I still didn’t answer him.
He said “Get him, boys.”
The two men came into the cell. They roughly grabbed me and shoved me face first into the cell bars. One held me while the other slid belts around me. They
buckled me to the cell bars. The belts were tight, I could barely move.
After I was tied, the two men left the jail.
It was just me and Johnny.
He came face to face with me at the cell bars. He was just a little taller than me. His breath smelled like spoiled strawberry chewing gum. He said “You know, I guess
all
I have for you is bad news, my friend. There’s three things. One: Your girlfriend, Mindy? She’s been dead in the jail cell over there for about six weeks. Her body looks like a mummy. Did you notice her?”
I didn’t mutter a word. I tried not to show a bit of emotion, but inside, my heart felt like it had just been sliced in two.
“Next bit of info:” he said as he slid a stick of gum into his mouth. “Mel was carrying my baby. You know, Mel, the one you’ve been jacking off to. You not only killed her, but you killed a part of me. Johnny doesn’t like that.”
He reached down; grabbed one of the belts looped around me, and tightened it.
“And Net,” he said, slowly taking out a switchblade, moving it around so that the light from overhead gleamed on it for a second, “Net’s the one who told me all about you and Mel. Mel and her, shall we say, we’re very close friends. Mel told her how much you turned her on. Mel told Net that she wanted to fuck you and not me anymore.” He laughed a huff. “Net knew
all about
you twos hi-jinx. Net arranged your little cutesy sponge bath for Mel. It was Mel’s birthday and Net wanted to give her an extra special present.
How sweet of her
.”
I tried to budge away
from the bars, but I couldn’t.
“I was gonna beat her,” he said, his breath now smelling of fresh strawberries. “I was gonna beat her like a f
ucking red headed step child. Like I done so many times before when she cheated on my ass with other fuckers - like
you
- who come onto my land and try to take over my shit. But when I came in here – when I seen her smashed face…when I seen her dead there with a fucking broken neck…with her goddamn eyes gouged out…I knew it hadda been you.”
J
ohnny grabbed my cock.
“The last bit of bad news…
”
He sliced my penis off at the balls. The pain was scissor like, shearing, splintering heat. I tried to back away from it, but couldn’t. Blood sprayed out of me.
He let my cut-off penis drop to the floor. He looked at it and huffed another laugh. “Nobody does shit like this to me, motherfucker.” He brought the blade up even with my eyeball. “And I’m not gonna let anyone come in here after you’re dead. You can come back as a fuckin zombie and hang on those bars forever, bitch. I’m not gonna kill you after you turn you scum fuck.” He closed the switchblade, turned, locked the cell door, and left the room.
I was tied to the bars. I would bleed to death in minutes.
I passed out.
I was moved.
Hours…minutes…seconds later I have no idea. I was in a comatose state. Someone untied me from the bars. I was laid down on
my bed. My vision was dark and hazy.
I saw two shadowy figures. I couldn’t make out either one of them, but one of them was la
rger than the other. A woman? I didn’t know.
I passed out again.
I woke up in a hospital room.
The room was dim. Next to me on my left was a small table with a vase full of fake flowers. There was a pitcher of water on the table, too.
I turned to my right.
Mindy was sitting on a chair, looking at me, her eyes sad but also relieved. She wasn’t smiling. Next to her on another chair was the heavy-set Mexican girl who had given me the sponge bath. She was smiling, though, showing a wide gap between her teeth.
“Hi Dan,” Mindy whispered. “I missed you.”
Was I dead? Was I in heaven with Mindy?
It felt so surreal. I was heavily drugged. “Mindy...is it really
you?”
I managed to ask.
She nodded.
I passed out again.
The next time I woke up, I was propped up in the bed. Mindy was again on my right. This time she had a smile on her face.
Her smile was like a bright morning with golden sunshine.
My mouth was dry but I managed to ask “Are you
real?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“I was told you were dead.”
“No, Dan” she said, leaning toward me. “I’m alive. I’m not dead.”
I smiled. “It’s so good to see you, Mindy.”
“You, too.”
She put her hand on mine. It was warm.
The door to the hospital room opened. The large Mexican girl was back. She was wearing a nurse’s uniform. She sat down next to Mindy. Mindy said “Dan, this is Rosita. She saved both of our lives.”
“Thank you,” I said to her.
She nodded. “You’re welcome.”
“We’ll tell you what happened when you’re feeling better,” Mindy said. “Right now, you need your rest.”
Closing my eyes I went back to sleep.
They told me everything.
They told me about the army coming down in helicopters. They were searching the whole area for Mindy and I. Even after an exhaustive search, the army refused to leave. They stationed watches around the town. They blocked off every entrance into Concordia.
But Mindy and I never showed up. We were locked away. I was in a jail cell. Mindy was
locked in a tornado shelter.
When the army tried to get into the jails, Johnny told them that the only people inside the jails were dead people. He told them the cells were full of rot and disease. Even so, the army checked out a few of the cells, but all they found were corpses.
Rosita hid Mindy in a school’s tornado shelter. It was a small underground building out the back door of the school where Mindy and some other women were held captive by Johnny’s men. When Rosita heard that the army was coming to search through the school, she unlocked the door and told Mindy to hide in the shelter. Rosita had no idea why the soldiers were looking for us, but she hid Mindy to protect her.
The army stayed in
the area for about four weeks.
I asked Rosita “Ho
w come you didn’t just escape? You had keys.”
“He would find me,” Rosita told us. “He’s found anyone who has ever tried to escape. It was something Johnny enjoyed. When he caught someone, he would hang them up from the street lights just to let people see what happened when someone escaped.”
“He didn’t hang me up from a street light…” I said.
“No,” Mindy said, “he cut off your cock.”
“I sewed it back on though,” Rosita said, her fingers twiddling. “It should be good as new, I hope.” She smiled crookedly.
Mindy leaned to me. “I know what you did, and why you did it, Dan. I’m not mad at you. I know you only did it to get back to me.”
“Yes, that was the
only
reason why I did it,” I said. “I hated these people. It was the only thing I could…”
“You don’t need to explain yourself, honey,” she said. “I love you.”
“I love you, too” I said, tears cracking in my voice.
After a few minutes Rosita said “Johnny
gave the people he considered trustworthy walkie-talkies. It was on Teeg’s walkie-talkie that I overheard Johnny tell Teeg to bring me to the jail. He said that I would need to be there to clean up the mess after he was done with you, Dan. Johnny was very pissed at you for what happened between you and Mel. He wanted to kill you badly. When Teeg came to get me at my nurse station at the school – I was the only person with medical training - I hid behind the door and surprised him by cutting his throat with some fishing line. He had been fiddling with it for several days at his desk. I used to stand right outside his office door and watch him. I knew it would be a good weapon to use on his fat neck.
“With Teeg out of the way, I told Mindy to come with me. We drove Teeg’s nasty
pickup truck over to the jail. I told Mindy to hide somewhere outside. Then Johnny and some of his boys carried you into the jail. You were unconscious.
“Johnny tied you up and did his dirty work to you; much like he has done
to many other men – and boys – who have come between him and his lady friends – or his chewing gum, for that matter. He even cut off his own son’s penis because he thought his son stole some of his gum. He hung his son up in the C-Mart at the edge of town, and he also shot his younger brother because he thought his younger brother was covering for his son.
“After Johnny cut you, he stepped into the outer room of the jail. Mindy was standing there with me waiting for him. We had already taken out the two men who had come with
him. Mindy really surprised Johnny. He was so surprised by her being there that he didn’t notice me slip behind him and loop his neck with Teeg’s fishing line. I sliced his neck back and forth with the fishing line.
“As soon as he was on the floor, we went into your cell. You had already fainted. Mindy undid the belts around you and we slid you onto the bed. Mindy cried the whole time. She also brought your cut-off piece to me and asked me to sew it back on.
“I am a nurse. Before any of this happened, I was studying to become a doctor at the University of Kansas. Concordia is my home.”
Tears were flowing now. “Thank you, Rosita, for saving us.”
She nodded. “You’re welcome.”
She lowered her head.
For a man, having your cock cut off; it
really
is not fun.
As I think back about it, it was my pay
back for Rachel.
It had to be.
There ya go!
I could hear Rachel whispering through her dripping rot-filled face.
Next time ya wanna cheat on your wife you won’t be able to use your cock so well now, will ya? Kinda stubby, isn’t it? Huh?
She laughed.
You know - if ya get it sewed back on, it still ain’t gonna be as good as it used to be. It’ll kinda be like a spare tire there, buddy. It’ll get ya there, but it won’t feel quite the same when you’re trying to drive it home!
Shame on me,
I thought.
I deserved what I got.
Rosita told us she didn’t know why Johnny Phillipps had been allowed to come to power in Concordia. “Maybe it was because he was intimidating,” she said as she drove us to pick up our motorcycle. “He had this biker attitude. He threatened people with a shotgun. He told them it was going to be his way or the highway, and if they didn’t like it, they could get the fuck out. One time this guy mouthed off to him. Johnny shot him right in the face. I think Johnny’s first kill was what turned him around. He started laying down rules and appointing people to his army. He told me I was going to be the doctor of the town even though I was only a nurse. I tried to tell him this but he wouldn’t hear of it. All of the people he would injure would be brought to me. There were many I couldn’t help. He would string up the dead bodies on the light poles in town. ‘Look up there,’ he would tell me ‘that dead fucker hanging up there – it's your fault he’s up there. You should have saved him.’ Johnny blamed me for everyone’s death. He would say “if we had a good doctor around here, more people would be alive – but all we have is this fat Mexican bitch.’ I hated him. I wanted to kill him many times.”
We pulled into a used car dealership. Rosita drove around the back. There were many cars back here as well as motorcycles.
“This is where Johnny brought all the cars after he kidnapped people or killed them. I don’t know why he felt like he needed to hide them here. Your motorcycle is over there.”
We drove over to it. Rosita said “You’re
going to have pain in your groin for a while, Dan. Riding a motorcycle isn’t going to be easy on you. I brought some extra pain medication for you in case you need it down the line somewhere.”
Mindy went to her as we all got out of the truck. She hugged her.
“Thank you for everything.”
Rosita nodded, smiling.
I hugged her, too. “You saved our lives. Thank you.”
She handed me one of Johnny’s pistols. “You might need this out there, too. You two
be careful.”
I got onto the bike. My groin screamed but we needed to get going. Mindy sat behind me, grabbing me by the hips.
“You take care, Rosita,” Mindy said.
“You too,” she said.
We drove away. I had been locked up for 10 months.