Carter and his five new “friends” marched through the dark, overgrown forest. Weasel, as he called the thin scar-faced man, kept pace behind him, roughly shoving him forwards whenever he felt that his steps weren’t quick enough for his liking. As they traveled, he noticed that the trees got much smaller the further along they went. It seems as if the giant trees were found only in the deeper parts of these woods.
As a hostage, Carter remained quiet. His training from so long ago kicked in and he opted to keep silent all the while gathering as much information as he could. Thankfully, the thugs who had kidnapped him had big mouths.
“I can’t wait to get back to town,” the hood that Carter named Teeth said. He was a short, balding man in his forties whose most distinguishing feature was the four front teeth missing from his mouth. “I needs me a hot bath and some good food.”
“Damn right. I would love some of that lamb stew from the Sizzling Pig right about now,” said Fatso. He wasn’t really fat, per se. He just had a massive gut that stuck out of his pants. Otherwise, he was regularly built.
“We do need to resupply soon,” said Blondie, the name Carter gave to the archer. “I’m running out of arrowheads.”
“Yeah, yeah. We’ll head into town tonight,” Ugly said. He was the big, muscle-bound oaf who led these crooks.
“So, there’s a town nearby,” thought Carter. “And they’re leaving for it tonight. I doubt they’d bring me into town, so they’ll obviously be keeping me somewhere else. That means at least one of these scumbags will be left to watch me. They’re going to be bringing back supplies, and that means most of them will be going. I’ll be stuck with two of them at most.”
A shove from behind almost knocked him off his feet.
“Keep moving, ponce,” Weasel sneered.
Carter frowned but kept walking. Hopefully, Weasel would be one of the ones left tonight to guard him. That’s when he’ll make his escape.
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After what seemed like hours of trudging through the woods, the group finally reached their destination. Upon the side of a cliff face was a small cave entrance. Carter almost didn’t see it with all the brush covering it.
“Hey! Guff!” Ugly bellowed out when they neared the entrance.
A tall, lanky man walked out of the cave. He had a rough beard and long, dark hair. “Welcome back, boss,” he said before noticing me. “Who’s the kid?”
“Our next meal ticket,” Ugly said with a laugh. “Anything happen while we were gone?”
“Nope,” Guff shook his head. “Quiet as the grave.”
“Shit,” thought Carter. They had one more man. This might complicate his escape plans.
The gang entered the cave with Carter, Weasel pushing him all along the way. Inside was a rocky tunnel that quickly rose up, leading into a large, underground cavern. There was an opening at the top allowing sunlight to shine down, but most of the light in the cave was provided by a large central fire pit along with several torches hammered into the walls. From the sleeping rolls, blankets, cookware, and other detritus that littered the floor of the cavern, it was obvious that his kidnappers had been using this place for their base.
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The gang disbursed upon entering the cavern, most of them going towards the sleeping rolls to rest. Teeth took out a burlap sack and began to search its contents. Within it were all of Carter’s belongings, taken from him when he had been caught. Teeth began sorting the bag, looking for things he deemed valuable. He pulled out the cell phone and looked it over, obviously wondering what it was. To Carter’s eyes, the thug looked like an ape trying to study a piece of scientific instrumentation. Teeth finally gave up on guessing and casually tossed the phone down onto the floor; Carter flinched and hoped that the thing wasn’t broken.
Weasel shoved Carter towards a corner of the cave whereupon he was ordered to sit down. Carter complied, taking a seat on the hard stone floor with his back to the cave wall. His eyes flicked around, noting the location of everything within the cavern: the exit, the firepit, the sleeping rolls. As he was doing this, his eyes landed on two pale shapes nearby.
One was a woman, lying on her side, naked with numerous scratches and bruises on her skin. She lay still and unmoving on the hard, stone floor, her arms and legs drawn up towards her torso as if to ward off the cold. Next to her was another body, this one smaller and younger. It looked to be a boy, no older than fifteen. He lay on his back, his form in the same shape as the woman, riddled with dark bruises and numerous cuts, and dried blood. His eyes were still open, a pale, dead blue, gazing unseeing up towards the cavern’s high ceiling.
“You’re lucky, ya know,” Weasel said when he noticed where Carter’s eyes were. “If we wasn’t ransomin’ ya off, the boss prolly woulda done you like he done that boy. He loves his pretty boys, he does.” The thin man chuckled. “We others, we got to have the mum. Feisty li’l bitch she was. Kickin’ an screamin’. Beggin the boss ta leave her son alone.” Weasel laughed, shaking his head in mirth. “Oh, she was a sight. The boy didn’t last long wif’ what the boss did ta him, but the mum! Oh, the mum. She lasted for days.”
Pure, blinding fury boiled in the pit of Carter’s stomach. With every word Weasel said, the rage within him sizzled ever hotter. He directed his fiercest glare at Weasel, silently telling the low-life bandit what he thought of him.
“Oh, you don’t like that, do ya?” Weasel noticed his sneer, not liking it one bit. “Well, watcha gonna do ‘bout it, poncey?” The man suddenly lashed out with a kick, his booted heel smashing into Carter’s face.
“Jacksim, you stupid fuck! Don’t damage the merchandise!” Ugly shouted. He got up from his sleeping roll and stomped towards us, his nostrils flaring wide in fury.
“Sorry, boss! He was lookin’ at me funny so I just tapped ‘im a little bit.”
“I swear to god, Jacksim. If you damaged him too badly…” Ugly kneeled down and grabbed at Carter’s face, looking him over. He frowned at the large bruise on his jaw and the small trickle of blood on his lip.
“Nah, see, he’s good, ain’t’cha, poncey?” Weasel laughed nervously as Ugly examined Carter’s wound. “He’s a tough little shite, e’ll be fine.”
Ugly stood up after his examination, then turned to Weasel and grabbed him by the shoulder. “If you ever, EVER lay a finger on him again, I will beat the living shite out of you. Understand?”
Weasel flinched as Ugly gripped his shoulder tightly. “Y-yeah, boss. I understand.”
The bandit leader pushed him away, then stomped back towards the sleeping rolls. Weasel rubbed at his smarting shoulder for a bit before directing an angry glare down at Carter.
Carter merely stared back at him, the look in his eyes daring the other to try something. Weasel frowned, then spat to the side. He quickly shuffled off, leaving Carter alone.
Which was exactly what Carter wanted. Ignoring the aching pain in his jaw, his hands began to work, fingers deftly pulling at the wound rope, slowly but surely undoing the knots holding it together. As a former Navy man, Carter knew his knots. He had been trained almost daily on how to tie them, how to untie them, and how to make sure they were tight enough to hold an entire ship to port. Weasel’s pathetic knots didn’t stand a chance.