Chapter 2

Dr. Allison Cameron, who was habitually calm, cool and collected during emergency situations, was now frozen in her own skin as she stared at the lethal weapon pointed directly in her face. The man who held the gun unfortunately wasn't the patient type and roughly, he yanked her to her feet. Kicking the forgotten ice-cream to the side he brought his face only inches from hers and spat out, "I told you to stand up! Bitch!" He brought his large, calloused hand down hard on Allison's face, momentarily stunning her.

The thief let go of her wrist, leaving a darkening bruise on the tender skin. He looked closely at the paralyzed woman, smiling as he noticed her lip was bleeding. "You bleed easy eh bitch? That's ok, what I have planned shouldn't bring too much blood." He turned away yelling back as he walked to the front of the store, "Now don't go anywhere. I wouldn't want to shoot you because you did something stupid."

Allison slowly regained her senses and with shaking fingers, dabbed the blood off her lip. She felt sick to her stomach, how on earth was she going to get out of this situation? She had an overwhelming desire to be back in her apartment, curled up in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn and a cheesy romantic flick. Instead, here she was, in a bad part of town being held hostage by a lunatic with a gun.

Involuntary tears sprung into her eyes as Allison realized the gravity of her situation. The man had locked the front door and was pulling the body of the storekeeper off the counter and down one of the aisles. He deposited the man beside a row of boxed granola bars and decided he wanted a snack. Ripping open a box of bars, he took two and and shoved them into his coat. Munching on a third one, he approached the tiny woman still standing stiffly in front of the frozen foods.

"So bitch, we have the whole place to ourselves. That guy over there isn't feeling too great so I don't think he will interrupt us." He motioned to the store keeper who was quite obviously dead with a bullet hole in his forehead and two in his abdomen. He took a threatening step toward her and ran his finger over her lips. "Sorry about that sweetie, but I can't have a woman who doesn't listen."

Allison shuddered at his touch, revolted by his actions and the smokey-sour smell of his breath as he leaned into her face. She turned her face away as he leaned in to kiss her, bile rising in the back of her throat and anger brewing in her belly. Before she even knew what came over her, she brought her knee up and forcefully hit the guy square in the crotch. He screamed in pain and bent over giving her the perfect opportunity to break his nose with the heel of her hand. She took her chance and felt the stab of satisfaction as she head the bone crack on impact and watched as the torrent of blood ran down his face staining the white, puffy coat he wore.

"BITCH!" He screamed and before Allison could react, he had her by the throat, pressed up against the cold glass of the freezer.

She was completely shocked at this turn of events and grappled uselessly at his arms as he held her in an iron grip. Her breath began to hitch as he tightened his hands, his fingers digging into the sensitive skin on her neck making it nearly impossible to get a deep breath.

He sneered at her, "This is more like it!" He tightened his grip impossibly, choking the life out of her.

Tears gathered in her eyes and Allison tried desperately to loosen his grip and get some air. Her vision started to falter and the man's face became blurry as she started to lose consciousness. Just before she passed out completely, she was aware of a loud shout and the man's face contorting in pain. His grip relaxed as he fell forward and she sank slowly to the floor, unconsciousness claiming her.