Her ankle burned; it still bore the marks of leg irons. Reflexively, she rubbed it with both hands. The night was black, interrupted only by a sliver of light from the moon. Sitting on a rock, surrounded by trees, Cassie Bandleson wondered where the hell she was. The opening in the hill that she had crawled from was several hundred yards away. Which direction? She scarcely knew anymore.
Perspiration dripped from her face to the arm of her flannel shirt. She strained to see anything that would help her decide which direction to run, because run she must. He could return and discover she was gone. Distance needed to be put between her and her prison of ten days, twenty…she really didn’t know how long. There had been no way of telling day from night, only her sleeping patterns helped her estimate the time. Her best guess was that she had been a prisoner of the man for eighteen days.
Cassie stood. Trying to ignore the pain, she stumbled through the dark, brush tearing at her clothes, rocks smashing into her knees, and tree branches swatting her head. My God, I’ve got to make it out of here! Run!
Her legs pumped her forward as her steeled heart ordered her body to move, and move quickly. She extended her arms and hands in front to protect her face from all obstacles, seen and unseen. Cassie didn’t wonder how her body could take this punishment; when you are running for your life, you don’t care. You just… move.
She pushed forward, the forest seeming to rise up against her, tearing, clutching, ripping at her clothes. And then she fell and tumbled, slamming into trees and boulders before coming to rest at the bottom of a ravine. Breathing heavily, she slowly tried to move her limbs, first her arms, then legs. She laughed. All’s well.
Hearing the rumble of some sort of vehicle in the distance, her hopes rose. Go that way. She literally pointed with her left hand and unconsciously limped toward the sound, but more carefully now. Take it slow.
Following the ravine, which seemed more like a cut in the hillside, she knew she was descending; her momentum was always downhill, even if she couldn’t see well, she could feel it. The shallow walls of the ravine gave her a sense of being protected. She even started to believe it.
Voices! She heard voices; she was sure of it. Picking her way toward the sound, she was able to tell it was from a radio talk show, playing much too loudly. Maybe it was a couple of kids parked, making out, whatever, they were going to get a surprise from a beaten up, struggling hiker. She smiled as she worked her way closer.
She stood in the shadows, observing, looking for signs of life from the pickup. It was getting later. The radio talk turned to jazz. No kids would be listening to jazz. She turned and melted further into the forest, sneaking a worried peek back at the truck. The dome light was on. Someone had opened the door. She started moving away faster and breathing harder. It was him! Soon she was flailing at branches and running, her heart pounding so hard she thought it would burst from her chest.
A tree branch caught her in the eye, causing an involuntary scream to mini-erupt from her mouth. Tears came quickly. Hysteria was near as she realized he might have heard the cry. Now, nearly blind in one eye, lost in the night, body aching, she calmed herself as best she could and limped away… until… a flashlight beam illuminated her. Hysteria took full hold, and she turned the other way, screaming, crashing through the brush and trees with the beam of light partially showing her the way until she emerged on a gravel road.
Thunderous footsteps were close behind. She screamed as loud as she could and turned to face him. She flailed her arms and struck out forcefully. The light enveloped her, and pain wracked her head as she went down, crying…and then darkness.
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