Survivor

Chapter 4

Julie's POV:

    I could hear a humming noise with the occasional rattle.  I felt like I was moving but it was so smooth.  It felt like something I had never felt before.  Even though it felt extremely smooth, the occasional bump was stronger than what I've felt in any kind of car before.  Voices were starting to push their way into my mind as I came out of my state of sleep.  They sounded like several voices, mumbling all together.  Slowly the voices started to merge into one, becoming clearer and clearer.

    "Just one this time....."  I heard a familiar masculine voice.

    "It just wasn't a good location.  I will head out again to a different location in a week in search of more."  I heard him say as my eyes started to open.

    I slowly opened my eyes and blinked a few times to get my vision to focus.  There were a few chairs for relaxation but they were somehow different.  As if they were stationary and couldn't be moved.  I was laying down on what felt like a couch but my head wasn't exactly on a pillow but on a lap.  I tried to keep my breathing steady and slow, to not alert the person that I was currently using as a pillow.

    I slowly looked up to see more of where I was and that's when I saw chairs in rows like what you would see in an airplane.  Suddenly turbulence hit the plane and the whole structure started to shake, causing me to feel tense.  The person I was laying on didn't appear to be fazed by the motion of the plane but that didn't stop my heart from racing.  I was scared.  I was scared because I have no idea how I got on this airplane, who I was laying on, and where I was going.

    "I will as soon as we land."  I heard him say and then move to put his phone away.

    I could no longer take it, laying on him like I was, and I sat up quickly. That was a huge mistake because the sudden change of elevation caused my head to start pounding as if I had a severe migraine.  I placed both of my hands on my head and pressed down to try to relieve some of the pain.

    "That's a side effect of the sedative."  I heard him say and I glanced over at him.

    It was Dylan, the man that saved me on the streets but somehow, I didn't see him as much of a hero right now.  Instead, I saw him as someone who was kidnapping me and probably taking me somewhere to kill me.  I no longer want our relationship to grow regardless of how much money he may have.

    "Where am I?"  I asked him softly to not hurt my head any worse than it already felt.

    "On a plane, heading to New York."  He told me and my head snapped in his direction regardless of the pain it was in.

    "Why?"  I asked him as I started to feel angrier.

    "I'm taking you to meet someone, my boss."  He said.

    I started to look around the plane and noticed that we were the only two there.  I then started to look around for any kind of door that I could run to.

    "You do realize, that we are around 40 thousand feet in the air which means, you can't escape."  He told me in a serious tone, completely different from the way he talked when we were in that hotel room.

    "Why am I here?"  I asked him and looked back over at him.

    He was just leaning back on the couch as if nothing about this situation seemed odd or strange to him.  He acted as if everything was normal yet his tone towards me was harsher.

    "Because I can't ever go back empty-handed."  He told me and my heart started to thump a little harder.

    I really didn't want to know what he meant by that even though I had the worst feeling that I already knew what he was talking about.

    "But what does that have to do with me?"  I still asked him even though I knew I wasn't going to like his answer.

    "You will be inspected for auction."  He said and my eyes widened in fear.

    Okay, not quite what I was thinking, that was worse!  I quickly leaped up off of the couch, completely ignoring the severe pain shooting through my skull, and ran towards the only door that I saw on the other side of one of the lounge chairs.  I grabbed the door and opened it as fast as I could.  I went to turn to shut it when an arm hit me hard in the side and I was lifted up off of the floor.  I felt like I was getting body slammed like a wrestler does to another when they do the clothesline move.

    He brought me down so fast, my back hitting something soft.  The movement of the bounce on the bed caused my head to pound even worse, making me cry out in pain and reach for my head.  My hands were grabbed tightly and pushed up above my head.  His other arm came down over my neck and he pressed as he hovered over me.  I could breathe, but barely.  It made me gasp a little for air but it wasn't too tight to where I had no airflow at all.

    "Don't make me tie you up for the remainder of the flight."  He threatened me in a deep voice that sent unpleasant chills down my spine.

    "I have no intentions of hurting you but if I have to, I will.  You got it?"  He asked but all I could do was look up into his blue eyes.

    "Got it!"  He started to shout when I didn't answer him the first time.

    I wasn't planning on answering him but his temper was starting to rise and I didn't really want to see what he would do if he got really upset so I just slowly nodded my head as the first tear fell.

    He slowly lifted his arm off of my neck, allowing a huge rush of air to enter my lungs, causing me to cough softly as I caught my breath.

    "Why?"  I was able to squeak out between my coughs.

    "Because I really can't go back empty-handed and even though you're not a young child, I could tell you were young, possibly younger than the age of 18."  He told me.

    "What if I told you that I was an adult,"  I told him, hoping that I had a chance of getting let go because I was considered an adult and not a child.

    It's wishful thinking, I know, but it was all I had to go on.  I just wanted to find a way out of this but based on the look on his face, that isn't going to be happening.

    "Children aren't the only ones sold.  If my boss rejects you because of your age, I will just sell you myself."  He said.

    I felt my lip start to tremble and I fought the urge to cry.  I couldn't believe that this is the path my life is going.  Sold to anyone who is willing to purchase me.  I've heard of this on different shows on TV.  Some out there purchase for marriage, some as a slave, some just for s*x, and some just because they wanted to torture and kill someone.  I would hate for any of those types but all I pray, for now, is that I don't get handed off to someone who just wants to torture me and then kill me.

    "Shhh, don't cry and ruin that beautiful complexion with redness shortly before we land."  He said as he took his other hand and rubbed his thumb over my cheek, collecting all of the stray tears that got loose.

    I just turned my head away to look anywhere but at him. 

    "Maybe I will just keep you for myself if you get rejected."  He said suddenly, causing me to look back at him in disgust.

    I quickly spit into his face and he just slowly wiped it away.  He pulled away, pulling on my wrists at the same time, and lifting me off of the bed.  His one hand was able to grip both my wrists at once and he pulled me over to the dresser that was bolted into place and opened a drawer.  My eyes widened when I saw the ropes, cuffs, and other items that I wasn't really sure what they were, all piled in together.

    As soon as I saw what was in the drawer I started to get really scared and pulled on my arms to try to get free.

    "Please!  No!"  I started to shriek.

    I pulled really hard on him and was able to get one of my wrists freed and took my nails and scratched him down his arm as hard as I could.  He hissed in pain and let go of my wrist.  I tumbled backwards but caught my footing and took off towards the door.  I know I can't exactly get away because we are on a plane but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try to get somewhere where he can't get to me.

    "Julianne!"  I heard him call from behind me.

    I don't know why, but for some dumb f****d up reason I looked back and that ended up being the biggest mistake I have made.  The only thing I saw was his fist coming straight for my face and hitting me in the cheek.  I cried out in pain, spun around, and fell to the floor.

    "I told you I would hurt you if I had to.  Now, I will force you to behave."  He practically growled at me as he grabbed both of my hands and pulled them behind my back as I laid on my stomach on the floor.

    I laid there crying softly as he straddled my body and tied my wrists together.  Once he was done, he pulled me up by my hands and started to walk me out of the bedroom.

    "Sir, you need to get to your seats, we are getting ready to land."  The flight attendant said when we walked out of the room.

    She just looked at me with a look of pity with no remorse for what he was doing to me.  She obviously works for his boss too if she was okay with what was happening to me.  That pretty much told me that anyone we were to see would not be on my side and it would be useless for me to even try to convince them to help me.

    "Thank you, Tiffany."  He said and pulled me to the front of the plane where the regular plane seats were with seatbelts.

    He pushed me into one, regardless of my hands being behind my back, and pulled the seatbelt over my lap.

    "This hurts my back and hands,"  I told him as he got himself secured to the seat.   

    "You're the one making it difficult.  I would have left you untied if you wouldn't have fought me."  He told me and I just sighed and looked out the window.

    I looked out and saw that there wasn't an airport below us.  It was just a long drive in the middle of nowhere.  I couldn't even see the tall buildings of New York.  I looked over at Dylan in confusion and he must have sensed it because he looked over at me and then leaned to look out the window.

    "Do you really think we could land at an airport?  Even if you weren't tied up, you would try to escape."  He said and leaned back in his chair.

    He didn't say anything else as the plane started to descend towards the ground and I closed my eyes and clenched my fists together.  I was scared of the landing and didn't know what to expect.  It was a rough landing when the tires hit the drive and was rather bumpy as the plane came to a stop.

    Dylan unbuckled me and then grabbed my arm and pulled me from the seat and dragged me out of the plane.  I didn't want to go with him but there wasn't anything I could do to get away now.  I wanted to scream and yell for someone to come save me but there was no one around that would.  Everyone on the plane knew what was going on and probably didn't care.  The only car that was on the drive was a limo with a few men standing around it like bodyguards.  I knew they weren't going to be much help so there was no reason to even try.

    I looked around and there really was no one nearby.  The road seemed endless from one direction to the next and I found it odd that no one was driving down it.

    Dylan opened the door and helped me in and then sat beside me.  I got up to move to the other side, away from him, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back down beside him.

    "No need to sit over there."  He said.

    The car started to drive shortly after we got in and I looked out the tinted windows.  It was several minutes before we came to another crossroad and that's when I saw them, road closed signs.  No wonder no one seemed to be using the road.  It was closed on purpose, probably because they knew the plane was coming in for a landing.  It was all planned ahead of time.

    "What's going to happen to me?"  I asked him in worry and looked over at him.

    He placed his phone back in his pocket and looked over at me.  I could tell that the way he looked at me when I first met him and when we were in the hotel room was gone.  He was just as cold as you would expect from someone who kidnaps you and tells you they are going to sell you in an auction.

    "Well, you will be inspected and if you pass inspection, you will have a series of photos taken of you.  Those photos will then be placed on an online auction website for those to bid.  Whoever wins, will then either come and pick you up or pay to have you delivered securely to any part of the world that might be. After that, it's all up to the person who buys you on what they do with you."  He told me and I felt myself tremble in fear from his words and my bottom lip wouldn't stop trembling.

    "Calm down, most girls as pretty as you get picked up by someone who is either looking for a wife, s*x slave, or servant.  You will be categorized, meaning, the buyers put in what they are looking for, for the needs that they want to have taken care of, and the ones who fit that profile will be viewable to them."  He told me but that still didn't help my screaming in my head.

    "How do you know they aren't going to torture me and kill me?  I've seen the shows, it happens."  I asked him and he placed his arm around my shoulders as if he was trying to comfort me when really I knew he wasn't.

    "I don't know why, but the ones who just want to cut someone up into pieces or try out new weapons on, don't seem to want children so the more you can be passed off as a child younger than 18, the better in that aspect.  But then, that puts you in the category for all the others and I can't say that they won't eventually kill you if you misbehave.  Just do what they want and you should live."  He told me and all that did was cause the tears to fill my eyes.

    "What if you took me?  Like you suggested?"  I asked him as I continued to try to hold back my tears but I just wasn't strong enough anymore and they started to fall like a fountain down my cheeks.

    "I'm not interested in marriage but I do have needs that I would expect you to fulfill."  He said and his words sent a deadly chill down my spine.

    He talked about this as if it was all a normal way of life.  That this was my destiny to become some object to be discarded as trash and that there wasn't anything I could do about it.  The conversation was making me feel sick and even though I would love to jab his eyes out of his head, I just leaned back on his shoulder and looked through the window in the opposite direction for the duration of the ride.