My wife and I have always loved the outdoors. We met while we were living in out west and we’ve been on many trips over the years. We hiked through trails in the Appalachians. We’ve been to Yosemite and many other places. For our twentieth anniversary, we decided to take a canoe trip down a small river in the Deep South. It was early spring, and we figured this would be a perfect time for it. We had our two sons staying with my mother. We packed up enough supplies for four days, loaded our canoe on top of our van and took off.
I had done some research on the internet and the Muskingum River sounded perfect for us. It ran through several remote areas and a few small towns where we could get supplies if we needed them. We planned on camping underneath the stars, but had a sturdy tent in case the weather turned poorly.
The first day was marvelous. We put in at a small town where we had made arrangements to have our van driven down to a town about three or four days down the river by canoe. We stopped around lunchtime and I fished for lunch. We also had brought along some frozen meat, in case the fishing was bad. But it wasn’t. I caught some nice fish and we cook them over an open fire.
We put back in the river and went until we found a nice place to camp for the night. We sat up the tent, but decided to camp underneath the stars. We ate and drank some wine, before retiring to our sleeping bag, where we made slow passionate love under a very bright moon. It was wonderful.
Until the next morning.
I got up early and had to go to the bathroom. I squatted by a tree a bit away from our camp on the river. I had a small shovel with me and buried what I had done and was making my way back to camp, when I heard my wife shout something. I ran the rest of the way, and found her struggling with some guy who was trying to pull her out of her sleeping bag.
I’m a fairly big guy and very fit. I was about to jump this guy and beat the crap out of him with the shovel I was carrying, when I felt something hard hit the back of my head. I was stunned and fell to the ground. As I regained my senses, I realized there were two more men there. And one of them was holding a gun pointed right at me.
“Hold on there boy. You just sit right there and don’t move a damn muscle.” The man holding the gun said to me.
I looked at him. He was a mountain of a man. He looked to be somewhere in his fifties. There were two younger men with him and one of them was now holding onto my wife smiling.
“What’s going on here?” I asked.
“My name is Elmer Johnson and these are my sons Junior and Fred and what the fuck are you two doing on my river?” The man with the gun asked.
“Your river? What do you mean your river?” I asked sarcastically.
“You’re on my fucking river boy. And you and your pretty lady are going to pay for you being a smartass and for being on my river without my permission.” He replied.
I thought about saying something, but looked to my wife whose eyes were filled with fear. I thought by possibly agreeing with him, we could be on our way.
“I’m very sorry sir. We thought this was a public river, a public area. We’re not from this area. We are both very sorry. If you let us go, we’ll pack up and get out of here. And you won’t hear from us again.” I told him.
“Sorry don’t mean shit boy.” He said with a sneer. “Get some damn rope and tie their hands up Junior.”
Junior got some rope from our canoe and tied my hands behind my back. Then he went to my wife, who was being held by Fred and did the same to her.
Then Elmer turned to me and placed the barrel of his gun under my chin and said.
“You two better behave or you’ll have a heap of trouble. Understand?” He asked.
I nodded and look at my terrified wife. She was still being held by Fred. I tried to give her a reassuring look, but I was so sure myself what was going to happen.
“Junior! Get their shit out of sight. And then meet us back home.” Yelled Elmer.
Elmer then grabbed me by the arm and led me into the woods. I turned to see my wife being led by Fred. Several times I tried to talk to the huge man pulling me through the woods. Each time I was told to keep my mouth shut, or it would be shut for me. I finally got the message after he smacked me on the side of my head, knocking me down.
We walked for a long way and then to a small clearing where there was an old cabin. We were led inside. It smelled like dead animals and was lit only by the sunlight coming into the windows. I was pushed into a wooden chair in the middle of the room and tied down by my waist and legs.
Elmer then put down his gun and went to my wife. He began to paw her and she struggled. She could do little to resist as her hands were still tied behind her. He laughed at her struggles and just kept pawing her breasts and private area.
“Leave her alone!” I yelled at him.
He turned angrily to me and walked over and punched me on the side of the head. I saw stars and was knocked over on my right side. He went back to pawing my wife who now looked terrified.
I shook my head to try and clear it as I struggled to free myself. But I could not. I was tied to tightly. Elmer kept trying to kiss my wife as he pawed at her. She struggled and turned her head, but she could not get away from him.
