Day Three


    Exhausted, bleeding from thin wounds dug into her cheeks, belly, and thighs, Jenni knelt on the hard cement floor and wondered if she might have made a mistake by agreeing to leave with three strange men she had met while clubbing.  She also wondered how much longer she could last before animal nature won out over her inner desires and her voice began screaming.
    Screams were what those four wanted, she knew.  Specifically, her screams.  Her fear.  These three men and their woman friend wanted her quivering at their feet, a ruined piece of human waste, broken by their hands, destroyed by their design.
    Wasn’t going to happen.
    Fighting back an unwelcome whimper, she shifted and moved arms that were securely fastened above her head.  Her right arm was whole and complete but for the wet tears at her wrist where she had ripped skin while trying to pull free of the cuffs binding her to the cement block wall.  When she moved her left forearm it screamed agony because the jagged end of a broken bone threatened to break through her skin.
    Conditioning, the woman doctor called it.  An experiment in human tolerance and mental flexibility.  Despite everything Jenni could do, despite every resolve she had set, she had to admit that there was a chance these four might win this game.  Already she had been trained not to ease the pain in her broken arm because every time she tried to stand, every time she tried to lessen the strain against torn flesh and broken bone, one of her tormenters entered the cement block room located beneath an abandoned hardwood cabin to strike her legs with something metallic, sending her instantly back to the floor because the last thing she wanted right now was to have broken knees.  If the opportunity offered, she would need her legs to gain her freedom, though she would win her freedom at a slow crawl if no other way presented itself.  Nothing had ever before stopped her from following her will.  Chains and torture and rape would not stop her now.
    They were still here.  In this room.  Watching her.  How many, she could not tell.  At least two from the sounds and body smells of the heavy breathers, but one of the men, Pete, was preternaturally clean and silent, and she seldom knew when the woman was near if others were in the room.  Once, when Jenni thought she was finally alone, she had dared to stand for a moment, only to instantly have jagged finger nails rip furrows into her cheeks, beginning only half an inch from her useless eyes.
    “Down girl,” the unseen woman had calmly said.  “I’ve a chore to do, and it will be  much the worse for you if you move.”
    Sinking back to her knees, Jenni trembled at the sound of the doctor’s passionless voice.  Each day, at the doctor’s bidding, the men hurt her.  On the first day, after binding her to this wall in the cabin’s basement, they cut away her clothing and then each man took a turn at raping her, even John, though he soon gave up the effort as being too painful.
    The rape was expected, appreciated even since she owned a peculiar appreciation for rough sex, even the derision had been expected, but she had not expected three steady streams of warm urine afterwards as they sought to humiliate her with their waste.  Not their idea, she knew.  None of the men were imaginative enough to think of breaking her in that way.  No, the woman doctor had directed them.  She had remained in the room the entire time, silently checking mental items off her treatment list, an almost invisible presence known to Jenni only because of two specific suggestions the doctor made when the men’s stamina had begun to flag.
    Three days had passed since her abduction.  Three days of rape and torture and humiliation since this last bit of particular stupidity had finally given her and Lucy their due because no matter how great their confidence, the odds always called craps every now and again.  During all those days, as best Jenni knew, this woman had never been far away.
    Hands tangled deep in her hair and jerked her head back, forcing her to bite back a scream when her broken arm shrieked fire.  Reluctant tears broke from her eyes, and that pissed Jenni off because the last thing she wanted these people to see was a weak and broken victim cringing before them.
    “Your hair is very beautiful,” the woman noted.  “Damp again, but becoming on you.  I don’t believe I’ve ever before seen naturally blond hair that flows exactly like yours.  Genetics, I wonder, or do you have a particular trick for training it?  I do love long luxurious hair, but darling, it’s disgustingly wet, and really, I’m not very fond of piss.”
    Relaxing their grip, the fingers holding her head back left, and then returned to stroke gently along the long damp strands of Jenni’s blonde pride.  Unlike when she was being raped, Jenni burned at the taking of this liberty.  For more than half of her life, her hair had been one of the few things she could control.  Long and smooth, it flowed in almost independent waves inches below her waist.  For the last eight years she had spent no less than six hours each day loving that hair, teasing almost every individual strand into the exact placement and fall she desired.  Her hair was her draw, her allure, the trap she used to pull men to her arms, if only for a night.
    “So lovely.  Standing here, I imagine you laying in your bed at night, running soft hair across your body with gentle motions of your hands, enjoying the silky sensation of it brushing against your belly and breasts and then between your legs.  Do you do that, Jenni?  Do you pleasure yourself while enwrapped within your beautiful hair.  I think you do.  I think that’s why you’ve shaved everything else.  That’s very naughty, you know.  It doesn’t please me that you take such enjoyment in something I haven’t given you.  Now hold still, sweetling.  I’m afraid I have no oil, and this straight razor isn’t very sharp.  After I’m done with your head, we’ll take a few moments to shave your eyebrows, and then I’ll cut away your eyelashes one at a time so you will be beautiful.  When I am finished, you will have no hair left anywhere on your body. Truly naked, perhaps, for the first time in your life.”
    Trembling with anger, Jenni held still while steel scrapped along her scalp, taking away her pride, stealing half her soul, lubricating its path with liberal amounts of blood as the dull blade broke past her skin.  Slowly, one small section at a time, red-stained strands of her beautiful blonde hair fell away, fell to her shoulders, across her naked body, and settled to the cold cement floor.  Almost, from this close, she could sense the woman’s smell as her hair fell away, but that smell did not make sense.  The doctor did not wear product.  There seemed to be no natural human odor to her at all.  Instead, she exuded a faint something that was unlike anything Jenni had ever sensed before.
    “Why?” Jenni whispered, and then winced when a particularly clumsy movement caused the dull razor to cut into her scalp again.  “Why are you doing this?”
    “It’s just a little experiment I’m working on, sweet one.  I believe that the human body and mind are amazingly elastic things, so I’ve worked out some theories and protocols for changing personalities and abilities through drugs and pain and fear...and just a little humiliation when it is needed.  Unfortunately, I’ve no secure place to test out my theories yet.  The facility I’m trying to gain control of won’t be available for several more years, so I’m forced to do these things in substandard locations without the proper controls.  Still, every bit of knowledge gained is important, so I really should thank you for your participation.  I’ve never before had a subject with your particular handicaps.”
    The movement of blade across scalp paused momentarily.  “Yes.  Social politeness dictates that I should thank you, but I won’t.  I’m afraid giving you that courtesy might start making me think of you as something more than an experiment, and I don’t think either of us would like that very much.  If I started treating you like you had worth we would soon start thinking of one another like friends, and really dear, that would only make the eventual dissection so much more difficult for me.
    The blade began moving again, and this time Jenni’s tears were not from anger.  Kneeling on the floor, she softly sobbed while a soft scuffling of shoes and a whiff  of stale body odor announced the approach of one of the heavy breathers.  A hand grabbed her already bruised breast, squeezed hard, digging fingers deep before reluctantly releasing.
    “You and me girl,” Carl said in a deep resonant voice.  “We got another appointment after the good doctor is done.  Ever done it while wrapped up in electrified wire?”
    “Fu-fuck you,” Jenni cursed because she did not want to admit that she had.  Sometimes, when strange moods struck and extra parts of her personality drew forth, Lucy liked walking on the strange side of sex as both the giver and receiver, which was probably why she had so seldom found lovers who were willing to return for a repeat performance before she and Jenni found one another.  That finding had been a blessing for both of them, but that was over now that Lucy was dead.
    “I intend to fuck you again tonight,” Carl replied, his voice so low it barely reached Jenni’s ears.  “Afterwards, Pete will take his turn, and John will even join in now that his ribs feel a bit better.  Got a lot of payback coming to you, little darling.  Didn’t appreciate your friend busting John up.”
    Playing their game, Jenni curled in on herself in an attempt to appear more pathetic.  “How...how can you do this?  Why do you let her tell you what to do?”
    “Hmmm, I think I’m done with this part.”  The doctor’s razor paused once more and then its unwelcome weight disappeared.  “Jenni dear, do you really think I only practice my little experiments on women?  How tedious that would be.  Really dear, I thought you much more intelligent than that.”
    Lower down, the razor’s edge returned to her body.  Cold steel dressed in Jenni’s blood pressed uncomfortably against cleft of her sex.  Its edge parted a thin layer of skin near the top.  “Since we are getting on so famously, why don’t you tell me a little bit about your dead friend, and honey, don’t lie to me.  You’re such a tiny thing all over.  Why, John tells me that you are almost too small to accommodate him.  Rest assured, a little twitch of my fingers can solve that problem.”


    Day One

    “This band fucking rocks,” Lucy yelled into Jenni’s left ear while the pound of heavy bass drummed through Jenni’s body, sending shivers deep into her bones.
    “I’ll say,” Jenni shouted back.  “Who the fuck are they again?”
    “Who cares.  It’s not like they’ll ever come this way again.  The Hot Spot aint ever like this but twice a year.  You know it won’t risk its reputation for mediocrity by inviting somebody this good to come back again.”
    “Not likely,” Jenni agreed, and she ground her pelvis against that of her friend’s.  The grind was not sensual in the tight confines of the dance floor.  Instead it was energetic, playful, with maybe a hint of promise of things to come.  Of course, there was also some enjoyment in knowing others watched.  She knew that their open sexuality made them stand out among all the couples who writhed and twisted and sweated around her.  Their intimacy often made others uncomfortable, but truthfully, the only way she could dance in quarters this tight was to be pressed up against her partner.  Only once had their style caused difficulties, and that was from a table filled with newbies.  Fortunately, the house bouncers soon took care of the matter by evicting the trouble makers.  After all, Jenni and Lucy were regulars here, well known, and they liked to spend.
    “God I love it,” Lucy called out, loud enough to be heard over the music. Releasing an uninhibited laugh, she tangled her hand into the back of Jenni’s hair, pulled Jenni’s head forward, and kissed her long and hard while still moving to the hard beat, thrusting a tongue that tasted of mint deep into Jenni’s mouth.
    After a few moments, laughing, Jenni broke away and playfully slapped Lucy on the ass.  “You’re making a scene again.  Do they have us on the wall?”
    “No,” Lucy answered after a moment.  “The assholes are ignoring us.  They got video of three couples up there who are dirty dancing, and two guys who are making out in the parking lot.  I don’t think the guys know they are on camera because they look more enthusiastic than scenic.”
    “Thieves!  Those cameras belong to us.”
    “If it helps any, almost everyone else is looking this way.”
    “Jacob? Phil? Berta?”
    “Oh hell no!  Berta won’t have a thing to do with me since I gave her a few harmless love bites, and who the hell knows where Jacob’s head is.  Far as I know, these last few months he’s only had eyes for one bitch, only she can’t stand the sight of him.”
    “Well how about Phil,” Jenni yelled over the thrumming beat.  “He’s loyal.  Still hangs around.”
    “Phil will always be around.  We got history.”
    “You got the Bend.  That’s not history.  It’s commitment.”
    “Fuckin’ A,” Lucy laughed again.  “Committed.  That was us.  Now shake your ass girl cause we got to groove.”
    
    Later, feeling drained and rag limp, Jenni allowed Lucy to lead her to their table while something slow and insipid played over the speakers.  To the front, the stage was silent, the band disappeared on one of their frequent breaks, and for the first time in an hour Jenni did not feel the need to speak at high volume.
    “I’ve been getting a little bored lately,” Lucy complained as they wound their way through the thick crowd and closely spaced tables.
    “Of me?”
    “Oh no darling, never of you, but you have to admit that things have been pretty dull.”
    “Not my fault.  I’ve tried to liven things up.  Even stopped wearing a bra.  Only people been hitting on me lately are our friends, and we can’t exactly have fun with them.  Maybe we should expand our horizons and roll a couple drunks.  You see any around.”
    After a long pause, Lucy said, “Right now, the only drunks I see in here are us, and I have a different kind of roll in mind.”
    “Any prospects.”
    “A few, and I think three of them are heading our way now.”
    Closing her eyes, Jenni swayed her head back so her face pointed towards the ceiling.  Lazily smiling, she felt at her long blonde hair to make sure it was not in disarray.  “Do tell.  Distinguishing characteristics?”
    “Attitude,” Lucy supplied.  “All pretty large.  They don’t look like much but at least two of them appear dangerous, and I’m willing to bet the third is too.  Might be carrying.”
    “How tall?  What color hair.”
    “Why the fuck should you care?”
    “Don’t really,” Jenni replied.  “Just trying to keep you entertained until they get here.  Don’t want you to get too bored.”
    Lucy’s fingers grasped Jenni’s chin to gently pull her head back into a normal position.  “Don’t look like an idiot, and open your eyes.  They are almost here.”
    “Ban Roll On for two of them,” Jenni supplied.  “Cigarettes and cheap cigars, but I don’t get anything off the third one except maybe an odor of herbs or something.  Come to think of it, the other two have the same odor, only their other smells mostly cover it.”
    “I don’t have the slightest idea how you can single people out like that.”
    “Practice,” Jenni replied.  “Remember that we’ve been drinking for a while.  Lowers our inhibitions.”
    “I haven’t noticed that either of us had many to start with.”
    “Exactly,” Jenni replied.  “Don’t get cocky.”
    “These seats taken,” a male voice asked a few moments later.
    Deep baritone, Jenni gauged, rather smooth but beginning to roughen, so one of the smokers.  Probably more towards the young side than the old.
    “No,” Lucy answered, “but since there are three of you and only two empty seats, you had best move along.”
    “No need for that, luv, we got ways.”
    Moments later Jenni heard a sudden scrape of chairs followed by a quick yell of protest from a nearby table.
    “What the hell do you--!”
    “Sorry pal,” a somewhat weaker voice apologized.  “We got more need for it than you do.”
    A solid clunk was followed by the sound of bodies settling into various chairs.
    “M’name’s Carl,” the owner of the resonant voice said.  “My friend’s are Pete and John.  John is the pretty one with all the tats surrounding the scar on his cheek.”
    “My face is a curse,” the weaker voiced man said.  “Man wearing a moniker this ugly needs to cover it up so as not to offend people.”
    “I’m not offended,” Lucy assured him.  “In fact, I find ugly men rather intriguing.”
    “Tell you the truth, I’m not surprised,” Carl broke in.  “Most times, the ladies go for John and leave me and Pete hanging.  Thought we might try changing our luck by offering ourselves up as a package deal, so to speak.  Thought the two of you might like to take us three on for a spot of something different.”
    Lucy snorted, and the sound made Jenni’s smile grow because it held a predatory note she had heard several times before.
    “Do I look like a service station to you?” Jenni demanded.  “What makes you think you can just saunter on over here and make a suggestion like that without even buying us a drink first?”
    There was a brief moment of silence before Carl answered.  “That would be because of Pete.  You see, Pete has a thing for women with blonde hair, and you sure have a lot of it.  Made him notice you out on the dance floor, and he brought you to our attention.  Seemed to us like you were having a lot of unconventional fun.  Seemed like you might want to get even more unconventional.”
    “So,” Jenni broke in.  “You saw two Friends of Dorothy out on the dance floor and thought you could maybe reform us?”
    “Not dykes,” the third man, Pete, said.  His voice was a tenor, and from the sound, Jenni figured he was the fellow who smelled of cheap cherry flavored cigars, which made him rather interesting since she rather enjoyed a cheap cigar herself every now and again.  “Got five sisters, and every one of them is a lez.  You two don’t show the right signs.  The way I see it, you play both sides of the fence.”
    “Lucy?”
    “Not interested.  You?”
    “Not at all.  Why don’t you fellows just run along and find somebody else to play with?”
    A long silence answered, broken only by the background buzz of a drinking crowd and the stilling of canned music as the band stepped back on stage.
    “So, we’re not good enough for you?” Pete finally asked in a deceptively mild voice.  “How do you know what you’re passing up?  You haven’t even opened your fucking eyes to look at us.  Hell, you might as well be blind for all the courtesy you’ve shown.”
    “Actually,” Jenni replied, finally opening her eyes so the three men could look into her cloudy orbs, “I am blind, but it was nice of you to point it out.”
    “Never screwed a blind girl before,” Pete mused.  “Might be fun.”
    “Well you’re not screwing one now,” Lucy snapped.  “Like we said.  Not interested.  You can leave.”
    “I’m sorry sweetheart, but we don’t seem to have explained ourselves properly.  You don’t really have a choice in this matter.”
    “Jenni,” Lucy said in an extremely deadpan voice, “the Pete fellow has moved his jacket to the side and is showing a gun butt.  Oops, Carl has one too, and there’s John’s.  Why, I think we are being threatened.”
    “Shit,” Jenni cursed.  “This really sucks.  The first decent band this place has hosted in half a year, and they pick tonight to do a kidnapping.  Do you three realize exactly how stupid you are?  One scream from us and a hundred people will turn this way.  At the least they will see your faces, but it’s likely a few will try to interfere so you’ll be forced to shoot them.  And look at the walls.  Do you see all the pictures of the individual dancers up there?  That means cameras, gentlemen.  If you pull guns and start shooting into the crowd, your every move will be posted to the net within an hour.”
    “So are you going to scream?” Carl asked as the band played a few brief notes in preparation of starting again.
    “Fuck no, not when Lucy is all on edge because she hasn’t had any excitement lately, but I’m not getting kidnapped right now either.  If you guys want to take us out of here you have to buy us drinks and dance through the next set.  Then you can pull your absurd abduction.”  

****


    “Times are sure different,” Lucy said in the uncomfortably silent car.  “Back in my parent’s time, when people wanted to go somewhere in a group, they just piled into the vehicle, and there was always more than enough room for everybody to fit.  Nowadays, these tin boxes they sell in Detroit don’t hardly fit four people, let alone five.”    
    She was answered by long silence and the sound of worn wheels humming over a newly paved road.
    “In other words, John, you are taking up more than your share of the space.  Move your fat ass over.”
    Frowning, Jenni reached down to run a hand along the thigh that pressed against hers.  Just for fun, she allowed her fingers to follow the inside curve of his leg.  “He doesn’t feel fat, but he does have rather impressive equipment.”
    “Just a figure of speech, dear.  John is next to being a string bean except, apparently, where it counts, but I think he’s stealing a couple inches by keeping his legs spread too far apart.  Hard to tell with this blindfold on.  Want another beer.”
    “I’d rather have whiskey straight.”
    “Sorry.  These cheap asses didn’t spring for whiskey.”  Jenni felt Lucy stir, heard a can’s top pop, and then felt cool damp when Lucy passed the can over John to press it against Jenni’s palm.  “Any idea where we are going?”
    Jenni shrugged.  “It’s morning and the sun is a bit to our right.  Light traffic, not many commuters, and I smell fresh tar.  We passed a pig farm about fifteen minutes ago, so we are deep into farm country since nobody in their right mind allows pig farms near subdivisions.  Best guess, we are about two hours north-west of Salvation, probably about to head out of the lowlands and enter deeper into the high mountains.  I remember hearing that the road out to Owens Lake has been recently paved, and there are a lot of mostly deserted cabins and stuff up there, and not much else, so I’m guessing that’s where they are taking us.”
    “What the hell,” Carl cursed.  “You’re supposed to be blind.”
    “Blind isn’t stupid,” Jenni snapped, irritated by a very personal pet peeve.  “For your information, my IQ is probably twice yours, and my condition makes me very aware of my surroundings.”
    “If you’re so smart, why are you trapped in here when we have the guns.”
    Chuckling so low that it emerged as barely a rumble, Jenni turned her blind eyes towards the back of the driver’s seat.  “Because Lucy was bored, and because she isn’t the type of gal most guys try to pick up in a bar unless somebody a bit more vulnerable is with her.  Lucy looks too athletic and competent for most men’s comfort.”
    “She’s a chunk of muscle, all right,” Pete admitted, “but she’s wearing the blindfold, and we’re holding the guns.  To my way of thinking, that shows that you two aren’t so smart as you believe.”
    “Well.”  Jenni turned her eyes, tracking their sightless gaze from man to man until each of them felt the uncomfortable weight of her regard.  “I only came along because Lucy is hunting excitement.  A girl has to fulfill her function, you know, no matter how stupid that function seems.”
    Chuckling, Pete shifted in his seat so he could turn towards them.  “Fulfill your function.  That’s rich.  So tell me, what exactly is your function.”
    “Should we tell them,” Jenni asked Lucy.
    “I suppose,” Lucy answered.  “I’m growing tired of this game.”
    “Well,” Pete demanded.
    “Lucy’s trolling for predators.  Me?  I’m the bait.”
    Stunned silence answered her, then John cursed and jerked, but his curse turned into a cry when Jenni heard the solid thunk of Lucy’s fist landing solidly into the large man’s ribs, once, twice, answered by the unmistakable snap of breaking bone.
    Well practiced in this play, Jenni threw her beer towards Pete and reached out with quick hands to strip the gun from John’s suddenly loosened grip, prepared to quickly toss it to Lucy, or if needed, to use it herself since there wasn’t much chance she would miss hitting somebody in these close confines.
    Only the gun was not where she had expected it to be, and neither was John.  Moving faster than Jenni had ever known a human could move, ignoring pain so intense that it would have instantly dropped most men to the ground, John half leaped from his place, fell across Jenni, and then there was a sudden series of shots.
    And since Lucy had no gun, none of those shots belonged to her.
    John’s heavy weight pressing down on her, Jenni groaned when the faint sound of the wind rushing past an open door reached her moments before the faint thunk of the rear door swinging shut made it through the heavy ringing in her ears.  Faint, but strong enough to bring a surge of panic rushing into her belly, Jenni smelled the unmistakeable scent of spilled blood.
    “Pete?” Carl demanded.  “Is John going to be okay?”
    “How the hell should I know?” Pete growled.  “Do I look like the doctor?  Stupid bitch jumped out the door, but I got a piece of her, and I think you did too.  Turn this thing around so we can collect the body.  We’ll take a look at John after we stop.”
    They turned around and looked, but after an hour of searching the two men admitted that they had no idea of exactly where Lucy had fallen out.  They weren’t too worried though.  Along this stretch the road mostly abutted against steep cliffs, so if Lucy was not to be seen, it was because she had rolled over the edge.
    Beside her, John sucked in painful breaths but those breaths made no faint bubbling sound, so despite Lucy’s best efforts, a lung had not been punctured, and that was very unusual when Lucy threw a punch.  Something was not right about these men.  They were too fast, and apparently, too tough.
    Though she could not see it, she knew John’s stare was heavy with hate.  “Just so you know, first opportunity I get, I’m going to break your arm.”
    Jenni tugged at her now tied hands and cursed.
    “I’m fucked,” she whispered low so the others would not hear, but she did not speak low enough.
    “Not yet,” Pete angrily snapped, “but you will be, just as soon as the good doctor gives us her permission.  
    
    

    Day four

    Jenny woke to the sensation of the broken bone finally ripping through her forearm’s skin.  Strangely, the pain did not bother her all that much, partly due, perhaps, to a certain amount of conditioning she had gained through her association with Lucy.  Honesty forced her to admit that another part was because of the peculiar twist in her personality that had caused her to set heated needles to her own eyes three days after turning twelve, and hadn’t that been an eye-opener to her seldom there parents.  Two years and countless sessions later, her personal and very expensive shrink had come to the stunning conclusion that he had no clue as to why she had thought maiming herself was a good idea.  Truthfully, Jenni had very little insight into that particular event herself.  At the time it had seemed...good...right...but in retrospect she suspected that it had not been the brightest thing she had ever done, just as it had not been very smart to thwart John’s vengeance by wedging her arm in a closing car door and then breaking the bone by throwing her weight against the door while giving her arm a violent, jerking snap.
    Another bad idea.
    Of course, during a life spent pursuing most of the twisted paths known to modern man, there were not many stupid decisions she had not made.  By far, the stupidest thing she had ever done was to connect her fate with Lucy’s, but despite her present circumstances, she could not bring herself to regret that choice.  Her and Lucy’s time together had been wild and intense.  In less than three years she had lived more life, experienced more adventure, than most people gained over eighty years.
    Not bad for a blind girl from Nebraska who had been disowned and abandoned by her parents the day after she turned sixteen.  Before Lucy, her days had been dull and gray.  After Lucy, they had been...intense.
    Intense?  Intensity?  Was that it?  Was she, like Lucy, an adrenaline freak?
    Why had she never thought of that before, but then she had so many twists that no answer could be entirely correct.  At one time, deep inside, she had owned a dead spot, an empty place that sought always to be filled.  A marker, perhaps, of the summer she had spent with her Uncle Hal, or perhaps it had been born by the inevitable rejection of her parents when she came home a week before school started and informed them of the special games her mother’s brother liked to play.  When asked, she had told her shrinks of that summer, but not until after her peculiar delusions had been explained to them by her social climbing parents.  Jenni had not been believed.  Instead, she had been classified as an inveterate liar, and had then been given several bottles filled with pills the FDA had not approved.
    And so she learned to be quiet, to not complain, to not tell the truth, because that was the only way she could ensure that her parents would regard her with something less than total contempt.  Somewhere along the way she had lost the inner core that defines a person as a part of the greater society.  Until Lucy.  Lucy had given her belonging.
    Truthfully, the only time she ever felt truly alive was when the two of them were on an adventure.  Even now, Lucy dead, her chained to a wall with a broken and bleeding arm, Jenni felt more content and pleased than she had ever felt when being bedded by a considerate man.
    The ultimate, perhaps, of a dysfunctional personality.
    Well hell, at least she knew who and what she was.  That was something at least.   She wasn’t a bit like Lucy who had so many disparate people running around inside her head that sometimes Jenni wasn’t sure which one she dealt with.  Fortunately, when Lucy was on a hunt, only one personality ever came to the fore.
    Not that it mattered now that Lucy was dead.
    A sound.  Faint footsteps.  Door opening, and then silence.
    Listening carefully, Jenni heard nothing else.  No breathing.  No faint shuffling of feet, and try as she would, she could not draw in even the faintest scent of a human body, but faint, almost hidden, was the odor.
    “Good morning Doctor.”
    A dry chuckle sounded, and then soft footsteps approached.  “Someday, you will have to tell me how you do that.  I pride myself that I am almost totally undetectable when I move, and yet you usually know when it is me.”
    “Are we going to have a someday,” Jenni asked with mild curiosity.  “I thought you were working your way up to a dissection.”
    “Unfortunately,” the doctor admitted with an aggrieved sigh, “we seem to have at least a short future together.  I told them to get me someone who is soft and vulnerable.  When the idiots found out that you were blind, they automatically assumed the rest followed.  None of them thought to look deeper and see that you have a steel core.  The significance of this for you is that the experiments I’ve designed won’t work on someone of your caliber.  Frankly, with the particular twists I’ve observed within your mind, I’m not sure what will work on you, but we’ve a good many years yet before you die of old age, so I’m sure we can work out something interesting.”
    “What about you?”
    From the stillness answering her question, Jenni assumed that the doctor was  confused for a moment before the meaning of Jenni’s words sank in.
     “What?  Do you mean about me getting old before you do.  Dear girl, it will never happen.  I’ve always been a woman on the cutting edge of science.  I’ve gone places none of my faint hearted colleagues have dared to even dream of going.  Tell me, how old do you think I am?”
    “From your voice, I’d guess thirty-five, or even forty.”
    “Nonsense!” the doctor snapped.  “I don’t look a day over thirty, even in bad light, but I turned ninety seven on my last birthday.  A daily dosing with a certain medical concoction handed to me by an ancient shaman ensures that I will never age.  True, there are a few side effects that most people would consider unacceptable, but I find them to be of benefit in my inquiries.”
    “You have no conscience,” Jenni burst in with sudden insight.
    “You sound disapproving.”
    “Not at all,” Jenni admitted.  “It’s obvious you gained by chemical means that which I own by nature.  I agree, most people would consider lacking a conscience to be a horrible thing, but overall, I rather enjoy the freedom it gives me.”
    “Then you do understand.”
    “I’ve had a lot of time to think about my underlying problems these last few days.”
    Jenni heard the doctor pull several items out of a leather or vinyl bag.  
    “Did you reach any conclusions?” the doctor asked.
    “Several, but most of them are conflicting and I’m pretty sure a number of the memories I used to reach those conclusions are false, so I’m not really sure how valid any of them are.”
    “Interesting.  I believe that you may turn out to be a more important experiment than I imagined even a few minutes ago.  Unfortunately for our new relationship, I have duties that I must attend to, but I’ll be back by tomorrow morning with a few ideas that need testing.  Until then, I will attend to your arm so you don’t bleed to death or get gangrene.  Promise to be good?”
    “Won’t do me much good to misbehave,” Jenni admitted.  “Can’t do much while I’m still chained to the wall, so anything I do to you will just come at me ten times harder.”
    “Very wise.”
    “Told you I’m smart, I just don’t make good decisions, is all.”

****

    Faint footsteps.  Door carefully opening, and then silence as the person who entered the concrete room stilled.  Unwashed body.  Blood, both fresh and old, a touch of rotting flesh, and the faint rasp of a hand sliding across a wall.  
    “Don’t bother looking,” Jenni told the unseen visitor.  “The only light operates off a pull cord.”
    A gasp, faint with a rattle at the end.  “Jenni?”
    “Guilty...and surprised.  I thought you were dead.”
    “I almost was,” Lucy whispered low and weak.  “Went over an edge.  Like to tell you how I landed on some tree roots or a convenient ledge, but I can’t.  Fell all the way down to the ground.  More than two hundred feet.  Hit some trees along the way, and they slowed me some, but the landing was pretty bad.  Broke some bones.  Leg.  Ribs.  Several fingers, a foot, and had a dead branch stab into my shoulder about two inches before it broke off.  Had to set what I could, bind everything up, and make a crutch before I was able to come looking for you.”
    “Appreciate the effort,” Jenni said, “but you sound a mess.  I’m not sure how much help you can be.”
    “Not much.”  Lucy admitted.  Her steps sounded awkward and unsure as she stumbled forward, and that was an alarming thing in someone who had spent so much of their life pursuing every form of the most deadly martial arts she could find.  “Killing Dave took most of what I had left, and he was already injured.  Got him to talk before he died, though.  Told me where you were and how to find the keys.”
    Hands fumbled, found Jenni’s body, and followed her contours until they reached the cuff around her remaining bound wrist.  Jenni’s other hand, though free since the doctor’s ministrations, would be of little use since the limb was swollen to more than twice its normal size.  Despite the doctor’s abrupt treatment, Jenni knew she would lose her arm if it was not properly attended within the day.
    “Better stretch to get the cramps out,” Lucy warned, “and remember everything I taught you.  The others are up in the cabin’s kitchen, eating, but they’ll most likely find Dave’s body within the hour, and it won’t be long after before they come here to check on you.”
    “This won’t be my first kill, you know,” Jenni griped.
    “No.  It will be your fourth and fifth, but no training I gave you can offset the fact that you are blind, exhausted, and weak.  Worse yet, these people aren’t normal.  They move inhumanly fast.  That’s why I wasn’t able to take them all in the car.  Jenni, I saw you grab for Dave’s gun, and you did everything right, but even injured he was faster than either of us have ever been.  Before he died Dave told me that some woman doctor has been changing them with a bunch of exotic drugs, or some such thing.”
    “Yeah,” Jenni said, while shaking her numb arm to bring circulation back into the limb.  Her legs burned with fire, making her want to release an ecstatic scream, but that would be a bad move, and for this time, she was done making bad decisions.  Tomorrow maybe, but not today.  “Darling, you have to find someplace outside to hide.  They don’t know you are here, so they won’t come looking once they see that I’m free.”
    “I can’t leave you to face them alone.”
    “You can’t help me if you stay.  Hon, you’ve killed more than a dozen men.  I’ll be very cross if you try to take these two from me.”
    “Did they rape you?”
    Jenni nodded, and then felt herself blush for the discourtesy.  With only the faint light coming through the open door, Lucy would not have seen the motion.
    “Yes, they raped me, many times, and in many ways.”
    “Lucky bitch.  What was it like?”
    “Painful.  Contorted.  Rather enjoyable, actually, and John more than lived up to his promise, but that doesn’t mean that I’m willing to forgive them for the indignity.  Go darling.  Come out of hiding when you hear me call.”
    “They’ll have guns.”
    “But I have a plan, and really dear, I’ve been having so much fun.  Please don’t ruin it for me now.”

****

    Footsteps.  A pair, and heavy breathing.  The door opened, slowly, with a creak, opened further, and then the footsteps sounded on the hard cement floor.  Body odor, and clothing drenched in the stench of cheap cigars.
    “Do you see her?”
    Deep voice. Rich.  Baritone.  Carl.  He stood just inside the door then, while Pete had ventured further inside.
    “Can’t see shit in here until the light is turned on.  Just a moment.”
    Sounds of a hand fumbling near the ceiling, touching, feeling around, finding the pull cord, and then a click as the cord was pulled.
    “Shit!  The light is out.”
    “So just point your gun towards where she is and shoot the bitch.  If she’s there and you hit her, then she obviously didn’t do Dave so we have another problem.  If you don’t hit her, then she got free somehow and we have to go hunting.”
    Slipping silently forward, Jenni followed the sound of Carl’s voice until she knew he stood only inches away.  In a few moments his light adjusted eyes would reorient themselves to the dim light coming through the open door, but for a few more moments she could hide in the shadows.
    “Are you shitting.  If I kill the bitch when she’s still chained up the doctor will rip my nads off.  You saw what she did to Harv.  I still have nightmares about it.”
    “Well, do whatever the fuck you want then.  We don’t have time to stand here scratching our asses while whoever thinks of a way to kill us both off.”
    Using simultaneous actions, Jenni kicked the door closed while thrusting forward with Lucy’s knife.  The knife slid into meat, struck bone, and continued on past with only the slightest pause.  Carl stiffened, every muscle stretched taut, and then, heart split by steel, he slumped forward and fell to the floor, leaving Jenni with a bloody knife in her hand
    Carl’s gun clattered loudly when it struck
    “Too late,” Jenni giggled.  “I figured out how to kill you three several days ago.”
    “You fucking blind bitch!  What did you do to Carl?”
    “I am blind, aren’t I.”  Jenni giggled again, though her head spun from the combined effects of fatigue and infection.  “But sweetheart, it’s dark in here, so you’re blind too.  Oh yes yes, I know.  You have that sweet little gun with all its muzzle flash, but that only makes things more fun because you get to see me every now and again.  Oh, you had best be careful since you only have so many shots, and I’m told that the flash can be very disorienting to dark adjusted eyes.  I suppose you would know more about that than I do.”
    “I’m going to kill your ass.”
    “Of course, lover, but first we are going to try a little game children play at the beech.  I’m sure you’ll recognize it.  I’ll go first.  Marco.”


The True Beginning

    Twenty minutes later Jenni opened the door to the cabin’s basement room and left her cell for the first time in more than half a week.  She started to call for Lucy even though she knew her friend would not hear her voice until Jenni moved outside, but she stifled the call when a sudden crashing sounded from above.  Moments later, a large number of bodies rushed down the stairs and pinned her to the wall after forcing the knife from her hand.  A lot of voices yelled meaningless things about blood and bodies and a woman kept saying the word police, but none of that mattered to Jenni.  To her, the important thing was that none of them were supposed to be here.  After more confused shouting she figured out that the police had come to the wrong cabin, the wrong address on the wrong road because their warrant for a known drug house had been faulty.
    That sort of pissed her off.  If they were going to screw things up, they could have easily done so a day or two earlier.
    They arrested her, of course, but that did not count for much because all the evidence pointed to her being the victim and not the victimizer.  Unfortunately, that particular fact did not do her much good once she ran through their hoops, finished their tests, and talked to their people.  Declared homicidally insane, her victim status did not count.  They put her behind locked doors.  For the public good.
    Years later, many years after hearing that Lucy died in a mudslide while carrying a dead child in her arms, Jenni stepped into the Facility Director’s office and blinked unseeing eyes in surprise upon discovering that several people waited for her.  Dr. Orbin, of course, but she also heard the breathing of four other people.  Judging by their smell, she knew three of them better than well.  They were all guards she had encountered during one or another of her minor infractions against unreasonable rules concerning bodily harm and self-mutilation.  However, the last person in the room she did not immediately place.   A woman, perhaps, but not somebody she would normally encounter, and even the person’s sex was suspect since Jenni could barely sense any of the tell-tale clues.  Truthfully, the only real thing she could distinguish was a peculiar odor so faint that it was almost undetectable.  In some ways the smell reminded her of...
    “So this is the patient,” a woman asked in a clear voice that spoke of no great age.
    “Yes Dr. Wise,” Orbin answered.  “Despite all our efforts and the fact that she is blind and only has one arm, this patient continues to be a danger to both herself and the staff, though strangely, the other patients all revere her as if she were some type of celebrity.”
    “Hmmm, yes.  Blind, one arm missing, and a continuing danger.  Well I’m not surprised.  I’ve evaluated this patient before, many years ago.  In fact, on the off chance that I would once again meet somebody with her particular set of problems, I worked  up a program of treatment specifically designed for her.  I am pleased to take her off your hands, Dr. Orbin.  Please arrange for the transfer at once, and I’ll sign all the necessary papers.”
    “Doctor,” Jenni said while old, half-forgotten memories came cascading down.
    “So you do remember me?”
    “There is a debt between us.”
    “Yes there is,” Dr. Wise said, “but don’t worry.  I’m sure you’ll find some way to pay it off.”
    Jenni heard a faint rustling of papers and then a sigh.
    “I’m sorry dear.  Sometimes my memory fails me.  What was your name again.”
    “It’s Twill,” Dr. Orbin supplied.  “Jenni Twill.”
    “Well then Miss Twill, we have a lot of work to do together, so I think it best if you prepare yourself for Mercy Bend.  I suspect you will be there for a very long time.”