The Novice Prey & the Daring Prey (41 page)

She finally stopped to rest in the cover of a patch of pines that looks a lot like oversized Christmas trees. They grew very close together, and none of them had grown particularly tall. The ground under them was thickly carpeted with pine needles that muffled sound. Alexa crawled under some low-hanging boughs and stretched out on the ground to rest all over while she caught her breath. She could also see quite a ways into the woods from that vantage point, and as long as she stayed where she was it would be difficult for anyone to see her.

Damn, but that Martina was a bitch! Hooking up with the Anderson brothers so that she could get some payback of her own while helping them get theirs? Wasn't she being just a teensy bit obsessive about her losing the contest last year? Alexa forced herself to concentrate on her breathing and relaxing all of her muscles, but she was too worked up to do either with much success. Martina wasn't as much of an unknown quantity as the Andersons were. From what she remembered there were three of them, and they specialized in running down smaller and more slender women, then giving them some training before selling them off at slave auctions. She must have ticked them off more than she'd realized if they had decided to make her a special project. She wondered how long they'd been looking for her, and if they'd teamed up with anybody else besides Martina. Well, she'd set out to get herself noticed. It looked as if she'd overdone it.

As her breathing slowly returned to normal, disturbing thoughts began to creep into her mind. She hadn't really considered the ramifications of being caught by a team of two or more men, and while after her times with Will her fantasies had much more of an edge to them, they never included gangbangs, or being fucked by two men at once. But... there were three Anderson brothers, weren't there? What if they all wanted to fuck her at once? Alexa shuddered. She'd never really gotten into anal sex. She supposed that she could always use the 'bailout' phrase if things just got to be too much for her, just like Lynette had last year, but after all the self-promotion she'd been doing wouldn't that make her nothing more than a tease, at least in the eyes of absolutely everybody in Gordburg?

Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN! If she stayed out here she was fairly sure that sooner or later the Andersons would catch her. So what were her options? If she struck out northwards she ought to hit the main road that ran from Gordburg all the way to that little state highway Will had told her about. From there she could try to beat the Andersons to Gordburg, but it would take a while. Or, she could try to get back to the sanctuary of End. But the Andersons were between her and there, as was Martina. Alexa didn't like those odds at all. But maybe, if she stayed hidden here, her pursuers might pass her by. Then she could try to get back to End. But the more she thought about that possibility the less hopeful it seemed. So, for the time being, she kept very still and watched and listened. For what seemed like a very long time all that she heard were birds: Crows and bluejays and something that kept changing its song. From what Will had told her, it was likely either a catbird or a mockingbird. The only movement she saw was a rabbit that hopped and paused, hopped and paused its way across her field of vision. At each pause it seemed to nibble at something on the ground. Its apparent unconcern gave Alexa some peace of mind, and she began to miss it shortly after it had gone. Then it came dashing back in the other direction, zig-zagging furiously as if trying to throw off a predator, and Alexa felt her chest tighten. There weren't supposed to be any predators in these woods, aside from people. She looked in the direction that the rabbit had come from, but she couldn't see anything, and as intently as she listened she couldn't hear anything either.

She had to resist a sudden urge to get up and run. Instead, she looked around intently, including behind her, and what she saw chilled her. Not twenty feet away, she saw a pair of boots. From the size of them, they had to belong to a man. Whoever he was, he was facing away from her, but if he stooped down to look under the low-hanging pine boughs he was bound to spot her.

Alexa got up onto her hands and knees as quietly and as carefully as she could, keeping an eye on those boots the whole time. She felt relief as they began to move away, but then they stopped and paused for just a moment before turning back towards her.

Had she somehow given herself away? Alexa dithered in a state just this side of panic, remembering all of the things she'd seen and heard in the past several days. She tried to tell herself that she'd done what she'd set out to do and set a new record, but that was small comfort just now. She saw whoever was behind her begin to kneel, probably to get a good look under the trees and she didn't wait to get a look at his face. She scrabbled forward on all fours until she could stand up and then broke into a desperate run. She heard a man's voice call out somewhere off to her right, and then an answering cry from somewhere off to her left, so she went straight ahead as fast as she could. Then Martina came out from behind a tree, all six feet and some-odd inches of her, grinning nastily. She made a grab for her. Alexa just brought her shoulder down and rammed it into Martina's midsection as hard as she could without breaking stride. Martina doubled over with a pained grunt and fell, her hands grabbing at Alexa's ankles. Alexa kicked free and kept running. She heard Martina screech in frustration and heard the men pursuing her call out to each other. She wondered how far away the sanctuary of End was, and if she could possibly make it there.

Behind her, she could hear heavy footsteps pounding along in pursuit. She ran as fast as she could, but with all of the trees and bushes in the way she wasn't running in a straight line at all and it sounded as if her pursuers were gaining on her. She remembered what a close-run thing it had been in her first encounter with the Andersons.

“Stop!” she heard a deep male voice call out. She ignored it and kept running. She felt a sudden sharp pain in her ankle as she stumbled across some exposed tree roots, but kept going all the same. As she kept running, the pain slowly faded away, or maybe all the adrenaline coursing through her body just made it seem that way. Adrenaline will only keep you going so far, though, and after a while she realized that her breathing was becoming ragged. But she could still hear those footsteps behind her, coming closer and closer. How long could her pursuers keep up this pace? She began to fear that they could do it for longer than she could.

A man came into her field of view off to her right. Alexa veered to the left to get away from him, and the next thing she knew she could see another man coming up on her left, so she veered to her right. This happened a couple of times before she realized that they were herding her along as much as they were chasing her, and her heart sank. If they were able to do that while they were chasing her, she was finished. Maybe not right this moment, but soon. She clung to the hope that End was just up ahead for as long as she could, but as she kept running through the woods without ever catching sight of any trace of civilization, that hope withered away and died. She was never going to escape from these determined men. In spite of her own superb physical condition she was almost at the point of collapse, and all she could do now was either give herself up or wait until they pulled her down. All of a sudden she didn't want to drag this out any longer. She wobbled to a halt, shed her backpack, and wearily turned to face her pursuers, raising her hands in surrender.

They approached her slowly, warily, alertly, as if they expected her to make one last attempt to get away. She recognized two of them from before. The third Anderson brother was taller and a bit older, but he had the same build and general appearance. They were dressed almost identically in faded khaki. There was no sign of Martina, who must have been left far behind. Alexa dropped to her knees as the men closed in. She had to. Now that she'd given up, her body was reacting and she felt suddenly tired and weak and her legs just couldn't keep her upright any longer. She made no resistance as the elder Anderson pushed her down onto her stomach on the forest floor. She heard a faint beep near her ear as her capture was duly registered wherever the Hell they registered such things in Gordburg, and then they began binding her wrists tightly behind her with what felt like tough rope. She still couldn't have fought them even if she'd wanted to. For now, it was enough that the grueling chase was over.

“You surely did make us work for it, Missy,” she heard one of her captors say. “Too bad for you.”

They let her lie there unmolested for a little while, and now she could hear how hard they were breathing themselves as they sat down around her.

“This is really her, hey?” The voice was gravelly. Alexa guessed it came from the elder brother. “Too bad she's not our type. We could have a lot of fun with a female with as much stamina as this one's got.”

“We can still have some fun,” one of the other brothers puffed. “Just gimme a minute to catch my breath.”

“Did you get her? Did you get her? Where is she?”

Alexa heard Martina's voice, coming in wheezy gasps, and stifled a groan. She worried about what the men might do to her, but she dreaded whatever Martina might dream up.

“She's right there,” the gravelly-voiced older brother replied. “Come on, boys, let's get her up and find a place to make camp for the night.”

They got Alexa to her feet. She still couldn't quite stand on her own, so the two Andersons she'd embarrassed earlier each took her by an arm to keep her up and move her along. Martina stayed close, taunting Alexa every step of the way with insults, sneers and threats that sounded all too possible for Alexa's peace of mind. It seemed to take forever before they came to a place to camp, a small clearing with a tiny stream flowing nearby. Here they forced Alexa to lie down again. They pulled off her boots and socks before they untied her wrists.

“Get your clothes off now, Missy,” the elder Anderson ordered as his brothers set about making a campfire. “You won't like it if we have to strip you.”

“I'll do it!” Martina volunteered eagerly.

“Shut up, woman. You'll have your fun.”

Alexa struggled up onto her knees and then got to her feet. Her bare feet, now. She remembered how painful it had been last year, trying to walk in the woods after Lynette had stolen her boots. Slowly, wearily, resignedly, she undressed, and soon she stood naked in front of her captors. The elder Anderson looked her over minutely, walking slowly around her.

“She ain't what I was expecting,” he commented. “From what you said about her being a personal trainer I was kinda expecting something more muscular. She looks damned good, though.” He reached out and squeezed one of Alexa's breasts, not gently, but not too hard. “Nice tits,” he smiled down at Alexa. “Barry, Simon, get her strung up for us. It'll be getting dark soon, but I think we can keep this party going all night.”

They stood Alexa up between two small, straight trees and wrapped cloth around her wrists before wrapping ropes around them, stretching her arms out, and tying her to the trees. While the cloth wrappings made her bindings easier to bear, Alexa wished that they hadn't cut her shirt up to make them. They wrapped her ankles with more of her cut-up clothing before binding them. She tried to resist as they pulled her legs well apart before tying off her ankles to those trees, but it was pointless. Now she was stretched out and vulnerable, and more than a little scared, But every time she thought about using the bailout phrase, Alexa would catch sight of Martina's gloating face. She would not chicken out in front of that woman, no matter what might be done to her.

“Open wide, Missy,” the elder Anderson ordered. Alexa obeyed. He thrust a thick stick, cleaned of dirt and bark, back between her teeth and tied it in place with the last rags cut from her shirt. Martina came forward, wielding Alexa's belt like a whip.

“Now?” she asked eagerly.

“Go ahead, woman,” the elder Anderson replied. “She can't bite her tongue now, but she can still beg for mercy if she wants.”

Martina went behind Alexa, and Alexa fought the urge to try to turn her head and see what the other woman was doing. She had no doubts about what was coming, and no desire to see Martina's face while she did it.

The first hard blow struck her across her ass, and it stung! Alexa went up on her toes from the sudden shock and pain, but the only sound she made was a grunt. The second blow had the same effect, and then there was a pause that was almost as hard to bear as the stinging pains. The third blow fell across the backs of Alexa's thighs, and it hurt enough for her to cry out. Apparently pleased with that result, Martina whipped Alexa across the backs of her thighs again, then across her calves before returning her attentions to Alexa's ass. Alexa bit down hard on the stick in her mouth, but after the fifth or sixth or seventh blow the pain was too much. She threw back her head and screamed up at the sky. Martina struck her again.

“That's enough, woman,” the elder Anderson said gruffly.

“No, it isn't!” Martina protested. “I told you what she did to me! She's earned a lot more payback than she's gotten so far!”

“I said, that's enough! Now get back over by the fire. You can watch for a while.”

“All right,” Martina said grumpily, sounding like a surly child. Alexa's relief at being spared any further flogging lasted for only a moment as the elder Anderson pressed himself against her, running his hands slowly, possessively, up and down her flanks before he reached around to grip her ass tightly with his hands. They were hard, rough hands, and they felt even harder and rougher against the welts Martina had surely raised.

“Mmmm,” the elder Anderson said with a smile. “Nice, tight body all over.” He thrust his hips against Alexa with a wicked grin. Alexa could only look up at him. He had a predator's expression. “You know, I think I'd really like to tap that nice, tight ass of yours first, Missy,” he told her.

Alexa whimpered. She couldn't stop him if he wanted to do that. No, she really could stop him if she wanted to, but she wasn't going to do that with Martina watching. All she could do was hope that the Andersons had brought some sort of lubricant along.