The truck shook as it slowly drove down the rough dirt road, one rapidly turning into a morass of mud in the heavy rain. Inside the back of the truck, the young women were shook around with each bump and pothole. Only the collars chaining them in place, seated on the hard metal benches on either side kept them from being thrown around. Eventually, the truck must have come to the end of the country road and turned onto a proper, paved street because the ride smoothed out and the truck picked up speed. Where they were headed was a mystery to the captive women, though, since they had no way of seeing out of their moving cage.

Miriam was shivering. That was partially due to the chill seeping into her body. The metal bench she was sitting on was freezing and she was still wet from the rain when she’d been dragged out to the truck. It was also due to fear. She and the four other girls were being kidnapped, for god knows what purpose. She and the two women on her bench huddles close together, or as close together as the short leashes would allow them, to share the heat of their bodies. Across from them, the two women sitting on the opposite side were doing the same.

“What’s your name?” One of the other captives, a young blonde woman sitting opposite Miriam asked, quietly. “Don’t worry. They don’t care if we talk amongst ourselves…as long as we don’t try and get free or call for help.” She nodded towards the doors to their cell. There was a small camera set up, to let the kidnappers keep a watch over their cargo of helpless girls.

Mariam gave her name. One of them asked how she’d wound up joining them. Slowly Mariam told them. She had been at home, with her father, eating dinner. Two men had broken into the house and taken them hostage at gunpoint. They were quickly bound, hand and foot, with rope and blindfolded and gagged with tape. At first, they thought the men were just there to rob them, but after they’d finished tying their captives up, the two men had taken Mariam out of the room. Before she’d realized she was being kidnapped, the teenager found herself tossed in the back of her dad’s car, being driven out into the night. They had taken her to an isolated shack where she was examined and bought by the men driving this van.

The other young women gave their own accounts, in turn. The blonde, seated across from Mariam was named Katherine. Her story was very similar to the teenage girls; she had come home in the evening, two days ago, not knowing a man was lurking in her house. He’s surprised her and tied her up. Like Mariam, she had assumed it was just a robbery. Unfortunately, her captor had different plans for her and she found herself in the trunk of his car.

Her kidnapper met with a man named Pete, his fence, she discovered. She spent two awful days bound and gagged in his basement while the man tried to arrange a meeting with some people. Katherine had hoped that meant her abductors were planning on ransoming her, that soon they would be paid and free her. Unfortunately for the young woman, the men he arranged to meet with were these two. After examining her, they tossed her in the back of this truck. That was earlier this evening.

The other three had been captured together. They were college students, attending school in one of the nearby university towns. The girls had each gone to a local club tonight, known as a hotspot for students. Their drinks had been drugged. The only thing they remembered was passing out and coming to in a back room, stripped naked, bound and gagged. At a certain hour, the owner of the club and her bouncer collected the three and took them out a backdoor into an alleyway. The men were waiting with cash, their truck was waiting for the three of them.

Miriam listened to their stories with mounting horror. Whatever group had kidnapped the five of them was obviously large and well connected. There was only one reason she could think of for a criminal group to devote such effort to kidnapping a group of young women like them, one that was too horrible to contemplate…  

Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything else for the young teen to do but contemplate that awful fate. The truck kept driving, through the pounding rain. About half an hour after they had started, the captives felt the truck pull of the road and come to a halt. It made little difference for them, they remained trapped in the back of the truck as the drivers got out to conduct their awful business. Ten minutes later, the doors were unlocked and opened. The women watched, fearfully, as their abductors lifted another girl, a short, slender Asian girl, into the back of the truck and chained her up. Forty five minutes later, they stopped again and two more were added to the captives: a pair of blonde teenagers that might have been sisters.

After that, the drive seemed to stretch on for hours and hours. It was very frightening for the captives, who had no way of seeing where they were being taken. In their minds the distance the truck covered stretched out for leagues and leagues until it seemed as if they must have driven off the edge of the world, far from anyone who might have been able to save them.  

At some point during the nightmarish ride, the truck pulled off the highway, onto a dirt road. The girls were tossed around in the back of the vehicle as it bounced down the narrow track, rocks pinging off the undercarriage, for several minutes. Gravel crunched under the wheels as it skidded to a stop. The drivers got out and walked around back.

“Alright, ladies!” One of the men said, cheerfully. “We’re here! Now, before we can take you out, we need to add one more item to your…ensemble…” He nodded to his partner, who was carrying a tangle of leather straps, attached to brightly colored rubber balls. Miriam had had enough exposure to the internet to recognize a ballgag when she saw one. Along with the other girls, she closed her mouth, shaking her head as the first kidnapper took one and climbed into the van.

“The van is soundproofed, and it would be unfortunate should any of you become carsick while gagged, but the camp has strict rules: all slaves are to be kept gagged at all times.” Turning to the first girl, the slaver reached down and pinched her nose shut. The frightened girl shook her head, trying to get loose, but he held firm. As she ran out of breath, he quickly popped the ball between her teeth the moment she opened her mouth to suck in air. She groaned as he pulled the straps around behind her head and buckled the gag on tight.

Seeing that resisting was useless, the other captives meekly submitted, opening their mouths to accept the rubber gags. Miriam whimpered as the leather straps cut into the sides of her mouth. Already, her jaws ached from the strain of accommodating the large plug. She didn’t want to imagine what it would feel like after an hour or two. Unfortunately, she was certain she would find out before long.

“Not sure why…” the slaver continued, moving quickly through the back of the truck. “It’s not like there’s anyone around to hear you screaming. We’re hundreds of miles away from civilization.” He detached the cables trapping the girls from the inside wall, one at a time. The girls’ leashes were quickly reattached to each other’s collars, forming them into a coffle. They sobbed quietly as they were led out of the truck.  

 Dawn was still several hours away. Overhead, a brilliant field of stars shone in the clear night sky, looking bright without having any city lights to compete with. Ahead of the captives was a set of two, tall fences of wooden poles strung with barbed wire. Beyond was a camp of scattered wooden huts filling half the enclosure. It was like something out of an old war movie, Miriam thought, a POW camp. Besides their kidnappers, there were two more men, standing beside a set of double gates. The teenage girl flinched, seeing the hunting rifles the men held.

The guards opened the outer gate. With a quick order, the kidnappers led their charges in. When the last sobbing girl had walked through, the gate was closed and locked. Only then was the inner gate opened so they could be let into the slave camp. As the terrified women marched in, Miriam noticed a woman standing by the gate, observing the coffle. She was dressed in a khaki uniform and wore a bush hat. Belted at her waist was a handgun. Opposite it, a leather flogger hung from the handle.

“Nice haul.” The woman said to the kidnappers. She eyed the naked girls with a mixture of cruelty and lust. “We should have them trained up for sale in no time.” Turning to address the captives, she spoke in a stern, authoritative voice. “Listen up, slaves! I am Warden Hawk, but you miserable lot will address me as Mistress…when you are allowed to speak, that is.” She smiled, enjoying the muffled whimpers escaping the new arrival’s tightly gagged mouths. “My recommendation for you all is to go ahead and forget all about your old lives. No one knows where you are so there’s no chance any of you will ever be rescued and I can assure you escape is out of the question. Your only concern is to obey the instructions you are given as quickly as possible. If you don’t, well… we will make you obey and it will not be pleasant for you.”

She turned to the slavers. “Put them in Hut 14.” The man nodded. He tugged sharply on the leash of the girl in front. She stumbled forward after him. As the rest of the coffle followed, the Warden added. “Try and get some sleep, slaves. Tomorrow your training will begin…”