Nicole opened her mouth to let out a cry as the shadowy figure came into the tent. Faster then she expected, the shadow was over her, bending down. A hand, wrapped in a leather glove, clamped tight over her mouth. Her attempts at struggling were hindered by the sleeping bag still mostly wrapped around her.

The hand was pulled away, but before Nicole could try and scream again, the other one appeared, pushing a wad of cloth between her teeth. A rolled up bandanna was tied across her lips, keeping her from spitting the gag out. Nearby, she heard Rachel give a startled yelp, which was quickly muffled as well. Nicole guessed a second intruder must have followed while Nicole was focused on the first and was busy securing the other teen.

Once she was gagged, Nicole was grabbed by the shadowy figure and rolled over onto her belly. Her hands were crossed behind her back and a second later she felt the familiar snug embrace of rope as it bound her wrists together. When the final knot was pulled tight, Nicole knew right away she wouldn’t be wriggling free of them anytime soon.

The zipper of the teen’s sleeping bag was pulled down and the open top thrown aside, baring Nicole to the cool air of the tent. Her captor reached down and grabbed her left ankle, quickly slipping one of her sneakers on, followed by the other. Then, the teen was lifted up onto her feet. A second later, Rachel was likewise pulled up. The two glanced at each other, grunting into their gags, in surprise and a little fear.

After a second to get her bearings, the figure beside Nicole grabbed the teen and dragged her to the tent flap and out into the night. The full moon was still high enough she could make out the campsite well enough, including the other tent where Miss Jones and Miss Morgan were sleeping. Not anymore, as Nicole watched, the two older women shuffled out through the flap, hands tied behind their backs. From the muffled grunts they gave as they saw the teens, the two of them had been gagged as well.

They were followed a second later by two more captors. In the, slightly, better light, Nicole could get a better look at their mysterious campsite invaders. The two holding Miss Morgan and Jones looked to be about the same age as their captors. One was a man, the other a woman. Likewise, the two holding the captive teens looked to be about their age, again one boy and one girl.

Nicole recalled the ghost story Miss Jones had told around the campfire earlier that evening. “Guess this must be the infamous ‘Clanton Gang’ come back from the grave...” She thought to herself. “And we’re their helpless prisoners now.” They were certainly dressed the part with cowboy hats and boots and bandannas across their faces like true silver screen outlaws. Though Nicole couldn’t help but think real ghost cowboys wouldn’t have needed the flashlight the older man was holding.

“Yeehaw!” He whooped, looking over the four captives. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves some right purty captives! Time to get these ladies back to the hideout where they’ll never be found again!” The rest of the “ghost outlaws” whooped as well. Their captives were pushed into line, not unlike how they’d hiked out to their camp earlier that day, with the older women in front, the two teens trailing behind, only now all four of them had their hands tied.

As for their captors, the older man went in front, leading the way with his flashlight. The two female outlaws walked on either side of their prisoners, keeping them in line, while the teenage boy brought up the rear. Not that they had to worry much. There was no chance of their captives running off into the dark woods with their hands tied. In fact, even with the flashlight and the fact they were following what seemed to be a well worn trail, Nicole found she had to keep concentrating on each step, carefully placing each foot to avoid stumbling in the darkness.

Despite this, she found the experience rather exhilarating. By now, she had recovered from her earlier shock at the intruder’s appearance in her tent, and had had a chance to think things over. The over the top way the “ghost outlaws” played up their role, and the way they kept their prisoners moving, stern but hardly rough, suggested this was some sort of game they were playing.

And, though the two older women had looked nervous when they were led out of their tent, tied up, on a second glance, it seemed more like the play-acting she and Rachel presented in their games, when they were all too eager to be tied up, yet playing the unwilling captive none the less. And, of course, there was the story Miss Jones had told them earlier that evening. Doubtless she, and probably Miss Morgan, had planned the whole thing as part of the camping trip from the beginning.

Satisfied they weren’t in any real danger, Nicole found herself enjoying the late night hike. Even though it was just a game, the woods were still spooky enough for her to capture that feeling of being a helpless captive, dragged away to some perilous fate by these mysterious, ghostly outlaws.

After what seemed to have been several hours at least, stumbling through the dark woods, Nicole saw a glow ahead of them through the trees. When the group got closer, she saw it was a small wooden barn, an electric light over the rust-red doors.

“Hope you find the accommodations to your liking, ladies!” The lead outlaw teased, opening up the doors. Inside, the barn was divided into a number of stalls, most packed with a random assortment of boxes and junk. The place had a strong smell of must, old metal, though a lingering hint of hay and livestock said the barn hadn’t always been used for storage. One of the alcoves, however, had been prepared for the captives. In the cleared space several thick blankets were laid out over the dirt floor, providing a sleeping space.

“Let’s get them bedded down for the night...” Along with the others, Nicole was led to the blankets and pushed down, first into a seated position and then lying down. Rachel was placed to her right, Miss Jones on her left. More rope appeared in the hands of the outlaws and the four soon had their feet lashed tightly, both ankle to ankle and to each other.

Looking up, Nicole saw one of the younger bandits coming towards her, a rolled up bandanna in her hands. That was the last thing Nicole saw for a while as the cloth was tied across her eyes, plunging her into total darkness again. From the sound of things, she guessed her fellow captives were getting the same treatment.

“We’ll check on you ladies in the morning!” The lead outlaw said. Nicole heard footsteps as the others left the barn. “Get some sleep. You’ve got a busy day ahead of you!” With a theatrical laugh, he followed the others. Nicole heard the barn door shut, leaving the four tied up women alone. Nicole squirmed, trying to get comfortable as best she could. The blankets, even ones thick as these, were no substitute for a mattress or at least a good sleeping bag and the tight ropes were a constant presence at her wrists and ankles. At the very least, with Rachel and Miss Jones lying close on either side of her, she wasn’t cold, despite being bare of the cool night air.

But most of all, the thing keeping her awake was sheer excitement. Being woken and abducted in the night had driven any thought of sleep out of her and now she was too preoccupied, wondering what would happen to her and Rachel and the others next. As she lay, squirming slightly every now and again for the feel of struggling against her bonds, Nicole heard the barn door slid open, slightly. No one came in and a minute later it closed again, so she guessed one of the captors was just checking in on their prisoners. When it happened again, maybe an hour or so later, she felt her guess was confirmed.

Still, it was late and the day before had been tiring enough. At some point, the teen must have drifted off into sleep because all of a sudden she woke up, still tied up lying in the barn, but it was morning. She could tell from the  few glints of light that leaked around the edges of her blindfold. More importantly, not far away, right outside the barn she guessed, someone had a fire going and was cooking breakfast. Her stomach growled. It had been a long time since the hot dogs she and the others had had for dinner the evening before.

Not long after Nicole, the others awoke to the same discovery. Beside her, Rachel groaned into her gag, her stomach growling. The four tugged at their ropes, but as they hadn’t magically loosened in the night, there was little they could do but wait patiently for their captors to come fetch them.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long. About ten, fifteen minutes after she’d woken, Nicole heard the barn door open, and this time someone came in. “Good morning!” A voice, female this time, called. “Your breakfast’s just about ready!”

Beside Nicole, Miss Jones mumbled something through her gag as the other woman came over. Nicole felt a tugging at her feet as the ropes tying the four captives together were undone. Miss Jones was lifted up, Nicole heard her shuffling away towards the door.

A minute later, their captor came back it was her turn. She was grabbed by the arms and lifted up onto her feet. The older woman guided the teen, still blindfolded, gagged with her hands tied behind her back, out of the barn and a short distance, until she was guided down into position, seated on a log. “Wait here.” The woman said, before turning and walking away. A short while later, Rachel was led over and seated beside her friend. Finally, Miss Morgan was led out to join the rest of them.

The four sat, side by side, for a few minutes. Nearby, Nicole could heard the clatter of forks and knives on plates and the sounds of their captors eating breakfast with every sign of enjoyment. Evidently their captives had to wait their turn to eat. Eventually, though, one of the outlaws got up and walked over. She did something with Miss Jones, then Nicole felt someone tugging at the ropes around her wrists, which soon loosened and fell away. She waited, but the other person moved on to untie Rachel’s hands. Finally, after a long minute, the teen reached up and  untied her gag, and then her blindfold.

Nicole blinked in the early morning sunshine. To her surprise, her glasses were sitting on the log beside her. She grabbed them and put them on. Sitting with her back to the barn they had just come out of, the teen found herself in a small clearing in front, facing the thick trees of the forest they had come through. In front of the log with the four captives was a small campfire, burning low now, and set on a flat rock nearby a skillet which had been used to cook up bacon and eggs. And on the far side of that, seated on a second log, were their captors.

They were still dressed in their “ghost outlaw” costumes, though they had pulled their bandannas down to eat their breakfast. As she’s seen the night before, there were four of them, and older man and woman, about the same age as Miss Jones and Miss Morgan and a younger set, boy and girl  closer to Nicole and Rachel’s age. Now that she could get a look at their features in daylight, she noticed the strong family resemblance between the generations.

“Girls...” Miss Jones said, extending a hand. “Let me introduce you to our hosts: the Peterson's: George, Sarah, Tommy and Michelle...” She pointed them out in turn. “They own the land around here and were nice enough to let us come out and camp.” She grinned, “And we may have planned a few things to keep things from getting boring...”

“Hope we didn’t give you girls a scare...” George said, grinning. “Miss Jones thought you’d enjoy a little midnight surprise...”

Nicole shook her head, grinning. “Not too bad...and it made things exciting!” Rachel chimed in with her agreement. Now that she knew he, and his wife, were friends of Miss Jones, Nicole thought she recognized them, either from the charity slave auction where they’d first met Miss Jones, or the party she’d held later on, though they hadn’t been introduced at that point.

“That’s good!” George said, getting up from his log. He picked up a pair of plates, each piled high with bacon and eggs and walked over, handing one to Miss Jones, the other to Nicole before returning to grab a second pair of plates for the two Morgans. “Eat up! You’ll need you’re strength this morning?”

“For what?” Rachel asked hopefully.

Miss Jones coughed awkwardly. “This morning, we’re gonna help them clear some brush in the woods.” Hearing the groans from the teens, she quickly added, “It’s our way of paying them back for letting us come out and camp on their property.”

“Besides...” Sarah Peterson added teasingly. “Captives of the infamous Clanton Gang don’t get a choice if they’re put to work.” She held up a cloth tot bag which the teens could see held the ropes they’d been tied up with just a minute ago, and plenty more from the way it bulged in places. With that promise, the teens tucked into their hearty breakfast with new eagerness.

When the four had finished, Sarah and George walked over to their captives with the bag of ropes. Along with the rest, Nicole stood, crossing her hands behind her back so Mrs. Peterson could quickly tied them together with rope. “open wide!” She told the teen. Eagerly, Nicole stretched her jaws wide so her captor could slip the knotted bandanna between her teeth and tie it on tightly.

When all four has been tied once again, Sarah took a long rope and tethered them together at the neck into a short coffle. “You take them over...” Her husband said. “I’ll take these two, grab the tools and meet you there.” He said, gesturing to their two teenage kids.

“See you there soon!” Sarah nodded, grabbing the front end of the coffle rope as a lead. “Alright slaves!” She addressed the four bound women. “Forward march!” She punctuated this with a firm tug on the lead. Grinning beneath their gags, the captives started forward once more, following her into the woods.

In the daytime, it took Nicole a moment before she realized the path they were taking was the same as the night before, simply heading the other way, retracing their steps back to the campsite they’d been taken from the night before. Once there, the four were briefly untied so they could change out of their pajamas into their regular clothes, then they were again roped into a short slave coffle.

“Thanks for agreeing to help us with this.” Sarah told her prisoners, giving the lead a playful tug as she did. “If Stephanie hasn’t told you, we’re planning on building a cabin out there, for guests to stay at when they come to play.” Nicole grinned, imagining what sort things might happen at such a cabin.

After another short walking, five-ten minutes following a winding trail through pleasant woods, they came to a clearing atop a low hill where only a few scraggly trees, old and covered in moss, rose over thick underbrush. Mr. Peterson and the two younger Peterson’s were already there, laying out an assortment of tools and things for clearing the area. Like the captives, they’d changed clothes, out of their “ghost outlaw” costumes and into something more suitable for working in.

“Aha! Our labor finally arrives!” He joked, spotting the small column of women coming through the trees. “Let’s get started, so we can get this finished before it gets too hot...”

“First, let’s make sure our ‘laborers’ don’t run off...” His wife replied, teasingly. The four were untied, though their gags remained on. From the large bag of restraints, they found several sets of handcuffs and leg irons with chains long enough to let them move around in.

“Don’t forget protection...” George said, “We’re working here, not just playing.” He handed out work gloves and safety glasses to everyone. Then, they went to work. Using a chainsaw, Mr. Peterson cut down the few, dead trees and broke the trunks and branches into smaller, more easily managed pieces. With smaller tools, the older women went to work cutting back the bushes and underbrush. Nicole and Rachel got the task of gathering everything up and bundling sticks, branches and trunks with cord to make it easier to manage. The fire pit was dug to get rid of the brush. The wood was set aside.

“We won’t be running short of firewood anytime soon...” George said, eyeing the growing stack of bundles. “Tommy, why don’t you run and get the ATV and trailer, we can start hauling this back to the house.”

“We could always hitch them with a load and let them drag it back… We’ve still got the pony-girl harnesses they wore last time...” Sarah teased, nodding to Miss Jones and Miss Morgan. “And I’m sure we could find something that fit the other two.”

Along with the rest, Nicole expressed gag-muffled outrage at the prospect of being hitched up like a beast of burden. But as a matter of fact, to her own surprise even, she was actually enjoying the morning’s work. Under normal circumstances, she’d have never imagined having fun toiling out in the hot sun, cutting brush, bundling it with cord and dragging it around, but adding elements of the bondage games changed things somehow. She wasn’t just doing some dull chores, she was a helpless prisoner, enslaved by her cruel captors and put to hard labor, praying for rescue or a chance at escape.

“If we do that we’ll be at it till the sun goes down.” George said. “The ATV will be faster.” Seeing his wife pout, he added, “Though I do like the idea. Maybe when we’re finished, we can get the old twin-pony cart out of the shed and take it for a spin round the trails. If we don’t wear out our ponies ahead of that, of course...” He nodded to Miss Jones and Morgan.

They continued to work and between the eight of them, the job went quick. A little after 11, they had mostly cleared an area of hilltop twenty or thirty feet square, enough to lay a simple foundation on which to build a small guest cabin and George decided to call it a day. While he and Tommy took the ATV to go and grab lunch, Nicole and the other captives were allowed to rest in the shade of some nearby trees...or rather lashed tightly to the trees with rope.

While Nicole was squirming in the tight coils, she saw Michelle coming towards her. The other teenage girl has a sly look in her face. Nicole wondered what she was planning before she ducked around the back of the tree. The next thing Nicole knew was when the other girl’s hands came around the sides of the trunks, finding their way to Nicole’s sides and then Michelle started tickling the helpless captive.

“How ticklish are you, Nicole?” Michelle asked, teasingly. The answer was: very much. It didn’t take much for Michelle to get her captive squirming frantically, her peals of laughter muffled by the bandanna filling her mouth. Similar laughter told her another of the captives, Miss Jones it sounded like, was getting the same treatment from Michelle’s mother.

The two kept up the tickle torture until the Peterson men got back with lunch, periodically switching off to give Nicole and Miss Jones a chance to catch their breaths while they gave some attention to the helpless Morgans. Nicole was quite relieves when she heard the ATV pulling up.

“Sorry about the wait...” George told his wife as he climbed off, a cooler in hand. “I decided to swing by the shed and check the pony-cart was good to take out and I spent ten minutes at least digging through the trunks for the same harness sets Stephanie and Jane wore last time. Hope you ladies weren’t too bored.”

“Oh...” Sarah grinned. “We kept ourselves entertained...” Slumped in the tight ropes, Nicole groaned as she realized why the tickle torture had been extended so long.

George and Sarah spread out a picnic blanket and a fine lunch spread was laid out. The four captives were once more untied and led over to the blanket to join in. With all the work they’d done that morning, Nicole was starving and the sandwiches they’d prepared tasted amazing. Before she’d even realized it, the teen had polished off two and a half, alongside a large fistful of chips and at least two of Sarah’s homemade pickles, plus some delicious sweet iced tea.

“So, we’ll be giving the pony-cart a spin this afternoon...” George said, as they were polishing off the last of lunch and starting to pack up. “What about the girls?” He nodded to Nicole and Rachel.

“Oh I’m sure Tommy and Michelle won’t mind looking after them, won’t you dears?” Sarah said, directing the last part to their kids.

“Sure mom!” they replied, eagerly. After a moments thought, Michelle added, “Where should we take them? The pond? The old mill?”

Sarah smiled. “Why don’t you take them down to the corral. You can show them your roping tricks...”