Victoria shook Alison again in desperation "Alison!" she yelled hopelessly.
Paul couldn't bear to watch Victoria's torment any longer. He lowered his head slowly, closing his eyes, and he fought the urge to cry. When he opened his eyes again, they rested on Alison's thigh. He tried to make some sense out of the situation. Alison had a problem with her temper, they all knew that, and she could be sensitive at times, but at heart she was a confident and cheerful girl. She wasn't a delicate little flower, and he was confounded at the way she was reacting.
Suddenly his brow creased. He leaned forward slightly and took hold of the back of Alison's skirt. Slowly, he lifted it.
"Where are her knickers?" he exclaimed, mystified.
Victoria looked at Paul for a second, then down at Alison. She pulled Alison's skirt up. Alison was naked underneath. She looked at Paul again bewildered.
"Laptop!" she yelled suddenly.
Paul was already gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
"Go back!" said Emily. Victoria rewound the video, captured from camera seven. "There, stop it there!" Emily said. "Look, in the background, just by that beech tree" she said.
"There's someone there" said Paul "Can you zoom in?"
"It's a recording" said Emily "Not real-time"
"I meant in software" said Paul.
"Hang on" said Victoria, and after a pause "No, we're losing too much definition, maybe if it had been the new camera."
"Well keep playing it then" said Emily.
They were gathered, all of them except Alison, around Victoria's laptop, watching closely. Victoria was still sat in her chair, with Alison curled up in her lap sobbing, but Victoria couldn't spare a hand or arm to cuddle her. The others leaned over or round her to see. Their close and intimate proximity to each other was adding to the already electric atmosphere.
"He's moving" said Emily.
"Or she" said Paul. "Is there anything on camera nine? That might just see far enough round."
"I doubt it" said Victoria, linking to the server wirelessly and downloading the recorded feed from camera nine. She opened it in another window "No, nowhere near" she said.
"Damn!" said Paul.
"He's getting closer again" said Emily.
"Or she!" said Paul.
"It then!" said Emily "It's getting closer. Makes it sound like a monster, or an alien or something."
"A monster or alien?" asked Ben, worried "In the forest?"
"Just a figure of speech, darling" said Victoria.
"Or maybe" said Paul, looking up at Ben and talking very quietly "It is a monster or an alien. What else could have made Alison so... BOOOOO!" he ended with a shout.
Ben nearly leapt out of his skin. Amy and Emily jumped too. Alison redoubled her crying.
Victoria let her hand leave the keyboard long enough to smack Paul across the back of the head "Do you want a spanking?" she asked him severely.
"Yes, please" replied Paul eagerly.
"Well you're not getting one. Not unless you behave yourself anyway" she said keeping her eyes on the dark figure, which seemed to be approaching very slowly, in stages.
Ben's heart rate began to slow again. He was confused. Why would Paul want a spanking? And why would he only get one if he was good? He thought that if you were good you didn't get a spanking; that only happened if you were naughty. He shook his head and frowned. There were a lot of confusing things in the world, he thought.
"It's Giles" said Emily.
"It's not!" said Paul "How can you tell?"
"I don't know. The shape, the way he's skulking. It's him I'm sure of it" she said.
At the mention of Giles' name Alison started squirming and moaning "Noooooo" quietly between sobs.
Victoria looked down at her and sacrificed more valuable seconds to pat her comfortingly. "Sssshhhh! It's alright darling". She looked up at Emily whose face was frozen in a mixture of anger and terror.
"I was right about the monster part then" said Paul.
"This isn't a time for joking, Paul" said Victoria, and even though she'd said it gently, Paul could tell she was serious.
"Sorry" he said.
Paul looked at Alison on the screen, lying in the foreground on the grass just as he had left her. Although they had no sound, it was obvious that she was bawling her eyes out. It wasn't possible to tell whether she was wearing knickers or not, but he distinctly remembered putting them on her, and he could not imagine her taking them off, not in the condition she was in. Whatever had happened to them, it was looking increasingly likely that it had something to do with the figure who was approaching from the trees.
"It is Giles" said Victoria as the figure left the cover of the trees and dashed low across the grass to Alison's side. Alison grew more agitated again.
"Let's not mention his name any more" said Victoria.
"Let's call him Gillian" said Paul with a laugh.
Victoria looked up, about to rebuke him for making fun of the situation again, but her expression softened "Okay, good idea" she said.
Giles squatted down beside Alison, and he took a very long, and very careful look all around him. Satisfied that they were alone, he looked down at Alison and said something. Alison, clearly realising for the first time that someone was there, looked up, saw Giles and began trying to push herself away from him, backwards, on her bottom.
Giles grabbed her leg, and pulled her back towards him, causing Alison's skirt to ruck up on the grass. It was obvious where Giles was staring. He said something else and grabbed at her. Alison struggled, and looked as though she was screaming. Giles clamped a hand over her mouth and pinned her down. Alison shook her head as he spoke to her, and her small body bucked and thrashed violently.
"I wish we had sound" said Paul, looking on in shock.
"I'm glad we don't" said Emily, and then: "I can't watch" she said, and walked away.
Victoria watched with half an eye as Emily turned her back, walked away, and then paced up and down. Everyone else kept their eyes glued to the screen.
Giles reached for Alison's knickers, and he wrenched them from her unwilling body. He raised them to his nose and sniffed at them, as Alison watched on in horror. His hand remained clamped over her mouth. He stuffed her knickers in his pocket, and turned his attention back to Alison. He pushed her skirt right up out of the way, and stared directly at her cunt.
Alison fought and fought to break free of him, but he slapped her hard across the face until she was still. His hand came down, hesitatingly, toward her groin.
Victoria wiped a hand across her brow, and let out a short groan, knowing that while all this had been happening they had all been close enough to stop it. If only Alison had been able to scream loudly enough they would have heard. She put hand on Alison's arm, and stroked it apologetically. Alison was still foetal, but was now sucking her thumb.
Giles didn't touch her straight away; he seemed hesitant; almost reluctant, but eventually he poked at her tentatively. Then again. And again. Alison renewed her struggling; kicking out at him with her legs; trying to beat him off with her fists.
Giles slapped her again and bent close to her ear, whispering something. Alison went very still. Giles returned his attention to her pussy, and began pushing her labia apart with his fingers. As he did this his head bobbed from side to side, as though not sure what it was he was looking at.
He poked and explored roughly, and while he was distracted Alison managed to move her mouth sufficiently to be able to bite him. She sank her teeth into his hand like a starving feral dog. He shrieked loudly, immediately pulling his hand away and ramming it in his own mouth to suck on it. Giles looked as if he was about to cry. As Alison drew a deep and desperate breath to scream, Giles punched her in the stomach knocking all the wind out of her. He clamped his other hand over her mouth and brought his sore one down to her groin. Instead of exploring, he pinched her savagely between the legs, and he kept pinching every sensitive part of her. He pinched the vulnerable skin inside her thighs, her labia, her belly, even her clitoris. He watched her coldly and carefully to assess her reaction to each pinch, and then he concentrated on pinching those things which had seemed to hurt most.
Alison erupted into furious action, thrashing about kicking and punching at him. He tried to subdue her with more pinching, but she fought like a wildcat, until at last, he rammed a finger into her vagina. Alison sat bolt upright despite Giles weight pushing on her, and she screamed silently behind his hand. He slapped her again and she fell back, catatonic.
All of a sudden Giles looked up as if startled, and making sure he kept his hand clamped on Alison's mouth looked around carefully. Reassuring himself that Alison was passive he crawled away from her towards the hollow and stopped.
"Shit!" said Victoria "He's seen the den."
"What's he looking at?" asked Paul "Something's startled him."
Victoria thought back, tried to piece together the events earlier.
"Emily? Going out to wash her face?" she suggested.
Giles shuffled back towards Alison. He carefully lowered her skirt, and moved away in a low crouch until he was halfway to the trees. Then he ran off as fast as he could.
There was a long silence. Victoria closed the window, and put her laptop down, concentrating now on cuddling Alison.
"Em? Did you notice anything odd when you went out to the stream?" asked Victoria.
"No, I don't think so" said Emily, halting her pacing at last; and seeing the laptop discarded, returned to the companionship of the others.
"Think back" said Victoria.
"Well..." said Emily, her eyes dancing about the wall.
"Not really, but..." she said.
"But?" prompted Victoria.
"But... when I went out, at first, it was quiet. Just the birds singing, nothing else. I went to the stream, washed my face, and just sat for a minute. Then I heard Alison caterwauling like she'd been... Oh God! You don't mean he was doing that while I was out there?" Emily looked devastated.
"No" said Victoria "He wasn't, he was long gone. I think you startled him and he ran off. I'm guessing Alison was out of it for a while, that's why it was quiet. You heard her when she came round."
"I should have gone to her" she said her voice full of guilt and regret.
"You didn't know" said Paul.
Victoria rubbed her eyes.
Ben stood confused again and he looked like he might ask a question, only he was too scared to interrupt.
"What is it, sweety?" asked Victoria, glad of the distraction.
"Well, I was just wondering something" he said.
"What were you wondering, sweety?" she asked patiently.
"Well, I thought girls liked being touched... down there. Why didn't Alison like it?" he asked.
"How can you..." began Emily, looking like she might slap him.
"Hold on, Em, he doesn't know any different. It's not his fault" said Victoria quickly.
Ben looked scared, he didn't know what he'd done wrong, but Emily sure looked mad.
"Ben, girls only like to be touched down there by someone they really like, and who they trust" said Victoria "And then it's really nice. But if it's a stranger, or someone you don't like, or even someone you do like but you're not in the mood, it's not nice. It makes you feel sick, and horrible."
"Sorry. I didn't know that" he said.
"So, listen, sweety, you should never ever touch a girl there unless she wants you to, okay?" she said.
"Okay" he said.
Emily relaxed; Ben's innocence always took her by surprise.
"What I can't figure out is how he found us" said Victoria "He couldn't have just followed the trail, it's too convoluted, it branches off all over the place. There's no way he'd do it by luck."
"What I can't understand is why he isn't yet strung up naked with a pair of bolt cutters attached to his bollocks" said Emily with venom, giving Victoria dark look.
"Emily, please" said Victoria.
"He's not getting away this, Victoria, he's not!" said Emily, beginning to cry again.
"No, he's not" said Victoria "We'll get him, I promise, but we need a plan, a really good one."
"You mean it?" asked Emily through sobs.
"Oh, I mean it all right. After what he did to Alison, Em, you didn't think I'd let him get away with that did you?" she asked.
Emily shook her head.
"Added to which he's found our den. It's only a matter of time before he'll be back, and he's now in a position to completely ruin everything" said Victoria "So the only choices we've got are to retire and become his playthings, or we make him ours."
"Let's get him now!" said Emily "We can still catch him, he'll be around somewhere. Drag him back here, give him the treatment, show him the video..." started Emily.
"Not good enough. That works well enough on the tourist Em, but it's not strong enough for someone local, not to be sure we're safe, and for him especially. What happens if he calls our bluff? If he tells on us, there could be irate parents, or even police crawling all over this place and all over us. We might never get a chance to get the video out, and by then what's the point anyway, we're caught? In fact it just supports his case. He might figure that out" said Victoria.
"We've got the video of him molesting Alison, we could crucify him with that if we went to his dad or the police" said Emily.
"No, too risky. The police would examine her. We'd have six stripes on her arse to explain, they might find out she's had sex recently. How are you going to explain that to your mum? And they'll want to investigate the scene of the crime, and that brings them right here. God only knows what a forensics team would find poking around here. We'd end up the centre of a year long national news story about devil worshipping teenagers in the New Forest and their sado-masochistic sex rituals."
"What are we going to do then?" asked Emily, frustrated.
"We need something solid, something that's not connected with us. Something that's going to get him in deep trouble even if he tells" said Victoria.
"What about his step-sister?" said Amy "She might know something."
Victoria looked up at Amy, stared at her briefly, then "Come and give me a kiss, darling" she said "You might just be a genius"
Amy leaned over to Victoria grinning proudly. Victoria took her head in both hands and kissed her generously on the lips. "Ben's always calling me a genius, but it doesn't mean much coming from him" said Amy "He's not very bright."
"Don't spoil it, Amy, remember what I said about dissing your brother" said Victoria.
Amy's hands flew to her bottom. "Sorry, I didn't mean to, but he's not very bright really. It's not his fault though."
Victoria, Paul, Emily, and then Amy too, laughed. Ben just stood there blinking.
Victoria leant down to Alison again "Don't worry my darling we're going to get him for you, and you'll have your revenge."
When even this didn't elicit a response from Alison, Victoria grew more worried. She looked up at Ben and studied him for a little while.
"Ben, you seem to have a magical effect on people" she said.
"Do I?" he said looking worried.
"I want you to look after Alison, see if you can bring her round" said Victoria.
"I don't know what to do" he said.
"Well maybe it'll just come naturally" she said "Come and squeeze in beside me"
Reluctantly Ben squeezed in beside Victoria, and she carefully passed Alison across to him. She seemed a lot larger cradled in his lap than Victoria's. "She's sucking her thumb" said Ben in amazement.
"That's okay, girls do that sometimes" said Victoria.
"We've got a lot to do" said Victoria "Em, you've got to pull yourself together. I want you and Amy to go and find Helen, befriend her. Tell her that you know a way, a way to get back at Gillian, but don't go into details, see if she'd be brave enough to help us. See if she can think of anything that might we might be able to use."
"Okay" said Emily.
"Paul? Have you still that trailer for your bike?" she asked.
"In the garage somewhere" he said.
"You'll need it. I want you to go to B&Q..." she began.
"Victoria that's bloody miles away" he complained.
"Would it be any closer with a sore arse?" she asked sharply.
"It's not that far" he replied meekly.
"They've got some wallpaper, the kind you stick on the outside, with fake stone on it. It's heavy. We're going to need about thirty rolls. Check if it's self adhesive, if not get the right kind of glue, ask someone. I want chains, the heavy kind that they use for decoration in the garden. Oh and some bolt-cutters" she said.
"Oh no, you're not really intending too..." started Paul, going quite pale.
"I'm intending to frighten the shit out of him" she said.
Paul nodded slowly.
Victoria pulled a bank card from her skirt pocket. "You won't be able to use this to pay, I'm guessing they might suspect you're not called Victoria, but there's an ATM outside. Figure out how much it's all going to cost, then get the cash out. The PIN is 6725, can you remember that?"
"6725, 30 rolls fake stone, glue if needed, heavy chain, and... bolt-cutters" he said, with a grimace.
"You'd better get going. It's going to be a long day" she said.
"What are you going to be doing?" asked Paul.
"Unpack the supplies, then check the server" said Victoria.
"What if he comes back?" asked Emily.
"I don't think he'll be back this quick, but that's why I want Paul to hurry. Besides..." said Victoria looking behind her "I've got Ben to protect me"
Ben looked up, startled.
Paul dashed from the room clutching Victoria's card. Emily and Amy followed at a slower pace. Victoria stood for a little while, staring blankly in thought, and then strode purposefully from the room.
Ben sat alone now with Alison. He held her awkwardly, like a boy forced to hold his sister's doll. He peered down at her, but he couldn't see her fanny any more. He didn't know what to do, or what to say, so he just talked. He could hear Victoria coming and going outside as he told Alison all about what had happened last night when he got home, his mother's strange threat, the way she'd smacked him as he'd begun to ascend the stairs. He told her about Amy's late-night visit, and he was surprised by his frankness in describing the detail of the encounter. He told her about his morning, before they'd met up, and finally he told her... he loved her. Not that he did really, but because he thought she might like it. Girls were soppy like that.
Alison didn't really take it all in. Bits of what he said filtered through to her consciousness, but she was comforted by the sound of his voice, and as she turned her head to nuzzle his chest, and a hand came down to rest on his tummy, she enjoyed the warm reassuring scent of him.
Ben then went into lurid gory detail of all the things he was going to do to Giles when they caught him, and although his imagination in this respect was a bit limited, the force of his tone said all that was needed to be said.
Ben jumped a little when he heard her say "You're so brave" in an almost sleepy voice.
Her small hands moved up his body, unconsciously and unintentionally arousing him, until they clung to his shoulders.
"You even let him punch you on the nose" she said in awe.
"I didn't exactly let him..." said Ben modestly.
"But you stood up to him" she said, adding slowly "To protect me."
Ben felt a warm swell of pride. That wasn't the only thing he felt swelling, though, and his hands began to drop to Alison's bottom. They stopped at her waist, remembering what Victoria had said.
Alison lifted her tear-stained face and kissed Ben. He kissed her back, wondering if this was sufficient indication that she wanted him to...
Alison writhed a little in his lap, causing exquisite discomfort in him, and she continued kissing him, her tongue emerging and invading his mouth. No longer able to control himself, despite Victoria's warning, he brought his hands down to Alison's bottom and sliding them up under her skirt, he stroked her bare buttocks. They kissed each other for a long time.
Having unloaded the bikes, and put away all the supplies they had bought, Victoria headed quietly back down the hall to check on how Ben was getting on with Alison. She opened the door carefully, and was about to go in when she stopped dead in her tracks.
Ben and Alison, right in front of Victoria's chair, amid a riot of discarded clothes, looked like they were making love. Victoria was about to storm in and grab Ben by the ear to demand to know what the hell he thought he was doing taking advantage of the comatose Alison like that, but then she saw the way Alison was kissing him, rubbing his bottom, moaning with delight.
She closed the door, and stared at it. Her mood changed suddenly. She now wanted to rush in, to give Alison a big hug and a kiss, to do the same to Ben, but she knew it would be best to leave them, let them enjoy what they were doing. There was definitely something about that boy, she thought, not for the first time.
The server wouldn't check itself, but she had something more important to do first. She pulled out her mobile phone and dialled.
"Em, some good news..."
Continued in Chapter Twenty Five