Chapter 2: Chloe's Capture
"Emily!" the three girls shouted in unison. They were standing at the edge of the woods, still hoping to complete their mission without going in. When no answer came, they realized there was no choice but to push forward.
Stepping into the cool, green shade of the trees almost felt like stepping into another world. Chloe hugged Amanda's arm in trepidation, while the latter patted her reassuringly. Jenny looked around in wonder; to her eye, these meager woods looked so much like a forest from a storybook. She never imagined that a place like this could exist so close to her dull suburban neighborhood. Chloe's anxious mood didn't last long after she got used to it. It was peaceful, not nearly as full of creepy-crawlies or poisonous plants as she pictured.
"I think we'll be ok if we stay on the path." reasoned Chloe, lifting her skirt gingerly as she stepped over a rotting log. There was no sound other than the water trickling from some unseen stream over the dull roar of distant traffic from Banner Avenue. Out of an instinctual desire not to disturb the peace of the forest, the girls spoke in hushed voices. Chloe rested one hand on the trunk of a tree, after quickly inspecting it for hazards, and tried to peer through the forest. "I think the place where Emily fell is that way... I think if we keep going this way, we should get there."
"If I know my sister, she won't have stayed put for long. But it seems like as good of a place to start looking for her as any," said Amanda. The path to which Chloe referred could barely be called that. Just a strip of dirt packed flat over time by the movement of beast and boy, relatively free of brambles and low-hanging branches.
Jenny shook her head. "I don't like it. That's exactly what they'll be expecting..." she looked up at the canopy. "They could be watching us from the treetops, the whole path could be booby-trapped..."
"Who?" asked Chloe, perplexed. "You're not still on about Tommy and his loser Banner Street friends, are you?" She sighed. Most of the time, she and Amanda had to be the ones pulling Jenny away from danger. Jenny's rare cautious moods would have been a welcome change if they were ever about anything real. "You really think any of them could build a trap?"
"I just... I just have a bad feeling, is all." Jenny answered, "I mean, this is their territory, and Tommy is... look, all I know is, if you underestimate them, you're going to regret it. You know, if we disappeared out here, how long do you think it would take anyone to even look for us? Our bodies would..."
Chloe huffed. She was already at the limit of her patience, being out there in the dirty, half-tamed woodlands where she knew of a hundred ways they could get hurt. As sure as she was that Jenny was wrong, she already had enough to worry about without Jenny's morbid fantasies. "Look, we don't have time for this. It's the fastest way we have to get where Emily fell, ok?"
Amanda, usually the first to try to keep the peace between the two of them, had been silent through most of the disagreement. Truthfully, she could've done without enough of both girls' fear-mongering. She was having enough trouble holding it together herself. Only Amanda's greater fear of what would happen if she went home without her little sister kept her from turning back. Jenny didn't even have to ask to know she'd be outvoted, and so the girls reluctantly continued down the path, with Chloe and a wary Jenny in the lead and Amanda bringing up the rear behind them.
Suddenly, Jenny's hand shot across Chloe's chest, blocking her from further progress. "See?!" she hissed, "What'd I tell you?"
Chloe flinched at the suddenness of the gesture. Still, her startlement turned into annoyance when she realized what had provoked it. "It's a piece of rope," she said humorlessly. "Would you just..."
"No! It's a trap... see that loop at the end? If you step in it it'll tighten and catch you..." Jenny explained in a harsh whisper.
"How? Magic?" retorted Chloe in an annoyed voice. "Which of the boys do you think is smart enough to rig up a trap like that?" To prove her point, she picked up a stick and prodded at the looped piece of braided jute. She nudged it one way, then the other, then side to side. "See? Nothing." she declared firmly. She hopped right into the center of the loop. "Oh no!" she shouted sarcastically, "I'm being... AIIIIEEE!!"
Her sarcastic rant was broken not only by her own scream but by a shout of triumph from deep in the nearby treetops. Two dark figures leaped down from the branches, each holding on to the other end of the rope with both hands. With the tree branch acting as a pulley, this pulled Chloe's feet out from under her and made her fall butt-first into the soft dirt. Before she or her friends could react, the two attackers began to pull, causing her skirt to drag against the ground and reveal the edge of her sky-blue panties. She desperately reached for her ankles, but soon found herself lifted off the ground and hanging in the air. It took all her effort to keep her skirt up.
Jenny lost no time. Now convinced beyond any doubt that it wasn't safe out in the open, she immediately dashed for the tree line, dropping to her hands and knees, heedless of the dangers that Chloe had warned her about. Thorns and branches scratched at her skin and clothes but did nothing to break her determination. She knew she'd be no help to anyone if she couldn't help herself.
Seeing Jenny disappear into the bushes made Amanda's resolve waver as well. There was no time to make a logical decision. All that she could think of at the moment was that it was down to her to find her sister, and something was standing in her way. She ran forwards, hoping to slip past the ambush, pushing Chloe's screamed pleas not to leave her alone. The larger of the two figures moved to stop her as she passed by, but the smaller one stopped him.
"Wait. We'll get her later. We have this one to deal with." said the shorter boy. Chloe recognized his voice as Tommy's.
"Ok, ok. Got it. Stick to the plan.", came the answer. Chloe recognized the voice as Alejandro's. She didn't know him well, but she had seen him around her school. Alejandro was about the same age as Chloe but could easily be mistaken for older due to his height and build. He was a hard one to figure out; he didn't open up easily to most people.
Seeing the two boys up close made Chloe shudder at the lengths they had taken to conceal themselves. Clad only in dark-colored shorts, they had smeared a layer of mud all over their skin from head to toe. She gagged internally at the thought of being touched by them in such a dirty state, and her stomach twisted as she saw them coming toward her. "Don't touch me!" she shrieked, "Get me down from here! You're gonna be in-MMMMPH!" Her protests were cut short by a strong hand clamped over her mouth.
Alejandro held her while Tommy worked to lower her down. A mix of shock, fear, and disgust kept her still while the boys converged on her. There were girls in Chloe's class who would have given anything to be squeezed like this between a shirtless Tommy and a shirtless Alejandro. At that moment, Chloe would've gladly traded places with them. Instead, she held back tears as they pulled her blouse over her head and her skirt down to her ankles. Every scrape of dried mud against her own tender skin unnerved her to her core.
Tommy carried off her clothes under his arm out of her sight. It wasn't until he returned with several hanks of rope in hand that she finally found the strength to resist. She screamed uselessly into the strong hand over her mouth, flailing and kicking desperately. Tommy quickly sprang into action at Alejandro's shouted instruction. Their cooperation was chaotic and messy, but Alejandro seemed to know what he was doing. Working together, passing the struggling girl back and forth between them as needed, they managed to secure her arms behind her in a strict box tie. The hand over her mouth was replaced with another piece of rope, braided thickly like a horse's bit and bound securely behind her head. Next, her ankles were tied and joined together, but loosely enough that she could still take small steps. Finally, a makeshift rope leash was fitted around her neck.
Chloe was humiliated beyond belief. Her cheeks burned red as she felt her captor's leering eyes on her bare body, adorned with muddy fingerprints where they had manhandled her. She stared furiously, her eyes darting between the two boys as they tugged gently on the leash. Her feet remained stubbornly planted until a sharp smack on her bottom persuaded her to shuffle along slowly. She kept pace with the boys as Tommy led the way and Alejandro followed behind, terrified with each step that, with her legs hobbled, she was going to trip and fall face-first.
"I can't believe that worked." laughed Alejandro. "How did you even know they'd be there?"
"What can I say?" answered Tommy, turning around to flash a quick grin. "It's a gift. And Chloe here never misses a chance to prove she's right, isn't that true, Chloe?" He pinched her cheek mockingly. "Hold her still. We're getting close to the base. It's time for the blindfold.
Chloe grunted into her gag as Alejandro roughly pulled back on her hair. "Remember use the whole strip." he cautioned Tommy. Sure enough, Chloe's eyes were soon obscured by several layers of a long, soft strip of cloth tied securely around the back of her head.
Chloe felt sick. It was bad enough having to walk hobbled, tied, and exposed, but now she couldn't see anything but black. She felt utterly helpless, her imagination filling the darkness around her with all sorts of terrible dangers. Fortunately, her captors seemed to sense her unease, and they each took one of her upper arms to guide her. Left with no choice but to trust them, she gave in, feeling almost grateful for the commanding presence of the two boys.
---
Chloe's mortifying forced march came to a sudden halt. She could feel the warm sun on her bare skin, suggesting that the party had entered a clearing. Without a word, the blindfold was ripped away from her. She winced, blinded for a moment by the intensity of the sunlight.
"Elliot! Get out here," cried Tommy, "We got one of them."
As her vision cleared, Chloe could see the grinning face of Elliot. As usual, he was appropriately overdressed for the occasion, with a vest over his figure-hugging long-sleeve polo shirt and jeans. A stylish cap tilted slightly to one side sat across his neatly-parted cropped hair. "Thank goodness," he answered, "I'd hate to think you two took that mud bath for nothing. Is that Chloe? I must say that outfit suits you." He was standing on a wooden platform built into one of the trees. A simple rope bridge, barely more than a tightrope with handrails, connected it to a more elaborate treehouse. That treehouse was painted in a complicated geometric pattern, undoubtedly the work of Elliot's steady hand. "Well, get her up here." he continued, "And please tell me you're going to clean up before coming back inside..."
"Yeah..." agreed Tommy as he and Alejandro worked to muscle the bound girl up to the platform, "Might as well. It's starting to itch. I don't think even those girls would fall for the same trick twice." Before long, with Elliot's hand around her chest bindings and Alejandro's hand pushing on her panty-clad bottom, Chloe was lifted up onto the platform. "Remember what we agreed. Don't let her get away, and don't let her talk before I get back."
Elliot nodded. He positioned Chloe in a sitting position against the tree and loosely lashed her to it over her existing bondage. Crouching down in front of her, he grinned wickedly, "Looks like it's just you and me, sugar." he taunted, giving her exposed tummy a little tickle that made her jump and squirm, "This is going to be fun..."