by Emily Garnet
Still, it meant she had to change her strategy. He clearly wasn’t going to let her go because she demanded it. That meant she had to get him out of the house for a while so she could try to escape on her own. She forced herself to be calm and lose the glower. As he kept talking to her, she made an effort to nod and meet his gaze. After a short time, he seemed to relax his guard slightly.
“If I take off the gag, are you going to be nice?”
She nodded enthusiastically, trying to smile around it. It still made her want to gag, both the taste of the cloth, and the need to pretend to be okay with his psycho plan. When he cautiously removed it a few seconds later, she worked her jaw, which had gotten stiff, and she made a conscious effort not to yell. Keeping a pleasant tone, she said, “If I’m going to stay here with you, I’m going to need some supplies.”
He nodded earnestly. “Oh, I know. I have freeze-dried food and lots of canned items. I’ve got enough to last us at least the first few months.”
She managed to smile, though her fingernails were digging half-moons into her hands in her anger. “That’s terrific, but I have several food allergies.” She tried to recall all the various things her bandmate Amy couldn’t eat. The girl had serious allergies, and it was sometimes a nightmare for her to travel. “I can’t eat eggs, shellfish, soy, dairy, wheat, gluten, corn, or anything with artificial preservatives. They give me a terrible migraine.”
He frowned. “I didn’t know that about you. It’s not in your bio.”
A trickle of sweat went down her spine as she struggled to remember what was on the official fan page for the band’s website. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized her favorite food was listed as strawberries. There was nothing in there that would undo the lie she was spinning. “It’s kind of embarrassing and limiting, you know? I don’t like to talk about it much.” Her only hope was Amy hadn’t revealed her food allergies on her bio, or else Kenny hadn’t bothered to look at Amy’s. She found herself crossing her fingers in a superstitious fashion.
After a moment, he seemed to accept that. “I need to go see what I have in stock. “
“Don’t—” He was gone before she could stop him. Her hope rested on him not having food that was friendly to someone with multiple allergies. As much as she butted heads with Amy, she was suddenly grateful to have her in her life, since she knew about food allergies thanks to Amy’s.
He returned about ten minutes later. “This is bad. Almost everything I have has something you can’t eat. I have canned fruit, but you can’t live on canned fruit.”
She nodded. “That’s true. I need you to find me foods I can eat. You should probably go before all the grocery stores are closed.”
He looked frazzled. “It’s a madhouse out there. Everything is probably already picked through.”
“I doubt everything’s gone. There are a lot of large grocery stores, and a lot of people still don’t know what’s going on beyond the short-term. They aren’t expecting what’s coming. If you want me to survive and not starve to death, you’re going to have to go out there to make sure I have something to eat.” She allowed a little doubt to creep into her voice. “You did promise to protect me. Are you able to do that?”
Kenny whimpered softly, but then his shoulders straightened. “Yeah, I can take care of you. I’ll do this. I’ll find what you need. Let me get a piece of paper and a pencil…” He trailed off as he walked back into the kitchen. She couldn’t see him out of the ring of illumination provided by the Coleman lantern on a table nearby, but she could hear him rustling around in there. When he returned, he had a notepad and the pencil. “Tell me again what you’re allergic to.”
Once more, sweat trickled down her back as she struggled to remember the list she’d given him before. She must have remembered it well, because he didn’t blink an eye as he wrote down each one.
“I’m going to find you something. I really am going to take such good care of you that you’ll never want to leave, even when this is over.”
The idea of staying with him even five more minutes was enough to make her want to vomit, but she somehow managed a smile. It was definitely shaky, and she hoped he read it as fear of the situation, rather than realizing it was abhorrence at the idea of being with him. “If you can get what I need, I’ll definitely be able to trust that you can protect me. Thank you, Kenny.”
She didn’t bother to ask him to untie her while he was gone. That would only make him suspicious, and he wouldn’t do it anyway. He didn’t want to risk his prize escaping. She just sat there serenely until she heard the door close behind him a couple of moments later. Then she started working at the ropes. It soon became obvious he’d tied them well. “Was he a freaking Boy Scout?” she muttered aloud as she tried to loosen the ropes.
That wasn’t working. She racked her brain for another solution and started wiggling in the chair. It wasn’t very sturdy. One of the legs was wobbly, and it was an older wooden chair constructed from multiple pieces. Since it wasn’t all one piece, it would break easier. The only way she could think to break it was to slam it against the wall. That meant she had to be attached to it when she did so.
Gingerly, she tried standing up. Fortunately, he hadn’t tied her legs, so she was able to maneuver better than she would’ve otherwise. She hobbled forward a few steps before trying to run backward. That was not an easy task in her current position, so she didn’t have nearly the momentum she wanted when the chair slammed against the wall.
It sent a tremor through her back, and she whimpered at the pain, but she gritted her teeth and walked forward again. She repeated the movement three more times before she heard a crack. Since she couldn’t use her hands to tell what had broken, she lined the chair against the wall and wiggled. One of the legs fell to the floor, and she knew she was making progress.
It took multiple attempts before she broke the chair enough to be able to wiggle free of the ropes. She bent down to take the chair leg nearest her foot. It wasn’t much, but it was somewhat a weapon.
She was heading toward the front door when she heard keys in the lock. She searched around for somewhere to hide, but there was nowhere. The best she could do was stand in the shadow behind the door, and she was glad there wasn’t much light in the room.
Kenny came in a moment later. “I’m sorry, but I can’t get through the roads right now. Someone tried to hijack my truck with a gun…” He trailed off as he fully entered the apartment. “Ivy?”
“Right here.” She said the words as she swung the chair leg. It connected with his forehead, and he stumbled backward. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to knock him down. He leaned against the wall for a moment for support, and his bulk was still between her and the doorway.
She lifted the chair leg again, intent on slamming it down on his skull, but he managed to get his arm up to block it. He let out a shrieking sound, and she could hear the crunch of bone when the wood connected. That caused a savage grin to cross her face, and she was in full-on animal survival mode.
She pulled it back and hit him again with it, going for the same spot in his arm. He screamed in agony and fell forward, but as he did so, he managed to knock her to the ground underneath him. His hands flailed for a minute before he got one around her throat. She screamed when he touched the inflamed flesh.
His other arm was curled against his chest, and he was clearly in agony. “Why would you do this? I just want to take care of you.”
“And I don’t want anything from you, except maybe for you to die.” As she said that, she leaned forward and took a chunk out of his cheek, biting down as hard as she could. His hand tightened around her throat, but he screamed at the pain that he must be feeling from her teeth. When she tasted blood, she let go and turned her head to spit it out. Who knew what filth swam in his veins?
“I’m not going to stay with you willingly.” Her voice sounded slightly strained, because he was restricting her airway. Her throat was already sore from his previous strangulation, but she clung to cons
ciousness as she clawed at his hand on her throat. When that didn’t work, she managed to wiggle her foot upward, straining against his bulk, until she could press the high heel of her boot against his testicles. That was enough to get him to let go, and he rolled away as he cupped himself, howling in misery.
She wasn’t surprised when the door burst open, but she was expecting it to be one of his neighbors. Instead, it was a black woman with a gun, and she shouted, “Police, freeze.”
Ivy froze, lifting her hands in the air and aborting her attempt to stand up. Her entire body ached, including her knee from having to arrange it in such an awkward way to be able to use the shoe as a weapon, but she forced herself to be still until the woman’s weapon moved to Kenny, and she came farther into the apartment.
Another form moved behind her, and Ivy gasped when she recognized Matt. “Oh my god, you’re alive.” Tears swam in her eyes, and she lifted her arms as Matt came closer, helping her to her feet. He hugged her, and she cried out at the pain in her back.
His hands immediately dropped to his side. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you later. I’m just really sore.” She turned to Matt, who was cowering with the woman standing over him. He still had one hand cupping his testicles, and his broken arm was against his chest. He was sobbing and begging for mercy. She wanted to kick him, but she restrained herself. “Do you have ibuprofen?”
Tears squeeze from his eyes. “What?”
She got a little closer, making her voice firmer and meaner. “Where is your ibuprofen?” If she had to go searching in his bedroom, there was no way she was going to look for it.
“The bathroom.” He was sobbing. “Please help me, Ivy.” She snorted and stepped over him pointedly. As she started to walk away, the woman with the gun called out her name. Ivy froze and turned to look at her. “Yes?”
“You can’t just go pawing through his things. There are still laws.”
Ivy nodded, wincing at pain flared at the base of her skull when she did so. She must have injured her spine all the way up while breaking free from the chair, and it spasmed continuously. “I’m not. I’m just having some ibuprofen.”
“That’s theft.” Her heart didn’t seem in the words though, and she looked back at Kenny.
Taking that as tacit permission, Ivy went into the bathroom. She left the door open so she could have some illumination, but she mostly felt the bottles rather than read the labels.
When she put her hand around one that felt familiar, she grabbed it and took it back to the living room, holding it near the lantern to be able to read and confirm it was ibuprofen. She shook out four in her hand and helped herself to a bottle of water from the case Kenny had on his coffee table. Matt limped over to her, and she offered him the bottle of pills and the water, and he took them.
“How did you find me?” she asked Matt as she noticed Jolene had cuffed Kenny’s hands to the table in her absence.
“I ran a search based on what Matt could remember.” The police officer nodded at her. “I’m Jolene Haskins. I’m going to need a statement from you.”
Ivy sighed. “Sorry, but I’m not wasting that much time on him. We need to get out of Vegas, and we have to go now.”
Jolene hesitated for a moment, but then she nodded. “Just a quick statement, please.”
Seeing Matt nod his encouragement, Ivy capitulated. She took a seat on the couch after ensuring it wasn’t filthy and let her back stretch. It hurt to start with, but then the pain started to ease. As quickly as possible, she ran through what had happened while Jolene scribbled down her statement. She signed it when they were finished, and Jolene did the same.
“Do you have safety pins here?” Jolene asked that question of Kenny.
He was still sniveling, but his arm probably was killing him from the way Jolene had cuffed him with a pair of handcuffs looped through the sturdy leg of the antique coffee table. He didn’t bother to answer.
“All right. I was going to pin this to him, but I’ll just have to leave it on the coffee table.” Jolene removed her radio from her pocket, and it took a couple of attempts before they heard the sound of static hissing.
When dispatch answered, she put in a request to have Kenny picked up and transported to jail as soon as officers were available. When the dispatcher tried to object and insist Jolene bring him in to the station, she cut through the man’s words, saying, “I’m on medical leave, and I’m taking my boys out of town. He’ll be here.”
“It could be hours or even a day before we get there,” said the dispatcher.
“He’ll survive that long.” When Jolene ended the conversation with her dispatcher, she knelt near Kenny. “I’m going to uncuff one of your hands and rearrange the way you’re cuffed so that you can reach food and water.”
“My arm.” Tears squeezed out of his eyes.
“There’s ibuprofen right there.”
Ivy didn’t stick around to see how Jolene uncuffed and rearranged him. She went into his kitchen, barely able to see the confines of each appliance and the table and chairs due to the lack of lighting. She fumbled her way around the kitchen until she found the pantry. When she opened the door, she rummaged for cellophane-sealed packages and some cans.
With her arms full, she returned to the living room and dropped the food on the table. Most of her blind grabs had yielded food he could eat, though he’d need a can opener. Matt seemed to have realized that, because he disappeared into the kitchen. After some low cursing and a crash of metal, he returned with a manual can opener that he put beside the food.
“That should be enough, and it’s more than you deserve.” Ivy glared at Kenny.
His lips wobbled. “Please help me, Ivy. Don’t leave me like this. I would have taken care of you.” His expression grew hopeful as she moved closer.
Ivy knelt long enough to fish the keys from Kenny’s pocket. That was an unpleasant task, but the truck would give them a huge advantage. His expression grew darker as he realized she wasn’t helping him. “I didn’t want your help, and I don’t owe you anything.” With those words, the three of them left the apartment.
The truck was still in front of the building, which seemed like a complete miracle under the circumstances. She passed the keys to Matt, and he handed them off to Jolene. “I’m too sore to drive,” he said.
She could relate. She followed them to the truck, and the three of them managed to squeeze into the tight cab. She didn’t know where they were going, but she leaned her head against Matt’s shoulder and tried not to feel every ache in her body.
Jolene didn’t drive far. It was only a few blocks before she pulled up in front of an apartment building and stopped the truck. “Make sure the doors are locked. I wish I had a garage to park it in, but I don’t.”
“Where are we?” asked Ivy.
“My apartment. You’re welcome to stay the night with us, and we can all head out in the morning as a group. There’s safety in numbers.”
Ivy wanted to protest, thinking they should hit the road right then, but her back twinging reminded her of just what she’d been through, and she knew some rest would be welcome. “Thank you.”
Chapter Eight
Inside Jolene’s apartment, Ivy met her sons and then sat for a brief exam as Jolene looked her over. “No concussion.”
“He strangled me to subdue me, not hit me like he did poor Matt.”
Jolene ran her hand carefully down Ivy’s spine. It hurt, but not enough that Ivy had to scream or jerk away. “I don’t think you’ve broken any vertebrae, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get an x-ray.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I want to go anywhere near the hospital, but thanks.”
Jolene shrugged. “I can’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do. Okay, you guys can have the living room. We’re going to sleep for a while, and we’ll head out at first light.”
Ivy nodded her appreciation as she curled up on two of the couch cushions. Matt sat on the other cushion, with hi
s legs propped on the coffee table after Jolene nodded her permission. Soon, it was just the two of them. She was too tired to say much, but she put her foot on Matt’s thigh. “Thank you for finding me and coming after me.”
“Of course. You’re my best friend. I wouldn’t leave you behind. It was just a stroke of luck that I met Jolene’s sons.”
“Thank goodness for that.” She mostly mumbled the words, not even sure if he heard them. She was too close to slumber to try again, and as her body finally relaxed enough to let her slip into sleep, she didn’t even have the energy to worry about what came next.
She woke to the smell of smoke and her own choking. Ivy opened her eyes, and she could see a haze in the room, though she didn’t immediately hear the fire. She got to her feet, wincing at the ache in her back, but it had lessened either from her position, the ibuprofen, or both. “Matt, there’s a fire.”
He spoke from behind her instead of beside her. “I know. Jolene and her boys are getting dressed now.” He took her arm and brought her to the patio door. She didn’t have to open it or stick her head out to see the blazing inferno in the building next to them. It was inevitable that it was going to jump to this apartment building soon, and they had to get out. She only hoped the truck was still there.
Jolene and her boys emerged from their rooms a couple of minutes later. They stopped near the door to each retrieve a pack. Jolene apparently saw Ivy’s look of curiosity, because she said, “I had the boys pack us some bugout bags while Matt and I went to rescue you from that crazy guy.”
For the first time, Ivy realized she no longer had her backpack or guns either. Kenny must’ve taken them from her, and she’d never thought to retrieve them from his apartment. She’d been in too much pain and too focused on getting away to think about it. Now she cursed the oversight, because it left them both vulnerable.
“Can either of you shoot?” asked Jolene as she went to the coat closet.
“Both of us,” said Ivy confidently, though Matt wasn’t entirely trained. His crash course from earlier would have to do.
