Cori hugged her body with both thin arms, afraid to make one sound as she listened to her cousin sobbing quietly in the far corner. Cori felt as if she'd just uncovered some dreadful family secret. Guilt-ridden, she waited until Cindy's sobs had abated, then slid over the splintery cold floor to the near-hysterical teenager.

"I… I'm so sorry, Cindy. I don't know what came over your father. I was watching TV and…"

Cindy put one hand up in the air acid shook her head.

"He got like this just before my mother died. I don't know why, but he's really crazy. He's even gotten some of the guys around here interested in… in doing horrid things to women."

"He didn't…" Cori couldn't finish. A terrible thought rose in her mind, one that made her skin crawl.

"Uh? No! He didn't kill Momma. I don't even think she knew what was going on around here at the end. I'm glad she died when she did," Cindy said bitterly, turning her head from Cori and sobbing.

"Oh, God! He's done… things to you, too?"

Cindy nodded, her sobs quieting.

"I don't know what to do. He just gets crazy. And then the others join him."

Cori thought about what her uncle had said. "Did he ever mention something about mining certificates?"

Cindy shook her head, pushing the brown hair from her eyes.

"No. Wait! Something… yes, something about a mine up north or out west. I don't know. Oh, it's awful!"

The two girls hugged on another, cringing when they heard the sound of a footstep near the shed Uncle Jim had pushed them in. Cori heard her uncle's boots scraping toward the door. She drew back, instinctively feeling her jaw that still hurt from the awful mouth-fucking she had endured. Swallowing hard, the blonde teenager thought she could still taste the jizz that had spattered over her tongue while Uncle Jim had held her by the ears and fed her more and more of his prickmeat.