The official press release simply stated; “Cpl. James Walker, 21, and Sgt. Nigel Powers, 25, of the Queens Own Fusiliers were rescued from captivity today. Both men showed signs of intense abuse at the hands of their captors. They stated that they were happy to be released, and looked forward to returning home to England as soon as they were released from hospital.”
The truth was MUCH more complicated then that!
James and Nigel finished their workout at the makeshift exercise facility located just a short distance from the headquarters building of the British army camp they were assigned to in Afghanistan.
The two friends from Birmingham had enlisted together and had been lucky enough to be assigned to the same posting. They had been friends since childhood, and had both discovered a mutual love for bodybuilding at an early age. James, being a few inches shorter then Nigel had always looked to be more muscular, but that was just an illusion. They were near equals in almost every body measurement save height, James being 5'7” and Nigel being 5'10”.
As they walked back towards their quarters, still stripped to the waist from the hard workout in the desert heat, they passed by an alleyway, talking intently, and failing to notice the group of men clustered in the alley.
Suddenly, about a half dozen men jumped them, quickly immobilizing their arms. They struggled, but to no avail, as they were both bundled into the back of a waiting van where cloths soaked in anesthetic were held over their faces until their struggles ceased!
When James struggled back to consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he was bound in a standing position with a rope around his throat, holding him to a vertical post, His hands were tied behind the post and his feet were bound to a short board at the bottom of the post. Then he saw Nigel, standing tied like he was, facing him about 5 feet in front of him.
“Nigel...Nigel...wake up, bud, wake up!” James hissed.
There was no response from his friend. James was afraid that Nigel was dead until he noticed the slow but rhythmic rising and falling of Nigel's chest. James also noticed that Nigel looked amazingly hot tied like he was, his muscled torso glistening with sweat, his armpits wide open, his ribs bulging, and his abs rippling with each breath.
James had secretly been attracted to Nigel for years, but had never acted on his desires, since he didn't know how Nigel would react to a sexual overture. Finally, Nigel moaned and lifted his head. He immediately began to test his bonds, his muscles straining, but to no avail.
“Forget it, bud” James said. “ They are too tight. I've been trying myself. Whoever tied us knew what he was doing! And you all right?”
“Yeah, I'm O.K. Just wish I knew what happened! I'll tell you one thing though, mate, when I get loose, someone's gonna die!”
Nigel was flexing and straining his hard, thick muscles the entire time he was talking, and James could not help but be impressed and more then a little excited to see the muscled torso in front of him, glistening with sweat.
Finally, a door opened, and the two prisoners heard footsteps on the concrete floor of the building they were bound in. A small group of men walked over to where they were bound, led by one individual who was obviously in charge. He was tall, taller then Nigel, and the prisoners could see that he was powerfully built, even in his loose trousers and the sleeveless tee-shirt he was wearing. It was impossible to tell who he, or any of the other men were, though, as he wore a ski mask, as did some of the others. The ones without ski masks had their turbans wrapped around the lower parts of their faces, so that all that showed were their eyes, which seemed to burn with hate.
“So, you infidels are awake. That is good. It means that we can now begin to show the world what will happen to all infidels who dare to invade our lands and kill our people!” Hissed the leader.
He ordered the other men to set up some equipment, including several cameras and lights around the prisoners.
“What are you gonna do, mate, behead us?” Snarled James.
“Oh no, my friend. We will do much more then that.” Said the leader, deceptively calmly. “We shall not behead you, but you might wish that we had when we are done! We shall show the world that we are serious in our intentions. And to do that, you both will be Tortured beyond ALL endurance, and your suffering will be shown to the world! And when we are finished Torturing you, and you have both been reduced to crying, whimpering children, begging to die, we WILL let you die, but it will be slowly and painfully!”
When the men were finished setting up the cameras and lights, the leader turned to one of the cameras and said; “Attention Infidel Invaders! As you see, we have captured two of your soldiers, and to show you that we will not be merciful to invaders of our country, they shall suffer as our way of showing you the suffering that our people have endured at your hands! ALLAH ACKBAR!”
At that, two of the men stepped forward with cloths with knots tied in them. The knots were stuffed into the captive's mouths, and the cloths tied around their heads, gagging them. Even as both prisoners struggled and strained against their bonds, two more of the men stepped forward, stripped to the waist and holding the type of floggers used to drive camels. They swung the floggers, smashing the tails across the straining, stretched chests and ribs of the helpless prisoners!
Both Nigel and James howled into the gags in their mouths at the burning pain slicing through their bodies! Again and again the floggers slashed across their chests, raising welts and slowly turning their skin red and then streaking it with purple. They both struggled desperately against their bonds, but with no effect.
The brutal flogging continued for a good hour or more. Any time either of the prisoners passed out from the Torture, water was thrown in his face, rousing him, and then the floggings would continue! James was convinced that the skin of his chest was being torn off with each strike of the flogger. The pain was absolutely unbearable, and yet it did not stop. It just went on and on and on, until he was sure he was going to go mad from the agony!
Nigel was suffering just as badly as his younger friend, in total horrific pain, but he was determined that their captors would not get the pleasure of hearing them beg for mercy, or even beg for death! He was determined to endure, and to do whatever he could to help James to endure as well.
Nigel knew that James was interested in him sexually, even though there had never been anything spoken. He saw the way James looked at him in the shower after their workouts, and he had noticed more times then one the rise in the front of James's fatigues when he was straining and showing off his muscles while weightlifting. Nigel decided that when their ordeal was over, and they had been rescued, he would tell James that the feeling was mutual!
Finally it seemed that the flogging was ending. The leader spoke in his native language to the two Torturers and they stepped back, their muscles dripping with sweat from the exertions of Torturing the two young British Soldiers for over 60 minutes.
James looked at Nigel through a haze of red. Nigel's chest and ribcage were a bright red, streaked with purple, with welts crisscrossing his torso, some of which were weeping slightly. James was sure his own body looked about the same.
The leader stepped in front of James and ripped the gag out of his mouth.
“That was just the beginning Infidel! Your suffering has just started!”
“Yeah, well just bugger off, Mate!” James snarled. “You'll get no information, or even the satisfaction of hearing either of us begging!”
The leader backhanded James across the face! James was sure that a couple of his teeth were knocked loose by the blow. He heard Nigel hollering into his gag before the leader pulled it off.
“You bastard! You are gonna die, you fucker!” Nigel hollered.
“If I do, I shall ascend to Heaven willingly, knowing that I have helped to rid the world of Infidels like you!” snarled the leader.
He stepped back and reached over to a table off to one side and picked up what appeared to be a police nightstick. Without any warning, he swung the stick and slammed it into Nigel's abs!
“HHURRAAGGHH!!” Howled Nigel, who was totally unprepared for the blow!
He then swung the nightstick and slammed it into James's abs! James saw it coming and flexed his abs as quickly as he could, but the blow was still incredibly painful!
The leader started slamming the nightstick into the prisoner's abs, back and forth, Nigel then James, Nigel, then James, again and again! He pounded their abs until James couldn't endure any more, and spewed a mouthful of bitter bile down his chest. Then he slumped down, unconscious.
“STOP IT, YOU BASTARD!” Screamed Nigel, just before the leader slammed the nightstick into his abs one more time. Nigel grunted, and slumped down, unconscious as well. The leader ordered two of his men to throw buckets of water on the prisoners to revive them.
When they were awake, the leader stepped in front of James and sneered; “You seem to be the weaker one, boy. You shall therefore be made to suffer more while the other Infidel watches you suffer!”
Nigel yelled; “Leave him alone, you Git! You want to Torture someone? You Torture ME! I'll show you how a man endures the worst you can give!”
James cried out; “Shut up, Nigel. I can take whatever he wants to do to me! You don't have to protect me!”
The leader smiled. “Well, it seems BOTH of the Infidels think they are strong. We shall see WHO is the strong one!”
He turned to the table, and picked up a small wooden box. Opening it, the leader pulled a needle from the box, and slowly placed the point of it against James's chest, right at the base of his right nipple. Using his other hand, the leader pulled James's nipple out before pushing the needle into and through the tit! James screamed as his nipple was pierced, then screamed even louder when the other tit was pierced as well.
The Torture with the needles continued until both captives had to endure multiple needles pierced through their nipples! They had to endure 4 needles pierced through their nipples from side to side, as well as one longer needle pushed straight in from the front, piercing deeply into their pectoral muscles.
Both prisoners knew that, contrary to their strong words, that they were both close to the limits of their endurance of the Tortures. The leader seemed to know they were weakening and he increased the level of suffering of both prisoners. He held a candle under the end of the needle pierced straight into James's right nipple until the heat started burning into the flesh . James flexed and strained, but it was useless, he couldn't escape the incredible pain. Finally, he started screaming at the sensation of his tit and his pec being cooked from the inside out! Then the leader repeated the Torture on the left nipple, until James was screaming at the top of his lungs, just before passing out from the pain!
Then, with an evil smile, the leader repeated the burning Torture on the needles in Nigel's nipples, until he too passed out from the sheer agony. The leader looked at the two unconscious soldiers bound in front of him, turned to the cameras that had been recording the Torture session and said; “It is shown that the infidels that have invaded our land are weak! These two shall be eliminated, but be aware that the same awaits All who would invade our country, and defile our holy ground! ALLAH ACKBAR!”
James and Nigel were released from their bondage, still unconscious, and thrown into the back of the van. They were then driven far out into the desert.
When James awoke, the first thing he felt was the incredible pain in his chest from his Tortured nipples. The next thing he noticed was that he could not move his arms or legs. He lifted his head with an effort and looked around. He saw to his horror that he and Nigel had been hauled out into the desert, stripped of the remnants of their uniforms and had been staked out in the blinding sun, and left to roast and eventually die in the intense heat!
“Nigel...Nigel...Nigel!” he shrieked, until finally Nigel stirred and tried to move.
“What the fuck...?” groaned Nigel when he finally tried to move. “Those bastards! James, are you all right?”
“Hell no, I'm not all right, you idiot! And neither are you! Look at us! We're out in the desert, God knows where, naked and tied up, AND we still have those Damn needles in our nipples!”
Nigel looked down at his chest and saw that James was right. He was in so much pain that he hadn't even noticed that they were there! His head dropped back on the ground. Finally, he spoke;
“James, I don't now if we are gonna get out of this, so I think I better say this now, while I can still talk. I...I love you boy! I've loved you for years, ever since we were kids! I get so excited watching you work out, watching your muscles flexing and watching you sweat. I have wanted to say something to you for years, but I was afraid to. James, if we get out of this, I want nothing more then to spend several hours making love to you, to worship your body, and, dammit, I want to suck your cock, and feel you fucking me!”
There was silence for a minute or two, then James actually started to laugh!
“You stupid git! That's exactly the same way I feel! Damn, I wish you had said something years ago. I'd love to feel you making love to me, since I want to make love to you as well! I want to feel your cock in my mouth, to taste your cum and feel it sliding down my throat! And hell yes, I want to fuck you, and I want you to fuck me! And you had to wait until NOW to tell me this?”
Both soldiers started to laugh, even sounding slightly hysterical. Finally, they just lay back, helpless in the burning sun, awaiting whatever their fate was to be.
After several hours, James was in agony. Being fair skinned, he was burning badly in the relentless sun, turning red and then shading to a purplish tint. He knew that he couldn't endure much more. And, the unbearable thirst just added to his torture. Nigel wasn't fairing much better, even though he was slightly darker. In the blistering desert sun, any exposed skin would burn quickly, and the helpless soldiers had been exposed for unknown hours.
Real fear began to close in around Nigel's heart when he could no longer get James to respond even when he screamed at him as loudly as he could. He also noticed that the rise and fall of James' thick chest was becoming more and more erratic. Nigel was afraid that James was going to die right next to him, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it!
As the hours dragged on, Nigel started to be aware of the sound of his heartbeat thudding in his ears. It went on and on, thump...thump...thump...until he noticed that it seemed to be getting louder and louder.
“Well, this is it...” he thought, “I'm dying”.
Out loud, he gasped; “James, I'm SO SORRY, Mate! I couldn't save us!”
The thumping got louder and louder, and then Nigel began to think that he was hearing voices. Suddenly, a shadow fell across his face, someone was lifting his head, and water was being poured into his parched mouth!
“It's O.K. Guy, we have you!” A voice said. Nigel forced his eyes open, and looked up into the concerned eyes of a soldier in full battle gear, holding a canteen.
“James...” he croaked.
“It's O.K. We have him. Let's get you loose now, bud.” said the soldier.
Nigel felt the ropes holding him to the stakes being cut, then the soldier was gently lifting him into a sitting position. He looked and saw James being loaded onto a stretcher by several more soldiers. Nigel finally recognized their uniforms as American, and saw the Blackhawk Helicopter sitting about 50 yards away. He was then helped onto a stretcher and was carried to the chopper.
His last memory was being loaded on the chopper and feeling it taking off, before darkness closed in again. When Nigel opened his eyes, he was in a bed in a field hospital, with I.V. Tubes leading into the thick veins in his arms. Lying in the next bed to him was James, hooked up the same way.
James grinned and said “Well, it's about time you woke up, sleepyhead! I was getting a little worried!”
“Where are we?” Said Nigel. “I know we're in hospital, but where?”
“You're in the transit hospital, awaiting your flight home, that's where you are” boomed a voice.
Nigel and James looked over to see the American soldier walking towards them, a wide grin on his face.
“Glad to see you guys are up and awake. It looks like you went through quite an ordeal! Those bastards did a good job on you, but don't worry, because they won't be doing anything like THAT again! Those idiots thought it would be a good idea to try to take on an attack helicopter and a full squad of Marines! It didn't go well for them! The last thing we saw of them was a pile of bodies in a burning van. Of course we didn't set the van on fire until AFTER we got the discs and video gear out, and saw what they did to you guys! That's how we knew where to search for you, since one of our pilots recognized the terrain around where they staked you out!”
James and Nigel both grinned at the news.
“Well, thanks so much to you guys! I don't think we could have lasted much longer out there! It was getting a bit warm...” James chuckled.
“Hell, I was hoping I could work some more on my tan!” added Nigel.
The American laughed. “Well, it's good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor! I just wanted to see how you were doing, and give you the news that we got them!”
Nigel and James both thanked the American Marine Sergeant before he headed off. Once they were alone, a slightly awkward silence fell. Finally James cleared his throat.
“Nigel, about what I said out there...I hope you know that I meant every word of it. I love you, and I want to be with you for the rest of my life!”
He went silent, waiting for a response.
Own finally said; “Yeah, so do I, boy! I love you too, and I want to make you mine! When we get home, we will work it out! But first, let's worry about getting home!'
James laid back on his pillow, grinning uncontrollably!
Epilog;
“Nigel Powers, 26, and James Walker, 22. both of Birmingham, announced their engagement today. Both men are veterans of the Afghan conflict, and were discharged after enduring captivity. Both men were decorated for exceptional bravery under extreme conditions, and having endured extended torture at the hands of ISIS captors. Wedding plans are still being worked out.”