Chapter 22 – The abandoned Union Camp at Lay’s Ferry, the Evening of May 16th 1864
Catherine was losing her mind trying to process the insane cruelty of everything that had happened. This was no longer about interrogating her, these evil monsters were just simply taking their pleasure!
Sampson unlocked the chain from the heavy table and pulled the girl to her feet. She attempted to wrench free, but he kept his tight hold. When he began to haul her closer, she tried to move backwards, but slipped on the floor … muscles burning, heart accelerating.
He stood over her.
“Be still.”
“I …” Despite starting to speak, Catherine stilled. Chest heaving, caught by his steady gaze as much as his grip, she ran through her options.
Resisting was impossible, and he’d been unmoved by her struggles, and was too quick, too strong. Would there be opportunities to escape … if only she could survive whatever they had planned. Maybe on route to the prison she could slip away. But even then, the thought of being pursued, caught and subjected to even more torment, filled her with terror.
She let her muscles slacken, hating this but having no sensible choice.
“Good girl.” Sampson grinned at her and then he hauled her hands upward, until she was barely touching the ground, her body stretched taut, the tips of her toes scrabbling around for purchase to balance.
Gasping, her breathing laboured due to the stretching of her torso, she heard the jangle of metal. Above her head, Sampson had attached the manacle chain to a meat hook that hung from a heavy wooden tent pole that had been hammered into the ground.
“It’s an anchoring point for the tent Catherine. It will not fall over, even with your weight hanging from it!” The Lieutenant delighted in explaining this to the hapless captive girl.
He let her go and she teetered, the pull on her arms extremely discomforting. The men in the room stopped and stared, gathering slowly around her. Hands on hips, Sampson observed the small circle gathering as Catherine desperately walked her toes on the ground.
Moving to her he grabbed the bound girl’s hair and pulled her head back. “You’re mine now bitch, mine to do with as I wish. Understand?”
She pressed her lips together. Answer him and be cowed? Or don’t answer and be rebellious and something more would happen that she already feared.
Sampson drew out a knife, and held it up before her eyes.
“I ... yes, I understand.” Catherine’s stretched fingers flexed around the manacle chain, and she managed to shrink all of an inch from the approaching blade, denting her back into the rough wooden pole.
Her nipples pebbled in the cool air under the greedy gaze of the crowd, her teats erect. She was terrified. What did it mean to be scared when everything was just wrong? Catherine felt her bladder fill and was on the verge of wetting herself. She wanted to hit him and scream in his face, wanted to yell at the crowd that she was a person and not an object for their docile amusement. She wanted to be anywhere but here. Her legs trembled; she had nothing left to fight with …
Her legs were aching, as were her toes, her arms ... everywhere. The draw of his hand warned her, but she still wasn’t ready when his slap snapped her head sideways … then he slapped her again, on the other side. A blow unexpected and forceful enough to make her face feel once more violated.
Catherine opened her mouth, worked her jaw. Pain sprang up in prickles then became a throb. She blinked away the moisture in her eyes, sniffed. The need to swallow was almost overwhelming but she held it back, determined not to offer up any more signs of weakness.
“I am so glad that we have an understanding,” Sampson mocked, before stepping away to study her, leaving her isolated in her hanging state. His stare was intense, and she couldn’t cover herself. Catherine thought she was beyond further humiliation, but she wasn’t.
He stepped in with the knife and positioned the point above her belly button. It dug in. Pain flared.
“Please,” she whispered, trying not to squirm as a small red drop appeared at the blade end as he incrementally increased the pressure. He’d stop soon; he had to. Must stop. Surely, he must.
“Noooo!” Catherine cried as she felt the point more keenly. When he drew away the knife, she’d been holding her breath for so long it left her gasping.
“I can do anything I want to you now, you Reb cunt! Cutting your skin a little? That’s nothing.”
Nothing? Cutting her with knife was considered to be nothing! Would this monster not have to answer to anyone?
Sampson sheathed the blade and walked around her. His eyes were directed at her mound. “We will need to shave you again soon.”
Catherine’s eyes closed. Sampson was a man with power over her. A lot of power. She lowered her eyes, trying to think rationally … was there anything else she could do.
Her mouth tensed as if preparing to speak, but she said nothing.
“You’re mine.” He dwelled on his triumph, leaning over her. Then he kissed her forehead. The gentle gesture puzzled her. “Good. Very good.”
Then, without preamble, he crushed her nipples between his fingers and thumbs, drawing them outward while maintaining his agonizing grip. Catherine winced and arched her back, following the pull. The pressure increased until she had to squirm, and increased again until agony emanated from his grip, and she feared he’d tear her flesh!
Wrapping her fingers into the chain above her head helped her to focus, to resist. But would not do so forever. What did he want her to do so to make this stop? Was there anything? She whined at the pain then babbled out more words. Her toes screwed into the grass.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, disrespect you … whatever ... Sir … please! STOP!”
Sampson released her, stepped back, and held out his hand to the side.
“I want everything your body has to offer bitch.” He stepped in until face to face with Catherine and murmured his words, every one of them infused with a lethal undertone, like a street dog that had cornered prey in an alley.
“Your blood.” His gaze dipped to her neck, her breasts, then raised and met hers again. He slid his fingers over the trickle that was still dripping from the small cut in her stomach.
“Your spit.” His bloody fingers curled down her lower lip then pushed at her teeth, forcefully, worming in, until she had to open her mouth. Two thick fingers slid to the back of her tongue. They both knew she wouldn’t dare bite him, as Catherine tasted the thick metallic tang of her own blood.
He watched her with smirk as she tried in vain to hold back the tears, until they welled and spilled out. He removed his fingers and wiped the residue on her cheeks.
“Your tears too. And also ... Down here.” His hand brushed over her belly, her mound, then his fingers found her slit and slid along, back and forth, playing there, parting her lips, encouraging moisture to gather, manifesting her unwitting stimulation.
He turned and raised his arms, displayed his wet fingers to his men, who had been watching the lewd scene unfold. “This slut did not know that her blood, her mouth, and cunt were so vital! Would you all like to taste her?”
The soldiers cheered loudly, and several more drifted in from outside the tent, attracted by the noise and words.
Catherine shut her eyes, wanting to shrink into the pole at her back. This was going to be more humiliating than anything he’d yet done. But she no longer had her innocence, that had been ripped from her body so brutally a few awful days ago, so what did it matter. They could do anything they wanted with her. She could get past this … would get past it.
“So now you all get to taste her! Fingers and tongues only! No fucking her! I will be the first to fuck her and I will do so when I wake tomorrow. But tonight, the bitch is yours!”
Hearing the words said so openly, in such a raw, stark fashion, Catherine’s mouth fell open. The gathered men roared. A lust-fuelled, celebrating, avaricious crowd.
To Be Continued ...