Free Female Prey & the Elusive Prey by S. J. Lewis Page B

almost felt a little sorry for elf-girl, but this was, and had been all along, her choice. Can’t stop the roller coaster until you come to the end of the ride.
    He watched as Kurt rolled her onto her belly and sat on her, straddling her hips, holding her down. She didn’t even start struggling until she felt the ropes going around her arms at the elbows, and by then it was too late. She gave one scared and tired look back over her shoulder at what he was doing before clenching her jaws and looking back at the dirt. She quit struggling, giving only small, pained grunts as Kurt cinched her elbows closer and closer. He left about three inches between them before knotting the ropes off. He had an instinct for how far he could go. Eventually, they could bind her so that her elbows would touch, but she needed more practice before that could be done.
    “Now what?” Kurt asked, looking up at him. Ron looked around at the surrounding trees and spotted a branch of the right height and thickness. Looking at Kurt, he jerked his head towards it. “Strappado.” He said.
    Kimberley didn’t know what the word meant, but she didn’t like the sound of it at all.
    When they started hauling her to her feet, she liked it even less. The bald one and the lean one held her upright, hands clamped painfully on her upper arms, and she could feel the leader doing something with more rope to her already-bound wrists. She fought an urge to try to look back and see what he was doing, instead looking grimly at one particular little tree.
    She started fighting when it was already too late, after the free end of the rope had been thrown over the branch and caught in Kurt’s eager hands. She let out one long scream as he started pulling her arms up behind her, then stood bent over, whimpering faintly, as he tied the rope off to another, lower branch.
    Ron stood in front of her and took a handful of her hair to pull her head up to look at him. Her eyes were wide, scared.
    “No, please…” she begged. “I’ll walk! I’ll walk!”
    “Aw, now…” he smiled at her, stroking her cheek where a single tear trickled down. “I told you when the last chance was, elf-girl. You gotta learn the lesson now.” He let go of her hair and her head sagged back down. Her body shuddered, and he wondered if she was stifling sobs.
    “How…long?” he heard her ask. He didn’t bother to answer. This was as good a place as any to camp for the night, and there were some interesting games that could be played with her like this. He ran a hand down her back, gave her rump an affectionate little squeeze and then a slap. She yelped.
    Okay, so there were worse things than a bound and barefoot hike. Kimberley kept trying to find a less-uncomfortable position, but no matter what she did her shoulders ached from the dual strains of her elbow bindings and the strappado. She knew what the word meant now, all right. For a short time, she was able to distract herself from the pain by imagining what she would do to Barbara, if and when. Then even that didn’t work anymore. She wanted to scream, but no one would hear except her captors, and they’d probably laugh.
    They pitched camp, such as it was, closer to the stream and behind their captive where she couldn’t see them. It gave them an interesting view. She kept shifting her feet, sometimes straightening up as best she could to ease the strain on her shoulders, sagging back down to ease the strain on her back. She’d been pretty quiet at the start, except for that scream, but they could hear her starting to whimper and moan.
    It had been late in the day when they’d halted here, and now it was getting dark. Lloyd started a fire as they rested, watching the slow, pained movements of their captive. She was getting louder, but so far hadn’t begged to be released. She had a stubborn streak in her.
    Maybe it was time to do something about that. Ron got up and strolled over to her. He gripped her by her hips and pulled her