"Okay, now just pull your hand through the loop and …" He waited, hoping he'd been able to recite the steps correctly from memory. Without being able to see her hands, and with the added difficultly of facing the opposite direction, there was always the possibility of making a mistake.

"I think it …" Her voice was hesitant, but hopeful, "Oh God it did. It worked Billy. My hands are free." She sighed in total relief.

"That's good." He closed his eyes in gratitude and let his head fall back against her for a moment. "Okay. Can you get untie the knot at your feet?"

"Working on it," she said quickly. Within moments, he could feel her hands on his, her cold fingers working busily on his own restraints. He could feel her trembling, the panic still very real for both of them. This was far from over.

"Just relax," he whispered. "It's gonna be alright now. We're gonna be okay. We're getting out of here." One hand was free and he moved immediately to grab one of the knots at his own feet. As his second hand was removed he quickly finished the job and threw the rope to the side. There was no hesitation in his next move and without thinking or considering anything else, he reached for her.

She nearly collapsed into his arms, the tears flowing freely.

"I know." There weren't words for this. There was no way to express how grateful he was to hold her, to know that she was, at least in that moment, safe in his arms. "We have to go now, okay? We can't stay here. We have to get back to the car. We have to get back to town."

She nodded. "How? We don't even know where we are now. He had you drive into the middle of nowhere."

"We'll figure it out." He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. She had to believe in this. When Phyllis believed in something, nothing stopped her. If she didn't – if she viewed this as an impossibility, he wasn't sure they would be able to accomplish it. "I need you to trust me. I need you to believe in me. You're the strongest woman I know and if you put your mind to this, I know we can do it."

He saw the shift, an almost physical change. "Okay, I believe you. You found me when I wasn't sure anyone would even care enough to look. If you say we can get out of this, I believe you."

"I've got you." He stood behind her, pushing her up onto the hill's flattened ledge. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm alright."

He stepped up himself, looking out into the darkness. Their heavy breath produced clouds in the night air, a sure sign of the sudden drop in the evening's temperature. He reached up and pulled the jacket from his shoulders. "Here," he said softly as he wrapped it around her shoulders. "You need to stay warm."

"Thanks." She looked up at him. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"We just have to keep moving towards the lights," he said simply. "Either we're heading towards the campgrounds or the road and neither one of them is a bad thing." The concern in her voice was evident. "I know you're worried," he added, "but I promised you that I'd get us out of this and I will. We just have to keep moving." He held out his hand to her and felt the familiar heat course through him as she took it. They had to keep going. There was too much at stake.

The tears this time weren't of pain or of fear. This time they were tears of utter relief and joy. "Is that?" She smiled, as she looked over at him. His hand tightened around hers and she knew the answer even before she heard his response.

"Thank God," he breathed. "Yeah. That's it. That's the car." He reached for the handle of the passenger side door, pulling it open for her and waiting for her to climb inside. "Get in." There was still an urgency in his movements as he jogged over to the driver's side and reached inside his pocket for the keys before climbing in.

"We're really gonna be okay?" Her voice quivered as she said the words, the hopeful tone still slightly hesitant.

"Yeah." His hand reached for hers again as he moved to place the key in the ignition. "We are. It's okay now. It's over. It's really over." He couldn't but smile as he saw her shoulders rise and fall with a sigh he knew signified relief. It was impossible for him to even try and fathom what she'd endured over the last day or so and right now, the fact that he didn't know was keeping him sane.

The sound he waited for, the roar of the engine wasn't filling the sound of the silent night and he turned the key again, still hearing the strange clicking that echoed again and again.

"What's wrong?" He could hear it immediately, the fear and doubt creeping into her words again.

"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe it's the battery. I'll check it out, okay." He turned to her, his face serious. "You stay here."

She didn't argue as he climbed from the car. The hood quickly popped opened and she listened as the foreign sounds echoed from underneath. She let her head fall back against the headrest, her eyes fluttered closed. "Please God," she whispered, "If you're still taking requests from someone like me, please let it work." The noises stilled and she waited.

Nothing.

Her fingertips slowly moved towards the button, the automatic windows, moving in what seemed like slow motion. "Billy?" She could feel the familiar lump in her throat. Somehow she knew – not exactly what was happening of course, but she knew instinctively that it was awful. "Billy? What's wrong …"

The slow motion continued in excruciating detail as she watched the hood lower. Billy and J.T. stood there, their arms raised high above their heads, both of them fighting with all their might for control of the gun. She heard a scream and then realized it was her own.

"Please! Please stop! Billy! Billy!"

And then it did stop but not before the firing of a single shot.