Editor's note: this submission contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sexual situations.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE: I originally wrote and posted the first half of this story over a decade ago under my former screen name "NotGettinNE." This includes that part and a second half that finishes the tale.)
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Melinda Baker had rarely been this stressed and overworked. Her job as an investment banker was forcing her to work long hours while being pressured to keep her clients' portfolios flowing with profits.
It was in late April that she decided she needed a break. Her college roommate lived in Minneapolis. Melinda, who was approaching her 39th birthday, decided to take a couple of weeks off and drive from Seattle to spend some time with her friend. Her husband and two teenagers were more than capable of taking care of themselves. In fact, considering how busy she had been at work, they'd hardly notice that she was gone.
After a frenzied week of working to prepare things for her absence, Melinda set off on a Saturday morning. Her Lexus LX08 had just a few thousand miles on it and she had little doubt that it would be reliable for her driving trip. With a box of her favorite CDs in the passenger seat, she started her journey.
While a 22-hour one-way drive might seem insane, Melinda was cherishing the alone/down time. She planned to take her time, stopping to sight see. She figured she could push it harder on the return trip and that she could still spend a week with her friend.
On Monday, her third day, she crossed into Montana. She saw a sign for a state park and decided to do a little exploring of Big Sky country. It was a glorious sunny spring day, the temperature was in the 70s. The idea of getting some outdoor time was alluring.
She followed the signs, exiting onto a two-lane road and then entering the park. She followed the curving paved road for a few miles, driving slowly. She saw a dirt road and decided to follow it. After a few twists and turns, she came to a widened parking area. There was a sign that said "Hiking Trail."
She parked and got out. She put her keys and cell phone in her fanny pack, locked her car and started to walk.
After a few hundred yards, the trail moved out of the heavy woods and revealed a large meadow with waving green grass. She walked across it until she came to a large boulder. She climbed up and leaned back on the sun-warmed rock.
The tension and pressure she had been feeling at work was being purged from her body and mind. She sighed as she soaked up the sun and looked into the crystal blue sky as the gentle wind purred through the leaves of the nearby trees.
"I am soooo glad I did this,'' she thought to herself. "Sometimes a girl just has to get away from everything.''
Melinda was so relaxed she drifted off. When she woke, she realized that the sun was starting to slide toward the horizon. She glanced at her watch. "Wow, it's almost five,'' she thought. "I need to get on down the road and find a hotel.''
As she walked back through the grass heading back to the trail, she texted her husband. She had said she'd check in from time to time just so he wouldn't be worried about her. They had talked Saturday night at her first stop. If she had been "on alert" her senses might have warned her that someone was watching.
Melinda reached the trail and realized the sun had slid behind the impossibly tall trees. Dusk was falling on the forest. As she walked to her car, the light suggested more early evening than late afternoon.
A few steps from her SUV, she started to reach into her fanny pack for her keys. She heard a "SNAP," a branch breaking. She immediately froze. "Who could be out here? I don't see any other cars," she thought, the back of her neck tingling in alarm.
Melinda thought she heard a muffled foot step behind her. She turned, caught sight of a huge, looming figure. She started to scream but a giant furry hand with a leathery paw closed over her lower face, muffling the sound. She fainted.
HIS CAVE
Melinda's mind was playing tricks. She knew she wasn't asleep but she wasn't awake. She couldn't see anything. She didn't know if her eyes were open or not. At the edges of her consciousness, she had the troubling feeling of danger and fear. Everything was fuzzy.
Slowly she felt herself regaining her senses. She felt like she was slowly climbing up from a dark well.
When her eyes fluttered open, she tried to make sense of her surroundings. Everywhere she looked there was rock. She realized she was in a cave; there was flickering light coming from a couple of crude torches and a campfire. Her nostrils flared at the smoky smell.
Suddenly she realized that she was restrained. Her adrenaline started to flow. She glanced at her wrists and ankles and saw they were secured to a couple of columns (stalagtytes and stalagmytes). Her arms were stretched slightly up at an angle and her legs were spread so that her feet were about shoulder width apart.
Panic and fear were racing through her nervous system. She gathered a shaky breath and yelled. "Help!!!!. Help me, please!!!!" She was answered only by the sound of her voice echoing off the stone walls. She tried again, louder.
Melinda felt like her heart was going to pound through her chest. She felt as though she would hyperventilate. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself.
She sensed movement and opened her eyes. Before her was a creature. "IIIIEAAAHHHAAAHHHH." Her piercing scream echoed and reverberated off the stone walls.
An objective observer would say that he was evidence that Big Foot exists. He was well over 7-feet tall, with broad shoulders and a bulky torso. His face resembled Chewbacca from Star Wars. He was covered in dark brown and black fur.
Melinda was about 5-foot-3; she craned her head back to look at the creature who had kidnapped her. Her mind flashed a cinematic equivalent to her predicament _ she was King Kong's prize, the sacrifice the natives had tied to please the beast.
"PLEAAAAASEEE. LET ME GOOOOO! ... HEEEELPPPPP ME, please SOMEBODY.''
Her desperate screams and cries continued until she was hoarse. Melinda was on the verge of tears. There was bile rising in her throat and she started to gag and cough.
The Creature moved away, behind her, then returned. In his hand was a gourd that to him was a simple drinking utensil. To Melinda, it was more like a large mixing bowl.
He placed the gourd against her lips and tilted it. Cool water. She opened her mouth and drank. It calmed her somewhat.
The Creature kept tilting the gourd. It was too wide for her mouth and there was too much water for her to drink. He emptied the gourd and the overflow spilled down her front, soaking her blue work shirt blouse.