Disclaimers: Mine and no one else's...
Violence: Yes.
Subtext: No. Nothing sub' in here. Everything gets revealed as in every story I have and ever will write.
Warning : This story is about the love between two women and contains graphic descriptions of the physical expressions of that love, so if you are not into those sort of things I suggest you read something else. On the other hand if you are, I really hope you will like this story.
It will be posted in chapters and I would really appreciate if you take the time to tell me what you think as I write along… I have the story outlined, but am always interested in comments and/or opinions.
Please leave feedback at l.kay131@gmail.com
Chapter One
The woman was tired, very tired. She seriously doubted she could go on much further. Her chest was aching from the constant trials of making herself continue on when her body was screaming for her to stop and had done so for a long time. The step into exhaustion had been taken long ago. She felt as if she would collapse in any second, but she forced herself to continue on as if on autopilot, running forward one step at a time, relentlessly.
"Just keep on going", she thought to herself, trying her best to keep her brain focused on the task at hand; to stay alive. Otherwise, it would all have been for nothing.
She tried to move faster, as fast as her aching legs and bare, torn feet could carry her, the whole time searching the surroundings for movement of any kind, but finding none.
All she saw was trees and more trees. Well, actually, the contours of them. Black, ominous shadows standing before her, surrounding her. And then there was the darkness. The all-encompassing darkness. Everywhere. Making it hard for her to find her way, as if being trapped in a dark, endless labyrinth.
"It is just a matter of time", she thought. "They will find me soon and then I'm fucked. I need to find a way out of these damn woods".
Even though the woods and the darkness were her shelter for the moment, she knew it wouldn't be for long. It would probably be the first place they would look when they found out she was gone.
The woman had no clue as to what time it was, only that it was in the middle of the night. Daylight had come and gone once since she escaped and now it had been dark for several hours once more, meaning that she had been on the run for what must be more than 24 hours by then. She had allowed herself to rest for a few hours once during the day before, both because she had to sit down and because she wanted to keep herself hidden as much as possible during the day. But that was it.
"Shit, they must have realized I have escaped by now", she thought, though she tried not to think about it.
She felt the fear rising to the surface again, sending shivers down her spine. She had tried to suppress it to be able to continue on, to not let it take her over completely, but it was so hard. Maybe she shouldn't have tried to escape? It had been an impulsive decision, really, made in a fraction of a second when the opportunity suddenly and unexpectedly had presented itself. Sure, she had thought about it a lot during these past few months, but as time went by, it had more and more changed from being an initial obsession into a distant dream. A dream which would probably end up becoming her worst nightmare. It was unavoidable. That impulsive action was what would finally kill her, she knew that. But it was too late now. And if she was totally honest, she didn't really care. Not anymore.
She was drawn from her thoughts when everything was suddenly illuminated by lightning, immediately followed by a loud roar of thunder. Then heaven opened its gates and the rain started literarily pouring down on her, almost ridding her of the last of her resolve. If it was hard trying to move at a decent speed before, she knew it would be virtually impossible in this weather and the trees that had sheltered her this far were powerless to protect her from the heavy rain.
She had hoped for better luck with Mother Nature, but she was evidently in a really bad and unpredictable mood, which wasn't uncommon these days, telling her loud and clear that this had, in fact, been a bad idea and that she would be a fool if she expected some kind of help or something, anything, that would have made things a little bit easier.
Not that she had. This was more in the line with how things had always been, she recognized. Things that can go wrong, always do. With no exception. So, don't expect anything from anyone. Trust no one. Then you don't have to be disappointed. Those were the principles she lived her life by. That was what life had taught her.
The rain continued pouring down, drenching her from top to toe, making the sparse clothing she had on completely useless. And to go from bad to worse, the addition of the mud the heavy rain caused, magnified the troubles she had of trying to make her way through the bushes and other types of vegetation in her path many times over.
Fear was the only thing making her continue. So, she kept on running, but was stopped, almost falling backwards as a thick tree branch hit her across her forehead, hard, as she ran into it.
“Shit!” she burst out, not able to stop herself as she felt warm blood starting to trickle down her face. She felt the intense pain after just a few moments and forced herself to press her mouth shut so she wouldn't scream. Her whole head hurt. Pounded with an ache so strong, it almost made her pass out from the intensity of it. It was as if someone hit her hard on her forehead in the same rhythm as her rapid heartbeat.
It was so hard to see anything in this weather and the addition of blood to the water running into her eyes, didn't help. She closed her eyes hard, trying to suppress the tears that were building up from the pain. And from the hopelessness which was now starting to creep up on her. She took a deep, shaking breath and made herself stumble on anyway, desperate to get out of the woods, to find a road or some other way to civilization.
The conditions were getting worse by the second and she could hardly move without falling. She was tired, so tired. Part of her just wanted to stop. To just sit down and close her eyes. To just not give a damn any more. The only thing that made her not do that was the fact that she didn't do this for herself. Never had. It was and always had been for them . And she needed to finish what she had started.
She had been moving continuously for several hours by now, desperately trying to get as far away as she could. The dizziness didn't help her in her task either. If it came from the physical strain, the hit on her head or the extensive amount of drugs they had forced on her, she didn't know.
"Probably a combination of all of them", she thought, shivering from the memories.
She tried to clear her mind, to focus what little remained of her attention on her surroundings. Maybe it was just her imagination or wishful thinking from her delirious brain, but she could swear there were more space between the trees now. She hoped she had reached the end of the woods; that something was in her favor, for once. It was hard to know, because she had absolutely no idea where she was. She had started out heading south, but in these conditions and with nothing to help her navigate, she could just as well have gone in a circle, ending up precisely where she started. Wouldn't that be ironic? At least not surprising.
She went on for about another hundred yards before she suddenly stopped, leaning her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. There it was.
A road. She had to force herself not to scream from relief, but she knew she was by no means safe yet. Just the opposite. They were searching for her by now, she knew that much. And if they found her, this time they would kill her.
She waited for a few minutes before slowly stepping forward from the tree line, looking from side to side, searching, waiting to see if someone would come along.
Nothing. Not a car came passing by for several minutes. She was relieved by that fact and tried to crawl up the small slope to the road. There was mud everywhere, making everything slippery as hell. It took all of her last strength to get to the top, all the while trying not to slide back down again.
She tried to raise herself on her hands and knees, her limbs shaking from the massive amount of lactic acid that had accumulated in her muscles from the strain. It didn't work. She had no strength left, so she slumped back down onto the wet asphalt.
"I just need to rest for a few minutes, then I will continue", she said out loud, trying to convince herself, but deep down she knew it wouldn't be enough.
She forced herself to take a deep breath, her body desperate for a boost of fresh oxygen to keep all systems going. She swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump in her throat; the metallic taste of blood in her mouth almost making her throw up. Her head was still pounding with a pulsing ache and her heart was speeding, way too fast.
Her mind didn't want to give up, but her body made the decision for her.
The last thing her exhausted mind registered before she slipped into unconsciousness was the blinding headlights of an approaching car. Then everything went black.
***
Emily Bryant, "Em" to her family and friends, rushed through the vast corridors of the almost empty supermarket, cursing herself for the 100th time for forgetting her shopping list on the kitchen counter at home that morning. It wasn't the first time. Making everything run smoothly in the mornings wasn't really her thing, to put things lightly.
She was an evening person, a night owl really, with too many things occupying her mind at the end of the day for her to be able to relax and go to bed early, even though she knew it would be in her favor, making it easier to get things organized in the mornings if she had gotten a few more hours sleep. But as they say, "it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks".
Standing in front of the large refrigerators, containing flavor after flavor of ice cream and other frozen desserts, trying to determine which one to buy, she ran her fingers through her disheveled, short blonde hair, only making it stand out in all directions even more. She looked at her own image reflected in the large, frosted glass doors.
"Shit, I look even worse than I feel", Emily thought, looking back into her own tired, green eyes.
These last few days she had been working double shifts at the hospital and it was starting to show.
Deciding to go for Rocky Road, she opened the glass door, efficiently dissolving the not so impressing image of herself. She knew she should have taken her brother up on his offer to go to the grocery store for her, knowing it would probably be a long day at work.
"Me and my stupid ideas", she mumbled to herself.
But, no , she had to turn him down, stubborn as she was, knowing her family had helped her too much these last few years for her not to feel guilty, even if deep down she knew they did it more than willingly. She was a woman of pride, though, determined to stand on her own two feet as best she could. She only wished that she could someday, somehow, pay them back.
"Thank God, I was smart enough to at least let Tom pick up Max from daycare", she thought to herself, smiling when she thought of her five year old son. She could bend her own limits, but there were no compromises whatsoever when her son was concerned. He was the light of her life, the reason why her life was worth living. Knowing that hadn't always been the case, knowing there was a time when she wished she didn't have to wake up in the morning, she would be forever grateful for that precious gift. He had given her her life back, in more ways than she could count.
Not feeling up to the challenge of shopping any longer, she grabbed a packet of Cheerios from the shelf, knowing it was Max's favorite, and went to get some milk to go with it. Deciding she only needed some breakfast food for tomorrow at the moment, she took her cart and went to the cashier's desk. She wanted to be on her way home as soon as she could, knowing it would be a thirty minute drive, or possibly even longer if she wasn't able to hit the road before the impending storm. The weather services had warned there could be a change in the weather during the evening or early night, probably with some heavy rain included.
As always at this time of the night there was no actual cashier there, only the automatic ones which they had installed some ten years ago.
The trick was you only registered your credit card with the store in question, signed in with it when you entered the store and then signed out with it when you exited. Some high tech machine, Emily hadn't even bothered learning the principles behind, scanned everything that was in the cart when you exited the store through the big scanning arches that was the only way out. The money was drawn from your credit card and you didn't have to meet a soul.
“The wonders of technology”, Emily thought, ironically. She hated it. Practically no one used cash nowadays anyway, so it was kind of practical, she could agree with that, but other than that it was horrible. It was just a way for companies or the Government or whoever to control people, to keep an eye on them. Whenever you used your credit card everything was immediately registered somewhere. Exactly what you bought, and where. It wasn't that Emily did something she wished she could cover up, for her it was just a matter of principles.
Then you could also add the social factor. Or actually the lack thereof.
She remembered when she was a kid, in the good old days at the end of the last century. She laughed to herself. Those days you actually had to meet a person, or at least talk to them if you wanted to buy something or contact a company or whatever. Now, you had to do practically everything over the damn Internet, whether you wanted to or not.
She was drawn from her thoughts by the exit doors opening, signaling for her that her credit card had been accepted and her purchase was confirmed.
It was like stepping into a sauna. It was hot, almost 85 degrees, even at this late hour and the humidity was making it hard for her to breathe. Her clothes were sticking to her skin, damp with moisture.
She looked around, searching for her car, not remembering exactly where she had left it. She could hear the roar of thunder from far away and she knew the rain would come soon.
The blonde wiped her sweaty hands on her damp, faded jeans and unloaded her paper bag of groceries from the cart and went for the parking lot. She spotted her small car just as the rain started falling and ran for it. It didn't do much good, though, the rain already pouring down.
A few seconds and she was drenched from top to toe.
"Lucky for me, it is dark", Emily thought, smiling to herself. "A white tank top wasn't such a wise choice in this weather, the rain is practically making it transparent".
She opened the trunk and put her bag in and went for the driver's side.
She started the engine and looked at the digital clock on the instrument panel. The bright, blue lights showed 11.45 p.m.
"Maybe I should stop by the gas station and fill this beauty up?" she said to herself, laughing softly at her own words.
"That would save me some time in the morning".
Emily navigated her car out from the vast parking lot, turning left at the crossroads, heading for the gas station. She sped up slightly, not so much because she was in a hurry, really, but because she loved it. The speed. The feeling of control.
And Emily loved her car. She had struggled for years, working her ass of, to be able to put away enough money to buy it, but she figured it was worth it in the end. It was an Audi A3, and it was red. She loved cars, especially red cars, always had. She found them beautiful, almost sensual in a way. And she loved to drive them. The way they followed her every instruction. It made her feel free and powerful.
The gas station was almost empty as well, just like the supermarket had been. Not strange, considering the late hour. Emily filled the tank up and put her credit card back in her wallet. She was starting to feel tired and knew her blood sugar was low, not having eaten anything substantial since the roast beef sandwich she had grabbed in the hospital cafeteria some eight hours earlier, so she went into the small store to buy herself a snack for the road. She didn't very much like the idea of falling asleep behind the wheel.
She was greeted by the young man standing behind the cashier, smiling slightly at him as she saw him looking her over, as always when she went there. She gracefully ignored his apparent interest as he spoke, going on and on about the weather and the upcoming storm. He seemed both nervous and anxious about what was obviously coming their way. The fact that the wind speed was increasing hadn't escaped Emily either. You could hear the roar every time it intensified, moving everything that was lying around or wasn't attached to anything in all directions, before calming down again for a few moments. Emily was not scared, but she realized she needed to get going.
A few minutes later she was on her way home. The weather was so bad it looked as if someone was throwing buckets of water on the windshield. She didn't see more than a few yards ahead of her and had to slow her speed down. There were trees everywhere, she knew, driving through the woods as she was but she couldn't see them due to the extensive darkness. It almost seemed to swallow her up, making her shiver. Emily wasn't normally afraid of the dark, but she had to admit the whole situation was a bit uncanny. It almost felt as if she was driving herself into a black hole.
She opened one of the Snickers bars she had bought, in an attempt to distract herself, grateful for the instant supply of carbohydrates flowing through her system.
Emily lived in a small town, close to her parents' home, some twenty miles outside of the city where she worked as an ER nurse at the University Hospital. She had driven down this road hundreds of times before and she knew there was a sharp turn ahead so she slowed down even more, almost coming to a complete stop. Suddenly her whole world was illuminated by lightning, making her scream. It sounded like a bomb exploding just outside of her protected world. She almost lost control of the car, the road being so slippery from the vast amounts of water, it was practically as though she was driving on ice. The blonde tried to refocus her attention back to the road only to be forced to make another sharp turn, almost making her drive into the ditch before she managed to make the car stop.
There, only a few feet from her car, was something, or someone, she realized, lying on the road.
***
Emily was shocked motionless. She couldn't move. Her heart was beating so fast, she thought it would come out of her chest, or merely stop from the exertion. She sat like that for countless moments, all rational thinking had dissolved into the humid air. The rain kept on pouring down on her windshield, the drumming sound almost numbing to her exhausted mind.
The adrenaline her body was rapidly supplying her system with, from fear, cast her out of her shock induced state, though, and she desperately started to unbuckle herself from the strains of the four point seat belt. It was a struggle, since her hands were shaking so badly she couldn't control them and she cried out in desperation.
"Come on! Stupid, damn seat belt!"
She almost started weeping, her efforts being so fruitless.
"Son of a b..."
The seat belt finally gave in and she released herself from its confines, hurriedly stepping out from the car. The heavy rain again soaked her through in just a few seconds, her tight fitting jeans clinging even tighter to her legs, making her movements even harder, but she didn't care. All she could think about was getting to the woman, she could see now that it was in fact a woman, lying on the road as quickly as possible.
The woman wasn't moving. The blonde didn't even know if she was dead or alive. She just lay there, face down in the water. Emily reached out her hands, putting two fingers below the woman's chin, on her throat, searching for a pulse. It was weak, but steady.
"Thank God", Emily gasped, taking a deep breath, her professional self making its appearance, shattering the last of her paralyzing fear. She was a nurse after all and this was her job.
She thought about what was the best thing to do. She realized she couldn't move the woman and drive her back to the hospital by herself, since she didn't know if anything was broken.
"I have to call an ambulance", she concluded. "Where the hell did I leave my cell phone?"
She searched the pockets of her jeans, but couldn't find it.
"Damn it!"
She turned around, attempting to get up and go back to the car for the cell phone, when she heard a whisper. It was barely audible, but to Emily it was like a scream, calling to her heart, making the roars of thunder seem like a light breeze in the background.
"Please..."
The blonde turned around, facing the woman again. She was now looking back up at her. Emily started to say something, but stopped short when she met the woman's gaze.
"You have to..."
Her words faded away as blue eyes, the bluest eyes she had ever seen, were looking up at her through black, blood soaked tresses, pleading.
She could see the woman clearly in the headlights of her car and she swallowed unconsciously. The woman was shaking badly, her clothes totally soaked through, the long dark hair plastered to her face from the rain. Her face was covered with cuts and bruises and blood was pouring down over her features from a deep gash in her forehead, blending with dirt and water. Her hands, also covered in blood, were stretched out in front of her, fiercely trying to grab hold of the wet ground. Emily could see that she was attempting to raise herself up.
"No!"
Emily bent down, putting her hands on the woman's.
"You can't move, you're hurt!" Please stay down. Let me help you.
"I'm going to call for help, please stay where you are."
The blonde could feel the woman stiffen, holding her breath.
"No, please... no hospital".
The woman was begging now and Emily was starting to get confused.
"But..." Emily continued, but the woman interrupted her.
"Please, they will find me... Please, no hospital..."
Emily didn't know what to do. This was so against everything her professional mind told her was the right thing to do. Clearly the woman was hurt, and she needed help. She tried to reason with the woman, all the while hoping she wouldn't drift back into unconsciousness.
"Miss, I want to help you. I'm a nurse, but I can't determine what your injuries are here. I don't want to have your life on my conscience. You need medical attention, don't you see that? You could have internal bleedings or other injuries I can't see by just looking at you. I mean if a car hit you..."
"I wasn't hit by a car", the dark haired woman whispered, lowering her gaze to the wet ground. She started coughing, breathing hard.
"I don't have any internal bleedings, I promise, I just need to get out of here. If you don't want to help me, I will understand, but in that case you have to leave me here, because I'm not going to the hospital".
Another round of coughing interrupted her from explaining further and she lay her head back down onto the wet ground.
"Just leave me here, I don't care anymore."
The tone of the woman's voice clearly said not to ask any questions and Emily didn't want to try to push the issue further, figuring she wouldn't get any more information out of her at this point. She also knew that they both needed to get out of the way before another car showed up. And quickly too.
The blonde knew she was probably making a huge mistake, but something told her she needed to help the woman. I sure as hell can't just leave her here.
Her mind made up, Emily bent back down, turning her attention back to the woman.
"Hey", she said to the woman, putting the palm of her hand on the woman's forehead, checking for a fever. She was burning up, despite the rain cooling her skin and Emily was starting to get worried now. She looked around, trying to figure out a way to get the woman to the car.
"I will help you", she said, putting a strand of dark hair behind the injured woman's ear.
"What's your name?"
The woman looked back at her, clear blue eyes searching green, hesitantly. Emily took the dark haired woman's shaking hand, determined to make her see that she meant it.
"I don't have a clue as to what has happened to you and I know you don't trust me. I can understand that, I mean you don't even know me, but you can trust me, I promise".
The woman looked at her for a few moments, then closed her eyes in a silent answer, accepting Emily's promise.
The dark haired woman swallowed deeply, the lump in her throat having made its reappearance.
"Danny", she said, barely audible. "My name is Danny".
She managed a small smile, looking into worried, green eyes.
"Thank you".
She looked up at the blonde woman leaning over her and couldn't turn her eyes away from the intensity of her gaze.
Emily could feel her heart swell from the emotions running through her body, confusing her. Her mouth felt like she had swallowed a pound of sand, making her speechless. She tried to clear her throat.
"Well, Danny", Emily said, pointing towards the bright headlights of her car. "I am going to try and help you get into my car over there and then I will take you to my place, ok? It's not very far from here".
She inhaled deeply and raised herself up.
"Here, take my hand".
It took several minutes for the blonde to get Danny into the car, practically having to carry her, since her legs wasn't of much use. Nor were her feet, Emily thought, shivering as she realized their condition. They had wounds and scratches everywhere and they were covered in blood and mud. Oh, my God …
She made Danny lie down in the back seat, worried that it would be uncomfortable for her there, since there clearly wasn't enough room for her almost six foot frame. Figuring it was at least better than making her try and sit up in the passenger's seat, Emily went to the trunk to retrieve the thick fleece blanket she knew she had left in there and tucked it around Danny's shivering body. The woman had fallen asleep again, clearly tired from the exhaustion, her long legs curled up towards her chest, her wet, dark hair shining against the light beige leather seat.
The rain continued its merciless assault, with Emily standing there in the middle of it, shivering, silently watching the sleeping woman. She could feel tears burning behind her eyelids.
My God, what happened to you?
To be continued in chapter two…