Highway to Heaven (10 page)

“Motherfucker!” Gage exclaimed. Colt jumped
up and looked at his monitor, squeamishly backing up a couple steps
as if the rat could jump out of the computer at him.

“Those sonsabitches are unnatural. It’s
because of all the damn tamales and encha-fuckin-ladas they eat out
of the damn trash, man. They’re like a Mexican woman. Big, round,
and hairy. I bet Asian rats are tiny.” Gage shot an eye roll over
his shoulder, giving him the, ‘what the hell’ look. “No, man, think
about it—look how small the Asians are. Their main sustenance is
rice. Thus makin’ the fuckin’ rats eat rice. Rats that eat rice
ain’t gonna look like that fuckin’ fat ass gigantore bitch over
there.”

“Go call it a bitch to its face, Colt. I bet
he’d drop you to the ground and make you take it dirty,” Gage
chuckled.

“Fuck you, man,” Colt said in that man pout
voice. Which, biker or not, all men had it and used it. They just
opted to toss in a slur of cuss words and deepen their voice to
sound macho. Gage shook his head, still snickering when Colt
finally sat back down beside him. They sat there and bullshitted to
pass the time and break the monotony, until finally the ball
dropped. “Man, Sahara’s one tight piece. I told her to be waitin’
in our room tonight when we got back. She was more eager than a
bitch in heat,” he said egotistically.

“You can fly solo tonight. I’ll go bunk with
one of the other guys.” Gage kept his eyes down on the screen,
flipping back and forth between cameras to avoid looking at Colt.
He didn’t want to explain why, and thought keeping his tone casual
he’d avoid any questions. Hell, he couldn’t even answer the
questions to himself, let alone someone else. That would mean
thinking about the whole fucked up situation, and that wasn’t gonna
happen.

“What do you mean,
fly solo and
you’ll bunk somewhere else
?” he mocked, his nose wrinkled
up.

“Just what I said, man. I need to get some
sleep. I’ve been stayin’ up most round the damn clock and I want to
crash tonight.”

“We always tag team it, bro. Since when did
you put sleep over pussy?” Colt felt almost betrayed.

“Then tag team her ass with one of the other
guys. They all need a release. I need sleep. So I’m gonna bunk in
another room and you guys can gang bang the slut.” He was literally
choking down his anger at this point. He refused to explain it to
himself. He damn sure in the fuck wasn’t gonna explain it to Colt.
Hell, Colt was out for a good time, and to get what he needed. He
didn’t care if it was a woman or a damn hole in the wall, he’d fuck
it to get off. Heaven had been no different. Once he’d gotten used
to her, he’d jumped on to the next tight little ass that came into
view and moved right from one hole to the next with his dick still
wet. And, he’d do the same to Sahara. Pussy was pussy. But
Heaven…damn. She was… Heaven. Colt grumbled under his breath but
let it go, buying in to Gage’s excuse. Well, until he brought
Heaven up next.

“Hey, you think we can get Heaven and Sahara
together with the two of us next time? That shit’d be hot. I mean,
Heaven’s an okay fuck and has those huge titties, and Sahara is a
wild fuck, has the long legs and perfectly round tight ass—”

“Fuckin’ drop it, man!” Gage cut him off. “We
have work to do. We’re saving girls, not fuckin’ em. Get your head
on straight and let’s do this shit.” Yeah, he was being a dick, but
he really didn’t give a fuck. The thought of doin’ an orgy with
Heaven involved pissed him off. Any other orgy, he’d be the first
to drop his zipper…but not with her. He got pissed at himself for
getting pissed, but didn’t want to have to admit shit to himself
and ignored it. He was exhausted. That’s all it was, dammit.

*****

Tami’s limp, battered body hung unconscious
in the arms of one of Reyes’ fat fuck goons. She was a tiny, frail
little thing with blond hair, which hung to her waist and was
matted up with blood and dirt in wicked knots. The bastard rattled
something off in Spanish and grinned, a stream of spit streaking
out of his mouth and down his beard. Sadie shuttered. The door to
the dog kennel was opened, and Tami was thrown in. Sadie jumped to
catch her and break her fall, wondering if she was even alive.
Blood ran down the insides of both of her thighs, and her clothing
had been torn and ripped to shreds. Sadie bit back a cry, fighting
the urge to charge the fat bastard and strangle him until the last
gurgle of air sucked in his tainted, green teeth. Over the past
week, the girls had been moved from the little shitty room they
were in down into a huge underground basement that narrowed into a
tunnel out the other side. Inside this dark, damp, molded hole in
the ground were cages upon cages lined in rows as far as she could
see from the bare wired drop light. It wasn’t so much the cages
that scared her, but all of the young girls that were in them.
There were little girls as young as four or five, ranging up to
sixteen or seventeen from what she could gather from the ones still
able to talk. All of them had been violated, mostly over and over
again, beaten, and left for dead until they’d healed enough to go
another round. And, Sadie and Tami were now locked in the fresh
meat cage, waiting for their turn. Tami had been taken back first.
Now it was only a matter of time. If they were going in order,
Sadie was next. The thought of what this poor girl went through
bubbled vomit up in her throat.

The son-of-a-bitch slammed the metal door
shut and locked it, laughing at them as he walked away. Rage fueled
her determination to survive and escape. First things first, she
needed to check Tami’s injuries and get her well enough so when the
time came, they could run.

“Tami! Come on, please wake up.” Sadie sat on
the ground with Tami on her lap. She lowered her head to Tami’s
chest to check for a heartbeat, letting out a relieved sigh when
she heard it thumping against her ear. Maybe it was better for her
to be unconscious. She didn’t need to deal with the memories and
pain right now. It was too fresh.

Sadie moved her clothing around, taking
inventory of every injury. Bruises and cuts littered her tiny frame
from head to toe. Her rib cage was already a deep purple color,
which meant she more than likely had a few broken ribs. A huge gash
on her head still seeped blood down the side of her face, and Sadie
decided it best to try to clean that one first. With their last
swallow of water, she rinsed the wound and dabbed her shirt around
the edges to get the germs and dirt off.

The tips of her fingers were bloody and most
of her nails were broke way back in the quick. From the looks of
it, matched with the bruised and swollen knuckles, she’d fought
back with all her might.
Good girl
. At least she still had
hope inside. Most of the girls in here had given up completely,
praying day and night for death. Sadie laid her on the ground and
moved to the waistband of her pants, hesitating to look. She didn’t
want to expose her while she wasn’t conscious, but it was probably
best. She took in a deep breath and blew it out in exasperation the
minute she saw what they’d done to her. “God, baby girl. You’re a
fighter,” she whispered. Blood caked her girl parts, so bad that it
literally sealed her lips shut. She knew she needed to see the
damage and wash away the disgusting vileness, but the water was
empty. She glanced around, hoping something, or better yet, someone
to save them, would magically appear.

A faint voice, so broken, yet still sweet and
innocent as an angel tinkled behind her. “Here, take mine. If you
wash her it will heal. They cut off my clit when I arrived and I
hurt for months. Water keeps it clean. Be sure and dry her after so
she doesn’t get an infection.” Sadie turned to see who was talking,
and her heart dropped at the delicate girl who handed a bottle of
water through the bars. She was about seventeen, alabaster skin
with the bluest of eyes she’d ever seen. She was certain that one
time, before all the trauma, the girl looked like a fairy princess,
and those blue eyes had danced and sparkled with spirit and life.
Her spirit light no longer twinkled. There were black and blue
circles around her eyes, her face holding bruises that were faded
with fresh atop in layers of the signs of long term abuse. Crusted
blood caked in her hair and in random places covering her exposed
skin. Sadie shuddered at what she must look like under her torn and
dirty clothing.

“Oh my God. This truly is hell, isn’t
it?”

The girl nodded, her eyes distant and hollow.
“Yes. And like hell, it never ends. I’ve prayed for death to come
and take me away, but every day I am here. Find the door in your
mind to that place where no thoughts seep in. It’s your only chance
at not going insane. We have nothing—no hope, no cavalry to rush in
and save us…but we have our
nothing
.”

Sadie thought about her words, her heart
sinking when she’d realized what the girl’s riddle meant. No. There
was a cavalry coming to save them, and she would never give up on
that hope. Her sister would make sure of it. She kept talking while
she tended Tami’s private parts. It was worse than she thought, but
most was internal. The outer area was torn and cut, and a few
looked like they’d need stitches.

“How long have you been here?” Sadie gasped,
feeling the weight of the girl’s anguish slam into her. She’d been
through what Tami had just endured over and over and over again.
There was no surviving. It was disconnecting yourself to accept
what you knew was coming.

“I don’t know. I used to try to count the
days, but there are no windows here. We go by when the guards come
to take one of us back. Usually, it’s only one or two of us at a
time, and about the same time each day. I’ve been here for over a
year. I can’t tell you exactly.”

“
A year
?” Sadie whispered.

“Or longer. I don’t know. They came into my
room and took me when I was almost sixteen. It was January 15,
2014. I’d just gotten home from my sophomore school dance. Mom was
at work, and my little brother over at the neighbors.” She drifted
back in her memories, shutting them off before she could use them
for comfort. Sadie assumed that remembering her life would only
make it harder being here and pull her out of that ‘nothingness’
she spoke of. “We’ve felt the cold air rush in and the hot summer
heat, so I guess it’s been a full year if not more.”

“We will get out of here. Somehow, some way,
but you will see your mom and brother again. What’s your name?”
Sadie wanted to give her hope. She needed to see the girl who had
been battered and broken so badly rise again with vengeance. If she
could get as many girls as possible back to thinking there was an
end to this, maybe they could join forces and help when the time
came. The time would come.

“I’m Shea.” She stuck her frail, bony hand
through the bars for Sadie to shake. They were ice cold to the
touch. Sadie could feel every bone and tendon through her paper
thin, almost transparent skin. Damn she’d been stuck in this hell
for a long time. Looking at her, she could almost envision her
lean, toned teen body sitting in a lawn chair on the edge of a pool
with her golden hair shimmering in the sun. She’d have tawny tan
skin, the kind of bronze that the movie stars yearned for. Even
with her decrepit state, the girl was still beautiful.

“I’m Sadie. My friends will come for us,
Shea. We are all gonna get out of here, just hang in there,
okay?”

“We all thought that someone would come for
us too. The best thing you can do is try to find a place in your
mind to go to and stay there. Block everything out, Sadie, or
you’ll end up like Chrissy.”

“Chrissy?”

Shea let out a deep, shaky breath and shook
her head. “Chrissy was older than me, and had been here two months
before I came. At first, she still tried to come up with plans to
escape and gave us all hope.” It looked like she might cry, but no
tears came out. Either dehydration or just the fact she had cried
out her despair a long time ago kept her eyes dry, but the sadness
was still there. “They chose her a lot…because she had spirit.
They’d laugh and joke about breaking her. She’d spit in their
face,” she said, a faint smile at the memory. “Then, little by
little, they succeeded. Instead of giving up, she ended up going
crazy. She’d scream and beat her head on the bars trying to kill
herself. You get a lot of that here—girls trying to end it all. The
guards always stop it. They don’t get a paycheck for a corpse.”

“Paycheck?”

“Yeah. We are all waiting for the next
auction. I’ve picked up enough Spanish since I’ve been here to know
a little. All of us are going to be sold.”

Sadie’s eyes went wide. “Human
trafficking?”

She nodded. “From what I’ve overheard the
guards laughing about, most of the buyers make this place look like
Disney Land.”

“Oh my God,” she gasped. Tami let out a gasp,
her body thrashing around some on the floor. “Sssssh, baby.
Shhhhh.” She soothed her hand over the small area on her cheek that
wasn’t injured, willing her to go back to sleep. She didn’t need to
be awake and feel all of the pain that would slam into her. Once
Tami was settled back in to that deep blackness that guarded her
from reality, Shea went on.

“One day, Chrissy got lucky. The guard came
at her with a knife, and somehow she managed to lunge into it. It
stabbed through her chest. She didn’t make it through the night.”
Shea got quiet. In a gargled whisper, she added, “They left the
body in her cage for two weeks. By the time they finally got around
to getting her, the smell was so bad and she was so far decomposed,
it was in pieces.”

Sadie didn’t know how to react. The vile burn
of vomit rose in her throat. She swallowed it down hard, but it
made her sick all over. She shivered, and leaned closer to the bars
toward Shea. “People like this…shouldn’t exist…they make monsters
look good. We fear the dark, and things that go bump in the night.
What we don’t know is that it’s people like these in that dark and
making those bumps, not monsters.” She felt the sting of tears well
in her eyes. There was no doubt she’d be next to be taken back to
wherever it was that they broke and scarred all of the girls, and
fear shook her. No. She couldn’t let them. She had to get out of
here before they had a chance, or a chance to get ahold of one of
the other girls.