June was cold and hungry. She had not eaten since her supper the night before with the children and Sister Nineveh. When she had woken up after being knocked unconsciousness in the back of the wagon the warmth of the sun had long fallen behind the horizon, she was in a cave. The two captors had removed her blindfold at some point in her unconscious state, there was little harm in her seeing nothing but bleak dirt and stone walls.
It had taken sometime for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and be able to make out their shapes across the cave, sitting around a camp fire. The smell of the cooking meat they were making made her mouth water. She was still bound at her wrists but her ankles were free and she could stretch out her legs, doing so shot electric fury throughout her nerves. Now she was cold, hungry, and in pain. Something about this feeling of cold felt familiar but it was like a memory lost at sea. Floating further away and just beyond her reach. Every part of her was cold even her hair.
Her hair!
Her captors had removed her habit and now her brown hair was exposed. Heavy waves of hair flowed down her back and lay around her in the dirt of the cave. It made her feel gross to be this exposed, no one but the few sisters that she had shared a room with over the years had seen her hair and now these two monsters had looked at it. Monsters. That is what these demons were, they had the appearance of men but they had to be demons.
As June's head began to clear from the daze of her unconsciousness she remembered what those two had done. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, saying her good byes to Mother Superior when the front door of the Convent had opened. She remembered Mother Superior saying that Father D'Angelo was there, when suddenly her face had a dark shadow fall across it and in the next moment Mother Superior was dead.
June had been staring right at Mother Superior's face when the bullet had entered into her face, with great ease it passed through the skin and skull of the closest thing that she had had to a mother. Before June could even scream to let the rest of the Sisters know what was happening she felt a club hit across the back of her head and she fell to the ground, her last visual was the blood pouring out from Mother Superior's head like a hole in a barrel.
She did not know if it was true or not but inside her heart she felt that these Monsters had killed everyone else in the house, Nuns and children a like. She hoped that they would burn in hell, which to her felt like better than those two deserved.
She felt the urge to cry, the pain of welled up tears pushing on her eyes. June wanted to cry, cry for Mother Superior, cry for Nineveh, cry for the children, and even cry for Father D'Angelo who wanted to take her away from the life she had known. No tears came out, she was too dehydrated. Sounds began to escape from her lips, not by choice but just on instinct they came out. The two monsters heard her.
Big Red was the first to notice that she was awake, The Kid was too focused on practicing his quick draw. Big Red stood up from the fire and walked over to June.
"What are you doing, Red?" The Kid asked his attention still on his practicing.
"Our guest has woken up. Bring her over a canteen Kid. I'll get her a plate of supper." Big Red responded as he went over to her.
"Please! I don't know what you two want but please, I'll do whatever you want just let me go." June pleaded as the giant of a man came over and lifted her off the ground with one hand. She wanted to fight him off but she knew it would be pointless she was too weak to do anything of damage to him.
He did not answer her, Red just carried her over to the fire and set her down near it. For a moment all of the panic left her body as she felt the warm heat taking away the cold she had been feeling. Her eyes closed it felt just like she was in front of the fireplace back at the Convent. Her comfort was broken by the voice of her captor.
"Open your mouth, girl." Red had indeed carved a piece of what appeared to be venison for her. A large part of her mind told to her to keep her mouth shut and to not accept anything these two demons offered her. However, her hunger was a stronger more gnawing feeling and despite her better judgment she opened her mouth. Chewing through the tough, gamey roast was heavenly. While it tasted very plain it still satisfied her hunger and the gnawing in her stomach began to disappear some.
The Kid walked over and handed the canteen to Red and he uncorked it and held it to her dry lips. She drank with the same hunger that she had eaten, the cool and clear water filling the cracks of dryness down her throat. With her eyes kept closed she felt like she was back at the Convent enjoying a meal with the whole house, unfortunately when she opened them she was back in the cave with the monsters.
If she did not already believe them to be demons the shadows that the firelight made would have given her that thought. Big Red's giant stature projected on the walls, the stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling gave the impressions of horns. The Kid's shadow smaller in stature made him appear as an imp.
"What do you want with me?" June gained the courage to ask, her will fortified now that she had eaten and drank.
"We want nothing from you, Girl. You are simply a job." Big Red replied, the tone of his voice adding to idea she was just a job.
The Kid on the other hand had a impish grin across his crooked teeth, "I can think of a few things I could do to you." The implications that he made caused June's skin to crawl.
"Silence your tongue, Kid, before I remove it from your mouth!" Big Red's threat wiped the grin from The Kid's face. The air around them suddenly grew colder despite the flames of the fire growing up, licking at the ceiling. "He is here." Big Red said and he dropped to one knee with The Kid following suit.
A pair of eyes formed in the flames. June's memory suddenly felt a spark, this was not the first time that she had seen eyes in flames. She could not remember where it had been before but she knew for a fact it had happened. Whatever these eyes represented caused her two captors to show reverence. A voice began to boom in the cave.
"I see you have collected the girl. You two have performed exactly I expected from such diligent servants." The eyes shifted back and forth between Big Red and The Kid before settling on June. "Hello June or should I say hello again. It is almost time we will meet in person again, do you remember me?"
In the back of her head the voice echoed distant in her past but brought nothing clear into her minds eye, she decided her best solution was to not speak to this devil. "Cat got your tongue, June? Do not worry, we will have much to talk about soon. When should you have her delivered?" The eyes turned back to Big Red?
"Two days time, My Lord." Big Red's head still bowed as he answered
"I look forward to our next meeting." The flames descended back into there normal size, the light dimming into the cave. June suddenly felt ill, and turned her head to side and vomited up the limited contents of her stomach. Her face became a ghostly shade of white before she passed out, Big Red moving just quick enough to catch her head before she smacked it against the ground.