Page 20 of Wildcat

Yoggie grabs two bottles and another syringe. When he shows me the medication, I nod. Good choice giving her more of a relaxer like Xanax. The second is Tramadol. I’m going to use the middle dosage of sixty mg/ml. This should not only help with the pain but these two drugs will hopefully put Cici into a form of twilight, which will allow us to move her.

I lift the filthy blanket off Cici, checking her hip for somewhere to give the shot. She’s a mess, so I give Yoggie a look then point with the syringe to her arm. He nods and after a quick swipe of an alcohol pad, which seems stupid but it’s my training, I inject the medication into Cici’s arm. Within, shit, like four minutes or so her eyes get heavy. Both Frankie and Heartbreaker are softly talking to her. With the help of the men, we again lean Cici and the wooden contraption to the side and start pouring the water on her to loosen the dried blood. The more water we use, the horror of what she went through is becoming very apparent. After the third bottle, when we go to put her down, Tink comes running in with two more bottles of water. She hands them off and immediately leaves.

Now that all the water has been poured over Cici’s back, we gently put her back on the ground. I give the women a look so they know we are about to literally pull her off the wood. Yoggie moves to her feet and places his foot on the board she’s been cuffed to. Frankie does the same and I see their eyes meet. They’ll make great partners because they already have a relationship and seem to read each other. Back to the matter at hand. Panther is on one side and Avalanche is on my side.

“Doc, move outta the way. No way we’re putting ya at risk. We’ll lift her, you make sure she comes off that board, no matter what. Be prepared, Malcolm, no matter how many drugs you shoot into her, she is going to make sounds you’ve never heard in your life before. This is going to be torture for her, so let’s do this quickly. How do you want her once she’s off, on her stomach, maybe? So you can get a good look of the damage done.”

I just nod while moving out of the way. I’m between Avalanche and Frankie and all of them are looking at me for direction. Shit, okay, we can do this.

“Okay, on three, pull her off. So one, two, three….”

The sounds coming from Cici aren’t even human. They sound like a wild animal being tortured or killed. At the same moment we start to pull her off, we hear another scream coming from whatever Shadow is doing. Panther glances toward the door but never stops pulling Cici up. We hear weird noises coming as her body is pulled from the board. When she is free her head hangs a bit, though Heartbreaker is holding on tightly. Once the guys turn her so I can see her back, I feel the bile come up my throat but I swallow it down.

It looks like raw meat. Besides being whipped, she was also burned with either cigarettes or cigars. On her one shoulder I can even see the striations of muscle through the deep open cut. Immediately, I move the duffel bag closer as I pull out saline and gauze. Yoggie is right across from me and together we clean Cici’s back as best we can. With sterile scissors he cuts off layers of hanging skin that already are turning black. Using butterfly strips to try to close the worst ones, we work our way down her back. Yoggie reaches over, pushing on my shoulder, then looks down. Goddamn it.

Looks like Cici has some form of a rupture or prolapsed anus due to severe sexual assault. She’ll need surgery to repair that. Son of a bitch. Yoggie is monitoring her stats while both Panther and Avalanche help me with her many injuries. Once we have her as stable as possible, I look around for something to put her on. Yoggie dives into the bottom of the duffle bag and pulls out another nylon bag. Then he pulls out something that looks like a mix between a yoga mat and a banner. He flips it open, grabs some poles to support it, then lays it right next to Cici. Well, what the hell, I have never seen anything like that before.

“Malcolm, we used these a lot when I was in the military. Easy enough to pack in your gear and helps when someone needs to be moved carefully. I’d say try and put her on her side. Or as best we can. Gotta get a move on, chopper is on its way.”

Together as a team we prop Cici on the makeshift stretcher and between Yoggie, Panther, Avalanche, and Enforcer, they pick her up. I know they are trying to protect me, but damn, I feel useless. Well, until Panther tells me to lead the way. With Heartbreaker and Frankie on either side of me, we carefully walk toward the field. It looks to have been cleared out recently so maybe that was their plan to get rid of or sell these women.

In the distance I hear something, not sure what. Looking up, that’s when I see the drone circling the area.

“Yeah, that’s our brother, Freak, keeping eyes in the sky. This way we are covered and no surprises, Malcolm. Ain’t our first rodeo, Doc.”

I look behind me to see all the men smirking or grinning. Yeah, gotta find something to smile about when dealing with this kind of stuff. We set Cici down and we all surround her. Heartbreaker is down on a knee, holding her hand, talking to her even though she’s unconscious. That’s when I hear the swooshing sound. I tilt my head and when it comes into view my mouth drops open. How in the fuck does Tink’s dad have one of them? I think to myself.

“Malcolm, we all asked the same question first time we saw that thing. It’s an Airbus EC145 and from what Zoey has told me, it’s not Tank’s. He has a friend who, let’s just say acquired this machine. He leaves it out here in a hanger for Tank to use when he needs it.”

I watch as the big bird lands and immediately Cici is lifted and brought to the side door. She’s loaded up, then Heartbreaker gets in beside her. Everyone looks to me. Oh, holy mother of God, they want me to go too.

“Malcolm, need a doctor or medic to go with. Once we clean up the trash, we’ll meet you at the hospital.”

I look into Frankie’s eyes and realize there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her, so I nod and carefully get in the copter. The pilot points to the seat directly behind him. Once everyone is settled, he gives a hand signal twirling his finger in the air. Before I can even take a breath, he lifts up in the air and off we go.

One thing pops into my head. I’d hate to be any of those men down there because we’re lucky enough to fly away. All they have to look forward to is knowing today is the day, after Shadow plays with them, they will take their last breath and die. What a sobering thought.

TWENTY

‘SHADOW’

ZOEY

My body is itchy from all the dried blood and guts on it. Not to mention it’s humid as fuck out here. Not my choice to work someone over in the goddamn forest, but I’m pretty flexible. Out of the nine men we caught, six are dead. Some in multiple pieces, had to get creative this time. Needed them to talk quickly and shut up their screams of pain, though it’s like music to my ears.

Looking at the last three, one is fading fast. I move toward him as he’s hanging upside down from a tree. Blood is pooling under him, dripping from his nose and ears. Probably from the blunt force trauma. I’m pretty sure between Rebel and me together, we fractured his skull. Oh well, shit happens as they say. A small part of me feels bad, he’s a younger guy but, fuck, he made the wrong decisions. Plus, he was one of the assholes in that cabin with Cici. He was actually pushing his junk into his jeans when we busted in. That’s when he shit his pants. Yeah, pretty nasty but it got worse, especially after I saw what they did to Cici. Now he’s going to die scared, alone, and hopefully realizing the mistakes he’s made in his short life. I mean, this is when I get emotional, if I can even call it that. He’s someone’s kid, brother, cousin. Seriously doubt he’s got a wife, don’t seem to respect women much.

When we stripped him, his dick still had Cici’s blood on it, so that tells me more than I ever wanted to know. Well, he is now covered in his own blood. I look to Dani and nod. She reaches for her knife and cuts the rope. He falls hard to the ground but not a sound comes from his mouth. Somehow, he manages to roll over and moan. When he does open his eyes, they are blown. The whites of his eyes are pinkish and his pupils are blown. I could just let him suffer and die, but I’m not that person anymore. So, I approach him. When I’m beside him, I crouch down and lift his head.

“Anything else you want to tell me, kid?”

He starts to shake and I think it finally penetrated that this is it.

“I don’t want to die. Why do you have to kill me? If you let me go, I’ll work with you. I can change, give me a chance. Fuck, lady, I’m only twenty-one years old.”

“Yeah, you dick, and the girl you raped with your buddies was twenty years old. She did nothing but want to live her life. Wrong place, wrong time.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Oh, wow, you haven’t figured it out yet. This was planned. Check out the players. That girl was bought and paid for with a huge bag of money. We were just the beginning for her. She was sold to a dude overseas. Guess you’re going to have to figure out who did this to her. You can kill me, but there will be five or ten more to take my place.”

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