Hemmingway

Knowing that the Admiral was shouting throughout the day about shutting my kids up, and the fact that Miller put his hands on my children, had cold chills traveling throughout my system. I don’t want either of those men’s dirty hands anywhere near my babies. But with no way to escape my dire predicament, I force myself to be happy that at least they’re being attended to.

My twins were born not from love but from a forced sexual encounter with a predator. However, my love for them doesn’t see them coming to be that way. They’re still half mine, and that’s the part I concentrate on when I think of them.

When I found out I was pregnant, my motherly instincts kicked in. I may not have been whole and sane after dealing with the mental, emotional, and physical abuse I suffered at the Admiral’s hands, but I made the sound choice to keep them, mother them, and pour every ounce of love I have into them.

Miller never partook in my mistreatment and harassment, but he was there, so he’s just as accountable as his father is. He didn’t stop the acts from happening. He heard everything from the other room, yet never lifted a hand to help me preserve my honor.

My faith has been bowed slightly, but it hasn’t been shattered—and neither am I. No, I’ll never be anyone’s victim. I come from strong stock. My mother and brother were in the Marines. My father was a SEAL and I’m no slouch myself. No one was shocked when I signed up for the Corps, but they were hesitant. They wanted a safer life for me. Now that I’m a mother myself, I can understand why they felt that way.

Shortly after it was confirmed that I was pregnant, a band of the Admiral’s men cornered me, strong-armed me from where I was sitting, taking care of my personal business, and whisked me away. I’ve been in this basement ever since. I gave birth here without any form of medical intervention or medicated relief. I felt everything down to my marrow. It was some of the worst pain I’d ever experienced in my lifetime, and I was scared that with carrying twins, something was bound to go wrong.

And it did.

Miller, at one time, had been a medic out in the field. Being a midwife wasn’t in his wheelhouse of expertise, but he was able to fix the issue that arose and saved Honor’s life, as well as mine. I should’ve thanked him for that. It would’ve been the right thing to do, but all I could picture and wanted to do was drop-kick him on the spot and nail him in the balls. That man and his father should never be allowed to procreate, and I feel like it’s my responsibility to make sure that comes to fruition.

For all the women on base who could become their next target, I need to take on that dreaded task. I can’t stand back while another woman is brutalized by their hands.

As anger courses through my veins, and my pores begin to sweat, the physical pain I’m in from this stab wound has the discomfort and aching subsiding to the back of my mind. My loathing and hatred for them takes over.

Their souls are sullied, and their aura is black and plagued with demonic spirits.

They’re both evil and I believe they are possessed with the devil’s influence or are his sinister spawns… either concept is a viable option.

Footsteps pounding down the stairs have me sitting up and lasering in. I’m watchful of who and what is coming for a visit, and I can’t help but wonder what they’re coming down here for this time.

“My brother and sister need more milk,” Miller dryly announces as his feet hit the bottom ledge of the stairwell.

Without any word of warning, he tosses the hand pump that excretes my milk one breast at a time, that they found in a thrift store, so I can produce and store milk for my babies, toward me. It bounces off my chest and rolls over to the side of the makeshift bed where my inclined body is lying.

“I’ll doctor your laceration and re-wrap it while you do that.” My eyes lower, and I notice that he has his first-aid kit clutched tightly in his other hand.

“Did you bring anything for me to dump the milk into once the bottle is filled?” I ask, distracting myself so I don’t think about his slimy hands touching even an inch of my exposed flesh. The need to vomit and expel my stomach contents all over his glossy, military-grade shoes is nearly overwhelming, but nourishing my babies is my number one priority, so I brush off that urge as fast as it hits me.

Miller opens up his kit and tosses me some Ziplock baggies. “Use these,” he instructs as he petulantly stomps to me like a sulking child in the midst of a meltdown. “If we didn’t need you to provide sustenance for my siblings, I’d let you rot from the outside in and die. Count your lucky stars that Dad wants them to have milk from you instead of the formula I can buy from the store. Otherwise, you’d have already been dealt with.”

“Yep, lucky,” I sneer, not hiding the hate I have for him in my eyes.

“You’ve always been such a bitch and a troublemaker.” He guffaws, shooting me death rays. “You should’ve just submitted to his whims and kept your trap shut instead of snitching like a rat and singing like a canary. Then, none of this would’ve ever happened. All you had to do was follow the rules he gave you.”

“Submit!” I snap, losing my cool and don’t-give-a-damn resolve. “In your estimation, I should’ve laid back, spread my legs, and let him take something that wasn’t his to take? I wasn’t a willing participant, for fuck’s sake!”

“Yes!” he seethes, looking at me as if I was the snake in sheep’s clothing instead of him.

“You’re just as sick as he is, Miller.”

“He’s a king,” Miller argues. “No one questions his authority. You do what you’re told and don’t ask any questions if you want to survive.”

That’s the first thing he’s ever said that has me curious about his upbringing. “And your mom allowed that?”

“Allowed it?” He humorlessly cackles as if my question was ludicrous. “She encouraged it and helped him build his kingdom.”

“His kingdom?” The Admiral is twisted and has groomed his son to be just as cunning and revolting as he is. “How many of me have there been, Miller?”

“His harem is large and expanding every year. He has thirteen wives and if you’d played your cards right, you would’ve been the fourteenth. I’m the oldest of his children and will one day rule over his empire.”

“How many siblings do you have, Miller?” I question, wanting to know how many children have been bred for his contorted ideals.

“Counting Adam and Eve?” Those aliases he used cause me to shiver. They’re what the Admiral named my precious children. How biblical of him.

“Y-yeah,” I stammer out, not wanting to acknowledge them by those identities.

“I have seventeen brothers and twenty sisters,” he supplies. “And one day, they will help me rule as my advisers and do for me what I do for our dad.”

“What exactly is it that you do for your dad, Miller?” I probe, my skin itching like my skeleton is trying to force itself out of its outer fleshed shell.

“I search for his next wife and help him secure her. He ties her to him by impregnating her and taking her for himself to our home. They break easily and accept their lot in life, unlike you,” he chides, silently incriminating me for going against the grain.

“I was brought up to fight for what’s right and what you and your dad did to me wasn’t right, Miller. Surely, you see that?”

“All I see is an ungrateful bitch who didn’t accept the gracious gift she was freely given,” he says, deploring me for standing up for what I believe in. My eyes widen in shock. He’s insane! He’s so indoctrinated with his father’s doctrine that there’s no saving him. He’ll never help me turn the tides against the Admiral.

I’m so screwed.

Something he said earlier has another question entering my mind. Encouraging him to continue by lightening my tone, I ask, “Where’s home, Miller?”

“Why? Have you changed your mind? Are you reconsidering your circumstances and wanting to be a good girl and join the ranks?”

“I think I was wrong about you and the Admiral,” I lie. If it’ll get me one step closer to parenting my babies, I’ll take it. Even if it takes me years to earn their trust, I’ll do it. Then, one day, when they least expect it, I’ll make my escape and take my children along with me. I’ll reunite with my brother, my own twin, and have him help me take this mad man down.

“Paradise Kingdom is twenty miles south of here. We have two hundred and eighty acres. Sprawling throughout the land are thirty houses, a community gathering center, a playground for the children. Dad’s palace is dead center of the foliage so everyone is equally distanced so he can be reached easily if an emergency were to arise. That’s where the nursery is and where the nannies stay with them.” Did he just refer to his dad’s home as a palace?

Holy shit!

Oh hell.

Things are worse than I thought them to initially be.

They’re a fucking fundamentalist cult with the Admiral leading the charge!

One that’s been trained and funded by our government’s military. The Admiral comes from old money. Those riches were earned by making weaponry, choppers, Humvees, and fighter jets that reach as far back as World War I. Their company is the number one go-to for our armed forces. They have a contract that’ll stretch out until my grandchildren have been long buried. What is this world coming to? We’re fundamentally screwed… no pun intended.

It makes one wonder how far back the lunacy goes in their familial line. Was this something that’s been happening within his family for many generations? Or did something not form right in the Admiral’s brain and he’s the first to act out these atrocities? Whatever the case is, Honor and Haven will not be following that line of progression. I’ll die first before I allow that to happen.

They may have that man’s evilness flowing through their veins, but they also have that of my family… and I believe, without any doubt, that our side will win the tug-of-war that’ll eventually happen inside of them. We, my immediate family and I, may not all be law-abiding citizens in the general consensus, an example of that would be my brother, known as Master in the DreamCatcher Motorcycle Club, but what we do have is honor, respect, loyalty, and pride—something I’ll work hard to make sure my little ones inherit from us.

“If you’re playing me, Hemmingway, it’ll be the last thing you ever do. I will make sure your death is excruciating. This,” he says, waving his hands around the room, “will feel like a field day in comparison. I will kill you and make an example out of you.”

“No matter what happens, I will always do the right thing by you and your father,” I lie, again. It seems to be the moral of my life today, but if that’s what I have to do to convince him and Admiral Jackass of my steadfast sincerity, then I’ll do it. Over and over until they believe they’ve won me over.

“Once we believe you’ve seen the error of your ways and are a loyal and devoted follower, you’ll be allowed unsupervised visits with my brother and sister. Are you following along? Do you understand what I’m telling you? I’m more than willing to give you a shot, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on you in the meantime.”

“As it should be, and I understand. I’m here to serve and nothing else.” At this point, the lies are piling up and I’m wondering if the ceiling is going to cave in on me from the weight of them. That old phrase, “Liar, liar, pants on fire” has me briefly glancing down to make sure my clothing hasn’t spontaneously combusted.

“After all you’ve done, I doubt my father will be taking you as one of his concubines. I may just have to train you to be one of mine,” he continues, missing the way I gag at his remark. It’s bad enough his sperm donor has touched me. The thought of him doing it makes me consider chewing my wrists open. The only thing stopping me from seriously contemplating that as an option are my babies. I’ll never willingly leave them with these misogynistic pieces of shit.

“Would that be appropriate, given that I’ve birthed two of your siblings?” Not that I give a damn or will be bedding either of them willingly, but the thought of Miller sticking his dick inside of me gives me the creeps. I’ve heard of keeping it in the family and all of that, but one would think this is a little overboard. The Admiral doesn’t come across as the type of man who’d be willing to give one of his “toys” to his son.

“It’s not common practice, but given how much work it’s going to take to get you as obedient as you need to be, I see him making an exception,” he blabbers. Everything he’s saying is starting to come across as crackling background noise.

“I’ll talk to him. You’ll have a better chance if I take you on than if he does. For now, let’s get this milk pumped and get you bandaged up,” Miller decides, opening up his kit.

* * *

As I watch him mount the first step and quicken his pace climbing them, a cold chill races through my system. He looked at me as if I were his conquest, something that he plans on invading as soon as he’s given permission to do so.

Yuck.

He may think he’ll be triumphant, but I have no plans on being anyone’s easy prey. He’ll have to start building his colony with another woman. I won’t be his first, second, third, or last. I’ll cut off his pathetic, pubescent cock and blend it to fine slivers and toss to the wayside before I allow it to come anywhere near me. He will not be planting his seed for it to grow into my baby making organs.

Been there, done that, and have the stretch marks to prove it.

Plopping back into my makeshift bed, I sigh. “I just need one chance to take them out. They’ll be distracted at some point, and then, I’ll make my move.” This is one vow I don’t plan on breaking. I’ve been trained by some of the best in the country, and I will take advantage of that instruction once the opportunity presents itself.

One day, they’ll trust me, and believe they have me wrapped around their fingers. And that’s when I’ll rear my head and strike. My venom is more than poisonous; it’s deadly.

I will decimate them and not give a damn while doing so.

It’s what Uncle Sam expects from their recruits. They don’t spend all of that time, money, and resources on their cadets for us to sit back, twiddling our thumbs, when the enemy is upon us. No, they expect and insist that we stand our ground, charge in, infiltrate, and leave no man standing.

If nothing else, I’ve always considered myself as being a good student and have always done as my teacher asks in the past. This time won’t be any different.

“I’m ready to dance whenever the two of you are.”

My vow is spoken in a venomous hiss, even though there’s no one around to hear, save whatever vermin infest this godforsaken place.