What's a Prisoner Among Friends? Multiple m/m

[bondagefreak]

Ah. Nice to see John finally getting the muzzle treatment

I'm super glad to see you writing again, my friend.
This feels just like old times now

It's been so long since I last read this. I must say, it's a pleasure to be following this anew.
Feels just as fresh as the first time around.

[Jason Toddman]

Part 5.


John couldn’t believe that this was happening to him! What the Hell was going on? He thought that the others were just going to tie him up for an hour or two, maybe tickle and tease him a little bit, then let him loose to enjoy a nice quiet night’s sleep in this luxurious bed. But now, instead of being an honored guest, he was the prisoner of his best friend!

If this was just a prank, it seemed to John that Will and Paul had gone a little overboard!

Even as it was, Will might not have minded too terribly being left tied up in his bed for a while – or even all night – if it weren’t for those clothes-pins they’d left attached to him. John was stretched out taut, and he wasn’t used to sleeping on his back, but this wasn’t causing him too much discomfort so far. But those clothes-pins were hurting more and more all the time, and it was starting to drive him crazy!

Come to think of it, he wasn’t too wild about the gag either. The ball gag part of it was really making his mouth sore, and he was getting rather thirsty as well.

No… all in all, this didn’t seem like a great way for someone to treat their guest for a sleepover! Especially for a two-month long sleepover!

John began to renew his struggles; not in any undoubtedly-futile attempt to free himself but simply in hope of working those accursed clothes-pins off of him. But after an hour of increasingly-feeble struggling, John gave up. It was no use; the darned things wouldn’t budge except to wriggle around and hurt him even more. If only he had one hand free for just a few seconds! But his chances of getting either of his hands free from their bonds seemed as remote to him as the moon! He couldn’t even begin to slip his hands out of the leather restraints, and all his wriggling did nothing to loosen them at all. Stretched taut as he was, he had no leverage to try ripping the bars of the bed out – even assuming doing so would have been within his strength were his hands free.

Overwrought emotionally by everything that had happened, physically drained, and with his nipples in such torment, John dropped his mental defenses. Certain that no one could see or her him anyway, John began to cry… softly at first but then hard and bitter like a child whose puppy had just been run over by a car.

He went like this first a couple of minutes when the sudden sound of the lock in his door turning suddenly caught his attention. Even more dismayed at the idea of being seen crying than he was of anything else that had happened so far, John sought to control himself, but it was of course far too late to hide the evidence. The tears had been flowing freely from his eyes for quite a while by then, and he had no means to wipe them away.

The door sun open, and Will – dressed now only in his own boxer shorts – stepped in and looked at John from the doorway. John was sure that Will could see his tears underneath his blindfold even from where Will was standing, and he expected his friend to start mocking him as a crybaby. But Will merely stood looking at John with a neutral expression on his face (which Will could not see) for a moment and then with a look of some dismay and a little compassion.

“Are you all right, John?” Will asked him quietly. John could not see the expression on Will’s face, but he could hear the sympathy in the tone of his voice well enough.

John decided not to dignify this with an answer; even though he was desperate to get those clothes-pins off of him; especially the ones on his nipples.

“I guess this *was* a bit overwhelming for you, huh?” Will said softly as he walked into the room, stepped up to the bed, and looked down at John with a slight smile as he carefully removed his blindfold. “Here, let me try to make you a bit more comfortable.”

Will pulled the blanket away from John’s torso and with a few quick, deft movements opened up the clothes-pins two at a time and pulled them away, starting with those on John’s now fiery-red nipples. John squealed in pain when the nipple clothes-pins were removed; for a moment they hurt even worse with the clothes-pins off than they had when they were on. Then Will began to softly massage them, and though John might have normally resented having another boy rub his chest like that the relief was so great that he just closed his eyes and moaned with relief instead.

Will then climbed up onto the bed. “Lift your head up a minute,” he told John as he reached toward him. John did his best to comply, and Will reached behind John’s head to unbuckle the straps holding John’s gag in place. This proved awkward to do from the side and Will wound up having to straddle John’s chest for a minute before he could get the proper leverage to unbuckle the gag and pull it away from John’s face. He carefully pulled the ball portion out of John’s mouth, and again John was filled with an almost overwhelming sensation of relief.

Will climbed off of John and the bed. “That better?” he asked with a grin; still holding the gag casually in one hand.

Will nodded his head quietly as he worked his jaw to get the soreness out of it. “Uhhh… could you untie me now? Please?” he asked Will politely.

“Unh unh! You don’t need to be *that* comfortable!” Will told him with a grin. “I just didn’t want you to be unable to sleep; that’s all. After all, like I told you, you have to stay tied up all night tonight and all day tomorrow!”

John had remembered but had hoped against hope that Will hadn’t been serious. “Come on, Will. You can’t expect me to sleep all night trapped like *this*, can you?” John asked with a pleading tone in his voice he hated hearing himself using.

“Why not?” Will replied with a grin. “Paul has, lots of times! So have I, when he’s the one who won a bet! Each of us has had the other totally under his control for entire weekends or even longer. If we could do it, so can you!”

“But I wasn’t expecting this!” John protested; trying to emphasize his point by rattling his chains – but he was capable of so little movement that his attempt fell flat.

“You can bet Paul didn’t either, the first time I made him stay tied in bed overnight,” Will replied blandly as he sat on the edge of John’s bed. “We were only 11 at the time, and he didn’t make half the fuss that *you’re* making. So man up, will you? We’re not demanding anything of you we don’t demand from each other or wouldn’t let you demand of us! Besides, it’ll be fun! You’ll see. Just take it like a man and you’ll soon get used to it. Now then, is there anything else you’d like before I go to bed myself?”

John sighed warily; realizing that it would do him no good to argue with Will and might cause him to decide to put that gag back on him. “Could I have a drink of water? I’m thirsty. And I need to brush my teeth!” He’d brushed them before, but after having his teeth sunk into that ball gag for so long, they felt rather nasty at the moment.

“Your teeth will have to wait until morning, but I can get you a drink now,” Will replied as he walked into the adjacent private bathroom, removed a plastic cup from the medicine cabinet, filled it with cold water from the bathroom sink, and brought it to John. Kneeling beside the bed, Will lifted John’s head up again with his free hand and held the cup to the captive boy’s lips with the other. Will let John sip the water at his own pace until it was all gone. He managed not to spill any of the water on John’s front.

“Need more?” Will asked kindly.

“No, I’m fine,” John replied. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, John. After all, you’re my guest!” Will replied with a grin as he tossed the plastic cup into a wastebasket. “Okay, I’m going to bed now. Have a good night’s sleep. By the way, no one else can hear you but Paul and me, so don’t waste your breath yelling for help or anything. You’d only keep us awake, and we’d have to gag you again. You don’t want us to do that again, do you?”

John shook his head in negation quite emphatically.

“Good! I don’t like leaving gags on people when I have to leave them unwatched for very long,” Will said with a good-natured smile. “Paul and I have other means to keep each other quiet for overnight, but we decided to take it easy on you for your first night being tied up. Maybe after your penalty period is up you can keep *us* tied up overnight. Bet you’d find *that* to be a lot of fun, wouldn’t you?”

John hadn’t thought of that possibility, but now that Will mentioned it the idea brought a huge smile to his face that he made no effort to conceal.

“Thought so!” Will replied with a smile just as wide as he flicked the light-switch and plunged the room into darkness alleviated only by the light in the hallway. “Well, you dream happy thoughts of getting your revenge on us and I’ll see you in the morning. Good night.”

“Good night, Will,” John replied, feeling somewhat less nervous about the idea of being left tied up in his bed overnight than he had been before Will came back in. Even after Will closed the door and locked it again, John felt better than he had. The fact that his nipples, ears, and underarms were no longer being tortured by those clothes-pins helped (though they were still a bit sore), as did the fact that Will had removed that awful gag. His physical discomfort and his mental distress both having been considerably eased despite the fact that he still could not move his arms or legs, John fell fast asleep within ten minutes of Will’s departure.

Before going to bed, Will checked in on Paul in his own room. Paul was currently as helpless as John, since Will had tied him up as soon as both had left John’s room earlier and went to Paul’s. Paul was wrapped from shoulders to ankles in heavy duct tape, and gagged and blindfolded as well. However, he was quite used to such a situation and, judging by his breathing, had fallen asleep in the short time since Will had left him to check on John. Will smiled, looked at his friend fondly, and closed the door to Paul’s room quietly behind him – but he did not lock it - as he went to his own room.

[bondagefreak]

Seems like both John and Paul are in good hands!
Will has been nothing but accommodating and gracious in this chapter. Those two boys are very lucky to have such a fine host

Good thing I'm not Will. I'd have gagged John right back up after that first bout of whining.

[Jason Toddman]

Part 6.

Other than the occasional failed attempt to turn over or move a limb (which generally woke John up very briefly), John slept remarkably well during the night. He didn’t really begin to wake up more than momentarily until the sound of a key turning in the lock of his bedroom door alerted him. He was still a bit sleepy but mostly awake by the time the door swung open and Will and Paul entered the room.

Both boys were fully dressed and had evidently just taken their showers; their hair was still wet and neatly combed, and they smelled vaguely of soap and deodorant.

“Tasha will be along to make us all breakfast in a little while,” Will announced with a smile. “Just to make sure you don’t try to call to her and spoil our game, we’re going to have to keep you nice and quiet until she’s gone.”

It was only when he finished saying this that John noticed that Will was carrying the muzzle gag in his hand again. “Oh no!” he moaned quietly. “Not *that* again! Please! I promise I won’t try to say a word to her!”

“You sure won’t, because you’re wearing this whether you like it or not!” Will said with the smile still on his face but with an implacable tone to his voice as he approached John’s bed. “Make it easy on yourself. Don’t fight us and we’ll loosen you enough to let you use the bathroom and get washed without our having to help you. Otherwise, we’ll have to keep you tied up and do *everything* for you… and I DO mean *everything*. Do I make my meaning clear?”

John imagined himself having to take a pee… while his hands were tied behind him. He couldn’t unzip or aim, and so Will would have to…

John gulped nervously. “It’s clear,” he replied in a higher pitched voice than usual.

John lay still and made no resistance as Paul sat on the edge of the bed to one side of him and lifted his head up while Will sat on the other side of him and buckled the muzzle gag (or panel gag, depending on who you asked) onto his face. But, when the gag was on securely, Will did something he had not done before; he took a small padlock and fitted it to some place on the mask near the nape of John’s neck. John made a small noise and looked wide-eyed up at Will.

“That’s just to make sure the gag stays on when your hands are freed enough for you to wash,” Will explained. “Okay, let’s get you out of bed lazy bones. I want you clean and fresh enough to make fit company for us when breakfast is ready.”

Will took a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the metal cuff that held John’s right wrist to the bedpost, but made no move to release the padded leather cuff from that same wrist. Instead he held John’s wrist down while he took another small padlock and fitted it onto that restraint; rendering it impossible to remove without a key. Then Will handed his keys over to Paul, who proceeded to free the metal cuff holding John’s left wrist from the other end of the bed. He likewise secured a small padlock into the leather cuff around John’s left wrist while Will kept his right wrist pinned to the bed.

When Paul finished securing the padlock, Will and Paul acted together to force a still-unresisting John’s wrists in from of him. The metal cuff still dangling from his left wrist was then locked around his right, and that dangling from his right wrist locked around his left. John’s arms were now free of the bed but his wrists were locked together by both sets of restraints that had held his arms immobile against the bedposts.

“Lay still until we’re done,” Will instructed him as he and Paul loved down to the opposite corner at the foot of John’s bed. Still having the keys, Paul unlocked the metal cuff that held John’s left ankle to the foot of the bed and moved John’s left leg close to his still-trapped right leg. He handed the keys to Will, who did the same with John’s right leg. John’s ankles were then double-connected as his wrists had been.

Will had one more surprise for John. He stepped into his room for a moment and came back with an ornate-looking metallic dog collar and a long, gleaming metal chain. John moaned in consternation but made no resistance as the collar was placed around his neck, buckled in place. The twenty-foot-long leash was then attached to the collar and secured in place with another small padlock which also rendered the collar non-removable.

Just as this was accomplished, the metallic sound of a buzzer could be dimly heard coming from somewhere inside Will’s room.

“Sounds like Tasha has arrived right on schedule,” Will commented drily as he looked at the time on his cell phone. “I’ll go buzz her through the gate. Then we’ll get John set up while she’s driving up to the house.”

John watched as Will stepped out of his room and walked into his own. From there he could not see what Will did, but he imagined he was doing the same thing he’d done before to let Tasha out the evening before; presumably with the computer in his own room. For the moment John was alone with Paul, but he might as well have still been chained to the bed for all the good that did for him. He knew the larger boy would immediately wrestle him to the floor and pin him down he John made any attempt to get away from him. Not wanting to give the two any excuse to further prolong his period of bondage or be harsher with him, John decided to just go along with it all until they finally freed him that evening like they said they would. Until then, it wasn’t too bad – in fact, it was kind of exciting in a way. As long as they didn’t tickle-torture him again!

Will stepped back into John’s room. “It’ll take her a couple of minutes to drive up to the kitchen entrance and come in,” Will told John. “I left her instructions on what to fix for breakfast and lunch in the kitchen, so she won’t be bothering us for a bit. Now here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll let you select what to wear for the day. Then we’ll untie you completely and let you go into the bathroom without supervision to undress, shower, use the toilet, get dressed, and so on. Paul will be in here making sure that you don’t get up to something while I lock you both in. The bathroom door has no lock, but you may close it for privacy; Paul won’t watch or walk in on you unless he hears anything suspicious. You have about twenty minutes to do everything that you need to do. The gag stays on until Tasha leaves again, so washing your face and brushing your teeth can wait until after breakfast. Just do what you need to do and let us secure you again when you’re done and everything is good. Try to escape before your penalty period is up and we’ll extend it for another day! Any questions?”

John made a funny noise that could have meant anything.

Will went to a drawer, dug out a pen and a small notepad, and handed them to John. “Make it fast; we’re on a tight schedule.” Will told him.

“When are you going to let me go?” John wrote in the notepad.

“Assuming all goes according to plan and you don’t give us any trouble, we let you go at nine tonight,” Will told him. “If you’re extra good, maybe sooner; perhaps even before suppertime. Of course, we might let you go a lot sooner or a lot later depending on whether you want to do a double-or-nothing challenge after breakfast.”

John made an inquiring noise and started to scribble on the notepad, but Will yanked it away from him before he could make a single legible letter. “Later!” he told John. “We’ll discuss it over breakfast. Now get in there and take your shower; and do a good job! I have to go greet Tasha before she comes up here looking for us.”

Will high-fived Paul, walked out of the room, close the heavy door behind him, and locked it.

“Okay, let’s pick out your clothes and get going,” Paul told John as he stood up and gently tugged on the younger boy’s leash to urge him to stand up as well. “The sooner you make your selections, the longer you can have your hands and feet free before breakfast.”

This was sufficient encouragement for John to choose quickly; he simply grabbed the first socks, shirt, underwear, and sock that came to hand and walked into the bathroom with them with Paul close behind him holding his leash.

“Okay, stay still for a minute,” Paul instructed John as he walked with the leash to a sturdy metal pipe that ran from floor to ceiling in one corner of the bathroom. He wrapped the free end of the leash around the pipe and tied it off without yet another padlock he was carrying in his pocket. “There! That’ll keep you tethered so I can free your hands and feet.” Paul said with satisfaction. “You can freely reach any part of the bathroom but can’t get more than a few steps outside of it. Sit on the edge of the bathtub, and I’ll get that other junk off of you.”

John did as he was told. Paul crouched in front of him and with the swiftness and ease of evident considerable practice unlocked eight restraints within about thirty seconds, picked them all up in his arms, and stood up.

John stretched his arms and legs with a moan of satisfaction, and then pointed to his gag while looking up at Paul with pleading eyes.

“Sorry, dude. Will says it stays on until Tasha leaves. Sorry,” Paul tells him. “Now make it quick. Tasha isn’t making a very complicated breakfast today so she’ll be leaving before long. Once she’s out the driveway we’re coming in here for you whether you’re ready or not. So make good use of your time.”

Paul walked out of the bathroom, gently shutting the door behind him. John quickly checked it; as Will had said, there was no lock. Not that it mattered, he reluctantly supposed. With no other door and no window, there was no way to leave even if he were not tethered by his neck to that pipe. Besides, barricading himself in here with no food and nothing to do would be even worse – and probably take much longer to resolve – than the period of imprisonment that he was facing at Will’s hands already. Besides, he was being allowed to wash, use the can without being watched, and would soon be given breakfast. Other than being tied up, was he really being treated all that badly? No; better to just let Will and Paul have their fun with him and get it over with!

John quickly removed his boxer shorts (the only clothing he’d been wearing) and tossed it into the laundry hamper. After relieving himself, he had a relaxing hot shower and then toweled himself dry – ignoring the tether around his neck as if it were not there. It proved harder to ignore when it came time to put on his shirt however; it was impossible to do that with the tether in the way! Presumably though Will and Paul realized this and would give him a chance to put it on before breakfast.

John looked himself over in the mirror as he combed his hair. He felt the collar his leash was attached to and looked at it more closely. What the heck WAS this thing? It was no ordinary dog collar; that was for sure! It wasn’t a simple strip of leather like most collars, but made of a flexible strip of metal. Moreover, there was a strange bright-red, box-shaped thing in the front of it at the base of his throat and about the size of an electronics adapter. John looked at it nervously as he felt it. He had a bad feeling about that thing. He didn’t know why, but he was sure that boxy thing wasn’t merely decoration and that it was meant to do something unpleasant to its wearer. But what it did, and under what circumstances, John doubted he really wanted to know!

John must have been staring at the collar for longer than he realized, because suddenly he heard Will’s voice calling to him from the bedroom. “Tasha’s leaving now, John. You have one minute to get ready before we come in after you!”

Startled, John roused himself, gave his hair a last touch up, and opened the bathroom door. He couldn’t take more than two steps beyond it however before the tether became taut, but fortunately he remembered this in time to save himself from an unpleasant tugging at his throat.

Paul was alone in the other room, Will having gone to his computer in his own room to buzz open the main gate to let Tasha drive out again. Paul had a set of chain hobbles in his hands as he approached John. “Stay still,” he bid the smaller boy as he got down on one knee in front of John and placed the hobbles on him. The hobbles had about eighteen inches of slack; enough to allow John to go down stairs reasonably safely and walk along at a normal pace (with short, brisk steps at least), but running would definitely be out of the question.

Paul stood up and took a set of handcuffs Will had apparently left on the bed when he re-entered the room before to call to John. “Turn around and put your hands behind your back,” Paul said to him tersely but with a huge cheese-eating grin on his face.

John rolled his eyes, heaved the weary sigh of the perpetually put-upon, and did what he was told. He felt a tugging on his hands and a moment later the feel of cool, hard steel around his wrists, while the distinct sounds of handcuffs clicking shut rang in his ears. Paul and Will sure enjoyed their games! He was looking forward to getting another chance to do the same to them! Next time he’d put them through the wringer for sure; rather than just idly sit by and watch television!

“Is he ready to go yet?” Will asked as he suddenly stepped in through the bedroom door. His eyes alighted on John and he smiled in satisfaction. “Cool. Breakfast is cooking now. Let’s get down to the kitchen before it gets ready and get John comfy.”

He pulled out his key and fitted one of them into the padlock that held the leash attached to his collar. With a loud metallic clattering the chain came off, leaving John untethered. It was at this point that John remembered that he still had not been able to put on a shirt, and the gag prevented him from making his wishes in the matter understood. Apparently unconcerned about the fact that John was shirtless and completely ignoring his attempts at communication, Will hooked his left arm around John’s right elbow while Paul hooked his right arm around John’s left elbow; holding him firmly in their grip, the two boys cheerfully proceeded to force-march him out of the room.

The hobbles had enough slack so that John had little trouble keeping up at a normal pace, though the metallic clanking and clinking of the chains connecting his ankles was starting to get on his nerves. It was a constant reminder to him that he was currently more of a prisoner here than a guest at the moment. Even though one of his captors was his best friend and someone he trusted; the rattling of those chains was rattling *him*. But since he was still gagged, there was nothing he could do about it but endure it.

The boys reached the head of the stairs but rather than proceed down them Will stopped in front of the elevator and pushed the call button. The elevator door immediately slid open with a ding, and Will and Paul immediately hustled John inside. Will jabbed at the ground floor button, and the doors slid shut again. During the relatively slow ride down to the first floor John idly noticed that there were five floors: B, 1, 2, 3, and 4. He vaguely wondered what the other three floors he hadn’t seen yet were like.

The elevator doors slid open again, and his captors bustled him out into the front foyer and off to the kitchen. The table was already set, though the food was still simmering in the oven. From the smell of it, John guessed that it was a cheese soufflé of some sort. Judging by the numbers he could see on the digital timer, the soufflé still had over 15 minutes to go before it was done. So what was the rush getting him down here?

John found out as soon as he was seated in one of the chair for which a setting had been prepared on the table. Paul rushed out of the kitchen and soon came back loaded down with coils of rope. He dropped all but two coils of rope, and handed one of these over to Will. Then, as if they had carefully rehearsed it, they proceeded to rope John to the chair.

Will squatted behind John’s chair and carefully made several loops around John’s wrists, cinched that off, tied more loops around John’s wrists and several of the vertical spokes in the back of the chair together, and cinched this all off again. Only once this was done were John’s handcuffs removed. However, unlike the way Paul had been tied the previous night, John’s hands were still between his back and the back of the chair rather than sticking out through the back of the chair. Once this was done, Will grabbed another coil of rope and tied John’s upper arms and elbows as closely together as he could, tying them to the sturdy frame of the hair so securely that John could not budge them.

Meanwhile, Paul had lifted up John’s sneaker-covered feet and snagged his hobbles upon a well-hidden hook; preventing John from placing his feet back down on the floor. Paul then tied John’s feet separately to individual legs of the chair. More rope was looped below each of his knees and around where the chair legs connected to underneath the seat of the chair. Once his legs were as immobilized as his arms, the leg-cuffs were released from John’s ankles; which restored none of his freedom of movement at all. All he could do was wriggle around a bit from side to side.

Together, Will and Paul tied more rope around John’s slender, uncovered torso and the back of the chair. Once they were done, John could not even wriggle. He couldn’t move anything at all except his fingers (which could reach nothing) and his head.

The oven timer dinged just as the boys finished seating John at the breakfast table.

Will got some juice out of the refrigerator while Paul turned off the oven, placed some potholder gloves on his hands, opened the oven door, and pulled the soufflé out. Judging by the color and the savory aroma, it was done to perfection.

Paul closed his eyes and took a deep sniff of pure appreciation as he set the soufflé pan on a wooden counter to let it cool a bit. “Ummm… Tasha has done it again. God, I wish I could marry her!” he said with a smile.

“You, me, and every boy in town over the age of 12,” Will replied with a laugh. “John fell in love with her on sight too, last night. I can’t believe she’s still single!”

“Married to her job, I suppose,” Paul said almost regretfully as he set the soufflé on a placemat at the center of the table. “Oh well. Just as well for us. If she got married, she probably wouldn’t be a traveling cook anymore and we’d all have to hire someone else without her talent or her looks to do it instead.”

Will and Paul served themselves and then served a portion onto John’s plate as well. Then Paul and Will slowly began to eat their still-piping-hot portions of soufflé.

John stared at his plate of soufflé and then looked up at Paul and Will, who acted oblivious to John’s dilemma. John made a small noise, but was ignored by the other two, who began conversing quietly among themselves. ‘What the Hell?’ John thought loudly to himself, but making no impression on his two captors. ‘Hey, guys? My hands are still bound behind me and my mouth is still gagged! How am I supposed to EAT this?!’

John made a louder noise through his gag. He still got no reaction from the others.

Frustrated and hungry, John began to scream as loudly as he could and rocked his body from side to side so hard that the chair he sat in began to rock as well.

Will and Paul looked up and grinned. “Your food is going to get cold, John! Better eat up!” Will said to him teasingly.

“Yeah, Tasha won’t be happy if all her hard work goes to waste!” Paul added mockingly.

John simply groaned and glared at them; deciding not to entertain them any further with his muffled protests.

Will and Paul laughed softly and Will stood up to walk up behind John. “All right, John. We won’t let you go hungry. Here you go,” he told John soothingly as he unlocked and removed his gag. Then he sat back down in his seat and resumed eating.

John stared at him in sheer annoyance. “Uhhh… my hands are still tied!” he pointed out a bit acerbically. “I still can’t eat!”

“Sure you can! Just stick your face down there and eat it like a dog!” Paul suggested.

John was so hungry and so desperate that he even tentatively tried to do that after a few more moments of being ignored again. However, the ropes bound around his middle and his arms made this procedure totally impossible. Will and Paul simply laughed at him again when John growled in annoyance.

“Jeez, John… do we have to do everything for you?” Will asked with a grin as he finished his own serving of soufflé. Then he picked up John’s fork, cut out a portion of soufflé with it, scooped it up, and held it up to John’s mouth. “Lucky for you I’m such a thoughtful host. Now eat up, baby! Yum yum! It’s good food, little baby. Num nums!”

John glared at Will silently for a moment. Them realizing it was either this or probably go hungry altogether, John leaned forward to take a bite – halfway expecting Will to yank the fork away and laugh at him. Will wasn’t that cruel however, and fed him forkful after forkful of the cooling but still hot soufflé. On his other side, Paul held his glass of juice for him whenever he wanted to take a sip.

And so John had a quiet and leisurely breakfast.

[Johnsnow]

Great to see this story back up again... Would love to see the slave: hunter too if you still have it? Can you tell I'm addicted to your stories?

[Jason Toddman]

Great to see this story back up again... Would love to see the slave: hunter too if you still have it? Can you tell I'm addicted to your stories?

I still have it and plan to post it once i'm ready to write new chapters to continue the story.

[Jason Toddman]

Part 7

The soufflé was so delicious (and there was enough of it for seconds all around) that John almost forgot about the manner in which it was served to him as he almost lost himself in his enjoyment of it. His mother was herself a good cook, but she’d never made anything as tasty as this by herself! Tasha’s soufflé was almost worth having to be tied up to eat it. Though John could have done without the baby talk Will and Paul insisted on using while talking to him as they fed him breakfast. And the exaggerated way Will insisted on wiping his mouth clean after every few bites as if he were a messy infant in a highchair was really starting to hack him off! But he ignored it; he might have done the same thing to Paul when he’d had him tied up last night had he dared. Next time he got to tie one of these jokers up, he’d show them what he’d learned from his experiences at their hands.

Once they were done eating, John was left tied in his chair while Paul and Will put the dirty dishes into the sink, and filled the sink with some hot water and a little dish-washing detergent. The dishes from the previous night were already gone. Evidently Tasha or one of the other boys had cleaned them since suppertime the previous night.

“Okay, let’s go out by the pool for a while,” suggested Will. “Paul, would you fetch the wagon please while I get John ready?”

“Sure, Will,” Paul replied agreeably as he hurried outside through the kitchen door.

Will proceeded to replace the handcuffs and hobbles on John prior to untying him.

“Aren’t you going to let me loose for a bit so I can swim with you guys?” John pleaded.

“No worries! You ARE coming into the pool with us,” Will replied with a huge grin. “Besides, we’ve got to begin your training, and the pool is a great place to start.”

John suddenly got very nervous. Surely Will didn’t meant what John thought he meant. But he did not dare to ask Will to clarify this for fear of putting ideas into his friend’s head that might not happen to already be there!

Will finished freeing John from his chair. At the same time he had afforded the smaller boy only very limited freedom of movement by reducing the slack on his hobbles from eighteen inches to practically none at all by replacing the previous chain with a single small carabiner. John was wondering how he was expected to walk this way when Paul came back into the kitchen by pulling along a little kid’s red Radio Flyer wagon. He was therefore not surprised when his captors lifted him up and sat him down inside of it. He was told to stay put inside of it as Paul proceeded to ferry him back out through the kitchen door with Will (carrying an evidently partly-loaded paper bag he’d picked up from somewhere) walking directly behind them.

Beyond the kitchen door was a beautiful, fenced in garden; inside which the rest of the outside was all but invisible. The tree boys went down a tiled walkway to a high wooden fence on the other side, and passed through the open gate at the other end. A couple of minutes’ leisurely walking through a park-like glade took them to the swimming pool.

Will and Paul stopped the wagon by the shallow end of the pool and stopped. They then carefully lifted John out of the wagon and laid him down gently on the grass. Will opened up the paper bag and pulled out two huge rolls of duct tape. He handed one to Paul and both boys knelt down beside John, who looked nervously back up at them.

“Don’t worry, John, we aren’t going to hurt you.” Will said with a smile as he and Paul pulled off John’s socks and sneakers; leaving him wearing only his shorts. Will then proceeded to wrap tape around John’s handcuffed wrists and then all around John’s body. Paul used his own tape to wrap John’s legs together from the bottom up. Once they had wrapped him enough to keep him reasonably secure, they unlocked his handcuffs and leg-cuffs and casually tossed them to one side. John relaxed a bit once they did this; although the duct tape binding was enough to keep him helpless (and they were still adding to it), he felt a lot less uncomfortable once the handcuffs and leg-cuffs were off.

Will and Paul wound duct tape all around John’s body until he was entirely covered with it from his ankles up to his shoulders. The soles of his feet were uncovered however, and so were his head and his mysterious metallic collar.

Will and Paul stood up, looked down at their captive and smiled at their handiwork. Then Will and Paul kicked off their sneakers, removed their socks, and pulled off their shirts; leaving both boys dressed in only their shorts just as John was.

Will squatted down beside John. “Do you trust me, John?” he asked suddenly.

John couldn’t help but feel that this was an extremely loaded question under the current circumstances. Even so, he decided that it was safer to say, “Yes.” However, it was with noticeable hesitation and an underwhelming level of enthusiasm.

“Are you prepared to prove it?” Will asked.

“Do I have a choice?” John asked pragmatically but also very carefully.

“Sure. If you can prove to us that you trust us, we’ll untie you right after and your penalty period is over. Fail the test and we extend your captivity for another day into tomorrow night. If you decline to take the test, we’ll still untie you tonight as we previously agreed but we’ll probably tease and torment the crap right out of you in the meantime.”

John was an adventurous boy who enjoyed challenges. Also, the idea of being free of his bondage this morning instead of having to endure it for another twelve hours was too tempting an offer to resist. And besides, despite all of the unexpected things that had happened to him so far since he arrived, he DID trust Will. Didn’t he?

He looked up at Will, who looked back down at him expectantly. If he declined the test, it’d be the same as saying that he didn’t trust Will, or that he’d be given tacit permission for Will to torment him any way he pleased. Either way, he decided that he’d better agree to Will’s test of trust. Besides, how difficult could such a test actually be?

“I trust you, Will, so I agree to your test!” John told him. “What do I have to do?”

“Do not show any fear no matter what I do in the next half hour,” Will replied simply.

Will did not like the sound of that!

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you in any way,” Will said with a smile as if reading John’s mind. “I’ll do nothing to cause you pain. I won’t threaten you verbally. I won’t even tickle you - unless you fail the test of course. Last chance for you to opt out, John! Are you ready?”

Well, this sounded so amazingly easy that John just knew there had to be a trick in there somewhere… but darn if he could figure out what it was. Not wishing to look either timid or distrustful, John immediately agreed to take Will’s test of trust.

Will smiled and gestured to Paul, who squatted down at John’s other side and beside his legs. Then, smiling, winking, and nodding at each other, Will and Paul slid their arms under John’s tape-wrapping body and picked him up…

…and walked right into the swimming pool with him!

John’s eyes opened so wide and his mouth formed such a clenched-teeth grimace that he almost looked like a character from The Simpsons for a moment. He broke out into a nervous sweat and began to shiver in fear. But he managed not to cry out in panic even when the boys floated him out into deeper water and began swimming beside him rather than wading. Will was careful to see to it that John’s face remained above water, Paul grasped him by the legs to keep him horizontal, and both boys were careful not to slash him. Even so, being floated like a log while having an ability to move that was equal to that of a log was definitely not something that John was taking with perfect equanimity.

But when Will reached out, pinched John’s nostril’s shut, and acted like he was about duck John’s head underwater, John lost it completely. He began to yell and thrash about so much it was all both boys together could do to keep him afloat. They hastily towed him back out to the shallow end of the pool and stood him up; allowing him to calm down and slow down his breathing.

“See, John? No one plans to drown you!” Paul told him.

“But you failed the test of trust, dude!” Will pointed out with a grin, “which means that you stay our prisoner again tonight and all day again tomorrow!”

John groaned miserably; what had he let himself in for?

“I guess he’s had enough swimming for now,” Will told Paul. “Let’s haul him out and let him dry off. Besides, I want to try out the collar on him; but not while he’s wet!”

John wondered what that was all about, but attempts at inquiring were totally ignored as the two boys laid him down atop a reclining lawn chair that stood right in the bright morning sunshine and then went back into the pool to swim without him. He kept calling to them however, as he disliked being ignored – especially when he was as helpless to move as he currently was. Although he knew he was taking a risk in getting his mouth taped shut for his troubles, John decided that even this would be preferable to being ignored altogether.

“Shut up over there!” Paul finally shouted to him after about a half hour of total neglect.

But John kept shouting.

Will waded out of the pool. “Be quiet John, or you won’t be happy with what I do to you!” Will warned him with a low smile that made John shiver despite his bravado.

Despite this, John’s outraged sensibilities were overwhelming both his fear and his common sense. He continued to protest that this was no way to treat a guest.

“I wasn’t going to do this until later, but I guess you need to be taught your lesson now,” Will said to John casually. Rather than approach John with a roll of duct tape to gag him or do anything else to him, however, Will simply fished out what looked like a small TV remote from his paper bag and began to fiddle with its controls.

“What’s that thing supposed to be?” John asked loudly. “I… *Aaahhh!*” John screeched as he felt a mild but distinctly unpleasant electrical current at the base of his throat. The jolt lasted until he went silent, but he was still writhing, eyes shut tight and gritting his teeth from the sheer discomfort for long moments after the shock stopped. He held his breath for a moment and then released it in a slow, steady exhale.

John opened his eyes and looked at Will, who looked back at him with a closed mouthed grin. “What the hell was *that*? John started to ask. But he was still saying the first word of his intended inquiry when he desisted and yelled as another electrical surge stronger than the first hit his throat. He gritted his teeth and bit off his yell, and once again the pain ceased. John closed his eyes tight and writhed in misery; trying but failing to lift his hands top rub his throat and tear at that collar he suddenly realized was the source of his discomfort. When he recovered again and opened his eyes, he simply looked over at Will and made further inquiries with his eyes rather than vocalizing them.

“That’s better,” Will said smugly. “Now listen carefully. What you’re wearing is a high-tech shock collar. It’s meant to train dogs to stop barking, but it works on people just as well, as you’ve just found out. It’s also useful to keep dogs from straying out of the yard, but we’ll get to that a bit later. For now, all you need to know is this: It has ten settings. The first jolt you felt was setting one. I then immediately put it on setting two, which you felt a moment later. I’ve now got it on setting three, which will feel even worse. It is on automatic so that a jolt will automatically hit you every time you try to say anything above a whisper, though not if you sneeze, cough, or get the hiccups. I’m still not sure yet if laughing triggers it; I’ll have to test that later. If you doubt me or want to see what setting three feels like, go ahead and say something.”

John decided not to take Will up on the invitation.

“Good boy,” Will said to him as if he was a dog who had just fetched a stick. “I’d rather not have to resort to higher settings; Paul tells me they hurt like a son of a bitch. Neither of us has ever gone past setting five before. I can’t even imagine how much ten must hurt. I imagine though that you don’t want to find out either, right?”

John almost answered out loud but good sense prevailed just in time; he shook his head in negation instead.

“Good boy,” Will said again with a smirk John found very irritating. “Paul got caught the first time with that trick. Anyway, if you stay quiet I won’t see any need to raise the setting above three. But if you make me feel three is too low to be effective, I’ll be happy to raise it. I may decide to anyway for a while whenever Tasha or anyone else is around to ensure you don’t decide a little shock is a small enough price to pay to get their attention. After all, Tasha and the others who take care of this place don’t know about the games Paul and I like to play, and we’d prefer that they remain unaware of them. Understand?”

John nodded his head silently.

“Good,” Will replied with a smile as he dragged John as his chair into the shade of a large umbrella. Then he set his remote down onto a table about thirty feet away from where John at “Now then, you just lie there quietly and rest in the shade while Paul and I have our swim!” Will told him as he ran over to the diving board to leap into the pool.

John remained as quiet as a mouse as Will and Paul spent a leisurely hour swimming.

Afterward, Will and Paul decided that a little tickling of John’s feet was in order. As it turned out, laughing didn’t cause the shock collar to shock John. Then they gave John plenty of reason to wish that it did, since they might have quickly relented on tickling him otherwise. Unfortunately for John, it didn’t occur to him until it was much too late to be convincing to pretend that the collar *did* shock him whenever he laughed. As it was however, they tickle tortured John until he was almost too exhausted from laughing to keep from crying. Even worse, he still got a jolt from the collar whenever he tried to plead to them to stop tickling him. But – perhaps mercifully – crying also caused the collar to shock him. Since their cruelty extended only so far, Will and John desisted in tickling John when he began to cry rather than laugh from being tickled.

Then for a while, the other two boys just lay side by side in their lawn chairs to soak up the sun while John continued to remain wrapped up like a mummy within his own. At least they didn’t make him lie in the hot sun as well; in that hot sun, that would have been REAL torture!

[bondagefreak]

Too bad John didn't pass the trust test, especially after the prep-talk he received.

I'm thrilled to see the return of the shock-collar, Jason.
SO many hidden gems I'd forgotten about here

Just as thrilling, if not more so, than the first time I read through this story.
I think reading chapter by chapter enhances the experience.

[Jason Toddman]

Too bad John didn't pass the trust test, especially after the prep-talk he received.

I'm thrilled to see the return of the shock-collar, Jason.
SO many hidden gems I'd forgotten about here

Just as thrilling, if not more so, than the first time I read through this story.
I think reading chapter by chapter enhances the experience.

The same is also true with your Sleeping bag story.

[Jason Toddman]

Part 8.

After a while, Will got up, grabbed the remote from the table where he’d placed it, fiddled with the controls a bit, and stepped up in front of John. At this point Paul stood up as well to watch them both.

“I want to experiment with this thing a bit just to see what it can do,” Will told John. “Just do what I say and it won’t be too unpleasant, okay?”

John tentatively nodded.

“Okay, I set the jolt level back down to 1 before we started tickling you, just in case you hadn’t noticed,” Will continued. John *hadn’t* noticed, but now that Will mentioned it, the jolts he’d gotten when he was crying or pleading for mercy *hadn’t* been as bad as he’d remembered a previous jolt he’d gotten as being.

“I’ve set the sensitivity level down to 1 as well now. It was at 3 before, except when we tickled you, when it was down to 1,” Will continued in a casual tone of voice. Seeing John’s blank stare of incomprehension, Will continued, “That simply determines how much noise or what kind of sounds you have to make to trigger the jolt. Anyway, just say something in a normal tone of voice. Anything at all; I don’t care what.”

John simply stared at Will wide-eyed and shook his head vigorously.

“Do it; or I’ll just shock you anyway!” Will warned him.

John suddenly stared at Will and licked his lips nervously; unable to decide what to do. It was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Suddenly there was a faint hum John had not noticed before and a familiar shocking sensation at the base of his throat. “Nnnnnggghhhh!” John groaned; closing his eyes tight and clenching his teeth in an attempt to keep from screaming out loud. The jolt was no worse than the first one he’d gotten, but he still wanted to avoid prolonging it by making too loud a sound. Except the shock simply continued for several long, agonizing seconds until Will took his thumb off the button he’d been pressing.

“I can shock you as much as I want if you don’t cooperate,” Will told John with a low, sly smile. “So you may as well do as I say. The shocks will be kept to a minimum if you do. Now do what I say; say something in a normal tone of voice.”

“Like what?!” John demanded in annoyance, and then grimaced as he waited for the shock. But no shock came, though it took a few seconds for him to relax again after noticing this.

“Cool! So far so good!” Will said happily. “Now sing the do-re-mi song, making each word louder than the one before. You’ll know when to stop.”

Looking askance at Will, John refused at first, but when Will’s thumb made an exaggerated motion toward a certain button, John decided to change his mind. “Do… re… mi… faa-AAGGHHH!” The collar shocked him again with another buzzing sound (apparently he’d made too much noise to notice it earlier), but no worse than it had previously, and when John managed to stifle his outcry of pain the shocks ceased.

“Okay, you can talk normally but you can’t talk TOO loudly! Good!” exclaimed Will. John merely looked back morosely while Paul grinned and chuckled a little. “Now clear your throat like you have to cough.”

John did so, expecting another shock but not getting one.

“Now cough!” Will told him.

John did so, though he found it slightly difficult as he could not move his hand to catch his cough and was unused to coughing otherwise. But he managed it. No shock.

“Okay, I think we’ve established what Level-1 sensitivity does,” said Will as he adjusted a dial. “We already know sneezing or laughing won’t affect it. Now let’s try level 2. Okay, John, say something in a whisper.”

John whispered “I’ll get you for this, you son of a bitch!” There was no reaction from the shock collar.

“Mutter under your breath, like you were talking into someone’s ear.” Will demanded.

“Will is an asshole!” John muttered in a voice too low to be overheard.

“Okay, louder but still below your usual level,” said Will.

“I’m getting thirsty,” said John in a louder mutter; not daring to say anything derogatory loudly enough for Will to hear it.

“Me too actually,” replied Will conversationally. “Just one more test first; the tickle test.”

Without warning, Paul reached out and gently stroked the undersides of John’s bare feet with the fingers of one hand. Taken by surprise John began laughing. At first the shock collar did not react, but as Paul continued the tickling John began to laugh harder. He suddenly began feeling intermittent jolts (and hearing the buzzing) and started to screech as well as laugh. Paul immediately desisted from tickling John at a nod from Will.

“Hey Paul, go bring us each some juice, would you?” Will asked Paul. “And bring us each a fudgicle too.”

“Sure Will,” Paul replied agreeably even as he was already running toward the house.

“Got him well trained, haven’t you?” John muttered in a voice no louder than before.

“Yeah, I do,” replied Will without embarrassment. “Now say that in a normal volume.”

“Go-gaaaaggghhhh!” John screeched; the collar shocking him with the first syllable he’d tried to say at normal volume. It ceased the instant he silenced himself however.

“Okay, try for somewhere in-between you normal volume and the volume you used the previous time,” Will told him.

Glaring at Will angrily, John did so. There was no reaction.

“Okay, halfway between *that* and normal volume,” Will requested.

“Go-Ack!” said John. This time, anticipating a shock, he managed to shut himself up so quickly that the jolt lasted less than half a second.

“You’re learning,” Will said with a smile. “And I guess setting 2 is pretty much for standard voice volumes. Safe for laughing if we don’t tickle you too much! Good. Now it’s time for Level-3.”

“How much longer are you going to do this to me?” John hastened to ask in a quiet tone before Will adjusted the setting on his remote.

“Just enough to learn what each setting allows,” Will replied casually. “This is for your own good too, you know. Don’t you want to know whether it’s safe to cough or not?”

“I suppose so,” John intended to say, still in his quieter voice. “Aiiieeeeee!” is what John actually said. Unprepared for the jolt, it took it about two seconds for him to bite off his outcry of pain and make the jolt stop.

“Are you sure that jolt level is still set at ONE?” John asked in an angry whisper. “That HURT, damn it!”

“It’s still at level one all right!” Will assured him; even showing him a control knob that was pointed at 1. “While we’re testing, I didn’t want you to suffer more than necessary. Maybe it just feels worse with each jolt. Well, here comes Paul with the drinks. I’ll let you have a break and soothe your throat before we continue.”

Will and Paul each slowly ate a fudgicle and drank a small bottle of apple juice. John was unable to hold his own of either while mummified in duct tape, but Will held a fresh fudgicle to his mouth while Paul held a separate bottle of fruit juice out to him when he needed it. As long as he said nothing above a whisper or a mumble, he was able to relax and enjoy the cool treats. The soreness in his throat caused by the mild jolts he’d been receiving from the shock collar around his neck began to fade away.

After the break, Will picked up the remote again. “Okay, cough!” he bid John.

Low controlled coughs did not trigger the collar, but loud ones did. Chucking or giggling didn’t set it off, but hysterical laughter did so at once. Surprisingly (at least, to John), sneezing - induced by Paul’s tickling John’s nose with a feather – didn’t trigger the collar either.

“Okay, we already know pretty well what setting 3 does; that’s where it was most of the time except when we tickled you, so we know mild laughing and coughing won’t set it off at level 3. Let’s try level 4.” Will turned a smaller dial with six settings on it. “Okay John. Whisper something,” he said to his captive.

John decided just to whisper “Oh!” very softly. There was no reaction with his softest whisper, but anything that could carry more than a foot or two shocked him at once.

“Try mumbling!” said Will.

“Oww!” John answered, but managing to keep his volume down.

“Whispering – barely - but no muttering! Okay,” said Will. “Clear your throat.”

Clearing his throat produced no reaction as long as he was careful about it. He could still chuckle softly and giggle briefly as well without harm. Sneezing however was a different matter unless he managed to somehow stifle it without the use of his hands.

Will turned the remote dial to level five.

John attempted a mild clearing of his throat, but this led to his being shocked at once. So did sneezing and even gentle chuckling and giggling. Even the softest whisper did too.

Will immediately dialed the remote back down to level four. “Five’s no good, so I don’t even want to try six. That level might get triggered just by you breathing too hard!” he told John. “So listen up. “Most times when we’re alone, I will leave the sensitivity at just 1 or 2, but the jolt level will be 2 or maybe 3 if you make noise too often. When Tasha or someone else is on the grounds I’ll amp it up to sensitivity level to 4 to encourage you NOT to try attracting attention. If I have to punish you for misbehaving though, jolt levels AND the sensitivity level may both go up. I trust that you’ve figured out that this would not be at all pleasant for you if you make too much noise THEN! Correct?”

John nodded his head; not trusting himself to even whisper even though the sensitivity level the remote was now at allowed it (barely).

“Don’t grump, John! It beats having to wear that gag all the time, doesn’t it? Paul asked.

John nodded; conceding Paul’s point if not very graciously.

“Okay, he’s sweated enough in those wrappings,” declared Will as he stood up and stuck his hand into the paper bag. “It’s time he had a break.”

Will took out a small pocket knife, opened it, and carefully sawed at the duct tape around John’s feet. When the lower parts of John’s legs were exposed to view, Paul placed the hobbles - with its 18-inch-long chain – back around his ankles. Then Will sawed the duct tape from John’s wrists and Paul locked the handcuffs on them while his wrists were still behind his back. Once this was done, the rest of the duct tape binding Will’s body was carefully pulled off of him.

“Okay, we’ve tested two functions of the shock collar,” Will told John as he adjusted yet another dial that he had not touched up to now. “Now we’re going to test the third one. Paul, take the remote and place it inside the rec room, and then come back out here. Take your time though; don’t hurry.”

Paul grabbed the remote and walked leisurely away.

“Let’s take a little dip while we wait for him so you can cool off and get the rest of the sticky stuff off of you,” suggested Will as he looped his arm around one of John’s and gently urged him along. “Don’t worry; you’ll be safe. Trust me!”

John wasn’t sure how far he trusted Will anymore, but he was still pretty sure his friend would not let him come to harm, so he made no attempt to resist as Will walked him to the shallow end of the pool and then on into the water until they were chest deep. John had to admit that being in the water made him feel much better, and Will kept a gentle grip on his arm to keep him from slipping or falling and submerging his head.

Five minutes later Paul leisurely walked back into sight. “Okay, it’s time we took a short walk,” Will told John as he gently pulled him back to the steps leading out of the pool.

“Whe – eaarrgghh!” John exclaimed as he’d tried talking at normal volume. Realizing that the absence of the remote did not change matters, he ventured again in a soft whisper. “Where are we going?” he asked nervously.

“Not far; just out into the grounds,” Will explained; still holding John’s right arm locked inside his own as Paul locked his own right arm around John’s other arm and helped Will to compel John to walk slowly forward. “I want to show you something.”

John looked around nervously as the three of them circled around the house to the front yard and slowly walked toward the main gate. John began to wonder if they were taking him out to the road to make a spectacle of him to passers-by, although that seemed much too insane an idea to be at all likely. Yet they were now well in front of the house and walking steadily toward the gate. Fifty feet from the front of the house. One hundred feet. One hundred and fifty feet…

Suddenly John felt the collar shocking him again, even though he hadn’t made a sound. It was no worse than before, but it wasn’t stopping! He shut his eyes tightly, clenched his teeth, moaned in misery, and stopped dead in his tracks. He grimly cut off his moan and waited for the jolting to stop; but it continued unrelentingly. Even at level one, the steady shock was getting rather painful! Why was the collar shocking him? Why wouldn’t it stop?! Will didn’t even have the remote so couldn’t be shocking him on purpose for some reason! John couldn’t even manage to work his throat and warn Will of what was happening to him.

Will was fully aware of what was going on however, as he’d been looking for it for the previous hundred feet or so of their walk. Seeing his sudden reaction, Paul and Will watched John for a couple of seconds and then abruptly pulled him backwards toward the house. They only had to go a few feet when the collar ceased its shock attacks and gave John some peace again.

“What happened?” John asked in a fear-filled whisper once he’d had a minute to recover. “The collar kept shocking me! Something’s wrong with it!” he whispered as loudly as he dared; fearing to set off another round of shocks.

“No John, it’s working perfectly,” Will told him casually. “You see, the collar has three purposes. One; to keep you quiet when others are around. Second, to punish you if you disobey me or resist me in any way. And third; if you try to leave the house on your own without my say-so, it will shock you without let-up until you come back. If you were to walk forward again, it would resume shocking you until you were back to within a pre-set distance of the remote.”

“But why?” John asked him in a barely audible whisper. “Why are you doing this?”

“To make you easier to train, of course,” Will replied with a laugh as he and Paul began to walk John back toward the house. “You see, as long as I have you tied up anyway, I may as well pass the time by training you to be our slave!”

It was then that John realized that his summer was going to be a lot stranger than he’d ever imagined.

[bondagefreak]

Awww, yes. I'd forgotten about the collar's various sensitivity and shock force settings.
Man, I'd love to have something like that!

I'd put the sensitivity and shock strength on high, keep him securely mummified, and tickle his soles 'till he went insane

[Johnsnow]

I put the sensitivity and shock strength on high, keep him securely mummified, and tickle his soles 'till he went insane

That sounds so much like you, it scares me

[Jason Toddman]

Awww, yes. I'd forgotten about the collar's various sensitivity and shock force settings.
Man, I'd love to have something like that!

I'd put the sensitivity and shock strength on high, keep him securely mummified, and tickle his soles 'till he went insane

Each of the collar's functions as described actually exist on one device or another as of the time i originally wrote this, but not (at least yet) all within the same device. Maybe someday however it'll happen.

Part 9

John stopped dead in his tracks after John told him this and looked at him and Paul with an expression of horror on his face. “Wait a minute! You said I’d be free tomorrow night!”

“Well, as things stand now, you *will* be!” Will pointed out conversationally. “But since you’re committed to being a slave for at least thirty-six more hours after losing today’s challenge, we might as well get some use out of you. Afterward you’ll be a free boy. Of course, you might lose more bets and become a captive a number of times through the summer. On the other hand, you might even get to make each of us your slaves a number of times through the summer. But Paul and I already know what slaves have to do and how they should act. You don’t, because you’re new to our games. But now you’re going to learn the duties of a slave, so you’ll appreciate having one more if you ever manage to win any bets. Now come on; let’s go.”

The idea of having Paul and Will be his slaves and subject to his every whim like he was now subject to theirs held considerable appeal to John. And so he followed Will and Paul unresistingly back into the house – as if he really had any other choice! Will and Paul still had John’s arm locked within theirs and hustled him along as fast as he could go. John was beginning to think he’d have preferred being led on a leash again instead!

John was led back into the kitchen, where the leash they had used on him before had been left on the kitchen table. It was fastened to his collar immediately, and both boys let go of his arms. “Over to the sink,” Will urged John, and tugged him with the leash gently to urge him into walking in that direction.

John walked over to the kitchen sink, which was still loaded with the soaking dishes, used silverware, and the dirty cookware from breakfast. “Do the dishes,” Will bade him.

John looked up at the clock that was over the sink. It read 11:30.

“Do I have time?” he asked as he hesitantly began doing as he was told. “Won’t Tasha be arriving anytime soon to fix lunch?”

“I told Tasha we’re fixing lunch ourselves today,” Will replied with a grin. “She won’t be here until about 5:00 to cook dinner. So we’ve got plenty of time to train you in doing our kitchen duties.”

“Don’t you guys have hired servants to do this sort of thing?” John asked as he began scrubbing the soufflé pan.

“The regular staff is on paid leave while my folks and my sisters are out,” Will told him. “My sisters are touring Europe for the summer, and my parents are on a business trip until the weekend. Even then they won’t stay here more than a day before they’re gone on another one. This way, the three of us will usually have the house all to ourselves virtually all summer. Of course, there will be occasional visits by maintenance staff and landscapers. We’ll have to play our games were they won’t see us when they’re on the grounds, but that won’t be often. Tasha’s the only one who comes here more than once or twice a week. Of course she knows nothing about our games either, so we don’t play them where she can see us.

“Anyway, I was left with various chores to do. Clean the dishes. Take out the trash. Clean up my room. Stuff like that. Mom and dad thinks it helps build character. I suppose I should be glad I don’t have to mow the lawn; with three acres of lawn, that’d take me forever! But I do have some chores I am responsible for. That’s where having a slave comes in; whenever I have a slave, that slave does all my chores for me.”

“So Paul, you’ve been his slave too?” John asked the other boy as wiped the soufflé pan dry and fished for some plates soaking in the dishwater.

“Sure!” Paul replied with a grin and a casual shrug of his shoulders.

“And is Will ever yours?” John asked blandly.

“Sure! What did you think?” replied Paul. “That I’m always the slave?”

“Uhhh…well, yeah… that’s the impression I got!” John admitted.

“The game wouldn’t be any fun if I didn’t be to be the master some of the time,” Paul replied. “And now with three of us here that’s more often I get to be master rather than the slave, since we only need one slave at a time.”

“Maybe I’ll like it better when I get a chance to be the master,” John idly commented.

“You had your chance last night,” Paul pointed out. “It’s not OUR fault that you didn’t take advantage of it while you had the chance.”

“I didn’t know what I could get away with,” John protested. “No one told me I could treat you like a slave and get away with it!”

“You’ll know next time then, won’t you?” Will said with a grin.

“If there IS a next time!” Paul quietly added with a grin of his own.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” John asked in alarm; pausing as he wiped a dish.

“Nothing, he’s just funning with you,” Will replied calmly while giving Paul a frosty glare when John wasn’t looking. “Look, you don’t think we’d cheat, do you? You think we’re just going to keep you as our slave all summer? No way! Right now you’re scheduled to be our slave and prisoner until tomorrow evening; no longer… unless of course you make another bet with us and lose!”

“I don’t think I want to make any more bets with you guys until my own turn as a slave is up and one of you two is the slave instead!” John replied warily as he fished for another soaking dish to rub dry with the dishtowel.

“Really?” asked Will. “So if we offered you a fair chance – say, double or nothing – to get out of being a slave right now, you wouldn’t take it?”

“Depends on what you mean by a fair chance!” replied John cautiously.

“Play me another game of pool; right now!” Paul challenged him. “If you win, I’ll take your place as the slave until tomorrow night. If you lose, you’d double your remaining slave time from 36 hours to 72 hours. It’s Tuesday noon now, so that’d take you to Friday noon. So how about it, John? Does that sound like a fair chance to you?”

“You’re on!” John declared without hesitation. Maybe Will was able to beat John by a fluke in a game of pool, but John had already beaten Paul at it once, and he could do it again! It was indeed a generous offer, and he was taking it before Paul could change his mind or try to weasel out of it.

And so Will and Paul conducted John back to the pool table and set up another game. To ensure that all was fair and John could not cry ‘Foul’, his handcuffs and hobbles were removed so that he would have total freedom of movement. However, the shock collar was left locked around John’s neck, and Will closed and locked the rec room door so that John would not try to make a break for it should things not go his way.

As the challenged, John got the first shot. He sank six balls before he missed one shot. He was calm however; he was sure he would still win this game.

But Paul sank every shot he made once he started and won the game.

John’s lower lip trembled as Will and Paul placed the restraints back on him. What happened? Freedom was in his grasp! But now, instead of savoring the taste of victory, he had three full days of slavery staring him in the face!!!

“Want to play another round; double or nothing again?” Paul offered with a smirk.

“What happened?” John asked blankly; still unable to believe he’d lost a game of pool.

“I was unlucky that first game,” Paul replied smugly. “This time, I wasn’t!”

John declined the offer; three days of non-stop slavery was going to be bad enough. He doubted he could endure having to do six!

“How about a different game then? A game where we have no way of knowing ahead of time who’ll be the winner?” suggested John. “How about a few rounds of… Poker?”

“How would that work?” asked John, warily but also desperate enough to listen.

Will opened a nearby cabinet and brought out a fresh, unopened deck of playing cards and a container of poker chips in three different colors: red, white, and blue. “Paul gets 60 red chips, I get 60 white chips, and you get 60 blue chips.” Will explained. “Each chip equals one day of being a slave. Since you owe three days, you have to toss in three chips in the pot for the first game we play, in addition to a one-chip minimum bet for each of us. With luck, you’ll win your slave days back and get some of ours. We’ll play as long as you want; we won’t quit until you say so – or you run out of chips. When you have other player’s chips, you can bet those in place of your own, so all chips have equal value. Each of us takes turns as the dealer, and this is a fresh deck of cards I solemnly swear is not marked or rigged in any way. Ready to play?”

John thought fast. This could be a trick, although he doubted it. Will swore this would be an honest game; and though it was obvious by now that Will and Paul were tricky, John was certain that they were not lying to him. He risked becoming their slave for the entire summer. However, they faced an almost equal risk; slightly reduced only because he was already three days in the hole. But if he could win his own slave days back and win some of theirs as well, everything he had gone through so far would have been worth it, and he could have a lot of fun making Will and Paul HIS slaves for a few days!

John was in an agony of indecision.

“Oh, there’s one more thing I want to show you before you decide,” Will suddenly said as, apparently as an afterthought, he pulled a slip of paper out from inside a slot inside the container of poker chips, unfolded it, and showed it to John. It read:

RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF A SLAVE

The slave must carry out all commands from his designated master(s) without question, except where obeying such a command poses a risk to his life, health, or safety.

Valid commands: wash dishes, clean rooms, polish shoes, make beds, or fix meals.
Invalid commands: walk on a rooftop, jump out a window, fall from a tree, stick a finger in an electrical socket, or walk naked down a public street.

A slave must carry out his period of slavery without objection verbal or otherwise.

A slave may be subjected to humiliation as long as it is between him and his master(s) only; no humiliation in front of outsiders is allowed.

A slave may not be subjected to pain except as part of discipline or punishment. Pain is not allowed on mere whims but must have a reason. Allowable exceptions for mild pain any child inflicts on another as play, such as moderate face slaps and nipple twists.

A slave who disobeys or tries to escape may be punished as the master(s) see fit, short of being subjected to anything that requires medical attention or leaves permanent scars.

A slave facing punishment has the right to ask why he is being punished and has the right to appeal extenuating circumstances and ask for reduced punishment when applicable. Example: honest misunderstanding of instructions.

Slaves promise to never tell anyone else about their periods of slavery without express permission from his master(s) even after such periods of slavery are over.

Slaves must be fed the same food in the same amount as their masters get unless being punished, though they may not necessarily have the option of feeding themselves unaided whether being punished or not.

Slaves have a right to privacy in the bathroom unless being punished. Master(s) must allow up to four bathroom breaks in each 24-hour period when slave cites a need. Beyond this slaves must ask for permission, which may be denied on master’s discretion.

Slaves may be tied down into immobility overnight without reason given, but when done master(s) must check on their safety at three-hourly intervals; hourly if slaves are also gagged.

Allowable punishments include long-duration hogties, subjected to prolonged showers of hot or cold water, being left tied outdoors, placed in a small cage, stringent and painful ties up to an hour, meals withheld (no more than two out of three per day), torture involving pain but not bleeding or bruises, extra-hard work such as weeding the garden, forced exercises such as push-ups, semi-suspensions up to an hour, full-body suspensions of ten minutes or less, and sensory deprivation (limit: three hours unless done overnight). In extreme cases: exile from the company of his master(s) for the rest of his life.

Non-allowable punishments include anything involving bodily fluids, damage to the body, forced do something dangerous, unsupervised long-term tie-ups, full body suspensions lasting over ten minutes, whipping or other causes of extreme pain.

Punishments must always be consistent and fair.

Slaves have a once-per-day right to win their freedom through a challenge.

Promises made to slaves must always be kept or the slave must be freed.

We agree to the terms as expressed in this document when playing Master and Slave.

Will Power

Paul Bunion

“Paul and I took days writing this all up. If you agree to these terms, take this pen and sign your name below ours,” Will told John as he handed him a ball-point pen.

“What if I don’t agree to it?” John asked cautiously.

Will shrugged his shoulders. “Then we’ll take the shock collar and restraints off you and send you immediately home on your bike,” Will replied. “But we wouldn’t be friends anymore; not now nor at school either. But if you sign, you’ll have a fair chance to make us your slaves all summer long. But also, we take this agreement very seriously. Up to now this had just been for fun. Be warned: once you sign, if you change your mind while you owe us slave time, we won’t let you go free. We’d keep you prisoner here all summer long and, if you wouldn’t obey us, we’d punish you instead.”

John thought about it another moment more, decided that the idea of not having Will and Paul as his friends anymore was unacceptable, and signed the agreement below their names.

“Okay, now you’re committed,” Will said to John with a happy smile as he took the paper, re-folded it, and put it carefully back where it was. “Now let’s see what summer is going to look like for the three of us.”

[Jason Toddman]

Part 10

The three boys sat around a table and began their game. Will’s hands were freed of his fetters but his legs were securely tied to the chair in which he sat and his leash was wrapped around the back of the chair as well. However, these precautions caused Will little physical discomfort but merely reminded him of the seriousness of the stakes for which he played. He risked two months of servitude but stood to gain his freedom and the right to have both Paul and Will as his own slaves for two months.

John was an adventurous boy; he loved challenges.

The game was standard poker, with no one seeing anyone else’s hand and having the right to exchange up to four cards on a second deal. No wild cards. Minimum bet: one chip. Maximum amount that could be raised at one time on a bet: ten chips or any other’s player’s remaining stash; whichever was less. No limit on number of raises up to the total number of chips that either of the other players had.

John carefully shuffled the cards. As player on the dealer’s right, Will cut the deck.

John dealt the first hand as he and the others each tossed in one chip (plus the extra three John was obliged to start with). He had three tens; a very promising beginning. He had a three and a four as well; both of which he pitched in exchange for two other cards. They were a six and an eight, and were of no help at all.

As player to the dealer’s right, Will had the right to raise; if he declined; Paul could do so; if he declined, John could. Any raises must be called by the other players; those who failed to do so lost regardless of the cards in their hand. A person with nothing at all could bluff out a player with a full house this way if the other player lacked nerve, although better hands meant it was harder to bluff a player who had any nerve at all.

Will raised by three chips. Paul called his raise and raised it by five more. John was obliged to put in eight more chips to stay in the game, but did not need to add more if he did not wish to. Paul could not raise further if he did this, but Will could if he chose.

Three tens was a good hand but not a great one. If he folded now John would lose only one more day. If he called he risked losing a minimum of nine; possibly many more if John raised again and Paul then did so too. If either had a better hand and they had a raise and call war, he could lose his entire stash in one game!

John folded. Will did not raise further. Will had a pair of kings. Paul had a pair of jacks.
Will gleefully swept in the chips, while John groaned. If he’d played the game out and had refused to be bluffed, he would have won his freedom and over a week’s worth of slavery from the others in one go!!! He’d been offered a golden opportunity on a silver platter, and had thrown it all over from a lack of confidence!!!

On the plus side, at least he’d lost only one more day. Paul had just lost eight of them!

As the player on the original dealer’s left, Paul dealt the next hand as each of the three tossed in a chip. Paul and John each had to toss in one of their own color. Will tossed in one of the blue chips he’d won from John rather than risk one of his own white ones.

Paul shuffled the deck. John got to cut the deck. He split it in three parts rather than two. This was allowed and ensured that whatever Paul dealt was fair; cheating was impossible.

John decided he had outsmarted himself when he wound up with a random assortment of cards: The three of clubs, the five of hearts, the six of diamonds, the nine of spades, and the king of clubs. Little chance of a straight and even less chance of a flush, and not even two of a kind. John kept the king and dumped the other four cards. In return he got the king of hearts, the king of diamonds, the seven of diamonds, and the seven of spades.

A full house!!! Now this was more like it!! It took all the concentration he could to maintain a poker face - and not grin like a court jester and give away his opportunity! Not wishing to seem too eager and frankly too dazed to think, John passed on his opportunity to raise. So did Will. John began to panic; if Paul also refused to raise, John’s great hand would have won him only a couple of chips and be wasted!

Paul raised by five chips. The poor fool!

Not wanting to seem too eager but determined to win something (if only from Paul), John called his bet and raised by five more.

To John’s glee (colored by a new tinge of doubt), Will called this and raised by ten more chips – the maximum amount he could. He bet all the chips he’d won from Paul and John before, covering the remainder with his own.

Paul folded with a sigh of disgust. He had a pair of aces and a pair of twos.

John called Will’s bet and raised by another ten, both because he was sure he had the winning hand this time and because he’d be satisfied winning the pot as it already was! There was no way that Will would call a bet this high!

Except that he DID call it. And with a big smile on his face he raised by ten more chips.

John hesitated. No, Will was bluffing, just as he had before! He HAD to be bluffing! Perhaps he had a pretty good hand like a flush or a straight which would win most games; but he’d need a straight-flush, a four of a kind, or a full-house involving three aces to beat John’s hand this time. John had no idea what the chances were of Will’s having a better hand; but he was pretty sure the odds were in HIS favor. So he called Will’s bet and raised by ten more!

Paul looked very happy that he’d quit when he did. Will on the other hand looked like the cat that swallowed the canary and pushed over sixteen more chips; ten to call and six to raise to match John’s remaining stash. Nervous now, John called Will’s bet. He could not raise any further, as calling this bet involved betting every chip he still had!

With a grin of confidence, John showed off his full house.

Will showed a four of a kind (all fours).

John’s jaw dropped in dismay. He was busted in just two games! Despite being a few chips in the hole himself, Paul burst out in laughter. “Well, that didn’t take long, did it?”

John tried to speak, but all that came out was a tremulous whimper.

Will smiled, but more in sympathy than with an air of gloating. “I tried to give you a break with that first hand,” he told John. “I honestly did… I knew from the expression on your face that you probably had a better hand than I did. But you folded when I expected you to call my bluff. Then this time I tried to scare you off to cut your losses; I had no idea you had such a good hand yourself. But this wasn’t a deliberate trap. Honest! It was just plain bad luck for you; pure and simple!”

John would have felt better had Will gloated. As it was, to protest – let alone try to renege on the deal – would have shown a total lack of sportsmanship. Better to be a slave for two months (and hope they didn’t treat him any worse than they would a pet dog!) than to do that and have to face them at school again. He’d acquire a reputation as a welsher and a cheat; which would mean sudden death to his social life! John couldn’t bear even the mere thought of such a thing! All he could do was take his loss like a man!

To celebrate their victory, Paul and will put John into a strict hogtie, removed his socks and shoes, and – after ensuring the sensitivity level on his sock collar was reduced to 1 - mercilessly tickled his feet for an hour! John laughed hysterically and pleaded for mercy but got none other than the freedom of having to worry about being shocked and a few very brief breaks to catch his breath.

Paul was a few chips in the hole himself, but this didn’t bother him in the least. Will would collect his winnings at his leisure; if he bothered to collect them at all.

Afterward, John was released from his hogtie, stood against a pole in one corner of the room, and securely tied to it standing up. “I’m setting the sensitivity back to ‘4’ and the jolt level to ‘4’ as well,” Will warned him as he took the remote out of the same cabinet the poker chips had been in. “So be a good boy and stay nice and quiet while Paul and I play some games, and nothing will happen to you.”

John tried to ask a question but went “Yaarrruunnngghhhh!” instead. Good God that hurt! If this was just Level 4, he never wanted to experience a Level 10 jolt!!!

Paul and Will spent the next three hours playing pinball while John silently watched them. He was not gagged but might as well have been for all the sound he made. The shock collar kept him quieter than the most effective gag could possibly have done. He just wished he could have been allowed to sit or lie down somewhere rather than stand up, but he didn’t dare ask. Any attempt to catch their attention – even a mild cough or clearing of his throat – would probably shock him with a sensitivity setting of ‘4’. And so he watched the other boys play in stoic silence – and growing boredom.

Finally though his captors took some pity in him, released him from the pole, securely tied him to a heavy, metal framed chair, and let him watch television for a while.

A buzzing could be heard as one program ended and another was about to begin.

“Sounds like Tasha is here,” Will said as he went to his computer and used his keyboard to open the gate.

Once the car could be seen passing through the opened gate and the gate was closed behind it, Will and Paul went back over to Paul. “We’re going into the kitchen to meet Tasha and help her with dinner,” Will told John as he picked up the remote. “We’ll be with her at all times, so anything she could hear, WE can hear. And if we hear you trying to make a noise and get her attention, I’m jumping the sensitivity all the way up to ‘6’ and the jolt setting all the way to ‘10’. I just might play with the send-a-shock button too every so often just for the fun of it if I hear so much as a peep out of you! The TV will be left on so should help drown out any sounds you try to make anyway, but if we suspect you’re trying to get attention, you’ll get it all right! Am I making myself clear?”

John nodded mutely; he already knew that talking aloud now even to answer Will’s question would be a bad idea. At least when it wasn’t sending a jolt of electricity through him, the shock collar was a lot less uncomfortable than a muzzle gag! There was certainly no point in making a bad situation needlessly worse.

With a friendly grin that belied his earlier stern tone and warning words, Will playfully ruffled John’s hair and he and Paul exited the rec room.

Of course, they locked the door behind them!

[Jason Toddman]

Part 11

“You didn’t *really* set that remote all the way up, did you?” Paul asked Will sotto voce when he as sure John could not possibly overhear him.

“Naw,” replied Will with a smirk as he showed the remote settings to Paul; the jolt level and the sensitivity levels were both at ‘0’; which essentially rendered the shock collar inactive. “That’s too cruel for a beginner. I just want to test him to see if he can remain quiet when an opportunity arises to… ummm… make some noise.”

“How do you know he’ll get such an opportunity?” asked Paul mildly.

“I’ll see to it that he gets one right now,” Will replied casually as he thumbed another small control on the remote.

John was watching the local news on TV when his ears were assaulted by a loud beeping coming from his collar. Oh great, what new torture was Will planning? Then a recorded woman’s voice could be heard from a small, hidden speaker set into the collar. “Warning. Battery Low. Please Replace Battery.” Then the speaker went ‘Beep beep beep!’ more stridently than before. The warning was then repeated word for word, although the voice sounded slower and garbled as if the woman were being strangled. This was followed by yet more beeping, but it was now quieter and muted. The beeping continued for half a minute; steadily getting more muted all the time. Then the whole thing went silent.

What the hell? Was this for real, or was this some kind of trick?

Will tentatively began to clear his throat, ready to stop at once if the collar reacted by jolting him. But it did nothing at all.

Hadn’t Will said the sensitivity level was at ‘4’? So it should have shocked him!

John tried clearing his throat more loudly. Still no reaction!

John coughed out loud. Still nothing?! It should have shocked him at sensitivity level ‘3’; let alone ‘4’! Maybe the shock collar really WAS off.

The thing was: what should he do about it? He had promised to abide by the rules of the contract when he’d signed it. However, that was when he had only three days of slavery facing him with the option of being rid of them and reversing the situation! Now, he faced sixty straight days of slavery with almost no hope of relief in sight! Was retaining Will and Paul’s friendship worth being their total slave here for the entire summer?

Paul and Will entered the kitchen and then walked on through the other entrance to the outside walk, crossed this, and met Tasha’s car just as it drove into sight from around the house. The two boys waved to Tasha as she stopped and waited for them without getting out of the car. As soon as Will reached the driver’s side of the car, Tasha handed him a large, well-filled paper bag with the KFC logo on it.

“Are you boys sure you don’t want me to cook you something better myself for your supper?” Tasha asked them with a smile. “You’re not getting tired of MY cooking so early in the summer that you prefer *this*, now are you?”

“Not us, Tasha!” Will assured her. “Your cooking is the best we’ve EVER had! But John got a real hankering for fried chicken all of a sudden, so we figured it was better just to ask you to get some take-out for us rather than fry it up for us yourself on such short notice! We’ll go back to the planned menu for the week tomorrow!”

“Well, it WILL be nice to get off work early tonight, that’s for certain,” Tasha replied. “So I’ll see you at breakfast tomorrow, then.”

Tasha waved to the two boys and leisurely drove her car along the circular loop that extended from this part of the driveway and returned the way she came. Will and Paul hurried back to the house so that the gate could be opened again by the time she reached it. However, they used the computer monitor that was installed inside the kitchen rather than the one inside the rec room. Tasha’s car could be seen arriving at the gate just as they got to the kitchen. Will immediately typed in the commands that would open the gate to let Tasha drive back out.

On the kitchen computer monitor, the gate could be seen to open, and Tasha’s car passed through it before it slid shut again and locked itself behind her.

At the same time, John was watching the monitor that was still active in the rec room. This showed a much different scene. No car appeared, and the gate remained closed. The scene had in fact remained unchanged from the moment Will and Paul had left the room.

“So the monitor in the rec room has been set to simply show a still image?” asked Paul. “So he’ll think Tasha is still here because he didn’t see her leave. Okay, I get that. But if he doesn’t hear her voice in here, why should he try to get her attention?”

For answer, Will simply clicked on the keyboard again. Suddenly Tasha’s image appeared on the screen, and a remarkably life-like rendition of her voice could be heard; free of much of the electronic distortion that makes recorded voices easily distinguishable from live ones. “Okay Will, help me get the chicken ready for cooking!” the Tasha on the monitor cheerfully said to them.

“Okay, Tasha!” Will said out loud as if responding to her, but actually looking at Paul and giving him a sly wink. Paul looked confused for a moment, but then he understood, grinned and winked back. He understood now; at some point in the past, Will must have recorded a previous time when he had helped Tasha prepare a meal for him.

“Would you go to the cupboard and bring the Shake ‘n’ Bake please?” the Tasha on the monitor suddenly asked while Will nudged his friend with his elbow.

“Uh, sure Tasha!” replied Paul, who actually got up to do so to add the genuine sounds of walking and fetching to the mix of sounds to add reality to it for anyone listening through the walls… which, both boys were certain, John undoubtedly was by now.

John *was* listening, and he was fuming. John simply could not accept the fact that he had lost so badly in the poker game, and that his slavery period had been extended to virtually the entire summer. A day or so was one thing… even three days didn’t seem TOO bad. But to be kept tied up and humiliated by the other two for the next sixty days without a break was just too much!!! He just wanted to get out of this A.S.A.P. and go home – even if it meant losing Will and Paul’s friendship forever. What kind of friends leave other friends all tied up and alone like this anyway? What was he thinking of when he signed that idiotic contract of theirs?? He must have been crazy!!!

John was a very frustrated boy – and now he let that frustration out in one almighty yell.

“HELP! HELP!! TASHA!!! HELP MEEE!!” John yelled at the top of his lungs.

“That didn’t take very long, did it?” Paul observed dryly to Will, who was already shutting off the pre-recording that had been made of Tasha’s voice.

“Nope!” Will replied equally dryly as he reset the remote for a jolt level of ‘4’ and, without bothering with the sensitivity level, thumbed the send-shock button.

“Helllaaaaggggghhhhhhhhaaaaagggggkk!” John screamed; fighting to quiet himself as the collar sent a prolonged shock through his body. But the accursed collar would not stop shocking him for several seconds, and his body writhed and thrashed in its restraints as he endured this electrical torment. He actually screamed a second time when the pain grew too much for him to maintain his self-control.

The pain ceased, and John slumped within his bonds; breathing hard and fast. The respite lasted for only a few seconds when the pain surged through him again - even though he made no other sounds but his own labored breathing. John stiffened, closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and held his breath. Still the pain would not let up, and John suddenly realized that not only had he been tricked but that Will must be thumbing the remote rather than simply leaving it on automatic – deliberately torturing him.

The pain ceased again, but then resumed after another few seconds. John gritted his teeth as another moan escaped his lips. His eyes began to water, but he fought to hold back his tears; not wanted to give Will the satisfaction of seeing him cry. It was all he could do to keep from crying out aloud, but he managed to keep his screams choked down until the pain ceased once again.

At this point the rec room door was unlocked and Will and Paul swaggered into the room.

“So, it’s only been a few hours and already you’re trying to renege on the contract?” Will asked him with a neutral expression on his face as he walked over to the TV and shut it off; rendering the room utterly quiet. “You shouldn’t have done that John. Now that you’ve shown that we can’t trust you, we’ll have to be a bit stricter with you!”

“Don’t you think this is going too far?” John protested loudly. “I don’t want to do this anymore! Let me – GUUUNNGH!” His last word being cut off as Will thumbed the remote’s shock button again and held it down for five seconds.

“What YOU want doesn’t matter anymore… SLAVE!” Will told John sternly. “You made a deal! It’s not OUR fault you lost so badly! I TRIED to give you a break, but you made the wrong choices and lost fair and square! You’d have held us to the bargain if WE had lost, so don’t be upset because you wound up as our slave instead!”

“What are you going to do with meeaaaaoowwwww?!!!!” John asked; his question cut off with an almost cat-like screech as Will mercilessly thumbed the remote again.

“Don’t speak again without permission, slave!” Will told John sternly as he openly reset the sensitivity control all the way to ‘5’; making it a point to show this to John when he had finished. “Each time I hear you speak without permission from now on, I’m setting the jolt level up another notch! Any more questions?!”

Wisely taking this as a rhetorical question and not as implied permission to speak aloud (and being observant enough to notice that those settings on Will’s remote were still in place), John shook his head in negation and kept silent. John broke out in a nervous sweat as he realized that Will was perfectly serious in his intention to punish him harshly if he were to speak aloud again without Will’s express permission. What kind of trouble had he foolishly gotten himself into?!

“You realize that you’ve been a very bad boy, don’t you John?” Will asked his captive in a deceptively soft voice.

John nodded his head, lowering his head and gazing silently and miserably at the floor.

“Look up at ME when I’m talking to you, not at the damned floor!” Will snapped like a drill sergeant at a military boot camp.

John hastily looked up at Will, though it was an effort not to avert his gaze again when he saw the harsh, cold look on the handsome young face staring fixedly back at him. For the first time since he’d arrived at Will’s house, John realized that there was much more to Will than he’d ever imagined before. Will had a force of character that John had no hope of effectively resisting even were his body to be freed of its restraints. This wasn’t merely a game like John had been led to believe. Will wasn’t simply his friend anymore; whether John liked it or not, Will really was for all intents and purposes his master.

Will’s silent, fixed state made John feel like a puppy that needed to be house-trained.

“You broke a cardinal rule, John,” Will told him more softly. “You’re still new at this, so maybe you just didn’t understand just how serious that was. But now you must be made to understand so that you don’t break the rules again. I want to go easy on you, John; I really do. But you’ll never learn if I keep going soft and giving you breaks, so I’m going to have to punish you so that you learn your lesson well and never forget it!”

Will continued to look fixedly at John. John looked back for as long as he could, but he finally had to avert his gaze; whether permission had been given to do so or not.

Will took the muzzle gag that John had been forced to wear the previous night, held it in front of John’s face, and closed in. Knowing it was pointless to resist, John opened his mouth wide to take in the large rubber ball that kept his jaws pried painfully open. He made a quiet sigh of resignation as Will fastened the muzzle gag tightly at the back of his head and then padlocked it securely in place.

Once this was done, Paul slipped off his shirt and quickly but effectively blindfolded John with it.

John felt the bonds that kept him secured to the chair removed. At first he thought he was being released – at least temporarily – in order to be led into the kitchen and fed. Instead however, his hands were cuffed behind him, his ankles were shackled closely together, and he was forced down upon his knees to the hardwood floor. He felt his wrists forced downward by a pair of hands, and the sensation of tugging accompanied the sound of the click of a padlock. When the unseen hands released John’s wrists, he found that his leg and handcuffs had been locked together; forcing him into a kneeling hogtie.

“As part of your punishment, there will be no supper for you tonight,” John heard Will’s voice tell him; “though if you behave from now on we may let you have some scraps. “We’re leaving you in here for now while we fix our own suppers. When we return, we’re going to give you an advanced lesson in discipline training. In the meantime, do not move at all! You had better still be kneeling upright and facing in the same direction when we get back, or I will punish you further. Do you understand?

John silently nodded his head.

A moment later, John heard the other two boys leave and the door closed shut. Once again he heard the key turn in the lock, and the muffled sound of footsteps walking away accompanied by the sound of two boys quietly talking among themselves.

Then… silence.

John remained as unmoving as he could; wishing very much not to displease Will and Paul more than he’d already done and endure more punishment. However, little time passed before he noticed a growing sensation of discomfort in his knees. The floor was hard, and kneeling upon it without moving was causing his discomfort to grow by the minute. John attempted to shift his weight backwards off of them, but with his hands and feet bound together as they were this proved difficult and tiring before long. Rocking from side to side to take weight off of one knee only made things worse for the other.

The pain grew so bad that he rocked too far and fell over onto his side.

The pain in his knees began to lessen, but John was alarmed by this development rather than relieved. Will had strictly told him that he was to remain kneeling upright, and he’d failed! If he were caught like this, what would happen to him? John decided that he did not want to find out and, despite the ache in his knees, tried to get his body back up into a kneeling and upright position…

…and discovered that this was now totally impossible.

John moaned in dismay. The moan became suddenly louder and more frantic (which was brutally cut off into a whine of pain by a jolt from the shock collar) when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching from the other side of the rec room door. Will and Paul were checking on him already? He once again made a frantic but futile effort to get back up to an upright position before he heard the door being unlocked and opened.

“Only ten lousy minutes and you still couldn’t stay upright?” John heard Will’s voice say to him in evident disgust.

John attempted an apologetic whine, but this shock collar turned it into a whine of pain.

“Well, let’s get him into the kitchen,” Will told Paul. “Then we’ll get that pad for him to kneel on too.”

[bondagefreak]

Poor John. He's really in for a hard time.
The upcoming lessons are gonna be difficult ones.

I especially enjoyed your description of the eye contact and John being forced to avert his gaze away, like a child being scolded.

Great, as usual.
Looking forward to the next chapter!

[Jason Toddman]

Part 12

John could see nothing as he suddenly felt a strong set of arms on either side of him grip him by the arms and ankles, lift him bodily up, and carry him away into the kitchen. When he was set down, he heard one set of feet immediately retreat and then return a few moments later accompanied by the sound of something of modest weight being dragged along the floor. It was brought up to the front of him and he felt one edge of an-inch mat touching his knees. Suddenly John was lifted up again, carried forward a couple of feet and then set gently down on a much softer surface than the floor. It was definitely easier on his knees than the bare floor had been.

But as one source of discomfort lessened, another one occupied his attention again; John hadn’t gone to the bathroom since right after lunch. He’d been literally too tied up with other matters to go since, and for the last few hours had not even been able to communicate this need to Will and Paul. Now, six hours later, he needed to go quite badly. But he still couldn’t talk and Will and Paul seemed to be in no mood to make inquiries of such matters.

John’s blindfold was abruptly removed, and John blinked his eyes like an owl as he tried to adjust to the light again. He began to look upward to make a mute appeal to Will to let him speak again. Before he could do this however, Will placed his hand against the back of John’s head and pushed; making John bend forward at an uncomfortable angle until his face was almost level with his knees.

John suddenly noticed that there was a metal ring built into the pad; he couldn’t help but notice it since it was now less than a foot away from his eyes and literally under his nose! At the same time one end of a set of handcuffs was locked around that ring and the other suddenly locked around a small ring built into his collar. A moment later, John felt another set of handcuffs locked around the cuffs imprisoned his ankles and connected to another ring that was apparently behind him. Much to his dismay, John now found himself unable to raise his head again or to shift position more than very slightly. He was literally trapped in his bent-over, hogtied, kneeling position!

But then John extended a sliver a mercy by removing John’s muzzle gag.

“Thank you!” John started to say. “Thhhaaaaaaaacccckkkk!” is what he actually said when the shock collar reminded him of its existence.

Despite this, John was determined to express his need for a toilet break. However, after he wound up saying, “Iiaaaaiieeeee….nneeeeeeeeeeee… toooowwwwww… peeeeeeee”, his captors not only completely ignored him but dragged his pad over until he was kneeling directly underneath the kitchen table.

And then Will sat in the chair directly in front of him – wiggling the toes of his bare feet right in front of his downturned face.

“Does my little slave want to be fed?” Will asked him with a mischievous tone.

Food wasn’t that high a priority for John at the moment, but the most he could do in response to Will’s question was to whine piteously.

“Lick my feet slave, and then I’ll feed you!” Will said to him.

John didn’t care about being fed; but realizing that the only way he could get Will to respond to his real needs was to play along, John decided to swallow his pride. He bent him and began to lick, although he couldn’t help but screw up his face in disgust as he did so. However, at least Will had apparently washed his feet sometime in the last few minutes; his feet lacked the nasty waste of sweat or dirt that he’d been expecting. It barely even tasted of socks. It was little worse in fact than licking his own hand would be.

Abruptly John saw a hand right in front of his face, finger forward and clutching a small chunk of chicken meat right in front of his mouth. IT was obvious what was expected of him, so he delicately took the chunk of meat with his teeth and ate it; inadvertently kissing Will’s greasy fingers in the process.

“Good boy,” Will said to him like a boy might talk to his dog; even ruffling John’s hair in the process as if petting a dog.

John wanted to bite the hand that fed him; or at least growl at its owner a little. Under the circumstances though, he decided it would be unwise to do either. He simply ate.

Will’s hand pulled away out of sight, and reappeared again with another greasy piece of meat. John sighed quietly and ate this too. This time Will’s hand did not withdraw. “Lick my fingers, slave,” Will said to him with a chuckle. “After all, this chicken is finger-lickin’ good! Says so right on the box!”

John complied rather than argue; the sooner he could get this over with, the better. After a few seconds Will was apparently satisfied, withdrew his hand (while petting John’s head again with the other), and brought it back down with another slice of meat.

This time John tried a different idea. Rather than take the meat, he began to whine as loudly as he could without triggering that accursed shock collar.

Will simply shook the meat in front of John’s face a trifle impatiently.

Undaunted with the courage born of a growing, desperate need, John refused to take the meat and whined again.

Will’s hand pulled away somewhat uncertainly. “What’s the matter boy? Need a drink?”
The hand disappeared, and then came back with a can of soda with a straw poking out of it. Though he was a bit thirsty by then, that was definitely the last thing John wanted right now – not unless he got his primary need taken care of first!

John refused to sip and whined again. This time he kept it up as long as his throat could stand to make the sound.

Apparently catching the hint that something was amiss, Will pushed backward on his chair and got down on one knee on the floor so he could see John clearly. “What’s wrong?” he asked John in evidently genuine concern.

John looked upward as far as he could, gave the best puppy-dog expression he could, and continued whining.

Will grabbed the remote and thumbed the jolt level setting to 0. “Okay, it’s off! What’s the matter, John?” he asked like a friend honestly concerned for another friend rather than like one of the bad guys from Roots mistreating Kunta Kinte.

“Please! I’ve got to pee really bad!” John pleaded urgently. “Please let me go pee!”

“Shoot, we forgot to give him a bathroom break after lunch like we’d planned! Paul, give me a hand with him!” Will said quickly, and together the two boys pulled John and the pad he knelt on out from under the kitchen table. They then quickly removed the restraints that held him pinned to the mat, released his hogtie, and freed his hands. Then, with only his feet tied, John was allowed to hasten to the bathroom. As his feet were bound closely together however, John was forced to bunny-hop there. With his hands free however, he did this with alacrity rather than argue about it. The bathroom was only a few hops away, and he made quite an amusing sight (at least to Will and Paul, if not to himself) as he hopped there as fast as he dared go, closed the door behind him, and alleviated his suffering at long last.

John’s noisy sighs of contentment elicited some laughter from his two captors, but he was feeling too much better to care by that point.

After washing his hands, John bunny-hopped back out of the bathroom and into the kitchen again where his captors awaited him. He’d briefly considered barricading himself inside the bathroom (this one had a lock, unlike the one next to his room) but realized that it was futile. He’d simply be a prisoner in there with no food and no comforts other than the toilet and shower, and his captors could drive him out at any time anyway simply by using the shock collar on him.

Will and Paul had rearranged things slightly so that the kitchen chairs they sat in were side to side, with the padded mat John had knelt on in front of them. “Kneel!” Will said o John simply, pointing to a spot directly in front of him.

John silently and meekly complied. Paul then then up, walked behind him with handcuffs in hand, knelt behind John, and placed the handcuffs back upon the younger boy’s wrists behind his back. Apparently they were satisfied with this however, as no further restraints were put on John. Instead, Paul sat back down on his chair.

“Thank you!” John hastily said as Will picked up the remote again.

Will smiled. “You’re welcome!” he replied as he reset the jolt level to ‘4’. He then placed the remote back on the table behind him and grabbed a plate with a couple of pieces of chicken on it, while Paul took a can of soda. “Ready to eat now?”

John nodded an affirmative; knowing better than to speak aloud in response. And so he had a light but leisurely supper as the two boys hand fed him chicken and allowed him sips of soda from a can with a straw. Afterward, his hands were freed, re-cuffed in front of him, and his foot bindings replaced by a hobble so that he could clear the table, dispose of the garbage, and wash the dirty dishes.

By the time John was finished with this and a few other minor kitchen clean-up tasks, it was seven o’clock in the evening. Will and Paul decided they wanted to watch TV for a while, and so John was walked into the living room on a leash; carrying the padded mat along with him. Then he was told to place the mat in front of the couch and lay down upon the mat. Once he did so, the other two boys stepped over him, sat down in the couch, and rested their feet on him; Paul’s feet rubbing on his belly and Will’s feet rubbing on his chest and ace and sometimes rubbing along the top of his head.

Otherwise John was not too uncomfortable as they watched television together for the next fifteen minutes. But then Paul decided that John was having it too easy. He un-cuffed John and bid him to roll over on his belly. Once John had done this, his wrists were cuffed behind him, and then he was placed into another hog-tie. From then on, Will rested his feet on the back of John’s head and shoulders while Paul rested his feet on John’s lower back and legs.

John had never liked commercials. He was given a special reason to dread them that night. When the program was playing on the TV he was left to lie beneath the other boys’ feet in relative peace as they paid more attention to the TV than they did to John. When there was a commercial break however, they tickled John mercilessly; Will concentrating on John’s unprotected sides while Paul tickled the upturned soles of John’s bound and helpless feet. The tickling began the second a commercial began and did not stop until the second the program resumed. The commercial breaks seemed to last almost forever to John, and scarcely did one break end when another began and ended what seemed like all-too-brief a respite from the tickle torture.

One of the most annoying parts about this whole ordeal was that the instant Will stopped tickling John, he would turn the shock collar back on! John rarely managed to stop laughing before the shock collar gave him an unpleasant jolt! However, at least Will always turned the collar back off before the tickle torture resumed for the following commercial break.

Up until the last one.

“Time for a new challenge, John!” Will told his captive at ten o’clock, just as the movie they’d just watched was ending and rolling the closing credits. “The moment the credits stop rolling, I’m turning the sensitivity all the way up to ‘5’, but the jolt level will be set at ‘2’. Then Paul and I are going to tickle you as hard as we can. If you can manage to keep quiet enough to keep the collar from shocking you before the next movie starts, we will let you go free right now! No more slavery! We’ll all be even Steven again! At least until one of us loses another bet tomorrow! If you so much as giggle or breathe hard enough to make the collar shock you though, you remain our slave! And we’re still going to tickle you until that movie starts! We’ll hit the mute button too so it’ll be fair – we’ll know it wasn’t the TV or our own laughter setting the collar off! Ready? Here we go!”

There was no commercial break between the two movies; simply a quick announcement from the station saying what movie was coming up next. The next movie began perhaps fifteen seconds after the previous one ended.

It was still ten seconds too long for John! And, as promised, His captors continued to tickle him until the second the next movie started. The writhing and thrashing caused by John’s reaction to the tickling was increased dramatically by the electrical jolting he was receiving from his inability to remain quiet while being tickled.

“Hahaha – aaahhhh! –aahhahahaha – aaaggghhhh! – haha –harrrgghhh! – haha – aahhhh! – Nooo! – haha – aarrgghh! - hahaha – nngghhh! – STOP! Haha – haaaiieee! – hahahaha – GAAHHGGH! Haha – AH! AHH! STOP!!! – GAH-HAH! – OWW! Haha! OWW! Ha! OWWW! Pleeaassee! Staaaawwwwp!! Haha – haarrgghh - hahahaha!”

The moment the next movie started however, Will and Paul ceased to tickle him. They also shut the television off. “Time for bed, slave!” they told John as they released him from his hog-tie and helped him to stand up. And then, with his arms locked their own arm grips, they escorted him upstairs to his room.

Once in his room, John’s handcuffs and hobbles were removed; leaving him completely free to move. “You have ten minutes to shower, put on some fresh underwear, use the can, brush your teeth, and so on,” Will told him. “Be out here in ten minutes exactly or I’ll start sending jolts at higher and higher settings until you *do* come out!”

As Will and Paul kindly counted down the minutes aloud, the tens of seconds during the last minute, and each of the last ten seconds, John was finished in ten minutes on the dot.

Will and John fastened John down to his bed in precisely the same manner as they had the previous night. Then, with the shock collar turned off, they leisurely ticked his feet and his sides for the next hour.

Once they finished tickling John, they turned the shock collar back on, with a sensitivity level and jolt level both set at ‘5’. “I hope you don’t snore!” Paul said to John teasingly as the two prepared to leave the room. “If not, this ought to be preferable to you than leaving the muzzle gag on you all night.”

And with that, the two turned out the light, closed the door of John’s room behind them and locked it.

And so began John’s second night in captivity.

[Jason Toddman]

Part 13

John was unable to get to sleep. It wasn’t because he was chained spread-eagled to his bed; in fact, he’d grown somewhat used to this now and the bed itself was supremely comfortable. He didn’t hurt or ache anywhere; even the collar secured so snugly around his neck did not bother him as long as he kept quiet. He was neither hungry nor thirsty, nor did he have any need to relieve himself. Between the air conditioner and his blankets, he was comfortably warm as well. But though his body was relaxed and his peace, John’s mind was in turmoil – and this was why he could not sleep.

He did not know what to make of the day’s events… or to his own reaction to them.

When the day started, he’d only had a day’s slavery ahead of him… and in fact he’d have been set free before now had things gone the way he’d expected them to. By the time the day had ended, he’d been humiliated, hogtied, tortured, treated like a lowly slave (or a misbehaving pet), and had acquired the added burden of sixty more straight days of the same treatment facing him.

What was worse, he’d been given the chance to walk away from it all scot-free (except for the loss of Will and Paul’s respect and friendship); but the allure of doing unto Will and Paul what they had already done unto him had been too strong for him to resist. He’d spent a day and night under their complete control, and though it had been scary at first he’d grown to (sort of) like it. When they had offered him a chance to do the same things to them, it was a chance so enticing that he had to try for it. They’d played fair and square all throughout, too; it was only sheer bad luck (and a couple of unfortunately-timed decisions on his part) that robbed him of his chances to prevail and sucked him into this dire predicament.

But was it so dire? He was fed, hydrated, and comfortable in this nice warm bed. It was in fact a much nicer bed than the one he slept in at home.

But he couldn’t freaking move!!! And he was getting an itch on his nose!!! Bound the way he was, he couldn’t scratch it even by turning his head and trying to rub it against his shoulder!

It hadn’t been a bad day though. They’d gone swimming… and sun bathing… and played pool… and played poker… and watched TV… and all sorts of other stuff. Sure, he’d been tied up the whole day, but as long as he kept his mouth shut (and didn’t attract the unwanted attentions of the shock collar) he hadn’t suffered any.

Luckily though he hadn’t developed an itch… like he was doing now! Darned nose!

But while being tied up or a few hours, or even overnight or a full day had seemed to be tolerable if not actually pleasant, the idea of being under their complete control for two entire months had proved to be too daunting to him. Perhaps they had sensed this, and so they had tested him. Had he kept his word and simply accepted his loss like a man, they might have gone a lot easier on him. But after losing his freedom (fair and square!) in a game of poker, he’d tried to cheat. He’d gone back on his word when the opportunity seemed to present itself, and he’d yelled for help when he’d been led to believe Tasha would be able to hear him and take him safely away from here.

In short, he’d tried to steal from them something valuable that was rightfully theirs. He’d gambled away his freedom in the hopes of taking away theirs for a similar period of time. He’d have insisted on collecting his winnings had he won! Now, having failed, he’d tried to cheat them. That wasn’t the way *he’d* seen it, but that was how *they’d* seen it. And now John realized that he understood their point of view. What he had done (not just what he had tried to do) was a nasty, sneaky, contemptible thing! It was no wonder Will and Paul had been so angry with him! He’d not only tried to welsh on his bet but he was going rat them out; and undoubtedly get them into a whole lot of trouble too.

All in all, John thought, it was a wonder that they had taken it as easy on him as they had! He was their property now! If they’d taken a whip and beaten him with it; he’d have had no right to complain about it. Thankfully, his friends had forgiven him to some extent and simply taught him the error of his ways and not treated him as harshly as he deserved!!

But still… TWO MONTHS??!

That was a mighty long time!!!

Especially with that accursed shock collar around his neck like a millstone! To John’s imagination, it was an implacable and unforgiving enemy that was just waiting to torture him at the slightest opportunity. He began to imagine himself a fly caught in a spider’s web, and the spider was at his throat just waiting to the fly to buzz before it emitted an electronic ‘buzz’ of its own and bit him!

Bleah! That wasn’t a very pleasant way of thinking! No, not at all. He had to get his mind onto more pleasant avenues. Especially considering how much he *hated* spiders!

If it weren’t for the shock collar and for the daunting time period of two months that he’d probably have to wear it, this whole thing might actually be kind of fun. John could not help but admit to himself, if a bit grudgingly, that he was starting to enjoy the feelings of utter helplessness that he had been experiencing for the past day-and-a-half. And although Will and Paul had been a little merciless with the tickle tortures, John realized that the other two boys had not really mistreated him. They hadn’t hurt in any way nor threatened to do so. Instead they’d fed him well; let him use the bathroom; shared their company; made things interesting the entire day; gave him a nice bed to sleep in; and they had kept him clothed, warm, and safe.

So they tied him up to his bed and locked him inside his room! So what?! Where else did he have to go, anyway?

And at least Will and Paul were his friends! He’d probably feel a lot differently were he in the hands of strangers, who might do all sorts of awful things to him while they had him helpless! But Will and Paul would never do such things as that to him. Regardless of how much they insisted in keeping him ted up in his bed, he trusted them to look out for his welfare and not to hurt him or let him be hurt.

But darn that itching nose; would it never give him any peace?

John attempted to relax, ignore his itching nose, and sleep. But sleep still would not come to him. He was still concerned about the future. What other plans did Will and Paul have in store for him? Did he know for sure that what they’d already done to him or told him about was all there was? What if after a while they got bored with merely tickling him and using him as a footrest by day and keeping him tied in his bed at night? What would they do to him when the novelty of all this wore off – as it probably would long before the full sixty days had passed.

His mind dwelling on possibilities he was unsure he looked forward to or dreaded, John finally fell asleep.

Suddenly, before he knew it, it was daybreak, and Will and John were entering the room.
But, to his surprise, they were completely naked. And their… Omigod! How big *were* they? He couldn’t believe his eyes! Will’s thing was as big as his forearm!

Before John knew what was happening, Will was straddling his chest and John was looking at his thing eye to ‘eye’. “I’m horny, John! Do me, will you?” Will asked in a casual tone of voice one might use to ask someone to pass the butter. Then the ‘eye’ opened up; it looked just like the other two eyes in Will’s head. It seemed to wink at him, and then look at him as if expecting something from him. Then the eye closed and turned into a mouth. “Come on, John, open up!” it said in Will’s own voice.

John shook his head in refusal.

Suddenly Paul clambered over him, facing toward Will with his bare butt hovering mere inches over John’s astonished face. “Fine, then you can kiss my butt!” Paul declared. Suddenly his cheeks opened, and displayed a huge mouth with many sharp teeth. A huge tongue over a foot long flicked out and licked John’s face, and the ass-mouth smiled at him. “Kiss me, you fool!” the ass mouth said.

“Noooooooooonnnnnnnnnggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!” John screeched in negation, and then in pain as the shock collar jolted him…

…and woke him up for real!

John looked around the darkened room in total bewilderment… utterly confused. What the Hell had just happened? Where did John and Paul go? Why was it night again?

John was just realizing that he’d simply had a bizarre nightmare when he suddenly heard footsteps rapidly approach his door from the hallway; stopping at his door. There was a fumbling of keys, the turn of a key in the lock, and then the door was hastily swung open from the other side. Will and Paul, both wearing only boxer shorts, hurried into the room

“John? Are you all right?” Will asked him worriedly as he turned on the light.

Calming down now but sweating profusely, John shakily nodded his head.

“You hurt anywhere?” Paul asked as if unconvinced. He held the shock collar remote and showed John that the jolt level was now set at 0. “Did the collar shock you in your sleep?”

“Yeah, but it was just as well,” John replied quietly. “I had a really bad dream! The collar literally jolted me out of it.”

“Wanna tell us about it?” offered Will.

“Ummm… no; not really,” John replied after a moment’s thought. Why give them ideas they might actually find interesting if they got bored later on?

“Want us to stay up with you for a while then?” Will offered solicitously.

“Yeah… we can always entertain ourselves finding your most ticklish spots!” Paul added with a merry grin, before Will nudged him rather unsubtly in the ribs with his elbow.

“No thanks,” John replied with a return grin. “I’m sorry if I woke you guys up! It was nothing! Really! Let’s just go back to sleep.”

“Okay, if you say so,” replied Will with a relaxed smile. “Sure you don’t need anything while we’re here? A glass of water? A potty break? A midnight snack? Anything?”

“No, I’m good, thanks!” replied John honestly. “And - well - thanks for checking on me.”

“Sure, no problem,” Will replied with a laugh as he turned the light back out. “Well, good night then.”

The two boys left the room and closed the door. John heard the key turn in the lock and heard their footsteps pad quietly away down the hall.

Within minutes he was sound asleep again; but he had no more bad dreams that night.

[Tsuhaya]

I finally had time to reread this story again. And I can only feel for John, this necklace is so cruel and amazing at the same time, very happy to be able to read it again

[Jason Toddman]

I finally had time to reread this story again. And I can only feel for John, this necklace is so cruel and amazing at the same time, very happy to be able to read it again

I'm always glad to hear from people who have enjoyed my stories.


Part 14

When John awoke again, it was morning for real (rather than just in a dream and Will and Paul were unlocking his door and entering his room. Both boys were already dressed in gym shorts, mono-colored T-shirts (though the sleeves on Paul’s had been torn off), Nike sneakers, ankle-socks, and baseball caps. In addition, Will wore a shiny pair of reflective sunglasses that completely hid his eyes.

“Rise and shine sleepy-head!” Will said to John happily; clapping his hands loudly together several times to get his attention.

John wanted to point out that it was hard to rise - let alone shine - while one was tied down to one’s bed and could not move. He in fact began to do so. “I – ieeaarrgghh!” he said quite intelligently. Apparently the shock collar had been turned back on – and the jolt level amped up to at least ‘4’ - at some point before he had woken up. This had the dubious benefit of instantly driving what sleepiness still remained right out of his body. It also apparently signalled the end of the mercy break the others had given him overnight.

“Well now; I guess we’ll have to gag you now so you don’t make *that* silly mistake again!” Will exclaimed jovially.

“Oh no! Not that muzzle gag again! Please!” John successfully pleaded in a low whisper; apparently the sensitivity level was no higher than ‘4’ as well.

“No, we’re not putting that old muzzle gag on you!” Will declared with a grin.

John heaved a sigh of relief that the shock collar turned into “Nnnaagghhh!”

“No, that one needs to be washed!” Paul added as he walked to the side of John’s bed with his hands mysteriously held behind his back. John had not noticed this until now but Paul had kept his hands behind him since he’d entered the rom. WTF? Were his hands tied behind him? John was so busy wondering this that he failed to notice the mischievous leer on Paul’s face until he was standing right beside him.

“So you’re wearing the *other* one!” Paul suddenly announced gleefully as he pulled his hands back out in front of him. Clasped in his hands was another muzzle gag even more intimidating looking than the other one was. It had more straps to wrap around the head to hold it snug. It was made of glossy black leather that gave it a sinister look. It was thicker and sturdier than the previous one. And the red ball gag embedded into it was about thirty per cent larger than the previous one had been.

Once again John was reminded of spiders; this time of black widow spiders - something John wanted close to him about as much as he wanted *that* thing to be. However, he was given no say in the matter. Before he could utter a single squeak of alarm, Paul gleefully pounced on him – straddling John’s chest - and wrestled the muzzle gag onto his face with a taunting laugh.

John writhed and thrashed as much as he could – shaking his head violently from side to side in another valiant, futile effort to forestall the inevitable. But Will also climbed onto the head beside him, grabbed him by the head, and forced John’s head up and held it relatively immobile while Paul cheerfully did his job with numerous taunting remarks. John’s only remaining recourse was to look at his captors with his best puppy-dog-eyes look, but also proved to be unavailing.

Once the muzzle gag was securely fastened upon John’s saddened face, Paul laughed tauntingly and gave John’s face a gentle pat before getting off of him. He then proceeded to unlock the manacles around John’s feet and re-secure them in hobbles as he had done the day before. Then John’s arms were freed, but instead of his wrists being secured in front of him he was forced to roll over and lie on his belly while they were cuffed behind his back. John made a small, questioning noise in his throat.

“Since you seem to have shown some desire to escape from us, we can’t entirely trust you not to try again,” Will told john as the captive boy was helped off of the bed and to stand on his feet. “So rather than let you have the freedom to wash yourself this morning, we’ll have to wash you and take care of your other needs ourselves!”

John’s eyes grew wide with alarm as the full implications of Will’s message hit him. Not only were they going to bathe him like a dog, but they were going to ‘assist’ him with his toilet needs like he was some kind of invalid! John began shaking his head from side to side and made a low whining noise in his throat but made no other attempts to resist. Knowing that his only chance lay in a mute appeal for clemency – and an unspoken promise to behave – rather than engage in further futile resistance, John turned on the puppy-dog-eyes again.

As expected, it didn’t work.

“Behave yourself today, and show us we can trust you after all, and *maybe* we’ll cut you some slack starting tomorrow,” Will told John firmly. “But in the meantime, you need to learn what trying to escape and cheat us of our rights will cost you!”

John was utterly mortified as he was marched into the bathroom. His hobbles were removed and he was stripped naked before being stood in front of the toilet. There his aim was assisted by Paul’s hand; wearing a disposable plastic glove. Then he was made to sit and do his business while his hands remained bound behind his back. Once he was stood up, he was wiped (again by Paul) to the accompaniment of disgusted noises from both parties and the sound of a toilet flushing. Other than this, the entire thing was done with almost clinical detachment on Paul’s part. He didn’t leer or stare or taunt John, but simply treated him as a professional vet might treat a flatulent old dog.

Meanwhile Will had drawn John’s bath. John was forced to sit inside the tub (his privates then thankfully hidden from view through a generous application of “Mister Bubble” to the bath water) while his captors scrubbed him clean with exacting thoroughness… especially the places John felt could have done without the attention for once. However, they were not cruel about it; they simply scrubbed him clean without any unnecessary roughness. They could easily have turned this into a torture game and there would have been nothing John could have done about it. However, their goal seemed to be to get him clean rather than torment him – other than psychologically at least.

His cheeks blushed a deep shade of red as John began to close his eyes and moan, but whether from sheer embarrassment or because of some other emotion even he could not have said. For once though, John was glad that a gag completely masked his face and hid his expression from the other boys.

Once his bath was over, John was immediately towelled dry by the other two; something that he embarrassed to find he was enjoying much more than he thought he should. What was worse, his enjoyment of this was plainly visible to his captors, who quietly snickered and commented on his growing “stiffy”. John blushed again, but all attempts to get his mind on other thoughts and reduce the swelling appeared to be unavailing. It was damned difficult to keep your mind off what was happening when another boy was towelling dry your ‘”stiffy” with what seemed like an over-abundance of time and care!

Finally however, the ordeal was done. John was led back to the bedroom, where Paul picked out a set of speedos for him to wear. John was a little incensed that his wishes were not consulted in the matter but – as he was unable to express them while gagged and he was in rather of a hurry to get his privates covered up – kept quiet while these articles of clothing were pulled up his legs and fitted into place around his hips.

John was then made to sit on the edge of his bed while Paul and Will put a pair of socks of his feet and then tied a pair of Adidas sneakers onto them.

Paul and Will then led John over to the closet, and brushed aside what few clothes were hanging by coat-hooks from the overhead bar. John wondered what article of clothing they intended to take out of here to put on him, as he was still shirtless and it was too warm a day for coats or jackets. But they removed nothing, but simply stood John beside the hanging bar – which was roughly at the same level as his chin. John idly noticed that the ends of the bar were set into vertical slits in the closet wall. Each slit was about three feet high, extending from the level of the bar right up to the rather high ceiling of the closet. John idly wondered what all that was for.

Will knelt down beside John and locked a set of hobbles around his feet. Then he released the handcuffs from one of John’s wrists. Paul grabbed one wrist and forced it over John’s head while Will did the same the other from the other side the bar. Will then re-locked the free handcuff around the same wrist as before. John’s wrists were now hand-cuffed to the overhead bar; preventing him from fully lowering his arms again. His hands and wrists were now trapped at roughly eye level in front of him.

“We’ll come get you when it’s breakfast time,” Will told John happily as he and Paul left the closet and faced him from the other side of the open doorway. “Tasha ought to be here any moment now, so you shouldn’t have to wait long.”

The closet door was then closed and locked; leaving John in total darkness.

John silently moaned to himself and checked his situation. He grasped the overhead bar his wrists were trapped against and pulled. The bar would not budge; it was definitely set in there too firmly to be torn free by a kid like him! John tried shifting it again. Nope; Arnold Schwarzenegger himself couldn’t have budged THAT thing! Like it or not, he was stuck here until the others came back to get him.

John sighed with resignation and tried to get comfortable. It was impossible to sit down of course, and also impossible to lower his arms either – so trying to get comfortable under these circumstances was not easy of accomplishment. Oh well; at least he wasn’t hanging by his…

What was that humming noise? And what was pulling on his wrists?!

With some consternation John suddenly realized that the bar his wrists were cuffed to was slowly rising and had been for a while now - taking about ten seconds to rise one inch. The bar was already high enough so that he could stand beneath it without ducking his head - whereas it was almost below his chin before – and his arms were almost at full extension above him. He began to yell into his gag - but made so little noise that even his shock collar paid him no notice – and fought to get himself free.

It was no good. He felt his wrists being forced above his head ever higher – and higher. He had to stretch now to keep his feet on the ground. But soon even that was impossible, and he felt his heels being lifted into the air! John began to squeal frantically. Those slits in the closet wall he’d seen before. The hanging bar was on some kind of hydraulic lift system that was now raising it – and him along with it. John was on his tip-toes now; in another few seconds he’d be hanging in the air right along with these clothes! He’d be…

Suddenly the humming stopped; as did the upward movement of the hanging bar. John’s weight was still being supported on his tip-toes (if barely), but at least he wasn’t hanging by his wrists! But if that bar went up just one more inch...

But it didn’t. It simply remained in place; leaving John in considerable discomfort but not in any great pain. Will obviously knew just how high would be high enough to leave John standing rather than hanging!

John sighed again and settled himself down for the long haul.

After what seemed like the entire day but which he later learned was less than a half hour, John’s arms and shoulders and the calves of his legs were really starting to ache from the strain of his unmoving position. He was beginning to wonder if the others had forgotten all about him, or had simply decided to leave him to suffer here the entire day, when he suddenly felt the bar lower itself again. This time John noticed the difference in the bar height immediately; not only because it alleviated the aches in his cramping legs and arms but also because the descent was several times faster than the ascent had been. By the time the closet door was unlocked and John saw Will and Paul coming inside to get him, John’s feet were already flat on the floor again and his arms were no longer fully extended above him.

“Enjoy your early morning stretching exercises?” Will asked John cheerfully as he freed John’s wrist from the hanging bar and re-cuffed them behind his back.

John shrugged his shoulders and gave a noncommittal grunt, since it seemed pointless to get angry and darned if he was going to nod in agreement with such a question!

“Well, time for breakfast!” Will told him as the two boys led him out of his room and over to the elevator. “Tasha made us pancakes today. We already had ours, so let’s get yours before they get cold!”

John was taken downstairs in the small elevator and led to the kitchen. Rather than be allowed to sit at the table however, John was made to kneel on a towel in front of a chair facing away from the table by both Will and Paul. Paul knelt behind him and swiftly tied his handcuffs and hobbles together while Will unlocked the padlock that held his muzzle gag on and carefully pulled the ball out of John’s aching mouth. John sucked in air so greedily that he got a brief level ‘4’ jolt from the shock collar before he was able to slow his breathing down to normal.

Paul tied a bib around John’s front while Will got a plate of pancakes from the table and sat down in the chair directly in front of Will. The pancakes had just the right amount of butter and syrup on them; Will had known how much John liked of either from observing him eat pancakes back in the boarding school cafeteria. There were also sausages and orange juice. Will leisurely fed John his breakfast while the boy knelt on front of his chair; careful not to spill more than a few drops of syrup on him or on the towel on the floor that stretched between them. Occasionally he had to take a small towel and dab syrup off of John’s chin when there was a minor spill.

Although the manner with which his pancakes were served left something to be desired in John’s opinion, he had to admit that they tasted much better than the boarding school cafeteria’s pancakes ever had. He also couldn’t help but feel as much excitement as he did annoyance in being made to kneel in front of Will and be fed his breakfast by Will’s hand instead of his own.

After breakfast, John was released from his hogtie and his hands cuffed in front of him. He was then made to clean not only the breakfast dishes but also the two muzzle gags he had been wearing. Realizing he was likely to be forced to wear them again eventually, John was very careful to make sure both were very clean. As a reward, Will let him wear the one with the smaller ball-gag rather than the one he’d worn before breakfast; it was a small sliver of mercy but better than none at all.

After cleaning up, John was dosed with sunblock all over his body (except for the part covered by his speedos), which was a pretty interesting experience in itself. He was then escorted outside to the swimming pool, stilled hobbled and cuffed, where a new surprise awaited him; there was a surfboard leaning against the steps that led to the diving board. John was laid face up upon the surfboard, and his two captors wound loop after loop of duct tape around him and the diving board together from his shoulders down to his ankles, so that scarcely any part of him in between showed at all. After about ten minutes, he was firmly cocooned to the surfboard by what seemed to be over a mile of duct tape.

“Surf’s up, dude!” Will declared as he and Paul picked up the surfboard with John lying atop it and carried it over the edge of the pool.

“Cowabunga!” Paul added with a boisterous yell as the surfboard smoothly slid into the water with its momentarily panicked passenger.

John slowly calmed down once he saw that the surfboard was in no danger of sinking beneath him. Will and Paul immediately doffed their shirts and everything else they wore except their shorts. Then they gleefully ran to the diving board and dived into the pool mere feet away from where John lay floating; instantly soaking him in their splash. Laughing and joking, they both swam to where John still lay on his surfboard; looking at them with silent reproach. They simply laughed and splashed him again.

John silently had to admit to himself that it felt good, as it was already a hot day.

Will and Paul swam around the pool for a while; sometimes leaving John to float by himself and sometimes pushing him along as they went. Every so often they rested by holding onto the surfboard and talking with John for a while; laughing and pretending they could understand every muffled word or sound he made in response through his gag.
Occasionally one or the other of them climbed atop the surfboard and casually straddled it – and its occupant – for a few minutes. This alarmed John at first, until he realized that he was still floating with his nose well above water level. This was true even when both of the other boys straddled him at the same time, although it was a close thing. What was worse was that Will and Pal were bigger and heavier than he was, and having them do this was not very comfortable at all. Fortunately though they did not do this often or for very long at a time; nor did they torment him in any other way at the same time.

After swimming for about 45 minutes, Will and Paul decided to come out of the pool and relax in the lawn chairs for a while; soaking up some sun. After another liberal application of sunblock rubbed all over the reachable parts of his body however, John was left to float around the pool on his surfboard.

[Jason Toddman]

Part 15.

“So why are we taking it so easy on him, Will?” Paul asked is friend quietly enough that John would not be able to overhear them from where he floated in the pool. “I thought we were going to have some real fun with him today!”

“We are,” Will replied just as quietly. “I just want to put him off his guard a little bit first. Let him relax a bit, maybe figure that it’ll get no worse than this for the rest of the summer; and then… when he least expects it… it’s torture time!”

“You’re so evil!” Paul said with admiration rather than reproach, and laughed quietly. “I forget that you like the subtle approach better. Me, I’m as subtle as a punch in the nose. But you’ve always preferred the gradual approach; haven’t you?”

“You always like it better when I used it on YOU!” Will pointed out with a grin.

“So true!” Paul admitted as he relaxed in his chair with a sigh and watched John float on top his surfboard. “That lucky kid! He doesn’t have any idea what’s in store for him. He’d probably piss himself if he knew!”

“Just as well that he doesn’t know then, isn’t it? - considering he’s floating around in my swimming pool!” Will pointed out blandly.

John wasn’t feeling so lucky at the moment. Wrapped up in duct tape and laying out in the hot sun, he was starting to get very hot and sweat like crazy. What was worse, a pool of nice cool water was all around him; but he couldn’t take advantage of it. He wanted nothing more than to roll off the surfboard and swim around in that nice cool water, but he might as well have been on the moon for all the accessibility he had to that water at the moment. Water all around him; yet he was drying out and starting to parboil!

After fifteen minutes or so, Will and Paul apparently thought of this. Both boys suddenly jumped out of their lawn chairs, raced each other to the diving balls, and cannon-balled into the water of either side of a suddenly-frantic John – who thought they were going to land right on top of him. The splashes from their re-entry into the water cooled John down in a hurry, as he was immediately soaked. They then splashed him enthusiastically until John felt half-drowned – this was definitely too much of a good thing!

Will climbed up on top of the surfboard and straddled John’s chest. “Push us to the edge, would you Paul?” Will asked the other boy as he pulled a key out of his pants pocket, reached down behind John’s head, felt around for the padlock there, and unlocked it. Paul nodded agreeably and proceeded to push the surfboard close to the part of the pool where a vertical ladder led into the pool. Will removed John’s gag and gently tossed it to the lawn when they were only a few feet away from the edge of the pool.

“Does that feel better, John?” Will asked him; still straddling his chest.

“Yeee-eeaagghhh!” replied John. Damn it! The shock collar was still on!

“Is that a yes or a no?” Will asked with a wide grin.

John merely glared up silently and sulked.

“Awww, are you getting mad, John?” Will asked kindly. “Hey Paul, let’s cheer him up.”

“Sure thing, Will,” Paul replied. Still in the water, he swam over to the rear of the surfboard and began to tickle John’s tied-down feet.

“Hey! Aaahhh! Hahaha! OOW! Hahahahhhhh! STOP! OWW! Hahahaharrrggghhh! Quit it! OWWW-how-how-owww! Hahaha! STOP!” John squealed as the shocked collar jolted him with each sound he made.

“Say please!” Will said quietly.

“Nnngghhh! OWW! Hahahahaha! Why OWW are you OW doing this?!” John squealed in a strangled whisper.

“Because it’s fun!” replied Will. “But hearing you ask us nicely to stop will be fun too. So if you want us to stop, then say ‘please’!”

John tried to grit his teeth and hold his breath long enough to keep from laughing for a few seconds and get some respite from that accursed collar, but it was no use. He was far too ticklish, and the tickle assault on his feet was simply too unrelenting. Even though the jolt setting was apparently only at ‘2’ or so, it was torture having to endure it for so long.

“Hahahaaaiieeee! Please! Gaaahhh! MERCY-Yiieeee! PLEA-SEE-EEE!” John pleaded as he writhed and thrashed as much as he could; which wasn’t much while not only being taped to the surfboard but also with the heavier Will sitting on top of him.

“Say pretty please!” John requested in a reasonable tone while Paul continued his tickling without even the slightest pause.

“Pretty plea-he-he-he-he-ease! OWW! Hahahaha! Oww! Pretty please!!” John begged frantically amid gales of uncontrolled – and literally painful - laughter.

“Say pretty please with sugar on it!” John continued remorselessly.

Between the tickling, the shocks, and having a heavier boy sitting on his chest, John was finding it more difficult to even breathe let alone talk. But with a supreme effort he managed to gasp out the desired phrase without too many interruptions of either cries of pain or gales of laughter. Funny though; he seemed to be noticing the shocks less; was he getting used to them or had one of them somehow turned the remote down? But as far as he knew the remote was still on the lawn hair Will had been sitting in.

“Say pretty please with sugar and whipped cream on it!” Will insisted then, thinking of several more toppings he could add to the demand one at a time to torment John further.

“Pree-eeeee-he-he-he-tee-hee-heee pleeee-hee-he-ease with-hith-hahahahaha Oww-wow! Hehe! Sho-ho-ho-ha-ha-gahhh-ha-ha-ha an… and… wha-whi-ha-ha-hipped – hahahaha cree-eeee-eaammm on-hahahaha it-hit-hahahahahaha!” John screeched.

“Hey, dude! He doesn’t seem to be feeling the shocks much anymore! Paul observed.

“I think you’re right. Quit tickling him for a moment!” Will requested. Paul did so, and John was able to get his laughter under control after a few seconds; though it took longer for him to breathe more quietly. However, it was clearly obvious that he wasn’t getting shocked anymore.

“I guessed we exhausted the battery,” Will observed. “Well, it only lasted about a day, but it DID get drained a lot. Of course, it might not have been fully charged when I swiped the collar from the research lab while I was visiting dad at work. We’ll know better after it’s fully recharged and we can try again. Push us to the steps, will you Paul? It’s getting close to lunch time anyway; time for a change of scenery.”

“Where’d you get this thing anyway?” John asked; realizing he was free to talk – at least, for the time being.

“My dad owns an electronics research lab here in town,” Will replied casually. “They invent or improve all sorts of gadgets. A couple of weeks ago I was visiting him there and spotted the collar. It’s a prototype meant to train dogs. Unlike current models, it can react to ‘bark’ noise or when a dog strays away from where it’s supposed to be, as well as when you press a button on the remote. It also had more jolt levels than regular collars and can be set to react to different levels of sound. No one collar has ever been able to do all that before… at least, not while making the collar small enough for the average dog to wear. Well, this was a spare, so I… ummm… ‘borrowed’ it to test it for myself!”

By this time Paul had pushed the surfboard to within a few steps of the shallow end of the pool, where Will stood up, stepped away from John, and helped Paul carry the board and John together out of the pool. Will then had Paul run to fetch the discarded muzzle gag and place it onto John’s face again while Will took a small penknife and began to cut John free of his duct-tape prison with it. The relief of getting all that heat-trapping duct tape off of him was so great John almost didn’t mind the gag.

“Boy, did you ever work up a sweat!” Will observed wryly as he removed the last of the duct tape as helped John – who was still handcuffed and hobbled – to stand up. “Want a quick dip in the pool before we take you into the house?”

John nodded his head.

“Better take this off first,” Will said as he unlocked the shock collar, removed it from around John’s neck, and set it aside carefully by the edge of the pool. “It can take being wet from a steady shower okay but I’m not sure about full immersion yet. It’s supposed to be water-tight, but I’d better not take any chances with it.”

John got the impression Will was more concerned about the collar than he was about John’s comfort, but he decided not to inquire into the matter. He simply relaxed as the two escorted him into pool up to chest depth, which cooled him off wonderfully. Then Will helped to keep John’s face above water while Paul ducked underwater and hauled John’s legs up to enable him to lie horizontally on the water. It felt very relaxing to John, but the weight of his hobbles made it difficult for Paul to keep him like his for very long; Paul desisted after a couple of minutes.

“Tasha will be here to fix lunch before long, so let’s get back inside and get into some dry clothes,” Will said to the others.

Will and Paul walked John out of the pool and, after towelling him and themselves dry, walked on back into the house; Will carrying the discarded shock collar along with him. They took the elevator back upstairs, where John found himself conducted back into his own room and then into his bathroom. However, somewhat to his surprise, he was taken right into the shower stall.

“It’s a pretty hot day today, but this will help you to stay cool while Tasha makes lunch,” Will said with a grin that made John nervous as one of his hands was freed from his handcuffs and his wrists pulled behind his back. To his dismay, the free end of the handcuffs were threaded through a safety bar at the rear of the shower stall before being locked around his wrist again – trapping him in place against the rear wall of the shower.

“Mmmm-mmm-mmm!” John said frantically as Paul and Will stepped out of the shower and Will reached in to the control knob.

“Enjoy your shower!” Will said with a wicked grin as he turned the shower on full blast at the coldest possible setting.

“Eeeeee-eeeeeee-eeeeeeee!” John screamed into the gag as a mighty spray of icy cold water hit his still-wet and nearly naked body straight on.

Will watched him for a few seconds, laughed, and closed the hard plastic shower curtain. John listened to the sound of their departing footsteps with something akin to pure despair as he realized he’d be subjected to this torture for an indefinite period of time. He shivered, groaned, squealed into his gag, writhed and thrashed as the icy spray made him feel steadily colder. John tried as hard as he could to either free his hands from the cuffs or wrench the safety bar out of its socket in the wall so that he could escape from the icy-cold torrent; but was successful in neither. He tried reaching the temperature knob of the water faucet with his foot but, hobbled as he was, he was unable to lift his foot high enough and far enough away to touch it. Even when he lowered himself into as close a lying position as he could while his arms were cuffed behind him, his toes fell just inches short of their goal. He could reach the faucet if he tried hard enough – but only at the cost of dislocating one or probably both of his shoulders in the process.

Within five minutes, John was crying like a baby from the relentless icy torment. This was far worse than even the shock collar had been, as far as he was concerned. At least the shock collar would cease its torture when he kept quiet, whereas there was nothing he could do to end the icy-cold, tormenting spray of water.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of torment, the shower curtain was abruptly flung open and a lean arm reached in to shut the water off. Will’s concerned face then looked in at him. “Poor kid’s taking it even worse than I thought!” he said aloud, looking behind him; evidently Paul was there too but standing where John could not see him. “Come on; let’s get him out of there so he can warm up!”

Another hand reached out from behind Will and pushed the shower curtain aside while Will stepped into the shower with key in hand and unlocked one of John’s handcuffs. Both boys then helped a shivering and somewhat wobbly John out of the shower, where – after John’s hands were re-cuffed behind him - they both vigorously towelled him dry.

That felt so good that John decided to keep his recriminations to himself for the time being; especially considering he couldn’t speak with the muzzle gag on anyway.

Will knelt down beside John and unlocked his hobbles. “Okay, get those wet shorts off and I’ll dump them into the laundry,” he told him.

John complied, and Paul fitted a pair of red Speedos onto him. John was hoping for more than that, but when the hobbles were re-attached he realized that this was all the clothing he was going to get to wear.

“Tasha will be here shortly, so we’ll have to keep you out of the way until lunch is ready,” Will told John as they led him out of the bathroom – and back to the closet! “So you can just hang around in here for now!”

John didn’t attempt to resist; all the fight was taken out of him by that icy shower, and even hanging by his wrists inside a locked closet was preferable to that!

[Jason Toddman]

Part 16.

John stood quietly, resigned but not at all happy, as Paul and Will re-attached his wrists around the hanging bar. This time however, Will added a new wrinkle. Taking a new shoe-string from a dresser drawer, he looped it around both of John’s big toes and tightly tied them together. Then, to cap things off, he attached some clothes-pins to John’s nipples, earlobes, and the fleshy parts of his underarms just as he had that first evening John had spent here.

“That should help make things more interesting for you,” a happily-grinning Will said to John as he gave him a quick but form pinch on the cheek. “Enjoy your late morning stretching exercises while Paul and I help Tasha to fix lunch!”

Once again John found himself locked inside the closet. This time he noticed the change in the height of the hanging bar mere moments after hearing the click of the lock of the closet door; indicating that the control for it might be somewhere in his own room. He’d have to look around for it if he ever got the chance – and sabotage the damned thing!

Knowing what was happening this time, John grasped the overhead rod in his hands while they were within reach and lifted his feet off the ground to put all of his body weight onto the rod. He had hoped the lifting mechanism wouldn’t be able to handle his full weight and cease rising, but he could tell from the sensations he felt that this was not working. He tried bouncing his lean body up and down several times to increase the strain on the mechanism, but this didn’t seem to deter the thing either.

Finally he tried raising his body up still further so that he was straddling the rod rather than dangling beneath it, but with his arms and legs cuffed (and his toes tied as well) he was unable to get the leverage he needed to do this. The best he could manage was to hug it in his sinewy arms and brace his thin chest against it. But this soon proved about as uncomfortable as what had happened to him before and soon proved too tiring to maintain as well. Before too long John found himself standing on tip-toes once again; with his bound arms trapped above him.

It was not long before John decided that he should have tried harder to stay atop the bar. With his big toes tied together as they were, he could hardly move his feet at all while he was pulled up like this, and it was harder than ever to keep the strain off his arms, shoulders, and legs. At times he lost his footing altogether and dangled completely in mid -air for a few seconds before he could get his toes back on the floor again. Each time this happened, the strain on his legs was alleviated but the discomfort that shot through his arms, shoulders, and especially his wrists was too much greater for him to endure.

John began moaning in misery through his gag; how much more of this torment was he going to have to go through?

After what seemed like an interminable period of time, John finally felt the hanging bar slowly descending again; allowing him to stand on his feet and take the strain off of his long-suffering arms at long last. The closer closet was unlocked from the other side and Will and Paul sauntered in. “Enjoy your exercise?” Will asked cheerfully.

John merely groaned.

“Well, you’ll get more exercise after lunch. Meanwhile, I’m sure you’ve missed *this*!” Will replied cheerfully as he held the shock collar up to John’s face. “I’ve gotten the battery charged while Tasha was making lunch. She’s just left, so let’s get you set up and have some lunch while we make plans for the afternoon.”

Will locked the shock collar around John’s neck while Paul freed John’s wrists from the hanging back and locked them again behind his back. Then Paul removed John’s gag while Will attached a leash onto John’s collar.

“There. Does that feel better?” Will asked kindly.

“Yeeeaa-aarrgghhh!” replied John. He tried answering in a quiet whisper, but this only came out as “Nnngghhh!”

“Hehehehe! I love the way you keep falling for that!” Will teased John as he tugged on his collar. “Come on; it’s time for lunch!”

John was led into the elevator, where the three rode to the first floor and then walked on into the kitchen. John was sat down into a kitchen chair, and Will freed one of his wrists from the handcuffs. He hoped this meant he’d be allowed to feed himself, but no such luck. The free end of his cuffs were merely looped around some of the spokes of the back of the chair and then locked back around his wrists again – tapping his hands against the back of his chair. Meanwhile Paul knelt behind him, tied a rope around the connecting chain of his handcuffs, pulled the free end underneath the chair, made a loop around his hobbles, and pulled backward until John’s feet were forced upward off the floor. When his feet were pulled as far up and as far back as they would go, the rope was looped around his handcuffs again and tied off.

Will and Paul then casually hand-fed John a lunch; the main course of which were ‘Sloppy Joes’. This naturally and often made a mess all over John’s face and bare front, but whenever this happened one or the other of his captors cheerfully wiped the mess off with a napkin.

“We’ve got an interesting freedom challenge to play with you today, John.” Will told him happily as fed him. “After lunch, we’re going to take you to the front door and let you step outside by yourself. You’ll have fifteen minutes to find somewhere to hide. If you can stay hidden until Tasha drives in to fix us dinner, we’ll let you go free and all your slavery is over and done with. If we catch you, you not only stay our slave but we get to torture you any way we like until Tasha arrives. So you’d better hide real good! You can hide anywhere you like that you can reach; even back inside the house if you can manage to sneak back inside without us catching you. But we have to actually catch you to win; not just see you. Any questions?”

John nodded, but not wanting to get shocked again merely mouthed his question. Will was tempted to pretend he couldn’t understand, but John had evidently been practicing. “What about the shock collar?” John was asking. “Won’t it zap me if I go too far?”

“We’ve shut off the control that makes it shock you if you go beyond the pre-set limits,” Will told him. “And don’t worry; we won’t cheat by turning it back on unexpectedly to flush you out of hiding. You can go as far as you want. You can even leave the estate if you like. In fact, if you manage that within the time limit, I’ll set you free then too!”

“Good luck trying to do *that!* Paul snickered tauntingly.

John didn’t bother trying to answer Paul’s taunt, as he basically had the same opinion Paul had about his ability to leave the estate himself. It would be difficult enough to get out past the gate or over the walls even if he were completely free; but with his hands cuffed behind him and his legs hobbled, it would be completely out of the question.

John began trying to make plans. This was a sizable estate with lots of places to hide; there were hundreds of trees or bushes alone he could hide behind. Of course, Will (and probably Paul to a lesser extent) knew this estate quite thoroughly, whereas John wasn’t familiar with the lay-out at all. They undoubtedly already had a system worked out to make it impossible for John to stay hidden from them all afternoon.

Yet what choice did he have? It was a chance for freedom, however slight. He had to take it and do his best to succeed. After nearly two full days of being a captive here, John was definitely getting tired of being completely at the mercy of these two! He wanted out of all this and to go home! Back to his dull, middle-class, uninteresting… SAFE home!

After lunch, John was freed from the chair, had his hands re-cuffed in front of him, and made to wash the dishes first before the day’s challenge game was to begin. Once he was finished, he expected his hands to be re-cuffed behind him. Instead, his wrists and hobbles were tethered together by a length of chain only three feet thick. John had the use of his hands in front of him, but he could not raise them more than an inch or so nor move them away from his body more than a few inches.

John found that he was to be faced with a couple of other liabilities too. The muzzle gag (thankfully the one with the smaller ball) was placed back on him; rendering him quite incapable of shouting for help (even assuming anyone was close enough to him at any time to hear him). He was also given no shoes to wear; his outdoor excursion would be made in his bare, unprotected feet. In fact, all he wore was his Speedos.

However, before he was set loose outside, Paul and Will carefully (and rather more thoroughly than seemed necessary) applied sunblock all over his unprotected body to prevent sunburn. They took their sweet time about it; apparently they derived some special pleasure rubbing the oily substance onto his slender frame. John made no protest about his however; for some reason he enjoyed it thoroughly himself! In fact, he closed his eyes and quietly moaned with pleasure at one point when Paul massaged sunblock onto his shoulder and arms, and Will massaged some onto his legs.

“It’s five minutes before twelve o’clock now,” Will told John as he placed a wristwatch onto John left hand. “The moment I close the door, go anywhere you want. Paul and I won’t be watching where you go to. At twelve fifteen we come out and start hunting for you. If you manage to leave the estate entirely or stay hidden from us until five o’clock, you’re free to go – though I hope of course you stay the rest of the summer anyway, as a guest rather than a slave. Anyway, good luck!”

Will closed the front door behind him. Then, as he was about to hurry off as fast as he could go, John heard it locked from the inside as well. John had no doubt that that every other door and window of the house would be locked against him as well; making it impossible to find any hiding places indoors.

In any case, John had no intention of hiding inside the house; he made straight for the front gate instead! If he could make it there before 12:15 and attract the attention of a passing car, all this could be over before Will and Paul came out of the house after him!

As he came within sight of the gate however, John began to wonder if he was making a mistake. He suddenly recalled how isolated the road was when he had come here Monday. It had taken him about ten minutes of bicycling from the time he got onto the road before he reached to gate from the other side, and in all that time he recalled not a single car passing him in either direction! There were certainly no pedestrians way out here, and no other houses had been in sight from the gate itself. Moreover, with the gate locked there was no way to leave the estate through there, and there was no way he could climb it or scale the wall cuffed and hobbled as he was!

It suddenly occurred to John that this plan was too obvious! Surely the gate area was the first place Will and Paul would look for him! John looked around, and his suspicions deepened. The entire area around the gate and all along the wall for at least thirty feet from it was completely devoid of cover! There would be no place for him to hide once the other two came outside to look for him! He’d be captured before another five minutes had passed, let alone five hours!

Realizing that his best chance would be to stay as far as he could from the gate and the house together – the two places John would be most expected to head for – John altered his course. He immediately hobbled off toward the nearest bushes he could find that would block any view of him from the direction of the house. Reaching them after only a couple of minutes, John crouched down to conceal himself and then – hunched as low as he could get and still make decent forward progress – he made a beeline straight for the concealment of the taller trees deeper within the estate.

He reached the trees and checked his watch; it read 12:10. He still had five minutes before Will and Paul emerged from the house. With rising hopes, John hurried deeper into the woods. With any luck, he could pick out a good hiding spot and never have to emerge from it at all until the time limit was up and he was a free boy again at last.

John continued moving as quickly as he could; seeking places where he’d be least likely to leave a trail of flattened grass or footprints in the dirt or mud. He was unsure how good Paul and Will were in tracking; but the fact that both were eagle scout rank in the boy scouts was probably a good indication that they were better at following a trail than John was at concealing his.

The watch said 12:14. Stepping on a branch, which made a loud cracking sound but did not hurt his foot any, John immediately decided to stop running, find a good spot to hide, and lay low so that the sound of his own movement would not help to give away his position. John looked around, saw a round, grass covered hole about seven feet in diameter and three feet deep behind a stand of bushes, and immediately chose it as his hiding spot. At least it would be a more comfortable place to rest than most he’d seen so far, gave him adequate cover, yet enable him to see if anyone was closing in on him.

John congratulated himself on eluding his captors so handily, and was sure he’d seen the last of them for at least an hour or two.

His relief lasted about five minutes. Then, coming straight toward him from the direction of the house, Will and Paul came into sight. Both had changed their clothes; and were now wearing outfits resembling the uniforms from the classic Star Trek series; with Will wearing a golden shirt and Paul wearing a blue one. Will held the remote in his left hand and was staring into it like a crewman from the USS Enterprise looking at his tricorder. In his right hand, he held what looked roughly like a Star Trek phaser pistol. Paul was carrying what looked like a phaser rifle, which took both hands for him to carry.

Paul had the sudden horrible feeling that somehow these two were tracking him with that remote, and that those phasers actually fired something rather than make funny noises and light up a small LED at the business end of the weapon! They were certainly not real guns firing bullets or even pellets, but John was sure that they fired *something*! And if he didn’t want to find out first-hand what it was, he’d better get moving!

John tried to retreat deeper into the foliage and angle off to the side, but the moment he began moving Will let out a shout, “There he is!” Both he and Paul aimed their weapons straight at John and fired. Zing! Zang! Splat! A glob of red paint colored the grass right in front of John’s foot, and another struck a tree trunk just to the other side of him from his pursuers! They were using paintball guns on him!

John suddenly slipped and fell. Before he could get up, his two pursuers caught up to him – their paint-firing weapons aimed straight at him.

“Aww, this was TOO easy, Will!” Paul suddenly complained.

“Yeah, you’re right” Will agreed as he lowered his weapon. “Using the electronic tracker in his collar makes this like shooting fish in a barrel. All right, we’re going to try this again. You get another fifteen minute head start. We’ll wait right here until the time is up. This time we won’t use the remote to track you with. Same deal as before. But we'll give you a better chance; since breathing hard with that gag on must be no fun! Stand still and I'll remove it."

Will took a key from his pocket and unlocked the muzzle gag. Paul gasped gratefully for air until the shock collar objected and gave him a second reason to gasp.

Will gave John a moment to catch his breath. "Okay, your head start begins now! Run!” he told John.

John ran as fast as the hobbles would let him. However, he doubted he had any better a chance than he had before. The chain tethering his wrists and ankles together made sounds that could be heard in this quiet estate from hundreds of feet away. The grass around here was tall and thick, and trampling it made a trail even a six year old girl could easily follow. He couldn’t move more than half as fast as Paul or Will. And he’d lost the advantage of surprising his pursuers by going deeper into the estate rather than toward the gate or trying to get back into the house.

But he still had to try.

Using every clever trick a desperate, hunted boy could think of, John sought to throw his pursuers off his track.

[MaxRoper]

I was a newbie when the old site went away and never had a chance to read this amazing tale. On and on it goes with apparently no respite for poor John. This is quite a piece of work, written well and scrupulously edited.

The length would've been overwhelming and a bit off-putting if I'd known when I started but not knowing what I was getting into, I just kept reading and I'm sure glad I did.

Goodness Mr Toddman. You're somethin'.

[Jason Toddman]

I was a newbie when the old site went away and never had a chance to read this amazing tale. On and on it goes with apparently no respite for poor John. This is quite a piece of work, written well and scrupulously edited.

The length would've been overwhelming and a bit off-putting if I'd known when I started but not knowing what I was getting into, I just kept reading and I'm sure glad I did.

Goodness Mr Toddman. You're somethin'.

Thank you for the encouragement. Would it discourage you to know though that this story has a total of 60 chapters? Meaning this re-telling is only about a quarter way done?

[Jason Toddman]

Part 17.

Mentally cursing the clinking and rattling of the chains that betrayed his location with every step he took, John hastened to get as far away from Will and Paul as he could – praying he could get out of earshot and find a new safe place to hide before his time limit was up again.

John had no false hopes however. He knew that Will and Paul were confident they could find him again even without the use of the tracker that had led them right to him before. He was sure that they had every right to be confident; their tracking skills were such that only a dog catching his scent would be able to follow him faster and more surely than they probably could. But the only other choice was to surrender and give them that much more time that they could torture him at their leisure.

He wondered what torture they had in mind for him. Whatever it was, he wanted to avoid it as much as possible!

Not really knowing where he was going, John continued to hurry away from his captors as fast as he could – seeking to find a place he could run along where he’d leave no tell-tale trail in the long grass that covered this part of the estate. A wind was starting to pick up and blowing through the leaves of the trees above him. John gave silent thanks for this – it would help camouflage the noise made by his betraying chains and give him a better chance of remaining undetected. The ground became harder and more barren as well; leaving fewer clues of his passage for his pursuers to follow. The major problem with this however was that there were relatively fewer places like underbrush for him to conceal himself behind or within as well.

Almost without warning he came within sight of part of the wall that bordered the estate. John decided to have a closer look, in case there was some way to scale or otherwise get by the wall here that he didn’t see in the portion close to the gate. However, when he got closer, he saw little hope to be had. The area near the wall here was just as clear of trees or other sizable objects here as it was near the gate. There were no tree branches over hanging the wall from above on either side of it. There were no gates, nor any place where an animal might have burrowed its way underneath the wall. Even if he were not hobbled and handcuffed, John doubted he could scale that wall and reach the ground on the other side without serious injury to himself. As it was; just getting to the top was out of the question.

With a low moan that briefly awakened the ire of the shock collar around his neck, John ran along the barren stretch of ground by the wall for a short space before running back into the woods at an angle. Here the trees were clustered more thickly together and there was much more underbrush. If this area was extensive enough, perhaps he could find a good-enough hiding spot and dig in before his pursuers got into sight.

John almost ran into the small duck pond before he saw it.

Fortunately there were no ducks here at the moment to take fright and give away his position to the others – who surely were on their way after him by now. But now John faced a quandary. It was much too open here; there was no cover to be had here. He’d had to retreat the way came, or circle around, or…

John stared at the numerous reeds that lined much of the shore of the pond. Dim memories of a movie he’d watched a long while ago suddenly came to him. In it, someone hiding from pursuers took a hollow reed into his mouth and used it as a snorkel while he was submerged deep enough underwater to keep from being seen. His pursuers ran right on past him, and the good guy being chased eventually got away. It was only a movie, John realized; he had no idea if such a crazy idea would actually work. But, at this point, what did he have to lose?

Thankful that Will had removed his gag, John snapped off a fresh reed (not at all easy the way his hands were bound!) and examined it. Oh no; the darned thing wasn’t hollow at all! So much for *that* idea! He tossed aside the reed and was just about to try skirting the pond’s edge when he suddenly noticed an old, dried out reed lying to one side of him. It was about three feet long, half an inch wide, hard and almost wooden – and it had a hollowed out space half as wide as a dime! John wasn’t sure he’d be able to get enough air through such a thing, but he was willing to give it a try!

John ran along the edge of the pond and found a suitably dense patch of reeds he felt he could hide within. However, he kept running well past this patch, and then on into the pond in a direction that would imply to any pursuer that he was taking a shortcut to the wooded area beyond. Once he was waist deep into the water though, John curved around and headed back toward the patch of reeds from their watery side. He found a place where the reeds were so thick he could barely see the shore line where he’d observed them from the landward side. Perfect! If the others followed him this far, they wouldn’t be able to see him easily even if he kept his head above water. If he could stay submerged whenever they were nearby, he’d have it made!

Just as he found what seemed like a suitable spot where the water was about waist deep, John’s ears suddenly pricked up! Voices! They’d managed to follow him this far already? If he hadn’t hit upon this idea, they’d probably have found him inside of another ten minutes, he decided. Taking a few deep breaths, he placed one end if the tube into his mouth, pinched his nose shut with his other hand, closed his eyes, started breathing through the tube to get used to it, and then leaned backward until he was floating on his back in the water. Then, carefully, slowly, John let himself be submerged within the murky pond water, with reeds growing all around him. He let himself slowly sink until he was lying on the bottom of the pond bed, with the other end of the reed clearing the water by mere inches. Then John did his best to remain perfectly still so that the reed did not move in a way that might attract attention to it from his pursuers.

It was difficult at first to keep his breathing normal in the excitement, but within a minute John was able to keep his breathing calm and regular. At about the same time he could hear Will and Paul’s voices talking together from all to short a distance away; muffled by the water he was submerged in but still clearly enough to make out some of the words.
John strove to keep his breathing through his mouth even and regular while keeping water from leaking into his nostrils, and managed to (mostly) control his panic. With any luck they wouldn’t see him and would go blundering off into the woods beyond the pond in a vain attempt to find him there.

The sounds of their voices grew fainter and more indistinct; they were still following his false trail. Now if only they didn’t figure out where he’d really gone until the time limit was up. However, considering that they still had nearly four hours to go, John wasn’t taking any chances. Even when he no longer heard the others talking, he remained perfectly still for as long as he could.

John wanted to come up for air rather than depend upon this frail – and thankfully so far watertight – reed, but decided to stay underwater as much as possible. The less often he had to surface, the better his chances of remaining undetected were.

John suddenly noticed a slow dribble of water inside his mouth. He tightened his lips around the reed as tightly as he dared, but this didn’t seem to help. In fact, the dribbling of water was steadily increasing. Before much longer, it became obvious to John that his frail breathing tube was coming apart! Belatedly he realized that he should have sought for several other reeds to use as replacements while he’d still had the time. He decided to surface before the reed broke completely and caused him to take water into his lungs.

John broke the surface as slowly as he dared in order to minimize the chances of being seen or overheard. Wiping the water and the hair out of his eyes, he looked hastily around. Neither Paul nor Will was in sight. However there was no way of telling where they were or whether or not they’d come back to the point where they’d lost his trail. Paul waded along the edge of the pond in the same direction he’d gone before when he had backtracked and looked for more dried-out, hollow reeds he could use as breathing tubes. However, he saw nothing that looked even remotely as suitable as the one he’d found before; apparently finding just that one was sheer good luck on his part.

Realizing that staying hidden underwater was no longer a tenable option, John tried a different tack; he’d follow his own – and his pursuers’ – back-trail back the way they had all come. Maybe this would throw them off the scent long enough to find another good spot to hide! Looking around carefully to make sure he was not being seen, John slowly waded out of the pond (seeking to avoid making any splashing noises), re-entered the woods at the same point he’d emerged from them, and then hastened back the way he’d come as fast as he could. Within moments he was out of sight of the pond and within the concealment of the woods once again.

John was congratulating himself on a job well done when Will stepped from behind a tree to the left of the path ahead of him and Paul emerged from behind another tree on his right. Both held their ‘phasers’ pointed ahead and downward and fired. Two globs of bright red paint splattered the ground little more than a yard in front of John’s feet. From the sound of the impact, they hit hard enough to have really hurt like Hell had they struck any part of John’s body instead.

“Halt!” Will commanded; unnecessarily as John had already stopped dead in his tracks on sight of them! Both boys now held their paint guns pointed directly at John’s body. If his estimate of how fast those paintballs went was even vaguely accurate, John desperately did not wish to be shot by them. He halted; he would have raised his hands in the air in surrender if they were not tethered to his waist by that chain!

“Too bad, John; you’re our prisoner once again!” Paul said to him gleefully. “Come along quietly and we won’t torture you *too* badly!”

John stood quietly while Paul placed that horrible muzzle gag back on him while Will re-connected the leash to John’s collar and proceeded to lead him along back toward the house. Paul followed along only a few feet behind with his paint-gun rifle aimed steadily at John’s back. He reminded John of this every so often by letting the business end of his weapon poke gently into the small of John’s back every so often. Other than this however, John was not taunted or abused in any way; Will and Paul merely talked happily like two hunters who had successfully bagged a deer instead of like two guards escorting an escaped prisoner.

“I knew he must be circling around when we lost his trail,” Paul joked to Will. “There was no other way he could have gone without our catching up to him!”

“It might have worked if he’d been much faster about it,’ added Will. “He came along just as we got into position. Another few minutes and he might have gotten away!”

John groaned quietly into his gag; he should have gone the other way after all!

John thought he would be taken directly back to the house, but he was mistaken. Instead, he was taken to a small tree within sight of the house and bid to stand directly in front of it. “Don’t move!” Paul commanded him, poking the small of his back with the paint gun again for emphasis, as Will walked up to him with the keys to his handcuffs in hand. John remained perfectly unmoving as Will momentarily released one of his wrists, forced his hands around the tree he faced and upward above eye level, and then re-cuffed him with his arms around the tree. When John tried to lower his arms, he found them trapped in position by an unseen branch underneath his wrists on the other side of the tree.

Then, before John knew what was happened, a cloth was lowered across his eyes from behind him and secured in place at the back of his head. He was blindfolded. He would have asked what was going to happen were it not for the fact that he was still gagged.

“Ready, firing squad!” Will called loudly from thirty feet behind him. Understandably alarmed, John reflexively turned his head to look backward, but of course could see nothing. Surely they weren’t going to do what sounded like they were doing!

“Aim!” Will’s voice called again.

Panicking, John squealed and thrashed in his bonds, but of course to no avail.

“Fire!” Will commanded.

Two globs of paint struck John’s bare back and splattered; they didn’t hurt as much as John thought they would but still felt worse than bee stings. He squealed even louder in his gag until the shock collar forced him to desist, and he struggled harder than ever.

“Ready! Aim! Fire!” Will called again pitilessly, and two more globs of paint struck with tormenting force between John’s shoulder blades. He tried to plead for mercy through his gag, but what muffled sounds he made before the shock collar forced him to desist were incomprehensible. Though his distress was obvious, it was totally ignored.

“Ready! Aim! Fire!” Will called again and again, and each time two more blazing points of agony could be felt somewhere in the back of John’s body. He never knew where he’d be struck next; sometimes it would be his back; sometimes his legs would be the target. However, he was not struck in the back of the head even once; even Will and Paul had limits on how much risk they’d put John through as they casually shot him again and again with their Star Trek designed paintball guns.

“Quit blubbering like a baby!” Paul commanded him at one point. “My God, what a wuss. You think it hurts NOW? These things are firing at the slowest speed they were designed to! They have several settings, you know. This is only setting one we’re using. So hush up and be thankful, or we just might amp these things up to higher settings!

John wasn’t feeling particularly thankful, but he did his best to restrain his reactions as he was shot with paintball after paintball.

“Hehe! Just look at all that ‘blood’!” Paul laughed.

John squealed with sudden alarm. Blood?

“He means the paint, dummy!” Will taunted John after noticing his reaction. “Your back and the backs of your legs are almost completely covered with it!”

They were covered with bruises too, John was quite certain.

Will and Paul continued firing paintballs at John until they finally ran out of ammo.

“Well, it’s past two o’clock! Let’s get him back home and scrub all that paint off of him!” Will suggested to Paul.

“That ought to be fun!” Paul commented with a derisive laugh that convinced John that it would be anything BUT fun for *him*!