Chapter One ~ Jupe: One.

 

The route the driver took to get to his destination couldn't have been more gruelling for me and my fellow prisoners if he tried. We hadn't gone far, after leaving Lloyd's trading estate, before the truck turned off the main road onto a secondary road. It was narrow, unmade and dreadfully uneven. Every single pothole and large stone sent a jolt through the wooden bench and up through the plastic tube wedged in my asshole.

We had no option but to sit and suffer, hour after hour as the truck trundled toward its destination. I was still wearing a head harness/ring gag, as were the other three girls. They, like me had been sold to David Payne, the owner of a cobalt mine in the DRC. Thankfully, the relief driver, who was keeping an eye on us in the back, gave us frequent drinks from a huge bottle of water topped with a large teat.

We travelled through dense jungle and avoided passing through any large towns or villages. They had a cargo which they obviously wanted to keep away from prying eyes. During the six hours, give ot take an hour, the truck stopped twice. They chose deserted spots where we were allowed, one at a time, to stretch our legs and go to the toilet.

I was wearing a short, dirty orange tunic that only just covered my ass. I had been fitted with metal restraints because they considered that I was a flight risk. They were right. Given half a chance, I would have dashed into the jungle and taken my chances against the elements if the restraints weren't so extreme.

I had no chance of escaping while wearing a metal belt with the wrist cuffs attached to the sides, and a short hobbling chain between my ankles. At the first stop, the relief driver helped me down and led me to a patch of grass where I hunkered down to relieve myself.

The other two men jumped out of the front cab and together the trio watched me perform. "She would be a half decent looker if she didn't have a ring through her nose," one of the men commented.

"Why has she got a plastic stopper in her ass?" the younger lad asked while staring at my buttocks.

One man seemed to know what he was talking about. "They use these bigger thralls to haul the trucks in the low tunnels. Once tethered to the wagons they stay connected and have to be fed and watered while they're in the tunnels. They park them in a shed where some poor bugger has to clean out their bowels with a hosepipe."

"Fucking hell," the lad muttered.

The older man nudged me with his boot. "Stand up, bitch."

I stood and scrutinised the three men while they studied me. Even if I could get hold of one of their sidearms, I judged that I would be overpowered before I could use it. The hobbling chain was only a foot long so I wouldn't even be able to run or get very far.

"Is she dangerous?" The lad asked.

The oldest man, who had been driving, pointed at a scar, a branding iron had left on my right hip. "That's a running 'R', which means she's dangerous and will try to escape."

"Can I touch her cunt?"

The two older men looked at each other and nodded knowingly. "Do you want to bone this dangerous bitch?" One asked, then chuckled.

"Sure, why not. Nobody's going to know, are they?"

Then, without warning, the older guy charged me like an offensive linesman tackling his opponent. "Ooooof!"

I went down heavily on my back with the guy ending up sitting on my stomach. With my hands secured in the cuffs, I couldn't break my fall and was winded momentarily.

The heavy driver grabbed my tits as he climbed off me and then pointed at my feet. "Chad, help me grab the chain."

He and the other guy snatched the chain and pulled my feet up, then down toward my head, exposing my ass and modified cunt to the young man. They pushed my feet down to my head, to make it easy for the lad to fuck me.

"Go on, boy, hurry up. Get your dick out and give her one," Chad urged him.

The lad knelt and stroked my labia which probably looked okay to him, but it was far from normal. David Payne had paid to have it trimmed and closed for hygiene purposes while working in the mine. The lad though probably wasn't aware of such barbaric practices and was genuinely impressed.

"Uhhhhhhh!" I suddenly growled through the ring gag, like a wild animal.

He snatched his hand away as if my cunt was going to bite it off. Both men started to howl with laughter. "It hasn't got teeth. Get on with it. We haven't got all day!"

The boy got to his feet. "No, I don't fancy doing it here."

For once I had escaped being abused. It was a minor win in a series of major disasters. The men hauled me to my feet and hoisted me up into the truck. The other girls got similar treatment during their breaks and then we were on our way again through the savage jungle.

I was angry at every man who had abused me since we arrived at Lloyd's trading estate. However, if I could escape, the man who would feel the full force of my fury would be Keith Douglas. He was the one who entrapped me and caused the deaths of Salina and Jennifer, the only true friends I ever had.

There was no indication when we had crossed the border into the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but I knew that's where our destination was. The road/track was so narrow and the jungle dense, I guessed the slavers were using a route that didn't exist on a map. I was certain that I was being taken to a secret location. If that was the case, the chances of anyone coming to my aid were zero. I therefore had to find a way to escape, otherwise I would never be free again.

I guessed we had been traveling about seven hours and driven about 250 miles, when the truck slowed down. It eventually stopped and the guy sitting with us in the back stood up and waited by the backboard. I could see the road had widened and there was a jeep parked by the roadside, but I couldn't see anything ahead of us because of the canvas cover. There were several voices though as men discussed procedure near the cab.

Moments later a man with a semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder appeared and lowered the flap. The men changed places and once the backboard had been raised, the gunman sat down opposite us. As soon as the truck started, I saw, out of the back of the truck, the three men who had delivered us, getting into an identical vehicle pointing in the opposite direction, ready for its journey back to Rwanda.

I and my companions were in the hands of the miners and were obviously getting close to our destination. The checkpoint we had just passed was manned with armed guards but there wasn't any need for fences because of the surrounding jungle. The black guard, who was dressed in camouflage shorts, shirt and cotton sun hat, studied us with a critical eye.

"God, you bitches are ugly with your snouts ringed," he shouted over the heavy thundering sound coming from the rear wheels and axle. "Good job you sows have got summat better to look at...," he chuckled.

We had only been rumbling along for five minutes when signs of life, beside the road, started to appear. Prefab buildings had been erected on the edge of the jungle and construction vehicles were parked haphazardly among them. Then, the jungle receded, giving more space for larger buildings in the open spaces. We passed through another security checkpoint but didn't stop.

On this occasion there was a fence and heavier security on the gate. A watchtower was just visible over some of the single-story buildings to the north. My hopes of escaping sank a little further seeing such high security at the Payne mine. The truck trundled on for another 200 yards then reversed into a parking space beside a similar vehicle.

Two men came to the back and lowered the flap. One jumped up to join the guard. He had a set of keys to release my hobbling chain from the metal eye screwed into the floor of the bed. He also removed the chain between my labia ring and hobbling chain.

I noticed he had a cattle prod hanging from his belt as he hunkered down to release the padlock. He stood up and handed the padlock to the guard then removed the prod.

He pointed it in my face. "Do you know what this is?" He triggered the weapon, sending a mini blue lightning bolt between the two nodes on the end.

I nodded. "Uhh!"

His eyes narrowed. "Bitch, look at me like that again and I'll shove this in your anal tube. "Understand?"

This time I nodded, then lowered my eyes in a show of submissiveness. The men weren't going to accept any dissent from a new thrall who was just about to start work in the mine. It was going to take all my willpower to respond quickly and obediently during the coming hours and days.

"Get up..." He took my arm and steadied me on the edge of the bed. Bare footed, I was ready to jump down, onto the hard compacted earth. "Bend your knees and Axel will help you. I don't want you turning an ankle. Hear?!"

I nodded and did as I was told. I was stiff from the journey and the effects from the enforced confinement on the trading estate, so I had to be careful. Axel caught my arm and helped me land softly. He took a sheet of paper from the other guy, then pointed at a door on the end of the shed. "This way..."

I felt as though I was a prisoner on death row, about to be taken to the electric chair. They were treating me as though I was a dangerous criminal. My crime was letting Keith Douglas talk me into working for him. On that count, I was guilty as hell.