A new story, at the request of Hunter316.
THE SLAVE, HUNTERInitial Cast:
Hunter - Age nearly 15 years old, 5’ 7”, 130 pounds, slim but with an athletic body (good definition). Shaggy light blonde hair, blue eyes, light freckles around his nose. Very handsome face.
Jaden - Age 17 years old, 6’ 0”, 175 pounds. Much more muscular than Hunter, brown hair and brown eyes, very athletic and captain of the school football team. Comes from the wealthiest family in the region. Pretty much the most popular boy in high school.
Alex – Age 16 years old, 5’ 10”, 160 pounds, Asian, black hair, dark brown eyes. Taller and more muscular than Hunter but shorter and less muscular than Jaden. Rather dominant-aggressive personality to most people but is a loyal friend and follower of Jaden’s, and also lives in the same neighborhood.
Sam – Age 15 years old, 5’ 8”, 140 pounds, a little bigger than Hunter, follower of the other two. Has blonde hair, hazel eyes; not as muscular as his two friends but still trim, wiry and strong. Member of his school’s wrestling team. Like Jaden and Alex, comes from a rich family.
Sierra – age 15 years old, 5’ 7”, 110 pounds, slim but athletic, on her school’s acrobatic beam. Long wavy blonde hair, gorgeous face and a killer body. Green eyes. Has a mild crush on Hunter, who has a very strong crush on her but is far from being the only boy who does. Has a mild but noticeably mischievous personality.Appearing Later:
Carsen - Jaden's little brother, 12 (almost 13) years old, brown hair and brown eyes with freckles, very good looking kid. Just a bit shorter than Hunter but with an even more athletic build, short hair (not quite buzzed, but pretty close).
Austin- Alex's little brother, 13 1/2, short and fairly skinny for his age; smaller than Carsen but very athletic (wiry build). Shaggy black hair, black eyes, into sports like soccer just like Hunter.CHAPTER ONE – THE KIDNAPPINGIt was the game that would determine which school would obtain the State Soccer Championship; the last Soccer game before the end of the school year. It was a cloudy but pleasantly warm day in early June; just one week before summer vacation would begin.
Hunter saw his chance, kicked the ball along the field with two members of the opposing team striving vainly to catch up to him, and with a mighty surge of his leg muscles licked the Soccer ball directly toward the net as hard as he could.
“Look at that kid go,” someone in the audience yelled as Hunter scored another goal into the Soccer net past the keeper; winning the game for his team. “He must’ve been eating his Cheerios!”
“He’s got really nice Soccer legs!” a familiar-sounding feminine voice replied from somewhere behind him. Hunter didn’t see her, but it was undoubtedly his mischievous friend Sierra who had spoken. Hunter was pretty sure she wasn’t just referring to his skills in running fast and kicking soccer balls either.
Hunter blushed momentarily but pretended to ignore the comment as he and his team-mates celebrated their latest win against their rival team The Mighty Muskrats. High-fives were exchanged all around as the audience in the bleachers and members of both teams prepared to go home after a long, hard-fought game. Several of his teammates congratulated Hunter for making the winning goal but none of them lingered for small talk afterward.
Finally, as the team began to disperse to rejoin their families and go home, Hunter grabbed his knapsack, sat all alone on a small bench at one edge of the field, and changed his soccer shoes for a clean set of Nike sneakers. He would have to ride his bike home, and the stiff-soled Soccer shoes were less suitable for that than his normal footwear would be. He had no change of clean clothes otherwise however; why bother changing into regular clothes when he’d only get those sweaty and smelly as well riding his bike six miles over rather hilly roads? He may as well keep his already gamey Soccer outfit (red shirt, blue shorts with red racing stripes, and knee-length red socks) on until he got home and could wash up and relax.
Hunter idly looked around and watched as his team-mates were greeted by their parents and siblings; many of whom cheered their family member’s efforts in the game regardless of which team they’d been playing. Hunter looked at some of them wistfully, and wished he had a family like some of the ones he was watching. But he had no siblings or close friends (other than Sierra) to root for him. He had parents all right, but his father was hospitalized in a sanitarium 100 miles away to treat his advanced Tuberculosis, and his mother was also there for the weekend to visit with him. Hunter would not have minded being with them there as well, but minors weren’t allowed to visit contagion wards, and there were also classes to attend and his schoolwork and farm chores to deal with. Also his Soccer team had needed him, he thought to himself with a grin.
Hunter looked up as the same pleasant feminine voice as before called his name from a closer distance than before. A smiling Sierra was coming toward him to say hello and congratulate him on scoring the winning goal. Hunter’s mood picked up greatly as the girl walked up to him. Having her around chased away all his feelings of self-pity and regrets, and he smiled as he returned her greeting.
Up in the stands, three other boys quietly conversed; watching Hunter surreptitiously as the crowd began to disperse or – in the case of family members or friends - join up with team members to take them home. All three were dressed in brand-new, fashionable clothes; indicating their families’ high socio-economic standing in the community.
“Is everything all set?” the largest boy, Jaden, quietly asked the other two boys as he watched Sierra walk up to Hunter and congratulate him.
“Yep,” Alex replied. “I made sure both his bike tires are flat as pancakes. He lives too far from here to want to walk – especially alone.”
“Looks like it’s going to rain soon too; that should help,” Jaden added. “Since I offered Sierra a ride home, she’s certain to include Hunter in on the offer when she finds out he’s stranded here. She’s told me that he *hates* walking in the rain!”
“And once we drop her off, we’ll have Hunter all to ourselves,” Sam added unnecessarily.
It was all planned carefully. Hunter lived over six miles (all of it along country roads) from the rural high school he and they attended, and had bicycled here at the start of the school day. Between his bike ride here, a long day of school classes, and the subsequent Soccer game after school let out, he’d be too tired to want to walk home, the school buses were long gone, and he would be unlikely to hitch a ride with strangers. Sierra was his girlfriend however – or, at least, so Hunter thought of her as being – and lived roughly halfway between Hunter’s house and the school. Once Sierra offered him a ride home, Hunter would surely be glad to accept.
Of course, he’d really be accepting a ride home from Jaden. But the normally shy boy likely wouldn’t object even though he didn’t know the older boy very well. Without Sierra in the picture it would likely be different, however. Jaden was a junior (though he seemed like a senior even to actual seniors) while Hunter was only a freshman over two years younger. Moreover, Jaden was from the wealthiest family in the county while Hunter’s parents were merely struggling farmers deep in debt because of Hunter’s father’s medical bills. Therefore, the two boys generally did not move in the same social circles. Moreover, Hunter was notoriously shy; and it was well-known that he had strong feelings of inadequacy around other students from the wealthier families.
However, Jaden – though occasionally a tad rough to some of the freshmen like many jocks his age – had never been unfriendly to Hunter. In fact, he even once scared off another kid he’d caught picking on Hunter for some reason, gave Hunter a friendly smile, and then went on his way. Therefore Jaden’s offer of a ride home would arouse no suspicions on the younger boy’s part… especially when made through Hunter’s own girlfriend… even though Jaden’s own house was not along the way to Sierra’s and even further out of the way to Hunter’s house.
Of course, Sierra didn’t have a clue about what Jaden’s true motivations were. She simply believed Jaden offered her a ride because he was her friend and was rather sweet on her. This was also true, but she didn’t know that Jaden’s true plans involved getting Hunter into his van rather than her. She would be making the offer herself on her own initiative; unaware that such was Jaden’s true aim all along. She would make the offer, Jaden would graciously go along with the idea, and not only would he have Hunter where he wanted him but Sierra would be even more impressed with Jaden than ever! It was truly a win-win scenario – at least for Jaden!
Sierra was in fact sweeter on Jaden than she was on Hunter. The younger boy was very cute and sweet-natured, yes; but from her lofty standpoint of being a year older than Hunter he was also just a kid, and so naïve about so many things. In her adolescent mind, Hunter simply paled in comparison with Jaden, who was older, larger, stronger, more athletic, and so… manly, though still in a ruggedly handsome boyish kind of way.
The fact that his family was wealthy might have been a subconscious factor as well, but she would have vehemently denied that notion had it ever consciously occurred to her at all. Hunter was a sweet boy… but the more rugged Jaden was practically a man! Not only did he have a driver’s license (which Hunter was too young to possess) but he owned his own brand-new van as well! And when she thought about how he looked with his shirt off… well!
Jaden and his two cronies watched from a discreet distance as Hunter and Sierra talked together without moving toward the bike rack where Hunter had left his bicycle. Excellent. The longer that it took Hunter to realize that his bike tires were flat (and irreparable even if he happened to have a tire-repair kit with him), the fewer options for getting home he would have as the other people all around continued to disperse; getting into their own vehicles - or, in a few cases, mounting their own bikes - and riding off. Half of the people who had attended the Soccer match had already left, and most of the rest were already inside their vehicles and starting out. The threat of rain in the air helped; it encouraged people to hasten on their way home.
Of course, Jaden’s plans had not – could not – have been airtight. Hunter might decide to simply walk home after all if the weather improved, or perhaps hitch a ride from another friend if any were still around when he noticed the condition of his bike tires. But there were contingency plans to account for these variables as well if all did not go according to plan.
If Hunter started walking then, if need be, they could take Sierra straight home and then come back for him. There was a place along the way where they could pass by Hunter unseen by anyone else on the road, stop, and offer him a ride. If he refused for some reason, they could simply grab him and take him along with them anyway. He’d struggle of course, but they’d be three to his one and each of them was much stronger than he was to boot. And, of course, they could still use the means to pacify him that they planned to use anyway; it would be harder but not at all impossible.
If he got a ride home, well – he’d be home alone for a long while anyway. Hunter’s dad was going to be in the hospital for a long time to come and Jaden knew that Hunter’s mother was gone for at least the weekend as well; leaving Hunter completely alone in the house with the nearest neighbor a quarter-mile off and well out of earshot. Then they could simply snatch the unsuspecting Hunter while he showered (no one expects – or is ready to deal with - trouble when they’re home alone taking a shower!) or slept in his bed; and take him away from his own house with no witnesses nor anyone to interfere. Afterward, people might think he simply ran away from home or something.
The crowd continued to disperse; all but a few people with cars had driven away by the time Hunter and Sierra began to walk to where he had parked his bicycle. Jaden, Sam, and Alex remained seated on the bleachers and continued to watch them casually. Their continued presence there would arouse no suspicions; after all, they were simply waiting patiently to give Sierra a ride home after she had finished talking with her other friend.
“I think she likes Hunter more than she lets on,” Alex ventured with a derisive snort. “Are you sure her feelings for him have nothing to do with why we’re doing this, Jaden?”
“I’m sure,” Jaden said flatly. “I’ve got nothing against Hunter. Hell, his being sweet on Sierra simply makes this whole plan a whole lot easier to work out. Look at him. He’s reached his bike, but he’s still so busy mooning over her that he still hasn’t noticed both his tires are flat and poked full of holes! But yeah, that’s not why I want to take him. It’s not revenge at all. Quite the opposite. I like the little bugger, actually. He’ll make a cute pet!”
“Ohh, hooo,” Alex said in sudden comprehension. “So that’s why you had your ‘guest quarters’ all prepared. I thought maybe you were planning a special surprise for Carsen or Austin again… or maybe even for Sam here.”
Sam gave Alex a dirty look but did not dignify the comment with any further response; he was sure Alex was only joking about that possibility. “You’re really going to make Hunter a permanent guest then?” Sam asked Jaden. “I thought at most that you were going to just do a short tie-up, like you’ve done to me and those other two.”
“Carsen’s my own kid brother, so I couldn’t very well hide him away indefinitely, now could I?” Jaden retorted to Alex with a mildly sarcastic tone. “Especially not in our own house. Mom and dad aren’t in the house much, but even they would notice something was amiss if Carsen didn’t’ turn up now and then. Besides, he may only be twelve but he’s already getting pretty big and too hard even for me to keep under total control. A bit too much like me, I suppose.”
“And my kid brother Austin’s just as close to Carsen as I am to Jaden,” Alex added. “Carsen would put up too much of a fuss if Austin became just another one of Jaden’s pets, even if it *would* take all the pressure off of himself. But he doesn’t know Hunter there from a hole in the ground. He’s not going to object to Hunter taking his place in our bondage and domination games. Hell, he’ll probably help with Hunter’s training just out of his own best interests. With Hunter there, he’ll be free to do whatever else he pleases whether his folks are home or not. Austin would help too, if only to ensure he never takes Hunter’s place in the ‘guest quarters’.”
“Yeah, your brothers always were rather strong-willed for their age, weren’t they?” Sam replied with a grin. “Sometimes they even try bossing *me* around when I visit either of you at home. I can see why you’d prefer having someone who isn’t so strong-willed as your slave, Jaden. Your brother and Alex’s brother are too much like you. They’re natural masters; not slaves. Hunter on the other hand is the perfect choice. He’s mild-mannered, not very strong except for those legs, and not at all bad looking. Training him ought to be a pretty pleasant experience.”
Jaden wasn’t paying all that much attention to what Sam was saying; at that moment, he was watching those very same legs his friend had just mentioned as Hunter hunkered down to re-tie one of his sneaker’s laces that had come loose. As he was still wearing his soccer shorts, Hunter’s legs were still on display. Although Hunter wasn’t especially muscular, he was quite fit, and his legs were definitely more well-developed than the rest of him. He had proved that with his Soccer skills today; running almost tirelessly during the game despite all the prior exertions of the day. He would have had energy to spare in those legs to get himself home on his bike if his tires hadn’t been sabotaged first.
Jaden definitely admired those trim muscular legs Hunter had. He looked forward to…
“Oh, look,” Alex said with a chuckle as he nudged Jaden gently with his elbow. “The poor dope has finally noticed what happened to his bike!”
Indeed, Hunter’s yell of outrage was carrying clearly all the way over to them, even though they were a good 300 feet away.
“He’s got good lungs,” Sam observed dryly. “Better make sure no one else is within earshot when he finds out we’re not taking him home.”
“That’ll be your job,” Jaden reminded him. “Just make sure you don’t goof it up, or you *will* be staying in the ‘guest room’ tonight… and for many nights to come!”
Sam swallowed nervously and became considerably more obsequious. “I won’t mess up! And Alex will be there to help me restrain him anyway if he gets too feisty!”
“Just make sure not to hurt him either,” Jaden added. “Hunter won’t make a very good slave at all if gets too heavy a dose of that stuff, or if he gets hurt so much he needs medical attention. I’d do the honors myself but I’ll have my hands full just driving the van; so I’m counting on you. Do *not* let me down!”
“I won’t, Jaden! I won’t! I promise!” Sam exclaimed nervously. “The dope’s right here in my jacket pocket, and all the other stuff’s packed inside the box in the back of the van.”
Hunter was still howling almost incoherently (but apparently quite luridly) about his bike, while Sierra was attempting to calm him down. It was plainly evident that the flat tires were not merely unfortunate accidents; someone had deliberately, maliciously slashed the tires. Hunter was at a loss to understand who at his school would do such a thing. Though he had few friends other than Sierra, he had no enemies at school to speak of either; certainly no one who disliked him *this* much! Hunter could only surmise that it was done by some punk from the losing team showing poor sportsmanship against the person most directly responsible for their team’s loss.
“Now what am I gonna do?” Hunter groused unhappily as Sierra managed to soothe him with a sympathetic hug and a chaste kiss on the cheek. “It’s gonna take an hour to get home on foot even if I jog, and I’m too bushed to jog that far. So that means a 90-minute to two-hour walk – maybe longer if I walk my bike on those flat tires the entire way!”
“I’m sure you could easily get a ride,” Sierra told him. “I’m sure anyone would give a cutie like you a ride even without you sticking out your thumb for one,” she added teasingly. “Just show off those lovely trim legs of yours!”
“I never accept rides from strangers,” Hunter insisted; ignoring the teasing compliment about his legs. “Mom and dad are always telling me horror stories about how some people like to nab kids who hitchhike and do all sorts of awful things to them! Especially to ‘cuties’ like me,” he added with a rueful smile and a calmer voice; Sierra always was a soothing influence on him!
“Out by the cities maybe, but nobody around here would do anything like that,” Sierra replied confidently. “Anyway, Jaden’s giving me a ride home. I’m sure he’d give you a ride home too if you asked him nicely.”
Hunter looked askance at the bleachers where the three older boys still sat; casually talking among themselves and idly watching them. “I don’t know,” Hunter said doubtfully. “Seems to me he likes you too much to suit me. He’d probably just tell me to walk home – and to get lost while I was at it! I doubt he even cares whether or not I’m alive.”
Hunter would have probably more chagrined than pleased if he’d known then just how wrong he was about what Jaden thought of him!
“All right then, *I’ll* ask him,” Sierra replied cheerfully as she gave Hunter another kiss on the cheek and then quickly sauntered over to where the other three boys awaited her. “Like you said, he likes *me*! He won’t say ‘no’ if *I* ask him.”
Normally, Hunter would have probably preferred to walk the six miles home rather than accept a favor from someone he barely knew and whom he considered a rival for Sierra’s attentions. Especially a rival he felt completely out-classed by. But he was tired, upset about his vandalized bicycle, hungry, thirsty, sweaty, and he just wanted to go home. So, grunting a bit unhappily about the situation but making no actual objection to Sierra’s idea, he grabbed his gear and followed along a few feet behind her as she walked straight toward the other three boys.
“Ready to go, Sierra?” Jaden called out in a sincerely friendly and amiable voice as he and his two cronies stood up and stepped down off of the bleachers they had been sitting in. Then he turned a friendly gaze toward Hunter. “Hi, Hunter. What’s up?” he asked amiably; which put the wary Hunter somewhat off his guard. “Great game, by the way!”
“Hunter’s stranded,” Sierra replied briskly as she walked up to him. “Someone messed with his bike. Could you give him a ride home too please?”
“Sure, Sierra; no problem,” Jaden replied cheerfully. “There’s plenty of room in the van. Come on, Hunter. You can sit in the middle seat along with Sierra.” He said this while clapping Hunter on the back; smiling as if they were lifelong friends instead of two boys who usually exchanged little more than silent glances to each other when they passed each other in the school hallways.
“Hey, go bring your bike too. I have a bike rack on the roof. No point leaving your bike here.”
Hunter was somewhat surprised at this friendly gesture but said nothing other than “Thanks”; though he said this with sincere gratitude and flashed one of his winning smiles as he did so. He then ran off to retrieve his bicycle from where he had left it.
“You’ve got such a sweet smile, Hunter old kid,” Jaden thought quietly to himself as the group walked over to his van; now almost the only motor vehicle left in the parking lot. “Too bad I won’t be seeing many more smiles like that coming from you for a while. But I’m sure I’ll see it again eventually… and the wait and the experiences in between will be worth it.”
Jaden after unlocking the sliding door at the side of his van and invited the others to climb in. he then took Hunter’s bicycle for him and, with Alex’s help, secured it snugly on the bike rack on top of his van. There were three rows of seats in all. Hunter gestured for Sierra to climb in first, but she demurred. “My stop is closer,” she pointed out. “I’ll be getting off first, and as there’s no door in the other side it makes more sense for me to get on after you if we’re sitting together.”
Hunter gave in to her logic and climbed into the middle seat, and Sierra climbed in and sat beside him. Sam followed the two of them inside the van and sat by himself in the seat behind them. Alex then closed the sliding door behind them, opened the passenger side door next to it, and climbed into the front passenger seat while Jaden climbed into the driver’s seat and started the van’s motor.
Hunter and Sierra chatted amiably together as the van pulled out of the school parking lot and started down the road. The other three occupants of the van remained silent, but Hunter and Sierra were too preoccupied talking with each other to notice or care.
After a pleasure three-mile drive, the van reached Sierra’s house; a pleasant two-story house near the edge of the business center of town. Like Jaden, Sam and Alex, her family was more than comfortably well-off, though not rich like Jaden’s family was. Sierra’s kid sister Kiera was outside playing, and called a cheerful greeting to Sierra as she slide the van door open. Sierra gave Hunter a quick hug and said her goodbyes before getting up and hopping out of the van.
“Wait, I’ll get out with you,” Hunter exclaimed and began to get up to follow her. “I can just walk my bike home from here.”
“Don’t be silly, Hunter!” Sierra protested a bit sardonically as she thrust out a hand to stop him from climbing out of the van. “It’s still over three miles to your house. Just let Jaden drive you home like he agreed to. Jaden, you want to take Hunter home, don’t you?”
“I most certainly do,” Jaden replied quite sincerely, though the home he had in mind was his own rather than Hunter’s. But his smile and tone were so disarmingly friendly that they put Hunter off his guard. “Don’t sweat it, Pal. Why walk when you can ride?”
“Oh. Okay,” Hunter gave in reluctantly. “See you Monday, Sierra.” Hunter said more cheerfully.
“See you Monday, Hunter,” she replied warmly before closing the van door shut again, waving to him, and then turning to walk briskly toward her house; her younger sister cheerfully tagging along right beside her and asking her about her day. Hunter watched them wistfully; he wished he had someone at home who cared how *his* day had been!
Somewhat glumly, Hunter sat back down in his seat.
“Don’t worry Hunter; we’ll have you home in no time,” Jaden promised him as he began driving his van away from Sierra’s house and continued down the lonely country road. “We’re going to take good care of you.”
He looked into his dashboard mirror at Hunter, who was paying little attention to him, and then at Sam, who was paying very close attention to him. The road was deserted of any other traffic, and there were no houses around. No one could see them.
Jaden nodded his head slightly as he locked eyes with Sam. Sam nodded back, and Jaden continued to concentrate on his driving. The exchange of glances went completely unnoticed by Hunter, but the younger boy nonetheless began to tense up. It seemed awfully quiet in here now, without Sierra to talk to; and he scarcely knew any of these three boys he was riding with. He felt something was wrong. Maybe he should ask Jaden to stop and let him out right here.
“So Hunter, how’s you dad doing?” Jaden suddenly asked him with evident concern.
“Oh… uhh… okay, I guess,” Hunter replied hesitantly. “Doctors say he can probably come home next month.”
Unknown to Hunter, Sam was quietly pulling a handkerchief out of one pocket and a small dark bottle from another. He uncapped the bottle and quietly emptied its contents onto the handkerchief before carefully setting the bottle down on his seat to one side of him.
“Must be kind of lonely being home all alone, isn’t it?” Jaden inquired sympathetically; watching both Sam and Hunter through his rearview mirror.
“I’m used to it,” Hunter replied quietly; looking out his window and totally oblivious to Sam’s movements behind him. “Folks were never home much to begin with. Mom and dad aren’t exactly close. I doubt they’d even notice if I never came back home.”
Jaden coughed and acted like he was going to choke for a moment, but quickly regained his aplomb. “Hey, Hunter, it must really suck spending the weekend all alone,” Jaden said after a moment. “Look, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you spend the weekend with us? You’d have some company, and we’d get to know each other better.”
“Why would you want that?” Hunter asked in some puzzlement as he looked up warily.
“Well, you’re Sierra’s friend, right?” Jaden pointed out reasonably. “And *I’m* her friend too. So it stands to reason that the two of us should also be friends! How about it?”
“Uhhh… well, thanks, but I’d better not,” Hunter replied quietly. “I’m tired, grubby, need a bath and fresh clothes, and… well… I just don’t’ want to. Maybe some other time, all right?”
Jaden didn’t reply.
Hunter looked upward at the older boy after a few seconds when he heard no answer. It was only then that he noticed that Jaden had turned down a little used side-road that went nowhere near where he wanted to go. “Hey, what’s up?” Hunter asked nervously as he straightened up in his seat. “You’re going the wrong way!”
“I really think you’d be happier if you just came home with us,” Jaden replied levelly but with what was meant to be a reassuring smile.
Hunter wasn’t reassured. The smile didn’t quite reach Jaden’s eyes, which at that moment looked cold and scary to him. The combination of wide toothy grin and cold eyes made Jaden appear like a shark to Hunter at that moment.
Behind him, Sam clutched the wet cloth in his right hand and slowly leaned forward.
“No! Please! I just want to go home!” Hunter managed to exclaim just before a pair of arms came from behind him and grabbed him tightly. The left arm hooked itself around the boy’s throat, while the opposite hand tightly held a wet, strange-smelling cloth against his face. At virtually the same instant, Hunter began feeling very light headed.
“NOOOO!” Hunter screamed. In a panic, he lurched forward with all his strength. Aided by a surge of adrenalin, Hunter managed to break away from a hold that would normally have kept him helplessly trapped – at least for the time it would take for the chloroform to work. “Let me out of here!” he yelled as he grabbed his knapsack and began to throw open the sliding van door to jump out despite the fact that the van was still traveling at a good thirty miles an hour. Hunter was too panicked (as well as dazed from his too-brief exposure to the chloroform) to notice or care about this however; at that moment anything was better than staying where he was!
Hunter grabbed the latch of the van door and began to slide it open. At the very same moment, Jaden, not wishing to see Hunter hurt himself by jumping out of a moving van, slammed on the breaks. Unable to brace himself, Hunter found himself propelled forward and slammed against the back of the front passenger seat, while the van door – retaining its inertia – slammed shut again but did not latch.
Before Hunter could recover himself, Alex turned around in his seat and grabbed the younger boy as he was recovering from his sprawl. At the same time, Sam closed in on him again; holding the wet cloth in one hand and ready to press it into his face to quiet him down.
“No! NO! NOOOO!” Hunter screamed as he turned his lower body directly toward Sam and, acting purely from instinct, kicked out with his right foot. A kick that had sent soccer balls flying a hundred feet now impacted a different set of balls with equally startling results. Sam wasn’t sent flying but merely sent reeling backward. The chloroform-soaked cloth fell from suddenly limp fingers, was snatched by the wind from the still partially open side door, and flew out of sight like an autumn leaf into the ditch beside the road.
Sam did not notice and did not care; in fact, he’d totally lost all interest in the proceedings as his perceptual world shrank into an agony-saturated sphere centered in his groin. He groaned and curled up into a tight fetal position; writhing and moaning in sheer misery.
Jaden pulled over to the very edge of the dirt road and braked the van to a complete stop. Taking a quick look to make sure the road was completely deserted (which it was, as he was sure it would be), he then turned around and climbed through the gap between his seat and the passenger seat to grab the struggling Hunter in a bear hug; forcing Hunter down onto the floor of the van with the weight and strength of his body.
“Get the stuff! Quick!” Jaden ordered Alex; it was obvious that Sam was in no shape to comply with his orders at the moment.
Alex climbed through the gap and hurried to the back of the van, found a large cardboard box, and carried it back to where Jaden was still pinning a still-struggling Hunter down. The younger, smaller boy lashed out with his legs again; evidently hoping to score a second strike, but Jaden was completely out of reach of his kicks and Alex was nimble enough to avoid them. Before Hunter could kick out again, Alex closed in on him and pinned Hunter’s legs down underneath his own body. Hunter tried to kick his legs free, but Alex was too strong and heavy for him; especially while Jaden was still pinning his arms tightly against his sides. He managed to immobilize Hunter’s legs even as Jaden immobilized his arms and torso, and went to work.
Hunter’s eyes bulged in shock as Alex opened the box, pulled out a small blanket that apparently had been used as cushioning, and removed, in order, a set of handcuffs, a set of ankle cuffs, a small chain liked the one Hunter himself used to lock his bike to protect it from theft, a ball gag, and what was apparently some kind of ski mask or hood made of brown leather. The chains made startlingly loud clanking noises as they moved; sounds previously muffled into inaudibility while packed inside the blanket inside that box.
“What are those things? What are you doing?!” Hunter them asked with alarm before Jaden hand-gagged them into silence.
“You should have just let Sam out you to sleep, Hunter,” Jaden said to him in a calm, quiet, reasonable tone of voice as he and Alex together grappled with Hunter to roll him over onto his stomach and force his wrists behind his back. “It would have been easier for all of us and less scary for you… at least until you woke up!”
Hunter continued to struggle uselessly; looking backward in alarm as Alex attempted to place the handcuffs onto his wrists. He continued to wriggle around; making it almost impossible to keep him immobile and keep him quiet at the same time. Jaden had to take his hand away from Hunter’s mouth to help hold him, whereupon Hunter began screaming for help at the top of his lungs. Jaden had chosen his route well however; this side road was virtually deserted of traffic or pedestrians, and there were no houses within a half mile of the spot.
Sam was now recovering from the pain of his injury by this time. Luckily for Sam, Hunter’s kick hadn’t made a solid connection to his jewels like everyone had originally thought (though his left inner thigh was going to ache for a long time to come), and so they were injured far less than his pride and dignity had been. Angered more than hurt, Sam now joined Alex and Jaden in subduing their quarry; taking the handcuffs from Alex while the other two concentrated on holding Hunter still (and silent) again. He reached out and clicked the handcuffs onto Hunter’s slender, immobilized wrists with a smile of grim satisfaction.
“Why are you doing this to me?!” a red-faced Hunter tried to shout, although his panicked, angry query was largely muffled by Jaden’s hand as it was clamped firmly over his lower face. But his assailants did not answer. Alex and Jaden simply continued to hold him immobile while Sam reached for the ankle-cuffs and began to lock them on.
Throwing caution to the winds, Hunter bit down in the fleshy part of Jaden’s hand covering his mouth as hard as he could. He heard a mild grunt from Jaden as he bit in; the older boy must have been in quite a bit of pain but he suppressed it with considerable self-control. Then Hunter’s vision went momentarily black - with a million bright sparks spiraling all around – as a sudden hard slap to the side of his head stunned him and made him release his bite-hold.
“Don’t do that again,” Jaden’s voice hissed warningly and ominously in his ear in flat, level monotones rather than in anger; “or next time I’ll hit you with some force!”
Dazed from that slap, Hunter felt all of the fight go out of him as Sam finished locking the hobble-cuffs onto his legs. But Hunter feel a renewed surge of panic as his senses cleared and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam Grab the bicycle chain. At first he thought Sam was going to beat him into unconsciousness with it. But instead he and the others forced Hunter’s ankles and wrists close together near his posterior and put him into a hogtie; not too tight a one but definitely tight enough to keep him helplessly immobilized even once Alex and Jaden released their holds on him.
“Sorry about that, Hunter,” Jaden said to the now-terrified boy as he gently patted him on the head. “I usually prefer to use ropes when securing a captive myself. Handcuffs, ankle-cuffs, chains… they just don’t have the elegance… the individual, personal touches… that being tied with rope has. But when time is of the essence, well… cuffs and chains are definitely faster and more efficient.”
Hunter wanted to snarl that he thought Jaden was crazy, but under the circumstances decided that keeping his mouth shut was a much wiser option. As it turned out, it was going to be his last chance to much of anything for a long while.
“Now for the coup de grace,” Sam said in exultation as he picked up the ball gag and held it just a few inches from Hunter’s eyes. “Now be a good boy and open your mouth wide, or we’ll just have to force you… and believe me - at this point *that* wouldn’t bother me one little bit!”
Hunter looked up at the other three boys with panic and terror and saw no remorse or pity in any of their faces. “Please!” he said in a small voice, sounding like a small, frightened child. “Why are you doing this? What are you going to do to me?” He was just short of actually crying.
“We’re going to give you a new home, Hunter,” Jaden said to him as soothingly as he could. “Now open your mouth. Don’t make this any harder on yourself than it has to be.”
At the same time, Sam was rubbing his fist with his other hand as if ready and willing to soften Hunter up with a few hard jabs to the belly – or perhaps even lower down in light of what Hunter had done to him earlier in self-defense. Seeing no hope of avoiding being gagged anyway, Hunter sensibly gave in, let his whole body go limp, shut his eyes tightly, and opened his mouth.
He felt rather than saw the hard rubbery ball go into his mouth – pushed past his teeth to rest inside and keep his jaws forced wide apart. Tight leather straps were then immediately wrapped around the back of his head, cinched tightly with a few hard tugs, and buckled securely in place. The gag felt like it was immovable; there seemed to be no slack in it whatsoever.
“Lights out!” Sam exclaimed as he grabbed the hood and bent down over Hunter’s head. The hood was pushed down over the top of Hunter’s head and pulled down rapidly and efficiently. It covered Hunter’s entire head right down to his chin, but was open in front so that his eyes, nose, and gag-filled mouth were still visible. A chin strap was then secured tightly, rendering the hood snug and secure.
Then, as if that were not enough, a detachable visor was snapped onto the front of the hood directly over Hunter’s eyes; rendering him completely blind. It somehow deepened his already deep sense of utter helplessness.
“How’s the hand?” Alex asked Jaden. “Think you’ll need a Tetanus shot for that?”
“More like a Rabies shot!” Sam added sourly as he spared an angry glance at Hunter that would have made the captive boy shudder if he could have seen it. There was a desire for revenge in that voice however that totally unnerved the younger boy.
“It’s fine. Just need to wash it and put a Band-Aid on it,” Jaden replied in evident good humor; unlike Sam he didn’t seem to resent Hunter’s acts of self-defense in the slightest despite having slapped him earlier, and seemed to harbor no grudge about it. “I can do that at home. So let’s get Hunter squared away and get going before someone comes by and asks us why we’ve stopped here.”
Alex and Jaden bent down, lifted Hunter bodily up off the floor, and gently laid him down on the seat where he and Sierra had been sitting previously. Sam climbed into the seat behind Hunter as he had before as well.
“Keep an eye on him, Sam,” Jaden told him. “Make sure he doesn’t roll out of his seat.” Then his tone became a tad more ominous. “And make sure nothing else happens to him either. I think he’s had enough trauma for the time being.”
Sam took the hint; Hunter was not to be tormented in any way during the ride.
Nodding in acknowledgment, Sam leaned far forward in his seat, rested his arms on the back of Hunter’s seat in front of him, and stared down at the captive boy with a happy, satisfied smile on his face. Hunter sensed this and then turned away. In one sense he was glad to be blindfolded; he could not have looked any of his captors in the eye even if he could see.
Where were they taking him to? What were they planning to do to him? A thousand horrible images flooded his mind, each worse and more fantastic than the last. Whatever it was, he was sure he wasn’t going to like it!
Jaden and Alex moved back to the front of the van and took their seats. Jaden started the van back up, and a moment later they were all on their way.
tbc

- From left to right: Jaden, Hunter, Alex, and Sam
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...