Miracle - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

My stomach hurt so, so bad. I think Tyler or one of his friends might have busted something when they were kicking me. And now we were rattling around in the hard flatbed of what felt like a pickup, with itchy Navajo blankets duct-taped over our heads and around our shoulders. They'd taped my feet and hands too, and I was pretty sure they'd done the same to Maddy.
"Connor. Connor, you okay? Talk to me."
All I could really manage was a moan. I don't think they'd hit Maddy like they did me. Or if they had, she was a lot better at taking it.
"Shit. Okay. Listen to me, you're gonna be fine. I will get us out of this." Maddy's voice was muffled by the blanket. Where she got all that optimism, I had no idea. I was pretty certain we were about to die. Tyler was too stupid to think things through beyond his in-the-moment rage. He wasn't thinking about how he'd get away with murder, he just wanted to kill something. Us, specifically.
The truck kept hitting bumps that bounced me an inch or two off the flatbed, and every one felt like a knife in my lungs. I could hear laughter and cursing from the cab. I wasn't sure how many of them there were. More than Tyler and his two cronies though. If we were in an extended cab there could be as many as six or seven of them. And I didn't know where they were taking us, but I could guess that it was out into the desert. Some place remote enough that they could have their fun without being interrupted.
From the way the truck kept swerving every couple minutes, I was also reasonably certain the driver was drunk. Since I couldn't do anything else to distract myself from the pain, I started counting the seconds. It was a thing I'd done since I was a kid, whenever I was scared or bored or waiting for an unpleasant moment to pass. Helped keep me focused on the idea that nothing lasts forever.
I got to sixty, started over again. And again, and again. A couple times the truck jerked so much that pain made me lose count, but by the time we were rolling to a gravelly stop I'd logged around twenty three minutes.
I went limp in relief as the flatbed stopped bouncing. There was a lot of raucous laughing, joking, and whooping as our captors got out of the cab. A metallic grinding as the gate of the pickup came down. Someone grabbed my ankles and yanked so hard that I tumbled off the end of the truck and onto rocky ground. I heard Maddy yelling at them.
"You fuckers, let us go! This isn't funny!"
Grunting and more muffled cursing from Maddy, which I guessed meant someone had picked her up and was carrying her. They didn't bother to get that courteous with me. A fist grabbed the blanket over my head and dragged. Rocks dug into my hip and butt, and a few sharp stickers too. I could only pray they didn't rake me over a clump of cactus. The blanket started coming loose from around my shoulders, so that I caught glimpses of the ground.
"Let's hogtie 'em, Tyler," somebody suggested, and there was a flurry of chuckles as I was rolled onto my stomach.
"Naw, man. Stand 'em up."
I was wrestled onto my feet, which was precarious since they were taped together so tightly. Evidently the remedy for that was to tear the blanket off my head, slam me up against an unstable wooden fence post, and wind more duct tape around my arms behind it.
With my face uncovered, I could see five guys in total. Tyler, Josh, and Wayne. Hector, another of Tyler's buddies. None of those were a surprise. But the person holding Maddy was someone I never would have expected.
"Justin?" I breathed, before Josh planted a fist upside my head.
"Shut up, freak."
Tyler lumbered over, eyes glassy with drink. He leaned in so close to me that his chest was pressed up against mine. I tried to turn my face away, both because he smelled like beer and because I didn't like the way he was looking at me. I felt his arms go around me, fumbling with my bound hands. When he pulled back, he'd taken my watch again.
He held it up in front of my eyes. "This is mine."
"Take it," I said. My lip had split, so talking hurt. "Just let us go."
Justin had pulled Maddy's head covering off too. She took one look at him and started thrashing all over again, calling him several creatively filthy names I'd never even heard before. But I must have looked pretty bad, because when she caught sight of me she stopped kicking and gasped.
"Connor, oh my god. You fucking animals, I'm going to kill every last one of you!" She twisted around to look Justin in the eye. "Especially you, you son of a bitch! How could you? Connor's your friend."
"I didn't touch him," he said angrily. "I'm only here for you. This is your fault. If you hadn't broken up with me today—"
"Fuck you, you sick fuck."
"Come on, Maddy, stop it. I just want to talk to you."
"Oh, we are so beyond talking."
"Both of you shut up!" Tyler bellowed. He took hold of my chin and tilted it toward the headlights of the pickup, like he was inspecting his handiwork. "You can duke out your issues later. First, I have a score to settle with these two."
"Tyler," I said, trying not to sound too frightened, "why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?"
His forehead contracted with revulsion. "You breathe my air." Behind him, his friends chuckled. "Little perv thinks he has the right to walk the same earth as the rest of us. Waggin' that skinny ass around like he gonna convert us all to his sin." He absorbed more encouragement from his friends before continuing. "You sure you even have a dick, Hayes? Or maybe you're one of those weirdos who wants to cut it off and trade it in for a set of knockers."
And with that, he grabbed my shorts and yanked them down. I was actually too preoccupied by the burst of pain in my abdomen to bother with lesser feelings like embarrassment. Maddy screamed, though. I didn't understand why she sounded so upset until light glinted off of the blade of a pocket knife that Tyler was waving in front of my nose. His grin was positively evil.
Okay, now I was scared. "Tyler, don't."
"Hey, man," Justin said, tightening his hold on Maddy as she did full-body spasms against him. Her cowboy boots were taped together so she was thrashing like a mermaid, slamming up puffs of dust every time her heels hit the ground. "Take it easy."
Tyler tapped the tip of the knife against his lips. Then he kissed it and laid it against my lips. He trailed the flat of the blade down my chin, and I could feel the ominous scratch of the tip as it went. My heart had started pounding so hard that my ears were ringing.
He wound his free hand into my shirt. Yanked it toward him. Pulled the knife back, twirled it into his fist, and plunged it toward my chest.
Maddy screamed again. I closed my eyes, expecting pain, but there was nothing. Just the sound of fabric tearing. I looked down, and Tyler was slicing into my t-shirt. He got a good sized hole going and then grabbed the fabric in his hands and ripped it.
I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or even more terrified. He licked his lips as the bruising on my stomach came into view, both the older one he'd given me a few days ago and the newer, bigger ones courtesy of their boots tonight. Then he stepped back to make sure his buddies got a look. Ran one of his hands over me like he was fucking Vanna White, and pushed hard enough with his fingers that I couldn't help groaning.
"Aw, guys, we colored him up nice, huh?"
I wasn't totally naked, he'd left my underwear on. But now he was pointing his pocket knife at it like he intended to repeat what he'd just done to my shirt. And I couldn't help it, my knees were shaking. He looked particularly pleased by that. "You gonna piss yourself, Hayes?"
"Make 'im do it," Wayne jeered over his shoulder. "That'd be awesome."
Tyler jabbed the end of his knife against my balls. It didn't pierce the underwear, but I still felt it. And I very nearly did lose bladder control. I gasped, which hurt a lot, while Tyler and his friends laughed their asses off.
"Justin. Justin, stop him, please," Maddy begged, looking up into her ex's face. "I'll be your girlfriend again, okay? I'll do whatever you want, just stop him."
"That's not the deal, sweet cheeks," Tyler gloated, turning to point at Justin with his knife. "Your loverboy over there has to keep you under control until I'm done teaching you both a lesson."
"What lesson?!" Maddy shrieked. "You're a fucking psychopath!"
"Yeah? Then you'll like what I have coming next. Get the sack, guys."
Josh and Hector dragged a large canvas bag from around the back of the pickup. They brought it into the shafts of light cast by the headlights and set it at Tyler's feet.
It was squirming.
"Tongs," Tyler said, putting his hand out. Josh passed him something that looked like a long metal pole, with pair of pincers at one end and a trigger handle on the other. Tyler reached down and started sawing at the string binding the top of the sack. His three buddies all stepped back, looking equal parts gleeful and nervous.
"What is that?" Maddy screeched.
"Well, Princess, you were talkin' 'bout snakes earlier, so I figured I'd introduce the two of you to a friend of mine. My dad 'n me catch a load of these suckers every year for the roundup in Sweetwater."
Rattlesnakes. Oh god, he was talking about rattlesnakes. I watched in horror as the top of the sack opened. Tyler stuck his tongs down inside and poked around. "Hi, baby. Come to daddy."
Up out of the sack came a snake. Tyler had it clasped so hard that it looked like its back was being crushed. It was maybe three feet long, and it hung limp from the tongs with the exception of its tail, which was quivering back and forth and letting off a faint rattling sound, like sand being shaken in a can.
I got the feeling it was as scared as I was.
Tyler grabbed the snake by the back of the head. He let it out of the tongs and squeezed so that it was forced to open its mouth. He swept it first at his friends so they would admire his manly power over the poor thing, then turned and brought it up close to my sister.
She refused to shrink away, but Justin put an elbow up. "Hey, man, keep that back. I don't like snakes."
"No? Your girlfriend does. She was playing with mine not so long ago, weren't you, honey?"
"You wish," Maddy spat.
"Hah." He raised the snake up and down in a taunt. "I'm gonna give you the chance to do it again in a minute. You're gonna be nicer this time, though."
"Shut up, she's mine," Justin said, hugging her closer.
"Sounds to me like she don't want you no more. Okay by me, though, I don't mind sharin'." Then Tyler swung his big head around to sneer at me. "But first, we're gonna see how her fag brother is at snake charmin'."
I had never been all that afraid of snakes. At least, no more than anybody else. But the whole world seemed to zoom in on that hissing, fanged rattlesnake as Tyler brought it over to me. Even in the dark, I could see the glistening pink insides of its mouth, the curve of its fangs. Its long scaly length was curled tightly around Tyler's forearm. As if it was so terrified that it had to hold on to something, even if it was the monster it was most afraid of.
I understood how it felt.
"Tyler," I croaked, trying to turn my face away as he brought the hissing creature within an inch of my cheek, "what do you want?"
"How about I give you a choice," he replied, waving the snake's head around in front of my eyes. "You can play with this one, or..." he pulled back enough to grab his crotch, "this one. I wanna know which you like better."
My mouth went dry, blood rushing to my head so fast my ears rang. I looked between the open-mouthed rattler and Tyler's hand unbuttoning the fly of his jeans. I was going to be sick.
"You bastard," my sister screamed.
"Patience, Princess, I already promised you could have a turn."
"What..." I wasn't sure I could even get the words out. "What do I have to do?"
Tyler's lips stretched over his teeth widely like a comic book villain. "Simple." I tried not to look as he pulled himself out of his jeans, fat and pink in the headlights. "You can suck it, or my little friend here's gonna suck you."
The comparison was so intolerably inaccurate I mumbled, "They're not vampires."
"What's that, freak?"
Snakes aren't vampires, moron. They don't suck, they bite. If I'd had Maddy's nerve I'd have spat it in his face. But I wasn't my sister. And correcting him would gain me nothing.
Tyler looped the snake's body around the back of my neck like a scarf. Its tail curled up by my face, the dry tip shaking in warning. I cringed and whimpered in spite of myself.
And Tyler's dick was brushing my stomach, which just added to the horror of it all. He seemed to realize it and bucked into me, rubbing that thing all over my bruises and getting the snake's fangs perilously close to my cheek in the process. "What's it gonna be, huh?"
I didn't want to answer, because I already knew how this was going to play out. He'd get what he wanted, because I wasn't brave enough to tell him to go fuck himself. And then he'd either be satisfied, or what was more likely, decide I needed further humiliation.
"Well, come on, Hayes, make up your mind. My arm's gettin' tired, I might end up droppin' 'im."
"I'll do it," Maddy shouted from behind him, making Tyler turn.
I shook my head. "Maddy, no!"
But she had that light in her eyes that meant she was fully committed. "You put that snake down and come over here, I'll blow you like you ain't never had before."
"Like hell you will," Justin protested, but Maddy ignored him.
"I mean it. Leave Connor alone, he don't even know how to do it right. I know what a man likes. You won't last five minutes."
Tyler's friends cheered.
Tyler jerked the snake around my neck, making it hiss. "You hear that, twink? Your own sister don't think you got what it takes." But instead of backing off of me, he moved closer and angled his body so that Maddy could watch him smearing his dick all over me. "You're both little freaks, ain't ya? You bet, I'm gonna get you both tonight."
Justin literally bared his teeth. He squeezed Maddy into his chest and snarled like a dog defending its territory. Would have maybe had some semblance of romance, if he wasn't totally helping Tyler assault us right now.
Tyler shrugged. "Looks like you're goin' first, Hayes."
"You'll have to untie me," I pointed out weakly. I was short, but not that short.
He pulled his pocketknife out in triumph, and reached around me. Josh, Wayne and Hector were cackling madly.
"Dude, I think he's really gonna do it!"
"Shit, man, this is epic. Where's my camera?"
"You an idiot? We ain't filmin' this. You wanna get us all in trouble?"
What happened next was a blur. I think Tyler might have stumbled while he was cutting me loose. Or maybe I did, as the tape around my wrists came free. I remember a sting on my arm as the knife slipped. I remember Tyler cursing, and the snake hissing, and a dry slithering sensation around the back of my neck. The other guys shouted. Maddy screamed. Something hit the inside of my leg, fell down like a weight into the cargo shorts that were pooled around my bound ankles.
And then a sharp pain, just on the inside of my knee, that blossomed at once into excruciating fire. I cried out, jerked my feet in instinct and fell face forward into the dirt. Another blossoming pain, this time the back of my thigh. A chilling combination of motion and noise and Maddy screaming my name.
"Fuck, man, it bit him!"
"Jesus, Tyler, what'd you do? Whoa, look out, it's comin' over here!"
"Shit. Get in the truck. In the fucking truck, now!"
"But what about the kid?"
"Fuck 'im, we're gettin' out of here." The truck's engine roared to life.
"Justin! Get in the truck, man."
"Not without Maddy, I gotta—"
"Fuck that bitch, man, we're goin'."
"But how are they gonna—"
"Who the fuck cares? Better hurry, that snake's loose.  You get bit, we're leavin' you too."
The horn blared, the doors slammed, the tires skidded in the dirt. Everything got really dark as the headlights swerved in the opposite direction. But Maddy was scrambling toward me across the dirt.
"Oh my god. Oh my god, Connor, okay. Hold on, all right? I'm coming, I just hafta—" She mumbled something unintelligible and kept scooting closer. There was a lot of cursing and flopping sounds, but I couldn't keep track of them. My leg hurt as if someone had stabbed two red-hot pokers into it. I couldn't move, I was still mostly naked, and I'd started shivering from a place deep, deep inside even though I was in too much pain to be cold.
After a minute or so I felt Maddy touching my back. "Fucking duct tape... I'm here, Connor, okay? Where did it get you, your leg? Hang on. Shit, it's so fucking dark, I can't fucking see!"
I choked. My body convulsed on the ground and suddenly I was throwing up so violently that it brought me up onto my elbows.
"God, oh god, are you— Okay, all right, we need help. We've got to get help. Those fuckers, they took my phone, I can't..." She actually sounded like she was crying. And Maddy didn't cry.
"Maddy," I gasped. "I need to... I gotta roll over."
"Yeah. Yeah, of course." She helped me flop onto my back, which wasn't really all that much better than being on my front. "Here," she said, and a second later I felt her stuffing something slightly soft and lumpy under my head. "I only have this shirt, damn it, I should have worn more clothes."
My teeth were chattering, so I guess she figured it would help if she pulled my shorts back up. My leg hurt so bad that I was close to passing out, but I didn't try to stop her. I think having my pants on had more of a psychological effect than any real physical one, but it was still better. And she bit at the tape around my ankles until she'd torn it off.
"Jesus, Connor, you need help. I don't know what to do!"
"They took my watch," I said stupidly. Not that it mattered, since the S.O.S. hadn't worked. "Ezra, you liar. You didn't come. You said you'd come and you didn't."
"Ezra? Who's Ezra?"
"Follow me around my whole fucking life and now that I'm dying you flake on me. Guess you guys decided to boot me from your creepy program after—ah!—after all." I didn't have the watch, so he wouldn't be able to hear me. Not that it mattered. I coughed as more bile came flowing up into the back of my throat, and I flailed at Maddy until she rolled me onto my side and I could spit it out.
"Connor, no. I'm not gonna let you die. You're not dying on me, we're going to get you help." She tried pulling me into her arms, but there was just no way. She wasn't strong enough to carry me out of a desert on foot. And even if she was, I wasn't strong enough to hold on to her long enough that she could do it.
"Maddy, you're gonna have to leave me."
"No, I can't, you're—"
"Dying," I repeated. My fingers and toes were tingling. My tongue was so numb I was having trouble pronouncing words. And I had absolutely no illusions about my prospects out here. A snake bite would normally take a few days to be fatal, but I'd been bitten twice. The only place to get antivenin was at a big hospital, unless one of the Prickly Pear EMTs happened to have a kit. We were at least twenty-five, maybe thirty minutes out into the desert. It would take Maddy three or four times that long to get back to town on foot, and then they still had to get out here to me, and get me to a city big enough to have a hospital.
I was going to lose my leg, at the very least. Probably worse. And I really didn't want Maddy sitting here next to me while I went into shock and possibly seizures. Maybe even got picked off early by the coyotes—we didn't have anything out here to make light or a fire to hold them off. They'd smell death on me and that would be it, and if Maddy got in their way she'd just get taken down too. I grabbed her hand and squeezed as hard as I could.
"Go. Find Mom, or... somebody. See if they'll help."
"Oh, they'll help," Maddy sobbed. "If I have to drag them here by their balls, they're gonna help. Connor, oh my god, I can't believe this is happening."
"Could have been worse," I wheezed.
"How? How could this possibly be worse?"
"At least neither of us had to suck Tyler's dick."
"Oh, Jesus, you little—"
"Go, Maddy. Go on. I'll just," I grunted as a shard of agony shot up my leg and into my spine, "hang out. Here."
She stood up, and all I could see of her was a dark silhouette against the moonlit sky. The breeze had picked up a little, and dust was flying into my eyes and nose. "I'll be back as soon as I can," Maddy said. "Hang in there, Connor. Okay? I'm coming back for you."
There was a lot of scraping and thudding, which meant she was running off in the same direction the truck had gone.
Now it was eerily quiet. Ironically peaceful. The wind rustled through clumps of dry grass. The fence post creaked. Insects whirred and chittered, alongside one hell of a lot of crickets. Above me the sky was thick with stars, and I stared up at them with tears blurring my vision. My bitten leg felt unbearably tight, like a fruit that was about to burst. I felt some tickling along the other leg, and my arm. Probably ants or beetles or whatever other night crawlers were out here, I was lying right in the middle of their hunting grounds.
My face throbbed where they'd hit me. My chest felt like it had been smashed with a hammer. I'd had some beatings in my life, but this one hurt more than any I could remember.
"Ezra," I said to the uncaring cosmos, "don't you let them hurt my sister. You hear me? I don't care if I die, you keep Maddy safe." Then I rolled miserably onto my side to barf again.
I'd only been lying out there a few more minutes when a distant rumble turned into a violent, crashing, gravel-scattering roar. A painfully brilliant light came bouncing toward me at dizzying speed, then lurched to a stop in front of me and took up everything I could see. The light shook a bit and I heard Maddy's voice.
"He's there, he's right there! Connor, can you hear me? I found somebody."
An enormous shadow moved between me and the blinding light. Hands on my shoulders, pushing back my puke-sodden hair. Whoever it was pulled me into a sitting position, stuffed something hard behind my back to prop me up. Then supported my shoulder as I twisted to the side and vomited for about the tenth time.
When I was able to turn back again, a flash of light caught the side of his face, and I blinked in disbelief.
"Shit. You came."
A big hand caressed the side of my face. Ezra's deep velvet voice reached out to me across the dark, comforting as a hug. "I'm here, Connor. I'm sorry I'm late."