all god's orphans

Grey awoke to find Kite still sleeping beside him. She was turned away from him, her black hair falling about her naked shoulders in loose curls. He traced the curve of her hip as it rose from her waist and then descended in a long, slow line the formed the outline of her thigh. He could still smell her and sent his brain spinning inside his skull.

Quietly, he rose from the bed and pulled his clothes on. Her clothes were still on the floor from the night before. The thick drapes let in a small sliver of light that cut through the room and announced that morning was rapidly becoming midday. Grey made his way out into the hallway, still trying to be quiet. He wondered why Millie had not woken them. Her door was slightly open and he could hear her moving around, but then he heard something else that froze him in his tracks. A male voice was in there with her. He stopped and listened. There was more than one. Carefully, he slid next to her door and peaked in through the crack. He could see Millie. She was tied to a chair and there was tape on her mouth. She looked more terrified than anything he’d ever seen.

In front of her, a man stood with his back to the door and nearby, another man held a phone, which he was using to record the whole thing. Grey couldn’t move. Fear nailed his feet to the floor and sent his mind spinning. What could he do? The two men inside were as big as he was, so there was no advantage he could exploit, except maybe surprise. That hardly helped him, as he had no idea how to fight or defend himself. Millie’s wet eyes caught sight of him and she kept herself from screaming for help through the duct tape.

“We got ourself a collection, y’see?” The man standing before her was telling her. “But I do believe you’re one of the prettiest little starlets we ever found. You have no idea how much guys will pay to jerk off to our videos now that the Internet is gone. To tell you the truth, though, it ain’t about the money. We just love doing this.” He took a step back. “Now let me explain how this works. I don’t want to kill you, I really don’t. If you just let us do our thang, we’ll let you live, unnerstand?” Millie glared up at him for which she received a slap across her face. “I asked you if you unnerstand?” She nodded. The slap hadn’t hurt and she got the feeling it wasn’t supposed to. “Good.” He continued. “Now it don’t have to hurt, you get me? It hurts more when you fight and you’re all tensed up, unnerstand? Relax. It’s gonna happen whether you want it to or not, so try and relax. I get that you don’t want this and I’m tryna be polite about it, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, unnerstand?” Millie had no idea what he was talking about but she nodded nonetheless. She couldn’t see Grey anymore. She hoped he had gone to find a weapon to beat these two yokels to death, but he had not. He was standing outside the door trying to overcome the terror that was making it difficult to breathe. The man took his belt off and undid his pants.

“We’re gonna start now, ‘kay?” He reached behind her and untied the knot from the chair, moving her hands to the front and then bound them together again. She glanced back at the door and saw only the darkness from the hallway. The man pushed her roughly back onto the bed and started to tie her hands above her. “Okay, Walt, stand over here. That last one you shot looked like shit. You couldn’t see the girl’s face. I wanna be able to see her face.” Millie had stopped paying attention but when he removed her pants, she snapped back to this immediate reality. “Woohoo!” He stood back, “Look at that! Pink panties! I’m keeping them.” He reached down to peel them off and Millie fought back with all her strength, kicking her legs wildly. “Come on, darlin’.” Said the man, straddling her legs so she couldn’t move. “I thought we had an understanding.” She bucked wildly, but could not move him. “Fuck it.” He finally concluded. “Have it your way then.” He grabbed her underwear by the side and tore them from her waist, the seam ripping easily. She was now naked except for her t-shirt and he ran a rough hand over her breasts. Tears streamed down her face and she tried to scream, but nothing would come. Her chest felt like it held her lungs in a vice and there was no breath to make a sound. The man on top was getting his pants down and she caught the eye of the cameraman. He wasn’t looking at her. His eyes were fixed on the screen.

“Look into the camera.” He pleaded with her. “Come on. Just look into the camera.” The other one finally succeeded in getting his pants off while still holding her down and she could see his hard-on bouncing up and down as he moved. She was weeping openly now and felt like the world had abandoned her. The man bent down and she could feel the soft tip of his cock lightly brushing the inside of her thigh. He got close to her face so he could speak quietly.

“Just try and relax.” He said andhis casual tone scared her death. He straightened his back and positioned himself for entry just as Grey ran screaming into the room and knocked him off of her with a flying tackle. The shock of it stunned the cameraman who then tried to pull a pistol from his belt. Millie turned her body and kicked him as hard as she could in the groin. He fell to his knees clutching his balls and she landed another blow to his head.

Grey and the first man had knocked over the small table and as Grey got to his feet, the man raised the chair and brought it down as hard as he could. Grey ducked out of the way, operating on instinct, and leapt onto the man’s chest, knocking him to the ground. Millie had wriggled free and now moved to the man on the floor, wrapping the rope around his neck. She pulled with all of her might as his face turned purple, the ropes cutting into his flesh.

“Walt!” Screamed the other one, scrambling across the room to try and get Millie off of his friend. He punched her in the side of the head and as she fell, she saw the gun. She got to her feet holding the pistol on them both. For a second, they all froze, no knowing what would happen next. Then a shot rang out, slamming into their ears in the tiny room. The bullet whizzed by the head of the man who had tried to rape her and without hesitating, they fled the room. She fired several shots after them, but none of them hit. She watched them running in terror and then realized she needed to put some pants on.

“Are you okay?” Asked Grey, moving to her side. He tried to put his hand on her shoulder but she shook it off. Picking up her device, she began typing.

“I’m fine.” Kite burst in and found a half naked Millie holding a gun in the middle of a destroyed hotel room.

“What happened?” She asked.

“We need to get out of here.” Said Millie’s machine.