Chapter 1

Tammy Jordan stumbled through the darkened woods. Underbrush cut at her thighs, shins and ankles as she scrambled through the brambles. A thorny bush, sprang up at her arms, its thorns ripping her light spring jacket, leaving it in shreds. They tore at her flesh there too.

A scream built up inside of her lungs. The pain urged her to scream. Her fear quelled that thought and her throat struggled to contain the automatic emission to barely a grunt.

They were after her.

They were close!

"Damn it!" one voice exclaimed, "Where the FUCK did she go?"

Another voice said, "I hear something over here!"

The third one asked, "Where?"

Just then Tammy broke free of the brambles and fell headlong into a meadow. She turned. Tried to pull a piece of her tangled clothing from the thorns. She stopped and squatted down to listen.

Silence!

Then real close! "Shit! She has to be here somewhere," voice number one was saying.

The third voice yelled, "Shit!" Then, "Ouch! God damned thorny bushes.

"Ow ... Ow ... Ow!" Then, "God damn it! I tore my jeans," he said.

Again voice number one chimed in, "Well, there's no way she went this way. The brush is too thick and the thorn bushes would have had her screaming. She must have gone the other way."

Tammy held her breath. They were real close. She didn't move a muscle except to bring her crouch lower to a kneeling position. She ducked as low as possible to prevent her from being seen.

More swearing and talk of the tight underbrush followed and then the voices trailed off.

Exhausted from her run for safety, Tammy leaned forward and put her hands down. Down on the dew drenched meadow grass she had stumbled upon. The dampness burned the multiple cuts on her hands. She picked them up, rubbed them together and then put them back on the grassy surface.

The sting was still there but with another try, the burning sensation ebbed. At least she could stay kneeling forward with her hands to steady her as she lightly panted from the escape. She would have liked to breathe hard but stifled that impulse, lest she give away her position.

Confident she had evaded the three who were pursuing her, Tammy began to relax, just a little. She shifted from the flight emotions which only moments before flared through her, to think about the error of her ways.

If she had been alone in her own room, she would have shouted at the top of her lungs, "Fuck You, Jason Clifford. Fuck YOU!" But out here in the silence of the forest, knowing the three were looking for her, all she could do it whisper it.

Kneeling on all fours, she shook her head back and forth, fuming at her friend, no 'EX-Friend!' He had driven them to a secluded spot at the edge of Trainor Lake. It was more or less a High School Senior hangout. Or rather 'Make-Out' spot.

She was four years out of high school and less than a month ago, gotten her college degree. Why, she asked herself, had she let Jason drive her to the secluded spot. She really didn't want to have sex with her old high school crush.

She had moved on, but on her second weekend home, she let him take her out for dinner. Then, when he clued her in on his after dinner plan and the little 'parking' he wanted to do, she acquiesced.

Tammy wasn't a prude; just the opposite. Heavy petting and oral sex was shared frequently with her college mate, Tom Byrne. She didn't expect activities tonight were going to be any different from that. But it didn't turn out that way.

When they pulled into the parking area by the lake, Jason had told her to reach into the glove compartment. She extracted a box of Trojans. "No!" she had told him. "I don't want that.

No! I just don't want to do 'IT' tonight."

Mad, she threw the box of condoms at him.

Jason had immediately blown up, reached across her, lifted the handle and pushed her hard against the door. She went tumbling out onto the dirt with his surprise push. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it shut. Leaving her sprawled out on the ground.

With wheels spinning, he backed the car up, narrowly missing her feet. Then with a ratchet of gears, gravel flying, he flew forward as he left her on the spot. Truly, she was all alone, out in the middle of nowhere.

They'd had a nice dinner at China Joe's. Tammy liked Chinese food and frequently had take-out. They had eaten in, a first for her. It was not a fancy place. Just a few booths and a couple of tables. All surfaces were covered with faded, white Formica and had plenty of worn spots from being cleaned dozens of times a day over the years. But it was in her opinion the best Chinese food in town.

They always had sweet incense burning at a small altar nestled in a corner on one side of the dining area. Despite what the eyes took in, exotic smells filled the mind and soothed the beast within anyone's body. The food made up where the decor lacked. Tammy had felt warm and fuzzy inside after dinner and the small talk they had shared.

She actually had looked forward to a make-out session when Jason suggested a trip to the lake. Although, she was most of the way through her period and didn't want to be touched too much, 'Down There' yet. It was just too messy for her to deal with tonight.

And, she didn't want her 'First' time to be so complicated ... nor in the front seat of a car. Jason would have had her real soon. He just didn't know it.

Her parents had just gone away for a month long vacation, traveling in a rented travel van. She had the schedule of what camping grounds they would be in and when. If she needed anything they had told her to call. She actually looked forward to the solitude.

She had thought during the evening, because he was so nice and a few flames flickered inside of her, she might invite Jason over the following weekend and THEN they could deflower her properly.

Girlfriends at college had bragged of their sexual prowess and experiences. They told her to get on with it. Get it over with. But she wanted it to feel right. For a while tonight, she figured Jason would be the one. He had been so nice. Dinner had been so nice.

But that wasn't to be. "Fucking Idiot," she whispered to herself, continuing to shake her head.

Tonight, as a consolation prize, she was going to give Jason a blow job. In high school, they had never gotten beyond second base and a little intimate touching. In college her sexuality had blossomed to just about anything but intercourse.

"Jason lost a lot when he dumped me in that deserted spot," thought Tammy. After a while her seething thoughts calmed down and she swore silently at Jason for leaving her. She had waited for at least a half-hour for him to return when she gave up, walked out to the crossroad and flagged down a car.

"Big Mistake," she thought to herself.

The three guys that picked her up on the crossroad near the lake were blasted. After driving aimlessly for about a half-hour, their intentions regarding a single female, abandoned, all alone in the middle of nowhere, became obvious. From the moment they had picked her up, the talk quickly turned to solely about sex and finally to how ripe for the picking their rider was. When the guy she was sitting with in the back seat reached between her legs and ripped his hand up into her crotch, she head-butted him.

With his scream of agony, the driver jammed on the breaks and Tammy bolted into the woods. Swearing that they would pluck her 'Cherry' out with a pick-ax and shovel, or in worse creative ways, the three chased her about in the forest until they were halted by the brambles.

But Tammy was still in the middle of nowhere and completely lost. She had no idea where she was. She hurt all over from the thrashing the thorns had given her. But she was thankful at least to be free of the trees and underbrush that flailed at her ripping her clothes and skin.

The night was overcast and there was no moon. Darkness surrounded her. Her night vision was kicking in and she could discern the edges of the meadow. Feeling a little safe, she got up and decided to move to the center of the meadow and see if she could find a road or trail to take.

Then she heard a voice just beyond the thicket call out, "I think I see her over there!" A pause and then, "Yeah, I see her." Another pause and then a shout from the others, "Let's get her!"

Tammy sprinted toward the center of the meadow, running silently over its soft, close cropped, grass. Thinking that someone must groom the meadow and cut the grass, she looked around for something, anything, that would indicate where help might be located. When she got near the center of the meadow, she saw a peaked roof shaped darkness along the edge of the meadow. Hoping it was a house she changed her direction and started toward it.

As she got a little closer she could see a little square glow, near what she figured might be an upstairs window. It was a real soft glow, barely visible, but it was definitely there. Then something loomed up out or the darkness right before her. It blocked out the shape of the house and the softly glowing window. A bright light was thrust into her face and a shout, "What the hell are you doing on my property!"

Again, she swiftly changed direction to avoid this new threat. Blinded by the light, before she could react, she sensed a something was coming at her. It crashed into her stomach with a force that knocked the breath out of her. At the same time, her face smashed into something hard. She rebounded, falling back on her ass, onto the ground.

Actually, Tammy never felt her backside hit the ground. The shock of the collision had only knocked the wind out of her but striking her head hard against something solid, completed the intrusion into her body. Blackness had instantly descended on her.

The pit of her stomach felt like it was the size of a watermelon when she started to regain her senses. Her head felt like it was split in two. She could not zero in on the center of the pain that coursed throughout her body.

A groan came from her mouth and she tried to open her eyes. They wouldn't open. She shook her head and quickly realized she was blindfolded. Her arms were at her sides and she was lying down on something soft. A bed she guessed.

Her legs and feet would not respond to commands to move. When she tried to raise her arms it was obvious she was tied, bound, chained somehow. She only had limited movement.

When she wiggled her hips and rubbed her legs together, she realized skin was touching skin.

Where was her clothing?

Why was she naked, tied up on a bed?

She opened her mouth with a scream. A foul tasting rag was harshly shoved into her mouth. Her cry was muffled. Her head fell forward to her chest in despair.

A hand in her hair, roughly lifted her head. She could feel his breath flowing over her face as he yelled at her, "What the hell are you doing on my property?"

Tammy gasped at the force of his question. Her hair was released. Her head snapped back firmly into the mattress and rebounded forward from the shock.

"What the fuck do you think you were doing out there in the middle of the night?" the voice continued to command.

"This is MY property! No one is allowed!"

Tammy was confused and in great pain. It was not only the physical pain she felt but the mental, emotional pain she experienced from the plight she was in. Tammy just groaned.

Even though she tried to speak through the gag, she couldn't form words. Her mind just couldn't concentrate on forming words. Then, sliding deep into frustration, she started to sob.