Pausing at the crest of the hill, Judy took a pair of binoculars and peered through the non-cracked lens down at the valley below, scanning the three or four buildings: farmhouse, little ragged around the edges but still standing, barn...less so, a corrugated shed she took for storage or maybe a garage given how it was positioned where the remains of a gravel driveway could still be seen between the thick weeds sprouting everywhere. She considered, no rotters to be seen, that was a plus. On the other hand, no...anybody else, which was a problem.

 Frowning, the 26-year old woman put away her binoculars and took out the small portable radio. It was still tuned to the frequency she’d been following. She switched it on, just for a second, since she didn’t know when she’d be able to get replacement batteries for it. In that brief window, a woman’s voice, tinny and crackling with static, repeated the message:

 “To any other survivors, meet me at the following coordinates…”

 This was the right place, Jill was sure. She hadn’t done much camping or navigation before the apocalypse happened, but she’d learned enough since then to know she’d arrived at the right place, especially the last few weeks she’d been on her own…

 “Could be they’ve moved on?” She said to herself, a habit she’d picked up recently. It wouldn’t be surprising if they had to move out in a hurry, though there was little sign of anything nasty enough to make them pack up and leave in a hurry...besides the message was still being broadcast, which meant if they had left, they’d had enough time to at least set up their transmitter with a generator or a heavy duty battery, any of which would be worth salvaging.

 “And maybe they left some clue to where they were going.” She added, which settled the matter. The truth was, after a couple of weeks wandering the wilderness, dodging roving packs of rotters, she was desperate to hook up with another group of survivors, maybe even find one of the settlements that were rumored to have sprung up here or there and always just a little further off.

 The fact it was a woman’s voice on the radio gave an added incentive. Jill had been the only female out of seven survivors and as a young fit and pretty woman, as best one could manage under the circumstances, there had been a constant tension between her and the rest, held in check only by the few lingering scraps of morality and the reluctance by any of the other six to let someone else claim her. She’d figured it best leave before the former ran out and they came to some arrangement on the latter part.

 Tucking the radio back into her bag, Jill took out a pistol, one she actually had a few rounds of working ammo for even, and slowly approached the farm. Just because the place looked deserted and safe didn’t mean she could let her guard down…

 But as cautiously as she moved, her approach wasn’t quite cautious enough. Jill had just come around the side of the farm house and was looked for a gap in the boarded up windows to get a look inside before she entered when from the underbrush there was a quiet ‘pffft!’ and a second later Jill felt a tiny pinprick of pain jab into her back, just in the gap between her stained white tank-top and the dark green-grey shorts. Reaching around, she plucked a tiny dart out.

 “Oh shit!” She swore. Already, she could feel whatever anesthetic the dart had carried spreading through her system, a form of tingling numbness that reminded her of her last dentist appointment, a few years back just before the world ended.

Jill sprang up, trying to put some distance between her and the ambush, but she only got a few steps before the drugs took hold of her legs. She stumbled and feel to the ground among the weed-chocked driveway.

 She didn’t pass out, not completely anyway, but every part of her body seemed to go numb at the same moment and she found her limbs no longer responded to her frantic attempts at moving, beyond an awkward, gangly flopping about, which soon subsided. As reality swam in and out of focus, Jill was aware of more rustling from the overgrown garden out front, boots crunching on the gravel nearby.

 “Whoo-hoo! Those darts work a treat, don’t they!” A man said, excitedly. “Worth everything we traded for ‘em and more. This is way easier then sticking ‘em up the old fashioned way.”

 “And that trick with the radio worked a treat too.” Another man agreed. “The perfect little lure, bring’s em right in. Three in as many days!

 “Still, we’d best not push our luck.” A third man chimed in, the authoritative tone in his voice marking him as the leader of the trio. “We’ll take our haul back and then find someplace else we can set this up.”

 “Before we do that, I want a look at what we’ve bagged here.” The first man said, walking over towards Jill. She felt the toe of a boot press on her shoulder, rolling her over, roughly, onto her back. Looking up, through the drugged haze, she saw an ugly, heavily bearded face looking down at her with a leer. She tried to say something, but only a low moan came out of her lips. It took a note of fright as she saw the large survival knife appear in the man’s hands.

 Fortunately, he didn’t intend to use it on her, though what he did do was distressing enough none-the-less. Grabbing hold of the front of her tank top, he made a quick slash cut through the thin material, baring Jill’s chest. The lustful leer intensified and the man set aside the knife to paw at the young woman’s breasts with both hands. Jill gave another moan, but paralyzed as she was by the dart gun she could only endure his lewd attentions.

 To her dismay, though, the groping was only the beginning. When he had had enough of her breasts for the moment, the man went further down, undoing her belt and yanking her shorts down her long legs and all the way off. A few quick slits with the knife and Jill’s ruined panties were whisked away, bearing her naked sex to the man’s gaze.

 “Whoooo!” The man whooped, getting an eyeful, and soon a handful. “We bagged ourselves a prime piece of meat here!”

 “Sure did...but you’d better get her strapped down, looks like the dart’s starting to wear off…” Another of the men commented.

 Sure enough, Jill’s squirming was starting to take on something of a resemblance of conscious, intentional action, as she slowly regained control of her limbs. She was still took weak to fight off the man crouched over her, much less resist as, at his companions prompting, he rolled his helpless prisoner over onto her back and yanked her arms behind her. Taking a short length of cord from a pocket of his hunting jacket, he swiftly bound her wrists together with it.

 “Nnnn-Nnnnoo!” Jill grunted through her numb tongue. “Nnn-Mmmpphh!!!” Whatever protests of pleas she might have offered were stilled as the man snatched up the ruined rags of her panties, balled up the underwear and stuffed the wad between her teeth. Grabbing the remains of her tank top, he cut a long strip from it and used it to tie her muzzle in place. She grunted and moaned, shaking her head but she couldn’t dislodge the gag.

 The naked woman was yanked to her feet. She stumbled forward on rubbery legs, half supported, half dragged by her captor. The other other men followed, one snatching up Jill’s pack. The small group headed for the corrugated garage she’d seen coming in. At the moment, it was home to the raider’s transport. It was typical post-apocalyptic design: a heavy duty civilian truck with makeshift armor strapped all around. The spikes and flame-decals spray painted it on were likewise common motifs, especially for those who had embraced the anarchic possibilities of the downfall of civilization.

 This one, in particular, seemed well equipped for the purpose of these raiders. Beside the machine gun strapped to the roof of the truck, the truck bed had been partly converted into a large cage fashioned from a scavenged chain link fence. As Jill was hustled over and lifted inside, she saw she wasn’t its only occupant at the moment. Two more young woman lay on the bed of the truck, hands and feet bound with cord. As they looked up at her with frightened expressions, she saw they had been gagged with scraps of cloth as well, most likely the clothes they weren’t wearing anymore.

 Jill was soon lying alongside the raider’s other captives. She squirmed and managed to get in a couple kicks on one of the men before he got her ankles crossed and bound, then roped her into a strict hogtie. “You settle down now!” He chided her. “We’re gonna have some fun with you tonight…” Jill grunted indignantly as he gave her bottom a pat, just in case she was under any doubts what sort of ‘fun’ she was in for. “And then, we know a place we can trade the three of you for a big pay day…”  

 His laugh, and the frightened moans of the captive women was accompanied by the clanging shut of the cage door and the rumbling of the engine as it reved into life. As soon as the other raiders had clamored aboard, the truck bounced out of the old garage and set out across the wastes...