Chapter Four
That first night young Sebastian Clark had slept with his hands still bound behind his back. He lay on the grass and straw and made some mental notes before he allowed himself the comfort of sleep. The pen he lay in was one of five others. He could smell the distinct odour of dogs and knew these wooden cages were used to keep animals. There was no food or drink in his pen but there was a bowl of water in front of the one next to him. A dog would be able to stick his snout through the slats and drink from the bowl. Sebastian would not be so lucky. He couldn't reach the water.
There were some thick blades of straw and with his hands behind him, Sebastian was painstakingly able to insert six of the thicker blades, one inside the other to fashion a drinking straw nearly three feet long. He slipped the straw between the slats of wood that made up his pen and into the dog's water bowl. The bowl was shared by all of the animals and it held more than a gallon when full. Tonight it was half empty but the dogs slept and there would be enough to keep Sebastian hydrated. It was a "glass half full" in this case. He knew he could live for days without food but he needed water and the dog's bowl would keep him alive. His thirst quenched he lay back and eventually slept.
Sebastian was woken the next morning by a jolt of nearly 6000 volts of electricity from a stock prod which the tall thin man had quietly slipped through the slats and pressed against Sebastian's left thigh. The shock knocked the wind from him and left Sebastian rolling on the ground in agony. The tall man opened the pen and slipped a chain around Sebastian's neck and then locked it with a small key lock. He released Sebastian's hands while Sebastian gasped for air and tried to regain his senses. The prod was designed to control cattle and it had left the smell of burnt flesh where it had made contact with Sebastian's leg. His hands were still tied and he rubbed the burn with his other leg and fought back tears which welled up in his eyes. A fifteen foot leather leash was attached to the chain around his neck and Sebastian was dragged by the leash from the wooden pen.
The man said, "I am not going to kill you yet. I know that you saw me drop that girl's body. I didn't want to kill her. She got very stupid and it cost her, her life. I will only kill you if you force me too like she did. Now I've brought you something to eat."
He pulled Sebastian out into the yard where there was a wooden picnic table. On the table the man had a tray with bread, peanut butter and a small container of milk. He gestured for Sebastian to sit at the table.
Sebastian considered not eating. He thought maybe if he starved himself he could force the man to release him but he realized it likely would just cause the man to hurt him. There was every reason to believe that this man would kill him. It would be best to play along to build his strength and wait for an opportunity to escape. Sebastian knew the stories of Patty Hearst and Elizabeth Smart. Both of these women yielded to their captors and eventually they developed Stockholm syndrome but it allowed them to survive. Jaycee Dugard had survived for decades with her tormentor. Once given the chance to escape they didn't take it, choosing instead to stay with their kidnappers. In the case of Elizabeth Smart she was even seen attending parties with the man who took her from her bedroom. Dugard worked for her abductor.
Sebastian would be careful. He would try to build a confidence with the man and then when an opportunity arose he would run. His hands were loosened and he ate and talked calmly with the man.
"I really didn't see that much."
The man interrupted him." What did you tell the police? You said you spoke with them. How much did you tell them?"
"I said I saw an escalade. That's all I saw." He didn't tell him that he had given a vague description. He had said the man was tall and thin.
"What's your name boy?"
"I am Sebastian Clark. Who are you?" He became bolder, testing the man. He wanted to build a trust and he needed to learn all that he could.
The man smiled. He knew what was going on but he had no fear of giving this boy information. They were both building confidences. It was a game of cat and mouse, both sure the other didn't know. There would be no harm in telling the boy things. He may be of some use and if building trust made him compliant that was fine. If he stepped out of line the man would straighten him out very quickly.
"I'm Deacon Hill. You're on my ranch. I used to raise a lot of animals here but a few bad investments have cost me dearly. I live alone on the ranch. I have my dogs and some horses, which I raise to sell to a canning factory for meat. There will be very few visitors here but you don't need to be afraid. If you do what is asked you will live. I need an assistant, a protégé.
Tell me about your family."
This line of questioning worried Sebastian. He would not give information about his mother. He had to answer these questions but he didn't want the man to know anything about his mother. He needed to keep her safe until he could get away.
"My dad was a fireman. He died fighting a fire."
Hill smiled, "That's very noble. Fireman Clark died saving lives. Is that what you want to be?"
"His name wasn't Clark. It was Tyrovitch."
Sebastian regretted having given his mother's last name.
"Oh. Tyrovitch. What kind of name is that? Is it Slavic? Do you know the word tyro? That's what you will be, my tyro, my apprentice. Do you have any idea what that means?"
Hill didn't know how bright and well read young Sebastian was. He had led a quiet life which he filled with books. He had read and he learned. Sebastian had moved many times, different homes and different schools and he was in many ways self taught. He wondered when he would ever get back to school or open a book now.
"I read it once in Moby Dick," Sebastian answered. "Ishmael used the word. It was when he was in the crows nest and he spotted another sailing ship that had been out in the ocean for years. He says something like, "I had a good view of the ship for a young tyro." I looked it up to learn what it meant."
Hill looked at Sebastian and slowly smiled but he tried not to show the boy how surprised he was. This pudgy young boy was well read and suddenly interesting.
"So you have read a few things. I have a library here. If you do what I ask, you can have access to it. You'll be fed both food and knowledge but if you misbehave you will be beaten. You will sleep with the dogs and you will be trained with them. When a dog performs he is given a treat, so will you. But when the dog doesn't fulfill expectations he is consequenced. " He tapped the stock prod on the table.
Sebastian ate as much as he could and listened. He heard the monster and he understood exactly what the situation was. He ate bread until he could eat no more. He may not get food again for a while so he filled himself. He also knew that his reference to Moby Dick had impressed the man and he would use this to gain favour. Sebastian was already getting an understanding of who this man was.
"What about a computer? Is there a computer in the library? I've been doing some work on a few quizzes. There are some sites I've been working on."
Hill was trying to sort this boy out. He was still surprised at the level of the boy's vocabulary and that a boy like this would quote Melville. He would look the quote up later to see if it was accurate. If the child was lying he would suffer the consequences of Deacon Hill's anger.
"Giving you access to the internet would certainly put me in a great deal of danger wouldn't it? You need to know that information technology was my line of work. If I were to discover that you went to the wrong site or tried to contact someone then you would suffer immensely."
Over the next few days, Sebastian slept in the pen and ate outside at the picnic table by the barn. He learned through these conversations that Hill had made a lot of money in the high tech stock boom and bought this huge ranch. He worked out of his home supplying computer support to a number of businesses in Nevada and Southern California and he also had an even more lucrative crystal meth lab. He soon had Sebastian helping in the lab. Sebastian had a good basic knowledge of chemistry and Hill found him to be much more useful than he had ever suspected.
After a month of captivity, Hill took Sebastian out on the ranch in a pickup truck. They drove nearly a mile from the house to a small stand of pine trees at the back end of Hill's ranch. He showed Sebastian five plastic storage containers in the truck bed and told Sebastian to dig five holes. The holes had to be three feet deep and large enough to hold the storage container.
He left Sebastian leashed to a tree, with a shovel and a bottle of water.
"I'll return in two hours. If you have not completed your work you will stay here until you do and then return to the pen where you will be very sorry that you haven't fulfilled my needs."
This was his first opportunity to escape. He quickly assessed the situation. He could probably cut the leash with the shovel and begin to run through the back brush of Nevada. He knew approximately how far the Colorado River was. He was confident he could make it there but he knew the odds were good that Hill would catch him and likely kill him or do something worse.
He began to dig. It was very hot and he was still a small boy even for his age. When Hill returned, Sebastian had dug three holes to the specifications and was working on the forth.
Hill stepped from his truck with the stock prod.
Sebastian pleaded with him. "I am almost done. Please give me time. It is so hot and slow."
"If you're unable to meet my requests you'll dig a grave next time." Hill was angry but he let Sebastian finish the task and then drove him back to the barn.
He leashed Sebastian to the barn and returned ten minutes later with a bucket of raw stewing beef.
"Feed the dogs. They'll eat tonight but you won't. Next time do what is asked when it is asked."
Hill raised Presa Canaros dogs in the pens beside Sebastian. This large breed had originally been bred to guard cattle. He used them to hunt and as guard dogs but as viscous as they were, Sebastian fed them and slept beside them and they developed an immediate allegiance to him.
Sebastian was thankful. He got off easy this time.
When Hill left, Sebastian doled out the raw beef to the specifications he had been given but he saved two strips of meat from each dog and hung it in a corner of the barn where the dogs wouldn't reach it and the sun and air would. He picked pieces that had very little fat which Sebastian knew could putrefy. On his trips to Hill's kitchen he would steal small handfuls of salt to assist in the dehydration process.
In the corner of the barn he found eight pieces of beef which he had already dried and brought them back to his pen and he ate it in peace. He always saved scraps of toast or half eaten fruit which he found in the kitchen garbage. This way, he made certain that he always had a supply of food. He needed to eat as much as he could so that on the days Hill was angry and didn't feed him he would still maintain his strength. Digging holes in the desert provided a lot of exercise and Sebastian knew if he didn't eat well he would get ill.
Hill never discovered Sebastian's secret stash and he didn't notice that the boy was growing slowly stronger or that Sebastian never allowed himself to give in to the psychological torture of imprisonment. Hill beat him and saved even worse assignments and tortures for Sebastian but the boy slowly grew into a bright and powerful young man.