We lay there for what seemed like forever. When you have to lay still time stretches. A second lasts a minute,  a minute stretches out to an hour, an hour into an eternity.

It was getting dark. I was hungry and I had to pee. Blake stirred a little and immediately froze again when he heard the brush he had pulled over us move. He didn't hear anything coming so he moved again. He pushed all the crap to the side and climbed out of the hole. I watched as he looked carefully around and then extended me his hand to help me out as well.

"Blake" I whispered to him quietly, "I have to pee."

"So do I" he whispered back, "you first, I'll keep watch."

He reached into one of our packs and found some napkins for me. "Try to hurry Chan" he said so quietly I almost couldn't hear, "The sooner we get as far from here as possible the better I will feel."

I took the napkins and made it quick behind a near by bush. Then it was my turn to watch as he ducked behind a nearby tree. He finished quickly and we huddled together still listening and still afraid to move.

It was dark and neither of us were sure which way to go to get back to the store, but we chose a direction donned our packs  and started off anyway. We didn't speak and made as little noise as possible. In a few minutes we spotted a light ahead and Blake started making his way closer to that.

We came out of the darkness at the edge of a well lit parking lot. We huddled together watching,  afraid to break cover. The light had been a street light on our side of the lot. I wished we had come out further down on the darker side but this is where we were. There was no sign of Jeff or any car that looked like his and I was beginning to feel a little safer.

"Lets get out of here and find the highway" said Blake after a few minutes. I nodded my okay and was just standing up when I heard the rustles of leaves behind me and what felt like a breath of warm air on the back of my neck. My heart stopped and I turned to see what or who was behind me. Before I could see I felt a sudden pain hit me in the back of the head. It jarred me down my neck and all the way to my toes. Everything went black.

When I woke up again I had no idea what had happened or where I was.  My head was pounding. It was dark and we were moving. It took me a few moments to realize I was taped up exactly as Jeff had done before. My wrists restrained  behind my back, taped at the knees and the ankles. It was impossible to move much.  I whispered as loud as I could for Blake.

"I'm here Chan" I heard him answer.  "We are in the trunk of his car. He is going to kill us for sure this time."

He sounded so hopeless, as if he had given up and was ready to accept death. I hoped not. There had to be a way out of this. We had come through it before we could do it again. I felt the ache in my skull easing. it made it easier to think.

"Do you know where he is taking us?" I asked, "Did he say anything?"

"All I heard was when he hit you in the back of the head with something. I turned around to see what happened and everything went black. " he said in that  hopeless tone, "I never heard him say a word. I just hope this time he makes it quick. I don't think I could stand..."

He broke off speaking and sobbed. I did my best to get close to him. Anything to make him feel better and lift his spirits. I spoke to him quietly because I didn't know if Jeff could hear us or not.

"We are in the trunk of a car" I told Blake, "so there must be some sharp edges around. See if you can find one and work it through the tape."

"Whats the use now?" he sobbed softly, "Even if we get free he still has us. He is going to kill us no matter what we do."

"Blake, if we don't at least try we are dead for sure."

"Just give it up Chan" Blake moaned, "I don't care anymore. I just want it all over. I want the world to stop torturing me. You go ahead if you want to but I'm done."

I gave up on Blake and started hunting for that sharp edge, a bare piece of sheet metal, the exposed head of a bolt, anything I could touch or feel that might be able to get through the  bonds. I was trying to pull the carpet back when  I felt the car slowing down. It turned and the road got rougher. We were running out of time.

The bumps and ruts in the road were making it difficult to keep track of where I had searched. We were getting bounced around a lot, getting slung into one another and there was no way for me to use anything to cut myself loose even if I did find something that would do it.

The car stopped with a lurch, throwing us against the front of the trunk. Blake slammed into me and knocked the air out of my lungs. I lay still trying to breathe. Blake was still sobbing, softly  when the trunk lid opened. There he was, Jeff, staring at us with that sick smirk on his face.

He reached into the trunk, grabbed Blake by the hair. Blake stopped sobbing and started whimpering like a beaten puppy.  He dragged him out and over the lip of the car trunk and dumped him to the ground making Blake yelp in pain.

Then it was my turn. I struggled but he caught me by the ankle and yanked. I heard my ankle pop and my brain went white with pain. He didn't care. He pulled me out as well and dumped me on top of Blake, then dragged us both by the hair to the front of the car.

Once more I found myself laying bound up in the dirt with the head lights shining as they had before. It was like a recurring nightmare, but I know that from this one there might be no waking up.

He stood between the headlights watching us, leaned back against the hood and drinking from that flask. I briefly wondered what was in it. He just stood there and watched a while.

"What are you looking at you worthless bitch?" Jeff spoke to me, "You are the most worthless bit of trash that I've ever picked up off the street, you know that? You are worth nothing to me, less than nothing. You aren't worth the time to kill you but I got no choice."

Then to Blake, "You boy, I'm happy to see again." 

Jeff laughed as Blake tried to worm away. "I've never taken anyone twice. You two are the only ones to survive. I wonder if it will be twice as fun the second time around.  What do you think pretty boy, huh?  You ready to do it all again? I bet last time you loved it as much as I did. Didn't you twerp. You can tell me. You can tell your best friend Jeff. You loved being my bottom, didn't you?"

Jeff laughed then. A cruel evil laugh. He leaned back against the car and watched us some more. I tried to get inside Blake's head to try to help him. He was terrified. I could feel the fear wash over him in waves and in the lull between those towering crests was hopelessness. He had already given up, he just wanted it to be over so he could die and would never have to face anything like this again. There was nothing I could do. My mind recoiled from his, I felt sick. I broke the contact.

"Now you" Jeff said as he moved to stand over me, "You are special. I don't know why but I want to find out.  I bet you know, don't you you little street whore?  Tell Jeff what makes you so different and I might be merciful. I might make it easy for you and quick."

"I don't know what you mean" I stammered, "What do you mean special. What are you talking about?"

Jeff drew his leg back and planted his foot with a thud into my solar plexus.  The air exploded out of my lungs and again I couldn't breathe.  As he drew his foot back to kick me again, I started to fade out.