Chapter Sixteen.
Nun
A door opened with a squeak. It slammed shut with a finality that spoke volumes. I wouldn’t break and beg for release. With all these bodies, it was clear that never happened.
“What do you think of my angels?” a voice yelled, and I shrank back. The lights blinded me, obscuring my view of whoever was approaching.
“Who are you?” I demanded.
“God’s Reclaimer. I was sent to deliver your soul to him, to woo you away from the devil, and to help you retake your place.”
“Bullshit. You’re going to torture and kill me for your own perverse enjoyment,” I retorted.
A large figure stepped into the light. “Margaret, I won’t take offence. Your own perversions are talking for you,” he said and hitched his trousers up under his huge beer belly.
“You!” I gasped. That was Catherine’s husband! Benjamin, I think that was his name.
“My mission had already begun before I married Catherine. Sadly, I didn’t wish to; Catherine was bland and the perfect wife.
Which I soon realised was God’s design. She never inquired where I went, what I was doing, or who I was with.
I could come and go and keep following God’s plan, and Catherine was none the wiser.
But she had more to give me, and God delivered. You. The ultimate sinner.”
“Whatever.” I didn’t want to hear Benjamin wax lyrical about his murders. But then again, if I kept him talking, my chances of being found increased.
“Chasing those who committed the offence of bringing the church into disrepute gave me the entirety of God’s plan. Now I understand why he had me marry Catherine. She led me to you.”
“Listen, I don’t know what your mission is, but—”
“Silence!” Benjamin bellowed. “I’m in charge. You will obey me!”
Not fuckin’ likely, I thought mulishly.
“I’m going to bathe you. We can’t begin the process of reclaiming you for God until you’re clean.”
“Can we look inside your trailer first?” I asked.
Benjamin’s eyes narrowed. “You want a tour? Sure.” He grabbed a handful of my hair and dragged me through the trailer.
I screamed and kicked out at him, and he turned and slapped me with a meaty hand.
Sneering, he bent down and cut my legs free, and wrapping my hair around his wrist, he forced me to stand.
I took note as he pulled me down the trailer. He’d partitioned it into sections. At the front was a place for him to park his SUV.
“That’s what I hit you with.” He laughed.
The next area was a kind of sitting room, including a TV, a sofa, and a compact kitchenette.
Benjamin could live here easily. The sofa turned into a bed.
There was a tiny room with a single bed, and beyond that the trophy room, leading into a bathroom.
After that was his torture chamber. I swallowed hard.
Finally, he showed me his embalming workshop.
Benjamin dragged me back to the shower. “Strip and clean yourself.”
“No!” I retorted.
Benjamin punched me, and I stumbled.
“I don’t like repeating myself, sinner.”
“I said no.”
His hand struck me again, and I knew my eye would close up. Shit. His hands tore at my clothes, and although I kicked out at him, I couldn’t stop him. He grunted as he cut them off me and stepped back.
Benjamin licked his fleshy lips and grinned. “Shame your sister didn’t look like you,” he stated.
“I’ll die before you rape me,” I hissed.
“Rape? No. I wouldn’t put my Rod of Righteousness into your dirty pussy. It’s not clean.”
I was definitely stunned because I was sure he’d just called his cock the Rod of Righteousness. I began giggling helplessly as I spluttered the words back at him. His hand hit me again, but I was unable to stop laughing. There was a hysterical tinge to it.
Benjamin uncuffed my hands from behind me and then re-cuffed them in front of me. He hooked my wrists over a hook and winched it until I was on tiptoes. Then he took a hose and began washing me down. I shrieked at the ice-cold water and tried to get away. Benjamin didn’t relent.
Eventually, he turned the hose off and grabbed a bottle of what smelled like disinfectant, which he scrubbed all over me with a stiff scrubbing brush. It broke my skin, and the disinfectant stung like crazy.
I screamed and kicked out again, but Benjamin blasted me in the face with the hose and proceeded to scrub.
By the time he’d finished, I was a mass of raw flesh, and I was sore everywhere.
Not even between my legs had been spared.
My pussy hurt so much that when he released me, I fell because of the pain there.
“Dry yourself,” Benjamin ordered.
I obeyed, using the stiff towel he threw at me. It made my skin throb worse, but I kept my mouth shut.
“Move.”
“I need some clothes.”
“You haven’t earned them.”
“You expect me to walk around naked?” I checked.
“Yes.”
Fine. If he expected me to cower, he was wrong.
Pulling on my experience, I shoved the pain away and locked it in a box.
I hauled myself up and swaggered out of the bathroom.
Benjamin followed close behind. He grabbed my neck and forced me into his torture room.
He began bending me over a bench, and I started fighting back.
“You’ll have to kill me,” I hissed as I raked at his face.
Benjamin punched me three times, and I staggered, and he locked me down.
“No! No!” I shouted at him.
He walked around me, smugness in his mean, piggy eyes. He picked up a barbed flogger and, without warning, hit me hard. The barbs bit into my back and tore my flesh. I shrieked and struggled to get up.
Benjamin repeated his actions, and I spat insults and screamed threats at him. I fell quiet after the tenth lash, unable to speak, the pain so terrible I sank into oblivion.
“There now, don’t you feel better? That initial purge, sinner, did you experience some of the sin leave your body?
” His thick fingers ran over my skin as I lay still, pretending to be unconscious.
He smeared something on my back and rubbed it in.
“Can’t have you getting ill, sinner. We’ve got much to get through.
Your path won’t be easy, but we’ll make it. ”
Benjamin carefully cuffed me to the bed frame and walked away. I closed my eyes and prayed someone would rescue me. I searched for Belladonna, but I couldn’t sense her. All I could feel was pain.
Blue
“There’s no sign of him,” I stated to Kiki as she called for an update.
“You’ll find her. I know you will,” Kiki assured me.
“It’s been twenty-four hours; Benjamin could be anywhere with her now.”
“He won’t have left the state, Blue. He’s wanted Nun for a while. Search for hidden places, somewhere he can hide a trailer and truck. Nun is the jewel in his crown, and he knows she’s dangerous. Benjamin will want to tame her a little before he drives off with her,” Kiki argued.
“I can’t bear to imagine what he’s doing to her. I saw the photos,” I stated.
“We have Stitch and Belladonna; they’ll be able to help her. Just find her,” Kiki urged.
“Love you,” I said and cut the call.
“I think Kiki’s correct. He’ll want to enjoy Nun a bit. He’s hiding in state,” Priest remarked, looking as tired as I felt. We’d snatched a few hours of sleep and were now contemplating our next move.
“There’re a lot of open spaces out there,” I replied.
“Then we search them one by one,” Priest gritted out.
I nodded. “We don’t stop until we’ve found her.”
Nun
I screamed as the cane came down on my soles repeatedly.
Benjamin woke me up, made me pray for an hour, and gave me a stale piece of bread and a cup of water.
He’d then dragged me into the shower again and repeated yesterday’s actions.
Was it a day ago or more? I’d lost track of time.
He now had me tied down to a bench and was whipping my legs and feet with a cane.
I wouldn’t be able to walk, and that was the point.
Benjamin wanted to ensure I couldn’t escape.
The cane came down continuously as I screamed.
I couldn’t avoid it, and I felt the blood pouring from my wounds.
Benjamin prayed as he lashed me, and I shook my head in disbelief at his double standards.
I was going to gut this fat pig alive. A particularly harsh blow across my soles made me black out once more.
This time when I woke, I was uncuffed, and that was Benjamin’s fatal mistake.
I didn’t care if my feet and legs were raw flesh.
Years of compartmentalising agony while surviving Reverend Mother Mary Agnes had taught me lessons.
I blanked my mind and envisioned the pain as a living snake.
I grabbed its neck and imagined a box; I shoved the snake into it and locked it.
Then I wrapped a chain around it and put bricks on top and beside it to ensure the snake couldn’t escape.
I sat up gingerly.
My body was sore and sluggish, but I could move.
I placed my feet on the ground; they stung again, but they could take my weight.
I was in the small bedroom, and I silently moved backwards towards the torture room.
It held weapons I could use. Deep down, I knew I had mere minutes.
I was running on adrenaline, and that wouldn’t last forever.
I grabbed a sharp blade and tested it. It would do.
Slowly and quietly, I made my way back to the bedroom, ignoring the bloody footprints. I peered into the trophy room, saw it was empty, and slipped through. I didn’t bother looking for clothes. Escape was the priority. I heard the TV next door and quickly peeked past the doorframe.
Benjamin was asleep on the sofa, and I hesitated.
Did I stab him or make a break for it? If I got close and he woke up, I didn’t have the strength to fight him off.
Decision made, I slipped through the room, my back to the wall and into the SUV’s room.
Now I had to open a door without Benjamin catching me.
I knew the doors squeaked, and I’d have to be fast.
I nudged the lower bolt, and it moved soundlessly. The upper one let out a small clank, and I froze as Benjamin produced a snuffling noise.