Number One-Part 6

The gravel logging road was potholed and not even remotely level. Once she had left the clear cut section the trees towered over the road and the sun was cut from the sky once again. Though it was still brighter on the road than in the trees themselves. After a few minutes of walking Melanie began to feel exposed again. While she was fairly certain Blue Eyes wouldn’t be a threat for at least another couple hours, she had no idea what Chubby was currently up to. He could be stalking her at this very moment, in fact. She veered into the trees and off the gravel roadway. She could parallel the road, but if she stayed in the trees a few meters at least then she’d have a little bit of cover. Hell, maybe Chubby would be coming back up this very road with some sort of vehicle. The road looked like it hadn’t been used in years, but might still be navigable with a four wheel drive. Better safe than locked up in a basement again.
As she walked, Mel took stock of herself. She was alive, thankfully. She knew her legs were bruised, and she had torn a small hole in the left thigh of her pants during her tumble down the hill. Her arms were scratched, with red welts and bruises coming up all over them. There was dried blood caked over the spot on her arm where she’d scratched it, and both her wrists were raw from the handcuffs. And she was so tired she knew she must look like death.
She sincerely hoped that she would find something or someone not far down the trail. Her feet were beginning to throb, and her knees threatened to give out. She had been running nearly all day, after all. On any other day a walk in the woods might have been enjoyable. These particular woods were even quite scenic. But it was hard to enjoy the scenery in her current condition. Though Mel knew she couldn’t feel sorry for herself. It wouldn’t help anything, and it would more than likely slow her down.
Her mind slowly turned itself off, her thoughts passing silently through her brain. She wasn’t really conscious of much of anything as she plodded through the trees, following the old gravel road. She wanted to sit down and sleep. That’s what she really wanted to do.
“What the hell?” came a startling, loud voice from behind her. She nearly screamed as her heart slammed up into her throat. Without really thinking, she pulled the gun instantly from her pocket and whirled around to see who it was.
Chubby stood before her, a shocked look on his face.
He made a move towards her, but she took the gun in both hands and raised the barrel to face him, her finger on the trigger.
“Don’t,” she heard herself say firmly. Bond, Melanie Bond. License to kill. He stopped and held his hands up, as though she were about to ask him to hand over his wallet. They stood there, staring at each other. Neither spoke. Melanie had no idea what the man was thinking. She hoped he couldn’t see that she had no idea how to handle a handgun. The safety was probably on still, actually. She had to do something. They couldn’t stand like this forever. Then she remembered the handcuffs in her pocket.
“Back up, slowly,” she said firmly. She wondered if he heard the waver in her voice. He began to back up slowly. After a few steps his back bumped into a tree trunk. Melanie reached into her pocket and took out the handcuffs.
“Try anything and I’ll put a bullet through your brain,” she said. She couldn’t have done it if she wanted to, but he didn’t know that. Melanie Bond was fearless. All she needed to do was sound like she meant it. She pressed the gun to the side of his squishy head, grinding the barrel in to emphasize her point. Then she snapped one side of the handcuffs around his wrist. Then, sliding the gun around to the back of his head, she stepped behind the tree. She lowered the gun and grabbed his other wrist and attached to two, effectively attaching him to the tree.
She lowered the gun and stepped around in front of him. Her insides squirmed as she checked his pockets. Mel didn’t want to accidentally leave him with a key to the handcuffs. He had dropped a backpack when she had pulled the gun on him, and she picked it up. She thought about asking him some questions before she left, but she didn’t much feel like sticking around. And it didn’t really seem like he would answer anyway. She slipped the gun back into her pocket, grateful that she hadn’t had to use it. She turned to walk away.
“Hey! Wait a second, bitch! You can’t just leave me here!” Chubby screamed at her back. Melanie had no intention of gratifying him with any kind of response. He’d left her in handcuffed in his basement, she could leave him handcuffed to a tree in the woods. What she really wanted to do was go back and smack him a few times in the head. Take out some of her frustration. Maybe it would knock some sense into him. Unlikely, but hitting him would still be cathartic. No, she’d leave him there, wondering. Just like he’d done to her.

Mel waited until she was out of his line of sight before she opened the backpack. She was hoping for some kind of sweater or jacket, but no luck. Instead there were a couple of flashlights, matches, extra ammunition for the gun she now possessed. But no cell phone or radio. She sighed and slung the backpack over one shoulder. She was going to have to hike out of here, after all.
She felt slightly better now that she knew both of her kidnappers were taken care of. A weight had come off her shoulders. She was still ridiculously tired, but now at least she knew that she had time. Maybe she could even stop for a little rest. A nap maybe? No, she should really get somewhere before the sun went down and she was left walking in the dark. Though she did have flashlights now. No. she really did need to get indoors. It was definitely going to get cold out tonight, and all she was wearing was a thin shirt.
She was walking boldly out on the gravel road now. Her feet dragged slightly as she walked, and the blood in them puled with nearly every step. But she refused to stop. She just really wanted to be home and in bed right now. She had no idea how quick or slowly time was passing, but she did notice the sun was beginning to sink farther and farther into the trees. It was getting steadily darker, and she was truly hoping she’d come across a house, a cabin, even a woodshed would do. Just something to stay inside for the night, where she could curl up and fall asleep.
It was getting dark enough that she was considering turning on one of the flashlights when she spotted a side road headed off into the trees. The gravel logging road changed abruptly at the junction with the side road, going from rough and overgrown to bare and smooth. It had definitely been driven on a lot, and a lot more recently. She turned and followed it. It was little more than a section that had been cleared of trees and driven over many times. It twisted violently through dense tree trunks. As she turned a corner a small building came into view. As she came closer, she realized it had to be the house she had been kept in. In behind the house she could just make out the shed she had passed on her sudden dash into the woods. She had come full circle.
She took a few steps into the trees as she came closer. The front picture window was brightly lit, and she saw movement beyond the panes. There were at least four people in the living room, having an animated discussion. Directly in front of the house were parked two pickups and an SUV. She made her way closer under the cover of the trees, but the windows were closed and she couldn’t hear what they were saying. They were angry, though. That much she could tell from their faces and body language. It was unlikely if she went and knocked on the front door that she’d get a warm reception.
Melanie wondered if they had all been there when she’d been locked to the pole in the basement. They couldn’t have been, though. There hadn’t been nearly enough noise coming from the upper level of the house for it to have contained that many people while she was there. No, these people were backup. The reinforcements.
So now what? She couldn’t just walk up to the front door and ask for help. And she doubted she could sneak inside and use the phone without getting caught. There were too many of them for someone not to notice something. But she couldn’t leave and keep going, either. She’d freeze to death out here. Already her fingertips were getting numb and she was starting to shiver. And it was that time of year where the nights were really, really long. Plus, a few more kilometers and her feet were literally going to fall off.
She sighed and leaned up against a tree to try and think. She had to shift her position when something hard dug into her leg. The gun! She could use that to force her way inside. No, that didn’t seem particularly wise. There were at least four of them, maybe more. Someone would be stupid enough to try and get it away from her. And they’d most likely be successful. She rummaged through the backpack again, but still came up empty-handed. Nothing useful. The keys! She still had the keys to the handcuffs, and there were other keys on that ring. One of them had to be for one of the vehicles parked in front of the house.
She pulled the keys out of her pocket, her heart stopping momentarily when they jangled loudly in the night. She looked up at the window again, but no one in the house even glanced in her direction. The windows were closed, after all. She held the keys up in the light, but couldn’t quite see them clearly, even less than a few inches from her face. She pulled a flashlight out of the backpack and covered the bulb with her fingers, then turned it on. She maneuvered it so she could see the keys in her other hand. There was the key for the handcuffs, one that looked like a house key, one for a mailbox, and a fourth, a large one with the Ford logo stamped on it.
She turned off the flashlight and squinted at the vehicles. She was pretty good with makes and models of cars and trucks, but the two pickups were a few years old, and she couldn’t quite see what company had made them. They were backlit, so she was going to have to get to the front of them to see their grilles. Melanie edged up the road right up next to the house, keeping her eyes trained on the picture window. Every now and then someone would glance out the window as if they were expecting someone or something to come down the driveway. It made Mel paranoid they were expecting someone else, and that they’d show up and and she’d be caught suddenly, a deer in the headlights.
All the more reason to hurry, really. Once she had passed the edge of the house she took several quick steps and pressed her back flat against the siding of the house. There were no windows on this side, so thankfully she knew she wouldn’t be seen. She peered around the corner carefully, trying not to expose more than just a sliver of her face. The first pickup was a Mazda. Okay, one down. If the one next to that was something other than a Ford, then the last one was, by default, the vehicle she had a key to. She hoped. There was no guarantee Blue Eyes had driven his car out here. Maybe Chubby had given him a ride. She hoped that wasn’t the case.
She was too far away to see the make of the next truck. She edged around the corner, keeping her back as flat to the side of the house as she could. She shuffled sideways a few steps. Another Mazda. Well, at least they were consistent criminals. Now that she was closer, she could see the SUV was a Ford Explorer. She sagged against the house. There was a chance, after all.
Then the front door opened. Her heart stopped, and she held her breath. If anyone did come out the door, they were sure to hear the pounding of her heart before they saw her. She turned her head towards the door. It was solid, not the screen door with glass type, and at the bottom she could see a pair of feet. Then she heard the tail end of a conversation.
“Okay, I’ll see if I can see them. But we don’t know if they headed for the logging road or not. They might still be on her tail.”
Someone murmured something from inside she couldn’t understand.
“Yeah, but we’ve gotta check. We know he’s not smart enough to actually pack a jacket or anything.” Whoever it was, was coming out of the house. She had to get out of there, before they saw her. And they would if she stayed there. Melanie shuffled as quickly and quietly as she could back around the corner of the house. She took a few more quick steps and she was in the trees and could breathe again. That was a close call. Way too close. She ducked down behind a thick tree trunk and watched as a tall, thin figure walked to the nearest pickup, got in, and fired up the engine. There was a brief moment of panic as he backed up and the headlights lit up the area she was kneeling in, but her breath came back in a whoosh as whoever it was turned the truck around and continued down the driveway.
Well, that was something at least. Now she only had one vehicle to deal with. But she had to work fast, or the other one would be back.

Melanie needed to disable the other truck somehow. If she didn’t, the second she turned over the engine and gunned it down the driveway, they’d be after her. And she was no Dale Earnhardt. Melanie decided she’d prefer to avoid a car chase. Okay, best ways to disable a car? Disconnect the battery. Can’t do that, they’d definitely see her through the window if she tried to lift the hood. Let the air out of the tires. Possible, but if there was an air compressor handy, they’d be back on the road in less than an hour. And it might take her that long just to get to the next house. Then slash the tires. That would work, except she had nothing to slash them with. She could shoot the tires out, but they would be on top of her before she got to the Ford. Siphon the gas from the tank. Actually, that might work. As long as she could find something to use for a hose.
There was a shed behind the house. She walked slowly around the back of the house, staying within the shelter of the trees. As she rounded the back she saw the shed, lit dimly by light streaming through a window in the back of the house. Melanie moved behind the shed, and looked up at the house. The kitchen light was on, and there was someone standing with their back to the window. Mel crouched down and watched the person’s back through the window. They head was bobbing, and they looked as though they were having a conversation with someone else in the room. And they showed no signs of moving. She didn’t have the time to wait for them to move. She’d have to get into the shed while their back was turned.
Melanie edged around the sheltered side of the shed. The door swung outwards, and was held closed by a latch like the ones used to keep garden fences closed. Keeping an eye on the kitchen window, she stepped out in front of the shed and slid the latch slowly open. It made a slight squeal, but the figure in the kitchen window didn’t change position. She opened the door as little as possible and slipped inside the shed. She was forced to leave the door slightly ajar since there was no way to open the latch from the inside of the shed.
Melanie slipped her fingers over the end of one of the flashlights to shield the light and turned it on. She opened her fingers slightly and shone the flashlight around the shed. In one corner she found what she was looking for. A green garden hose hung coiled behind several shovels. It was a fairly long hose, though, and was probably too unwieldy to get out of the shed unnoticed. She'd have to cut it in order to be able to use it as a siphon. She shone the light around the shed and saw it glint off a large pair of garden shears. Perfect. She set the flashlight on a shelf with the lighted end almost against the wall of the shed, so it was as dim as possible.
She took the shears carefully off the shelf, then carefully moved the shovels away from the hose. She took several coils off the hook, and used the shears to cut a length of hose about 5 feet long. She clipped the threaded end off the hose, and set the shears back on the shelf where she had found them. Then she took the newly cut piece of hose and slipped it into the backpack. She slung the pack over her shoulders. She covered the flashlight with her fingers again and turned to face the door. She opened it as little as possible so she could see the kitchen window. The figure was still there, but they had turned around and were now facing the window. The man she saw wasn’t looking into the backyard, though, he was looking down.
Melanie ducked back into the shed and pulled the door closed again. She waited a minute, maybe two, and opened the door and peered at the window again. The figure was gone. She quickly came out of the shed and shut the door quietly behind her, lifting the latch and letting it down with her fingers so it made as little noise as possible. She crept back into the woods just as the figure reappeared at the window. She watched for a moment, then started back around the house. She came around the opposite side as before, this time the Ford stood between her and the other pickup.
She needed to get to the gas tank on the pickup. Mel walked through the trees so that she was even with the back bumpers of both vehicles. There was still a bright light streaming from the front picture window that bathed both vehicles. And she could still see people standing and sitting around the room, though now their discussion appeared significantly less animated. No one was looking directly out the window, but they didn’t all have their backs to it either. The only way she could get to the truck would be to run into the open between the trees and the back of the SUV and hope no one saw the flash of movement.
She stopped to study them for a moment. No one seemed particularly interested in keeping an eye on the driveway. And why would they, really? They clearly thought she was out in the woods somewhere, being hunted down by their friends Chubby and Blue Eyes. Though occasionally one of them did glance in the direction of the window. Mel took a deep breath. Time was becoming an issue, and she couldn’t stand here, watching them forever. The second truck was probably on its way back from wherever it had gone by now. She waited a few moments until it looked like the people closest to the window were looking away, and she darted behind the SUV and dropped to a crouch.
It had been a mere few steps to get here, but her heart was pounding like she’d just run a three minute mile. She rested her shoulder gently against the dirty vehicle and shuffled to the edge. She peered around the bumper up into the window. The light coming from it was particularly bright here, and she felt sure they would see her. None of the people in the window appeared to notice her, or have seen her scurry across the driveway. One of them turned their head towards the window and she let out a gasp, and ducked behind the bumper. She waited a moment then peered out around the bumper again. They hadn’t noticed her. She was probably barely even visible from the window, but that wasn’t much comfort at the moment. She looked at the side of the truck and saw no access to the fuel tank on this side. Good. That meant it was on the other side. The side that wasn’t in full view of the window.
Melanie took a deep breath and, staying in a crouch as best she could, took two steps and was behind the truck. It was a small truck, with no canopy over the bed, and she had to kneel behind it so she wasn’t seen. She shuffled around the bumper to the far side, the gravel from the driveway digging cruelly into her knees. She had almost reached the fuel access when her left knee screeched suddenly in pain. She clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.
She felt the area gingerly with her hand and it came back warm and wet. She couldn’t see very well, but she was certain she had cut herself, probably on a piece of glass. But it didn’t feel like the glass was still wedged there. Now she was going to have to get rid of these pants. Oh, darn. She rolled over and sat directly on the ground, still able to feel the sharp gravel. She used her arms and levered herself over to beside the gas cap, and heaved a sigh of relief that there was no key required to get it open. She opened the panel and quickly clicked open the gas cap, listening to the hiss of escaping fumes. Melanie took the coil of hose out of the backpack and slipped one end into the gas tank, pushing it as far as it would go, so she was certain it had reached the bottom of the tank. She knew she couldn’t get the tank bone dry, but hopefully she could get enough out that the truck wouldn’t run for more than a few minutes.
She took a deep breath, clamped her mouth around the hose, and tried to pretend it was a giant straw. She felt a slight give in the pressure as the gas was sucked into the hose, and she immediately removed her mouth as soon as the pressure ceased completely. Just in time, too. Gas poured quickly out of the hose and directly onto her lap, soaking her pants and sending burning pain up her leg as it reached the open wound on her knee. She gasped and whipped the hose away from her, holding it at arm’s length. It was all she could do not to scream from the pain in her knee. It hurt so much she thought she might actually wet herself. Not that she would have noticed, since her pants were already completely soaked in gasoline. Though, it would’ve been a little warmer, at least.
She did manage to keep control of her bodily functions, and it took only a few minutes for the fuel to drain completely out of the truck. When the trickle finally stopped, she pulled the hose from the tank, clicked the fuel cap back into place, and closed the panel over it. She peered briefly over the truck bed to make sure no one was looking, and pitched the hose into the darkness.
Mel’s knee screamed in protest as she struggled into a crouched position and waddled around the back of the truck again. She peered around the bumper again. It still appeared as though no one knew she was there. She leaned her shoulder against the tailgate of the truck. Now was the time. To get into the SUV she was going to have to walk right into the light from the window. She pulled the keys out of her pocket, and found the one for the Ford. It might be locked and she wanted to get inside of it as quickly as she possibly could. That is, assuming this was the right Ford.