The kidnapper slammed Jodi hard against the wall and pinned her
there by her throat as she fished the key out of her pocket and
opened the cellar door. She unlocked it and the door swung back.
Inside Penny and Angela were still bound, gagged and tied to their
chairs.
The girls whimpered behind their gags as they saw Jodi being
carried into the cellar over their captor's shoulder. The kidnapper put
the girl on the floor and fetched another roll of duct tape from her
cache of equipment. Jodi groaned as the woman grabbed her once
more, shouldered the weight and carried her toward a black steel
support post in the center of the room. She was dropped on her feet
once more and pinned against it. The kidnapper stuck the end of the
tape to her right shoulder and began winding tape around her. She
would make four complete turns and then move down, four more
turns and then down again. She cut Jodi's hands free brought them
around the post and taped them once more, palms out.
Jodi yanked and tugged at the tape fastening her to the post. The
kidnapper stuck the tape to her waist and began again. Four complete
turns and then down, four complete turns and then down again. By
the time she reached Jodi's sneakered feet, it looked like a dozen
black rings were securing her to the metal post.
Jodi grumbled and thrashed in her bindings, unable to dislodge
them. The kidnapper smirked behind her mask. The girl was a fighter
and a noisy one at that so she had best remedy the latter. The woman
went to her stash and pulled out another square of linen cloth. Jodi
jerked and pulled at the duct tape holding her in place as the
kidnapper calmly folded the cloth into a thick, wide band of white
destined for her mouth.
Upstairs, Brianna had managed to flip herself over onto her
stomach. This position was a little better, since it took the pressure
off her hands. The girl wiggled in her quilt cocoon, trying to find some
method of locomotion or freedom . She turned on her side and drew
her knees up as well as she could and pushed. The kidnapper had left
the door open when she had taken Jodi out of the room. If she could
just make it down the hall or into another room before she got back.
Debra yawned deeply and set her book down. She rubbed her eyes
behind her glasses and looked around, " Jeeze I'm tired."
"How can you be tired, " Sara asked, "you've done nothing but read
that book all afternoon."
"Its Harlan Ellison, He's a real strain on my little brain. Besides I'm
getting a little pink anyway."
"Yeah, you're about to turn lobsterish." Lisa observed over her
sunglasses, " Better get inside."
Debra nodded and stepped over to the patio door and went inside.
There was an open coke on the counter, beads of water running off
the sides. The air conditioner kicked in full blast. Debra stretched,
feeling little prickly lines of sunburn down her shoulders
"Better hop in the shower." she observed and walked down the hall.
Jodi twisted her head side to side mumbling quietly, her mouth fully
embraced by a thick white gag tied over it. The kidnapper made a
check of her other prisoners bonds and gags then went back to her
stash. She removed a brown bottle of clear liquid and a thick square
of white cotton cloth.
Chloroform, the captives realized.
The kidnapper packed up her new equipment along with additional
rope and gagging materials then left the girls where they were,
locking the door behind her. Penny looked at Jodi and murmured at
her. Jodi didn't respond, but kept pulling at the tape holding her.
Penny tried again, "mmmph!!" Jodi craned her neck and looked at her,
garbling something back at her. Jodi pushed mightily at the
restraining tape, determined to win her way out of her bonds. Angela
looked at Penny and whimpered quietly. All three girls returned to
privately fighting their bonds.
Brianna, still sheathed, bound and taped inside the quilt inched her
way along the floor. Her bindings kept her from truly moving, allowing
her to only creep along. The quilt with its duct tape reinforcements
seemed to snag on every little fiber on the carpet. Sweat stung her
eyes as she pressed her treacherous way across the floor. The door
to the bedroom was open maybe a half inch. She wasn't concerned
with getting past it, so much as getting there and raising holy hell to
whoever walked down the hall.
Brianna stopped to rest. The thick quilt was trapping body heat,
making the labor all the more exhausting. She could see through the
door opening clearly. The sliding door opened and she saw Debra
walk down the hall. Her friend was perhaps 20 feet away and unaware
she was lying bound and gagged on the floor of one of the bedrooms.
Brianna moaned through her gag. Debra didn't hear her, said
something about a shower and went into her bedroom. Brianna
wriggled with frustration.
The kidnapper moved quietly up the stairs and to the door. She
pressed her ear to it then opened it just a crack. She slid into the
hallway like a shadow. She stopped and waited. The sun was on its
way down, so the likelihood more girls would be coming in was
increasing. She heard someone thumping around in a bedroom,
Brianna she surmised. She reached for her hip pouch, removed the
chloroform and a pad of cloth. She soaked it liberally and put the
bottle away.
A door opened down the hallway and the kidnapper sidled into
another opened doorway and stood there, cloth ready. Debra came
striding down the hall, clothes and towel bundled under her arm. She
had just reached the bathroom door when an arm shot out across her
neck and a hand slapped a rag over her mouth and nose.
Debra screamed into the chloroformed rag, thrashing wildly. The
sliding door opened. Debra clawed for the door frame ahead of her
desperate to hold the kidnapper in place so whomever had entered
the house would see she was under attack. Already, she could feel
the drug filling her limbs with ice water and fogging her mind. Her
arms felt so very heavy. The kidnapper dragged the struggling girl
backward into the bedroom and closed the door. Debra fought on,
scratching and slapping, kicking as best she could as he body grew
more and more numb. The kidnapper slowly lowered her to the floor,
letting the fumes finish their work. Debra's eyes rolled up, she
quivered and lapsed into slumber.
Lisa walked into the kitchen a got a coke from the refrigerator. She
popped the top and drank deeply. Her ears perked up as she heard a
door slam shut down the hall.
"Take it easy, this isn't our house, remember ?" she called. The
kidnapper smiled as she listened to Lisa's strident voice then
continued her work on Debra.
The pretty brunette lay in bed, still unconscious, her hands taped
together in front of her, her arms taped to her sides, legs taped at
knees and ankles. The kidnapper took out some thin nylon cord and
fixed the duct taped girl solidly to the bed frame, attaching anchoring
lines to her bound ankles, knees and across her waist. Additional
anchoring lines at her elbows reduced any further arm movement
once she was awake. The knots were unreachable, being directly
under the bed frame. Once the covers etcetera were back in place,
no one would see them.
She layered six pieces of duct tape over Debra's mouth then tied a
thick white cloth over that for total silence. She pulled the sheet over
Debra's bound, sleeping form and tucked it in tightly under the
mattress. Its weight, plus hers should hold the sheet firmly in place.
She did the same with the blanket and quilt then spread a comforter
over the whole thing to conceal the work.
The kidnapper stepped back and admired her work. In the semi
darkness, it looked like Debra was fast asleep in bed, the covers
pulled up just over her mouth. The kidnapper tucked in the covers
some more then set her eye to the door and peered out. Debra's
clothes lay in the hallway where the girl had dropped them in her
struggle.
Lisa listened for a moment. She heard a door open, the hinges
creaking softly. She waited, then crept over to the edge of the
hallway. The kidnapper spied what she was doing and played the
waiting game as well. She had to get the clothes out of the hallway but
without revealing herself. She looked back at Debra, she was still
asleep, bound and gagged under the bedclothes. The girl stirred
quietly under the covers, not moving them at all really.
The kidnapper looked back down the hall and saw Lisa was still
watching for something. What could have tipped her off ? This girl
was going to be trouble. Trouble she might have to remove ahead of
schedule. She didn't dare risk grabbing Lisa in the kitchen. The other
girls would see. A thumping noise caught her attention. Her eyes slid
left and beheld Brianna, mere inches from the cracked open door,
creeping toward it in her quilt and tape cocoon. She fought her
instinct to spring down the hallway and subdue the girl and continued
watching and waiting.
Brianna stopped to catch her breath. It had taken almost an hour to
crawl from behind the bed , across and over to the door. She had
seen Debra getting captured by the same person but gagged as she
was, breathing was difficult and screaming a warning, out of the
question. She just hoped she was now obvious enough not to be
missed by the next person who came down the hallway.
Lisa kept her vigil, sipping her coke. The door opened and Sara
came in, wrapped in a towel, " What are you doing ?"
"Nothing." Lisa said, turning away. The kidnapper moved quickly,
sticking her hand out of the doorway, she grabbed the clothes and
the towel in one swipe and dragged them into the bedroom. Lisa
looked back. Something low to the ground slithered into the
bedroom. Lisa blinked.
"Someone's playing games." Lisa surmised.
"What did you say ?"
"I said we're out of frozen pizzas."
"Well poo ! " Sara snapped." Wait, there's more in the basement
freezer." the girl said. Sara marched past Lisa and headed toward the
basement door. She opened it and walked down the stairs. On the
blindside of the door, the kidnapper slipped down the hallway and
into the other bedroom where Brianna lay moaning into her tight gag,
unable to call for help. She closed the door behind her just as Sara
closed the basement door.
Sara climbed down the stairs, put her hand on the cellar doorknob
and pushed. The door was locked. She tried again.
"Well poo !" she said, stomping her foot.
In the cellar, Penny, Angela and Jodi heard someone try the door.
Then again. It wasn't the kidnapper, it was one of their friends ! Jodi
whimpered urgently through her gag. Angela joined her, then Penny.
A chorus of gagged cries echoed through the empty space.
On the other side of the door, Sara heard an odd but faint sound,
like a baby crying into a blanket. Lisa peered down the stairs," Any
luck ?" she called.
"Yeah, all bad. The door's locked." she replied ruefully.
"Great. Why ?"
"Beats me."
"Is Jodi down there ?"
Sara looked. The TV was on some nature show. A mother raccoon
had just given birth to a litter of cubs. Sara smiled to herself. That's
where the weird noise had come from. No Jodi though.
"Nope."
"Huh. So who has the key ?"
"Brianna." Sara called.
Great, Lisa thought, and she's missing too.
"Do ya know where she went ?"
"Nope."
Sara climbed back up the stairs. Penny, Angela and Jodi heard their
hope of rescue receding back above.
"This is getting weird." Lisa said.
"Yeah, horror movie weird."
"Get outta here. Their just playing a prank on us."
"Well, I'm not laughing." Sara stated," Brianna, Jodi, Angela and
Penny have all gone missing today."
"Don't forget Debra, she's gone too." Lisa added.
"What ?"
"Don't you remember ? She came inside for a shower. I don't hear
any water running."
" Oooooo scary." Sara mocked, wiggling her fingers.
" Nonetheless, she's gone."
" She probably decided to take a nap, come on."
The girls walked down the hallway and opened the door to the first
bedroom on the left. The bottom of the door caught on a pile of
discarded clothes. They peered in. Sara squinted in the semi
darkness and saw Debra lying in bed, squirming and tossing quietly in
her sleep, mumbling to herself.
"See ?" Sara whispered, pointing. Lisa nodded. The two closed the
door as quietly as they could and walked back to the kitchen.
"Charlette's gonna be upset that Deb's in her bed."
"Oh, big deal. So don't tell her." Sara said as she pushed Lisa back
out the patio door. Lisa closed the door slowly, thoughtfully. Maybe
she was being silly.
As all that was taking place, back in Sara and Brianna's room, the
kidnapper finished resecuring Brianna inside the closet. The
kidnapper had placed her deep inside so she couldn't reach the door
with her feet, even at full stretch. The captive girl tossed her gagged
head back and forth, unable to protest or cry out. She wriggled her
fingers, tugging hard at her restraints. Her arms had been
outstretched cruciform, bound to the iron bar with duct tape at the
wrists and elbows. Her legs were taped together as well at the knees
and ankles. The kidnapper had taken a small comforter, folded it up
and taped the thing to the bottom of her feet. Now if Brianna decided
to kick, there would be little if any impact or sound. The kidnapper
tightened her gag before leaving her there securely bound.
Brianna struggled with the binding tape, pulling one arm then the
other. She shifted her weight over, pushing the bar forward then
back, trying to dislodge it. Unfortunately the bar was set well into the
wall and unmovable. It was barely at her shoulder height so the
position wasn't so bad, but eventually it would get to her. Brianna
sighed around the thick gag, unable to think of what to do.
In another bedroom, Debra struggled in her new-found bonds. She
remembered being attacked and chloroformed in the hallway and had
expected to find herself in such a situation, but not nearly this secure
or strange. Her assailant had bound and gagged her in more or less
plain view, using the bedclothes to both add to her restraints and
conceal the fact.
She had come to full consciousness just before Lisa and Sara
opened the door and looked in on her. She had looked dead at them,
mmphed through her gag, and tried to pry herself out from under the
bedclothes that pinned her to the bed. She didn't move so much as
wriggle. Cords dug into her elbows, waist and ankles, holding her in
place under the thick sheets and covers. Debra realized she wasn't
only tied up, but tied to the heavy bed itself. Debra flexed her taped
wrists under the quilt confused, wondering why the kidnapper would
leave her in such a position.
"She's dead asleep." Sara assured Charlette as she sat down on the
chaise lounge. Lisa gave her a sour look. Sara ignored the
expression, put on her earphones and turned up her cd player.
"Why's she so upset ?" Charlette asked, jerking her thumb at Lisa.
"Oh, we're outta frozen pizza." Sara replied after Charlette repeated
the question. Lisa looked out over the balcony and down at the lake.
Something was going on inside the cabin and she had to find out what
it was before they all vanished.
Time passed and Sara yawned. A nap was sounding good just then.
She took off her earphones and went back inside the house. Lisa
watched her go and said nothing. Charlette looked at her friend.
"Now, what really happened in there ?" she asked conspiratorially.
Sara walked down the hall and paused by the bedroom where Debra
was sleeping. She looked back at the patio, considering. Nah, she'd
let well enough alone. She opened the door quietly and saw Debra
still apparently asleep, moving fitfully under the covers, murmuring.
"Sleep tight, Deb." she whispered hoarsely and closed the door.
Debra seemingly answered her with a loud grunt. Sara giggled and
continued down the hall to the room she and Brianna were sharing.
She stretched and yawned then opened the closet door. Brianna
muffled into her gag, flexing in her tape restraints. A curtain of
hanging clothes kept her sister from seeing her however. Brianna
looked around desperately. She had to sound a warning to her,
before the kidnapper got her too.
Sara fumbled and found the cord attached to the light and yanked it.
She grabbed a silky robe off a hanger and pulled it off. Brianna
twisted her hands inside the cuffs of tape. Sweat had loosened the
stuff so she could rotate her arm just enough to put her thumb
against the iron bar. Brianna tapped it with her finger. Again. Again.
Louder the next time.
Sara grabbed her slippers and a towel. The kidnapper rose from her
hiding spot and slipped up behind her to the left, away from her
peripheral vision. Sara's ears perked up. Tapping. Metallic tapping ?
She looked around and caught a glimpse of long brown hair. a tall
silhouette against the back wall of the closet. Her heart stopped. The
girl stepped inside the closet and gasped to find her sister standing
bound and gagged, her arms strapped to the crossbar with duct tape.
Brianna shrieked through her gag.
