play time.”

He grabbed her by the arm and down the catwalk into the man floor. He took her back to an empty room where four more guys were. The man took her hands and tied her to a post in the middle of the room, her back exposed to them. She hadn’t put on any clothes in months, so she was already naked. The men seemed amazed at her lack of fear.

“You weren’t kidding. She’s not screaming at all. The others always scream and shit.” one of them said. He took his belt, rolled it up and cracked her across the back with it. Months ago, it would have hurt like hell, it still did, but the pain felt far away, distant. Like it were someone else. It was as if she was floating around outside her own body watching herself be punished, but not actually experiencing it. Despite the distant pain, she didn’t so much as flinch.

“Holy shit,” he said, laughing. “That’s a tough bitch.”

He cracked her several more times until the other men wanted their try. Each of them took their turn lashing and whipping her. She could feel her skin tearing and the blood oozing down her back, but not the pain. One of them got extremely angry over her lack of response.

“Stupid fucking bitch! This shit has to hurt!” he screamed as he took the belt and swung it so the buckle hit the side of her face, knocking her off her feet and leaving her dangling. The man pulled her back up by her hair and began smashing her face into the post.

“Hey knock it off!” one of the men said. “You’re going to kill her”

“I don’t give a shit. She’s fucking worthless.”

“I know, but Donald said to keep her alive. Said she’s useful like that.”

“Whatever,” the man said and let her go. Another man came over, untied her, and sat her up on the table. He undid his pants, threw her legs up on his shoulders as he inserted his penis, and began pumping away inside her. Julia lie still as the man fucked her.

“Dude, that’s like necrophilia or some shit,” another guy said.

“I know, but it isn’t. Kinda cool huh?” he grew harder as he erupted at climaxed inside her. Once he finished he stepped away and pulling his pants up. He just stared at her, fascinated by her lack of movement. There was a loud bang coming from the main floor as another man came running through the door.

“Hey guys, sorry to interrupt. One of the boys got loose, one of the older ones.”

“Shit, let’s go!” Another man said as they all adjusted their pants and shirts as they ran out of the room, leaving her alone. She had laid there several minutes, waiting for them to return. After some time had passed, she stood and walked to the door looking around. There was screaming and banging from another part of the barn, but no one was nearby. She walked out of the room and down the corridor.

One of the rooms she ran by had two swinging doors. Looking through the window it was some kind of butcher shop. There was a man at the counter cutting a child’s body to pieces. His back was to the doorway as she slid the door open, slowly and silently. Grabbing a butcher knife from the nearest counter she walked up behind the man. At the last second, he turned and saw her. Just as he tried to yell, she thrust the knife into his throat. Blood sprayed from his neck, showering her naked body as she pulled the knife free. He collapsed to the floor as she stood over him.

Looking at the bloody knife, she walked out of the kitchen and back down the corridor. There was a door at the end, she pushed open and was standing in a large field. In the distance, there were dozens of cabins. The door swung shut behind her as she looked around. Why did she come out here again? Where was she going? Home. Where was home? It was a city. She remembered that much.

The door swung back open behind her as one of the men from earlier popped out. His eyes went wide when he saw her.

“There you are. I guess you got some life left in you after all. We didn’t bother closing the door. Figured you were just gonna lie there.”

She looked him up and down didn’t bother to speak. He grabbed her by her wrist and began dragging her inside. She reached up with the knife and slit his wrist that was gripping hers; sliced deeply from palm to elbow. Blood sprayed as he let go of her hand and stumbled back glaring at her wide-eyed.

“What did you do?” he asked, stumbling up against the wall. “What did you do?” He slumped to the ground, landing on his face. She took a few steps back looking at him. Now what? She just killed two men. That’s what they do here, they kill and hurt people. What did she do before she was living in cages and killing people? She did something. Something before this place. The thought snapped out of her head when more men came through the door. This time she remembered what she needed to do. Julia RUN!

Chapter 20

Sheri stood by the Land Rover while Donald dug the hole. She wanted to help, but he didn’t want her straining herself with the baby. He wouldn’t even let her turn on a flashlight so no one from the compound would see them, even though they were almost a mile away.

“Almost done,” he said wiping the sweat from his forehead. He’d removed his shirt and been digging for over an hour. After a few more shovelfuls of dirt, he tossed the shovel aside and climbed out.

“Ok, I’ll need your help with this part,” he said as he walked to the back of the Rover and opened the tailgate. Eli’s body was wrapped in a sheet in the back with a large bloodstain in the front. Donald pulled the body out to the edge. Unfortunately, the sheet did nothing to hide the smell. In the extreme heat, Eli began decomposing immediately. Even inside the Land Rover there were flies buzzing around.

“Grab his legs for me,” he said. Sheri did as she was told though it felt weird holding a dead guy’s legs. He was heavy, but not so bad she couldn’t manage. They reached the edge of the hole as Donald nodded. With one swing, they tossed him in.

“There. Now I just got to fill it in, that won’t take long.”

He started tossing dirt into the whole until it was full. It only took a few minutes to fill it in. For some reason Sheri felt like she should say a prayer or put some flowers down or something. Even though she never could stand Eli, and if anything, she was happy he was dead. While she feared Donald and had no feelings for him, at least he protected her when it mattered. He smoothed it over with the shovel when several spotlights came on in the compound. There was screaming and commotion as people were running out of their cabins. Sheri’s stomach tightened as fear immediately gripped her.

“What’s going on? Is that about us? Did they figure out Eli’s dead?” Sheri asked.

“No, the searchlight at the top of the barn is on. Someone escaped from the barn. Shit.”

“How is that possible?”

“I have no idea. Someone got careless. It happens, but it’s been a good ten years or so since the last time. Not like they have anywhere they can go. The heat, terrain, or coyote’s will get them before they even reach the road.”

Those very things had gone through her mind months ago when she had considered an escape attempt. She had thought of trying to steal one of their vehicles but could never drum up the courage.

“Let’s head down there,” Donald said as he grabbed his shirt, pulling it on as he climbed into the Land Rover. They raced back to the compound where Donald flagged down one of the men searching.

“What’s going on?” Donald asked the man.

“Some girl got out. She was with that film crew months ago. Not sure how she got out. Some guys were fucking with her and weren’t paying attention.”

Julia. Sheri hadn’t even asked about her since Donald took her out of the barn. She’d assumed she was dead by now. The fact she was still alive made her wonder what kind of condition she was in. She’d seen some of those other girls in the cages and none of them looked good. Some looked like walking corpses. She should have known Julia would make it. That girl was tough. She’d known that when they first met, this was just solidifying the point even more.

“Shit,” Donald said. “I thought we’d broken that girl. All right. Where was she last seen?”

“They saw her running toward the cabins. She’s killed two of our own men when she got out.”

“Jesus Christ. What are you guys doing in there when I’m not around?”

The guy just shrugged.

“Ok. She doesn’t have any clothes on and can’t have gotten far. Get everyone around and we are going to search each cabin.”

The man nodded and ran off as Donald looked at Sheri.

“Looks like your girlfriend is making a last stand. Can’t say as I blame her. I figured she’d lost her mind by now. Last time I saw her she didn’t even know her own name.”

“So what is going to happen?” Sheri asked.

“I’ll take you home and then we’ll try to find her. Once we find her, we’ll just put her down. She’s outlived her usefulness anyway.”

To Sheri’s surprise, she didn’t feel sad at the thought of her captor killing her girlfriend, or former girlfriend. She had been in survival mode since they took her prisoner. So had Julia, but in a much different way. Donald stopped in front of their cabin where Sheri climbed out and headed inside. Once inside she watched Donald climb out of the Rover and run to the center of the compound with the rest of the men to join the search.

She walked over to the bed and sat down. Part of her hoped Julia got away. Maybe she could get help from the police or FBI would swoop in and save them all. She walked to the washbasin and threw some water on her face as she looked in the mirror. Her face had aged almost ten years in the last few months. She looked back down into the water and looked up again. There was a dirty face in the mirror standing behind her. It was the face of a woman who had been beaten severely. Her hair was matted to one side, nose was turned at an unnatural angle and one eye was swollen shut. Right away Sheri knew it was Julia.

She turned and faced her former lover. Julia was naked, but her body was covered in dirt and sores. The woman looked like some kind of feral girl you’d seen in a movie. In her right hand was a butcher knife.

“Hi Sheri, did you miss me?”

Chapter 21

Before Julia found Sheri, it had all come back to her. She wasn’t sure what triggered it. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but once she was on the run, it hit her. Her name was Julia and she was from San Antonio, TX. These men chasing here were horrible awful men who had been torturing her for months. She wasn’t an animal, or a piece of meat but a person. From there it all flooded back, Bronson, Sheri, the movie. Sheri! She’d heard they had taken her away. She thought maybe she’d been killed, but whispers in the cages around her said Donald had taken her as a wife or girlfriend.

Julia couldn’t stomach the idea, not to mention why would Sheri even go for such a thing. She hated men. Just picturing Sheri with a man made her blood boil. Picturing her with anyone infuriated her, but especially men for some reason. Maybe it was her way of surviving. God knows the tough girl act didn’t serve Julia well, except she was now running free. Well, running for her life at least. Despite her weakened state, she managed to outrun the men easily and ducked in between some cabins. She used the night as cover as she crawled underneath one of them and held her breath until they passed.

She would crawl from under one cabin to the next. They each had skirting around them, which made it easier to hide. It wasn’t something she could keep up for too long, they’d figure it out soon enough. For now, it was buying her time. Most of the men were conferring in the center of the compound. She was glad at least they didn’t have search dogs or something. The way the lights of the compound and searchlights came on she could tell they had some kind of protocol for an escape, but judging by everyone’s reaction, this was a first for most of this crowd. What she needed was a car. She knew they had them here, but had to find one with the keys in it.

As she lay in wait under one cabin, she looked across as an SUV came racing into the compound. In the car’s lights, she saw Sheri getting out and heading inside. She looked different, like she’d gained weight. Sheri was pregnant. Mother fucker. She crawled around from beneath cabin to cabin until she reached Sheri’s. Julia didn’t want to make a run for it across the courtyard.

Once she reached it, she quickly slipped inside and closed the door. There she was.

“Julia!” Sheri said. “You’re alive.”

“And you’re pregnant. You look well taken care of.”

“Look, it isn’t what you think. I don’t want to be here. I’m a fucking hostage. I can’t stand dick, especially this asshole. You have your way of surviving, I have mine.”

“Yeah yours is working much better for you than mine. So, when are you due?”

“A few months.”

“How do you feel about it?” Julia asked.

“About being a mom? I’m not sure yet. What are you going to do? They are searching every inch of this place for you.”

“I need a car. I see Donald left his out here. Where are the keys?”

“He has them. You won’t make it.”

“Come with me.”

“They’ll kill us.”

“You’d rather live like this? As their fucking sex slave? You saw what went on in that barn. Look at me! I’ll never be the same again, that’s if I live much longer.”

“Donald has the keys with him,” Sheri said. “There’s other cars at the top of the hill, where they hold the bonfire. They’re like pool cars. The keys are usually in them. If you can make it up there, that’s your best bet.”

“Come on,” Julia said.

“I can’t. It’s not safe. This is my home now,” Sheri insisted.

What the fuck was wrong with her? Julia thought. Was she suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, thinking she cared for her captors? Julia grabbed her by the arm.

“Let’s go. I’m not leaving you here!” she said.

“No, Julia please.”

“Trust me. I can get us out of here.”

“Don! Donald!” Sheri began screaming. “She’s here! She’s right here!”

The betrayal cut into Julia harder and deeper than any knife, fist, or penis had during her captivity. This was the woman she loved. Granted she’d brought her here. It was just supposed to be a fun filmmaking trip. Not any of this. Maybe Sheri hated her for it; maybe she was the one who was too far-gone. Either way, Julia just wanted to die in that instant. Until she heard Donald and his men yelling.

She bolted out the door and back toward the barn. A couple of them were gaining on her but not by much. She reached the hill and started up the trail. Her legs and lungs burned as she pumped her fists from side to side until she was at the top. All she wanted to do was fall over and lie down, but doing so would be certain death.

Once at the top, she remembered the first night, seeing the bonfire and strange child sex orgy. Since that night, she’d seen and experienced much worse things. She ran around the field until she reached the backside where there were five Land Rovers sitting there. Some of them were old and rusty, but a couple looked to be in good enough shape. She climbed into the most decent looking one and flipped down the visor. A single key fell into her hand, which she inserted in the ignition.

Starting up the engine, she stomped on the gas and headed back to the hill. The men were just now coming to the top, she saw them and gunned it right for them. Some managed to get out of the way, but a couple she hit head on, sending them flying into the air and landing nearby. She didn’t know if they died and didn’t care. All she knew was this was a one-way drive. Home or hell.

Chapter 22

Julia charged down the hill doing everything she could to keep the Land Rover under control. She’d gone around one curve way too fast and almost rolled it over. That would have been bad. The bottom of the hill was approaching fast as cult members dove out of the way. The barn was just ahead of the hill a few dozen feet. There was no way she could avoid it. At her speed she tried to steer away as it approached but on the loose dirt, couldn’t veer out of the way in time.

The Land rover smashed into the back of the barn, crashing through the wall and into several cages which were just inside. Bodies, metal and wood were flying as she stomped on the gas, plowing through anything in her way. She figured if she can’t stop she’ll just keep driving until something stopped her.

There was a thick, steel posts in the center she couldn’t steer clear of and stomped on the brakes. The Rover went into a skid and slammed into the side of the post. She stepped on the gas again, but there was no movement, the axle had snapped. Julia climbed out to see the boys from the cages, many of whom helped rape her, were now loose. Some circling her.

“Hey!” she yelled at them. “You’re free now. These people can’t hurt you. You’re stronger than all of them.”

Some of them didn’t care as one lunged at her. She thrust the knife out and stabbed him in the chest knocking him to the ground as blood sprayed from his wound. The others took a step back as some of the cult members came entering through one of the back doors. The boys grunted and hollered as she pointed to the tall blond man. She remembered his name was Leon. Leon stood before them holding an axe. The boys circled Leon as he shouted.

“Back in your cages! Now!” he shouted which was a stupid command, since their cages had all been busted by Julia’s SUV as she crashed into the barn. The boys ignored him anyway as the ones still in their cages laughed and howled as they watched one of their main tormenters grow afraid. Leon was visibly trembling as he waved the axe as if it were a baseball bat.

“I’m warning you! I’ll chop all of your fucking nuts off!” Leon warned, but they were no longer scared of him. More men had entered the barn, but they stood in the doorway watching Leon. Julia wondered why they didn’t try to help, but they looked as shocked and afraid as Leon had. He reared the axe back over his shoulder as the boys charged him. He got a swing in, but it fell flat as they took him to the ground, hitting, biting, and literally tearing him apart. Leon’s screams filled the barn as Julia ran in and grabbed his keys off his body while the boys ripped the flesh off his bone.

One small boy was chewing on Leon’s forearm as if it was a drumstick. Once she got the keys, she ran down the rows, unlocking the other cages. There were so many, a hundred at least. She didn’t unlock any of the girls’ cages upstairs. It would take too long to reach and none of them could help her now anyway. The other men now entered the barn, some had guns this time, others had knives and hatchets, but there were too many angry, wild boys. They descended upon the men.

Some of them fell as gunshots rang out. Julia just watched in awe as the boys functioned like a pack of fire ants. They were of one mind, going after each target working together. If one of them went down, the others would fill in where he left. The men didn’t stand a chance. Within minutes, there was blood and chunks of flesh on the walls, and body parts strewn about the barn. From upstairs, she could hear some of the women screaming for help. She’d be back for them later.

“Outside everyone!” Julia screamed. One of the boys walked up to her. He was also naked with long stringy hair. He looked like a caveman, all covered in blood and dirt.

“Mother, what we do now?” he asked. He was the only one she’d heard talk so far, and he called her mother? What the hell?

“The camp! Burn it down!” she yelled as the boys all cheered and ran out of the barn into the night. Many boys picked up the weapons the men had left after they were torn apart. They approached the cabins like a charging barbarian horde. People in the camp were beginning to flee. Some stood to fight, but were cut down quickly and mercilessly. Others fled to the vehicles, but were swiftly surrounded and pulled out to be beaten and stabbed.

She heard a familiar voice screaming from her right. Looking over, a group of boys were dragging Sheri out of her cabin. Julia just watched as they threw Sheri to the ground and one thrust a knife into Sheri’s stomach. Once he cut a small hole, he placed his fingers inside and ripped her stomach wide open. Julia wanted to look away, but couldn’t as the boys ripped the lifeless fetus out of the womb. One of them sniffed it and tossed it aside as another stomped on it as he ran by.

Sheri continued her agonizing shrills of pain as they tore flesh from her bones. Her screams became muffled as one boy put his hand inside her mouth, hooked her jaw and began ripping in the opposite direction. Her shrieks turned to gagging as bone and cartilage crunched as the boy worked the jaw around. Another leaned in with a knife and began sawing through it. It was when a tall skinny boy stood up holding Sheri’s heart as if it were a trophy, that she finally stopped screaming.

Chapter 23

Donald stared out the window as he watched the cabins burn. The first fire started just before the screaming stopped. He’d been up the hill when the boys were turned loose so he retreated to The Prophets home. He stood in front of the window holding a rifle. The Prophet sat in his chair holding a pistol.

“Do you think they’ll come for me?” The Prophet asked.

“I’m sure they will,” Donald said.

Donald had wanted to get him in his truck and hightail it out of there, but The Prophet insisted on staying. He apparently wanted to go down with the ship. Donald wasn’t in a hurry to go down with him, but he’d sworn an oath to protect the man. Not to mention he had nowhere to go. He’d been with the Church for years. This was his home and he was going to fight for it.

“What happened Donald? How did this happen?”

“It was one of the girls with that film crew.”

“Wasn’t she dead?”

“No sir. She was kept alive in one of the cages for months. Somehow she got out and started all this. She crashed one of the SUV’s into the barn and turned everyone loose.”

“It had to happen sooner or later I guess. As I sit here and watched everything I’ve built being torn down, I prayed to the Goddess, asking her to intervene. She hasn’t answered. It’s as if she left this place. After everything I’ve done for her.”

“Maybe we’ll both meet her. Maybe she’ll commune with us,” Donald said trying to lighten the mood.

“I highly doubt that. Nice thought though,” The Prophet said as he sighed.

Donald looked back out the window and saw the horde racing up the hill. Some carrying torches, others weapons and all of them screaming. Behind them, Julia walked standing up right and staring straight at the window as if she could see him.

“They’re coming,” Donald said without looking back. He chambered a round in the rifle and cracked the window. A gunshot sounded from behind him causing him to jump. He spun around to see The Prophet slumped over in his chair, the gun lying next to his feet and the top of his head was missing. The old man killed himself. Donald shook his head and knelt down at the window, lined up his sights at Julia and squeezed the trigger.

Chapter 24

The gunshot hit just feet in front of Julia. She jumped back and ran forward.

“Let’s go! He’s shooting! Get to the house now!” She yelled as they picked up the pace charging in with her. They traversed the rocks along the trail, which wound around the hill before they arrived at the top. The door was locked, but the boys picked up rocks and began hurling them at the windows. Glass rained down until one of the windows was completely shattered. One of the boys climbed through and came back out after opening the door.

They stormed inside, checking each room. The house was quiet and Julia wondered if The Prophet hadn’t escaped. They went up the stairs and checked each room before another gun blast came from behind a door. The bullet struck one of the boys in the head as it exploded, spraying brain and skull onto the others as he collapsed.

They took cover in the other rooms as more shots rang out. One of the older boys pushed a dresser into the hallway and hurled it into the door. The door broke open, splintering in all directions as Donald was on the other side firing more shots. The boys stayed in the rooms until Julia saw Donald reload. As he pushed more rounds into the gun, she screamed.

“Grab him!”

They charged the room knocking Donald to the ground. He struggled and fought, but the boys kicked and punched him until he stopped struggling. One of them pulled a knife when Julia called out.

“No! He’s mine!” She screamed. The boys stopped and moved away as several remained holding his arms and legs. He looked up at her with both shock and awe, as she stood naked over him. Just hours ago she was a lost, broken pile of bone and flesh in a cage, but now she stood before him like a warrior queen who had come to reclaim her tribe. He struggled against the boys, but their grip was too strong.

“Hello Donald. Looks like we have a slight role reversal here,” she said.

“A slight one.”

She put her hand out as one of the boys handed her a knife.

“Get his pants off,” she ordered. They did as she commanded while he tried to resist, but it was all in vain.

“Look at what you’ve done to me. Did you think you’d get away with this forever?

“I’ve been doing it long enough. No reason to think it would end any time soon.”

“It ends today,” she said as she took the knife in one hand, his scrotum in the other and sliced through the lose skin, cutting the sack free with his testicles inside. Donald screamed and howled with each slice, struggling and kicking to no end. She held up his sack and as the boys cheered. Blood bubbled from the large hole under Donald’s penis as he gasped for air.

She held up the knife and began carving at his chest. He screamed again as she sliced through his skin. Blood spewed on her face and naked body while his screams filled the air. She closed her eyes as she carved way, bathing in his blood and pain. The bloodbath was a symbol of her rebirth. Months ago, she entered that cage like a second womb. Tonight she was reborn in the blood and pain of her enemies. The wild boys she’d set free was her new family. Her life hadn’t ended that day she was thrown in the cage. It had just begun.

The End

About the Author

Tim began writing at a very young age. Even in grade school he'd sit around with his notebook, writing stories for himself and his friends.

As an adult, Tim's writings have evolved into darker realms. He released his first horror novel, "The Hand of God" in 2011. Since then his books have become progressively more violent and gory. With the release of "Family Night" in 2013, Tim had moved into the world of extreme horror where he continues to push the boundaries of human suffering.

Tim is now an international best seller as well. His book, "Hell, Texas" has recently ranked high on Amazon sales charges since its release in Germany under German publisher, Festa-Verlag.

Tim is very active on social media and loves interacting with his readers. You can find him at his website at http://timmiller.org.

Also follow Tim Miller’s Amazon Author Page to be notified of each new release!