Keeping the Soldier Girl

"Fine." He answered his voice calming. "I'll turn my back and move behind this rock. If you try to run you will not get far."

He took a few steps back from her, letting her feel each one through the rope at her ankle, but he didn't turn away and there was no rock. She would learn that this too would be something she had surrendered to him.

Despite her insecurities, and the nagging sensation at the back of her mind that told her that he hadn't left she felt she was running out of options. The only way she was going to get back into the warm and the dry now was to do it. She picked herself up off her knees and squat down, trying to ignore the rain and the thought that he could easily still be watching and she suspected he was. It took a few moments, but she finally overcame her stage fright and as the hot liquid gushed between her legs she found some release.

He smiled, assuming she knew, on some level, that he was still watching her, but she had at least submitted. As she finished he waited for her to stand of her own volition before returning to her and tugging her sopping trousers back up over her hips. Scooping her up into his arms he wasted no time in getting back inside, she was soaked through and shivering in his arms, her whole body seeming to shudder and shake, her teeth chattering loudly. He placed her back by the fire, facing towards it this time so he could stand behind her.

"You need to get out of your wet clothes." He told her, his voice very matter of fact. "You'll never get warm else."

She simply nodded, waiting for the inevitable conditions that would be attached to this. Hoping that he was going simply going to offer her some replacement clothing and let her sleep.

"You are going to change out of your wet clothes and you are going to make yourself pretty for me. I'm going to give you that delightful bra I found in your pack, and you're going to make use of that nail polish and lipstick you own and then you are going to come to my bed and offer yourself to me."

She opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off sharply, "You will do this, or you will freeze tonight. So the sooner you face the facts and get on with it the sooner you can be getting warm again."

She bit her tongue, her cheeks still smarting from his earlier slap; her mind buzzing trying to formulate a plan. She was a soldier, surely she could come up with something better than just sitting here, surely she could find an escape. With the captain and the rest of her team dead there was no way anyone would come looking for her, perhaps in the morning they would send out a party to recover the bodies. Maybe then they would realise that she was not there, but then with everyone else dead it would most likely be assumed that she was too. They might search, but she doubted they would find her here; in the six months she had been out here none of them had ever found this man's hideaway. And she all too painfully knew her worth to the group, she had never stood out, never made herself noticeable, she was just another slice of cannon fodder. And right there, water running off her hair and down her face, her uniform that once meant something soaking wet and stuck to her skin, her knees pulled up towards her chest, she was a far cry from the girl who had bounded into the recruitment office all that time ago.

----

The springtime sun made her hair glow as she tossed it back over her shoulder, it was longer then, falling to the middle of her back in a cascade of gentle waves and curls. Her face was made up pretty, neutral shades highlighting her natural beauty, and she was just five minutes out of the salon having had her nails redone. Her inability to stop chewing them leading her to resort to acrylic, they were harder to chew and she was quickly stopping; plus they were going to get expensive if she kept splitting them with her teeth, and she couldn't deny that they looked pretty in all their French manicured beauty.

Her dark denim jeans sat just below her waist, tight and snug across her thighs before flaring out slightly into a flattering boot cut, the long lines giving her a lean and sexy silhouette. She had coupled the jeans with a sleek fitting black shirt, three quarter length sleeves with the top few buttons left undone accentuating the cleavage she had. She knew she wasn't the most impressive girl on the street but that had never caused her any embarrassment, rather she was a firm believer in the saying that anything more than a handful was a waste.

Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear she smiled as she pushed open the door to the recruitment office. There was no doubt that she looked out of place, no one had believed her when she had said that she was going to join up. Everyone always mistook her for a soft touch, someone who could never lift a finger to anyone, and to look at her everyone assumed that she would break into pieces the moment anyone raised their voice to her.

The man who approached her as she let the door close behind her towered above her and his sizeable frame absolutely dwarfed her, but she wasn't going to be intimidated. She was planning on starting life over again, she was bored and tired of pretending she was happy with a weekdays only, nine to five desk job. She was sick of her only escape being when she pulled on a pair of sweat pants and running shoes and hear her feet pounding the pavement, when her lungs burnt and her body screamed at her to stop. It was time to do something more challenging. And perhaps more importantly on that very day, it was time to walk out of a dead end relationship where the excitement had burnt away and she had a better time with her vibrator that she did with him. As she had walked out of his apartment that morning she had made up her mind; as she had kissed his cheek in the doorway she had silently said goodbye.

As the recruiting officer started to take her details and she found herself growing more and more comfortable in her decision. His strong voice and the way he commanded her attention was comforting without being overbearing and for the first time she truly felt like she was making the right decision.

---

"I'm going to untie your hands." His voice dragged her back to the present, back to her pathetic predicament. As he moved closer behind her and she heard him pull a knife her heart began thumping in her chest; to undress he would have to free her hands and untie the rope around her ankle, and to paint her nails she needed to be able to see. He would have to release her completely. Despite knowing what the weather was doing out there, despite already having a sense of how tall and strongly built her captor was she knew she couldn't let the opportunity pass her by. "And you are going to do as I ordered."

She nodded, keeping her breath steady, fighting her nerves as she continued to shiver against the cold, blinking away the drips of water that still trickled from her hair onto her face. She felt the knife blade between her wrists and the sharp tug against the rope before it fell away, finally leaving her free to bring her arms in front of her. She stretched them out in front of her and rotated her wrists, carefully working out some of the tension and stiffness.

Reaching up towards the blindfold at her eyes she began to wonder what the world before her would look like. There had been very little sensory clues, other than she hadn't been aware of any doors on their way outside, and the floor was cold, hard and uncovered, at least in the places where she had been sitting. Her hand went to the knot at the back of her head and he patiently watched.

"If you try anything other than removing that blindfold I will kill you." He told her flatly as she released the knot. "And that includes even just turning to look at me."

With her eyes closed she lowered the heavy fabric from her face, letting her eyes open slowly, unsure as to how bright the lights might be, not wanting to blind herself and cause herself extra problems before she had even started. Cautiously she opened her eyes, blinking, letting them slowly adjust to the soft lighting from the fire. Her hands were shaking as she placed the length of material down on the floor beside her.

"May I untie the knot on my ankle?" She asked; her voice steady and strong now. Her plan might not be the greatest but it was a plan nonetheless. "I need to in order to get these trousers off."

"Yes, but the conditions still stand, and I assure you I am not joking. If you try anything untoward you will pay dearly. Right now your life means very little to me, remember that, it is easier for me to kill you that to worry about getting enough food for two."

She slowly untied the knot as she took in what she could see of her surroundings, the fireplace, the shelf with the bowls, plates and jug of water, and not a lot else. It appeared that he had put all of her things besides her water canteen somewhere beyond her peripheral vision. She was waiting, planning and trying to ignore the feeling that she was about to attempt something totally irrational. When she heard him take a step backwards she stood, her hands went to the bottom button of her shirt, as if she were going to start undoing them, attempting to give him the impression that she was complying.

"Do you... Have a towel?" She asked, her voice meek and soft, she needed him to believe she was giving in for this to work. Despite still shivering from her earlier expedition into the rain she was going to do it. She felt him turn, heard him take a step away from her and she made her break, sprinting in the direction she had earlier been guided, barely paying a second thought to where she was, not taking in any of the scene. She dared not look back, she wasn't going to make that mistake again.

The stone floor was hard against her bootless feet and she knew that the ground outside was going to be cold, wet and slippery but if she could just focus she could manage this. She had to. As she rounded the corner another roll of thunder boomed over her head and she could hear his footsteps behind her. There was no time for hesitation, taking a deep breath she sprinted out into the rain, immediately feeling the bite of the cold, her already soaked clothes giving her no protection.

Her feet almost slid from beneath her with every step, her socks giving her no grip, the rain having made the ground muddy. The long grass whipped at her calves as her eyes darted about the horizon, looking for something familiar, anything familiar. Her breath vaporised before her eyes, and she shivered and shuddered. She couldn't hear him behind her but that made no difference, she had to keep running, she couldn't look back and she just had to wait until either he caught her or she couldn't run anymore.

She cried out as she stumbled, her toes crushing into the side of an exposed rock. Within five minutes of running she could feel the cuts and bruises forming on her feet and her lungs were burning from the cold air with each breath feeling like a struggle as her teeth chattered. Her skin was covered with goose bumps and the rain beat down on her relentlessly.

It had been ten minutes of hard running before her foot finally slid out from underneath her, sending her skidding down the hill where she landed sharply on her backside. The mud smeared down the back of her trousers and her hands as they went to the floor to try and steady herself. Pain jarred up from her wrists as her weight toppled onto it and she finally came to a halt on her side, covered in mud and out of breath.

Watching her run was almost amusing, she was without shoes and without any protection from the rain; he followed her, keeping a distance, prepared to let the weather and her own stupidity break her down this time. It hadn't been all that surprising when she had made her break for freedom, and it wouldn't have been much effort to catch her before she had even reached the cave entrance, but he let her go, she would soon need his help, she was running in the opposite direction to her camp and the storm was almost directly on top of them now. The land in this direction grew boggier the further she ran and he knew that if she wasn't careful she could end up sinking into the mud. As she tumbled to the ground he didn't run to catch her, he just waited, hiding, stalking.

The ground was saturated under her feet and the slick mud squelched up between her fingers and she tried to stand, again losing her footing and slipping further down the bank. A futile combination of scrabbling, crawling and sliding finally saw her sitting, much as he had first picked her out as his victim, with her back pressed up against a pile of rocks. It was obvious how exhausted she was and battered, the cold would be stripping her of her strength and the fact that her actions had been utterly futile must be preying on her mind.

Searching the horizon and straining her ears she couldn't hear him out there, but then she rarely heard him move inside the cave and out here the ground was soft and the noise of the rain hammering down around her would cover him. Everything out here looked both familiar and alien; there were no clues as to whether she was even going in the right direction. With bruised and bloody feet, her wrist still throbbing and mud smeared up the side of her face she stopped trying to run, instead pushing herself back into a crevice between the rocks, trying to get herself some shelter.

Curling herself up as small as she could she knew it was over, she couldn't run anymore, all that was left was to wait for him to find her or for the cold to kill her. She was shivering uncontrollably and violently, her fingers and toes seeming numb and not a single part of her remained dry. Her attempts to wipe the mud from her face only smeared more of it over her cheeks, her hands caked and slippery.

'So this is how I die...'She thought as she rested her head on the top of her knees, feeling the rain beating down on the back of her neck.'Why did I even try? Why didn't he catch me? Why did he let me down?'She was tired, tired of running, tired of fighting, tired of being cold, with her head atop her knees, her body curled up small to preserve what little heat she had left she felt the comforting pull of sleep and embraced it. Her breathing slowed as she felt her heart rate dropping but it didn't matter anymore.

Whether it was the crack of lightening and the accompanying roll of thunder that jerked her back to reality, or the fact that she wasn't ready to die just yet she couldn't be sure, but something powerful snapped her head back up off her knees and drove her to her feet. Her movements were slow and jerky, every move a conscious effort as her body rebelled, willing her to sleep. Her shivers were growing ever more violent as she stumbled back out into the open.

"Surely you're not going to let me die out here!" She called out into the blackness, her voice thick and slightly slurred. "You wouldn't leave me... Please, please don't leave me." Tripping and falling to her hands and knees once again she broke into tears. "Please... I don't want to die out here... I'm sorry. Please... I want to come home now. Please let me come home. Please. Please."

He watched as she curled up against the rocks, paying attention to the rise and fall of her chest, the violent shivering, if that stopped he knew it would be serious. As her body seemed to go limp he took a step in her direction, was she stronger than he had given her credit? Was she willing to die rather than give in to him? Her moving again was enough to convince him that he wasn't wrong and as she fell to her knees in a sobbing heap he knew it was over. Her words bringing a smile to his lips'please let me come home.'There was no way he could resist her, not knowing she was utterly broken and helpless without him.

Striding across the grass towards her, his sturdy but slightly worn out boots giving him adequate grip on the mud he was thankful that she hadn't made it any further towards the bog. Circling around he finally came up behind her, and as he drew closer he could hear her sobbing quietly. Her breath was ragged but she was still pleading. She didn't even move as he crouched down behind her and pulled the blindfold he had picked up on the way out from his pocket, just barely holding herself up, whispering "please, please, please" over and over. Gently he reached out to her, wrapping the fabric around her eyes as he leant in to whisper in her ear.

"Shush now... It's time to go home."

She almost seemed to welcome the blindfold around her eyes, her sobs starting to subside, no more pleading as she collapsed back against him, a shivering, wet and weak bundle. There was no more need for words as he picked her up off the ground, cradling her close to his body, feeling her pressing herself against his warmth as he set off through the night. Her shivers vibrated right up through his arms, her breath was still shallow and as far as he could tell her pulse was growing weak.

Once back inside he carefully placed her back in front of the fire and hastily tossed a few more logs of wood onto it before kneeling down before her.

"You really need to get out of those wet clothes now." He told her. "You need to get warm."

She nodded and her shaking and numb fingers fumbled with the buttons on her shirt. It felt like a monumental effort, and what should have been an easy task was proving to be almost impossible. It felt like a lifetime had passed before she had even undone the top three buttons of her shirt, allowing her pull it up and over her head.

"Good girl." He encouraged, she could pay the price for her escape attempt later, for now she needed to get warm and to do as she had been told originally. It was basic science, get her out of her wet clothes, get her dry and get her under the covers with another warm body. Without any more advanced medical aid available it was the fastest way to get her core temperature back up, and the fact that it got him what he wanted was a bonus. Trusting her to be doing as he was asking he turned his attention to the fire for a few minutes, setting a pot of water above it to warm, he also picked up the towel he was planning on letting her have earlier.

With his back to the fire he took off his own jacket and hung it up to dry, trusting her not be stupid enough to make another escape attempt while half naked and already displaying signs of hypothermia. His boots followed and when he looked back she was fighting with the button of her trousers, chewing on her bottom lip, her face a picture of concentration as her frozen fingers refused to do as they were told. Smiling as she cursed under her breath as her fingers slipped off the button once again, she bit harder on her lip and finally the button worked its way free and she slowly and shakily stood to push them down her legs.

As she stood before him in just her bra and panties he ran his eyes over her, appraising her form, appreciating her delicate beauty. Even through the shivers, the mud and the tear marks, with her hair plastered to her face she was still stunning in his eyes.

"Here." He whispered, taking a step towards her and offering out the towel. He could have waited until she was fully undressed before making the offer, but he knew she would feel more comfortable stripping out of her underwear behind the towel and he was willing to wait a few more minutes before being able to fully appreciate her naked form. The white cotton was already almost see through from the rain and leaving very little to his imagination, it wouldn't hurt to try and make her a little more comfortable.

"Thank you." She smiled, and for the first time since she had woken up on the floor she looked entirely sincere and grateful. She set about towel drying her hair before wrapping the length of fabric about her body, only once she was enrobed in the towel did she shimmy her panties down off her hips.