Chapter Four
John’s car had barely made it a half a mile down the road when something large rammed into the passenger’s side door, knocking it off the road. Ellie screamed as the car flipped, sending trash and other debris flying around her. She was thrown around inside, her world spinning and flipping with the small vehicle. Metal scraped and squealed, and glass crunched, sending shards and splinters in all directions. She covered her face with her arms and hoped that she would survive.
Everything became still as the car finally came to a stop. It had landed upright after flipping twice – or was it three times? Four, maybe? – a hundred or so feet from the road. Disoriented, and sore, Ellie lay still, unsure of what had just happened. When her head had finally stopped spinning, she moved her arms and began trying to pull herself upright. Pain blossomed on her hands as fragments glass was pushed deeper into her hands. She ignored it and managed to sit partially upright, leaning heavily against the passenger door. She was just beginning to move her legs out of the driver’s seat when the driver door was violently ripped off the car.
There, standing before her, was the man with the pale orange hair. His green eyes flashed menacingly as he watched her. Ellie tried to pull herself into a sitting position, but a sharp pain shot through her right leg. She glanced at her legs and realized with horror that a bone was sticking out beneath her right knee. The man smirked as Ellie gasped, seeming to relish in her fear. He suddenly seized her ankles and began dragging her out of the car. Ellie screamed, a mixture of pain and panic saturating her voice. He yanked harder and pulled her completely out of the ruined vehicle. She landed painfully on her back and became all too aware of the various aches peppering her body. The man was standing over her now, a sadistic grin plastered on his thin face.
“You have my job* so* difficult. Here I was, thinking I’d be home in time for dinner. Now, however, we’ll be lucky if we make it back it in time for the auction. Ah, well. It can’t be helped. Besides, it looks like you can afford to miss a dinner or two,” he mocked. Ellie felt her cheeks burn in anger as he scrutinized her.
It was true that she was a larger girl than most, but she spent two hours a day working out and training in kickboxing. So, what if her physique didn’t show all the hard work she had put in? She was as healthy as a horse and loved her body the way it was. But this wasn’t the real issue. She wanted to know why this man had been stalking her and put her through hell.
“Who the hell are you?” she said angrily.
“Me? Oh, I’m no one important. I just follow orders.” He said casually.
“And what orders were you following?” she gritted through her teeth as she tried to sit up. The man rolled his eyes and crouched down next to her.
“I just told you. We have an auction to get to, and I’d rather not be late. My boss is going to kill me for bringing in damaged goods, but I’m sure you’ll still sell nicely. The bigger ones are popular right now. The patrons just seem to love torturing them.” The color drained from Ellie’s face as she realized what was happening. She tried to scramble away, but the man just laughed and grabbed her by the hair. She screamed again as he pulled her painfully to a standing position.
At that moment, she felt two emotions warring for dominance inside of her. The first one was fear. She knew that if she let her fear take over, then she would be kidnapped and most likely killed. The second was anger. If she let her anger take over, she could use it to try to overcome him. At the very least, maybe she could surprise him with a sucker punch and try to get away. When it came down to it, she really had no choice.
The grip in her hair relaxed as the man turned her to face him. Ellie didn’t fight him, and he released her. He smiled in satisfaction, believing that she had given in to her fear and would be compliant from here on out. He was very, very wrong. He opened his mouth to say something to her and Ellie surprised him with a hard punch to the nose. He groaned in pain and cursed angrily. Ellie didn’t give him a chance to reach for her though. Instead, she grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed her knee into his groin. His emerald eyes widened above his bloody nose, and he fell to the ground, curling himself into the fetal position.
Ellie didn’t wait for him to hit the ground before she took off, running as fast as she could. Pain seared through her leg, threatening to make her pass out, but she pushed forward, unwilling to become the man’s victim. Blue and red flashing lights lit up the night sky in the distance as three sheriff’s vehicles and an ambulance made their way down the lonely road. She nearly cried in relief as they drew closer to her. She had finally reached the road and was waving frantically, trying to get their attention when she was grabbed from behind. Ellie screamed and was knocked to the ground again.
“Get off the girl!” she heard one of the officers say through a speaker. Two of the sheriff’s cars skidded to a stop around them while the last one and the ambulance raced to the gas station. The man climbed off of Ellie, pulling her to a standing position next to him. His hand wrapped painfully around her throat, locking her in place. The officers flung their doors open and raised their weapons. “Let go of the girl now, or I’ll shoot you!” the one nearest to them screamed.
The man laughed as if he found the whole situation hilarious. His hand tightened further around her throat and Ellie found herself choking, her air supply slowly being cut off. She could hear the officers screaming at the man, but he only looked at Ellie, his smile never leaving his face.
“Well, I suppose it’s time you and I left this shit hole,” he sighed. Finally, he addressed the officers. “Gentlemen, this is where we take our leave. Go fuck yourselves.” Ellie never heard the officers’ response. The man muttered something unintelligible and Ellie felt like her whole body was being squeezed and crushed. It was impossible to breathe with the pressure building around her. Her eyes were blinded by a brilliant white light. She closed them as tightly as possible, but even still, the light was searing, almost burning.
- This is it*, she thought bitterly. This is how I die. After what felt like an eternity, the pressure lifted, and the light faded. The man released her throat and Ellie gasped, taking in the fresh, cool air. She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. What the hell? This place… this wasn’t Arizona. This wasn’t the hot, arid nightmare she had resigned herself to.