Basic Instinct
The lanky brunette grinned over his shoulder and raised his hand in a goodbye gesture to his friends, who were climbing into their cars as he hurried off down the street. After school they had started a pickup game of basketball at the old courts in the park, and they had played until the sky went dark and the streetlights had flickered to life. William pulled his leather jacket closer around his thin frame and glanced around, eyes studying the darkened streets; something felt off to him, almost as though there were someone hovering in the shadows. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up and he had set a brisk pace for himself that was bordering on a jog. Of all his friends he was the only one without a driver’s license, his parent’s hadn’t wanted him banging up their cars, so they hadn’t taken the time to teach him to drive yet. Normally he would get a ride from his friends, generally from Sisky or Chizz, but tonight both of them had hurried off, they had apparently forgotten to study for their English test tomorrow, so they had to get home. William only lived a few blocks from the park, but a few blocks at night seemed more like a few miles to him.
He heard the scuff of shoes behind him, but before his brain could tell his body to get a move on, he was yanked into the alley he had been passing. His body was slammed against the brick wall of a building and his arms were held tight behind him, his head making a hollow thud as it connected with the bricks. William’s breathing was coming in short gasps and his eyes flicked back and forth between the two men who had assaulted him and who were now holding him against his will. They were both bigger than he was, in both height and body mass. He tried to jerk forward and free himself from their iron grip, but it was blatantly obvious that his attempts were futile. “Help me! Someone please!” he yelled, his desperate cries cutting through the empty night air as he lunged forwards yet again, already knowing no one was going to come save him.
“Jesus Christ! Shut the little bastard up!” one of the men said. The other, obviously the lesser in command, nodded, pulled a ratty bandana out of his pocket and spun William roughly around so that his nose was scratching against the wall. The cloth tasted sour in William’s mouth as the man gagged him, it felt like it was suffocating him; he was going to die here, this was going to be the end of him. Tears pricked at his eyes as the men pulled him deeper into the alley, further away from life and escape. Sitting in the back of an alley was a Ford truck that under any other circumstance would have appeared to be harmless. The cap to the bed of the truck was on, creating what, in William’s frantic mind, appeared to be a cage. He fought back against the arms carrying him forward, eyes wide and body twisting in all directions, trying anything to save himself. The large men lifted him and threw him unceremoniously into the back of the truck. His body hit the floor hard, his head following soon after, his consciousness slipped away as his small body crumpled.
__________________________________________
When William’s senses came flooding back to him he was in a cold, dark room, illuminated only by a feeble sliver of light across the room. The light was around floor level, presumably sliding in from the crack in the door to William’s little hell. It was freezing cold, he had goose bumps on his arms and was shivering uncontrollably, although, that could have also been due to the raw terror he was experiencing. He swallowed hard, his throat felt dry and scratchy, but to his relief, his gag was no longer present, but neither was his leather jacket. William gingerly brought his thin fingers up to his head, pressing them to the back where there was some dried blood and a bruise had surely formed. He wiped a tear out of his eye and fought down a wave of panic that was starting to make him nauseous.
It felt like centuries before the door cracked open, and to be honest, William wished it had taken longer than it did, he wasn’t ready to face his captors, he didn’t know if he’d ever be ready to do that. The large man who had gagged him sauntered into the room, hovering over William in a threatening manner, making the sixteen-year-old boy cower in fear. He reached down, his fingers gripping William’s thin arm, which already had bruises from the earlier iron grip, and yanked the boy to his feet. William could barely see the man’s face, even with the door open the light seemed unable to fully penetrate the room, but he could clearly see the malicious glint in his captor’s eyes, the eyes that were now examining him, looking over every inch of his body. A wicked smirk split across the man’s face as he noticed William trembling in his grip, he stepped back and looked at William, “clothes, off, now.” He said, in a tone that made it very clear that he was going to get what he wanted.
“W-what?! No!” William stammered, trying to walk backwards as quickly as possible, but only succeeding in falling back to the cold stone floor. The man grabbed William again, this time by the throat, and yanked him back up into a standing position.
“I said, take them off! Unless you want me to kill you right here and right now, you’re going to obey orders.” William’s fingers were shaking as he pulled his T-shirt over his head, revealing pale and fragile skin. He paused for a moment, fearful brown eyes studying the man watching him, trying to see if there would be a change of heart, if there was some way he wouldn’t have to do this. When the man raised an eyebrow and lifted his gun, indicating that he was in no way intending to take back his order, William dropped his hands down to his belt, struggling to get enough control over his fingers to undo the buckle. After he slipped his belt from the belt loops on his jeans he swallowed hard, then moved his hands down to his jeans. He fumbled over his jean’s button, much to his captor’s amusement, for several seconds before he finally got out of his jeans, kicking them off his ankles. He hesitantly moved his hands to the elastic waistband of his boxers, but he was stopped by the man’s voice, “hey kid, keep those, no one wants to see that.” Then, before William could even register what had happened the man had slammed his hands into William’s chest, knocking the smaller boy into the wall then sending him tumbling to the floor. “I want to make this very clear, you’re no better than an animal, actually, that’s all you are, a pathetic beast, an animal.” His harsh words rang in Williams ears. “Animals don’t need clothes.” The man chuckled, stooping to grab William’s clothes on his way out the door. The small teenager was left shaking and curled up in a sad little ball on the floor.
The next few hours for William, his mind drifted to Chizzy and Sisky, who would probably be blaming themselves for his disappearance, he wondered if he’d ever get to see his two friends again, he wanted more than anything to be in Sisky’s basement, just playing pool or strumming his guitar. He thought of his parents, his mom was probably bawling her eyes out, frantically calling everyone they knew to try and find him. William had a sinking feeling that no one was going to find him here, and whatever happened, he knew he wasn’t going to get to leave this place without scars, that if he made it out alive that he would never be the same boy that had been playing basketball in the park less than a day ago. He started to wonder if he had done something to deserve this, if maybe he was no better than an animal after all.
When the door opened again William let out an involuntary whimper of fear and tried to back away from the man who had appeared there. The man stepped into the room with a laugh, when the man moved closer William could see an animal on a chain. It seemed like a wolf, but it could have had some dog mixed in, either way, it was big, unfriendly, and letting out low growls even with a muzzle on. William’s wide brown eyes remained on the dog, watching it as it sized him up, probably trying to decide whether or not it was going to kill him.
The man laughed and held out his hand, which was gripping onto a chunk of meat. The meat didn’t appear to be cooked, and if it was, then it was rare, very rare. William’s stomach lurched, he had always hated the sight of raw meat. “W-what’s That for?” William stuttered out, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.
“If you want to eat, this is the only thing you’re going to get, meat for the animals. You get to either eat this or starve yourself to death, personally, I don’t care which option you choose,” he said in a cold voice. William felt queasy at the thought of the raw meat passing his lips, he couldn’t imagine actually swallowing that, but he could feel his stomach protesting, he hadn’t gotten a chance to eat the day he was abducted, and he hadn’t eaten since then, but he was nowhere near hungry enough to eat that. “From now on you’re going to learn to fight for your food, and you’re going to learn that in the animal world, its kill or be killed,” the man said with a grin, William watched as the man threw the raw meat towards him, it hit his bare leg and William recoiled, curling his legs tighter to himself.
The man reached down and removed the muzzle from the animal, which William had decided really was a wolf. It snapped its teeth at him and pulled on the chain, and suddenly, the man released it. Within a second it was on the meat, ripping it up and eating it in a mere three bites, then it turned on William, jumping on him and attacking him, clearly trying to kill him. It was tearing at the skin on his chest, William felt like it was ripping him apart, finally the man grabbed the monster’s chain and pulled him off William. He smirked down at the injured boy, “that’s what your going to learn soon, its kill or be killed, you’re going to have to learn to protect yourself and feed yourself, that is, if you ever want to see your family again, if not, then you’ll die, a pathetic little animal.” With that the man left William lying curled up, blood starting to pool on the floor around him, leaking from gashes across his chest. The tears slipped uncontrollably from his eyes as he lay there, shaking and broken, thinking about what was yet to come, about how eventually he would have to give in and play the game their way.