Part 10 (1/2)

Sitting up, I startle him. He whips his head in my direction. ”He's awake,” he whispers, pointing.

Rough hands grab my wrists. They're wrenched behind my back.

”Hey!” I shout, groggily. ”Stop!”

Scratchy twine pinches my wrists as my hands are bound. What's happening?

”Let me go!” I arch up from the bed. Someone slams his body against mine. My face hits the mattress as hands grip my shoulders. The old man uses his body weight to hold me down. I struggle to breathe as terror grips me.

Bennett leans down until his face is a foot away. I fight to keep my eyes open, though the fatigue is heavy. Why is it so hard to wake up? The muddy water, the foreign taste. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds drugged us.

”Get off!” I yell, though it's m.u.f.fled as the old man presses me into the mildewed mattress.

”Knock this 'un out again, Ben,” the old man grumbles.

Bennett shakes his head. ”Used up the last of the tranquilizer. Don't matter, though. We're all set.” Bennett heaves something onto his back-Ethan, drugged and hog-tied.

”You sonovab.i.t.c.h, put him down!” I scream.

I throw myself upward and buck off the old man, who crashes into the wall, sending plaster dust raining down. I try to stand, but the tranquilizers are too strong. My mind's forgotten how to control my legs. I topple to the floor.

”G.o.dd.a.m.n, Pop, hold him down!” Bennett sets Ethan on the floor and grabs hold of my legs just as I get them working. Rolling to my side, I kick out and land a blow to his ribs. He buckles, but recovers fast. He snags my pants and wraps both arms around my legs. I flop against him like a fish.

”Pop, get up and hold this b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Jesus! He's gonna wake Clay.”

”Just kill 'im,” the old man shouts.

Bennett clutches my legs to his chest. Unable to find more twine, he wraps the blanket around them and pins them down. I growl. I spit. I fight against my bonds, but they're knotted tight. The panic settles on me like a lead blanket. They're going to kill us?

Bennett hefts my brother's limp body onto his shoulder. The old man tries to lift me, but I squirm so much he can't get a good hold. He looks at the unconscious Clay instead. ”What 'bout your townie?” he asks.

Bennett looks back at Clay's motionless form on the floor. ”I told you, Clay stays here. He don't need no part in this. Once we get our money, we're gone.”

My eyes trace Clay's body, begging him to wake up. ”Clay'll find us,” I say, my voice breaking. I won't cry, though. I bite my cheek until I can taste blood. ”He'll kill you.”

Bennett looks down at me as if surprised I'm still here. ”We'll have our dough and be half way to Jacksonville by the time those tranqs wear off. He can tackle the Riders if you're really the treasure ya think ya are.”

”The Riders?” I ask, afraid for the answer.

Bennett nods. ”Riders pay decent money for benders, but better for boys. That sweet-faced brother of your'n out to fetch us a nice price.”

I tuck my head into the dirty mattress as tears well up. I've heard of gangs like the Riders. They buy boys and use them for ... disgusting things. I glance at Ethan's fragile frame and then back up at Bennett, hoping see a glimmer of human compa.s.sion behind his eyes. Bennett's eyes are like dry pebbles. He won't look at me.

”Why're you doing this?” A sob wavers at the back of my throat.

”Money's all. Gotta get out of this G.o.d-forsaken hole.” Bennett takes a dirty bandanna from his pocket and brings it over to my face. ”Shut up, now.” He gags me and slips a burlap sack over my head.

I let the tears come. They soak into the rough burlap pressed against my cheeks. Bennett lifts me. I struggle, but his farmer's hands are strong. He limps outside, his uneven gate rocking me back and forth. Then he tosses me onto a hard surface. I s.h.i.+ft around until I get the feel of it with my arms and back. It's the trunk of our Jeep. A few moments later, a body slides in next to mine. Ethan. I curl myself around him as Bennett closes us in and the engine flares to life. We b.u.mp down the road, toward unknown horrors and all I can do is close my eyes.

Shards of light press at my eyelids. I moan, blink and squint into the brightness. A shadow slides in and blocks out the sun. My eyes adjust and find Bennett's hooked nose, sunken cheeks and pocked skin. I search his face for compa.s.sion and find none.

During the night, the gag has worked its way out of my mouth. My tongue tastes like sweaty sock, but I'm able to speak again. ”If you let us go,” I croak, ”I'll give you all our supplies.”

Bennett shrugs. ”Already got those.”

He grabs my lapels and hauls me to a sitting position. From the back of the Jeep, I can see we're parked on the shoulder at the crossroads of two well-driven highways. There's nothing in sight but hard pan, scrub brush and a few b.u.t.tes off in the distance. A vulture circles around a blazing noon sun. I've been out for hours. We could be anywhere.

Bennett's my only hope. I think of Ethan and a pathetic quality seeps into my voice. ”You can't do this. Do you know what they'll do to us?”

Bennett doesn't meet my gaze. He offers a plastic jug of muddy water.

I shake my head, thinking of the tranquilizers.

”It's clean,” he says and he takes a swig. A large gulp spills out of the corners of his mouth and into his dirty hair. He flings the water off with a shake of his head. He offers the jug back to me.

It's hardly clean, but must not be drugged. I'm so thirsty I can't turn it down. Bennett pours the musty water in my mouth. It washes away some of the stickiness in my throat, but leaves a foul aftertaste.

He starts to walk away.

”Bennett, let the boy go. Just him. He's too young for this.”

Bennett glances at Ethan, still unconscious on the bed of the Jeep beside me. ”He's worth double what you are.” Then he walks around the Jeep and out of my view.

If only he knew what I was worth. Then it hits me.

”Bennett,” I shout as he's walking away. I can't think about what I'm about to do or I might not do it. ”I'm a girl.”

The silence around the Jeep presses down on me until I can't breathe. What have I done? It doesn't matter. If it will save Ethan, nothing else matters.

He stops dead in his tracks. Then he swivels on his heel and marches back.

I'm trembling a little when he steps up and peers at my face. I bite my lip and let him look.

”Prove it,” he says slowly. The old man wanders up behind him, glaring at me with beady eyes. They both stare at me like I'm some sort of new, exotic monster.

”I'll prove it. Just let him go,” I say, a lump forming in my throat.

Bennett reaches for me and I flinch. He runs a hand over my damp s.h.i.+rt. My stomach lurches at his touch. I want to bite at the hand that runs over my chest. Instead I close my eyes and wait for it to be over.

”b.r.e.a.s.t.s,” he says as he fondles mine. I see his face turn up in sick glee.

He's reaching in to pull off my s.h.i.+rt when his father elbows him and points to the horizon.

A dust cloud boils up over a dry hill. The Riders, whoever they are, will be here in minutes. And I've just told my captors my secret.