Captured By The Dragon
Episode 9

Patara

“Alright now?” He asked as I pulled away from him. His smirk didn’t lower from his face in the slightest. I wiped my sleeve across my face to get the feeling of his tongue off me. “Don’t be afraid. They’ll pay for that soon.”

My brows furrowed at his words. I hadn’t yet told him what happened, but he knew. Did he see the men violate me and did nothing?

“Why do you say that?” I asked quietly.

Before he could answer, I heard the sound of boots crunching against the grass. I quickly turned and moved behind Dylan as a familiar man came out of the trees. The man that forced me in the back of his van, but now he had two different men with him.

My body started to shake violently as he moved closer. His eyes looked me up and down with a slight glare in his gaze as if he wanted to strangle me. Dylan moved a little more in front of me to cut off his gaze.

What was he doing here? I glanced up at Dylan but he didn’t look surprised in the least. Every inch of me turned ice cold as if I had been frozen to my core. Was this Dylan’s plan all along? To deliver me to the Snake King himself?

“We’re running out of time to deliver the goods. Is there a short cut we can take?” He asked, careful to keep his eyes leveled with Dylan’s.

Dylan gripped my hand as if he was trying to reassure me. It took everything in me not to yank it out of his grasp.

“There is. I wouldn’t recommend taking it.” Dylan said.

A small shuffle in the trees brought my attention to the young girl from the van. Her wrists were still bound in front of her, but her blindfold and gag were gone. She looked so small and sickly, my heart shattered in my chest.

I glanced up at Dylan who looked at the young girl with a bit of indifference. His eyes locked with mine and he gestured towards the girl and that was all I needed.

I kept my head down as I hurried past the older man and went straight for the weak girl. Still, I could feel his eyes follow me. She could barely walk straight, I knew she was deeply dehydrated and probably starving. I helped her towards the stream and quickly started to feed her the cool water that she drank just as desperately as I did.

“We don’t mind a rough path, we can keep up.” The older man finally responded. I cringed when I heard them near us as if we were dogs that needed watching.

The young girl trembled and looked at me with wide, terrified eyes. I wished I could tell her that it was going to be okay. But I knew I would only be feeding her lies.

“As long as you keep up, you’ll get there on time.” Dylan responded. He sounded closer to me than the man was.

“What—what is happening?” The little girl whispered once she had enough water. Her voice sounded hoarse and raw as if it was hard for her to talk. “I want to go home.”

Tears formed in the girl’s eyes and I quickly tried to wipe them away before the men saw. “Don’t be afraid.” I whispered as the men behind me discussed routes. “We will escape, don’t be afraid.”

This only seemed to make her more afraid. She glanced at the men who watched us like animals. The little girl buried her head against my shoulder and closed her eyes tightly as if she was trying to disappear from the world.

“Will the police save us?” She whispered.

I said nothing, all I could do was nod. Tears prickled my eyes as I looked down at her young face. I knew she was younger than me, but this poor girl looked as if she was only 10 years old. Still a child that should be playing with dolls, not being sold as a s*x slave.

My heart cracked in my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back slowly. I flinched when Dylan knelt next to us and handed us a bag that smelled like sugar. I couldn’t help myself, I ripped it open and revealed a large sugary sweet bread. The little girl sat up straighter and I gave her the bigger half before I dug into mine. I hadn’t realized how bad my hunger pains were until I finally put something in my stomach to relieve them.

—

The sun was high and burning hot as we treaded through the forest. Dylan kept close to my side as if he was a buffer between me and the traffickers. I wrapped my arms around myself as we walked deeper through the trees. Just when I thought Dylan had gotten me free of the traffickers, I was right back in their grasp.

The ground became much more wet and muddy the deeper we traveled. He came to a halt in front of a wide, swamp like area that didn’t look safe to travel through in the least. Dylan smirked at the men over his shoulder as he took in their confused expressions.

“Heads up, men. You won’t want to misstep this path.”

“Uh—can’t we go around?” One of the men asked hesitantly. I didn’t want to agree with him, but I couldn’t help it. It seemed as if we would all die if we tried to cross the disgusting green swamp—who knew what lingered beneath the surface.

“Not unless you want to add another day to your journey.” Dylan said in a bright tone. He took my hand and gave me a look that told me I had to follow his every step.

Without waiting for their decision, he stepped on the first stone and I quickly did the same.

“Half of you go alone that stone.” Dylan pointed to the one a few feet away. The older man gripped the young girl and followed behind us while the other two men went for the other rock.

Dylan gripped my waist and picked me up as he leapt to the next rock. I glanced back to see the older man carry the young girl in the same fashion, but his face was focused and concentrated with a bit of fear beneath.

I glanced over to see the other two men wobble and shake each time they stepped on another rock. Dylan glanced back at them too.

“Hey, careful over there,” He called. My skin prickled with goosebumps. “One of you should come over here on my rock.”

The two men gave nervous glances to the other and practically fought to be the one near Dylan. When they both leapt across, I saw Dylan move just slightly to bump against the one that couldn’t stand straight. The man fell face first into the swamp and a rumble shook the surface instantly.

By the time the man had gotten his head above water, I knew something was coming for him. Far off from the other side of the lake, a ripple broke the surface of the water and came straight for him faster than the man could hope to swim.

“Help!” The man screamed as he noticed it. His friend tried to reach his arm out to him, but it was too late.

A monster bigger than anything I had ever seen came up above the surface for a moment and wrapped its long jaws around his head. He tore it off in one yank before he carried the rest of him underwater. B***d stood out against the green water. He was gone before I could even see what the monster looked like other than dark with sharp teeth.

My mouth hung open, Dylan snapped it shut. “What… what was that?” I whispered. I wanted Dylan to put me down and get as far away from him as possible.

“This is the devil’s swamp, little one. It could have been many things.” He smirked. “Aw, don’t tell me you pity the man after what he wanted to do to you?”

“N—no. Never.” I quickly whispered and blinked away my tears. “I don’t pity any of them.”

“Good.” He muttered against my ear and inhaled my scent. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine myself anywhere but here. “Out of everything, those men are the most filthy creatures in this land.”

My hands trembled as I gripped him. I wanted to push him and the other men in that swamp and run for my life—but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I knew Dylan was darker than he led on and I would be foolish to test him. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill another—that I now knew for certain.

A metal click made both of us turn towards the other man behind us. His hands shook as he held up a strange gun, pointed right at Dylan’s chest. “I’m going to f*****g kill you!”

The older man gripped his wrist and forced it down before he could fire. My heart beat fearfully in my chest, but Dylan looked bored of it all.

The older man gave his friend a long look before he turned his glare on Dylan. “Let’s go.”