The night blanketed her senses. The darkness allowed her to see nothing more than the outlines of the sturdy tree trunks that surrounded her. When her ears perked up to listen for the crackling of leaves under heavy feet, the soft hooting of all the owls in those woods and the incessant chirping of crickets, blocked out any other sound, creating a continuous haze for her hearing. And when her head tilted towards the sky, the intertwining branches full of leaves allowed her no sight of the stars or glowing moon. It caused fear to tug at her heart before settling in the pit of her stomach. She was certain now that she was completely caged in, and it was only an amount of time before she would be caught.

He appeared as only a dark figure swiftly approaching on her. His pace coming at her was calm but quick. Her mind knew that the game was over, but her instincts pushed her body to keep moving because stopping could only insure her fate.

His grip was tight as he grabbed her slim form from behind. He picked her up sideways to crush her to his chest with her face pushed into his shoulder, keeping any sound from escaping. Her throat worked frantically to produce a scream, but nothing would come out more than a quiet whimper. Instead, tears spilled over from her eyes, soaking into the thick material of the stranger�s dark clothing.

It seemed to her that he walked for hours. What he was trying to reach, she had no clue. Her greatest concern was the depleting amount of oxygen entering her lungs. He smelled of sweat and asphalt and blood. Her blood. The scent nearly gagged her, and only caused her tears to fall more rapidly.

When he was finally satisfied with their location, he dropped her body to the ground. Pain shot through her as she fell hard onto her side. Sticks and pinecones seemed to cover the spot, and she whimpered as the sharp edges made contact with the cuts in her skin.

She was still concentrating deeply on bringing the fresh air into her lungs when she faintly heard his blunt command for her to turn over onto her back. Her body hurt and her limbs felt heavy, so his wishes weren�t met. He said nothing more when she didn�t comply, and simply pulled his foot back, and quickly brought it forward to kick her in the stomach as hard as he could. The wind was knocked out of her immediately, all of that much needed air leaving her lungs once again. The stinging sensation in her abdomen was prominent, and she felt like several organs had been pushed out her back. His request was repeated, his voice surprisingly calm, but all she could manage to do in reply was remain on her side, holding her stomach, letting soft cries escape her throat. At first, his only expression of anger at her disobedience was a low growling sound that was so faint she thought she might have only imagined hearing it, but the rumble coming from him slowly got louder until her ears once again heard him command her onto her back. With fear rising up in her again, she did make an honest effort to do as she wished, but her arms seemed to have lost all of their power and her entire body felt like a dead weight. With any amount of will, she couldn�t have gotten her limp form to move. His displeasure was much more obvious to her that time as he let out a rather animalistic yell before using all of his strength to slam his foot down on her thin arm. The action caused pain to shoot through her limb, and a sharp screech was finally able to escape her parched throat.

It seemed to take him awhile before realizing that she wasn�t being defiant, but simply couldn�t move over on her own. He stepped slightly away from her and paced back and forth for a few moments as if contemplating a major decision in which the voices in his head were arguing with each other. He came back to her swiftly though, and without a single pause brought his foot back into painful contact with her stomach, and finally turning her over. When she was on her back, looking up into the trees, he took at brief moment out to stare at her face, looking over the delicate lines and dips that the fragile bones created. Then suddenly, as if he wasn�t in the slightest bit of control of himself, he brought a quick kick to meet her directly in the jaw.

She�d been kicked more times than she could count and in places that she never would have imagined could be in so much pain. Her body was bruised and bloody and sore. She felt almost disfigured, as if she would have numerous dents if she looked into a mirror at that moment. Her poor arm had been trampled numerous times, and the throbbing current of pain that streamed through it seemed never ending.

But a tiny gleam of relief had opened inside of her when his rage seemed to have subsided dramatically. He was quiet; all yelling and growling had ceased. He was no longer pacing, only standing stoically off to the side of her. She prayed for it to be over, prayed for him to leave and cause her no further damage because she was almost certain that should would no longer be able to withstand the pain. She thought that if he tortured her much longer, she would surely die.

Unfortunately, it became quite clear that the nightmare wasn�t over when he came to her again, this time kneeling at her side instead of standing and towering above her. He didn�t bother to give her any orders, sure that she wouldn�t be able to fill them. With rough movements, his arms reached out over her to forcefully remove all of her clothing. Her shirt and jeans were torn; her bra and underwear nearly destroyed, and then thrown over his shoulder to be lost within the brush. That strange look came over him once again as it had when he�d been admiring her face. His eyes raked over her body slowly as if he was trying to absorb every curve, dip, and imperfection that there could be to see. Her face burned with embarrassment and fear as she turned to look away from him, her entire body going stiff. His fingers slowly reached out, and she flinched the tiniest bit when they grazed the deep, red cut just under her left breast that he had slashed into her skin hours before during their struggle at the car. Her face turned back to him, and her weary eyes met his for an instant as he gently ran his fingertip along the injured flesh as if he was trying to soothe it. He traced the line up and down about ten times before sinking his fingernails into the wound, causing fresh blood to come up and the skin to break even further. Her head snapped away violently at the torture, attempting to clench her hands and feet to find some sort of relief. It didn�t last long though before he loosened his grip and removed his hand from her altogether.

He walked away from her once again, but she didn�t bother to look. She didn�t move an inch, and her eyes squeezed shut so tight that it almost hurt. She tried to force her mind to go somewhere else, anywhere else, but she couldn�t. Everything from the feel of the hard ground underneath her to the sounds of the woods to the horrible stenches coming from the stranger and her own body, were keeping her grounded to her present surroundings, and there was no escape.

It seemed as if he�d been gone for about five minutes when she felt her legs being spread wide apart by gloved hands. Her heart tightened with anxiety as her mind produced images of what she feared was to come. She then felt something long, rough, and wide entering her body. The edges of it were sharp, and cut into her tender skin with every movement he made to get the object inside of her. It was much too large for her body, and it gave her the sensation of being split into two. When she was sure that it could go no further, his hands steadily pushed, causing it to travel further inside than anything should go. The pushes and tugs that his motions made were violent and repetitive. The violation caused her heart to break, and her insides to feel as if they were being pulled out. She didn�t last for more than sixteen strokes of the branch before everything inside of her head went black.

Chapter One

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