Page 7 of Shadowed Rubies
If he was gone, it probably wouldn’t be too long until he returned. I needed to try to get away before he got back. But how?
Trying not to think about the spiders or other creepy-crawlies that might be lurking on the damp ground, I flattened my body out and rolled toward the spot where the points of light were coming in. Once there, I angled around to sit up and used my bound feet to kick at the brush.
To my surprise, I was able to get the opening wide enough for me to scoot out on my butt. I blinked at the brightness, but knowing that time was of the essence, I hurried to make my way out of the cave that was intended to be my prison.
The ground was uneven and rocky, so rolling wasn’t a viable option. Instead, I paused to lean back against the wall of the cave. Using it as leverage, I was able to maneuver myself up into a standing position. Now, I would just need to hop to safety.
It took every bit of energy and balance I had, but I was able to hop out of the cave. Looking frantically around, I tried to determine which direction would be the best way to make my escape. It was impossible for me to know which way Kevin had gone, so I went with my gut and turned left, silently praying that I wouldn’t run into him as he returned to his lair.
I was completely out of breath from hopping by the time I made it about twenty-five feet from the cave. Trying to escape from a madman while having one’s hands and feet bound was not for sissies.
Suddenly, a noise to my right caught my attention. I made a big jump to hide behind a large red maple tree. I had to turn to the side and could only hope my round booty wasn’t sticking out from behind the tree’s trunk.
If the noise I had heard was Kevin, it wouldn’t take him long to figure out I’d escaped. Once he started searching for me, I’d be in trouble. There was no way I could outrun him in my current state. I frantically searched around for a better hiding spot or a way to cut the zip ties, but didn’t see anything promising.
Unable to stand the suspense, I peeked out around the tree’s trunk. Sure enough, Kevin was trudging toward the cave where he had imprisoned me, but he wasn’t alone. He had an unconscious woman slung across his shoulders.
Shit. Now I needed to figure out a way to save myself and someone else. This wasn’t good. It wasn’t at all good. Dammit!
9
Dani
I’m not at all proud of it, but I considered making a run for it. I tried to justify in my mind that our chances of survival would be better if I went for help than if I went in alone and tried to rescue the other woman Kevin had kidnapped.
My fear was that I wouldn’t be able to lead the police back to this precise spot. If something awful happened to her, I would never be able to forgive myself for not trying to save her.
I didn’t have long to devise a plan because Kevin was almost back to his lair. Once there, he would quickly realize I was gone and come back out to search for me.
Backing up against the tree I was using for cover, I moved my arms up and down against the bark to try to wear down the plastic of the zip tie around my wrists. My hope was that once my hands were free, I would be able to find something that would cut through my ankle binding.
Kevin’s garbled yell sounded way too close. I frantically worked the plastic over the bark, knowing he must have just discovered I was missing and would begin searching soon. It was tempting to start hopping away, but my chances of escape would be much better if I could at least free my arms. With them behind my back, my sense of balance was terrible, and I knew I would end up falling.
I wished I could see how much progress, if any, I was making on the plastic. It would tell me if I was wasting my time. Having my hands behind my back made it impossible for me to know if I had nearly broken through, or if I’d barely made a dent in the binding.
The scraping noise of the plastic on the bark suddenly sounded overly loud, and I wondered if it would attract Kevin’s attention. That horrifying thought made me freeze in place. The forest was eerily quiet––even the birds had stopped chirping. I wished my hands were free so I could throw a rock as a decoy.
In my gut, I knew that he was nearby. I held my breath as he crept by just a few feet from me. His back was to me as I did my best to completely still my body, hoping not to attract his attention.
He was about twenty feet beyond where I was standing, and I was just beginning to hope that he might keep going, when a squirrel or bird ruffled the treetops above me. Kevin whirled around and made eye contact with me.
I hopped for all I was worth, but he easily caught me and tossed me up over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
It wasn’t a word that I ever used, but it was the only one that seemed to fit the situation when I screamed in frustration, “Fuck!”
“No.” Kevin said loudly.
It was the first time I’d heard him say anything other than “Claire,” and I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or even more concerned about his expanded vocabulary. It was obvious that he’d suffered severe brain damage––likely from the untreated injury caused by the straightened bed spring Claire had jabbed into his head to make her escape from his basement.
Unfortunately, his mental deficiency didn’t appear to have lessened his desire to take prisoners and hold them captive. The last thing I wanted was to go back inside that cave with this deranged lunatic, but it didn’t appear that I had any choice.
Trying to be rational, I decided not to waste my energy struggling to get free of his grasp. Logically, I knew that even if I somehow managed to get him to drop me, I wouldn’t be able to hop away fast enough to get away from him. Besides, he already seemed angry enough without me adding fuel to that particular fire.
I also now had another person’s safety to consider. Even if I somehow managed to escape, I couldn’t leave the unconscious woman he’d been carrying earlier to deal with him on her own.
Once we were inside the dark enclosure, he unceremoniously dropped me. My landing was jarring and would likely cause me significant soreness later. Other than the “Oomph!” I let out right after hitting the ground, I didn’t make a sound as Kevin went over to secure the overgrowth in front of the cave’s opening.
This was the first time I’d been conscious with him inside here, and I didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to myself. I was hoping he’d fall asleep or leave again, so I could try once more to get away. Of course, bringing an unconscious woman with me would make a successful escape nearly impossible, especially since I didn’t have a way to carry her.
