The Escape of John Doe - 1. Chapter 1

Officer Richards pulled onto Old County Road and turned up the heat praying it would come on. Winter had started early this year and his old car was still having issues with the heat. Sarah, his long suffering wife, still begged him nightly to take an extra blanket so, at least when he was pulled over to watch for speeders he would be warm. He smiled as he’d seen the handmade blanket sitting on the seat next to him. Tonight would be just one of many times he was thankful for listening to his wife as the temperature continued to drop.

It was just after midnight as the first flakes began to fall. He had given a ticket to one of the high school kids, who had been driving without a registered driver in his car. At least the kid wasn’t drinking and driving. He hated when he had to arrest someone for a DUI.

Officer Richards was grateful to climb back in his car, close the door, and try to warm up from the wind and cold. He had just arranged the blanket over his legs and poured out a cup of hot chocolate from his thermos, when the heat finally kicked in.

He stared at the dark liquid in his cup. “Damn, I wish this was coffee!” He grimaced as he swallowed the sweet chocolate. He really wanted the coffee, but his doctor had him cutting out caffeine and it wasn’t easy to kick the habit.

Out of the darkness he spotted the figure weaving back and forth. He set his cup down and, for a moment, swore that someone had to be pulling a Halloween prank. He might have convinced himself if the calendar didn’t say it was a few days into December.

As he watched, the emaciated figure wobbled a few more steps and collapsed onto the whitening roadway. Automatically, Richards grabbed his handset, called for an ambulance, and then before the mic hit the seat, he was out of his car – grabbing his big flashlight and running to where the figure lay unmoving on the ground.

In twenty years on the force he had never seen anything like the figure on the ground before him, and the smell coming off the body was making his stomach churn. There were welts, lesions, and scars over every visible inch of the figure’s body. The damage was easy to see due to the fact the victim was wearing nothing more than torn ragged underwear. An overwhelming smell of sweat, feces, and blood surrounded the figure like a miasma and slowly, Richards bent down and gently rolled the body over.

It was a male. However the face was sunken and he couldn’t figure out how old the figure was. As he played the light of his flashlight quickly over the man’s body, he took inventory of the damage. The right cheek bone was broken and, as the man breathed, Richards noticed that teeth were missing. Even the man’s chest was a mass of bruises, cuts, and layers of scarring. It was then that he noticed the gentleman’s wrists were scabbed. Just how long had this poor guy been shackled and tortured?

Richards pushed back his shock and let his training take over. He ran back to his car, grabbed some glow sticks and flares and put them up near the body. He rushed back to the front of the car and returned with the blanket. He wrapped the figure up trying to keep him warm.

“Hang in there buddy. Help is on the way.”

He was afraid to move him because when he had lifted the man’s arm, he had heard the undeniable sound of a bone breaking. He kneeled beside the man praying the ambulance would be there soon. It felt like forever but just five minutes later the ambulance arrived.

The ambulance had barely stopped when the back opened and out popped the paramedic, bag in her hand as she rushed to Officer Richards’ side.

“Hey Mark. What’ve we got here?”

Officer Richards shook his head.

“I’m not really sure Lori. The guy looks like he has been abducted and tortured. Scars everywhere I can see. I literally spotted him staggering like a drunk and then he collapsed.”

Lori Wells took a look at the body and her heart dropped. The only time she had seen someone looking like that was in the horror flicks her son loved to watch. She didn’t believe anyone could still be alive looking like this guy did.

She called over her shoulder to the driver, who was heading toward them, “Danny, grab the trauma kit.”

Lori and her partner checked his pulse, respiration, and began an IV drip on the guy. There was no way to get through to him. He was unresponsive, emaciated, and was very low on blood from the dozens of knife wounds that were still bleeding. Whatever this guy had been through, it sure hadn’t been pretty.

Officer Richards watched as the ambulance workers loaded the body into the back and took off. He was surprised that guy was still alive. He grabbed his flashlight and tried to make out where the guy could have come from. With the falling snow it was impossible to see any traces on the ground. Knowing the only clues he would get would come from the victim, he quickly called Sandra at the station, gave her what he knew and told her that he was heading after the ambulance.

_ * _ * _ *

I’m alive.

It was the first thought that passed through my mind. It seemed to be forever since I had last felt warm. Then I realized I wasn’t shackled either. I was afraid to open my eyes. I could hear the soft whispers of those around me, but I couldn’t make out the words.

Maybe this is something new she has come up with. I’m going to lie here and pretend nothing is wrong.

I felt my hand being lifted and each of my fingers were checked. I could feel that something was around my arm and keeping it immobile.

Did she burn me or break it maybe? Why can’t I remember?

The pain increased throughout my body and I could hear a loud beeping noise, but a moment later the world seemed to fade away again as I passed into unconsciousness.

_ * _ * _ *

“Was he coming around?” Officer Richards watched as the nurses swarmed around John Doe. He swung by the hospital once a week now. John had been here for six weeks and his body was slowly coming out of the coma that he had slipped into.

“The doctor doesn’t want him regaining consciousness yet. The surgeries he has undergone to remove and repair what was done to him …” The nurse’s voice grew soft as she turned to look at the body sleeping once more on the bed before her.

Mark Richards nodded. He couldn’t believe what this man had endured. From what the doctors could tell, this man had undergone, for months, several forms of torture. The fact that he was even still breathing was something of a miracle.

They had managed to repair some of the damage done to John’s face but most of what he looked like had been guess work. The only real thing in his favor was Dr. Aboti, who was a world class plastic surgeon, had taken an interest in the case and agreed to do the work. John might not look like he had originally, but even Mark had to agree the face he had now wasn’t too bad. They were even having dentures made for John. More than half his teeth had either been pulled or broken in his mouth. The doctors had had to remove most of those that remained and clear out the infections that were in his gums. The doctors had even found scarring inside John Doe’s mouth.

Mark still shook as he read through the damage done to the man lying unconscious on the bed before him. The man’s kidneys had nearly shut down, and he had gone into cardiac arrest three times since he had been admitted. John Doe was nearly six foot tall, but weighed close to eighty pounds when he was found. There had been pieces of metal bored into his legs and arms. There was scarring evidence of multiple beatings on John’s body that covered every inch of him except his penis. The doctor’s had commented that while even John’s balls had scar tissue from some sort of whip, his penis had been left untouched. Mark just kept adding facts to his reports, and each time he had something new he sent it on to the FBI. This case had caught a lot of attention, but until John Doe woke up, it wasn’t going to get very far.

­_ * _ * _ *

Date night? Now why on earth would I think of that?

I can remember I hadn’t really been in the mood to go out. Devon had broken up with me and, as she had been number five this year, I figured it was time to back off the dating scene for a while. I wasn’t sure why I kept attracting the ones who wanted me to spend money and time, but didn’t want to commit or make it exclusive. I figured I would spend my evening curled up on the couch with a few beers, a pizza, and several video games. It had been forever since I had time to just play X-box and unwind. I can remember heading out to pick up the pizza when I saw the car on the side of the road.

Alright, I’ll admit it was the legs I spotted in that short skirt that made me pull over. Hell, I can’t remember being with any woman whose legs looked that good. Her flashers were on and she was bent over the engine. I knew very little about car engines, but I’m smart enough to never go anywhere without my cell phone. I pulled over and offered to see if I could help or if I couldn’t at least call her a tow truck.

“Thanks. The fucking thing just died on me. I really have to get to town. I need a few things.”

She had really blue eyes and a great figure. I knew how to check for oil, brake fluid, and where my spark plugs were. I did that for her and naturally her car didn’t start. I called for a tow and asked where she needed the vehicle taken. She said whoever picked it up could take it to their station and she would handle the rest later.

“Are you sure?”

She smiled and pulled her small jacket closer around herself.

“Yep. However, if you are heading into town can I ask a favor?”

“Sure. I was on my way in to pick up dinner. What do you need?”

“Can you drop me off at the hardware store?”

Well she might have looked small and frail, but I give props to anyone who needs things at the hardware store.

“Sure. If you want I can even swing back to pick you up. Like I said, I’m just going home after I grab dinner.”

“Deal.”

Sometimes I am just too damn helpful for my own good.

­_ * _ * _ *

Officer Richards sat with latest file on his desk. He had been going through every missing persons report for the last year in the county. Considering there ended up being only twenty seven cases, it wasn’t that hard. Ten of them were children under the age of fifteen, another seven were between sixteen and twenty one. Six of the remaining cases were women. This left four possible people who could be John Doe, if he was from the county.

Of the four men only two were of the right age and height. That meant John Doe was either Benjamin (Benny) Corsis, a young college graduate who had been working at the local bank and had been making a name for himself, or he was Tristan Rogers, who had recently finished his fireman training and was expected to begin working full time for the county when he seemed to vanish off the face of the earth.

Both men were young, healthy, and just over six feet tall. Both men had been reported missing by friends and family, but no sign of either had been found. When Officer Richards looked at both their photographs he couldn’t help but think that they looked somewhat alike.

_*_*_*

I drove with the windows open. The summer had been sweltering so the fact that I was in an old pair of shorts and the lightest tee shirt I could find made a lot of sense. I had set my pizza on the back seat and swung back to find the pretty brunet standing outside the hardware store with three large bags at her feet.

“Did you get what you needed?”

“Yes. In fact, I picked up a few extras because I think I might have use for them.”

I slipped out of the car and opened the back door. The bags were a lot heavier then they appeared and I could hear chains rattling in one of them.

“Wow. You must have something interesting going on where you need chains.”

She laughed.

“Got a big dog and need to keep him under control.”

I drove out of the center of town coming back by where I had stopped to help her.

“So where to?”

“I’ll let you know when to turn.”

We drove past my turn off and continued out toward the farming areas. The street lights didn’t continue this far outside of town and I was glad my car had such powerful lights. I was beginning to worry when she finally spoke up.

“I really do appreciate this. I live way out here. At the next dirt road, turn to the right. We are almost there now.”

I still don’t know why I didn’t listen to that voice in my head that said turn around now, but I nodded and turned where she indicated. I smiled as she told me about her bad dog.

“He really doesn’t listen to me at all. He will learn though. What about you? You have animals?”

“No. I work too much. Wouldn’t be fair to any animal. Heck, I can’t seem to find a relationship that works well.”

“Too bad. So single too, huh?”

“Yup.”

“Bet you run around a lot.”

I remember thinking that was oddly phrased.

“Well I try to keep in shape, but if you mean dating, not so much. I am sort of a homebody.”

She smiled and nodded her head.

“The next roadway is actually the drive up to my place. You will see it on the left.”

I know now that I was foolishly driving into her spider’s web.

_*_*_*

Officer Richards sat looking over the information on both men. Both had recently ended romances and when they disappeared no one knew of any serious problems. There were interviews with the ex-girlfriends and, while one seemed a bit strange, she had no ties to the other victim.

“You’re still going over the notes?” Sandra stood looking down at Officer Richards while he read over the reports.

Mark looked up to see Officer Sandra Marris and nodded. Sandra had been on the desk the night he found John Doe. It bothered her to hear the damage done to him and she stopped by Richards’ desk often to see if there had been any break on the case.

“More like trying to figure out which of the two men he is. John’s fingers were so burned he has no fingertips. You can’t look for surgery scars because his body has become pretty much one large scar. They are both the same blood type and, with how badly John has been injured, some of the tests the doctors wanted to run, both families wouldn’t give permission in fear it would send him into cardiac arrest again. The hospital is finally running DNA checks so we should have an answer soon as to who he is. The big question for me, Sandra, is who did this to him?”

Sandra nodded. She had seen cases haunt officers before. She knew this had become that sort of case for Mark.

“Well, just remember to head home some time tonight. Your wife called and asked that you bring home a loaf of bread. “

“Oh crap. I forgot last night. Thanks. Sarah would have my hide if I forgot it again.”

“No problem.”

Mark watched Sandra walk off. He was grateful that the people here at the precinct acted like a family. If everyone didn’t remind him of the life he had waiting for him just outside the building, he would constantly be in trouble. Sarah had waited many times for him to come home when he was so involved in a case. He couldn’t help but glance at the pictures and wonder how those families still dealt with the idea their loved ones haven’t shown up at home yet, either.

­_*_*_*

My last clear memory was bending into the car to grab her bags and then there was a pain in my ass. I started to stand up and the world lost focus. Those were the last moments of freedom.

When my eyes opened again I found myself in a basement. Across from me lay another man. He was lying in a cage with a length of chain running from the shackles on his wrists to wall behind him. Above the cage there hung a sign that read DOG. As I was able to focus I noticed that he was completely naked and I could see bruises over every inch of his body. It was then I realized that I wasn’t in much better shape. My shorts and tee shirt were gone, as were my shoes. I was left with nothing more than my boxers. I tried to talk and discovered that I was gagged as well. There was a large metal cuff on my left wrist, while my right wrist was tied to the side of the cage I was in.

It was cold and, considering the heat of the summer, this was unexpected. I didn’t recognize where I was or much else. Other than the bruises and the short hair there wasn’t much I could tell about the other guy. Little did I know, this would be just the beginning of my captivity.

With little else to focus on, I stared at the man in the other cage. He seemed to be a big man like myself. However, I could see bruises and cuts from his shoulders to his ass. Even there I couldn’t figure out what was going on because, while he had nothing on, there seemed to be a lump near his ass that I couldn’t figure out.

“Morning doggies.”

There stood the burnet that I had helped. She was dressed in black jeans and a long sleeved black top. I tried to speak but the gag kept me from doing more than making small grunting sounds.

“Mommy had to take care of a few things. Cars to get rid of, I had to get my car picked up, and a few other things had to be sorted out.” She paused and turned to smile at me. “Men never think a woman can get things done. They forget what we can accomplish.”

I shuddered as I listened to her. The whole time she talked, she was busy filling up syringes. I realized as I watched her move that must have been what caused the sharp pain as I leaned into the car. She must have injected something into me.

“Puppy was bad and thought he could run away and leave me. However, I get tired of men doing that to me and knew it was time to teach puppy a lesson. Then I found another dog that seemed to treat me like puppy did. I figured if I could train one, I could train two.”

My blood ran cold as glanced from her to the man in the other cage who hadn’t moved since I woke up.

­_*_*_*

Officer Richards sat in the hallway. Whatever had happened to John Doe, it was evident now it had been done by a woman. The man was taken off the drugs that had been keeping him asleep, and when he finally opened his eyes, he panicked and nearly went into cardiac arrest when he saw nothing but women around him. It took the staff a few minutes to figure it out. They had to send in a male doctor and nurse alone before he calmed down at all. They were about to sedate him when someone suggested changing the staff.

Since then the staff had become very careful who was admitted to his room. No one had expected the reaction that John Doe gave upon waking up. Officer Richards had wanted to go in and question John, but the doctors had told him that until they were sure it wouldn’t cause him to go into shock again; they weren’t allowing anyone into that room except medical staff.

­_*_*_*

Time had lost all meaning. I learned about new levels of pain and degradation as well. I also lost my humanity. Both myself and the other "doggie" learned to eat and drink from the bowls she’d given us. While we lived feet apart, we were never left ungagged at the same time so we didn’t have a chance to really talk. I think it was part of how she kept us off balance. We never knew when she was going to drug one or both of us. Pain and torture were now as much a part of my life as breathing.

At first, I was sure it would be only a matter of time until I overpowered her and got away. That was early in my captivity. I would learn. For a small woman, she knew how to compensate for it. She used pulleys and levers as well as the drugs she administered to get us where and how she wanted.

From the gruel we were forced to eat, to the constant movies that were played, we were conditioned to obey. It seemed as if we even thought of doing something wrong, it brought on new levels of pain.

I had watched her work on the man from the other cage and how she beat him. She would use her pulley system to haul him up and spread him wide before she did anything. For him she had used a long piece of wood when she wanted to beat him. It was odd because it was long but thin, and it seemed to be divided at the top into many pieces. When she laid into the man, his body bowed to escape her blows, but all I could see were the red welts and eventually the blood that seeped from her constant abuse. When she finally lowered him onto a cot and rolled him into his cage, he was unconscious. She just tipped him off the cot and smiled at me. It was a day later that I joined in what she called “puppy training”.

In the beginning, she would hang me from the rafters of this room. She would stroke her nails down my body and raise goose bumps. She would tease me and excite me until I was hard as I could be. Then, and only then, would her fun begin.

It began with a whip. It seemed the smallest flick of her wrist and my skin felt the whip rip through it. The first training, she did only my back. She covered me with cuts and welts from my shoulders to my ankles. I don’t know when I passed out but I awoke to a world of pain. I quickly realized I couldn’t turn to lean or lay on my back without every muscle and nerve screaming in protest. I couldn’t even sit because the pain was so intense. I cried like a baby, all my barriers were gone. The pain was like something alive, twisting and turning through my body. I moved so my chest was on the ground and whimpered in pain until I nearly passed out again.

The entire time I was there, that was the only time both of us were ever left without gags at the same time.

“It’s okay man. I cried nonstop the first time. Now I just wish I was dead.”

It was like hearing someone dead speak. There was no emotion, and it was barely a whisper. I lifted my head and looked for the first time into the face of my fellow captive. There was a gash near his hairline and his right eye was swollen shut. There were cuts and bruises every where I could see and he was totally nude.

“Who?” I licked my lips and tried to control my voice so I could speak.

“Shh. It doesn’t matter. She has you now.” His voice became even softer and I strained to hear him as he continued. “Afraid our lives don’t mean much anymore. What day was it when you were taken?”

“It was the tenth.”

“So only three days. That means I’ve been here four days now. It felt longer.”

I was silent as I realized that the bruises and cuts that covered his body were only due to three days of that woman’s attention. I’d only had one time with her and I was already a wreck. I sat there as fear and despair settled into my gut. If I was hurting this much after one day, what had he undergone before I arrived?

_*_*_*

“He won’t give his name. That might be because he doesn’t remember it, or because he still doesn’t feel safe.”

Officer Richards nodded. They knew who he was now. Blood tests had already matched him to his parents, but even they couldn’t get in to see him yet. For now the only name he would respond to was John.

John had latched onto the male registered nurse and only seemed to be comfortable when the man was around him. Officer Richards realized it was because, of everyone who had entered the hospital room since John regained consciousness; he looked the most like the two men who had disappeared eight months ago. Richards suspected that John knew what had happened to the other missing man as well, but his mind was too fragile to handle the type of questioning that might led them back to where he was held.

_*_*_*

There always seemed to be something new that she had devised to use on us. It didn’t take long until my arms and legs felt like wet noodles. I watched as my chest lost the defined shape I had been proud of and I could begin to count my own ribs. I knew what I looked like just by watching my fellow captive.

It seemed she took pleasure in making sure whatever I received, my partner got twice as much. If I was hit with the whip for twenty blows, he got thirty or forty. The two of us were kept far enough apart that we could never touch or comfort each other.

She had gotten us outfits to wear. She slipped large fake ears over our heads that looked like a hound’s ears. She had given us enemas and slipped large plugs that appeared to have a dog’s tail at the end into our asses.

“There,” she said proudly as she shoved the plug into my ass. “Now my doggies can wag their tails cause they are happy to see Momma.”

We learned we had better wag our “tails” and appear to be happy to see her or we were punished severely.

I believe it was because of the constant beatings and lack of food that he got sick. He was so sick he couldn’t get to his knees one day to wag for her. She was furious. She opened his cage and delivered a savage kick to his gut. What little was in him was thrown up. He collapsed at her feet and lost consciousness. Unable to turn her fury on him, she slammed his cage closed and instead turned her attention on me. Because I had been so intent on watching what she was going to do to him, I forgot myself and didn’t wag my tail. She opened the cage with one hand while the other slid to the whip on her hip. Instinctually I reached my hand up to ward her off, forgetting the chains that held them in place.

“Dog’s don’t have hands!”

She stepped out of the cage and winched the chains till they pulled me tight against the back of the cage. When she came back with a small piece of wood about the length of her forearm, I began to whimper uncontrollably. I foolishly tried to reach out again in a vain attempt to try and protect myself, which only enraged her further. I watched her wind her arm back like a baseball player and the last thing I remember was feeling the wood connect with the side of my face. Unconsciousness became the only place where I could escape her insanity.

_*_*_*

Officer Richards had finally had his first interview with John. The doctors had explained that John wasn’t ready to accept everything. He was still trying to fit his former life with what he had been through. Every woman that walked into the room made the poor man curl up defensively. Even his own mother scared him to the point the poor woman had rushed out of his room to sit and cry in a chair over the things that had been done to him. Her mere presence was enough to make him cringe on the bed and cry uncontrollably.

Officer Richards watched as her husband and daughter tried to console her.

“It’ll be alright Mary. Our son will come back to us. It will just take time.”

John’s story came out a bit at a time to Officer Richards. While the officer wanted to plunge head first into the details, instead he sat quietly with a physiologist who helped guide both men through the ordeal John had suffered. It would be a long time before everything would come out and Mark Richards could begin to go after the woman who had done such inhuman things to the man who was still fighting for his life.

_*_*_*

My jaw hurt constantly. It was my own fault really. After she had hit the side of my face, my eye had swollen shut and I couldn’t see on that side of my body. It seemed to make her happy to come up on me silently from that side from then on. She reached and grabbed my face and I bit her. Stupid mistake on my part. She swung her fist right into my face and I fell to the bottom of the cage in pain. I remember being curled up and just wishing I would die. I don’t know how she injected me, but when I awoke she had removed my front teeth. My mouth hurt like hell and my tongue now felt nothing but blood and air where my teeth once were.

“Aww. Puppy shouldn’t have bit Mommy. Mommy made sure puppy will never bite another person. Now puppy should be a good boy.”

I watched as she stood smiling at me and I cried. My fellow puppy could barely lift his head up and look at me. She wasn’t really giving much to either of us any more to eat or drink. I knew I didn’t look much better than him, but he was so now he was looking sort of yellow.

“She had some sort of tool,” his voice cracked as he spoke to me. “She laughed as she pulled each one out of your mouth.”

My own mouth was so swollen and bloody I couldn’t even talk. His next words though chilled me and broke through my pain.

“Tomorrow she said she plans to fix me, because no puppy should be making more. She plans to fix you the day after.”

I was still tightly winched to the wall but he wasn’t. His chains allowed him movement around his cage.

“Sorry, but I can’t take this anymore.”

He curled up as I watched him. The pain was intense and soon I passed out.

When I opened my eyes again I wished I hadn’t. My partner had wrapped the chains around his neck and managed to kill himself. From where I lay I could smell the shit and piss that his body must have let go at the end.

“Wakey, wakey puppies. Mommy has a lot to do today including fixing the first of her puppies.”

She stood there at the bottom of the steps in a white outfit with her usual whip on her hip. She sort of bounced into the room wearing a big smile. If nothing else, she seemed to have filled out while the two of us had withered away.

She walked over to the cage and paused when she saw what had happened.

“Damn. Now I have to clean all this up. Puppy should have waited. I would have had him euthanized when the time was right.”

She turned and realized that my hands were loose and the chains weren’t pulled tight to the wall. She walked over and hit the button that tightened the chains.

Over time she had explained that people often saw her and treated her as thought she was dumb.

“Oh puppy. Men see big tits and a tiny waist and think that she has nothing upstairs. I let them look all they want and I always get what I want because I have a bigger brain then they do. They think with the head between their legs instead of the one on their shoulders. I’ve decided all men are dogs, and like any dog, they need to be trained and when the time comes that they can’t do as they should or are in too much pain, you humanely euthanize them.”

She brought soap and just poured it over him and the floor. Then she turned on the hose and rinsed everything down the drain. She quickly unwrapped the chain from around his neck.

“Hmm. Going to have to see what I can do about getting this out of here. I wonder if it would be easier to bury him or should I try to cremate the body in the old smoker the former owner had? Damn thing looks like it might be big enough to hold puppy’s body.”

She turned and winked at me.

“Oh well. I’ll finish this up a bit later. I have a date tonight and need to be ready. Tomorrow puppy we will just get you fixed. “

She left me there with his body in our cages. I knew if I didn’t get out tonight then I never would.

I pulled like I never had before on my bonds. When she had put me in the cuffs, I had been healthy and muscular. Now I was barely skin and bones. My skin broke in spots letting blood flow, which allowed my hand to finally slip out of the cuff. My other hand was actually tied to the chains with a zip tie. It cut into my skin, but this too I managed to slip from. My whole body ached. I was free from the chains but not the cage yet. The cages had two ways to open them, either by the key she had, or electronically by the button on the wall. I used the cuff and chain, swinging it until it connected. When the cage door opened I slipped outside.

I had never been free from the cage before and I found myself looking at everything again for the first time with a new perspective. The only place I couldn’t bring myself to look was the other cage. It felt strange to be able to move. I ripped the ears off and pulled the tail out. Everything hurt. The only thing I could find to pull on was a torn pair of underwear. I climbed the stairs only to come to a solid door that was locked. The handle wouldn’t move and I couldn’t get out. I sat down on the stair and curled up into a ball.

_*_*_*

Officer Richards couldn’t believe that anyone could be so inhuman to another person. He sat listening to the tapes that had been made as John slowly told his therapist what had happened to him over the months of captivity. Beatings, starvation, mind control, electric shock, whippings, brandings, and the list just continued on until he felt sick. At one point, she had even placed nails into John’s body. The physical therapy was helping his body, but Officer Richards wondered if anything would ever help this poor man’s mind and spirit.

He was about to begin transcribing some additional notes into the case file when the phone rang.

“Mark?”

“Oh shit. How late is it?”

“I was hoping you were going to make it home for our anniversary. You know it is over in an hour and I haven’t even heard from you all day.”

Mark Richards turned and looked at the precinct wall. Sure enough it was now eleven thirty-six and he was supposed to have been home to have dinner with his wife five hours ago.

“Sorry babe.”

“It’s John isn’t it? Did they finally get that poor man to talk?”

“Yeah. I’ll fill you in on what I can when I get home. I love you, Sarah.”

“I love you too. I’ll heat up a plate for you. Just come home to me soon.”

Mark smiled as his wife hung up the phone. There weren’t many women who would let you slide on your anniversary due to a case, but even his wife had heard about John. She had told her husband only one thing concerning it.

“You get whoever did that. No one should be allowed to hurt someone that badly. You get him and you make him pay for what he did to that boy.”

Officer Mark Richards was taking his wife’s request and doing his best to make it a reality. Someone had to pay for all the damage caused this man.

_*_*_*

For once curling up was the right thing to do. It brought me eye to eye with the key. There was a very small crack between the bottom of the door and the top step. Standing, you wouldn’t see it, but coming down so I was eye to eye with the floor let me see it. Shoved into this space was another key. I thought at first I was imagining it or that it wouldn’t be the right key to the door. I managed to get it out and it fit right into the lock.

When the door opened, I didn’t know what to expect. I stepped through the door only to find myself in a big empty building. Terrified of the unknown, I clung desperately to walls as I inched my way toward an old door that was partway open. When I stepped through it, I stepped into snow. I was free. I was out. I was looking at the back of the house and my knees began to shake.

The big white and red house was dark but I knew it was the same one I had driven up to a lifetime ago. I spotted the maple tree with a cracked limb that I had noticed when I had driven her home and the same white and red mailbox. I couldn’t go to the roadway by the mailbox. She said she was going on a date. That meant she would be driving on that road. I hurried off across the empty field as quickly as I could. The rocks and twigs cut into my feet, but I knew if I was going to die, I didn’t want it to happen while I was still in her hands. If I was going to die, I wanted to die free.

It was cold. I remember that. I fell and kept forcing myself to get up. I don’t even know how long I walked. It just felt like forever. Finally I saw the roadway again and knew I had little choice. If I was going to get help, I needed to find someone. I began to walk along the side of it and it was hard to see as the snow began falling. There was a chance she could find me, but I couldn’t even feel my feet or legs. The world slowly became hazy. I remember thinking that I saw a car parked in front of me and feared that she’d found me again. Oh god, she is going to kill me and they will never know what happened to me. That was really the last clear thought I had.

_*_*_*

From John Doe’s descriptions of the house, Officer Richards and other officers began a search. People had expected this to take a long time but the barn, house, and even the mailbox descriptions made it easy to locate. It felt like a lifetime since Tristan had been kidnapped and became John Doe. Now Officer Richards and the entire police department swarmed the farm to prevent this from happening to another human being. Among them were FBI agents. Everyone wanted John’s tormentor.

It had taken a while to get the warrant, but once it came through, the cops had surrounded the farm. Officer Richards had been surprised when they arrived at the barn. In the back, behind some old equipment, she had hidden what was the doorway to an underground storm cellar. She had completely redone it and created her cave of horrors. Everything was as John had described but worse once you saw it in person. There was a wall of surgical tools, sex toys, and torture implements. She had a small refrigerator filled with all sorts of bottles. The floor was completely tiled with multiple drains and a hose on one wall. The other wall held the controls for the doors to the two cages. Above one cage hung a sign that read DOG and above the other was a sign that read PUPPY. The dog cage was empty but the other held someone in it. The man was handcuffed, bruised, and unconscious when they walked in. The police called and had an ambulance brought in for him.

It didn’t take long to begin to catalog what was in the room. They even found a large black leather book on the shelf near her whip. She had kept a notebook detailing every single thing she had done to the men she had captured. John was only the second person, but the man in the cage was her fifth now. He evidently hadn’t done well when he met her and become her latest puppy dog.

Officer Richards became very glad he had kept the news about John Doe from the papers. If she had found out, he was afraid to know what she might have done. Reading through her journal was like walking through the mind of a psychopath. Each page was worse than the one before, but as he read about the day Tristan escaped, it chilled him to the core.

I came home from my date with a new puppy. Considering dog had died I felt it was only right to replace him with someone who wouldn’t even pay for dinner. Imagine my surprise to come home and find the door open and puppy gone. I began to search everywhere for him. I know puppy was reaching the end of his time and the cold must have gotten to him. I keep watching the news to find out if he was found but chances are better he died. I just hope that if his body is found it isn’t until the late spring when he will have had a chance to rot a bit.

The new puppy will have to take his cage. I’ve decided to bury the dog. It would take too much time to try and cremate and grind up the bones. There is a nice place at the edge of the property where I can put him and then pile all the stones from the destroyed brick fence. If nothing else it will be a long time before someone finds him.

I’ve decided not to wait with this one either. I know I will have him less than twenty four hours, but I really want to try my surgical skills. This puppy will be fixed right away.