by Marian Stack
Moving her hands with uncontrolled frightened speed she began to tie her right foot to the post and then her left foot, spreading her legs to their limit. Then with her hands shaking to the point that she couldn’t seem to tie her left hand to the post she stopped all movement and stared up at her abductor, who was standing at the foot of the bed enjoying the view and the scene of terror she was causing. “You don’t need to do this. I promise you I will be a willing participant to you…or with you. I have enjoyed rough sex in my past and can assure you that you will be satisfied in the end. But you really don’t need to do this.” Blair tried her very best to sound controlled and genuine.
“How typical, first your kind always fights with nasty words and bull shit and then you always resort to pretending to be nice just to save your life. Well guess what, you are barking up the wrong tree. I’m going to do things to you even you can’t imagine and then I’m going to kill ya. Cause if I’m going back to jail this time it’s going to be with a worthwhile story. Now shut the fuck up and tie your hands to the post or I will go outside and make sure that your girlfriend is dead by smacking her a couple of more times with this sturdy log, and if that stupid dog is still out there… I’ll kill that little fucker too.”
She could feel a little wet tongue licking her face and hearing the sweet sounds of a puppy sniffing in her ear but she couldn’t seem to do anything about it. She felt as if she had received a full body sedative and was fossilized onto the ground. She didn’t feel broken anywhere but she couldn’t seem to will her body to move, so she remained in the laying position allowing the licking and the sniffing to continue as it seemed to be keeping her from floating away into unconsciousness.
Unaware of how much time had passed between her first conscious thought and the one she was in as she attempted to move her body to stand however the slight body movement introduced a surge of pain that sent her body back into unconsciousness.
Once the last poorly tied knot was secured around Blair’s wrist only then did Grace feel comfortable enough to approach the contained naked woman on the bed. Grace knew she was a fucked up person always on the verge of being completely out of control but every now and then she would have these odd feelings that her evilness was not her fault alone and that her parents were always her blaming reason for her outrageous behaviour. This was one of these moments when she didn’t know what to do now that she had what she wanted. And as she blankly stared at the terrified naked women spread- eagle on the make shift bed she almost seemed frightened of her own desires.
As she stood staring blankly at Blair, unbeknownst to her at the time her captor was having an internal conversation about why she does what she does, began to cry hoping that the tears would spark some human decency in this crazed person.
But sadly it sparked the complete opposite effect.
Instead Grace let out this primal scream and with one aggressive superman tear which ripped open the top portion of the jumpsuit fabric exposing her extremely large flat bare breasts, and with one hostile movement leaned in and exposed her unusually large tongue and ever-so-slowly licked Blair’s face from her chin up over her lips, under her nose across her cheek and over her eye stopping just short of her hair line.
Trying to remain conscious from the disgust Blair could feel the woman’s hands on both her breasts squeezing so hard that she had to stay in full awareness just to keep from screaming at the top of her lungs. Thankful that her face was no longer the main attraction Blair was again horrified as the pain centered on her breasts as the violation had then turned towards the aggressive biting of her nipples.
Feeling the wet nose on her face and the soft whimpering in her ear Turtle became fully aware that something had gone terribly wrong. With great effort she sat upright and then after a few moments she stood using the tree that she had fallen beside. Then looking down at Rain she offered her friend a smile, and commanded her to stay put. And then as if fear guided her body she moved with great speed and entered the cabin.
Completely shocked by the horrific scene Turtle leapt towards the unwelcomed hiker with enormous haste and purpose. She threw her body onto Grace’s as she attempted to body slam her off the bed and against the wall.
Although Grace was in a different state of mind, she was a prison girl after-all and years of always being aware of her surrounding regardless of circumstance, Turtle’s noisy attack placed Grace in the defensive posture, and all she did was merely moved her entire body to the side forcing Turtle’s flying body to literally fly across the bed hitting the cabin wall with such force that she slid down the wall landing on the floor. As she attempted to shake off the blow, Turtle knew in that second that she was fighting with a person that knew what she was doing. Without having another second to think Grace was on top of her trying to snap her neck in an aggressive choke-hold.
As Turtle wriggled and fought to get out of the headlock, suddenly Grace screamed out in pain, as Rain had come to her leader’s rescue by biting the exposed ankle, which forced Grace to release her strangle hold giving Turtle the time to move out of the path of another blow. As Grace attempted to kick Rain away Turtle jumped towards Grace pushing her back to the point that both women fell back onto the bed landing directly on Blair’s out stretched and naked body.
“Hit her in the back.” Blair began to scream at Turtle to punch and do whatever she could to re-injure the wound on her back.
Sadly, Turtle was not the only one who heard the instruction, which propelled Grace into an all-out assault.
The two fighting women were now pushing and dragging each other around the cabin in a violent altercation resulting in a one person victory.
As Blair watched in horror as she witnessed her saviour being beaten to death she looked around the room in an attempt to see what she could do, and then much to her surprise she noticed the hunting knife laying on the bed. With little effort she was able to push the knife up to her right hand and with a few inward saws she was able to cut the rope and free her hand. And then with equal speed she cut the remaining ropes freeing her limbs from there confides. Then with one surge of fearless strength she jumped from the bed and ran towards the fight. However she made one fatal error, she announced her arrival, allowing Grace enough time to spin Turtle around pushing her in the path of the oncoming raging woman. But once again Rain decided to join in on the commotion and ran between Grace’s legs causing just enough of a distraction for her to be pushed off balance forcing her to fall backwards knocking the table over that secured the kerosene lamp. And in doing so Grace hit her head on the stone hearth knocking her unconscious.
Within seconds of noticing that the violent woman was not moving or attacking them they fell into each other’s arms, but only remained in the comforting embrace for a few seconds as it became clear that the cabin was now on fire, thanks to the kerosene that leaked from the shattered glass bottom.
“Blair… you have to get out. I will drag her out but you have to get out NOW.” Turtle had begun to push Blair towards the door.
“No I’m not leaving without you. I can help you drag this freak out of the cabin.” Blair screamed out not realizing that she was screaming.
Then Turtle did the most unexpected thing. She methodically walked over to the bed and gathered up Blair’s clothing and walked back to the naked and terrified woman standing over top of the deranged woman that was unconscious on the floor with a large fire building behind where she lay. Then as gently as she gathered Blair’s simple borrowed clothing, Turtle began to help her get dressed, first by allowing her to use her shoulder as a steady point to slide one leg and then the other into the large pants and then standing in front of Blair she tossed the shirt over her shoulders allowing Blair to slide one arm in the arm hole and then the other, all the while Blair was silently crying from the shock of the transpired events as well as the simple unhurried love and devotion that Turtle was offering in the face of the potential dangerous fire that seemed to be gaining force.
“Swee
tie we don’t have much time, you need to gather what you can before this cabin is completely engulfed in flames. And then you need to get out. I promise I will follow you and drag this crazy person out with me. Now go.” The words and the love that Turtle was expressing pushed Blair into action. She quickly released her gaze from Turtle’s loving stare and turned around to gather what she could for their survival and then ran out the door.
As she stood outside with Rain in her arms she called out, “Hurry up Turtle, please hurry!” And then to Blair’s absolute horror the cabins’ gathering smoke suddenly engulfed the entire door frame leaving Blair on the outside and nothing but thick billowing smoke running free out into the night air.
As she stood outside in the smoky night air, she looked at Rain in her arms and instantly knew that something had gone terribly wrong. “Rain you stay here.” She commanded as she placed the pup back onto the ground. “I’ve got to go back in.”
Once Turtle felt sure that Blair and Rain were safe outside the cabin she turned her attention to the unconscious woman lying on the floor. As she bent over to grab Grace under the arm pits, suddenly Grace reached up to grab Turtle’s shirt collar and a handful of exposed hanging hair and proceeded to flip Turtle over her body with one aggressive pull.
Startled by the quick reaction and the strength of this woman, Turtle fell forwards onto Grace’s body. As the two woman struggle again Grace grabbed Turtle around the throat and began to chock her with unbridled strength. Turtle’s thoughts seem to slow down and her body seemed to relax as she knew this was how she was going to die. This stranger had the mental capacity to kill another, and Turtle knew she did not have the strength to fight against such an unnatural force of nature. She told herself, during that brief out of body experience of being choked to death, that she could never take a life in violence.
Then suddenly she felt less aggressive hands on her shoulders and the feeling of being dragged across the floor and then she felt sweet outdoor air hit her lungs and she knew she was out of the smoked filled cabin.
Standing far enough away from the heat and flames of the burning log cabin, Blair held tight to Turtle who had fallen to her knees in a bent over posture coughing and choking from the inhaled smoke and from the result of another attempt of asphyxiation. She tried to speak to Blair to offer some kind of comfort but could only whisper out her apology, as it was clear that the choking had temporarily damaged her windpipe.
Allowing a few unspoken moments to pass Blair found the words to express her gratitude for what Turtle had just accomplished. “Turtle, I don’t think that mere words will ever be enough to express what you just did for me. You not only saved my life again but you saved me from a horror that I would never have been able to survive.” As Blair continued to express her gratefulness it was unapparent to her that the person she was thanking was fading fast. And then suddenly Turtle’s level of conscious expired and she hit the ground hard, without a single attempt to cushion her fall, and then did not move a muscle.
Blair was on the ground beside her hero attempting to awaken her by kissing and holding her face in her hands and looking around for help that she knew was not coming. Then with the unconscious body laying half on her outstretched legs and half on the ground Blair began to sway back and forth pleading to any God above her, “Please don’t let her die. Oh dear God… please don’t let her die.”
As they remain on the ground with the raging fire light illuminating the surrounding area, Blair held tight and silently pleaded to the world to save the love of her life, as hot tears streamed down her cheeks, she continued to weep out the words, “Turtle honey please don’t die.”
As slowly as the seconds ticked by her analytical mind wanted to begin to strategize their next move as she knew every aspect of their survival had just been placed in great peril, but her exhausted body and travel weary mind, not to mention the violation she had just endured, forced her to remain in this spot and wait for her guide to awaken and tell her everything was going to be just fine and to trust her.
So with Rain by her side, Blair continued to hold onto Turtle’s still body. Gratefully knowing that she was alive but she had no idea what condition she was in. As she held tight to the only person that mattered to her she leaned her head back onto the tree they were using as a defence post and waited for something to happen.
Chapter Eleven - The Other Side of Rescue
Carterville Town Hall
The outside door to the town hall opened and a notably hurried forestry warden entered the room, then briskly walked past the officer at the first desk and then without seeking permission entered the office of the chief of police without knocking.
“Chief, I have just been told that there has been a fire spotted by one of the lookout forestry stations up on the north face of the ridge. I have assembled my best team of trackers, and they assure me they can be ready to investigate the area in less than thirty minutes.” And then suddenly the warden realized, by the expression on the Chief’s face and by the bewildering silence in the room that she had interrupted something more important, and that the Chief was not the only person in the room.
As Chief English stood to receive the welcomed intruder she somewhat hastily introduced the others in the room as she wanted more information about this fire, on several levels.
“Excuse me Chief, I thought you would have wanted this information as quickly…”
“Your arrival is exactly what these two visitors desperately need, additional information…”
“I, we don’t give a good god damn about a fire, I want to know where my fiancée is and what you are going to do about finding her.” Megan once again responded without listening to the entire message, always believing she was the most important person in any room.
Joe Foster immediately stood up, and offered the warden his hand of introduction and then turned and gave Megan a controlled stare that would have silenced a raging wild animal in its tracks. “Please go on with your message. Do you think there is a possibility that…”
“Look Mr. Foster, it has been nine days now, and you have been extremely patient by remaining here waiting for news of any kind, but for us a fire is just that. We are more concerned about the fire spreading even after all this rain.” Chief English spoken words were filled with empathy, trying again to convey to these two family members that a successful rescue of the two missing rafters is fading.
“Well…?”The warden cautiously spoke, not wanting to spark hope into the Chiefs’ somber message.
“Well what?” The Chief quietly asked as she turned her head towards the warden expressing, ‘tread lightly with your answer’.
The warden turned and looked as the three sets of eyes darting in her direction and stated, “Well that’s just it, Chief. By the location of the fire it follows the direction from the landslide that took out the prisons van to where the hunters’ cabin is. So by our calculations it’s more than likely it’s the hunter cabin that’s on fire…”and before she could finish.
The Chief was grabbing at her uniform jacket that hung on the hook behind her chair on the wall, “And that’s where we will find the escapees. Well done Sally.”
“Well, it a strong possibility, however the only problem that remains is that this very piece of the mountain took a huge hit from all sides and the instability of the mountain could and will more than likely cause more landslides. We will have to tread lightly and we can’t be in too much of a hurry to get to the cabin, so what I suggest is that you commission a helicopter and first fly over the side of the mountain to inspect before I send in a team that will need to use all-terrain vehicles. We can send out the first group as hikers but the second team would need air support knowledge before, which will include you choosing a team of officers and some correctional officers for support.”
“Well that means we have another problem. The army took the only available helicopter equipped with a rescue wrench, however we do have another that would allow us to at the very least
begin our search from the air and wait for the larger and better equipped one to follow.” As the Chief verbally problem solved her dilemma out loud she had turned and looked directly at Mr. Foster.
Noticing the direct eye contact and the insinuation of the presumed borrowing of their helicopter Megan immediately stood and announced to the entire room that their means of transportation was theirs alone to use, “Oh wait just a minute, if you think for one second that you are going to use my helicopter to rescue a couple of jail birds, leaving me in this god forsaken place, you have another thing coming. My fiancée is lost out there or possibly dead and all you seem to be thinking about is two women from a minimum security facility, to locate and bring back to their tiny little cells, well you’ve got some big lady balls asking my brother-in-law who is full of grief, to give away his only means of rescuing his only sibling. Now I strongly suggest that you find another form of air transportation to solve your problem, seeming you were unable to solve mine, which has included me being stuck in this hell-hole for days.”
Once she completed her commanding message Megan turned and looked at Joe, expecting to receive his seal of approval regarding her jam-packed well-spoken onslaught of fury.
But instead of taking the presumed positioning of siding with his sisters fiancée, he slowly stood up, and as he lifted his head to speak to the group his mannerisms reflected that of a person with the weight of the world on his shoulders, which immediately caught both the warden and Chiefs attention, Joe took a deep breath and spoke, “Chief in the beginning of all this you asked if we would help in any way regarding the possible capture of these escapees, which I agreed to, and even though it appears we will be leaving here without my sister in good health, I am a man of my word and you have permission to use my private helicopter and pilot.” After completing his statement with notable anguish etched across his face, he turned to leave the room in silence leaving his sister’s fiancée in shocked silence.
