The Last Woman (All That Remains #1) (35 page)

“Yes, ma’am, a general
surgeon. You can call me Dr. Mike,” he offers politely.

“I’m Abby, and this is my
husband, Airen.”

“His pulse is good.” He checks
his blood pressure. “He should be fine. If he doesn’t come around in an hour or
so, break this smelling salt packet under his nose. He’ll wake up.”

“Thank you.”

He feels the bones in Airen’s
face and then examines Joseph. “There are no broken bones. I’ll leave you a few
ice packs for the swelling. They activate and become cold when you squeeze
them.” He produces a blister pack of pain pills and hands them to me. “He’ll
have a headache when he wakes. No more than two pills every six hours. That
goes for you too.” He gestures to Joseph.

“Are you hurt?” he asks me.

“She’s...” Joseph begins.

“Fine!” I interject. “I’m
slightly anemic, but I haven’t had any symptoms in months.” I don’t want them
to know I’m pregnant. Somehow, I don’t think it will win me any favors, and who
knows what they would do with that information? The doctor nods and packs up
his stuff.

“If the smelling salts don’t
wake him, send for me,” he tells Troy, who nods from his position on the floor.
They chain the door behind them when they leave.

Troy sighs with relief and
rises. “Every time one of them enters you have to kneel.”

“Why?”

“It’s a rule.”

“And if I don’t?”

“They’ll punish you.”

Joseph’s eyes widen. “How?”

“In different ways, but it’s
all painful.” He gestures to the scars on his knees. “In the beginning, they’d
force me to kneel on dry rice or rock salt for hours. You wouldn’t believe how
bad that can tear up your skin.” He hesitates before continuing. “I don’t want
to scare you, but you have to know what kind of people you’re dealing with here,
and what they’re capable of inflicting on you.” Appearing embarrassed or
ashamed, he turns and pulls his shirt up to his neck, exhibiting a gruesome
display of scars, criss crossing his back.

“They whipped you?” I ask, in
shocked disbelief.

“Caned,” he corrects, quietly.
“It’s a narrow wooden stick, and I pray you never give them a reason to use
it.”

“All because you didn’t
kneel?” I question.

“No, those are for being
attracted to men,” he replies matter-of-factly.

My eyes dart to Joseph as they
fill with tears again. “You’re gay?” I whisper.

He nods as he answers, “No,
not anymore.” He signals that they may be listening to our conversation.

“We’re safe there, at least.
We’re all straight.”

“Do you believe in God? And in
Jesus?” he asks, nodding his head emphatically.

“Of course,” Joseph replies.

“Good. Just obey them, for
your own sakes, obey them,” he pleads.

I understand that’s the
smartest move, at least for now. I’m going to have to keep my issues with
authority in check. I’m terrified for Airen, however, because I know he’ll
fight them tooth and nail. He’s so stubborn.

“What are the other rules?”
Joseph whispers.

“We have to pray with them,
memorize bible passages, and swear to their truths. No sex unless you’re
married. I guess you’re safe there. Were you married by a minister?”

I glance at Joseph. “Of
course. There was a traveling group that included a minister, and he agreed to
marry us,” I lie.

“They’ll probably be okay with
it then.”

“What religion are they?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t
know how they label it, but I can tell you the basics.” He drags three
oversized bean bag chairs near Airen’s cot and begins. “The Trinity is real. Do
you know what that is?” We nod, and he continues. “Jesus was divine, born to a
virgin, but they don’t worship Mary or the saints. They aren’t Catholic. The
bible is the literal word of God and reads like an instruction book as far as
they’re concerned. The Ten Commandments are the basis of their teaching, but
they have an inordinate fondness for Leviticus, as you can imagine. If you
don’t know the Ten Commandments or The Lord’s Prayer by heart, you should learn
them because they expect it to be recited from memory.

“Heathens, non-believers, and
gays are inherently evil. They’re devil possessed and must be killed if they
can’t be reprogrammed. Women must always be subservient and obey the man,
especially her husband.”

Women are slaves. What a
shock. It seems we’re always worthless and expendable when it comes to
religious beliefs.

“They’ll be observing your
behavior to see if you’re evil. This isn’t going to go over well.” He gestures
to Joseph, who has his arm around my shoulder. “You can’t show affection to a
woman who isn’t your wife and never to the same sex.”

Joseph tightens his hold on
me. “Airen’s my brother, and Abby’s my sister-in-law. We’re family.”

Troy nods. “That may make it
more acceptable.”

“Do they feed you?” I ask. He
doesn’t look underweight.

“Yes, three times a day, and
the food is good. We’re allowed outside to walk for an hour in the evening.
There are pit toilets at the back of the stable and a pump for water to drink
and wash up. Generators supply power to heaters that run when the temperature
drops, but they aren’t used for the lights. We’re stuck with the battery
operated lanterns.”

“How long have you been here,
Troy?”

His dark brown eyes regard me
as he considers the question. “What month is it?”

Oh my God, the poor guy. “It’s
November fourth.”

“They picked me up the first
week of February...so about nine months.”

“You’ve been alone in this
place for that long?” Joseph asks.

“I wasn’t always alone. I was
captured with my friend, Micah, and there was a girl here named Jennifer. She
has since been saved and lives in the house with them.” He doesn’t elaborate,
and I’m sure Micah’s story isn’t going to have a positive ending.

Joseph presses for more
information. “And Micah?”

Troy shakes his head
mechanically. “He wouldn’t obey, no matter what they did to him, and they did
plenty. They shot him.”

“We have to make sure Airen
doesn’t fight them,” I moan, pressing my face against Joseph’s neck.

“We will, honey. Don’t be
afraid.” Joseph looks sufficiently terrified for all of us. “He’s stubborn, not
suicidal.”

Troy regards Joseph
hesitantly. “They’ll expect you to prove you aren’t gay.”

“How am I supposed to do
that?”

Troy looks uncomfortable.
“They forced me to make out with Jennifer. We didn’t have to have sex, she only
had to kiss me, but I felt like such an asshole.”

I try to reassure him. “I’m
sure she understood.”

He turns to Joseph again.
“They want to see if you get...um...aroused by women.”

I shake my head. This is a
nightmare.

“You’ve got to be fucking
kidding me,” Airen grumbles, slowly sitting upright.

“Airen!” I race to his side.
“How do you feel?”

“Royally pissed off, after
everything I’ve just heard. My head is pounding,” he admits. “Are you okay,
Abby? Did they hurt you?”

“I’m fine and so is Joseph.
You’ve been listening?”

“Yes, we’re being held by some
fucked up cult that wants to brainwash us.”

“Shh!” Troy hisses. “They’ll
torture and kill us all! You two had better make him understand!” He stalks off
to the far side of the stable and slumps against the wall.

 Airen sips some water, and
swallows the pain pills the doctor left for him. While he holds an ice pack to
his forehead, Joseph whispers in his ear, filling him in on the other rules,
and the lies we have told so far. Our stories need to match.

“Airen, please listen to me,”
I plead as I take his hand and sit before him. “I understand how angry you are.
We all are, but they outnumber us. We have to be smart and do what they say. We
need to play along. If I hadn’t done that when Mr. Disgusting took me, I
wouldn’t have survived the day. You can’t fight them, Airen. We’ll find a way
to escape, but we have to comply until then. Let them drop their guard.”

He nods and gives a little
grunt. I know this response. It means he will decide for himself when the time
comes. That isn’t good enough.

“I mean it, Airen!” I can hear
the hysteria in my voice. “I can follow their rules and obey their orders, no matter
what that may be. I can take it. What I can’t take is watching them hurt you or
Joseph. It’ll destroy me. Please, please Airen, don’t resist them. Promise me,”
I sob.

“Shh, Abby. I promise.
Sweetheart, I promise, calm down. I swear I won’t give them a reason to hurt
any of us.” He embraces me tightly as I cry into his shirt.

“Even if they separate us.” I
sniff, regaining my composure.

“Yes, darlin’, I promise,” he
croons.

Nearly an hour later,
bodyguards number one and two return with containers of food. We all kneel
while they remove the chains from the door. Airen’s face is red with rage and
hatred. Please Air, keep it together.

“You taught them well, Troy.
I’ll be sure to tell Abraham,” bodyguard number one remarks.

“Thank you, Cole.”

“This food is to last you
through lunch and dinner, and there will be no exercise tonight. You’ll meet
with Abraham tomorrow morning, so make yourselves clean and presentable.”

“Yes, sir.”

The look on Airen’s face is
thunderous, and I can see his internal struggle not to attack Cole or at least
demand answers. My eyes meet his, pleading silently.

Cole chains the door behind
him when he leaves, and Airen waits until his footsteps fade before demanding,
“How many of them are there?”

“Five men counting the doctor
and four women,” Troy replies flatly, as if the information is of no
consequence to us whatsoever.

“I assume they have guns?”

“That would be a safe
assumption. I can’t tell you how many or what kind, but I know that they hunt
deer and turkey, and I doubt they use a slingshot.”

Joseph smiles at him while
Airen continues firing questions. “There’s no way out of this place? How far
are we from the house? Shit, what town are we in?”

“The town is called Herrin.
The house is on a hill that overlooks this stable. You’ll see that tomorrow, I
assume. Even if you could manage to escape the stable, they’d see you,” Troy
responds, patiently.

“Herrin? We’re in Herrin?”
Joseph repeats. Troy nods. “We were so close. Herrin is a little to the north
and east of Carbondale.”

“What’s in Carbondale?” Troy
asks.

“We were traveling there. I’m
from Carbondale, and I wanted to get some things from my old home.”

“Where do you live now?”

“Tennessee,” Airen answers
quickly, glaring at Joseph. “Who’s Abraham?”

“The leader. He decides what’s
going to happen to you. He’s the one who pronounces you saved or evil. He’s the
judge, jury, and executioner, literally.” Troy glares at Airen. “Unless you
want your back to look like mine, and probably your wife’s as well, don’t cross
him.” He returns to his cot and picks up a book. “They won’t be back until
morning, so you may as well get comfortable.”

“Come and lie down with me,
Air,” I beg. “You’re hurt, and we need to rest while we can.”

“Abby’s right. There’s nothing
we can do right now. You should rest until we figure out what our next move
is,” Joseph coaxes when Airen shakes his head.

Airen relents and stretches
out on the cot beside me, and I lay my head on his shoulder, where I can
whisper in his ear without the fear of being overheard. He pulls a blanket over
us.

“Did they get your gun?” I
whisper.

“Yes, they must’ve searched me
when I was unconscious.”

I take his hand and slide it
to the inside of my thigh so he can feel the .22 in its holster. His eyes
widen, and I place my finger over his lips. “Don’t let Troy find out,” he
warns. “We don’t know if any of what he says is true. He could be here to listen
in and report back. He could be one of them.”

“Didn’t you see the marks on
his back?”

“I did, and that’s why he’ll
do whatever they want him to do. When we escape, I don’t want him to know where
we’re going or where we live.” His face softens as his eyes meet mine. “We’re
going to get out of here, sweetheart. Please, don’t be afraid.”

“Just don’t give them a reason
to hurt you.”

“I won’t, I swear. You
remember your promise to me before we left for this damn trip. If I tell you to
run and leave us, you run.” I’m silent as his words sink in. He grasps my face,
and his eyes pierce into me. “Promise, Abby.”

“I do. I promise.”

“It’s not just you anymore.” His
hand caresses my taut belly.

“I know. I need to close my
eyes for a few minutes.”