Chapter 39

As her senses slowly returned, Lauren opened her eyes and saw the seat belts above her. She felt limbs over her stomach and smelt human faeces, urine, sweat and vomit. Instantly, she bolted upright and screamed loudly, tearing at the arms and legs on top of her as she pulled wildly at the door handle.

Firm hands gripped her, pulling her back towards the seat, pushing her head down, back into the reeking flesh.

"Hey, it's OK. Keep your head down until we've got through the village!" said a voice.

"No, no more, please! Please let me go home!" she cried, sobbing, her chest heaving as she gulped in the sordid air. Her limbs ached and refused to respond to her commands.

"It's us, it's OK. Your Dad's here. Nikki's in the front with her Dad. Rebecca's beside you!" Lauren's head was swimming. She heard all the things that she had wanted to hear since everything seemed to go wrong. Familiar voices, the movement of the car, the touch of Jim as he stroked her hair all consoled her. But she couldn't bring herself to believe that they were out of danger.

"Hey, Lori, we're all with you. Not far to go now" said Mike, patting her leg.

"I'm going to be sick, I think."

"We can't stop, not until we're well away from this village. You'll be fine, don't worry anymore" said her father, looking to his side as he saw Nikki, naked, curled up in the well of the front seat, her open wounds bleeding as her father tried to shield her from the movement of the car. She screamed occasionally as she rested her head between her father's legs, her eyes a dreadful red, her blonde hair now a matted mess over her face.

Lauren realised that the car smelt dreadful and that even with the windows open, she felt ill. She began to retch again, shivering in the cold night air as she hung out of the window. She collapsed back onto the seat, hugging herself with her arms around her stomach as she tried to control the spasms. She looked into the mirror to see her father looking at her, tears rolling down his cheeks. She held a hand over her mouth, breathing deeply to try and halt the movement in her stomach.

Slowly, the crying, retching and screaming subsided, at least enough for Lauren to fall asleep, entangled between Rebecca's legs, both girl's receiving the attention of Jim's soothing touch. Rebecca was silent all the way, even when they eventually stopped for petrol she remained curled up on the back seat, her face buried in the corner, her back exposed to the moonlight, dried blood giving away the awful secrets of her wedding day.

"I'm going to telephone ahead. They need to be prepared for this. I suggest everyone sleeps at our house for tonight. Sound reasonable?" said Maurice, looking at Andre.

"Fine, we can get some more beds round from our house, but I think you're right."

"OK, I'll pay for this petrol and call Daniele and Jean."

The car was silent as all three girls slept. Maurice returned, nodded glumly at Andre, and rejoined the road back to Andleburg. Forty minutes later, they pulled up in front of Lauren's house. Daniele ran from the front door.

"The first thing they need is a bath, then a good night's sleep. Is Doctor Bonner on his way?" asked Maurice.

"Yes. How are they? Where's Lori?"

"She's asleep. She's very jumpy and had a few nightmares on the way home"

Daniele was joined by Jean, the two women gently lifting their daughters from the car and carrying them into the house. They both cried almost immediately as they saw the two girls.

"Jean, you use the bathroom at the top of the stairs, I'll use the one in our bedroom"

"Oh thanks!

"Good God, who could have done such a thing? Maurice, did you catch any of them. They should die for this!" she sobbed, anger rising in her voice as she entered the hallway. Maurice and Andre gathered rags and bleach from the kitchen and headed back to the cars. Mike and Jim helped. Nobody spoke.

Indoors, the two girls were bathed and dressed in clean oversized T-shirts. Lauren managed to pull her knickers on without help, but Nikki found bending impossible and had to be helped by her mother. To everyone's surprise, they both sounded quite chirpy after a hot drink and some biscuits. They stayed up long enough for Andre and Maurice to set up a second bed in Lauren's room for Nikki, and for Dr Bonner to arrive. He spoke to Maurice and Daniele first downstairs, and then clumped up the stairs with his old black medical bag in his hand, knocked quietly and entered the room.

Lauren smiled at him, but found it difficult to look him in the eyes. She watched him set his bag down on top of the schoolbooks on her desk. He sat on the end of the bed.

"What has happened to you tonight will be punished in due course, I am sure. But we must make sure that if there is any possibility of you having been injured internally, that we get that sorted out right away." He nodded as he spoke as though agreeing with himself. "In a couple of days time, you should both come and see me at the surgery. Before that, though, you should rest as much as possible. I need to examine you both. Who wants to go first? It'll only take one minute" he said smiling as he turned to his bag.

"I'll go first" said Lauren, putting her drink beside her bed.

"Good, stand on the floor here and we'll do a quick check" he said, pulling her towards him. He lifted her T-Shirt and pressed his fingers carefully into her abdomen, listening and watching her face as he explored her stomach.

"Turn round"

Lauren turned to face Nikki, smiling slightly as he checked her ribs and listened to her breathing through his stethoscope.

"Fine. Now lie down on the bed and we'll just take your knickers down a little way."

"No, no please don't!" said Lauren, moving away from him. Signs of terror returned to her face as she watched every move of his hands.

"Lauren, I've seen injuries like yours before. I must make sure that you make a full recovery." He waited for a few seconds and then helped her to lie down on the bed. He checked her legs and then slipped her knickers down to her knees as she looked away. "Oh dear, they were very brutal with you. Now, I'm going to check your vagina and make sure that it's not inflamed. This might be a little uncomfortable but don't worry." he said, parting her legs slightly to allow the light to fall over her swollen pussy lips.

He touched around her vagina, moving the lips apart gently. Nikki sat up slightly, no doubt wanting to know what he was going to do to her. Lauren squirmed as he looked at her, wishing he would finish as she had no idea how she looked between her legs.

"Who did this to you? Men or women?" he asked looking in turn at Lauren and Nikki as he took a swab from just inside her. He allowed Lauren to bring her legs together as he slipped the swab into a plastic bag.

"Mainly men, but there were two or three women there helping" replied Nikki, pulling the blankets around her tighter.

"Do you remember their names?" he asked, pulling Lauren's knickers back into place.

"No, I think one was Karl. Then there was Father Michael and Sister Winifred." said Nikki.

"Sister Winifred is really someone called Simone. I've been to where she works." said Lauren, returning to her bed.

"Nikki, let's try and do the same with you. I know it hurts, so just lie flat on the bed. Who else was there?" he asked as Nikki turned awkwardly and slowly laid down on the sheets. He pulled the blankets away from her prodding Nikki's stomach. "Any pain there?" he asked.

"No, not really."

"How did people escape then?"

"We're not sure. Maybe they ran into the mountains, or left by car" said Lauren as she watched Nikki lying on the bed.

Dr Bonner pulled her knickers down to her knees and felt her vagina, moving her knickers slowly to her feet as he parted her legs.

"Does that hurt?" he asked quietly, touching her lips.

"No, not really" said Nikki, her face contorted with pain.

"What about here?" He pushed against her anus.

"Ow! Yes. Please don't!" she cried, covering her face with her hands as she sobbed.

"OK, OK, I'm going to put some cream on you just to soothe the pain a little." He took a sample from around her vagina and stored it away in the bag with the sample from Lauren for analysis later. Retrieving a tube of antiseptic cream from his case, he squeezed a little onto his fingers, gently massaging her inflamed anus for several minutes before wiping the excess away with a tissue. He pulled her knickers back over her hips. "There. Now, you were telling me about Suzy and Karl, I think"

"Er, yes." said Lauren slowly. "They escaped with the others. Simone might be hurt because she was hit by Jim and my Dad."

"OK, now I'm going to give you a slight sedative to help you sleep, and I'll be back tomorrow to check on you." He offered them both some medication from his bag and made sure they took it while he watched.

"Good night."

"Night. Thanks" said Lauren, lying down and pulling the covers up to her chin.

Satisfied that there had been no internal injuries, he left and rejoined the two women to give them advice on how to dress their daughter's wounds, telling them that any detailed investigation could wait until the girls had slept and felt more secure. He added that he would have to contact the police and would be making out his report the next day. Maurice and Jean went quickly back upstairs to rejoin their daughters, while Maurice stared at the carpet in the lounge, digesting the doctor's words. Dr Bonner left, shutting the door behind him. His face was pale and Maurice knew that what he had seen had left him visibly shaken. He got up to watch through the lounge window as he returned to his car, shaking his head.