Fighting Strong

by Marysol James

  She tried to get as close to her door as she could and watched as he lifted both legs and then drove his feet forward, kicking his door. There was a horrible grinding sound and a screech. Adam did it again, then a third time. His door flew open and he climbed out carefully. He turned to her and extended his hand.

  “Come on.”

  She tried to shift her hips and a burst of flame shot through her leg. She gave a cry of pain.

  Right away, Adam leaned in to the car. “What? What hurts?”

  “My leg.”

  “Hang on,” Adam said. “Let me get a flashlight.”

  He grabbed the keys and went around to the trunk. He returned with a flashlight and a blanket.

  “OK, let’s see,” he said and turned on the flashlight. He pointed it at the floor on her side and that’s when they saw that a jagged edge of door had broken loose and was hanging inside the car. It was shiny with blood.

  Adam looked at Katie. She was turning pale right in front of his eyes.

  “OK,” he said calmly as he set the blanket on the roof. “I’m going to help you get out of there.”

  She nodded, her eyes very dark and wide.

  He climbed in and reached over to her side. Gently, he ran his hand up and down her legs and he was relieved when he discovered that the metal wasn’t actually imbedded in her flesh. The jeans on her right calf had a gaping tear and they were soaked through.

  Just a bad cut then. That I can deal with.

  “Katie, it’s not so bad. OK?” he said. Out of her sight, he wiped his bloody hands on his jeans. “I’m going to pull you out slowly.”

  “Alright.”

  “Try to turn your back to me.”

  She shifted in her seat and turned her shoulders to the right as far as she could. Adam carefully grasped her under the arms and started to pull her towards him. Katie gasped as her cut leg dragged against the seat and Adam stopped.

  “OK?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Almost there… just a bit farther.”

  She bit her lip as her back pressed in to his chest; she felt his breath on her neck and his large hands under her breasts. He pulled her over the driver’s side and then clear of the car. He lifted her whole body, turned her in his arms, lowered her to the ground. She grasped his strong forearms and he supported her so she had almost no weight on her feet.

  Adam stared down at her. She looked dazed and scared.

  “Katie? You with me?”

  “Yes.”

  Over her shoulder, he saw the long streak of blood smeared over the passenger’s seat. He looked up at the night sky and squinted in to the swirling snow. The wind was getting worse rapidly and he figured they had about five minutes before the storm hit in earnest.

  Shit. I have to find us some shelter and then call for help.

  He looked around them and blinked when the snow cleared and he saw a large structure about five hundred feet away. “Hey, over there.”

  Katie followed his pointing finger across the open field. “What is that? A barn?”

  “The roadside lights aren’t bright enough to tell. But it’s a building and I’ll take it.” He gently sat her down in the driver’s seat and got her coat from the floor in the back. He zipped it up and then wrapped the blanket around her legs. “Just stay here for a sec, OK?”

  "OK.”

  Adam put on his own coat, then went back to the trunk and emptied the biggest backpack. In it, he stuffed three more blankets, bottles of water, granola bars, another flashlight, extra batteries, the first-aid kit, and some of his clothes. He strapped his sleeping bag to the bottom of the pack with two bungee cords and he grabbed Katie’s black backpack.

  “Alright,” he said. “Can you carry your bag and camera?”

  She nodded. He gently slid the straps up her arms and adjusted the backpack on her shoulders.

  “So, we’re going to go over there.”

  “Why don’t you go and check it out alone? It’ll be faster if I wait here.”

  Because I don’t know how badly you’re bleeding and I’m afraid you might go in to shock or pass out while I’m gone. Plus, what if the whiteout really hits? I’d never find you again. Aloud, he said, “No way I’m leaving you here by yourself. We stick together, OK?”

  “But I can barely walk…”

  “I’ll help you.” He hauled the backpack on to his body and then he lifted her to her feet. “We’ll take it slow. Right?”

  “OK,” Katie said.

  Adam put one arm around her and they started to walk to the building in the distance. He glanced behind them and saw blood drops in the snow.

  Goddamnit. I need to look at that leg.

  Holding on to Adam’s waist, Katie was limping badly, even with Adam basically carrying her. She gritted her teeth and just kept putting one foot in front of the other, trying to push through the pain.

  Come on, Katie. Keep walking.

  “You’re doing great,” he said. “You need to take a break?”

  She shook her head. “I’m OK.”

  As they got closer, they saw that it was a barn and Adam felt a surge of relief. It wouldn’t be warm, but at least it would get them out of the snow storm. He glanced down at Katie and saw that she was tiring quickly.

  “Another minute,” he said. “Then you can sit down. Hang in there.”

  She nodded, her eyes on the barn door ahead of her.

  When they got closer, Adam saw that the door was padlocked. He sighed internally as he realized that he’d physically have to break in to the barn. He hoped that the owner and police would be understanding about the circumstances.

  He sat Katie down on his backpack and then examined the padlock more closely. It was huge and strong and he knew he’d need bolt cutters to get through it. He touched the barn door, felt it give a bit. It was made out of wood and he figured it could be forced right off its hinges with a few well-placed kicks.

  “So what do you think?” Katie asked him.

  “I think I’m about to kick in my second door, thereby committing my second crime,” he said.

  She stared at him, with his muscles and tattoos and hard blue eyes. “Really? Only two?”

  “Yep.” He peeled off his heavy coat. “I was a good boy my whole life until I got all messed up with you and Mia. Suddenly, I’m breaking down doors and in to private property in two states.”

  She surprised them both by giggling. He glanced over at her and shot her a grin.

  “You do know this makes you an accessory to a crime?” he said.

  “Well, I’m actually a complete B&E virgin. What do you say we launch ourselves headfirst over to the dark side together?”

  “Deal,” he said. “OK, here we go.”

  He raised his right leg and kicked the wood door hard. It burst wide open and rebounded back on its hinges.

  Stunned, they both stared. Then Adam turned to Katie.

  “I kind of thought it would be harder than that.”

  “Yeah. Me too.”

  “Well, let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth.” He grinned again. “I thought a horse idiom was appropriate, considering everything.”

  “Yeah, I got that.”

  “OK, let’s go.”

  He helped her to her feet again and almost carried her in to the barn. They stopped and peered in to the darkness, Adam shining the flashlight around.

  Katie blinked when she saw slides, rope ladders, swings and brightly-colored posters. “What is this place? Some kind of… playground?”

  Puzzled, Adam picked up a pamphlet from a table by the door. “Yeah. You can rent it out for kids’ parties and stuff.”

  “Wow.” Katie looked around again. “Is there electricity?”

  “OK, sit tight.” Adam lowered her to a chair. “I’ll go see. We may get lucky and have heat too.”

  He walked around the whole barn looking for a light switch and cursed under his breath when none was to be found. It was surprisingly warm inside, though, and he touch
ed the wall. It had some kind of insulation and he felt better about being there.

  “No lights,” he said to Katie. “But we won’t freeze.”

  “OK,” she said. “But we won’t be here long, right? We’ll call for help?”

  “You bet.” Adam reached in to his jacket pocket for his cell. Despair seeped through his chest as he looked at the screen. “No signal.”

  “Oh, God,” Katie said. “Really?”

  “Yeah.” He walked around the barn again, trying to find a place where his phone had reception, but no luck. He went outside and came back in shaking his head. “Shit.”

  “Is there a land line?” Katie asked. “Maybe behind the counter?”

  He knelt down and looked. “No.” He stood up again. “OK, well. We’ll think about that in a few minutes. Right now, I need to take a look at your leg.”

  “OK.” She took off her coat and started to roll up the bottom of her jeans. She grimaced as she realized that the jeans went no farther than mid-calf and the cut extended beyond that.

  Oh, no. Oh, God. I can’t take my jeans off. I won’t.

  She struggled with the material, trying to lift it higher.

  Adam watched all of this, confused. “Ummm. What are you doing?”

  “Rolling up my jeans.”

  “No,” he said. “Take them off, OK?”

  He turned his back on her and started to rummage through the first-aid kit. He set surgical gloves, antibiotic cream, bandages, tweezers, a syringe, lidocaine hydrochloride, and a suture kit on a small table. He looked back at Katie, expecting her to be out of her clothes.

  She was sitting there, still trying to roll the damn jeans up her leg.

  “What are you doing?” Adam asked. “You’re going to hurt yourself more if you keep dragging the clothes on the gash. Just take the things off.”

  She sat still now.

  “No.” Her voice was so low, he barely heard it.

  “What? What do you mean ‘no’?”

  “I mean, no. I’m not taking my jeans off in front of you.”

  “Are you serious? Look, I’m all for modesty, but now’s not the time. Get undressed. I promise not to look at your underwear, OK?”

  Katie was sitting and staring at the ground, totally silent.

  Adam stood there, almost crazed with impatience and annoyance. “Katie, Jesus Christ! I need to take a look at your leg… what’s the problem here?”

  He stopped when he saw the tears shining on her cheeks.

  “Katie?” He knelt down in front of her and looked at her closely. “Why are you crying? Are you in that much pain?”

  She shook her head and a sob shook her. Her distress made Adam soften.

  “Look, I don’t understand what’s going on.” His voice was gentle. “But I need to fix you up. OK? I’m not going to hurt you and I promise I won’t touch you in some way that’s – inappropriate.”

  “That’s not it.”

  “So what is it? Katie?”

  She closed her eyes. “OK. But – you can’t tell anyone. Not ever. Not even Mia and Reena and Maggie know this part.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  She clutched his massive forearm and now her dark eyes were pleading and raw. “Promise me, Adam. Please.”

  Adam stared at her, totally lost. “OK. I won’t tell anyone.”

  She stood up shakily and he supported her. She unzipped her jeans and slowly tugged them down her long legs, wincing.

  “Careful,” he said. “Don’t make that cut worse, if possible.”

  She sat down again and extended her legs to his view. And that’s when he saw the burns: round, with jagged edges, all over her delicate upper thighs. Lots of burns. He stared at the raised white skin and his heart stopped.

  Katie couldn’t meet his eyes and she stared at her hands.

  “Katie.” His voice came out as a croak and he cleared his throat. “Are those cigarette burns?”

  She sat silent.

  “Katie?” Adam knelt down in front of her again and took her hands in his.

  “Just – just take care of the cut, Adam. Please?”

  He stared at her face and was amazed at the wave of worry and tenderness that came over him.

  “OK. I’ll be careful.”

  He turned his attention to the gash on her lower leg and saw that it was long but not especially deep and he almost sighed in relief. He’d been prepared to inject the lidocaine as a local anesthetic and stitch her up if he had to. After twelve years of pro boxing, Adam knew more than he cared to admit about quick patch jobs: he’d done dozens on himself and on friends. He knew he could do a good job, but now he wasn’t so sure how she’d have reacted. She may well have refused to let him drug her, even locally.

  “It’s OK, Katie,” he said. “You won’t need any stitches… I’ll clean it up and that’s going to sting like hell, I’m afraid. But then it’ll be over.”

  She was quiet as he cleaned out the cut, liberally applied cream and then wrapped and taped a bandage securely in place. He said nothing, but he couldn’t stop staring at the burns; he counted nineteen, and he saw that they went around to the backs of her legs too.

  Who the fuck did this to her?

  After he finished with her leg, he moved on to her arm. Carefully, he picked out six shards of glass with the tweezers and then poured disinfectant on the cuts. She bit her lip as the liquid burned and bubbled and he held her hand until she relaxed again. He put on some bandages and checked that they held.

  “OK, all done,” he said. “I want you to keep your legs bare for right now. I have some extra blankets here so you’ll be warm enough.” He wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and she clutched it. She still wouldn’t look at him.

  “I’ll set up a place for you to rest. You doing OK?”

  She nodded and started taking off her numerous silver earrings.

  Adam spread the sleeping bag on a stack of thin gym mats on the floor next to the far wall. He saw a stack of cushions and included one as a pillow. Then he went back to Katie and gently lifted her to her feet, helping her to walk across the floor.

  “Here, lie back.” He eased her down on to the sleeping bag, adjusted the cushion under her head and covered her with two blankets. “You OK?”

  “Yes.”

  “You want some water? A granola bar?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “You think you can sleep?”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Alright. I’ll be right over here if you need me.” He paused. “I’ll leave the flashlight on at night, OK?”

  Katie turned over and faced away from him. She stared at the barn wall and felt the tears running down her cheeks, unchecked. She fought to keep her crying quiet so Adam didn’t hear.

  Fuck, fuck. Why did he have to see them? He’s going to ask and keep asking until I answer, of course. I mean, I would. What am I going to say?

  She was sure that she would be awake all night, and it was a surprise when she started to feel drowsy. She heard Adam breathing and moving around behind her as he cleaned and bandaged the cut on his head and set up his own sleeping area. He dragged a stack of barrels to the busted door and jammed it shut, blocking the entrance completely. She relaxed, knowing that he was between her and the door. They could barely stand each other, but he’d never let anything get to her, she knew. She drifted off to sleep.

  Across the barn, sitting on a stack of mats, Adam watched her back rise and fall. Quickly at first, as she struggled to control her sobs, then more slowly as she calmed, and then evenly as she fell in to a deep sleep.

  When he was sure that she was out, Adam lay down facing her curled up body. She looked surprisingly small over there and he felt the desire to protect her. He closed his eyes, trying to rest, but his mind was spinning. He couldn’t stop thinking about those burns.

  The last thing he thought before dropping off was that if he ever met the person who did that to her, he’d break them in half with his bare hands.


  Chapter Four

  “No! No… stop!”

  Adam bolted awake and was on his feet before he had fully taken in his surroundings. He looked around wildly, thinking that someone had broken in to the barn.

  Katie was twisting and turning under the blankets, fast asleep. She was moaning and crying out as she fought something in her dreams.

  A nightmare. Dammit.

  He crossed the length of the floor in two steps and crouched down next to her. Gently, he touched her shoulder.

  “Katie? You OK?”

  She felt someone touch her and she pushed the hand away. “Don’t! No!”

  “Katie… Katie, open your eyes.”

  She struggled against the dark oblivion of the dream, wanting to get away from him. Her arms flailed as she pushed against his body and a strong hand held her still.

  “Katie, calm down. Wake up, OK?”

  With a gasp of panic, her eyes flew open. When she saw a giant man leaning over her, she screamed.

  Right away, Adam let go of her. She scrambled away and crouched against the barn wall, her head down, shaking.

  Adam waited a few seconds and then he spoke. “Katie?”

  She closed her eyes.

  “Sweetheart, can you hear me?”

  “Yes.”

  He felt a surge of relief to hear her voice. “OK. I’m coming over to get you now. Don’t be scared… alright?”

  “Alright.”

  Slowly, he moved towards her, cursing his size. Adam had never wanted to be physically smaller than he was – one of the things he worked for was to be stronger and more muscled than anyone thought possible – but right now, it was a huge problem. When stuck in the middle of nowhere with a shaking and terrified woman, being the size of a building was not comforting for her, he imagined.

  Katie felt him settle right next to her and she looked at him. His eyes were gentle and concerned and she suddenly saw that he wasn’t going to hurt her. For the first time in a long time, she really believed it possible to be safe with a man.

  “Adam,” she whispered.

  “It’s me. You’re OK now.” He opened his arms to her. “Come here.”

  She moved in to his embrace and leaned against his chest. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her close. She was cocooned by his massive body, completely enclosed in it, protected from the outside world. She had never felt so vulnerable and so safe at the same time.