14
The door to the room opened outwards, not leaving them anywhere to hide. Therefore the hope was that Ray would be off guard, thinking they were both restrained and thereby be susceptible to their surprise attack. The plan was to wait for him to begin to open the door and then for Elliot to throw his weight against it, hopefully knocking Ray off his feet. They were worried he might be holding Olivia's gun and start shooting if backed into a corner, so Elliot knew he had to act fast and make sure he wrestled any weapon from him immediately, before he could react. They were both tense as they waited for what seemed like forever as Ray fumbled with his keys outside the room. They could hear the jangling sound clearly. Elliot caught Olivia's glance and he knew her heart was pounding just as hard as his was. Elliot knew it was all part of Ray's game, however; designed to invoke maximum fear.
The door started to move outwards and Elliot threw himself against it hard, slamming it into Ray, who staggered back struggling to maintain his balance, momentarily stunned. Elliot used his opponent's indecision to his advantage and grabbed his shoulders and slammed him into the wall roughly, noting that it appeared he was carrying no weapon. The adrenaline flowing, he manoeuvred him round and pushed him deep inside the small room, taking a couple of swings at him and drawing blood. Ray fell to the floor after the second blow, clutching his stomach, winded briefly. Elliot quickly patted him down and found the keys to the room. There was nothing he would have wanted more than to beat the sorry excuse for a human being into a pulp, but he could feel Olivia's eyes on him and despite the rage coursing through his veins, his absolute priority was her.
He crossed the room and indicated to her to leave. She stepped out and he followed, locking the door behind them, deciding that the irony of their captor being locked in his own makeshift prison would have to suffice in terms of 'revenge' for now. They immediately set to work hunting through the small cottage, primarily for a phone, but for anything that could help them get out. It seemed this place had no phone line, no internet and they couldn't find a cell phone anywhere either. Elliot went to the front door and peered outside looking for the van they had been brought in, but couldn't see it anywhere. In fact there was nothing at all out there, just trees. There was a very basic pebbled track leading away from the cottage, but beyond that absolutely no indication as to what direction they ought to head in.
"Where is the damn van?" Elliot spat, kicking the door in frustration. Who knew how far away from civilization they were and he knew Olivia was in no condition for a near-wilderness trek in the tail-end of winter. The van had to be around somewhere. Staying holed up here wasn't really an option. They needed to get in contact with the police and get them to pick Ray up and he suspected Olivia could do with a trip to the hospital.
"El," he heard her say softly. He hadn't realised how close behind him she had been standing.
"I'm going to go and take a look around outside," he stated. "Can you hunt around for anything in here that might be useful in case we have to walk a little? A knife, matches, water. Anything like that okay."
"El, I…" He saw the indecision on her face. The look in her eyes, desperately pleading with him not to leave her alone, something he knew she would never be able to voice out loud. It made his heart ache. How could he have been so insensitive? She was a rape victim. How could he have thought about leaving her alone right now?
"I'll help you," he said quickly. "I know what to look for. We can find the van afterwards."
He saw the relief in her eyes that she was unable to hide and he tried to mask his own emotion at her uncharacteristic display of 'weakness'. It wasn't that he blamed her in any way for that, just that he hated to see how rape trauma could affect previously confident women and take away so much from them. It was truly heart-breaking. There was no time to focus on it now though. They had to get out of here. He had already realized that judging from the position of the sun, it had to be early afternoon, which didn't give them that many hours of daylight left. Not having a clue where they were could mean that the nearest house was just a few meters down that dirt track or it could be several hours walk. Not knowing was the hardest part. It seemed vital that they find the van.
Olivia found a small ageing rucksack that had been shoved into the cupboard under the sink for some unknown reason and Elliot proceeded to quickly fill it with any useful items he could see. He found a knife, a torch, a blanket, some plastic bags and some matches. Unfortunately there seemed to be nothing in the way of food. He realized that Ray must have been coming and going while they had been held here, rather than hanging around. That van just had to be around somewhere. They wandered outside and finally spotted in round the back half-hidden by the trees. Elliot raced over, but immediately noticed the steering lock. There was no sight of the keys and disappointingly a thorough look inside didn't reveal any hidden stash of food either.
Sighing, he realised their only real option was either to return to the room and try and convince Ray to tell them where the keys were or to make their way on foot. He wasn't convinced going near Ray again was the best idea for his desire to cause permanent damage to him was still strong. He glanced warily at Olivia's attire. She had been dressed for a date with him and so wasn't exactly suitably dressed for a trek through the wintry wilderness. The ground outside was covered with a light dusting of snow and the terrain was pretty uneven looking. At least she had been wearing her warm fur-lined boots, but she would need something more substantial to keep her body warm outside. He hunted around and to his relief found a thick sweater at the back of a closet. It looked unwashed and as though it had been last worn about ten years ago, given the faded colours and the loose threading, but it would have to do. He handed it to her and wordlessly she removed her coat, pulled it over her head, wincing at the fusty smell and then pulled her coat on over it.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked. "Maybe someone will come by here and find us?"
"Liv, there's no water supply, no food and no phone. We need to go, I'm afraid."
"Okay," she said reluctantly. At least this way she would be further away from Ray, she thought. Her desire to get as far away from him as possible was pretty intense, she had to admit.
The noise of someone moving through the cottage surprised them. They immediately realised it must be Ray. Somehow he had got out of the room!
"Shit!" Elliot exclaimed. "He must have had a second pair of keys hidden on him or something. "Come on Liv. We have to run, now!" He couldn't risk Olivia getting any further injury in a fistfight and there was always the risk Ray had managed to get his hands on a hidden weapon.
They started to head down the stony road. Olivia knew she was functioning on pure adrenaline right now. It felt like every muscle in her body was screaming out to her to stop as she forced herself to run. After several meters she stumbled and almost fell. Then she felt Elliot yanking at her roughly. She literally fell on top of him and together they slid down the embankment, off the road and into a ditch.
"Come on!" he whispered. "We have to hide. He's close."
They crawled away from the road, soon out of sight thanks to the sheer number of trees and bushes and then paused, holding their breath as they heard Ray approaching. His footsteps slowed from a run to a brisk walk and then stopped. He must be literally metres away from where they were, huddled together on the cold wet ground. Had he noticed the disturbed vegetation or something? Elliot desperately hoped not. Anyone with any outdoor training would never be fooled, but he was praying that Ray would just assume they had gone on further down the road.
Finally they heard his footsteps resume as he continued onwards.
"I find you and you're both dead!" they heard him yelling.
"Elliot, what are we going to do?" Olivia asked once they were sure Ray was out of earshot.
"We can't risk the road," Elliot decided. "We're going to have to try and make our way through the forest."
"But we don't have a clue where we are. We could be absolutely anywhere."
"The track leads east. I can tell from the position of the sun. It must lead to a main road, so we'll head north then we'll cut across and try to meet it," Elliot said confidently.
"You think it will work?" she asked dubiously. She knew he had gone through survival training in the marines and knew what he was talking about, but even so, the thought of making their way through an unknown forest was still daunting.
"Sure," he smiled assuredly. "Come on, let's get moving before he realises we left the track and comes back looking for us."
She nodded and he helped her to her feet. Despite his confidence, he knew they were taking a huge risk wandering off like this. He knew full well there was absolutely no guarantee that the track would continue to head east. It might twist and turn and could lead anywhere, but right now he needed her to stay focused and he wanted her to feel like he was in control of the situation, to allow her to relinquish responsibility. She already had enough on her plate with the trauma she had recently gone through. He knew one of the huge challenges in any survival situation like this was psychological. Staying positive and thinking clearly could mean the difference between life and death. Beside, he was confident he could ultimately get them to civilization. He just wasn't sure how long it would take and at what cost.