The silence was only interrupted by the chirping of the birds, and the air was full of the scent of the trees. Suddenly Paul stopped and pointed "Look! A deer."
By the time Ben had looked over to where Paul had pointed, he saw only a blur, and heard the rustling of a bush.
"Did you get deer in the Forest of Dean?" asked Paul.
"Yeh, loads of them" said Ben "And sheep. Loads of sheep."
After a few more yards Ben suddenly stopped in his tracks. "How did you know I came from the Forest of Dean?" he asked.
"Shhh!" said Paul "We're nearly there."
CHAPTER THREE
As Ben and Paul crested the rise Ben could see the bowl shaped depression below him; the same depression that contained the old wooden building. On the opposite side of the bowl he could see the steep dirt slope and the brambles he had fought his way through before. The route he had taken today, even though it was a three mile walk, was a lot shorter than the one he had taken a few days ago.
"Come on" said Paul, leading the way down the more gently sloping path.
Ben began to grow more afraid now that he was nearing his destination; drawing closer to whatever fate had in store for him. He couldn't turn back now. The promise of what was to come in the future was just too much. He knew that if he walked away from it, he'd be tossing and turning for the rest of his life; there'd be no relief from that aching that tormented his soul. He just wanted it over and done with. Whatever the initiation was, it couldn't be that bad. He wouldn't have to take his clothes off, wouldn't have to be naked, and so whatever else they wanted him to do he'd do, like it or not, as quickly as possible to get it over with. Then... well, then he'd be part of the gang, and he'd just have to wait for the first opportunity to strip a girl. He wasn't religious, not in any sense, but he silently begged God that it would be today.
The building was further from this side of the depression than the opposite side, so Ben had plenty of time to assess it as they approached. It was longer than he had thought, and probably had more than one room. There was even a suspicion that there might be a second floor, or a roof space at least. On this side he could see a boarded up window and, to the front, a door with a rickety porch. It was toward the porch that Paul was leading him.
There was no shrieking today. In fact, Ben couldn't see or hear any signs of life at all, and he wondered if maybe the building was empty. Wondered if Paul had been wrong about there being enough gang members present for the vote.
Paul paused to push the creaky door open, and he stood aside to let Ben enter first. Ben looked at Paul, and then at the gloom within, and hesitated.
"Go on" said Paul, gesturing inside.
Ben swallowed hard, girded himself, and then stepped under Paul's arm into the building.
"Door on the right, just go in" said Paul.
Ben's eyes took a little while to adjust to the dimness, and he took a few paces into the small entrance hall before fumbling his way to the door on the right. He pushed at it, staying back while it opened, and he was met by a ghostly light. Behind him he heard what sounded like the front door being bolted, and he turned back toward Paul looking scared.
"In! Go on!" said Paul, a more commanding tone to his voice now.
Beginning to lose some of his courage, Ben faltered, until Paul caught him up and gave him a shove toward the opening. It was enough to get Ben going and he took three bold paces into the room before regaining his balance and steadying himself.
It took Ben just a moment to take in the room and its occupants. Apart from himself and Paul, there were just three people present, all of them girls, all of them sat on an old faded red settee. The first was the girl with the long blond hair who had been kneeling on the captive's arm the other day. The second was the girl with the shoulder length black hair who had done the tickling, who had been about to pull off the captive's knickers. The third was the younger girl with long blond hair who had startled him on the ridge. Now he could see the two of them together it was obvious the two blond girls were sisters.
All three of them were smiling at him in a warm and welcoming way. There didn't appear to be anything sinister in the room, or in their smiles; everything seemed very friendly. Ben exhaled suddenly, and relaxed a bit. His eyes were adjusting better now. There were enough small holes and gaps in the wooden walls that once he'd recovered from the brilliant sunshine outside, it seemed light enough in here to see perfectly well. Even the ghostly glow from the black haired girl's laptop screen seemed to disappear.
"Hi" he said nervously.
"Hello, Ben" said the black haired girl, who put her laptop down on the floor.
"Hi" said the other two.
"How did you know my name?" asked Ben.
"We know all about you" said the older blond. "We don't just invite anyone into our gang you know. We do our homework."
"We should introduce ourselves" suggested the black haired girl "I'm Victoria" she said holding out her hand. Ben shook it "Hi" he said again.
"I'm Emily" said the older of the two blonds also holding out her hand. Ben shook it and nodded his head.
"I'm Alison" said the younger blond jumping to her feet and offering her hand with a big grin. Ben shook that hand too, and blushed slightly.
"We've already met really" said Alison.
"Why don't you sit down." suggested Victoria.
Ben sat on the floor, cross legged, and Paul who had been stood by the door, sat on the arm of the settee next to Victoria.
"Before we start there are some basics we should explain" said Victoria "So just be patient, we'll get the boring stuff over with as soon as possible, but it is important."
"Okay" said Ben nodding enthusiastically.
"First off: There are senior members of the gang, and junior members. To become a senior member you have to be in the gang for a year and a day. So far we've only got three senior members, me, Emily, and Paul. The gang hasn't been around a year and a day yet, but since we founded it and it has to have senior members: that's us."
"Am I a junior member then?" asked Ben.
"You're not any kind of member yet" said Emily.
"Oh sorry. I knew that." said Ben.
"Second off:" said Victoria "The senior members are in charge, and the junior members have to do as they are told. On big things we always have a vote, and everyone gets to vote even if they're junior, but for the day to day stuff, the juniors do the chores and stuff. So you'll have to do as you're told. If you don't do as you're told you'll be punished."
Ben nodded again, a little less enthusiastically this time.
"Next: You can't tell anyone about the gang or what we do. Everything the gang does is secret, and if you ever tell anyone you'll be punished."
"What do you mean punished?" asked Ben, feeling sure he wasn't going to like the answer.
"Punishments are decided by the senior members who will discuss what you've done wrong, and decide" said Emily.
Ben really didn't like the sound of that "What sorts of things? What if you don't want to be punished?"
"You don't have a choice, if it's decided you'll be punished, then you'll be punished. There's no escape" replied Victoria.
"But what sort of punishments?" asked Ben again.
"You'll have to wait and see" said Emily, a little impatiently.
"There's no need to worry" chimed in Alison "No-one's been punished for anything yet."
"He doesn't need to know that" said Victoria, a little crossly.
"Sorry, I was only saying" said Alison.
"The worst punishment will be for telling gang secrets. The punishment for that will be truly awful" added Paul.
Ben nodded again, slowly, promising himself he would never reveal any of the gang's secrets.
"The newest member is always the most junior, and they get more chores to do than anyone, and that's going to be you, if you join. At least until someone new joins" said Victoria.
"How long will it be until someone else joins?" asked Ben.
"That depends" replied Emily.
"I was the most junior until a couple of days ago" said Alison chirpily.
"We had a new member join recently" said Emily.
"She's not going to be the most junior for very long" said Alison with just a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Luck of the draw" said Paul sympathetically.
"How many are there in the gang?" asked Ben.
"We'll tell you that if you join" said Victoria.
"Do you want to join or not?" asked Paul.
Ben thought about it for a while. It didn't seem too bad. Some chores to do, couldn't be much, and he'd have to make sure he didn't do anything wrong, didn't warrant any kind of punishment. On the other hand: naked girls.
"Okay" he said nodding more definitely this time.
"You're a very lucky boy" said Victoria.
"Am I?" asked Ben.
"Yes. If you'd said no then you'd have been in trouble. You were spying on us the other day, and invading our territory. Normally we'd have caught you and brought you here and punished you, like we did with the girl you saw."
Ben gulped and his eyes widened a little in fear.
"But we discussed it between ourselves and decide to give you a break" said Paul.
"If you joined the gang, we'd let you off, but if you didn't..." added Emily ominously.
"Okay, I'm joining" said Ben "I said I was, didn't I?"
"You've got to pass the initiation yet" said Alison with a big smirk on her face "If you fail that you won't be a member of the gang."
"And then we will have to punish you" added Victoria.
Ben looked round at them all, his jaw dropping and the bottom falling out of his stomach. He definitely, definitely did not want to be punished. Whatever this initiation was he was determined to pass it with flying colours.
"I'm ready" he said finally.
"Alison" said Victoria, and Alison jumped from the settee to fetch an old mug from a shelf. She grabbed the mug and bounded over to Ben, holding it out to him. Ben took it and peered into it. The mug was empty, and looked clean. He looked up at Victoria questioningly.
"Piss in it!" she said.
"What?" he asked, not believing what he had just heard.
"You heard me. Piss in it!" she repeated.
Ben stared at her, then into the mug.
"Unless you want to fail the initiation" giggled Alison.
Ben, blushing slightly, broke eye contact with Victoria, took a quick breath of air then took a step towards the door.
"No you don't" said Paul standing to block the door "In here."
"No not in here, let me go outside, in the corridor at least" said Ben.
"I had to do it in here, and I'm a girl" said Alison crossly "And it's a lot easier for a boy."
"Forget it" said Emily "Let's just get on with the punishment."
"No, I'll do it" said Ben emphatically. He turned his back on the audience, closed his eyes for second then opened them again. He transferred the mug from his shaking right hand to his shaking left, and brought his right hand to his fly. A brief moment later he began drawing his fly down, and with a quick look back over his shoulder to make sure no-one could see, he pulled his quite flaccid penis out of his pants and began urinating into the mug. As nervous as he was, filling the mug was easy, and he shook himself carefully before bending forward and restoring his dignity.
Alison leaned close to her sister and whispered "See, I told you he had a nice bum." Emily, Victoria, and Paul, all of whom were staring at that faded black denim clad posterior, nodded.
Ben turned round, still flushing slightly, holding the mug awkwardly, not knowing what to do with it.
"Now repeat after me" said Victoria "By this piss, and all the piss inside of me"
"By this piss and all the piss inside me" he repeated.
"I swear that I will never divulge the gang's secrets" continued Victoria. Again Ben repeated her.
"And I will always obey my seniors, or suffer the consequences" said Victoria, and again Ben repeated her words.
"If I break this vow I agree to submit to whatever punishment the gang decides for me, no matter how terrible" Victoria finished.
"If I break this vow... I agree to submit to... whatever the gang decide for me, even if it's terrible" said Ben slowly.
"Close enough" said Paul.
"You've sworn your oath Ben, you are honour bound to keep it, now seal the oath" said Victoria.
"Um, how?" asked Ben.
"Drink" she said simply.
"Drink?" asked Ben incredulously "Drink what?"
"Your piss, drink your piss." said Paul.
"Aw no, please... don't make me do that" whined Ben, his face screwing up in disgust.
"If you don't want to complete your initiation, don't" said Emily.
Ben stared at the warm yellow liquid in the mug, and then looked up at the four gang members. There was not a trace of mercy in any of them. This wasn't a joke, a trick, they actually meant for him to drink his piss. Or he could be punished. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, and as bad as drinking his own piss was, it was a lot more attractive than being stripped naked.
He lifted the mug to his lips, closed his eyes, and began to drink, swallowing quickly. After the first mouthful, gagging, he stopped.
"I did it" he said weakly.
"All of it" said Victoria.
"All of it?" he queried disbelievingly.
"All of it" added Paul.
Ben stared back down at the mug. It didn't look like he'd drunk any at all. He wished he hadn't pissed so much. He drank. As quickly as possible. Gulping it down, trying not to taste it. Then, finished, he let out a loud "Aargh" and spat.
"Well done" said Victoria.
"Is that it, am I in the gang now?" asked Ben only too well aware of the foul taste in his mouth.
"No. You haven't finished yet. The last part is the test. We need to test you to make sure we can trust you. If you pass the test you'll be accepted into the gang" she said solemnly.
"But if you fail the test" said Emily "You'll be rejected from the gang."
"And punished" added Alison quickly and cheerily.
"What... what... what's the test?" asked Ben reluctantly, feeling sure he didn't want to know.
"Take off your shoes and socks, and come with us" said Victoria rising from the settee.
Ben definitely did not like the sound of this, but he was trapped. What could he do? He stooped down, and undid the laces on his Reebok trainers, pulled the trainers off then repeated the process with his socks.
"Where are we going?" he asked in a very small voice.
"Next door" said Victoria picking up her laptop, and Ben realised that must be the room he had seen them strip the girl in. But Paul had promised him he wouldn't be stripped. Hadn't he?
Ben followed the girls with his head down, shoulders slumped; scared half to death. Paul followed him.
[Continued in Chapter Four]