“I ran away. But you were gone when I came back. So I’ve been looking for you. I’ve been searching all over. I had no idea…Then I saw the firelight. Just hang on, I’ll get you out of here.”
She nodded, moaning again.
“I’ll take the gag off, but you’ve gotta be quiet.”
Keeping the rock out of sight, I reached up with my left hand and tried to work the bandana loose. It was too tight. So I stepped around behind her, set the rock down on the ground, and used both hands to work on the knot.
Why was I even bothering?
Why not just bash her head open and be done with it?
Maybe for the same reason I’d wasted time building up the fire. Whatever reason that might’ve been.
Just to delay things? To put off the moment when I would have to kill her?
Maybe.
How should I know? I’m not a shrink.
All I know is that I needed to take her gag off. After a minute or two, the knot came loose. I untied it and slipped the bandana out of her mouth. I stuffed it into my pocket, then picked up the rock and stepped around to her front.
She was taking deep breaths through her open mouth like someone who’d been held underwater way too long.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
She nodded, and kept on taking huge breaths.
“Who did this to you?” I asked.
“Don’t…know.”
“You don’t know?”
“It’s all…dark. Blank.”
“Do you remember how you got here?”
Her head shook slightly.
“Or who beat you up?”
“No.”
“Or tied you like this?”
“Just…we were walking. You and me. Looking for Tony. And then…I don’t know. Somebody must’ve…brought me here.”
“But you don’t have any idea who?”
“Did Tony?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I told her. “I never saw who did it, either. But somebody shot you and then must’ve carried you here. Maybe it was Tony. Do you think he would shoot you?”
“I don’t know. Yeah. Maybe. He was awfully…crazy about me.”
“Does he own a gun?”
“Yeah.
“Maybe it was Tony,” I said. “Do you think he’s in the tent over there?”
“Don’t know.”
“He might be,” I told her. “I’m pretty sure someone’s in it.”
“Oh, God.”
She sounded frightened.
“Don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here.”
“Hurry, okay? Please?”
“Tell me if he comes out.”
She nodded.
“Tell me if anyone comes out. We don’t know for sure it’s Tony.”
“Okay.”
“I’ll have to untie you.”
“Okay.”
Not wanting to set the rock down again, I slipped it underneath my shirttail and shoved a corner of it down inside the right rear pocket of my shorts.
Then I reached high with both arms. As I stepped in against Judy, the front brim of her hat shoved me in the face. “Let’s get rid of this,” I whispered, and gently lifted the hat off her head.
She winced.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Her hair looked wet. Shiny golden curls were matted flat against her scalp. If there was blood, I couldn’t see any. But another red bandana, folded into a pad, was clinging to the side of her head above her ear. Her ear had a crusty nick on top. The pistol sight must’ve done that.
Turning away, I gave the hat a fling. It sailed across the firelit darkness and landed in some nearby bushes.
Just as I faced Judy again, the makeshift bandage lost its grip and fell. It dropped softly onto her shoulder. I stuffed it into a pocket, then looked closely at her gunshot wound.
The bullet had taken an upward course, gouging a path through her hair and scalp. The furrow looked shallow and about half an inch high. The hair around it was stained a rusty color, but the wound didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore.
“You were really lucky,” I whispered.
“I don’t feel so lucky.”
“It just nicked you.”
“It hurts like crazy.”
“You’re lucky you aren’t dead.”
“I feel like I’ve got the worst hangover in history.”
“Must’ve been the beer.”
“Sure,” she said. And a corner of her mouth tilted upward, trembling. I guess it was supposed to be a smile. The other corner of her mouth, red and swollen from when I’d worked her over with the stick, didn’t move at all.
“We’ll get you some aspirin,” I told her. “But first we have to get you out of here.” Reaching for the rope around her wrists, I leaned forward. Our bodies met. I couldn’t help that. It was necessary if I wanted to work on the rope. My shirt was open. We were bare against each other except for my shorts.
“Sorry about this,” I whispered.
“It’s fine.” When she said that, I felt her breath against my lips. I was slightly taller than Judy, but her head was tipped back. Every time she exhaled or spoke, soft air brushed my lips and entered my mouth.
Our difference in size made her breasts level with mine. Our nipples met. Hers were hard, too.
“Scared?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Same here. But don’t worry. I’ll get you out of this.”
“Hurry, okay?”
“I’m trying. Where are your clothes?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe they’re in the tent.”
“Yeah.”
“Unless he burnt them. Or maybe he left them in the woods somewhere.”
“I…they’re just gone. I don’t know where. I was like this when I came to.”
“This is a tough knot,” I told her. Which was sort of a lie. I was only fiddling with the thing, not really trying to undo it.
“You can get it, can’t you?” Judy asked. She sounded worried.
“I’ll get it.”
“What if he comes out?”
“Just give me a warning. I’ll take care of him.”
“But he has a gun.”
“He does?” I asked, forgetting.
Judy hesitated a moment. Then she said, “He must have one. He shot me, didn’t he?”
“Yeah. I forgot about that for a second. My God, if he comes out with a gun, we’ve had it.”
“Maybe you oughta run and try to get help.”
“And leave you here? No way. We’re in this together. You and me, honey.”
Murmuring, “Thanks,” she eased her head forward. Her cheek brushed against my jaw. Then she rested her face against the side of my neck. “You’re risking your life for me,” she whispered.
“I’m a hell of a gal,” I told her.
“Yeah,” she said. “You are.”
A few moments later, I told her, “This knot’s really giving me trouble. I can hardly hold my arms up.” With that, I lowered them and put them around her. “Don’t worry, I’m not quitting. I just need to rest for a minute.” I gave her a gentle hug. She winced and stiffened. “Sorry. Did that hurt?”
“Yeah, a little.”
“He must’ve really done a number on you.”
“I guess so. I don’t even know what he did. But I’m…awfully sore. All over. Inside, too.”
“The dirty bastard.”
“He’d better not’ve made me pregnant.”
“Don’t worry about it. If we don’t get you out of here, it won’t matter.”
“Trying to cheer me up?”
“How am I doing?” I asked.
“A lousy job.”
I gave her rump a pat, then said, “I’d better get back to work.” Reaching high again, I started to fool with the knot.
“If you get me out of this,” she whispered, “I’ll owe you my life.”
“Forget about it,” I said.
“I’ll do anything for you.”
“Anything?”
“Anything.”
22
HERE COMES TROUBLE
“Okay,” I said. But was she serious? She sure sounded serious, all right. Not only about doing “anything” for me, but about her memories of what had happened to her.
Her lack of memories.
But what if she was lying?
What if she remembered everything?
“What’s wrong?” Judy whispered.
“Huh?”
“You’re suddenly…all tense. I can feel it.”
“It’s the knot,” I said. “It’s too tight.” Shaking my head, I let go of the rope. I put my arms around her.
“Are you quitting?” she asked. She sounded scared like a little kid in the dark.
“No. No way. I’ll never quit on you. I just have to figure out another way.”
“What about the other end of the rope?” she asked. “He tied it to a tree behind me.” She went rigid. I suddenly knew exactly what she’d meant about me going all tense. She felt as if a live current had zipped through her body. But hardly missing a beat, she said, “Maybe it’ll be easier. Why don’t you go over and give it a try?”
“You did see him,” I said, letting go of her and taking a step backward.
She shook her head. “I didn’t see anyone. All I know is that it’s tied to a tree back there. I didn’t see who did it, or when, or anything. I turned around and saw it there, that’s all.”
“What are you so nervous about?”
“What do you think? Jeez, Alice. If we don’t get out of here, that guy’s gonna come out of his tent and kill both of us.”
“Is he?”
“Yes! What do you think is going on?”
I put my hands on her sides and said, “Why don’t you tell me?”
She stared into my eyes. She was breathing hard again, her ribs rising and falling under my open hands. I could feel tremors running through her.
“Do you think I did this to myself?” she whispered.
“No, of course not. But I think you know more than you’re telling me.”
“Look, just get me down. Please. I don’t care about anything else. I don’t care what you did. I just want down from here before he…”
“Tell me the truth,” I said. “The truth shall set thee free.”
“You shot me. Okay? Then you put me up on the picnic table and…I don’t know what. You were doing stuff to me. And then you went at me with a stick or something. I think you knocked me out with it. When I woke up, you were gone. So I climbed off the table and hid in the bushes. And then later I ran for my life. I kept running till he caught me. Now will you get me down from here? Please? I don’t know why you did any of that stuff, and I don’t care. I’ll never tell anyone. I promise. It’s just between you and me, okay? Just get me out of here.”
“You lied about everything,” I muttered. My fingers ached from digging into her ribcage, but I didn’t let go.
“I meant it about owing you,” she said. “I meant that. Get me out of here and I’ll do anything for you. I’ll give you all my money, everything I own. I’ll go with you. I’ll live with you. I’ll be your slave. I’ll be your lover. Whatever you want. Anything. Just get me out of here.”
“What makes you think I want any of that?” I asked.
“Don’t you?” It sounded more like a challenge than a question.
“I’d like to have the truth,” I said. “How’s that? How about the truth right now?”
“Like what?”
“What about this guy?” I asked. “Who is he?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to know. He’s horrible.”
“More horrible than me?”
“You’re not so bad. When you’re not trying to kill me.”
“Haven’t lost your sense of humor.”
“Just get me away from him. Please. I’ll never tell on you. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“Nobody keeps their word anymore.”
“I do.”
“That’s a good one, coming from a liar.”
“I’m telling the truth now,” she said. “If you get me away from this guy, you’ll never regret it. I’ll never do anything to hurt you. Never. I’ll never say a word against you. I’ll lie for you. I’ll take blame. I’ll do whatever it takes. I swear to God.”
“What’d he do to you?”
“We don’t have time. Come on, Alice. If he wakes up…”
“Does he have a gun?”
“I don’t know.”
“How did he get you?”
“He jumped me from behind. I’ll tell you everything later, okay? We haven’t got time for this. You’ve gotta untie me. Please!”
“Shhh. Raise your voice, and you’ll wake him up.”
“Maybe I should,” she blurted. “Maybe I will! Stop screwing around and get me down from here!”
“Shut up!”
“Get me down!”
I clamped her left nipple between my thumb and forefinger and twisted it. She flinched and writhed. Breath hissed out around her teeth. “Just shut up,” I told her.
She jerked her head up and down.
“Now, tell me about our friend in the tent. I take it he’s not Tony.”
“No,” she said, and panted for air.
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“What does he look like?”
“Big.”
“Big? What’s big?”
“He is.”
“How big?”
“I don’t know. Don’t just keep…Do you want him to catch us?”
“He doesn’t scare me,” I said.
“Then you’re dumber than you look.”
I gave her a very hard pinch and twist. She cried out and squirmed. Then, gasping for air, she blurted, “You stupid bitch, now you’ve done it. He’s gonna come out!”
“I’m trembling.”
“You oughta be! We’ll be next.”
“Huh?”
“He’s got a body in the tent with him. Some dead woman. He eats her.”
“What?”
“He eats a dead woman in his tent!”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
But I didn’t have time to give it much thought, because I heard the tent flaps whap open behind me.
Letting go of Judy, I spun around. The weight of the pistol slapped my left thigh. A good thing, since it reminded me that I had it in the wrong pocket.
I went for it left-handed as this guy crawled out of the tent.
In spite of Judy’s description, I still expected him to be my prowler.
But he wasn’t.
My prowler was sleek and handsome.
Not a fat, bald, drooling slob.
He really was drooling, too. Slobbering all over the place as he struggled to his feet.
Grunting.
Naked.
Filthy with old blood that looked brown and crusty.
Coated with curly, filthy hair all the way down from his shoulders to his feet.
Only one part wasn’t hairy. It jutted out in front of him, so big he was getting drool on it.
He lumbered toward me, hunched over, his arms outspread as if he wanted to give me a bear hug. But he had a knife in one hand, a hatchet in the other.
No kidding.
They didn’t look any too clean, either.
He grunted and laughed as he picked up some speed and charged at me.
You’ve gotta be kidding!
I had this urge to laugh. But what came out was a scream. Behind me, Judy screamed, too.
This might’ve been hilarious in a movie.
I mean, the guy was such a monstrosity! It crossed my mind that all this was some sort of a gag. But I figured it must be real.
I forced my eyes away from him just long enough to glimpse a shadowy body inside his tent. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like a woman. And it looke
d dead, to me.
I started firing.
Better late than never. The deal is, I’d had a little trouble with the pistol. I began to go for it when the guy first came crawling out of the tent. But it was down at the bottom of my pocket, and I had to drag it out with my left hand. I’m a righty. So after I got the pistol out, I spent a few moments switching it to my right hand. Only after that did I start pumping bullets into him.
I pulled the trigger fast.
BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!
But he didn’t go down.
He was backlit by the fire, so I couldn’t see where I was hitting him. I had to be hitting him, though. I’m an okay shot and this was close range and he was a large target charging straight at me. How could I miss a thing like that?
I couldn’t, that’s how.
I was hitting him, all right. But the little .22s weren’t doing the job.
In another second, he’d be on me. I had Judy at my back, so I dodged sideways, holding fire. He tried to follow me, but he was too big and clumsy. He couldn’t change course in time.
Judy kicked out at him. She was probably trying for his nuts. I heard the smack sound of her bare foot meeting his skin, but he didn’t cry out or drop.
He plowed into her.
His body slammed against Judy and crashed through her, knocking a grunt out of her as he sent her flying backward and upward, twisting at the end of her rope. Stumbling past where she’d been, he managed to turn around and start coming after me again.
Judy came swinging toward his back like Tarzan on the attack. But I don’t think she meant to do it. She was at the mercy of the rope and the whims of motion.
She meant what came next, though.
As the guy staggered toward me, Judy raised a slim bare leg and kicked him in the back of his head. She rebounded away from him, spinning wildly.
He grunted, stumbled forward and fell to his knees.
I ran up to him, fired a shot into the top of his shiny head, then pranced backward out of reach, not sure what to expect.
What I hoped was that he’d drop like a sledge-hammered bull.
But instead, he squealed and started crawling forward, trying to get up.
I glanced at the pistol. If I’d been out of ammo, the slide would’ve been locked back. It was forward. Which meant I had at least one more round.
There might be a couple, but I could only count on one.
So I wasn’t eager to use it.
As he stumbled to his feet, I hurried around behind the campfire. He lurched toward me, hunched over, arms out like before as if he wanted to give me a big, friendly hug. He still had the knife in one hand and the hatchet in the other.