I had the benefit of several editors, most of whom prefer to remain anonymous. However, I updated this story based on feedback from two writers on this site: Zeferage and Iphigenia-at-Aulis. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Morning rays beamed through the canopy of trees lining the sandy shoreline of the lake. Two trucks bounced down the dirt road, moving slowly through the trees as they picked their way along the rutted path. They slowed and stopped beside a simple wood-frame picnic shelter, dust settling over them as dogs barked with excitement from the backs of the trucks. The drivers, dressed in rugged clothing and boots, emerged wearily from the cabs.

A passenger door of one of the trucks opened and a woman stepped out wearing running shoes, black compression shorts, and a black track jacket. Her legs were well-toned from exercise and her dark hair had been pulled back into a ponytail. She lifted her hands over her head and stretched with a groan as she tried to shake the night's stiffness from her muscles.

One of the drivers, a man in a blue plaid shirt and khaki pants approached her and said, "The dogs will have to get a scent off of you before we get started. You know the rules, right?"

"I have two hours to elude Edward and I get a 10 minute head start. I can't cross the river and I have to stay within the property marked by the fence line," she replied.

"Right. If you can avoid getting caught, this property is yours. If he catches you, he can punish you for the remaining time allotted for the hunt. Think you can handle this?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so," she replied.

"I'll have that bitch cornered in twenty minutes," a red-haired man in an olive drab shirt and jeans spoke out to the couple, "She's a girl! She's slower than the foxes we usually hunt, Jimmy. This is going to be just a boring game of Follow the Leader but at least there'll be a sweet prize at the end," he said with a sneer.

The woman turned to the red-haired man. "I'm a trained distance runner, Edward. I've run cross-country and I've raced competitively for years. You don't stand a chance. But I want to see that land deed, and the contract to sell, before we get started," she countered.

"I got'em right here," Edward said, handing a manila envelope to James. "Jimmy here'll hold the papers. Yer father was a lyin' cheat and you probably growed up just like him. When I catch ya Jimmy'll make sure you hold up your end of the bargain. Then we'll see where that fancy college edjeecation gets ya."

The woman turned to the man in the plaid shirt. "You'll release me when its over, right James?" Shannon asked tentatively, looking at the man standing next to her.

"Yes. Immediately." James replied.

Shannon sighed nervously. "Might as well get this over with," she said, unzipping her jacket to reveal a sports bra encasing two firm breasts, small, but proportionate to her frame. Exercise had cost her some size, but she made up for it with shape and tone. Stripping the jacket off, the muscles of her lean, flat tummy rippled as she turned to pull the sleeves off her arms. Her thighs were lithe but strong, her ass round and tight from training. She hung her jacket on a fencepost, leaving her clad in only her bra, shoes, and tight black shorts. "You'll have to earn the rest of it, asshole" she said to Edward angrily.

"Your father weren't no good and neither are you! I got me this property fair and square!" Edward shouted.

James held up his hands and said, "Ok, ok, pipe down. Let's get the dogs scented and get this started. Hold still, Shannon. This will only take a second."

James and Edward went to their trucks and opened the cages mounted in the back. Each of the men clipped leashes onto the dogs' collars and guided the packs out towards Shannon, their soon-to-be prey.

Shannon froze in place as Edward shouted, "Scent, scent!" in a commanding voice, each dog burying its cold wet nose in Shannon's crotch and along her legs, inhaling in quick, rapid breaths. Shannon felt violated as the dogs formed olfactory impressions of her internal chemistry. She knew it was necessary for the hunt and was helpless to prevent their intimate contact with her body.

"Ok, that's enough," James said, pulling the dogs away from Shannon, "you've got 10 minutes before Ed turns them loose. Go!"

Shannon turned and sprinted into the tree line, dodging the larger pieces of underbrush as she plunged deeper into the menagerie of oak and pine.

"I'll git your ass, girlie!" Edward called as Shannon disappeared into the woods, her ponytail bouncing to the rhythm of her steps, "Your ass will be mine, ya hear!"

* * *

Shannon lay panting under the thick brush, trying to catch her breath, exhausted from the chase. Her legs were scratched and bruised from the many thickets she had stumbled through and her clothes were stained with sweat, dirt, and leaves. She could hear the baying of the hounds as the hunter drew near to her hiding place deep in the bush. A manicured nail swept a stray lock of hair from her glistening forehead as she rolled over and tried to crawl deeper into the tangled mass of leaves and limbs, away from the direction of the barking dogs.

Second-guessing her decision to hide, she dragged herself out of the thicket and ran towards a cluster of trees. Wrapping her arms around a low-lying tree branch, she hooked a leg over the wooden limb and tried to lift herself up, her other leg pushing against the rough bark of the tree trunk.

Suddenly, the pack was on her, hungry jaws snapping at her sweat-soaked body. She let out a shriek as a canine tooth pierced her flesh from behind. "Get them off me! I surrender!" she cried out.

Edward shouted "Heel!" as the dogs charged at Shannon's tired body. She turned and saw Edward tighten his grip on the dogs' leashes and pull them back.

"I told ya I'd git ya." Edward said as his hounds retreated back, still barking at the dangling figure of the woman, instinctively remaining ready in case she tried to flee.

Shannon tumbled out of the tree and landed clumsily on the grass of the clearing as James emerged from behind trees and underbrush. Edward leered at Shannon. "I

knew I'd get ya. All that college edjeecation didn't help ya now, did it?"

"Hold on, Ed," James interrupted, "let me get a quick check on her condition before we head back to the shelter."

James approached Shannon's exhausted body as she lay in the dry leaves resting. Handing her an energy bar from his pocket and a bottle of water, he pressed his fingers to her wrist, finding her pulse, and counted out the minutes with his watch. Satisfied with the reading, he opened an antiseptic packet and began dabbing at the numerous cuts and scrapes adorning the woman's glistening body. He asked her "Did the dogs nip you, Shannon?"

"Yes, one of the bloodthirsty bastards caught me on the ass."

"Ah, I see the puncture mark through your shorts now. I'll have to cut the material away to get at it," he said as he produced a small pair of scissors from his pack. He paused and looked at her questioningly.

"Go ahead," she said, "they're ruined now anyway," she said, rolling over onto her side.

He started at the bottom of the leg opening and followed the side seam until he was level with the puncture mark, then cut across her fanny, exposing the wound and a fair part of her right ass cheek in the process. The elastic material fell aside and hung loosely across the front of her leg, exposing the curve of toned muscle of her thigh.

"Your heart rate is good," James said, "and most of the wounds are superficial. The dog bite isn't deep but you'll have a nice bruise there. You should be ok."

"If you two love birds are done, we have some business to do." Edward turned to Shannon. "You know the deal. Your ass is mine for another hour."

Shannon paused, weighing her options. There weren't any. James was just a mediator to the bargain, to make sure things were fair and square. He couldn't stop Edward from claiming his reward. "Let's get on with it," she said slowly.

"Very well," Edward replied, grinning with satisfaction, "let's see yer hands."

"Hey! There was no agreement about being dragged through the woods!" Shannon protested.

"I always bind the paws of the vermin I catch," Edward said.

"He's got a point. Its customary." James added.

Shannon looked at the two men. "Very well, then. Take me," Shannon said as she held her hands out towards Edward.

The red-haired man quickly wrapped a length of rope around her wrists, tied it off, and proceeded to lead her back towards the picnic shelter. James fell in behind, appreciating the movement of her hips as she trudged along in front of him, the loose flap of Lycra bouncing against the exposed bit of ass cheek.

"Jimmy, I declare this to be the best huntin' I ever done!" Edward crowed to his companion as he led the captured woman towards the parked trucks.

Arriving at the site, Edward started to tie her to a support beam of the picnic shelter, then thought better of it. "I'd better tie you so you can't undo them knots. I don't want you to get loose and run off." Taking the rope, Edward tossed the loose end over a tree limb and pulled it until the slack was taken out.

"What are you doing"? Shannon asked him, pulling back against the rope.

"We always string up our catch before skinnin'em," he said continuing to tug on the rope.

"That's high enough," Shannon said, protesting as her hands were pulled up even with her head, her elbows bent at an angle out to the side.

"Bullshit," he replied, and pulled harder on the rope until her arms were straight overhead, pulling her up until the heels of her feet were just barely touching the ground.

"That should hold ya fer now."

As Edward tied off the loose end of the rope to the picnic shelter, James went over to a spigot and spun the handle. Satisfied that the water would flow out, he spun the handle back and shut it off.

"What's that for?" Shannon asked him.

"I'm going to give you a bath," James said, smiling at her as he lifted the hose towards her, "you should see yourself. You're a mess."

"No! I didn't agree to this!"

James replied "well you're certainly not getting in my truck smelling like that. What say you, Edward?"

"She ain't gittin' in my truck all dirty, neither. Maybe you'd prefer to ride in the back with the dogs. Then again they might want to snack on you and you'd give'em food poisoning as dirty as ya are. You'd best be quiet and take yer bath like a good girl," Edward said, grinning at her.

Shannon stood brooding under the tree, strung up helplessly, watching as James approached her lean, young body, his steps kicking up dust in the warm morning air.

James bent down and removed the woman's shoes, pulled off her socks and set them inside the shoes, then placed them on a table off to the side. He stood up and hooked his thumbs under the elastic band of her bra and started to lift her top.

"Hey!" Shannon shouted in protest as she tried to pull away, prevented from moving far by the pull of the rope.

"Well you can't really get a bath while you're clothed, now can you," James said, dropping his hands.

"C'mon, quit fuckin' around and get on with it," Edward said impatiently, tugging the rope and causing her wrists to be pulled up slightly, nearly lifting her heels off the ground. "I got somethin' special planned for Miss Priss!"

Shannon could feel the anger beginning to well up inside her. She'd known Edward through her father. They had done some business together and she always believed that Edward had swindled her father out of his property rights, the same property on which she now found herself strung up. She had something to prove and had taken a chance and lost. Now she just had to get through this.

Shannon wondered if James could sense the pain she felt, the pain of her impending humiliation. She had been his friend since childhood. They'd chased each other around schoolyards and playgrounds and had swum in the lake together for as long as they both could remember. She trusted him and had convinced him to act as the mediator in the bet. Now he was about to strip her naked. She hoped he was fighting a battle within himself; questioning his own morality. After all, she was his friend and he was about to violate her humanity. Their eyes met and she knew he was looking for a sign from her; something, anything, that would indicate her dissent to what he was about to do.

Shannon, waiting for James to determine her fate, hung limply in her bonds.

James raised his hands and placed them just under the curve of her breasts, his fingers lightly touching the material of her top as her body trembled with anticipation. He hooked his thumbs in the elastic band of the bra, hesitated a moment, and then quickly peeled the elastic material up over her head, exposing her two pale mounds, each capped by soft pink nipples that were drawn into ovals by her uplifted arms.

Where sun had found skin there was dirt and sweat from her jaunt across the countryside, but the soft white skin of her tits had been protected and they were now exposed to the two men. Edward whistled appreciatively as James stared at her in shock and surprise. Shannon inhaled nervously, sensing the tension between them, her pink nubs rising up towards the two men as Shannon tugged at the rope holding her arms overhead, the cords of muscles flexing as she struggled against the hold on her body.

By baring her breasts, James had just committed an act that could never be undone. He had taken their friendship in a new direction. Shannon tried to read James' reaction at seeing her exposed tits. Shock, yes, and lust. But something else, too. Revulsion?

Horror? Shannon wasn't certain.

The two men stood there, gawking at Shannon's nearly-naked figure tied to the end of the rope, a child who was now a full grown woman. She turned her body to the side, trying to hide her bare skin from their gaze as she twisted in the open air, her breasts bobbing gently with her movement.

Breaking the men's trance, Shannon quickly said, "If you want the rest of my clothes, you'll have to cut them from me!"

"That can be arranged," Edward replied ominously.

"I'll find something else for you to wear. I have some things in my truck," James said, still staring at her half-naked body.

"My turn, Jimmy," Edward said, pulling a large hunting knife from a belt pouch and holding it up to her, turning it so that the morning sun glinted off the blade, trying to intimidate her.

Shannon looked away, ignoring Edward's stare as he stood in front of her, clutching the knife in his right hand, taking in the sight of her partially nude body strung up before him. Edward ran his eyes up and down the length of the woman who was now stripped to the waist, her body stretched out helplessly from the tree limb. A sick and evil grin curled his lips as he watched her hang from the rope, her breasts rising with each gulp of air, her nipples beckoning to him.

He rubbed the pointed tip of the knife against an areola, watching the sensitive skin bend inward as the cold metal went deeper. Shannon flinched and tried to move away, but she was strung up too high and soon swung back towards her tormentor, her nipple pressing against the cold metal as her body rocked back and forth from the tree. "Keep swingin' from the end of that rope, missy. We're just gittin' started." Edward said, moving the knife slightly so that the tip dug deeper into her areola like a dart striking a bull's-eye.

Shannon whimpered softly as she flinched against the knife.

Edward said with a snarl, "I've got plans for you, Miss Priss."

Edward knelt down, his face even with her hips as his eyes beamed in eager anticipation of seeing the woman's most private parts revealed. He slid the bladed instrument under the hem of the undamaged half of her shorts and began cutting slowly, letting the ragged edge of fabric fall loosely against her leg as the material parted from her thigh. He continued his ascent up her leg, cutting the elastic until the waistband was stretched across the sharp blade. He chuckled to himself, then pulled the knife away with a sweeping arc. The shorn edge of her garment snapped aside, revealing a line of pale skin leading towards her pubic mound. A few strands of her dark fur peeked around the edge of the torn material.

"One side done," he said triumphantly, running the tip of the knife along her bare hip, "nuthin' to say before I do the other side?"

Shannon shook her head. She was better than that. She wasn't going to beg, even if it did mean exposing her sex to these men.

"Well now, Jimmy," Edward said forebodingly, "looks like we gonna see some of that high I.Q. pussy this mornin'."

With that he began slicing away at the other edge, finishing the work James had started earlier, until once again the knife-edge was under the last length of material. As he began to cut at the final bit of cloth around her hips, Edward turned to James and declared, "Jimmy boy, I give you … my prize!" and with that the final piece of fabric fell away from Shannon's waist, landing softly her feet.

James blinked as he took in the sight of the young woman bound nude to the tree branch. Long shapely legs curved upwards to Shannon's hips, a thin strip of dark fur surrounded by a triangle of pale skin highlighting the juncture of her thighs. Her flat tummy, dotted by her navel, was accentuated by the curve of her waist. Two pale mounds of soft skin bobbed from her chest as she shifted her feet nervously, her nipples bouncing with each tiny sob. She turned away briefly, humiliated, then faced the two men as a captured prize strung up and stripped.

"We're gonna have some fun this mornin', aren't we, Jimmy," Edward said, watching the girl pivot on her toes, "Time for this little hussy to get herself a bath. While you're doing that, I've got a little hardware project I gotta do."

As Edward walked off towards the trucks, Shannon said, "James, just a minute. I... I have to pee."

Edward, hearing her, stopped and turned around, saying, "Then go ahead!"

"No, not here. Please. Not with you watching," Shannon replied, "and it'll smell really bad."

Edward shouted, "Fucking bitch! You'll go right here goddammit!"

"She's right, Ed" James said, "and I don't want to give her a bath while standing in a puddle of her urine. She can go use the outhouse."

Edward thought for second. "Ok, but she has to stay tied up and I get to hold the rope," Edward retorted, untying the knot from around the beam.

He let the rope slip back over the limb and caught the end as it flopped down into his arms. He slid her jogbra off the loose tangle of coils and tossed it onto the table where it landed near her shoes. Edward then tugged on the rope, leading her towards a small shed near the tree line like a cowboy leading a reluctant horse.

Shannon had to walk gingerly across the open ground, instinctively trying to hold her legs together even as sharp sticks and rocks jabbed into the soles of her feet. She held her arms close against her chest, trying to cover the soft mounds of flesh that peeked out from around her elbows. James studied her movements as she hobbled across the woodland ground. Even tied up she moved with a certain fluid grace.

Reaching the small shack, Shannon opened the plywood door with her bound hands and was greeted by an overwhelming smell of lye. "Uuugh", she groaned, wrinkling her nose. She took a deep breath and entered the tiny stall, her leash trailing out from beneath the door as the wood siding closed. Edward and James could hear the tell-tale sound of human urine falling into the catchbucket under the seat.

"Maybe we can get her to clean that out later," Edward said with a chuckle.

"She'd probably throw it in your face, Ed," James replied flatly.

Edward laughed. "Yeah, I reckon I'll have to break her first."

"Cleaning the toilet wasn't part of the deal, Ed."

"Aw, damn, Jimmy, I was just fuckin' with ya."

Eventually the stream slowed to a trickle, then stopped completely. Edward tugged on the rope impatiently. "C'mon, c'mon. What's taking so long. Its not like you got any pants to put back on," he said. He tugged hard on the rope and the door burst open as Shannon stumbled out of the shack.

"Ok, ok. I'm coming," she said.

The trio walked back to the spigot, where Edward once again tossed the end of the rope over the tree limb and pulled it tight. Shannon's hands were jerked up over her head again before she could fight back against Edward's pull. Tying the rope onto the beam again, Edward grumbled "Damn college bitches gotta be so uppity" and headed towards the trucks. Shannon watched as Edward pulled a 4-inch square wooden beam from the bed, along with a brown paper bag, and disappeared behind the truck.

James turned the handle on the spigot, holding the end of the hose away from him as the water crept along the narrow passage and spilt out onto the ground. He held his hand under the water and said "its a little cold but there's nothing I can do about that. You'll just have to live with it."

Shannon watched with trepidation as James approached her, the end of the hose dangling out away from him. He stopped a few feet away from her and pressed his thumb against the opening of the hose, causing the water to spray over her nude body. "Oh... oh God that's cold!" she sputtered as she danced at the end of the rope, her nipples instantly contracting into little pink nubs.

"You'll get used to it," James explained, continuing to spray the water up and down the length of her body, letting the water form a chilling blanket over every inch of her warm skin.

Satisfied that she was sufficiently soaked, James reached up and pulled the elastic band from her ponytail, letting her hair fall down around her shoulders as he pressed the open end of the hose into her head. He brushed her hair out with his fingers gently, trying to avoid knotting the dark strands clinging to the curve of her back.

Holding the hose in one hand, James used his other hand to lift bits of twigs and leaves from her soft, dark folds, his fingernails massaging her scalp. Shannon moaned slightly with pleasure and said "That feels good." James smiled and turned the open end of the hose against her shoulder, watching the clear liquid pool against her skin before tumbling down her back, falling against the curved globes of her ass, and smacking against the ground. He began rubbing her neck with his other hand as the metal opening of the hose passed over her body, the water lifting the sweat and grime to reveal soft skin lightly freckled by the sun. Tiny hairs across the back of her neck sparkled in the wet sunlight as the water cascaded over her body.

James let his hand slip farther down her back, rubbing the dirt away as she stood under the tree, her hands imprisoned by the rope that ran over the limb above. With hands skilled from grooming horses, he gently rubbed her flesh down and out to the sides, following the natural contour of her body as he wiped the perspiration from her flanks with his palms. He leaned over and gently stroked her hips, softly brushing the soft muscle of her ass as streams of water ran between the cleft, his palms carefully avoiding the wound she had suffered earlier from the dog bite. She shivered slightly, the cheeks of her ass twitching involuntarily, and tiny goose bumps began to form on her upstretched arms.

"Are you ok?" James asked

Shannon nodded her head, "Um-humm". She had shivered from arousal, not from cold, and she wondered if James knew the difference. She could feel the familiar warmth beginning to build in her breasts and in the crevice between her thighs, the first tinges of lust. Soon her nipples would become engorged and her pussy lips would expand with her increasing passion. She hoped the water would wash away the scent of her awakening sex.

"Time to do the front," he said, placing his hand on her shoulder, turning her around to face him.

She flashed an enigmatic smile that only lovers understand, the semicircles drawing at the corners of her mouth as James lifted the hose up to her nude body. He slowly waved the gurgling hose over her bare chest, the cold water splashing against the upper curves of her breasts, the pink caps drawing tighter against her pale skin.

With one hand he began to wipe at the hollow of her throat, washing the grime away with his fingers. She breathed deeply as his fingers danced across the front of her shoulders, wiping the mud from her skin as his hands followed the flow of the water down across her chest. He wiped his hand along the outer curve of her left breast, lifting it slightly as his hand stroked the underside of her tit. His fingers then slowly spiraled inward until they were tracing the outline of her tiny pink dot. He pinched the erect nipple slightly, watching to see the reaction on Shannon's face as she gasped from the teasing. He continued to rub the hardened tip, watching her face twitch from the stimulation.

James then repeated the process on her other tit, his palm lifting her breast from below before circling the areola with his fingers and pinching the pink stump playfully. Shannon tried her best to ignore his fondling of her sensitive nipples as James continued to massage her breast, but he was persistent. She tilted her head back with a sigh and gasped as he gave her little pink dots one last tug.

He lifted the hose and let the water fall against her pale skin, watching the twin mounds shudder from the impact of the water as the clear liquid flowed quickly between her breasts, over her ribs, and down along the flat expanse of her tummy before converging in the dark forest of her mound and dripping from the dark hairs below.

He let his palm slide along her body, wiping her gently as he went down until he reached her waist. He drew a line horizontally across her hips, just above the dark tangle of her nest, the sensation of his touch tickling her and causing her to turn and gasp.

James knelt down and set the end of the hose on the ground, his face even with her bare hips. With both hands he ran his palms along the contours of her legs, gently massaging the muscles of her thighs and calves as his hands worked their away along her skin. Her mouth parted with a sharp intake of breath as his hands traveled upward along the inside of her thighs, his fingers stopping short of the tangled fur at the apex of her legs.

He lifted the hose to her waist and rinsed the loosened dirt from her body, waving the hose over her ass and hips as the water flowed along the quivering muscle in her legs. He slid his thumb over the metal opening of the hose and trained the pressurized stream of water into the middle of her hips, the water striking the pale triangle just below the tuft of fur. She inhaled sharply and tugged on the rope, trying to lift herself up as her toes danced in the muddy pool of water at her feet.

James followed her movement, letting the water push its way into her sex, teasing the little pink tissue protruding from her slit. He relaxed his thumb pressure over the hose, then tightened it, then relaxed, causing the stream of water to pulsate against the woman's exposed pussy lips, stimulating the folds of pink tissue that had begun to peek out. Shannon gasped as the pressure increased, then moaned with pleasure and began to undulate her hips against the water, beginning her sexual tempo as she tried to embrace the water with her pussy. James held the stream steady, watching as Shannon struggled towards orgasm. Sensing the increasing tempo of her thrusts as she worked towards her climax, James abruptly released his thumb from the hose, leaving Shannon twitching in the air.

"There you go. All clean," he said, playfully squirting a bit of water into her pussy as he turned and started towards the spigot.

"You missed a spot," Shannon said, suggestively crossing one leg over the other and pressing her thighs together.

James stopped and looked over his shoulder at her as she stood naked under the tree, her arms tugged up by the rope. He smiled. "I know."

Shannon stared at him longingly. A concerned look suddenly washed over her face and she said, "James, don't let Ed see me like this. Please."

He turned off the spigot and coiled the hose, then walked over to his truck and opened the door. Shannon watched as he rummaged around inside, then closed the door and opened a utility box mounted behind the cab. He returned holding a square package of sheer white cloth and a towel.

"I thought I'd left my gym bag in the truck, but I guess I brought it in after practice yesterday so we'll have to make do with this," he said, placing the white material on the picnic table, "Its sheer curtain material I had picked up awhile back. I did promise to clothe you and I'm a man of my word. But first, let's get you dried off."

Like a parent with a child, James unfurled the towel and patted her down, wiping the moisture from her skin. She squealed and giggled as he playfully whipped the towel in a frenzy around her head to rub the water from her hair. Satisfied that she wasn't going to get any drier, James flipped the damp towel over his shoulder and picked up the squares of cloth from the table.

Shaking out the thin white cloth, he wrapped one length of curtain around her hips, pulled it tight, then slipped one end under the wrapped material behind her back and passed the longer end between her legs. Shannon spread her thighs to make his chore easier. He glanced at the blood-filled tissue protruding from her bare hips and looked up at her with a grin. She smiled and looked away, embarrassed that she had given herself over to him so easily.

Matching her smile and shaking his head, he pulled the cloth up over the tangled nest of her mound and tucked it under the material in front, leaving the loose end to hang freely over her hips. He then unfurled the second piece of material and wrapped it around her chest, leaving a twist in the middle between her breasts and then tying the ends together across her back. He stepped around to the front of her to view his handiwork.

The dark color of her nipples was visible through the gauzy material, the texture of her nubs outlined against the fabric. The shadow of her lovenest was barely noticeable under the flap of loose material hanging from her waist.

He tugged at the edge of the wrap, making some adjustments to the bodice as Shannon watched helplessly. "Nice", he said, admiring the figure of the girl, now dressed in only slightly less clothing than she had started out with.

Just then Edward returned carrying the 4-inch by 4-inch beam and set it on the ground in front of Shannon. Two large bolts had been pushed through either end of the board and fastened there with thick washers and nuts. "Well don't we look special in our new clothes," Edward said, looking at the dangling figure of the girl, "Jimmy, do you still have that tow rope in the back of your truck?"

"Yeah, I keep it there all the time ever since you got stuck out at the swamp hole," James replied, "you can't miss it."

"What are you doing?" Shannon asked fearfully.

"This, dear, is going to be the crossbeam you'll be hanging from down at the boat hoist," Edward explained, continuing to walk towards James' truck, "You're gonna be crucified like the fucking whore you are."

"No!" Shannon shouted, "James, please, do something!"

James stepped back and looked at her helplessly. He was there to make sure neither she nor Edward broke the deal. She had to fulfill her end of the bargain. She would have to be crucified.

Edward fished around in the back of the truck and pulled out a length of thick rope from the bed.

"He ain't gonna save ya, toots," he said, not bothering to look at her. "The agreement was that I could punish ya and that's exactly what I intend to do. You've been startin' trouble for me all over town and now its payback time!"

Shannon started to pull at the rope binding her hands to the tree as Edward opened the door to his truck and pulled out a pair of leather Rollerblade wrist guards. As he approached her, she tried twisting the knotted rope around to the front of her wrists in an effort to loosen its grip on her hands, but she was too tightly bound.

Edward set the pair of wrist guards on the table. "Jimmy, ya did a good job with that there outfit but now its time for her to beg me to take it off," Edward said, leering at Shannon. "Tell me to take it off, girlie. Tell me to strip you."

"No, you asshole."

"Wellll," Edward said, tucking his hands in his back pockets, "looks like little Miss Priss here needs her first lesson in obedience. Maybe yer daddy didn't never take a switch to ya, but I sure will!"

Edward strode over to a small sapling and broke off a branch. He trimmed the limb with his knife and swung the stick in the air, the flexible wood making an evil hiss as he walked back towards his victim. Shannon gasped fearfully as Edward approached her exposed body, her only protection the flimsy white cloth around her chest and hips.

Edward raised his hand and snapped it forward, bringing the switch down through the air, the long stick snaking through the air as the end rushed forward to strike its target. Shannon clenched her teeth and tensed her muscles, readying herself for the blow.

SNAP!

The green switch struck the woman's body, the tip snapping against the edge of her nipple, her breast bouncing from the impact.

"AAAAAHhhh!" Shannon shouted, twisting her body as she hung from the tree limb.

Edward brought his arm back and lifted the switch again, circling her as he watched the girl spinning helplessly from the rope. Shannon tried to follow him, tried to anticipate the next stroke, wondering where he would strike next. She heard the whoosh of the stick from somewhere behind her and felt the impact against the exposed cheek of her ass.

SNAP!

"Ugggghhh!", she groaned as she tried to lift herself off the ground, trying to escape the sharp pain of the switch as her breath hissed through clenched teeth. She tried to pull herself away from the man, trying to avoid the stinging blows of the whippy switch.

Edward drew the whip up into the air, whipped it a few times to loosen it up as Shannon grimaced in anticipation of the pain she was about to receive, then let it fly against Shannon's helpless body again.

SNAP!

"Uugggghh!" Shannon grunted, then inhaled sharply, trying to absorb the pain from the blow as the switch once again struck her body. An evil red stripe began to form across her torso as she spun and pulled against the rope that held her arms overhead.

Shannon sobbed and gasped as a second stripe began to form on her skin, an angry red welt across the trembling globes of her ass, neatly matching the color of the first stripe.

Again Edward raised his arm, but this time he pointed the switch at Shannon's chest and waved the tip back and forth against her breasts, letting the switch tease the dark ovals of her nipples.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Shannon gasped as the flexible stick sliced into her sensitive perked nubs.

SNAP!

"Uuuggghh!"

"That was to let you know I mean business, girlie. Now beg me to undress you and don't fuck with me!"

"Fuck… fuck you," Shannon replied.

"Maybe I should take some more of the fight outta ya, first," Edward said, "Step back, Jimmy. She's gonna get a bullwhippin'."

"Nooooo!" Shannon begged as Edward turned and walked back to his truck.

Opening up a utility box mounted in the back, Edward reached in and pulled out a long leather bullwhip.

"Jimmy, I hear these things hurt like a sonofabitch, so I've been told," Edward shouted, "I guess we're gonna find out if that's true or not, aren't we Miss Priss."

"Nooooo! Oh, God, noooo!" She shouted as Edward turned and started walking back towards her, the bullwhip coiled around his hand.

"This one really makes the cows jump when I crack it. I just about got the braids all loosened up the way I like it, too. I bet it'll do a real number on that soft skin of yours."

"No! Please! I'll do anything! Whatever you say! Please!"

Edward stopped a few feet away and uncoiled the whip, letting the end snake out on the ground behind him.

"Pleeease, oh, God, please don't do this! Please! No no no no..." Shannon begged, her voice trailing off pitifully as she tugged at the rope holding her arms high overhead.

"Not so tough now, are we, missy," Edward said, "Well just to show you I'm a decent man, I tell you what I'll do. You obey me and I won't whip ya. How's that?"

Shannon paused, her eyes focused on the evil whip dangling from Edward's hand. "Please, please undress me," Shannon said.

"What was that, missy?"

"I said please undress me. Sir."

"Maybe you don't understand the situation here," Edward said, looking at the bound figure of the woman, "I said beg me to strip you. You ain't beggin'. You know whores shouldn't wear white. Maybe I should whip some sense into ya. And I have the whip fer doin' it right cheer!"

Edward shook the whip out, the leather undulating across the dusty ground as he loosened up the braided strands.

"No! Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease..." Shannon pleaded, her eyes wide with fright.

Edward drew his hand up, the leather braids trailing out behind him as Shannon squirmed and twisted from the tree limb. He gave her a steely gaze and brought his arm forward.

Shannon stared in horror as the ugly black line flew through the air towards her body. She braced herself as best she could, trying to follow the path of the whip with her eyes, trying to guess where it would land.

CRACK!

The whip snapped back violently in front of her and lifted the flap of material from her crotch, carrying a few strands of white thread with it.

"EEEE---Yahaaaa!" Shannon screamed as she jumped from the blow, the crevice between her thighs exploding as red hot agony radiated throughout her body. Her legs spastically convulsed in pain as her feet danced across the drying mud on the ground.

Edward pulled the whip back along the ground, the evil instrument of pain leaving a narrow trail in the dirt as it was dragged limply across the damp earth. He drew his arm back and gave his wrist a light flip, letting the whip undulate behind him as the nude girl stared in horror at the evil black thing being prepared for its next strike against her body.

Edward inhaled and set his jaw sternly as he lifted his arm and took aim. Shannon could only watch as the whip rushed forward again towards her exposed skin, the black leather ready to leave its mark on her flesh.

CRACK!

The end of the whip wrapped around her torso, the frayed tip impacting against her left nipple as the braids lashed both breasts simultaneously, the soft flesh bouncing and rolling as it absorbed the whip's energy.

"Yaaa-Aaaaaa!"

Shannon spun with the impact, her body twisting from the rope as the whip fell to the ground in a clump, its energy spent. She screamed and cried and tears began to run down her face as Edward once again pulled the whip back behind him and prepared the long braided leather for its next strike.

"Tell me to undress you, or this bullwhip'll strip you for me, one blow at a time!"

Shannon sobbed and cried, tears filling her eyes as she gasped and choked from her beating. Her whole body seemed be filled with angry red pain and her heart was beating its way out of her chest.

"Please…. Please undress me, sir," she begged, her eyes pleading for mercy.

"That's more like it, girlie," Ed said quietly, "because whores shouldn't wear white, right?"

"Yes," Shannon said, choking back a sob, "Yes, sir."

"And yer a fucking whore, right?"

Shannon sobbed and gasped. She looked up at the cable leading from her hands up over the tree limb.

"Yer a fucking whore, right!" Edward shouted angrily.

Shannon cried and said, "Yes… yes I'm a whore."

Edward set the whip on the picnic table and walked back to his victim. Stepping behind her, he quickly undid the knotted material and pulled it from her chest, then wadded it up and tossed it towards the table. Shannon's pale breasts bobbed with her crying, an angry stripe crossing around her torso, leading towards a pale nipple, as her arms tugged at the rope around her wrists. Edward then reached around to the front of her waist and yanked the cloth from around her hips, once again exposing her tangled fur.

Edward glared at her, then turned towards the table and picked up the wrist guards. Unsheathing his knife, he cut two pieces of rope from the end tied to the picnic shelter and threaded a piece through each of the thumbholes in the wrist guards. He tied each piece off so it wouldn't slip from the leather wrist guard and handed the two cuffs to James, saying "Jimmy I'm gonna untie this here rope on the tree so I can undo those knots and get her down. You'll have to hold her so she don't try to get away. I'll put these cuffs on her and then we'll move her over to the cross beam there. You'll have to hold her down while I tie her off. Once I got the beam on her back and the tow rope attached, you can let go."

"Ok," James replied, moving behind Shannon and wrapping his arms around her torso firmly.

James could smell the fragrance in Shannon's hair as he stood there holding her, a mix of her own scent and the aroma of the water. Shannon trembled as he held her in his grip. He whispered to her softly as she stood naked in the mud, "Shhhh. Easy, girl. Be brave. Show me how strong you can be." Shannon stifled a sob and tried to calm down.

Edward pulled at the rope around the support beam and the knot came loose. He let the rope slip over the limb as Shannon's arms fell weakly to her side.

Edward took the mass of knotted rope around her wrists and began to unravel the coils. Finally the rope slipped from her wrists and her hands were freed, her skin wrinkled and gouged by the pressure of the rope.

Working quickly, Edward slipped the leather wrist cuffs over Shannon's hands and velcroed them into place, leaving a piece of rope dangling from each arm.

"Ok, Jimmy, let's get her down," Edward said, taking both of Shannon's wrists and pulling her toward the wooden beam on the ground.

The trio moved awkwardly as Shannon's feet dragged weakly across the ground, her toes carving tiny ruts in the dirt as she was carried over to the wooden beam. Shannon offered no resistance as the two men turned her over onto her back and pushed her down. She winced as the edge of the wood dug into her shoulders.

James sat astride her waist and placed his hands on her forearms, pinning her to the ground as Edward slipped the rope from one cuff through the bolt's eye at the end of the beam. With her arm secure, James lifted his hand and wiped a tear from her cheek, stroking her face as Edward stepped over Shannon's prone body and stretched out her other arm, tying it off to the bolt at that end.

James continued to stroke Shannon soothingly as Edward took the loose rope that had held Shannon to the tree limb and cut two more pieces from it. Edward wound the piece of rope several times around the patibulum, trapping her wrist firmly against the wood, then added a second loop around the rope itself so that her hand wouldn't pull free. He then repeated the process of wrapping a length of rope around her other wrist as well. She was now secured to the wooden beam that would be her patibulum.

Edward tied one end of the heavy tow rope around the end of the beam, then tied a loop in the middle of it, and then knotted the tow rope around the other end of the beam.

"Ok, Jimmy, git her up."

James stood up and moved towards one end of the beam while Ed moved to the other. Following Ed's cue, James lifted his end of the patibulum. Shannon struggled to her feet as the two men held the patibulum aloft, her legs moving under her as she accepted the weight of the beam across her upper back.

"Lead the way, Jimmy," Edward said as he smacked Shannon on the ass with the switch, the exposed cheek trembling from the blow. Shannon yelped with surprise then stumbled forward, following James towards the shore of the lake. Edward sped her along with taps from the thin stick.

The path towards the beach was littered with pine cones and sharp sticks that continuously punished Shannon's feet as she carried the heavy wooden beam towards the boat hoist. Her breasts shuddered and bobbed with every step she took, the hard edge of the beam digging into her soft shoulders as she tried to balance it on her back. "Go on, git!" Edward shouted, whipping her with the switch as she trudged along the dirt path, drawing another gasp of pain from the girl. "You fuckin' whore gonna file a claim," Edward said, swinging the switch against the back of Shannon's thigh.

"Ungggh!", Shannon cried out in pain.

"Fuckin' bitch think yer so smart."

Whoosh! SMACK!

"Unggh!"

"Gonna get a lawyer…"

Whoosh! SMACK!

"Ahhh!"

"Yer daddy was a drunk and stuck me with the bills."

Whoosh! SMACK!

"Ah-aaah!"

"Fuckin' cunt! Yer gonna call the appraiser's office… gonna drag me inta court…"

Whoosh! SMACK!

"Owwww!"

Stumbling out of the trees, the woman saw the boat hoist near the shoreline. It was tall and constructed of a single thick wood piling, designed to pull heavy boats from the water and onto the bank. Ruts in the sand gave testimony to the effectiveness of the design.

The vertical beam was buried into the ground and rose over 8 feet high. Two grooved wheels were mounted at the top of the beam and a steel cable passed over them, guided by the channel cut in each wheel. One end of the cable was wrapped around a large winch and a large hook dangled from the other end.

Edward pulled on the beam across Shannon's shoulders, jerking her to a stop. He tightened the ropes around the woman's wrists as she stared at the post that would be her home for the next hour.

James stopped at the edge of the small beach as Edward slapped Shannon's exposed ass and pushed her towards the large pole, causing her to stumble in the loose sand. Shannon's breasts bobbed with her movement as her legs pumped under her, her body struggling to avoid falling. Edward laughed and said "Git, you fuckin' whore! Go on now, git!"

Positioning her in front of the piling, Edward placed a hand on her shoulder and shoved her back against the post until the hook was centered over the loop in the middle of the tow rope. He then slipped the loop of thick rope onto the hook, walked behind the post to the winch and began cranking on the handle, drawing in the cable, the lengths measured by the rattle of the turning drum.

Her breasts bounced slightly as she tried to balance the beam on her shoulders, the cable beginning to lift the knotted rope tied to the patibulum. Her feet shifted as her arms were drawn upward. She sighed again, taking a deep breath and trying to relax as the weight of the beam was transferred from her shoulders to the cable overhead. Her body was slowly stretched out as the wooden beam was lifted higher above the ground, taking her body with it.

The muscles of her arms began to twitch and flex as more stress was put on them. Her breasts, capped by soft pink ovals, were stretched slightly from the strain. Her navel was elongated as her tummy, already lean and flat, was pulled tight below her ribs, the tiny oval almost matching the thin slit of hair between her legs. The rise of her mound of Venus became more pronounced as the pale triangle of skin was stretched across the rise of her hips.

Edward stopped turning the winch as her heels cleared the ground. He then flipped a metal spur on the winch, locking the windlass in place. He moved in front of the nude body of the woman to watch the trophy on display before him as her breasts rose and fell with her breathing, the erect nubs of her nipples reaching out towards him, as if begging to be touched.

Edward raised his hand and began batting at her boobs playfully like a kitten with a piece of string, judging her size and shape, as Shannon squirmed against the post. He then slapped her left breast lightly, watching it shake and tremble from the impact of his palm. She stifled a gasp and collected herself. Edward then raised his other hand and slapped her other breast and extracted a guttural "umph" from her. Edward smiled wickedly as the woman glared at him. She pursed her lips as he again raised his hand and brought it down against her tender skin, watching the soft meat bob and ripple from the impact. She tried to twist her body away from him, her toes dancing along the ground as she turned.

"Tell me to stop," Edward growled threateningly, his teeth clenched tight, "show me how weak you really are."

Quickly he slapped her boobs twice more, harder, trying to get her to cry out. She knew what he wanted from her but she wouldn't surrender. Not yet. She fought against the urge, struggling to subdue the pain emanating from the reddening flesh of her twin globes.

Shannon tugged at the ropes binding her arms as her fingers twitched in the open air, her tender breasts subjected to the blows of Edward's palms. She glared at him, growling angrily as he continued to abuse her helpless body.

James turned and started walking towards the two parked trucks. Shannon watched his movement through pain-filled eyes, silently pleading for him not to abandon her, as he turned his back and walked away. At that moment, she felt completely alone, with only her tormentor for companionship.

Ed continued to punish Shannon's breasts, his palms slapping against her reddening skin. Through the blur of sweat and tears, Shannon saw James open a cooler in the back of his truck and walk quickly towards her carrying three bottles.

"Thirsty, Ed?" James asked, holding a bottle of beer towards Edward as he approached the body of the girl bound to the cross.

Edward suddenly stopped. "Yeah, Jimmy, I am. Keep an eye on her for a second, will ya? I need a beer break."

"Sure thing, Ed," James replied.

Edward accepted the beer from James' hand and popped the cap as James carried a water bottle towards Shannon. Standing in front of her, James gazed into her eyes, studying her expression as he opened the bottle and lifted it to her mouth, tilting the rim against her lips. "You must be thirsty," he said as the woman gulped at the clear, sweet water, a stream trickling around the opening and running gently along the curve of her chin before pooling in the hollow at the base of her slender throat. "I'll try to help you get through this, but there's only so much I can do."

Taking a handkerchief from his pocket, James began wiping her brow, brushing the few loose strands of hair that still clung to her forehead, then wiping her cheek and neck gently with the cloth. Her thirst quenched, the woman closed her mouth, causing a bit of water to cascade down her chin and fall against her chest, running between the furrow of her bare breasts, trickling along the expanse of lean, flat tummy before disappearing into the dark forest of her hips. "Thank you," she mouthed breathlessly as he pulled the bottle from her mouth.

Taking the handkerchief, he began to wipe the excess water from her chin. The woman, stretched out in the air, could only watch as he dabbed at her chest with the damp cloth, avoiding the creamy skin that had been reddened by Edward's beating of her bound body. He lightly touched her, letting the cloth soak up the moisture on her nude body.

Satisfied with his cleansing, he looked at her and smiled nervously. She smiled back, tilting her head slightly and looking into his eyes. Emboldened by her response, he cupped the tender skin of her left breast carefully, letting it rest in his palm as he felt the heft of it. He pressed his thumb into the mound of her globe, feeling the firmness of her flesh, then flicked his thumb against the pink roundness of her areola, drawing a shallow gasp from her. He blew against the milky skin, the redness fading now as he caressed her tenderly, watching her nipple begin to pucker and harden from the stimulation of his hand.

James leaned forward and pressed his mouth against her erect nipple, letting his lips grasp the skin as he sucked slightly on the perked nub. Shannon released a moan of pleasure as he rolled the little pink nub in his mouth. He released her breast and looked up at her half-closed eyes. "You are a brave girl for going through with this," he whispered to her.

Shannon replied quietly, "I know."

Hearing Edward's footsteps behind him, James turned his head, still caressing her, and said, "Ed, do we really need to keep going?"

Ed shouted "Hell yeah! I'm just getting started!" and took his place in front of Shannon's outstretched body as James stepped aside. Watching as Edward raised his hand to strike her, Shannon tensed up, waiting for the blow, anticipating the pain that was to come.

SMACK!

The creamy flesh surrounding the sensitive oval curled from the blow, drawing a quick, deep yelp of pain from her. He then quickly landed a series of reddening blows to the pale mounds of her malleable skin, the nipples bouncing in the air from the impact, causing her to jump and pull at the ropes around her wrists that bound her to the crossbeam. A brief shriek of pain tore from the woman's throat as Edward continued to slap the pale skin of her breasts.

Tiring of his fun, Edward stepped back and collected himself as Shannon hung gasping from the crossbeam, her breasts reddened from the angry blows. She could feel heat radiating from her skin as she watched Edward move behind her and pick something up.

"Here's a little something I made especially for you, girlie."

Edward lifted up a small piece of cardboard on which was written a single word: "Whore".

Poking two holes in the cardboard with his knife, Edward tied two pieces of string to the sign. He then dug into his pocket and pulled out two alligator clips and tied those to the ends of the string. "Guess where this is goin', you fuckin' bitch," he said with an evil smirk, "Right on those two perky little titties of yers. How you like that?"

Shannon shrank against the pole as Edward lifted the two clamps to her body, parting the spring-loaded jaws to reveal the serrated edges.

Shannon pursed her lips as she waited for the bite of the clamps, her eyes studying the evil teeth that would soon crush her skin. She pulled against the beam, trying to avoid the devilish chrome tips as Edward opened the jaws of one clip and centered it over her trembling nipple.

"Ow!" she cried out as Edward snapped the clip shut.

She followed his hand as he centered the other spring-loaded clamp directly over her other erect nub. She winced with pain as Edward released the jaws, pinching her skin between the triangular edges of the clip. She tried to limit her movement as the sign swung freely from her tits, the cardboard swaying and pulling on her nubs. Edward moved behind her and grasped the handle of the winch.

"Time to put my trophy on display," he said as he proceeded to draw in the cable attached to the patibulum, lifting her body from the sand.

Shannon moaned as her arms and shoulders extended outwards, absorbing the stress of her own bodyweight. Her chest tightened as the skin was stretched across her ribs, her stomach pulled taut as her body was lifted up. Instinctively she tried to pin the post between her the soles of her feet, her skin scrabbling along the splintered sides of the wood as she tried to take some of the strain off her shoulders.

Locking the windlass, Edward grabbed one of her slender ankles and quickly slipped a loop of rope around it, then wrapped the rope around her other ankle and wove the rope around the post, leaving her knees bent at a 90-degree angle. Edward tied the rope off as Shannon struggled against the pole, trying lift herself up.

"Another hour like that should take some of the stubbornness outta her," Ed crowed, watching his victim fight against the bonds holding her fast to the wooden crossbeam as the winch locked with a metallic click.

Shannon hung from that heavy beam, her wrists imprisoned by the reinforced cuffs knotted securely to the frame, her ankles lashed to the post such that her legs were spread apart, exposing her sex to the two on-looking men. She tried to break the hold of the ropes on her limbs, trying to twist her body to protect her modesty from the prying eyes, struggling to assert some control over her place in the world. As she hung there, panting, pulling, fighting the cross, she began to realize that she had surrendered her freedom completely, that she was helpless to prevent anything that the men might choose to do to her.

OhGodOhGodOhGod. Like a mantra Shannon kept repeating this to herself as the reality of her helplessness began to sink in. The pain of her whipping was forgotten as she began to panic, her brain struggling to comprehend what was happening to her body. She looked up at the twisted curves of muscles leading from her shoulders to the ropes around her arms, studying every detail of the knots as if willing them to come undone.

Shannon glanced down at the rounded curves of her chest, the sign tugging at her pained nipples. Red stripes adorning her breasts and thighs gave mute testimony to the abuse she had suffered earlier. Shannon felt as if her ribs were trying to push their way through her skin as she struggled against the stress exerted on her body, the sinews of her arms and legs quivering as she tried to lift herself up.

Her skin glistened in the sun as she rolled her head in pain, her hair clinging to her forehead as fresh beads of sweat trickled down her skin. She struggled to breath, taking in short, quick gasps of precious air as she hung suspended from the cross, pushing herself out away from the wooden beams towards the two men, as if offering herself to them.

A soft breeze blowing off the water felt good against her flesh. She panted and moaned as she lifted herself up, letting the air caress her skin, the wind brushing softly at the tangled forest between her parted thighs. A trickle of sweat crept along the side of her torso, gaining speed as it raced downward towards the cleft of her sex.

The sign hanging from the clamps on her nipples swayed gently in the wind as her breasts bobbed with each gasp of air she squeezed from her lungs. Her legs, exhausted from running and now pushed to the limits of their endurance, began to weaken and she could feel the sharp daggers of fatigue stabbing into her muscles.

Shannon's arms, pulled up and away from her body, began to feel the strain once again as she settled back down to the bottom of the cross. She moaned as her breasts were stretched out tight against her chest, the clamps digging deeper into her sensitive buds every time she moved.

Shannon opened her eyes to look at her tormentors. Edward had moved off towards the shelter but James stood at the base of her cross, watching her with quiet fascination as she struggled to lift herself up once again. A groan escaped her throat as she pushed herself up, trying to get another precious gulp of air, bravely fighting the growing ache in her legs.

Holding herself up in full extension, she glanced quickly at James before closing her eyes against the rays of the sun. "Ja … James, I… need to pee…".

James looked at her dispassionately and said, "then go ahead."

Shannon gasped and panted, swallowing each precious bit of air she could. She held herself there as if to say something, then slowly descended until her arms were fully extended, her shoulders once again taking the strain. She hung her head as her stomach flexed with each gasping breath. She cried in agony and shook her head to the side, avoiding the man studying her naked form.

A tiny squirt of yellow liquid angled out from the spread thighs of the woman, then another. Soon a little stream of urine arced out from her slit, growing in intensity as she emptied her bladder, her urine pooling onto the ground below and caking the grains of sand.

Shannon hung sobbing from the cross, her breasts trembling and shaking as the sign danced from the clips on her pinched nubs. "Oh… God…" she cried aloud, once again starting to push herself up, the pain in her legs unbearable as her muscles quivered from exhaustion.

The cords of muscles in her arms and legs twitched as she struggled upward, her stomach contracting with effort, her face twisted in agony. She held herself up at the apex of her movement, every muscle in her body screaming with fatigue as she drew in another precious breath of air. She gasped and panted, her hair clinging to her sweat-soaked back, perspiration rolling down her body as she held herself up, then, finally, slowly she began her descent back down to the bottom, her breasts once again drawn against her chest as the cardboard sign brushed against her ribs.

Settling at the bottom, Shannon jerked with surprise as something cold and wet splashed against the exposed slit of her pussy. She opened her eyes in time to see James capping the bottle of water. She looked at him, her face a mix of pain and surprise as she hung suspended from the cross. James smiled at her and said "Just cleaning you up a bit." She smiled quickly, expressing her gratitude before once again feeling the agonized strain in her arms and shoulders.

The sound of a vehicle startled the helpless victim.

Shannon heard the car making its way along the unmarked dirt path leading to the picnic shelter, then Ed's voice calling out. A high-pitched voice answered. A woman? A child? Oh God! Don't let anybody see me like this! No no no no no.... not like this. Not like this. Oh God, no no no.

Approaching footsteps. Someone coming! Ed and a woman. Who? I don't recognize her. She sees me! No, don't look at me, not like this...

"Jimmy, you remember Thelma from the bar, right?"

"Hi, Thelma," Jimmy said, extending a hand.

"Pleased to meetcha," the woman responded as she daintily shook James' hand, then glanced at Shannon's nude body strung up on the wooden post. "Geez, Eddie. I didn't think you'd go through with it."

"I told ya she wouldn't be causin' us no more trouble," Edward said proudly.

The woman approached the wooden post and began to circle Shannon's naked body as it hung on display from the improvised cross, studying the nude figure as Shannon turned her face away in shame. The simple cardboard sign swung gently from the pinched nubs of Shannon's breasts as she twisted her body to avoid the gaze of the woman. Shannon stifled a cry as the sign swayed in the air, the clips tugging painfully at her nipples.

"Whore?" the woman asked, stepping closer to Shannon's glistening body.

Ed, "yeah, I figgered she's a whore cuz she tried to fuck me out of this property."

"Well she's a pretty one, Eddie. Real pretty. Too bad she ain't as smart as she is pretty. What are those marks? They look dreadful."

"I cut a switch to take some of the fight outta her. She wasn't bein' very cooperative so I took a bullwhip to her. Them on her ass are from the switch. Her tits and pussy got the bullwhip. She howled about it but I got'er done."

"Ohhh, I see," the woman said, nodding her head, leaning in to get a closer look at the welts on Shannon's thighs and ass. She tentatively reached up and touched a finger to an angry red line across Shannon's trembling cheeks of muscle. Shannon flinched and pulled away, gasping sharply through clenched teeth as the woman traced her finger along the welt.

"Absolutely dreadful, Eddie, what you done to such a pretty girl", Thelma said, tracing along another red line on Shannon's outstretched body.

Thelma watched the nude girl squirm as she poked at Shannon's blistered skin, pressing against one angry line after another. Shannon gradually squirmed less and less as the woman continued to prod at the sweat-slicked flesh.

Thelma drew back from the glistening body of the girl hanging weakly from the cross, chewed her lips slightly in deep thought, then said "Can I try it once? Can I switch her?"

"Sure, darlin'. Anything you want, ol' Eddie can get."

"Ummmm," James said indecisively.

Thelma turned to James. "I won't hurt her. I just want to see what its like to switch somebody. I've never done it before."

Shannon looked at James, pleading with her eyes as her mouth struggled to form words. No! Please, no! Don't let her touch me!

James looked at Shannon, then at Edward. Edward shot James a glare designed to intimidate. And it worked.

"Ok," James conceeded, "but just a few strokes."

"Yay!" the woman cheered, clapping her hands excitedly as Edward handed her the thin green branch.

Thelma swished the flexible stick through the air a few times, then lightly slapped her open hand with it to test the sting of the switch. "Ow! It does kind of hurt a little."

Shannon watched through tear-filled eyes as the woman stepped closer to her and swung the stick in the air to test her skills. Shannon's heart pumped with fear as Thelma stopped and raised the stick, the woman's face beaming with excitement at what she was about to do. Shannon closed her eyes and braced herself as Thelma lightly tapped the stick against Shannon's hip, as if marking the spot where she would strike. Shannon heard the whoosh of air just before she felt the blow.

"Uggh!" Shannon grunted as the switch impacted her skin.

The woman giggled.

Sweat dripped from Shannon's body as she hung, gasping, choking, on the cross.

Another woosh as the switch came forward and smacked Shannon's ass.

"Ugghh!"

Shannon twisted, trying to protect the sensitive globes of muscle from the stinging pain.

Enjoying her new game, the woman slid behind the outstretched body of the girl and swung the flexible little rod like an orchestra conductor in the heat of symphonic passion, raining blows across Shannon's ass.

"Ughh! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Shannon pulled hard at her bonds, bowing her body into the fully upright position as she tried to escape the repeated blows of the switch.

The woman giggled merrily as Shannon grimaced and held herself up, fresh marks criss-crossing the clenched cheeks of her ass.

"Gee, Eddie! She still has some fight left in her!" the woman shouted merrily, continuing to swing the nasty little switch against Shannon's quivering rump.

"Unggh! Unggh! Unggh!"

"You keep goin', Thelma, darlin', teach that whore a lesson!" Edward called out, encouraging the woman.

Shannon cried unabashedly at the pain inflicted on her body by the switch and the cross. It felt as if steel bands were contracting around her chest, squeezing the breath out of her, even as the woman continued to lay stripes across her ass and thighs. A plea for mercy escaped as a croak from a mouth too dry to speak as tears streamed down her face and joined the beads of sweat flowing from her body. Unable to support her weight any more, Shannon once again slumped against the rough wood of the cross and cried in agony at the abuse her body was forced to endure.

Then the whooshing stopped. A gentle voice. "There there there, my dear," Thelma said, a mother comforting her child, "Shhhhh. I know it hurts. I know. Go ahead and cry all you want. We'll continue when you're ready."

More? Shannon choked back a sob. God, no! No! No more, please! Shannon's eyes implored the woman for mercy. Please, no more!

"Shhhhh, that's a good girl. No more crying, no more tears. That's it. Such a pretty face. Such a pretty girl. And such a lovely twat between your legs. Do you suppose it would hurt if I struck it with this stick?"

Shannon's eyes opened wide with terror. Nooooo! Nooooo! Her voice cracked as she tried to speak, to beg. She shook her head violently as she felt the gentle tapping of the stick against the blood-filled tissue between her legs, the little bud of her clit hiding just below the surface. Her whole body seemed to flex in time to the beat of the stick against her sex.

Thelma continued to tap the wicked little switch against Shannon's pussy, little drops of moisture dropping onto the warm sand with each little flick of the stick. Every nerve in Shannon's body seemed to respond to the soft tapping.

"Let's see just how sensitive that little clit is, ok, honey?" Thelma said, placing her fingers against Shannon's labial lips and drawing them apart. "Ah, there it is! Ready to say hello, isn't it, dear!"

Shannon hung limply from the beam, a gutteral "nooooo" escaping from her throat as she sputtered and coughed.

Thelma gently stroked the little pink tissue, watching Shannon flinch and jerk from her ministrations. Thelma continued to massage the sensitive bud, letting it respond to her caresses as Shannon cried in fear of what was to come.

Thelma stopped and raised the stick, preparing to strike between Shannon's wide-forked thighs.

Nooo! No!No!No! Not there! Not there! Focus on the stick, focus on the stick. A green blur,a whoosh.

Pain exploding everywhere. An inhuman scream. AAaaaaahhh!

Shannon's legs bucked and kicked as she recoiled from the blow. Her arms tugged at the crossbeam, drawing her body up as high as she could go before the ropes around her ankles held her back.

Shannon cried out, screaming with pain, her voice curdled in anguish as Thelma continued to swat the switch against the girl's swollen sex organ. Shannon pulled hard against her restraints, screaming, choking, a wild creature squirming on the cross.

A tiny trickle of urine gave way to a flood as a little yellow rainbow spurted out from Shannon's slit. Thelma jumped back in surprise as Shannon's bladder emptied itself onto the warm sand of the beach, the girl continuing to scream and kick blindly on the cross as her body instinctively relieved itself.

"The little bitch tried to pee on me!" Thelma shouted, drawing the switch back and preparing to strike the sobbing girl again.

"Thelma, no!" James shouted, trying to stop the woman.

"Goddammit, Jimmy! Let her do it!" Ed shouted.

"Shit, Ed! She's hurting her bad!"

"That's the whole idea, asshole! Why the fuck do you think we're here?"

"But not this, Ed," James said stepping forward, his fists clenched with rage, "This is beyond what we had agreed. This isn't right. This is just brutality for the sake of brutality. This isn't what I signed on for. This is over right now!"

Thelma ignored James and landed another blow between Shannon's legs, the whip striking just off to the side of the open slit of Shannon's pussy. Shannon tried to dodge the blow, twisting her hips around as Thelma brought the stick down again, swinging blindly at Shannon's crotch as the switch whistled through the air.

Shannon screamed like an animal as Thelma continued to punish her. Agggh! No! Oh God No! Agggh! Agggh! No more! Please! God! No! A blurry haze. Sounds. Pain! Oh God no! Mercy! Mercy, please, Nooo!

Shannon hung sobbing from the cross, her breasts shuddering with each hard-fought breath, the pain in her nipples masked by the blinding pain between her legs.

Then the evil hissing of the stick was gone. She braced herself for the blow that never came. Slowly she opened her eyes, blinking away the tears still flowing with each sobbing breath she took.

Thelma lay sprawled on her butt on the ground, her mouth open in shock, the whip missing from her hand. Ed was face-down in the dirt, his legs moving slowly. Where was James?

Shannon felt the ropes around her legs loosening. Her body swung out away from the cross as the coils dropped to the ground. She moaned as her arms absorbed the full weight of her body, her hands still trapped by the cuffs lashed to the heavy crossbeam.

The windlass of the hoist slowly spun backwards, lowering the body of the girl gently to the ground. Shannon collapsed in a heap to her knees, unable to stand, as James stopped the windlass before Shannon could fall completely to the ground, careful to keep the granules of sand away from her face.

James reached down and squeezed the handles of an alligator clip, drawing an anguished sob from Shannon as blood returned to crushed tissue. "Sorry, but this has to come off" he said apologetically, as he reached down and removed the other evil clamp, drawing another anguished cry of pain from Shannon's exhausted body.

Tugging at the knot at the end of the beam, James freed one of Shannon's arms, letting it fall limply to the sand before draping her arm over his shoulder. Hugging the near-lifeless body of the poor girl to his chest he quickly loosened the knot of rope holding her other arm. "Shhhhh. Its all over. Its all over. I have you now," James said reassuringly, "You're safe now. Nobody is going to hurt you. Nobody is going to hurt you anymore."

Shannon lay still against his chest, her tears dotting his shirt with briny drops, ropes trailing from her arms. She coughed and cried and said, "Thank you... James... Thank you."

* * *

"Anything else I can get ya, dears?", the waitress asked, slipping the check under the syrup bottle.

"No, I'm fine thank you," Shannon replied, tucking one hand under the leg of her jeans while the other toyed aimlessly with the straw in her glass of water.

Shannon glanced at the gentleman sitting across the table from her. "James, did Ed give you any trouble about the land sale?"

"No. We set a closing date for next week. I gave him a fair offer. He didn't want to sell before the season, but he didn't have any better options. The threat of telling Thelma about his other girlfriends kinda forced his hand I guess. Oh, he tried to argue that he'd explain to her that you weren't a girlfriend, but I told him you'd probably lie just to get him in trouble. It's thin but I guess I have a good poker face. I'm now the proud owner of one slightly-used water-front campground. Hopefully it'll generate enough income this summer that I won't miss working at Ed's shop." James looked at her and smiled, "And I owe it all to you. I still can't believe you made that bet."

"It was a calculated risk. I thought I had a pretty good chance of winning, or at least to keep trying until I did. Eventually I'd get the land."

"But you still don't have it."

"No, but at least he doesn't either. I guess that was my real motivation; to get him to surrender my dad's land. I'm just glad you were willing to help me. I knew I could trust you but I didn't think you'd go against your boss. You certainly let him get away with doing a lot of things. I wasn't sure how you felt about me when Ed pulled out that bullwhip. But, what made you decide to stop Thelma?"

James tapped nervously on the tabletop, started to speak, paused, then noticed Shannon's expectant gaze at him.

"Shannon, I..." James started, trying to think of the right words to say,"... I was wondering ... if maybe you ... I know what Ed did was wrong. I never should've gone along with it. The bet, the whole thing. I just thought it'd be a game, you know? Something fun, like strip poker or something. I figured the worst that would happen is that I'd see you... you know, naked. You won't hold it against me will ya?"

Shannon tugged at the elastic cuffs of her track jacket and smiled at James. "Are you asking for forgiveness?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"For letting him torture me or for your stripping me naked?" Shannon asked with a smirk.

"Both."

"Well..." Shannon paused, twirling the straw in her water, watching the lemon pulp flow under the cubes of ice, "I can forgive you for letting him torture me like that, even though I was surprised you let him go as far as you did. I guess I do still hate you some for that, but I'd prefer to just forget about the whole thing. Its not something I want people to whisper about me behind my back."

"Ok. So.... what about..."

"Stripping me naked? Well, I guess that sort of depends."

"On what?"

Shannon curled her pointy finger at James, indicating for him to come closer. He straightened up and leaned over the table.

"Did you like what you saw?"

"Ummm-hummm", James grunted affirmatively, unsure of where this was going.

"Well then, I'll make you a deal. We'll have another hunt, just you and me," Shannon said with an evil look in her eye. She leaned forward, the outline of her breasts pressing against the thin nylon of the jacket. She cupped his face in her hand and whispered in his ear, "and if you can catch me, you can have your way with me."

James sat back slowly. "Have my way with you?"

"Ummm-hummm."

"Have my way with you..." James repeated, weighing her words. He eyed her suspiciously. "And if I lose?"

Shannon slid out of the booth, pulled the cuffs of her jacket to the middle of her hands and prepared to leave. "Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something," she said, winking at him.