Hard Choices

This story contains violence, kidnapping, incest, and anal sex.

^^^June 1st, 2020^^^

"I thought it would be hotter," Trent whispered to his sister.

She ignored him.

"It's June, and we are in Africa," he continued in a low voice. "I thought the temperature would be 105, not 85."

"Shhh," she said.

"Have you noticed that we, our family, are the only white people here?" Trent spoke quietly and snickered.

"Behave!," she chastised him.

Trent and Barbara, known as Babe to family and friends, were standing on a makeshift stage in the courtyard of a school. Their sister, June, her husband, Horatio, and their mother, Gemma, were with them, along with school officials and local dignitaries.

They were in a small town in Nigeria, accepting an award from a local government official.

A black man said, "For one hundred years, the Tarkington family has been a good friend to our town. Reginald Tarkington single-handedly started the mining industry in our country. First, with gold and then coal.

"He brought jobs, money, and dignity to our people, and, more importantly, he founded a school. That is why we are here today, to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the school. The mines are gone, but the school remains due to the generosity of the Tarkington family."

The crowd of townspeople applauded.

Trent whispered to his younger sister, "He's talking about the family trust that great-grandfather set up. You know, that pot of gold we can't touch until we graduate college and are thirty years old."

"Be quiet," Babe whispered. She sounded annoyed.

Gemma twisted a ring on her right hand. It was her wedding band that Booth had given her twenty-five years ago.

"He should be here!" she said to herself for two reasons. One, she missed him and was still heartbroken that he had died in a car accident. And two, because it was his family who had built this school and funded its operations all these years.

As the applause died out and the official picked up a scroll to present to Gemma, there was a loudBOOM!!!! and a flash of light.

Waves of sound, air, and shrapnel stuck many people. Some screamed. Some fell, some ran, and others looked around confused. Many were injured and bleeding. Others were dead.

The explosion knocked the people on the stage off their feet. Horatio wiped his cheek, looked at his hand, and realized the sticky wet mess wasn't his blood but the blood and flesh of some poor soul.

He checked on his wife and shouted, "June, are you all right?"

June opened her eyes, and he saw fear and pain.

She didn't hear his question. Neither did he. The explosion had made them deaf.

He spoke slowly, hoping she could read his lips, and asked, "Are you okay?"

She grimaced, shook her head from side to side, and grabbed her stomach. He saw spots of blood irregularly spaced on her lower abdomen and upper thighs.

Small pellets had penetrated her skin. The spots grew darker and larger.

Horatio reached out to touch his wife, and he saw a similar pattern of blood spots on his hand and arm, and he felt pain. His wounds were less severe. He kissed his wife and held her.

The speaker lay on the stage, bleeding from many wounds. He appeared dead.

Ambulances and emergency personnel showed up and assigned degrees of urgency to the wounded. The most serious cases, like June, were taken to the hospital. Gemma, Horatio, Trent, and Babe were treated at the scene. Their injuries were not severe.

Their hearing returned.

A nurse bandaged Horatio and said, "Go to your hotel and rest. If your condition worsens, go to a doctor, not the hospital. It will be too overwhelmed to help you.

"I understand your wife is injured and at the hospital. I know you are worried about her and want to see her. You will not be allowed to visit your wife today or tomorrow because the hospital will be too busy working on the injured. Understand?"

"Yes," he said wearily. "Do you think I can see her the day after tomorrow?"

"Probably," the nurse said. She frowned, shook her head, and said, "Unfortunately, the terrorists who did this are evil and cruel. There are likely to be more attacks, more people killed and injured."

Trent, Babe, Gemma, and Horatio joined a group of thirty people leaving the school grounds. As they walked to their hotel, a group of disheveled young men on cheap, noisy motorcycles encircled them. They shouted, fired their guns in the air, and herded the group to three open-back trucks.

Everyone was told to climb in the trucks. Anyone who resisted was hit with the butt of a rifle. A few attempted to run away. They were shot and left to die on the street.

"What's going on?" Trent asked.

"We are being kidnapped," one villager said. "If you want to survive, do as they say. Get in the truck."

"What'll happen to us?" Babe asked, sounding frightened. She grabbed her brother's arm and clutched it tightly.

An elderly man said, "Our kidnappers are part of Boko Haram."

"The group that kidnapped all those school girls?" Horatio asked.

"Yes. Two hundred seventy-six girls were taken from a school nearby. Our fate is probably similar to theirs. If you join their cause, the men become soldiers, and the single women are married to one of their fighters. If you refuse their invitation, you become their slave."

"Forever?" Trent asked.

"Yes," the old man said. "Unless you escape, are rescued, or ransomed."

"Quiet!" one of the guards shouted in the local dialect. He struck the elderly villager with his rifle, knocking him down.

Horatio helped the gentlemen to his feet and into the back of the truck. Everyone got into the trucks and they were driven into the jungle.

They stopped at a sad excuse for a camp in a clearing. Everyone got off the trucks, and were put into a pen. There were buckets of water. No food. No bathrooms. Armed guards watched over them.

The sun set; the Tarkington clan huddled together and slept poorly.

^^^

The next morning, the kitchen staff placed a bountiful display of food on tables on the other side of the fence from the prisoners.

A man wearing clean clothes who walked with an air of authority smiled and addressed the captives. He said in the local dialect, "Good news, friends."

He spotted the four white people and said, "Someone translate for our visitors, please."

He started again and paused after each sentence. The old man who had spoken to the Americans the day before translated his words.

"Good news, friends. I have a wonderful opportunity for those of you smart enough to seize it. Today, you and your soul can be saved. Embrace our religion, the correct version of Islam, and we will embrace you like a long-lost friend.

"Those of you who decline will be our slaves. You choose. Be our equal, our friend and comrade, and join us in everlasting life after death, or you will be our servants. The lowest of the low.

"I see some foreigners among us," the commander said. "You may have heard the phrase 'Kill the Infidels!'. Your press and leaders have lied to you to make you hate Muslims.

"They have purposely misquoted the Quran to generate fear and ill will. The Quran does not say to kill people who follow other religions. It says kill the idol worshipers.

"Kill the idolaters wherever you find them and take them prisoners, and beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent and observe Prayer and pay the Zakat, then leave their way free. Surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful.

"This verse tells us how to treat pagan Arabs who make a peace treaty with Muslims and then break it and wage war. These words do not apply to all people who believe in different religions."

He smiled and said, " Boko Haram was no quarrel with Christians or Westerners. You are welcome to join us. If you have been married in your faith, we will respect that. However, you should know that Islamic law allows men to have sexual intercourse with unmarried female slaves. We will exercise that right."

The people in the pen began to speak to one another.

Babe said, "Oh my God! This is horrible!"

"No way can we join them," Trent said. "We can't murder and enslave people."

"You're both right," Horatio said. "We must stay strong until we can escape or are rescued."

Babe cried; she said, "I can't have sex with those...those...bastards."

"You aren't, and neither am I," her mother said defiantly. "They gave us an out. Married slaves are exempt. Babe, move Grandma's opal ring from your right hand to the ring finger of your left hand. It can pass as a wedding ring, and Trent's not your brother he's your husband. Got it?"

Gemma looked her son and daughter in the eyes. The pair nodded, and Babe put the pretty opal ring where a wedding ring goes.

"Good thinking," Horatio said. "You and I should make the same claim." He looked at her wedding band that was on her right hand.

Gemma nodded and switched her wedding band to her left ring finger. She said, "We will tell them that Babe's my daughter and Horatio's stepdaughter. Trent's our son-in-law. Maybe if they think we're a family, they'll let us be together."

"The kids are a believable couple," Gemma said. She looked at her son-in-law and asked, "Can we pull this off? You're twenty-eight, and I'm forty-five. That's a seventeen-year difference."

"You look younger," Horatio said.

"Mom, you look great," Babe said. "You can pass for a woman in her thirties, and if it means you aren't raped, you have to try."

"Thanks, Babe," Gemma said. "You're right. We have to sell it. "

She grasped Horatio's hand and said, "Babe, Trent, act like a couple. Hold hands, trade kisses, and look lovingly into each other's eyes. Horatio and I will do the same."

She leaned toward Horatio and gave her son-in-law a peck on the lips.

Trent put his arm around his younger sister's shoulders, pulled her to him, and kissed her on the forehead.

"Do better, Trent," Gemma said. "That looked like a brotherly kiss. Give her a smack on the lips."

Her kids blushed and looked nervous and ill at ease. They came together, closed their eyes, and kissed, lips on lips, for the first time in their lives. It didn't look like something siblings would do.

When they parted, they were breathless, and their faces were bright red.

"I hope we can pull this off," Gemma said.

Gemma's eyes came to rest on the translator's face. He understood English and had heard every word of their scheme. She spoke to him.

"Sir, I pray you are a good man and will keep our secret. We have money and powerful friends and will get out of here. If you keep our secret, we will take you with us."

He nodded; the family was relieved.

Eight people told their captors they were willing to join them. Five men and three women. They were given a hearty welcome and invited to sample the delicious food on the buffet table outside of the pen.

The commander focused on the remaining women. He told a group of old women, "You shall work in the kitchen."

His men gathered ten black females who looked to be of childbearing age.

Under intense interrogation by the leader, two women admitted to being single. They were removed from the pen, sent to a creek to bathe, and begin their new life as a sex slave.

The leader argued with the others. Women showed him rings.

"Anyone can buy a ring," he countered.

They pulled out photos of children.

The commander said, "You have pictures of beautiful children. Are they yours? Or are they your siblings, cousins, or nieces and nephews?"

A frustrated thirty-year-old pulled her top down, showed her breasts, and said, "Look at me. Isn't it obvious that I'm a wife and mother? A woman only has breasts and nipples like these if she's breastfed. I have three children."

She had large dark nipples, huge areolas, and saggy deflated breasts.

"I believe you," the leader said. He addressed the others, "The rest of you show me your breasts."

Seven women exposed their boobs.

The commander and every man nearby ogled the feminine flesh. Their breasts were of different sizes and shapes and had a variety of nipples. The color of their skin ranged from raw umber to jet black.

The man in charge took his time evaluating the females. He waved off five stout women with big hips, stretchmarks, doughy bellies, and sagging tits.

He challenged the youngest two women. They had small high breasts and trim waists. One had a ring, and the other had pictures of children, but that didn't save them.

The young women, students at school, argued, cried, and begged.

The leader appeared unmoved as he shouted, "Take these liars away. They will be sex slaves."

The teenagers sobbed and wailed as two fighters dragged them off.

^^^

The commander looked at Gemma and Babe and asked, "What is your story?"

They didn't respond because they didn't understand him.

The leader turned to the old man who had translated his earlier speech and said, "You! Old man. Stay with these foreigners, go where they go, and do what they do. Your job is to translate my orders."

"Yes, sir," the gray-haired man said.

"Tell them that what I said."

The old man faced the Tarkingtons and said, "My name is Aminu, and I have been assigned to stay with you and be your translator."

Horatio stepped forward, shook his hand, and introduced the members of his family. Then he asked, "What's going on?"

Aminu said, "The commander questioned the women of childbearing age. He didn't believe their claims that they were married and, therefore, exempt from being sex slaves. Two crumbled and admitted they lied. He had the rest expose their breasts so he could judge whether they'd had children. He accepted the claim of six women. Their bodies bore the signs of giving birth."

"And the two that were carried off?" Gemma asked.

"He didn't believe them. They are young, slim, and unblemished. They will be used for sex by all men of the camp," Aminu said.

"Oh, no!" Babe cried. She and her family looked pale, shocked, and scared.

"Jesus Christ!" Trent said. "These guys are hardcore."

"Those poor women," Gemma said as she shook her head.

Gemma gathered herself, stood tall in front of her family, and said forcefully, "We have to convince the leader that we are married or Babe and I will be gang-raped. Whatever it takes."

The commander yelled. "Old man, ask the white women about their status."

Aminu said, "Ladies, he wants to know if you're married or single."

Gemma gave him a pleading look and said, "Please don't out us."

She and Babe faced the commander and raised their left hands. Gemma said, "My daughter and I are married, and these gentlemen are our husbands."

She grabbed Horatio's hand. Babe grasped Trent's.

Aminu translated their words and the commander's response.

"He doesn't believe you. Gemma, your man is younger than you. Older men marry younger women. Not vice versa. The leader is also doubting the claims of the teenagers. Young people in America go to college; they don't get married."

Horatio said, "I am younger than my wife. When you fall in love, you don't check the calendar. You listen to your heart."

"The commander is correct," Gemma said. "My darling husband is younger than me. I lost my first husband and did not want to be alone, so I married for a second time. I have my looks, property, and status, and I can still bear him a child. I don't think I'm a bad partner to have.

"What he said about young Americans is true. Most marry after they graduate from college. My daughter disgraced my family by having sex before marriage. She got pregnant, and that's why they are married."

Aminu translated their statements and the leader's answer.

"He said your stories are very convenient. Two rare events happened to one family. He doesn't like coincidences. He doesn't believe in coincidences. Where some see serendipity, he sees a conspiracy."

"We are telling the truth," Horatio said and shrugged his shoulders.

The leader spoke, and Aminu translated his statement.

"If you are married, prove it."

"How?" Gemma asked.

"By doing what married people do," Aminu answered. "Have sex."

"Here? Now?" Gemma asked.

"In front of everyone?" Babe asked, sounding scared.

"That is the proof he demands. Get undressed and copulate," Aminu said. He lowered his head and looked embarrassed.

"But surely," Horatio said, "he doesn't expect us to disrobe and have sex in front of him and his men. Doesn't your religion require men and women to dress and behave modestly?"

Aminu passed on what he said and delivered the commander's response.

He said, "You are not Muslims, and Sharia law does not apply to you. Americans are a very immodest people. You have much nudity and sex between unmarried people in your movies. Your women wear revealing bikinis and are nude and topless at the beach.

"Your culture invented nude selfies and filled the internet with pornographic pictures and videos."

"Well..." Trent wanted to refute what was said, but he couldn't think of any arguments to make.

Babe signaled for the others to come closer. She leaned in and whispered, "Guys, I not going to make a good case for being a modest woman."

"Why?" Horatio asked.

The eighteen-year-old's face turned red, and she said, "I have an all-over tan from sunbathing nude. I shaved my pussy, and I have a piercing through my left nipple."

"I shave my junk," Trent said.

"I tan topless," Gemma confessed.

"Okay," Horatio said, "that line of argument is out."

Babe whined. "I don't wanna have sex with my brother."

Gemma hugged her distressed child.

"Babe, I know the idea isn't appealing," Horatio said. "But the alternative is unthinkable."

The young woman cried; her body trembled.

"Do you see how the soldiers are looking at you?" Horatio asked. "The way wolves look at sheep. I bet none of them have had sex with a Caucasian woman...a blonde...an American."

"OMG!" Trent exclaimed. "To them, you're Disneyland. They all want to have sex with you...multiple times a day, and since they have guns, we can't stop them!"

"OH!" Babe exclaimed. She stared at her brother with tear-filled eyes as if just realizing how desperate the situation was.

"I get it," she said. "I'm getting fucked. The only question is by who. Okay, Trent, I choose you over some goat-fucking terrorist. I swear to God if you laugh at me or make fun of me, I'll bite your dick off."

Gemma sighed and said, "This is a terrible situation, having incestuous sex in public is our only option." She raised a finger and added, "No one tells anyone about this when we get home."

She grabbed Horatio's collar, pulled him to her, and whispered, "Ditto what Babe said. No laughing."

Horatio nodded and was released. He looked each woman in the eyes as he said, "Trent and I promise to be respectful."

He turned to the old man and said, "Aminu, tell the boss. We're unhappy with his demand, but we will comply and prove we are married couples. Can we have mattresses or blankets to lay on?"

Aminu conveyed his words to the leader.

The boss barked an order. Two of his men ran and retrieved bedrolls. They dropped them on the ground inside the pen.

The Tarkingtons looked at one another. Gemma made the first move. She turned her back to her son-in-law and said, "Unzip my dress."

He did, and she stepped out of it, folded it, and set it on the ground. She unhooked her bra, took it off, and dropped it on her frock.

Everyone, including her family, stared at her tits. She had a nice pair: full, round, and tanned with pointy brown nipples.

She stood tall and didn't attempt to cover up as if she hoped to inspire her children. Her daughter was scared and cowering. Gemma said to her, "Babe, join me. If we do it at the same time, only half the eyes will be on you. Otherwise, everyone will be watching you."