Only the Strongest Survive (3 page)

He pushed her
so hard that she fell roughly onto the
mattress. Before she was able to defend herself, he grabbed
her left hand and fastened it to the metal frame. Then he began
tearing her clothes off.

“I have other ideas,” he said. “You’ll like
it.”

Her clothes
flew around the room and
soon she was
completely naked. When she was about to scream, he put his hand on
her mouth. “No point in shouting. The house is in the middle of the
woods and there’s no one anywhere near.”

Emely
closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. She was
afraid that screaming would only increase his anger.

But when he
lunged on top of her she did
scream and
wanted to push him away with her free hand, but to no avail … he
was too heavy. While gripping her firmly, he was letting out
strange noises. Then he licked her with his slimy tongue.
Disgusted, she tensed her muscles in the hope that this would make
her feel as little as possible.

When he tired
of feeling
her up and licking her, he
unbuttoned his fly and revealed himself proudly.

“John, please don’t, don’t do this!” she
begged.

In spite of
her pleading
, he roughly spread her legs
wide open, penetrated her within a second, and took a deep
breath.

She
gritted her teeth in order to muffle the
pain.

He kept
thrusting into her as if she didn
’t
exist, all the while grunting like an animal.

She
moaned
during quiet intervals, hoping it
would end soon. His rhythm got faster.

Not long now,
she told
herself.
You can take it, not
long now.

With every
passing moment
feeling like ages, she
finally said, “Stop!”

Just as she
was about to
scream, he began convulsing
and grunting. That lasted a few more seconds.

He remained
on top of her with all his weight so that she was able to
use
only a quarter of the capacity of her
lungs to breathe. She lay still, as if not alive.

Emely
gathered her strength and said, “John, I’ve never enjoyed it so
much. You really are special.” She could not believe she had said
it, did not know why she had said it. But her mind was telling her
she had to get him on her side, irrespective of the price. In
reality, given half a chance, she would have killed him.

He rolled over like a log, still breathing
deeply.

“
About that
proposal I mentioned
—”

“
Shut
up
, you bitch. Keep that poisonous tongue
of yours still.”

He fastened
up his
pants and jumped off the bed. He
took the restraint off her hand.

“
Quick, get
dressed. I don’t have much time.”

“
I just
wanted to say
—”

John
slapped her hard with his right hand. It was so
unexpected that she bit her tongue. Her tears poured instantly and
she moaned out loud while picking up the rest of her clothes from
the floor. He looked at her humiliating position with a smile on
his face.

When she was
dressed, he fastened her down again and blindfolded her. Then he
left.

*

As John was
making himself a coffee in the kitchen, he
gazed out the window, at one point, frowning.

“
She’s
right,
” he said aloud to himself, “I
really am special.”

*

Emely cried
for a long time
, until there was no
strength left in her. She felt she might have gone to sleep for a
few minutes, when someone grabbed her arm.

“What’s happened?” she asked, confused.

As if he had
not heard her, he unfastened
her and made
her stand up. He fastened her hands behind her back instead, then
he took her by the elbow and dragged her downstairs. She had to run
in order to be able to keep up with his long strides.

She heard the
front door open and
felt the fresh
morning air.
I was right, it
must be three or four in the morning. Where are they taking
me?
she wondered.

John opened
the back door of a
vehicle and pushed her
in violently. He sat next to her.

“
Good
morning,
Ms. Donnovan.” The voice was
Ronald’s. “We’re taking you on a short early morning outing.” He
turned the key. “I’m sure you’re going to like it.”

“
Listen, you
can’t do this
. Where are you taking me?
Please, tell me the price, everything has a price.”

“
No, my dear
Ms. Donnovan. We no longer care about money. We lost it all and
learned to do without.”

“
But
…”

“
No buts. All
that’s left is hatred and a desire for reven
ge. And soon this desire will be fulfilled.”

She began
s
creaming and completely lost control.
Never before had she found herself in a situation which she could
not influence.

John
placed one hand around her mouth and they drove
like that for over half an hour. The vehicle swayed from side to
side to avoid roots in the road. Feeling sick from fear or the
bumpy ride or both, Emely didn’t know how much longer she’d
last.

“
Where are
you taking me?” she
cried when John took
his hand off her mouth.

But she
didn’t get a reply.

After a while
she asked again
. “Please, tell me where
we’re going.”

“
Don’t
worry,” Ronald
said, “we’ve
arrived.”

The SUV
slow
ed down. She felt John’s hand telling
her she had to get out. She wanted to stay in the vehicle, but
relented. With the blindfold still on, her only orientation were
the noises outside. Somewhere in the distance she could hear the
hooting of an owl, and then a mosquito buzzed past her ear. There
was a strong smell of pine trees.
We must be in deep woods,
she
guessed.

John pushed
her over to a slender
tree not far away
and tied her to it. He took off the blindfold and she was able to
look around. Because of the trees that stood close together and
reached high into the starry sky, little light reached the ground
in spite of the full moon. Scared, she turned toward Ronald, who
was watching her from the side. He was small, only about five foot
seven, and considerably overweight.

Her heart was
beating hard and she
kept gulping down
the saliva that gathered in her mouth as she looked at his round
face. “What are you going to do with me?” she asked. Tears streamed
from her eyes.

Ronald looked
down, stood on a dry branch that snapped under his weight, and
smiled. “You’re gonna li
ke it here, Ms.
Donnovan.”

John
appeare
d with some wide tape and put it
over her mouth. She was able to respond only with muffled screams
through her nose. The men set off for the car, laughing.

In horror she
noticed a coffin
made from raw wooden
planks on the roof of the SUV. Emely wanted to scream and run, but
felt she was going to faint at any moment. The scene in front of
her was real, even though she found it hard to believe that it was
really happening.
Why did they
bring a coffin?

She
fel
t dizzy. It was too much for her. She
kept looking around for anyone who could help her.
They are crazy, this can’t be
true.

John and
Ronald took the coffin off the roof and put it down next to the
tree Emely was tied to.
They went back to
the car, opened the trunk, and pulled out two shovels.

They’re only trying to scare me. They can’t be serious, can
they?
In panic she tried to free her
wrists, but got nowhere. She kept looking around to spot anyone,
perhaps a woodcutter or someone picking mushrooms. She begged God
to help her.

They began
digg
ing a hole in front of
her.

For a while
she stared at the shovels that kept pushing the soft soil so easily
and she prayed for all this to
turn out
to be nothing more than a bad dream. But the longer she stared at
them, the more certain she became that it was real. Finally, she
could take no more and everything went dark.

*

When she
opened her eyes, she saw in front of her an elongated hole, about
five feet deep and next to her the two men, soaked with sweat and
bent
over from the effort.

“
So, Ms.
Donnovan,” Ronald said, “even though it didn’t seem so at first,
the ground was hard and full of stones. We had to work real
hard.”

He looked at
John and
jerked his head. John came
nearer, unfastened her from the tree, and refastened her hands in
front of her.

To their
surprise
Emely began to resist like a
wild wounded animal. She butted John in his stomach as hard as she
could and he writhed in pain.

Then
s
he grabbed a shovel and hit Ronald on
the head. Both men were rolling on the ground, howling. She ran
like the wind.

Running
as fast as she could,
breathing through her nostrils, she kept looking back. To her
horror and surprise, John had gotten up and was running equally
fast. Emely sped up and her breathing became loud. Ignoring the
branches that struck her face, she ran for her life.

She tripped
over a
tree root and lost her balance,
sprawling onto the thick layer of pine needles covering the forest
floor. It was too late. John’s hands were already grabbing her left
leg. She struck at him like a snake, but he moved away in time. He
grabbed her hands and soon had her under control. Ronald came and
together they carried her back to the original spot. She kept
struggling and making muffled noises.

When they put her in the coffin, her
resistance doubled. She banged her head against the sides of her
deathbed in the hope of the planks loosening.

The two men
quickly put the wooden top on the coffin and fastened the sides
down in order to prevent her from opening it.
They pushed the coffin into the hole and began to cover it
with soil.

When Emely
felt damp soil fall onto her face
through
the cracks, she passed out.

The men
covered the hole and scattered the remaining soil around. Then
they
spread the grave with branches and
leaves. Exhausted, they got in their SUV and left the crime
scene.

Chapter
2

_________________________

Blake
Crouse
was in charge of legal matters at
Donnovan Corporation. He was an uncomplicated and calm man who had
just turned sixty, with still dark but already graying hair, and
kind eyes framed by thick eyebrows. He was sitting anxiously in his
office, thinking about Emely. He lifted the receiver and called the
head secretary.

“
Maria, call
a
board meeting in two hours.”

“OK, Blake.”

Often,
when Emely was away, Blake had to stand in for
her.

He
gazed out the window, deep in thought, sensing
that something was seriously wrong.

At the
meeting two hours later he began by saying
, “This morning I was called by a Chief Inspector Reynolds.
Something terrible has happened.”

T
he directors stopped whispering
to each other and started to pay attention.

“
Emely
Donnovan has been kidnapped.”

A cacophony
of v
oices could be heard around the
meeting room. Everyone was turning toward each other, surprised at
the horrifying news. They couldn’t believe what they had just
heard. After a minute or so, the noise settled down. Blake glanced
out of the window and then resumed.

“
Her car was
found abandoned by the highway. At first they didn’t know whose it
was because the number plates
had been
removed. But it didn’t take the police long to identify a car worth
over four hundred thousand dollars.”

Everyone
smirked for a moment,
but immediately became serious again.

“
If she
really has been kidnapped, we can expect a call from her kidnappers
any
time now,” Crouse said.

H
orrified, the directors didn’t
know how to act in such a situation. They were used to concluding
business deals and assuring the company was making a profit, but a
kidnapping!