Despite wishes to the contrary, I don't own Lizzie McGuire, or any of it's
characters, and am making no profit from this story monetarily or
otherwise. Yada, yada, yada.
This was not turning out to be a good day. Lizzie was sitting alone in the woods watching a cabin with, at the very least, a kidnapper with a gun in it. And a very battered and scared friend. Well, maybe Kate wasn't her friend, but Lizzie was at this moment, the best friend she had. But on this side of the mountain, the sun was already very low, and it was getting dark. To make matters worse, a thick fog was beginning to roll in. Lizzie hugged her legs to her chest. She was starting to feel chilled, and the ground was wet.
What would Gordo do? She wished with all her being that he were there. He would know what to do. He always did. He was her rock. At the very least, he would put his arms around her and warm her with his body. Mmmmm…what a body. The thought of his strong arms around her sent a surge of warmth through her body. Her mind wandered to thoughts of what they would be doing together, and to the two of them in front of a fire in a cozy cabin…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the report of a gun and a shrill, terrified scream. Lizzie blood chilled and her breath caught in her throat. She looked up to see that the cabin was almost entirely obscured by the fog. She could still make out the shape of the building, but just barely. Her first instinct was to run towards it to see if Kate was ok, but she held herself back. She would do Kate no good by getting caught herself.
"What would Gordo do? What would Gordo do?" she thought frantically. She took a deep breath, and tried to remember what Ms. Mac had taught them about controlling their breathing. "He wouldn't panic. He would…go find help. But there is no one to help. If there were, they would be here by now. And Kate might not have time for me to wait." Ok, she felt her way along the hedge, which got her closer to the cabin, and then jumped as she saw something dart past her.
*Just a squirrel. Get a grip! Ok, maybe that helps a little. The squirrel didn't set of an alarm or alert a dog. Of course, the dog could just be used to squirrels, or the alarm might be silent…* She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. She edged her way toward a lighted window. So far so good. No sound of alert came from the cabin. She steeled herself. She remembered when they were children, and she and Gordo and Miranda and Kate would pretend to be secret agents. They practiced for hours walking without a sound. The ultimate test was being able to creep silently into the kitchen and swipe the cookie jar without the mother's noticing. They got pretty good at it, too. Or maybe the moms just let them think they did. Come to think of it, they probably should have been suspicious that the cookies always divided equally among the number of kids playing the game. Still, they had been pretty quiet. But then, they weren't wearing hiking boots, and they didn't have a forest floor with leaves and twigs and pinecones crunching underfoot to walk on. She thought briefly about taking her boots off, but decided that it might make a getaway much more difficult.
Where were Miranda and the Ranger? God, it was getting cold.
Ok, it's now or never. Literally. One more deep breath, and she left the safety of the hedge and darted as quietly as she could to the cabin, just to the side of the window. She flattened herself against the wall, and peered inside. The room was well lit, so she could see inside quite well. It was fairly nicely furnished, with a nice couch and chair, coffee table, round table and chairs, and a fireplace. Two things were extraordinary about it though ~ one was that it had an amazing amount of electronic equipment for a cabin in the woods. There was a state of the art audiovisual system, and a giant screen tv. The other remarkable thing was that the entire room was littered with empty beer bottles, cigarette butts and ashes, and greasy take out containers. On the couch lounged a man, probably in his late 20's, who might have been good looking if he hadn't been so obviously inebriated. He had a very muscular build, but he was losing the definition in his abdominals to all the beer. He was watching something on the big screen, but Lizzie was at an angle that she couldn't see what it was.
Remembering the shot she had heard, Lizzie tried to see if he had signs of blood on him, but couldn't make any out from where she was. She knew there had to be at least one more man there; since the guy on the couch wasn't the guy she had seen dragging Kate by the hair. She knew she was going to have to find another window. *Oh, God, help me. What am I doing here?*
*You're helping Kate. She won't make it out of here without you!* she told herself sternly. She began to creep along the wall toward another window she had seen earlier. She could see very little now, especially not the window, as it was not lit. She ran her hands along the building, and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she found what she was looking for. This window was smaller, and higher up on the wall, but she was able to pull herself up enough to see that there was no way she could have seen into it. It was completely blacked out with paint and foil. *Grrrrrrr! That must be where Kate is!*
She sunk down onto the ground to consider what to do next. Should she break the window? *Great idea. Then you can try to drag Kate out before they come after you both with that big gun. Ok, bad idea.*
While she was sitting there thinking, she became aware of the sound of someone weeping. She held very still and listened. The sound wasn't coming from the sealed window. It was coming from close by, though. She fought the urge to move quickly, and started edging again along the wall. Almost immediately she came to a vent, and the sounds became louder. She knew there was no way she would fit through the vent, but there had to be another window close by. She came to the corner of the house, and stayed pressed against the wall as she followed it around. Sure enough, there was a dimly lit window about two feet from the corner. Still against the wall, she peered inside. It was mostly dark, but she could make out the shapes of a couple of girls ~ one on a bed, the other curled up in a fetal position on the floor, sobs wracking her slight body. The one on the bed, which she was pretty sure was Kate, was trying vainly to comfort the other girl. She got awkwardly off the bed, her wrists still bound behind her back, and got onto her knees next to the sobbing creature.
Lizzie was just about to try the window when she saw a light go on in the hallway that led to the room. Lizzie ducked back, but kept her eyes on the room. A light went on in the room, and the man she had seen earlier with Kate came in with a tray of bowls. "Eat! And make it quick!" he growled. He leered at Kate, and sneered, "You're next, Baby."
Kate meekly tried to protest, "How can I eat with my hands bound?"
He laughed a very nasty snicker, and said, "How does a dog eat?" and walked out of the room.
She saw the tears fall from Kate's eyes, and the uncertainty and humiliation on her face. Lizzie couldn't watch. In all the years she had seen Kate be the bitchy, self-important queen that she was, she couldn't have wished this. Not even the time she had humiliated Lizzie in front of the whole school at that pep rally.
*Ok, Lizzie, time to stop being a wimp, and get her out of here. * She looked back into the window, and saw that there were several girls in there, huddled in various parts of the room. The only two who seemed to be awake, though, were the ones she had first seen. No screens, thank goodness. Her luck couldn't' hold out, though. If the window wasn't unlocked, she could hardly expect Kate to open it with her hands still bound behind her back. She gave it a tentative push, and was amazed when it slid quietly open. She said silent thanks for the tv in the other room being so loud, but she wasn't going to count on it. She slid it open just a foot, and squeezed in.
Kate was starting to try to eat the vile stuff in the bowl, when Lizzie entered the room. She looked up and gaped at her. Lizzie watched her bruised, swollen face mouth silently, "What are you doing here?" She didn't answer.
As quietly as she could, she said, "Don't eat that! Look at these girls. They have to be drugged!" She took her pocket knife and cut the tape on Kate's wrists. Kate closed her eyes as they flooded with tears of relief. She rubbed her wrists and started to say something, but Lizzie held her finger to her lips.
She motioned to the girl on the floor, and pointed to the window. The two of them went over to the girl, and gently tried to get her to a sitting position. Her face looked familiar, but Lizzie couldn't place it. She did notice that the girl was covered with fresh blood and bruises. She felt bile rise in her throat, but pushed it down. *You can throw up later!* When they finally got the girl's attention, they pointed toward the window.
The girl looked confused at first, then nodded. Lizzie and Kate helped her to the window, and helped her to squeeze out. Kate was half-way out when Lizzie realized that she only had on a long black t-shirt. She also heard the sound of a motor getting very close. Was it the Ranger, or was it someone else who lived here. A frightened whimper from the nameless girl convinced Lizzie that time was of the essence here, and she pushed Kate out the window, and quickly climbed onto the sill herself. She shot a reluctant glance at the other girls slumped around the room, but told herself that help would soon be here. Just as she was landing on the ground below, she heard the engine cut, and a door open and slam shut. A man shouted for the other two men, and then the ear splitting sound of a semi-automatic rifle rang out through the air. Lizzie and the other two girls fled from the structure, just as it exploded into flames. The blast carried a shockwave that forced the girls forward, and they all fell to the ground.
The girls lay there, stunned, but apparently unhurt. It had started to rain, and the ground was cold and wet. Kate started to get up, but Lizzie pulled her back down just in time to see the two men, running around the burning structure, shining flashlights. The three stayed flattened to the ground, hardly daring to breathe.
"I'm sure I saw someone run this way. More than one person!" they heard one man shout.
"Probably just a couple of deer!" the other answered.
"I've never seen a deer with that color hair!"
"How can you tell in this fog?"
"The fire burned off the fog. I saw them all right. I don't know how they got away, but we can't leave witnesses. They've seen our faces."
Lizzie realized she was holding her breath. She slowly reached behind her head and pulled the dark hood of her sweatshirt over her bright gold hair. She looked at Kate, who seemed to read her mind. Kate pulled the neck of the t-shirt over her blond head as well, so that only her face could be seen through the neck hole. The other girl had thick, dark hair, so they didn't worry about it.
That would have been ok, if she hadn't been almost completely naked. The two thugs swept the area again with their lantern beams. It was true: the fire had burned off much of the fog. They swept once, twice, three times. The girls held their breath.
"No one's out here. You're just being paranoid!" One said finally, turning to go. Just then, his beam caught on something too light to be part of the forest. He turned back in time to see three figures, one unclothed, fleeing into the forest.
He shouted to his partner, "Jack! This way!"
The girls felt the two men hot on their heels, too frightened to wonder why they hadn't just started shooting. They heard shouts, but didn't look back to see the flashing lights or hear the sirens that were drowned out by the thunder and the sounds of the holocaust they had left behind. Lizzie thought they must be headed for the river, and that they would be able to follow it to the campsite. She was right, but not in a good way. They were still running, and the ground was getting slick.
Suddenly, the ground ran out under Lizzie's feet, and she realized she was falling, falling, falling.
She had screamed when she went over the cliff, and it stopped Kate and the other girl in their tracks. The moon had broken through the clouds, and Kate looked over the edge of the 30 foot drop to see Lizzie sprawled out, unmoving, on the bank below. She screamed, "Lizzie, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She had to find a way to get down to her! She was trying desperately to find a place to scramble down the bank, when a big, hairy arm grabbed her. Kate screamed and passed out.
This was not turning out to be a good day. Lizzie was sitting alone in the woods watching a cabin with, at the very least, a kidnapper with a gun in it. And a very battered and scared friend. Well, maybe Kate wasn't her friend, but Lizzie was at this moment, the best friend she had. But on this side of the mountain, the sun was already very low, and it was getting dark. To make matters worse, a thick fog was beginning to roll in. Lizzie hugged her legs to her chest. She was starting to feel chilled, and the ground was wet.
What would Gordo do? She wished with all her being that he were there. He would know what to do. He always did. He was her rock. At the very least, he would put his arms around her and warm her with his body. Mmmmm…what a body. The thought of his strong arms around her sent a surge of warmth through her body. Her mind wandered to thoughts of what they would be doing together, and to the two of them in front of a fire in a cozy cabin…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the report of a gun and a shrill, terrified scream. Lizzie blood chilled and her breath caught in her throat. She looked up to see that the cabin was almost entirely obscured by the fog. She could still make out the shape of the building, but just barely. Her first instinct was to run towards it to see if Kate was ok, but she held herself back. She would do Kate no good by getting caught herself.
"What would Gordo do? What would Gordo do?" she thought frantically. She took a deep breath, and tried to remember what Ms. Mac had taught them about controlling their breathing. "He wouldn't panic. He would…go find help. But there is no one to help. If there were, they would be here by now. And Kate might not have time for me to wait." Ok, she felt her way along the hedge, which got her closer to the cabin, and then jumped as she saw something dart past her.
*Just a squirrel. Get a grip! Ok, maybe that helps a little. The squirrel didn't set of an alarm or alert a dog. Of course, the dog could just be used to squirrels, or the alarm might be silent…* She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. She edged her way toward a lighted window. So far so good. No sound of alert came from the cabin. She steeled herself. She remembered when they were children, and she and Gordo and Miranda and Kate would pretend to be secret agents. They practiced for hours walking without a sound. The ultimate test was being able to creep silently into the kitchen and swipe the cookie jar without the mother's noticing. They got pretty good at it, too. Or maybe the moms just let them think they did. Come to think of it, they probably should have been suspicious that the cookies always divided equally among the number of kids playing the game. Still, they had been pretty quiet. But then, they weren't wearing hiking boots, and they didn't have a forest floor with leaves and twigs and pinecones crunching underfoot to walk on. She thought briefly about taking her boots off, but decided that it might make a getaway much more difficult.
Where were Miranda and the Ranger? God, it was getting cold.
Ok, it's now or never. Literally. One more deep breath, and she left the safety of the hedge and darted as quietly as she could to the cabin, just to the side of the window. She flattened herself against the wall, and peered inside. The room was well lit, so she could see inside quite well. It was fairly nicely furnished, with a nice couch and chair, coffee table, round table and chairs, and a fireplace. Two things were extraordinary about it though ~ one was that it had an amazing amount of electronic equipment for a cabin in the woods. There was a state of the art audiovisual system, and a giant screen tv. The other remarkable thing was that the entire room was littered with empty beer bottles, cigarette butts and ashes, and greasy take out containers. On the couch lounged a man, probably in his late 20's, who might have been good looking if he hadn't been so obviously inebriated. He had a very muscular build, but he was losing the definition in his abdominals to all the beer. He was watching something on the big screen, but Lizzie was at an angle that she couldn't see what it was.
Remembering the shot she had heard, Lizzie tried to see if he had signs of blood on him, but couldn't make any out from where she was. She knew there had to be at least one more man there; since the guy on the couch wasn't the guy she had seen dragging Kate by the hair. She knew she was going to have to find another window. *Oh, God, help me. What am I doing here?*
*You're helping Kate. She won't make it out of here without you!* she told herself sternly. She began to creep along the wall toward another window she had seen earlier. She could see very little now, especially not the window, as it was not lit. She ran her hands along the building, and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she found what she was looking for. This window was smaller, and higher up on the wall, but she was able to pull herself up enough to see that there was no way she could have seen into it. It was completely blacked out with paint and foil. *Grrrrrrr! That must be where Kate is!*
She sunk down onto the ground to consider what to do next. Should she break the window? *Great idea. Then you can try to drag Kate out before they come after you both with that big gun. Ok, bad idea.*
While she was sitting there thinking, she became aware of the sound of someone weeping. She held very still and listened. The sound wasn't coming from the sealed window. It was coming from close by, though. She fought the urge to move quickly, and started edging again along the wall. Almost immediately she came to a vent, and the sounds became louder. She knew there was no way she would fit through the vent, but there had to be another window close by. She came to the corner of the house, and stayed pressed against the wall as she followed it around. Sure enough, there was a dimly lit window about two feet from the corner. Still against the wall, she peered inside. It was mostly dark, but she could make out the shapes of a couple of girls ~ one on a bed, the other curled up in a fetal position on the floor, sobs wracking her slight body. The one on the bed, which she was pretty sure was Kate, was trying vainly to comfort the other girl. She got awkwardly off the bed, her wrists still bound behind her back, and got onto her knees next to the sobbing creature.
Lizzie was just about to try the window when she saw a light go on in the hallway that led to the room. Lizzie ducked back, but kept her eyes on the room. A light went on in the room, and the man she had seen earlier with Kate came in with a tray of bowls. "Eat! And make it quick!" he growled. He leered at Kate, and sneered, "You're next, Baby."
Kate meekly tried to protest, "How can I eat with my hands bound?"
He laughed a very nasty snicker, and said, "How does a dog eat?" and walked out of the room.
She saw the tears fall from Kate's eyes, and the uncertainty and humiliation on her face. Lizzie couldn't watch. In all the years she had seen Kate be the bitchy, self-important queen that she was, she couldn't have wished this. Not even the time she had humiliated Lizzie in front of the whole school at that pep rally.
*Ok, Lizzie, time to stop being a wimp, and get her out of here. * She looked back into the window, and saw that there were several girls in there, huddled in various parts of the room. The only two who seemed to be awake, though, were the ones she had first seen. No screens, thank goodness. Her luck couldn't' hold out, though. If the window wasn't unlocked, she could hardly expect Kate to open it with her hands still bound behind her back. She gave it a tentative push, and was amazed when it slid quietly open. She said silent thanks for the tv in the other room being so loud, but she wasn't going to count on it. She slid it open just a foot, and squeezed in.
Kate was starting to try to eat the vile stuff in the bowl, when Lizzie entered the room. She looked up and gaped at her. Lizzie watched her bruised, swollen face mouth silently, "What are you doing here?" She didn't answer.
As quietly as she could, she said, "Don't eat that! Look at these girls. They have to be drugged!" She took her pocket knife and cut the tape on Kate's wrists. Kate closed her eyes as they flooded with tears of relief. She rubbed her wrists and started to say something, but Lizzie held her finger to her lips.
She motioned to the girl on the floor, and pointed to the window. The two of them went over to the girl, and gently tried to get her to a sitting position. Her face looked familiar, but Lizzie couldn't place it. She did notice that the girl was covered with fresh blood and bruises. She felt bile rise in her throat, but pushed it down. *You can throw up later!* When they finally got the girl's attention, they pointed toward the window.
The girl looked confused at first, then nodded. Lizzie and Kate helped her to the window, and helped her to squeeze out. Kate was half-way out when Lizzie realized that she only had on a long black t-shirt. She also heard the sound of a motor getting very close. Was it the Ranger, or was it someone else who lived here. A frightened whimper from the nameless girl convinced Lizzie that time was of the essence here, and she pushed Kate out the window, and quickly climbed onto the sill herself. She shot a reluctant glance at the other girls slumped around the room, but told herself that help would soon be here. Just as she was landing on the ground below, she heard the engine cut, and a door open and slam shut. A man shouted for the other two men, and then the ear splitting sound of a semi-automatic rifle rang out through the air. Lizzie and the other two girls fled from the structure, just as it exploded into flames. The blast carried a shockwave that forced the girls forward, and they all fell to the ground.
The girls lay there, stunned, but apparently unhurt. It had started to rain, and the ground was cold and wet. Kate started to get up, but Lizzie pulled her back down just in time to see the two men, running around the burning structure, shining flashlights. The three stayed flattened to the ground, hardly daring to breathe.
"I'm sure I saw someone run this way. More than one person!" they heard one man shout.
"Probably just a couple of deer!" the other answered.
"I've never seen a deer with that color hair!"
"How can you tell in this fog?"
"The fire burned off the fog. I saw them all right. I don't know how they got away, but we can't leave witnesses. They've seen our faces."
Lizzie realized she was holding her breath. She slowly reached behind her head and pulled the dark hood of her sweatshirt over her bright gold hair. She looked at Kate, who seemed to read her mind. Kate pulled the neck of the t-shirt over her blond head as well, so that only her face could be seen through the neck hole. The other girl had thick, dark hair, so they didn't worry about it.
That would have been ok, if she hadn't been almost completely naked. The two thugs swept the area again with their lantern beams. It was true: the fire had burned off much of the fog. They swept once, twice, three times. The girls held their breath.
"No one's out here. You're just being paranoid!" One said finally, turning to go. Just then, his beam caught on something too light to be part of the forest. He turned back in time to see three figures, one unclothed, fleeing into the forest.
He shouted to his partner, "Jack! This way!"
The girls felt the two men hot on their heels, too frightened to wonder why they hadn't just started shooting. They heard shouts, but didn't look back to see the flashing lights or hear the sirens that were drowned out by the thunder and the sounds of the holocaust they had left behind. Lizzie thought they must be headed for the river, and that they would be able to follow it to the campsite. She was right, but not in a good way. They were still running, and the ground was getting slick.
Suddenly, the ground ran out under Lizzie's feet, and she realized she was falling, falling, falling.
She had screamed when she went over the cliff, and it stopped Kate and the other girl in their tracks. The moon had broken through the clouds, and Kate looked over the edge of the 30 foot drop to see Lizzie sprawled out, unmoving, on the bank below. She screamed, "Lizzie, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She had to find a way to get down to her! She was trying desperately to find a place to scramble down the bank, when a big, hairy arm grabbed her. Kate screamed and passed out.