One By One

Rescue

Lafayette figured that Benedict Arnold and the founding fathers had to be on this ship. It was the biggest ship in the fleet. He and his french soldiers had taken out the rest of the ships and captured this one. Now, Lafayette was going down below deck to find the founding fathers. He'd rode to Philadelphia and not a single one of them had been there. They weren't in New York City either. So he'd taken a fleet of men and searched the seas for a British fleet heading back to Benedict's base. They'd found it, and the founding fathers had to be here. They just had to be.

The first father he found was James Madison, but he didn't find him in any position that he'd expected to find him in. He was curled up in a corner of the cell, hands bound behind him with his pants down around his ankles. His eyes were red and puffy like he'd been crying. Lafayette knew that kind of aftermath. He knew it because he'd experienced it intimately. James had been raped.

Lafayette had found the keys to all the cells a now-dead British soldier, and he searched for the right key.

"Don't worry, James." Lafayette said, and James looked up at him in despair. "I'm going to get you out of there."

"Just leave me." James said. "N-no one's going t-to want me now."

"That's not true!" James finally found the right key. It went into the lock smoothly. He opened the cell and went over to James, and that had James cowering again.

"James, I'm here to help you and the rest of the fathers. I have to get you out of here." Lafayette kept his voice calm and soft, not wanting to startle or upset him.

"O-okay." James turned so Lafayette could cut the ropes binding him. Once that was done, he struggled to his feet and hurriedly pulled up his pants.

"Who did this to you?" Lafayette asked. Horrible images of guards coming in and having their way with the father filled his head.

James's eyes narrowed in anger. " Benedict Arnold."

Lafayette nearly choked. He'd known Benedict was horrible, but he hadn't expected him to be that horrible.

"And the rest of the fathers?" he asked fearfully.

James looked at with more tears brimming in his eyes. "He told me he was going to do the same to them."

"Then let's go find them before it's too late."

Unfortunately, that's exactly what it was. They found Thomas unconscious in his cell with his pants down. Thomas jumped up when they woke him, eyes wild with fear. He pulled his pants up and made a run for it, but Lafayette stopped him with his hands on his shoulders.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Lafayette told him. "No one's going to hurt you now."

Thomas laughed for some reason. "Oh, if only it had hurt!"

James and Lafayette looked at each other, not entirely sure what that meant.

"Well, Lafayette's here to save us." James told Thomas.

"And our friends?" Thomas asked.

"Yes, of course!" Lafayette answered.

Thomas's hazel eyes flared with anger. "Let's go find my best friend. I'm going to kill Benedict if he touched him."

But he had. The group found John roped up standing with ropes pulling his thighs apart. He turned his head away in shame when they entered the cell. He didn't say anything. He didn't look happy to see them, but of course he wouldn't be happy to be found so vulnerable like this.