Tarzan & G.I. Jane (Complete)

Part 28

I try to open my eyes. I'm groggy and sore. My eyes are swollen and I'm barely able to open it. I look around at the now familiar tent. I don't know how much time has passed. I can't really tell the time of day in the tent in this dense jungle. I am repeatedly questioned and beaten before passing out. But even this is not on a schedule and I never know how long I've been asleep. I don't know if hours are passing or if days have gone by. I am numb to all of this though. My brain only processes pain at this point and even that is starting to lose its effect. 

I close my eyes and imagine I am sitting on the couch with all the guys playing video games, I am floating in the water staring at the green canopy listening to the waterfall, I am laying in bed wrapped up in Tarzan's arms as he kisses the back of my neck. I am happy.

I am surprised when someone steps into the tent. My body or brain don't even respond to the sight of the brute who has been my abuser for however long now. It must be time for another questioning. Don't they realize yet I don't have answers to their questions and if I did I wouldn't tell them. 

He walks towards me with his usual cocky smirk. If I had any emotion anymore my skin could crawl but like everything else I have become numb to his dark aura. I noticed two things at once. One, that Mr. Lynch and Dr. Grant are not here to ask me the same things again and two, the man is releasing my shackles. As soon as they are off I grab my sore wrists. They are bruised and there is dry blood.

I don't think "Lurch" over here is freeing me but I might get the chance to run. But to do that I need out of this tent and who knows what's out there. When I am conscious I can hear people and stuff going on but I can't put my finger on what it is.

Well leaving the tent is not "Lurch's" plan. He shoves me down on the large cot like bed. I have zero energy and my brain doesn't even register what is happening. He grabs my shorts and aggressively pulls them down as he flips me over at the same time. I don't scream or fight it. I have lost that ability to feel afraid. 

His hands slide up my body and start to remove my shirt. I close my eyes. I don't want to witness what is happening to me. 

"What the hell is going on here?!"

I open my eyes and watch Dr. Grant pull "Lurch" away from me. 

"Get the hell out of here before I tell Lynch what I just walked in on! And you, get dressed!"

I sat up and pulled my shirt down and my pants up. Without a word Dr. Grant firmly grabbed my arm. He led me out of the tent. I took my first chance to look around. We were still in the jungle like I thought but there were groups of men working. From what I could guess, they were mining something. I didn't get a good look before I was shoved into another tent. This one was a lot nicer and bigger. I looked around and found Mr. Lynch sitting behind a desk. 

"Please Miss Sawyer sit." He smiles up at me.

I don't take a step any closer. He notices my defiance and smirks. 

"You may stand if you wish. I guess you have been sitting for a while now. Wherever you're comfortable."

Like he cares if I'm comfortable. I don't respond so he goes on. 

"I guess you finally got a look around on your way over. I should thank you."

He smiles when he sees the confused look on my face.

"You haven't figured it out yet, I guess. Dr. Grant over there found our most profitable mine here when he was scanning the jungle up in your plane. I don't completely understand how it all works but I can't deny it does. When I heard the plane crashed you couldn't believe my disappointment. I had to find a new partner and another way to find some more land to mine. To my relief, I hear he is alive. And you should be thanking me as well. If it wasn't for me pushing for a recovery of our LiDar research you may have never been rescued yourself."

As my brain is slow to take in what he is telling me my stomach tightens and I fight the urge to vomit. 

"So what you are telling me is we almost died so you could look for a place to illegally dig up the jungle for some...whatever it is you have those men digging up out there."

"Coltan my dear, and the Congo is one of the few places it's found. It's very popular these days. I sell it faster than I can mine it. And yet no one wants me to mine it because they don't want me to touch their precious jungle."

He rolls his eyes like the thought is insane. Again the need to vomit surfaces but I fight it down. His eyes drop down to my wrists. 

"I do wish there was another way to contain you. But you just can't lock a tent like you can a room. And I can't have you running off and telling your military buddies about my setup here. At least not until we are done and ready to move on. Maybe by then we will have come up with some kind of agreement to keep your mouth shut in the future."

He nodded his head and Dr. Grant grabbed my arm again. I was forced back into the same tent and the shackles were put back around my wrists. After he left I released whatever bit of tension was left in my body. My body slumped forward in the chair. I watched as dark spots appeared on the ground from my tears.