DAY TWO OF OUR KIDNAPPING
We were still locked up. The sun beating down on the wooden building we were locked in made it into a sweat box.
We had food and water...
and terror, not knowing how long we would be held. We had not heard from our captors since they locked us away..... I just remember their last words........ about binding and gagging us for the move... There was a lot of old rope in this place.....
I kept looking the piles of rope...
It was bad enough being locked up...
I could only imagine what it would feel like to be tied up too.
It did not take long for us to find out.
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My arms were tightly secured behind my back.
The rope was rough -- it cut into my elbows and wrists which had been lashed together. They, in turn, were tied deep into my spine by ropes which bound them around my abs. My chest was tightly tied, making my upper arms secure. My shirt was torn and used as a gag, held in place by rope between my teeth and around my head.
I watched them tie my friends up.
My heart was pounding in my chest. The hairs stood up at the base of my neck and on my arms. The veins in my forearms were popping. Sweat poured down my face and chest. I sat and watched until we were all tied up.
It was time to move us to a new location.
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We trekked across the wilderness with guns at our backs, bound and gagged. It was swampy. The bugs were attracted to my sweat. It was torture not being able to swipe them off my face and torso with my tied hands.
We walked for hours....
It seemed like an eternity.
My arms were numb. From the others I could see how the rope had cut them. I assumed I was bleeding to from my elbows.
It seemed forever but we finally stopped, and I collapsed from exhaustion.
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It was getting dark.
ON my belly I was dragged by my feet and my legs put around a tree. It was thin enough that my ankles could be crossed and roped off behind it. I was grabbed by my hair and lifted up until my arms were against the tree. There I was roped from my neck to my knees. We were now tied to the trees, on our knees, our bound arms squashed between our spines and the tree trunk. Now I was blindfolded with rope. Someone pinched by cheeks.... "smile for the cameras!" We were photographed for more hostage videos. I was not moving, so somebody kicked me in my balls. I must have put on a good show for the video for I was squirming in agony in the ropes. My head slumped down. Somebody was touching the hairs on my chest.... "the bugs will love this tonight."
I could do noting but listen to them bind my buddies.
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The thunder was explosive!
The rain torrential!
It poured over our bound bodies. It was torture. I fought my ropes. I tried to wiggle my arms, as little as the rope allowed, against the bark of the tree, hoping to shred some of it enough that I could get free. All I did was scrape the backs of my forearms raw. I was moaning now. It was our 3 days kidnapped and our second day all tied up. I began to realize that maybe the could not arrange the ransom. Maybe I was left like this to die out here. A cold terror hit my gut. Thunder again struck, but a scream of fright from deep inside my gut penetrated the woods. I went crazy trying to escape my bounds until I was totally exhausted. Head slumped, I looked down at my chest. Bleeding now from my struggle, the rain washing the blood away into a pink puddle on the ground.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It was the second day of Boy Scout Troop 10's backpacking week.
The boys, all teens, were looking for a spot to make camp for the night.
They saw a grove of trees.
A perfect spot.
Twenty year old Tommy Ortiz was the assistant scoutmaster in charge. The kids dropped their packs, and Tommy went to scout out the site when he came upon 5 men bound to trees, not moving. He called for help and the boys came running. The five were alive, but barely. The boys got their knives and cut them from their ropes. Tommy got on his satellite phone and called for help.
As they waited the scouts administered first air to the deep cuts on the men's bodies. The rope burn had bleed and had become filed with puss. Water and some nutrition bars helped them come around.
My whole body was shaking. As circulation began again my arms burned. I held on to them moaning. The scouts stayed with me, holding on to me, encouraging me. I heard the sound of a helicopter hovering overhead. It was military..... a few guys came down on ropes. There were medics. The got to work on me, IV, some shots. I was in pretty good shape overall... except for being eaten alive by bugs,dehydration, and my body torn to shreds. We were walked to a clearing where the chopper landed. Two at a time were airlifted.
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Tommy Ortiz and I hit it off at once.
We became as close as brothers.
It took me a few months though to have the courage to ask him...
"Tommy, I want you to tie me up. I need to find out if I ever could have survived and escaped."
To my shock Tommy told me since he first saw me tied, he never got the though of tying me out of his mind.
So we returned to the place Tommy found me tied to the tree..
And my binding began.
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