Chapter 10
As they approached the cabin Ron and Brenda gasped. The cabin was nothing but an abandoned hunter's shelter that the men had put paper and cardboard over and some trash to cover holes that they didn't have enough paper or cardboard for. The two surplus army cots and the 55-gallon drum made into a wood stove took up over half of the cabin. The walls and roof of the cabin had many holes and the daylight streamed into the cabin through the holes. Apparently any cooking was done outside, as there wasn't a cook stove or grill. The cabin was in the woods so it could not be seen until you were close to it. From the smell coming from the back of the cabin it was obvious where the toilet facilities were.
Ron made the two men sit on the floor in a clear area of the floor and made them put their hands behind their back. He tied up the men one at a time and then tied them together. He put a rope around their necks and tied them together at the neck to further impede their movement. Brenda stayed outside of the cabin.
Ron started looking around the cabin. There were a few cans of baked beans and a can opener so rusty that Ron wondered how they avoided getting lockjaw. On a box in the corner Ron saw two pieces of paper. He picked them up and saw that the papers were wanted posters from the post office. He called Brenda into the cabin.
Brenda, it looks like we have a couple of celebrities here," Ron said, "These are the Bowers brothers. The smaller one is Artie Bower, wanted for grand theft auto, assault with a deadly weapon, arson and robbery. The other guy is Robby Bower wanted for rape and murder and robbery. A real nice pair. What were you two going to do, spend the winter in this cabin?"
"Sure," snarled Robby.
Ron just shook his head. He knew that they wouldn't make it through December in this part of the country. It was good that Ron captured them or they would have died a horrible death. Now what to do with them. Ron checked the weapons of the two men and found that they were surprisingly well cared for. He made sure that both weapons were fully loaded and placed them outside the door where the men couldn't reach them.
Ron called Brenda to the door. He stayed at the door where he could keep an eye on the pair and had Brenda stand just outside the door.
"I saw smoke when I was on top of the hill," he told her softly, "The smoke wasn't coming from this direction. I have to go up on top of this hill and find out where that cabin or hunting camp is. It might be our ticket out of here. You take one of the guns and keep those two covered until I get back. Do you think you can do it?"
Brenda nodded her head. She was terrified of the pair, but they seemed to be tied securely and she would have a gun. She like the pair even less now that she knew that they were wanted felons. She wondered how Ron figured he was going to get them back to civilization.
Ron instructed Brenda on how to use the rifle even after she assured him that she had been on the rifle team in college. Ron asked her again if she thought that she could handle the pair. She nodded her head yes. Ron walked over to her and took her in his arms and kissed her. Brenda held him to her and kissed him back. When Ron pulled away they both had a big smile on their face. Ron gave her another hug and started into the woods.
The hill was steep and Ron was struggling to make good time and get back to the cabin. He had to pause several times to catch his breath. The hill was wooded and the underbrush was thick. Ron heard a steam up ahead and the sound of the water was loud. An elk ran past him and Ron almost fired at the elk in surprise.
Brenda stood by the door and kept her eyes on the pair. Artie Bower kept twitching and moving around.
"God damn this floor is cold lady," he snarled, "Can't we get up? My hemorrhoids are hurtin'."
Brenda swung the gun around to Artie in a menacing way and stared at him. Arte kept twitching. Artie had small hands for a man and they were not much larger than his wrists. He kept wiggling until he had one hand free and reached into his back pocket and took out his penknife. He kept wiggling and opened the knife and started cutting his brother's ropes. He was almost through the bounds on his brother's hands when Brenda jumped.
Brenda almost jumped out of her skin. She heard a loud snap out side and the sound of someone walking. She cautiously opened the door and looked out. She could not see what was making the noise, but she heard something walking on the other side of the cabin. As she inched around the cabin she saw an elk walk into the woods and disappear. She leaned against the cabin wall and waited until her heart slowed to its normal beat.
Artie pulled his hands out in front of him and started to untie his feet. Robby Bower took the penknife that his brother had passed to him and cut the rawhide tying their necks together and cut his feet loose. He put his finger to his mouth to signal his brother to be quiet and stood by the door. Artie stayed on the floor and pretended to be still tied up.
Brenda picked up the rifle and started back into the cabin. She opened the door and took one step into the cabin and was knocked down. Dazed, she put up little fight as Robby and Artie ripped her shirt and jeans off and tied her, spread-eagled and naked, to the filthy cot. Artie started twisting her breast while holding his dirty hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. After Robby was sure that Brenda could not get free he pushed Artie away from Brenda and stuck a rag in Brenda's mouth and tied a piece of rawhide around her head to keep the gag in place.
"Let's git the boyfriend and then we'll come back and have some fun with the little lady," Robby said. Artie gave Brenda's breast another twist.
Ron kept climbing to the top of the hill. He came to a cliff near the top. A swift moving stream was about 100 feet below the cliff. Ron stood on the cliff and started scanning the woods for smoke. His heart jumped when he saw the smoke rising in the air. The trail of smoke rising into the air was steady so Ron knew that it had to be a cabin or hunting camp. He was sure that it had to be a cabin as this was the wrong time of the year for a hunting camp.
Just then a bullet went through his shirtsleeve just barely missing his arm. Ron dropped to the ground trying to get whoever fired at him the impression that he had been shot. He scrambled to a large rock about 100 feet away and hid behind the rock. In his haste Ron had dropped his rifle but had been afraid to stop for it.
Artie Bower started yelling, "I got him. I got him."
Several minutes later Artie and Robby reached the cliff and started searching for Ron's body.
"I know I got him, ' Artie whined, "I saw the bullet drop him. Where is he?"
The brothers looked around and found Ron's rifle. They started looking over the cliff.
"He was probably knocked over the cliff into the stream," Robby said with a sneer, "Let's go back and have some fun with the lady."
They both walked off laughing and Artie asked if he could be first. Robby hit his brother in the back and propelled him forward.
Ron let them get out of sight and started down the hill. It wasn't hard following them as they were talking loud all of the way down the hill. Several times Ron felt that he was getting too close and slowed down to let them get ahead of him. He didn't want them to hear him following them.
When Ron neared the cabin he heard Brenda screaming. He hurried to the front door and walked around the side of the cabin. Ron looked through one of the large holes in the cabin wall and saw Brenda tied to the cot and she was spread-eagled and naked. Robby was twisting her breast and had a finger inside her cunt. Artie had a handful of Brenda's hair and was trying to put his cock in her mouth. Brenda was fighting to keep them from raping her. In spite of the pain that Artie was causing she kept her face turned away from his cock. Robby started moving his finger in and out of her. Ron silently made his way to the door and opened it.
Ron had the Glock in his hand and fired a shot over their head. Robby stood up and turned to see who had fired at him. When he saw Ron, Robby let out a large growl and reached into his belt and pulled a knife. He dove at Ron with the knife in the air. Ron fired the pistol and the bullet hit Robby in the chest and stopped him in mid air. Robby dropped to the floor dead.
Artie stared at the pistol that Ron had and then at his brother. He repeated that action several times.
"You killed my brother," Artie screamed as he moved away from Brenda.
Artie grabbed the knife that Robby had dropped on the floor when he died and ran toward Ron. Ron fired a bullet into Artie's head and he fell across his brother.
Ron checked to make sure that both men were dead and ran to Brenda. He took Robby's knife and cut Brenda loose. She rolled into a fetal position and started sobbing hysterically. Ron tried to hold her but she pushed him away. Ron sat on the bed and tried to comfort her. She looked at the two bodies on the floor and started to scream hysterically. Ron talked softly to her and she rolled back into a ball and continued sobbing. Ron got up and covered Brenda with a sleeping bag and started to remove the bodies from the cabin. He dragged the bodies into the woods and left them. He shuddered when he thought what would probably happen to the bodies. Ron hurried back to the cabin.
Brenda was not crying anymore. She was lying on the cot staring into space. Ron could tell that she was still in shock. He reached down and pushed some hair out of her eyes. He reached out for her and pulled her to him and held her tight. She was quiet for a long time. Occasionally she would breathe a deep sigh as if each sigh would release a little of her fear.
"Where did you put them?" she asked. She had just noticed that the bodies were gone.
"I put them in a gully and covered the bodies with stones," he lied, not wanting to upset her. He really didn't care what happened to the bodies, they had hurt Brenda.
"I feel so dirty," she said against his chest, "I wish that I could take a bath and wash their stink off of me."
Ron held her for a few more minutes and she pulled away and sank back on the cot staring into space. He got up and walked outside. He had seen a washtub leaning against the cabin when they first came to the cabin. He searched for the washtub. It was lying against the wall as he had remembered.
Ron put down some stones to make a stand to put the tub on and started a small fire. He carried water from the creek at the bottom of the hill and filled the tub half full. Ron kept a small fire going under the tub until the water in the tub was comfortably hot. He carried the tub into the cabin and set it at the foot of the cot. Ron got a clean t-shirt from the gear and searched the cabin for some soap. He found a small bottle of liquid antibacterial hand soap that had never been opened. Brenda's eyes were following Ron while he moved about the cabin.
Ron went to Brenda and took her hand and led her to the tub. He held her hand while she lowered herself into the hot water. Ron took the t-shirt and got it wet and put a liberal amount of soap on it. He washed Brenda all over as gently as he could. He rinsed her off and washed and rinsed her again. Brenda made no attempt to help him or to stop him. When she was rinsed off for the second time he opened both sleeping bags, zippered them together, and put them on the floor. He went over to the tub and took Brenda by the hand and she got out of the tub. Ron dried her off with another clean t-shirt and took her to the sleeping bag. Brenda crawled into the sleeping bag and watched as Ron took the tub outside and dumped it.
It was starting to get dark and Ron came into the cabin and took his clothes off to get into the sleeping bag. He left his underwear on and started to climb in the bag.
"Take it all off," Brenda said quietly, "I don't want you wearing more than me."
Ron stripped off his underwear and climbed in next to Brenda. She immediately moved close to him and hugged him tightly. It was several minutes before she started talking.
"Thank you for washing me," she started, "You seem to know just what I always need."
Ron started to say something and she put a finger over his lips to silence him.
"Please Ron, let me talk before I lose my nerve," she said. "You're a very good man and you've saved my life several times in the past few days and I have changed my opinion about you and have been doing a lot of thinking about myself. I think that I'm finally getting my head screwed on right. I know that I have been a bitch on wheels and that nobody at Howell likes me. At one time I didn't care. I only wanted to get to the top of the heap. I know now that I was wrong and that I was just trying to show everyone that I was not going to turn out like my drunken father. He used to beat my mother and me every weekend. I felt that I had to prove to the world that his traits hadn't rubbed off on to me. I've wasted so much of my life. When we get out of this, I want to go back to Howell and make a new start. Con-Oil doesn't hold any fascination for me anymore. I just want to be close to you and prove to you that I am not a bad person."
She hugged him tighter and then pulled back and looked into his eyes, "You don't have to say anything, but I think that I am falling in love with you."
Ron pulled her face to his and kissed her softly, "Brenda, I don't think that you're a bad person and you don't have to prove anything to me. You know, I promised that I wouldn't make any moves on you while we are trying to save ourselves. After we get out of this, I fully intend to make a lot of moves on you."
Brenda laid her head on his shoulder and shyly said, "Why don't you
start your moves now. I think I've wasted enough of my life and you
know how much I hate wasting time."