Savages

Chapter One- In the Dead of Night

"You have used up your final chance!" A man with a powerful grip snatched the girl standing before him by her neck and threw her against her vanity, causing glass to smash upon the ground and onto her skin. Wincing at the wounds, she attempted to break free from his grasp but was only thrown onto the ground. Using every ounce of strength she could, she crawled upon her elbows before being turned on her back and held down. The man's legs rested at her hips, making it impossible for her to break free. But that did not cease her attempt. Using her knees, she went to kick his back before he took out  blade and cut up her corset, stopping just on her chin.

"If you try anything funny...I will have no issue slicing your artery..." He spoke as he kissed her body and tears moved down her face. As he moved further down, the pressure of the blade pressed into her neck as she groaned. He moved up and saw he caused a line of blood and slowly sucked it away, making her feel ill. Before the night was over and her torture had ceased, she found he had ripped through her once more.

Her eyes were puffy from her silent crying as she collected her slippers from upon the floor and wrapped herself in a hood that closed with buttons upon the front before sliding from her room as her husband's snores told her she had been clear. Moving quickly down the hall of the house, she saw candlelight coming from the opposite end and had nowhere to hide and attempted to grip her fists to prepare to fight her way out before finding it to be Beth, her most trusted ally.

"Come quick ma'lady." She spoke in a hushed down before blowing out the candles as they duo stealthily moved from the home and onto the cobblestone street before Margaret turned back. "Ma'lady?" Beth asked as Margaret looked at the garden that was only separated from the street by a high fence that was protruded by large holes caused by kids kicking them in. Moving to the shed, she tore up floorboards before pulling a chest with her initials upon the front and setting it in the back of the carriage before it clomped ahead.

"What is in the chest?"

"Our survival." She spoke as they anxiously looked on ahead. The carriage came to a stop on the edge of the town near the piers as a ship was docked for them. Not one of great luxury, they both boarded with the help of the carriage guider and set her chest on board before parting from the town she saw as her prison. Standing on the deck, she saw how the lamps that lit the streets at night had been the only reminder she would have of her last sight of the God forsaken place. And with each passing second, they became similar to small lightning bugs and eventually disappeared into the black sky.

"Are you well ma'lady?" Beth asked as she set herself on the edge of the ship, squeezing her feet as they ached from her twenty hour work days.

"You do not need to call me that now Beth..."

"I feel most comfortable..."

"Please...I wish to have no memories of that cursed place!" She spoke in a cold tone as Beth nodded.

"It appears the mister harmed you again..."

"For the last time, I can promise..." She said as her gaze froze upon the ocean. Her hands rested on the rim of the ship as she reminisced about her life aloud. "He used to be a kind man. With an honest job and kind heart. He would wait until my lessons at home were finished and would then deliver me a flower as my dad and him spoke of the best pipes and Harvard." A small smile crept on her face that quickly faded as she continued. "The night of our wedding he became hostile Beth, he was a madman and forced me to break my morals and my sense of mind that night...He ripped my innocence from my body and I vowed to break free from him. With your help, I have accomplished it on this night..." Standing as a heroine in her own story, she watched the water until feeling tired as they long journey ahead gave her time for slumber.

Being thrown from her bed, she picked herself up from off the floor to find water to welcome her to the main deck. Beth was already on deck, unconscious as the water had knocked her down. In attempt to revive her, Margaret quickly shook her friend, only to find it no use. Margaret then charged towards the Captain.

"What is the means of this storm?"

"It came from nowhere about a good ten minutes or so ago. It ripped one of the sails, without it, I fear we are going in circles."

"We must get away from it!"

"Indeed Miss! But there is noway to do such a thing with no sails...."

Beth began to come to as her patience was growing thin. Margaret soon found a wave to wash over the ship and she then awoke on hot sand. With her eyes adjusting hard to the hot sun on her face, she awoke to find a crab in front of her face. Shrieking at the sight, she jumped back before it ran away and she found pieces of wood to surround her. Jumping to her feet, she searched the wreckage to find any sign of life. Two of the crewmen were pinned with wooden shrapnel in their stomachs and chests as she gasped at the sight. She then saw the captain with his face still in the water and his body floating, seeing his death was not a quick one from the fear upon his face when seeing if his breath was still constant. Moving quickly back, she tripped over Beth before discovering she was not breathing as well. Tears filled her eyes as she kissed the forehead of her friend and saw her chest in the distance.

Planted perfectly in the sand, she pulled at it before finding it to be stuck deep in the beach. She decided it was best to look for food or water of some kind and not waste her strength or energy on something impossible without Victorian machinery. Pulling up her corset as she walked, she found the ground to be slithering with creatures both poisonous and plain disgusting as she eventually came to the sound of a waterfall. Her eyes scanned the area to be sure she was alone as she slid the corset from her body and slid into the clear water, washing off the dirt and memories of the previous night. Coming back up to the surface of the water, she rested on the edge before recollecting her clothes and moving further inland to find food after drinking some of the water in a smaller pond.

"There must be something!" She told herself as she walked deeper and deeper into the jungle. Resting underneath a tall tree, she found how the temperature had begun to cool and the night began to grow dim. "Have I been searching that long?" She asked aloud before her eyes fell heavy and she then slept. Waking up, she heard a twig break as she picked up a rock at her side before finding it was only a jaguar. Her eyes did a double take as she saw the dangerous predator in front of her, passing slowly, and surprisingly, not launching to attack.

Her breath grew quick as the creature was suddenly pinned and moved to the opposite side of path as Margaret ran for her life, back to the beach to find Beth had been conscious.

"You are alright! I was so worried!"

"I am alright ma-Margaret."

"Do you remember any words the Captain spoke? Where we were headed during the storm?"

"I wish I could...I saw one of the men get pinned by wood then woke up here a few minutes ago...Are you alright...you are out of breath..."

She nodded. "An animal...a jaguar I believe..."

Beth gasped.

"Another animal tore it from me....Not to my complaint." She smirked.

"We should build a fire." She spoke as she saw her shiver. Margaret nodded as Beth gathered sticks and she moved to her chest and opened it to dig to the bottom. Moving further towards the wreckage, she took oil lamps from the base and dried it before dripping the oil and lighting it with the matches as they fell asleep by the fire, awaking to it then extinguished.

Margaret moved back to the spring to bathe once more and change into a pair of clothes from her chest before opening her eyes and seeing something in the trees. A figure that moved quick enough to have disappeared when she had opened her eyes. She dressed quickly before telling Beth of her stalker.

"Perhaps we are not alone..." She spoke cryptic as she moved to bathe next, even against Margaret's warning.

Margaret was left alone on the beach as she kept her back to the ocean and stared inland, to be sure she was not watched. Twenty four hours had passed since her last meal and she spoke aloud she was having a mere hallucination from lack of nutrition. But on the edge of the jungle line, a figure was watching her closely, analyzing her each movement, seeing her as an intruder on his land.