The wind blew and tossed my hair as my husband drove the convertible through the winding mountains roads. I took in a deep breath and inhaled a bit of my own hair - a glorious vision of peaceful serenity if there ever was one. Laughing at my own lack of grace, I looked at the beautiful mountains and trees that surrounded us. My husband and I always made time in the summer to hike and camp and we were on our way to one of our favorite camping sites.
The camp site was fairly remote, so we had not seen a car, nor did we anticipate seeing one, for miles. Soon we came across one of our favorite outlook points and turned off the main road for quick break. It was a curvy, dusty half mile, but well worth the detour. It looked out into a vast deep canyon, sharp rock cliffs carved by a glacier long before our time. My husband and I got out of the car, taking in the epic scene together, excited for the weekend we had ahead of us.
As I took in another deep breath (sans hair this time), I heard a faint, but increased rumbling. As I continued to listen, and the noise grew louder, I knew the noise was undeniably man made. Once it became clear that it was a motorized vehicle, our peaceful roadside stop was now disrupted; so we made our way back to our car to continue on our journey.
My husband put the car in reverse and turned around, only to find that our path out was blocked by at least a line of motorcycles and a cloud of dust. We waited patiently in the car to see if they would move; but as they started to park their bikes it was clear that they weren't going anywhere.
We contemplated what we should do. They clearly saw us, knew we were trying to leave and had no intention of letting us. We discussed possible exit plans, each one becoming more dire and pathetic than the last. Run into the woods - but then what, we have no car and we're in the middle of a remote forest. Run the bikes down - we drove a small coupe hatchback, no match for the wall of solid Harleys that were amassed in front of us.
Before we could come up with any more cockeyed ideas, two of the men started to approach the car. They were large men, both in height and build. One wore a leather vest, but nothing under, and they both had leather pants, and boots. One of the men was much larger, albeit, both were very large though. The smaller of the two had piercings throughout his face and ears. Their intention for us was unknown, but their actions were clearly aggressive - why else would you stop a couple from leaving a turn out?
The larger of the two men, with long hair, a neck tattoo that read "brothers" surrounded by skulls and fire, came over and knocked on the window. Two times, both hard, but deliberate.
"Out of the car. Slowly." His voice was as hard and deliberate as his knock.
The two men were on either side of the car, and stood to blockade us as we stepped out of the vehicle. My heart was racing, these men intended to do us harm, that much was clear. As soon as I got out of the car onto my feet, the man grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the bikes. He threw me to the ground and ordered me to remove my clothing. My husband motioned to try and help me, but the deliberate man, twice his size, held him back.
"Take off your clothing," the pierced man barked.
I wasn't sure what to do. I looked to my husband for guidance, and as I did, he made another move to come to my rescue, this time being met with a solid punch to his stomach forcing him to his knees.
"Come on lady, he's not going to help you. Take off your clothing. Don't make me do it for you."
I looked around me and saw all of the men circling around me. I could see it in their eyes and posture, they all wanted a piece of me. They wanted me naked so they could all rape me. I was horrified. If I took off my clothing, it would make it easier for them to rape me, but if I didn't, I knew the process would be even more painful. I started to take my clothing off, hurried and nervous.
"Hey lady...slow down. These men came for a show." He approached me in a way that said he would do more than throw me to ground if I didn't listen.
