“Nicole!” The sound of the teen’s mother came from the bottom of the stairs. As her footsteps padded upstairs, there was a frantic burst of movement in the girl’s bedroom. “Nicole…” Mrs. Green poked her head in through the door.

“Yes mom?” The dark haired teen answered from the bed where she was lying among a jumble of pillows, tussled blankets and stuffed animals.

Her mother blinked a moment in surprise. “Where’s Rachel?” She asked. “I thought the two of you were up here playing?” Rachel, Nicole’s best friend, had come over that afternoon and they’d decided, on a whim more than anything, she would stay over the night.

“She…um…” Nicole paused a moment, but recovered quickly. “Oh yeah, she ran back to her house, forgot her toothbrush.” Rachel lived just down the road from Nicole’s house so they could run back and forth easily enough.

“Oh, I didn’t hear her go out.” Nicole’s mother said, but after a second just shrugged. “I just wanted to remind you to make sure you pack this evening. And don’t stay up too late! Remember, you’re leaving tomorrow morning, early!”

“I’m…almost packed.” Nicole said, glancing around her usually tidy room, now with clothes and everything else scattered across the floor. “And we won’t stay up late.” She promised.

“Alright, well…I’ll be downstairs in the living room watching TV if you two need anything.” Mrs. Green told her.

“Ok. Good night, mom!” Nicole said, a little hastily. Her mother didn’t notice, wishing her daughter a good night and slipping back out the door.

Nicole waited a minute, listening to her mother’s footsteps receding back down the stairs, then she hurriedly rolled off the bed. Grabbing the blankets, she threw them back, sending pillows and stuffed animals flying. Underneath, a sweaty and flustered Rachel looked up at her friend, giving an annoyed groan.

“Sorry…” Nicole apologized, shrugging sheepishly. “But mom was coming and I couldn’t think of anything else to do.”

Rachel grumbled a response, the sarcasm coming through even if the words didn’t make it past the knotted bandana tied between her teeth. Her arms were behind her back, wrapped with rope into a simple boxtie. Nicole thought she’d done a rather good job on the harness holding them trapped against her back while, in the front, several bands of rope pulled Rachel’s light blue t-shirt tight against her breasts. Further below, Nicole had tied a simple, but tight crotch rope over Rachel's soccer shorts before lashing her legs into a tight frogtie.

“You okay?” Nicole asked her friend. “Need anything?” Rachel shook her head, grunting a negative through the gag. “Okay, I’ll leave you to it, cause I do need to start packing…” Nicole hopped up off the bed. Meanwhile, Rachel resumed her enthusiastic struggles, not so much trying to free herself but simply enjoying the feeling of being held in tight, inescapable bondage.

“Have fun!” Nicole told her friend as she began to go through the assorted clothes scattered around the room, selecting a few outfits to fold up and pack away in her backpack. “But as soon as I’m finished packing, it’ll be your turn to tie me up next…”

***

“Goodbye dear! Have fun! We’ll see you when you get back!” Nicole’s mother said, hugging her daughter.

“Thanks, mom!” Nicole replied. It was the next morning. The three of them, Nicole, Rachel and Nicole’s mother had walked back down to Rachel’s house. Rachel’s mom, Miss Morgan, was out front, loading her and Rachel’s bags in the back of their minivan, alongside tents, sleeping bags, cooler and everything else they’d need on their camping trip. The two, along with Nicole, were dressed for a day out in the woods. Miss Morgan has on a button up shirt, khaki shorts, socks and hiking boots. The two teens were dressed similarly, though in t-shirts instead.

“Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of her.” Miss Morgan assured the other woman. With a nod of thanks and a final goodbye, Mrs. Green turned and headed back for her house.

“Well girls…” Miss Morgan asked, taking Nicole’s backpack and adding it to the rest of the bags in the trunk. “Are you excited!” They both nodded enthusiastically. “I think that’s everything…” She closed up the trunk. “So hop in!” She climbed into the driver’s seat while the two teens hopped in the back. Joining them was Rachel’s younger sister, Laura. “Got to get this one dropped off at her friends, then we’ve one more to collect…”

It was just a few blocks to Laura’s friend’s house. She was going to spend the long weekend there, while her mother and older sister, joined by Nicole, went camping. From there, they drove another ten, fifteen minutes to their next destination. Miss Jones was waiting outside her country home, several bags at her feet. She was dressed like Miss Morgan, in khaki’s, a button up shirt and hiking boots. She waved as the minivan pulled up out front. From their seats in the back, Nicole and Rachel waved back.

The two had met Miss Jones the year before, when they’d taken part in a charity ‘slave auction’. She’d bought the two of them and put them to work around her house for the day, always in some sort of bondage. Needless to say, they had been very excited when they’d found out she’d be joining them on this weekend camping trip.

“Do we have everything?” Miss Jones asked, as she squeezed her bags into the remaining space in the trunk. The teens grinned, imagining the possibilities her bags might hold.

“Tents…sleeping bags, food, utensils…” Miss Morgan replied, ticking off her mental list. “Everything else is already there.” She added with a knowing wink. She turned to the two teens. “Which means it’s time we got on the road, assuming we want to get to our campsite before dark.”

“Before we do that, though…” Miss Jones interrupted, climbing in the passenger’s seat. She turned to face the two girls in the back. “What do you say we make the ride a little more interesting for you two?” The teens giggled excitedly as she produced a long coil of rope.

***

Tires crunching on gravel, the light blue minivan came to a halt. Apart from the dirt and gravel trail it had come down, everywhere one looked trees: thick and green, surrounded it. Just visible between the heavy trunks, a small path wound its way into the forest.

Opening the door, Miss Morgan climbed out, taking a long, deep breath of the clean, country air, and let out a long sigh of contentment. Across from her, Miss Jones got out of the passenger side door and started stretching, working out the stiffness of the long trip.

Meanwhile, Miss Morgan walked around to the side of the van and slid the door open. “Okay girls, rides over.”

“Mmmppphhh?” Inside the van, Nicole and Rachel both murmured inquisitively. The two teens were seated in the middle seats of the van, still buckled in. Their hands were tied in front of them at the wrist with rope, with another coil going around their chests, pinning their arms to their sides. Further down, their legs were tied as well, at the ankles and knees.

Apart from a break around noon, when they’d stopped at a fast food place for lunch and a shorter break at a rest stop, the two had spent the long car ride tightly trussed up. For the last half hour or so, once they’d left the main roads behind and didn’t have to worry about passing cars seeing them, the teens  had also been blindfolded and gagged with a pair of bandana’s each. Miss Morgan reached in and unbuckled the girls before starting untying them.

“This is the campsite?” Rachel said, after she’d been ungagged. Her mother shook her head.

“It’s a bit deeper in the woods.” Miss Jones replied. “Shouldn’t take us more than…oh…thirty, forty minutes to hike, if you girls get a move on!” She took out a bottle of water and let the two get a refreshing drink after the long drive.

Rachel groaned, climbing out of the van. Nicole followed as soon as she was freed. Behind the van, Miss Jones had opened up the trunk and was getting out everything they needed for the trip: tents, cots, food, backpacks, all arranged into three less than equal bundles.

“Let me guess who gets to play pack mule…” Rachel started, counting the bundles.

“It’s good exercise dear.” Miss Morgan replied. “And it’s not like you have much choice…” She held up the ropes which she’d loosely coiled back up. “Hands behind your backs, girls!” Rachel gave another grumble, but she had a smile on her face as she turned, presenting her hands to be tied again.

Nicole followed suit, but gave the woods around them a nervous glance. “It’s ok…” Miss Jones told her, taking half the rope from Miss Morgan. “This is all private property. Some friends of mine own it, so we don’t have to worry about running into anyone.” She grinned, nothing but four gals, a few critters and plenty of trees.” Reassured, Nicole grinned as she felt Miss Jones grab her wrists and start looping the rope around them. Two…three coils, then a quick cinch between, pulling the ropes snug and she knotted them off securely.

“Open wide…” The older woman said, holding up the knotted bandana. Nicole stretched her jaw as far as she could, giving a muffle grunt as the thick ball of cloth was jammed between her teeth. The free ends were pulled back around her head and tied. Beside her, Rachel groaned as her gag was put back on as well.

Miss Jones took a third coil of rope and tied a loop at either end, carefully so they wouldn’t tighten, and dropped one each over the teen’s heads so they hung loosely around their necks, tethering them together. Meanwhile, Miss Morgan grabbed one of the packs and set about strapping it to Rachel. The second was soon strapped to Nicole as well.

“Who gets the third pack?” She asked, looking down. “Guess…” Miss Jones replied, slipping up behind the other woman. She grabbed one of Miss Morgan’s hands by the wrist and pulled it behind her back while her other arm went around her torso.

Had Miss Morgan wanted to, she could have easily struggled free. The other woman was only holding her loosely, but instead she gave a brief, theatrical struggle. “Fine…” Miss Morgan finally conceded. That was how they played their game. “But just you wait…” Miss Jones grinned. Payback was also part of the game.

The two teens stood by as Miss Jones quickly tied and gagged Rachel’s mom the same was as them. Another coil of rope, looped at both ends tethered Miss Morgan and her daughter together, forming the three prisoners into a loose coffle.

“Now then!” Miss Jones called, taking up her walking stick. “We’ve got a long way to go and you’d best hurry if we want to get the camp set up and dinner cooking before it gets dark. So march!” In the line, the three captives started forward, in awkward lurches and halts as one or the other moved too fast or too slow and ran up against the limits of the makeshift halters, but after a while they fell into an even pace, marching along in step with one another. Miss Jones helped out, whistling to set the pace.

Nicole found herself enjoying the march. It was easy enough to put herself in the mindset of a helpless captive. From her position at the back of the line, all she could see was the back of Rachel, her bound wrists bouncing along with the heavy pack strapped to her shoulders. She could feel the weight of her own back pressing down on her, but for the moment it wasn’t too heavy.

On either side of them, the forest, lush and green, encroached in on the old worn trail, providing enough shade the heat of the late afternoon wasn’t a problem. A gentle breeze blew through, rustling the leaves and carrying the sweat, earthy smells of the forest with it. Nicole could easily imagine herself in some distant, fantasy realm. In her imagination, she, along with Rachel and her mother were transformed into a trio of helpless damsels. Miss Jones became one of the raiders who had just burned their helpless, innocent village to the ground and was now marching the hapless maids to some distant slave market.

Just as the three were starting to get hot and sweaty and tired from hauling the camping gear, and Nicole’s fantasy of being forced marched into slavery was getting a little too realistic, the group came through a break in the trees into a clearing. “Here we are!” Miss Jones said, “The perfect place to stop and make camp.”

The three pack mules groaned quietly in relief as the bundles were unstrapped and set down in the clearing. One by one, the three were untethered from one another and untied. “Okay girls…” Miss Morgan said, opening her bundle. “Time to make camp…”

Working quickly, the four soon has a pair of humped, nylon tents erected, side by side. In one, Nicole and Rachel dropped their backpacks off and unrolled sleeping bags. Miss Morgan and Miss Jones unpacked their things in the other tent.

That accomplished, the two teens were once again pressed into service. Leashed, hands and feet hobbled with rope, Nicole was led into the woods by Miss Morgan to carry back the firewood she collected while Rachel was dragged off by Miss Jones, a walking stick over her shoulders, hands lashed to it, with a pair of plastic jugs on either end to fetch water from a spigot a little ways up the path. When they got back, both teens were quite tired.

“We’ll let you girls rest a bit while we get a fire going and start supper.” Miss Jones promised them. The teens smiled, wearily. They perked up even more when Miss Morgan came by, a rolled up blanket in her arms. She dropped it on a shady spot at the edge of the clearing and unfurled it, revealing a number of neat bundles of rope inside.

“Okay…lie down on your stomachs!” She told them. Both girls knelt on the blanket and then lay forward. They didn’t need to be told to cross their hands behind their backs. Miss Jones and Miss Morgan grabbed the rope and went to work. It didn’t take long for them to get both girls wrists and ankles tied. More rope was run between them, pulling their feet back into taut, but not stringent, hogties.

“Open up please!” Miss Jones teased, dropping a ballgag in front of Nicole’s head where it lay on the blanket. The teen raised her head as far as she could and opened her mouth so her captor could slip the ball between her teeth and buckle the gag tight. “One last thing…” For Nicole, everything went dark as a padded blindfold was lowered over her eyes.

“Feel good? Not to tight anywhere?” Miss Morgan asked. The two teens grunted their affirmations, squirming around on the blanket. As always, they had been trussed up quit effectively. Tugging and pulling on the ropes did nothing to loosen them, struggling to get free would be quite useless…though the two did so quite enthusiastically, for the thrill of the feeling the helplessness of their bondage.

While the teens played, the two older women retreated back towards the campsite. Over the excited, if muffled, giggles and grunts, Nicole could hear them walking about in the underbrush, clearing a spot for a fire pit, piling up the wood and kindling. After a few minutes, she could hear crackling and the smoky smell of a wood fire joined the earthy tones of the woods around them. There were clangs and rattling as the cooking gear was extracted from one of the backpacks, along with some of the food they had brought.

After a while, the smell of roasting hotdogs wafted over to the two. Besides making them tired, the hike had made them very hungry. Nicole squirmed, her stomach rumbling. Her mouth was already wet from the ballgag. A fresh tide of drool flooded her mouth, the straps making it impossible to keep it from running out, soaking into the blanket beneath her head. Beside her, Rachel moaned into her gag, trying to let the others know she was starving.

“Hungry?” Miss Jones said, walking over. The smell of hotdogs got stronger as the older woman bent, waving one of them underneath Nicole’s nose. The teen whimpered as her stomach did its best impression of a black hole. From Rachel’s grunting, she was being teased much the same way. “Come on girls, if you want something to eat, just say so…” Miss Jones laughed as the teens mumbled pleas through their gags.

Finally, she had pity and undid the straps. Nicole’s ballgag slipped out along with a good deal of saliva. The teen waited, but Miss Jones did nothing further to untie her. The smell of hotdog returned to her nostrils, stronger than ever, and she realized Miss Jones was holding it right in front of her face, unseen through the thick blindfold. Raising her head up, Nicole opened her mouth and made several experimental bites here and there. On the third bite, she managed to hit bun with her teeth and got a small amount in her mouth. Chewing it, she took another bite, getting more of the hotdog.

Miss Jones finished feeding the hotdog to Nicole, then ungagged Rachel and did the same with her. Then, finally, the two were untied. Nicole stretched out, then walked over to the campfire that was burning cheerfully where Miss Morgan waited with another cooked hotdog and a bag of chips for her. Rachel joined them a little bit later, and took her second hotdog just as eagerly.

After they’d finished them, Miss Jones got out the marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers and the four started making s’mores for dessert. While the teens munched on them, Miss Jones told the requisite campfire ghost story:

“You know girls…” She’d started, “This area has something of a bad reputation. A century ago, it was the hideout of the infamous Clanton gang, half a dozen of the cruelest outlaws to ride the west. Fifty men they’re said to have killed in their crime spree, but heaven help any pretty lasses unfortunate enough to cross paths with them…” She paused for effect.

“What happened to them?” Nicole filled in after a second.

“No one knows…” Miss Jones said, leaning close to them with an evil grin. “Any ladies they came across, they’d truss ‘em up and drag them up to their hideout, a cave hidden somewhere in these hills and that was the last anyone ever saw of them, though…” she paused again. “Some say if you go walking at night, you can still hear their muffled cries echoing through the trees. But I wouldn’t recommend you do so…”

Again, she paused until one of her listeners, Rachel, was good enough to ask “Why not?”

“Well, you see, when people got tired of the outlaws shooting every man they saw and abducting all the prettiest lasses to carry back to their hideout, the sheriff put together a posse and tracked the gang back to their hideout, but try as they might they couldn’t take five steps into the cave without getting shot by the gang. So eventually, they had no choice but use dynamite to blow the entrance, collapsing it and sealing everyone inside for good. But it’s said the gang’s ghostly figures still ride the countryside at night and anyone crosses paths with them they drag back to their cave to join them for all eternity.”

The two teens giggled. The story was cheesy enough, though Nicole couldn’t help but admit at night, with the dark forest looming all around them, the shadows of the campfire flickering over the faces of those gathered round it, it wasn’t hard to get a chill all the same.

After finishing another round of s’mores, Miss Morgan told them it was time to head off to bed. “We’ll have a busy day ahead and you’ll be getting up early, so you better get off to bed.” She said, smiling. “And be sure to brush your teeth before you do, Rachel, you had three s’mores.”

Mumbling promises to her mother, Rachel went to the tent, followed by Nicole while Miss Jones put out the campfire. The teens got changed into their pjs, brushed their teeth, then after chatting excitedly for a few minutes about the fun they were hoping to have tomorrow, shut off the flashlights and went to bed.

Only going to sleep wasn’t quite so easy. As the moon rose overhead, it shone down on the tent, leaving the shadows of tree branches waving across it in the breeze. Nicole could hear the chirping of crickets and the hooting of owls around her in the forest. Though the rational part of her mind knew it was perfectly safe, it wasn’t like there were bears or wolves or anything out here, she couldn’t help but be aware they were miles from anywhere else, with only the thin nylon of their tent protecting them from the dark woods all around them.

Still, she managed to doze at first, and then drift off into a relatively peaceful sleep, but from time to time she’d be woken by some sound, off in the distance, wait a few minutes, wondering what it was; a deer? A raccoon? Or something else…something dangerous. Then, not hearing anything else for a while, she’d drift back to sleep until she woke again.

She didn’t know what time it was, she hadn’t brought her phone and she didn’t have a wrist watch to replace it, but it was certainly after midnight. She lay still, ears perked, trying to listen for the sound of whatever it was that had woken her. There is was again… Someone was outside the tent, walking around the campgrounds!

“Probably just Miss Jones, or Rachel’s mom…” Nicole thought. “Got up to use the restroom.” Or at the very least, the closest thing to that out here in the woods. The figure came over to the girls’ tent, bent down, and started to unzip the door. “This must be some sort of prank…” Nicole thought. Then the tent flap opened. Nicole’s eyes went wide. She couldn’t make out much details, the figure in the entrance was little more than a silhouette against the moonlight. But one thing was certain: it wasn’t Miss Jones or Miss Morgan…