Chapter 15

Kelly opened her eyes and gazed around her surroundings in dazed confusion. Bothered by something in her mouth, she tried to lift her hand, but found herself unable to move. The past few hours suddenly rushed back to her, knotting her stomach with cold dread. She was still badly beaten and tied to a chair in an unfamiliar room. Kelly experimentally moved in her chair and was greeted by sharp waves of pain from all over her body. She moaned in despair through the gag in her mouth.

She had never felt so helpless in her life.

She wondered how long she had been unconscious. However long it had been, she felt much more clearheaded than she had during her beating. Ignoring the throbbing pain in her head and neck, she rocked back and forth in her chair, trying to loosen the bonds around her wrists. She got no luck with the ropes, but was surprised to discover a creaking sound coming from her chair.

She rocked again and smiled to herself. The chair must have been cracked. Kelly pressed her back into the chair and heard a slight creak as the back leg began to give way.

The next hour was spent trying to gradually break her chair. Her plan was to damage it as much as possible and then tip over backwards. Hopefully the force would break the leg and bottom rung of the chair, freeing her legs.

When she felt the back leg was sufficiently wobbly enough, she took a deep breath and threw all of her weight backwards. As the chair flipped over, Kelly was treated to the loud snapping sound of breaking wood. She landed hard, striking the back of her head again on the concrete floor and uncomfortably crushing her arms and hands under her weight.

She took the fall without uttering a sound, quickly rolled to her side and lay quietly for a few moments as she recovered from the impact of her fall. Once the waves of dizziness had passed, she tried to kick her legs free. Much to her delight, the chair was of poor quality and her fall had not only broken the back leg of the chair, but had split the seat completely down the middle. With the chair split, she was able to kick her feet completely free of it. A few more minutes of twisting had her ankles free of the rope as well.

She paused to rest for a moment, wincing at the pain in her knee. She was glad to be done kicking.

Kelly tested the ropes around her wrists again. They hadn't at all been loosened and were still holding her hands fast to the slats in the back of the chair. She scooted backwards until she felt herself touch the wall. Using her one good leg, she pushed herself up the wall to a standing position. She rested for a moment planning her next move.

This would have to be done at the right angle. Propping herself up on her good leg, she leaned her weight into the chair, pressing as hard as she could until she heard the wood splinter and finally snap. The chair suddenly gave way, sending her stumbling to the floor. She held back a scream of pain as she landed on her injured knee and collapsed to the floor. Kelly shut her eyes and bit down on her gag hard, waiting for the waves of pain from her knee to become bearable again. Once she recovered, she twisted and squirmed until she finally removed the bits of chair from her wrists.

She sighed in relief and rested again, feeling sweat dampen the back of her shirt with her exertion. The most difficult part now completed, she relied on her flexibility to take her the rest of the way. She carefully positioned herself in a ball on the floor, and leaning backwards, slipped her wrists behind and over her legs, bringing her bound hands in front of her. She grimaced in pain as she felt the rope cutting into her skin as she strained against it.

Finally in a position to free herself, she pulled the gag out of her mouth and chewed through the rope. Now free, she rubbed her wrists gingerly, frowning at the deep stinging cuts the ropes had made during her struggle.

Kelly leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. Her head ached horribly and she felt sick to her stomach from the constant pain in her knee. A powerful wave of exhaustion hit her and she forced herself to open her eyes to keep from passing out. She reached up and gently felt the large knot on the back of her head. Her hair was matted and sticky and she wasn't surprised when upon examining her hand, she found blood on her fingertips. She ran her fingers over her face and winced as she felt the busted lip, the swollen eye, the dried blood around her mouth and nose, and the numerous scrapes and cuts. Peralta had probably been wearing a ring on one of his hands, she decided grimly. Kelly sighed and wiped her face with her sleeve, frowning at the amount of blood that now stained her jacket. It could have worse, she thought. At least he didn't know where Jill was.

She reached up and quietly tested the doorknob. The door was locked and she had nothing to use as a lockpick. It was flimsy enough to be kicked in, but there would be no point in alerting her captors that she had freed herself. She waited for a few minutes and then unsteadily rose to her feet. She put weight on her injured knee and hissed in pain as it started to give way.

This would complicate her escape.

She limped over to the broken bits of wood and picked up a sturdy chair leg. The wood was heavy and smooth in her hands and Kelly decided it would make an excellent weapon. Someone was bound to come in and when they did, she would be ready.

Hours later, Kelly heard footsteps outside her door. She grabbed her chair leg and hurried back to her spot. Keys jingled outside as someone prepared to unlock the door.

Kelly lifted her weapon over her shoulder like a baseball bat. She would get one chance and she had to make it count. It would be easy to overpower her in her condition so she had to make sure she did as much damage as possible. She tensed and held her breath as she watched the doorknob turn.

She heard Fred's voice before the door even opened.

"I bet your friend Sabrina has been taken care of by now. Boss says to give you one more chance t-"

Fred peered inside the room in horror. She was gone. He shoved the door open wide and rushed inside.

Kelly swung her chair leg as hard as she could. Fred turned just in time to catch the heavy bat right in the face.

He didn't even have time to scream.

Kelly looked down at Fred's unconscious form. She had broken his nose and blood was gushing all over the floor.

"That was for Jill." she whispered. She tucked her weapon in her jacket and cautiously looked outside. The little shack was seemingly empty.

Good.

She limped into the empty room, shutting the door behind her to conceal Fred. Luck seemed to be on her side as no one else was around. She slowly and painfully made her way outside. As she approached where she had parked, she moaned in dismay.

Her car was gone.

She cursed to herself and made her way over to a nearby tree to rest. Kelly leaned her head against her tree and eyed her surroundings. The little shack was in a small clearing about half a mile from the highway and accessible only by a few unpaved roads. There was no way she would be able to walk such a distance with her injured knee. But there seemed to be no other alternative. She took a deep breath and began making her way towards the highway.

She limped several yards, before sinking to the ground to rest. Trembling and nauseous with pain, she wiped her face and looked hopelessly out onto the empty road. It would take all night to get to the freeway. Clenching her teeth, she pushed herself up and managed to get back to her feet. Something off to her left suddenly caught her eye.

She was surprised to see a beat up old car parked not far from where she was. It was Christian's little green volkswagen bug. Kelly was elated. If she could hotwire it, she could get out of here and warn her friends.

If there was still time. She guessed it was around six thirty in the evening, meaning she had been locked inside for over three hours.

Kelly began to drag herself in the direction of the car, moving as carefully as possible to avoid straining her knee.

As she slowly made her way to the car, she suddenly heard loud angry shouts from behind her.

She whirled around in terror.

A tan Cadillac had pulled up behind the shack. She watched as two men jumped out of it and ran towards her, waving their arms and shouting angrily. She recognized them from the warehouse and they certainly had recognized her. They would kill her for sure.

She desperately surged forward, ignoring the blinding pain in her knee as she forced herself to run to the car as quickly as possible. The men were getting closer

Kelly stumbled into the car and frantically pulled the door handle.

It was locked.

She cursed loudly. Thinking quickly, she braced herself and threw her elbow into the glass, shattering it. She stuck her hand inside, unlocked it and got in. She had always been deeply ashamed of her past, but at this moment she thanked God that she had the ability to hotwire a car. She ripped open the compartment under the dashboard and started fumbling for the proper wires.

The men were within thirty feet of her.

"Come on, damn it." Kelly moaned in frustration as she frantically worked the wires under the dash. She glanced over at the men and was startled to see them already within several yards of her.

"Work!" she yelled in desperation. As if convinced by her outburst, the engine roared to life. Kelly let out a triumphant whoop of joy and immediately shifted the car in reverse and slammed her foot onto the accelerator. Her left knee seared with pain as she worked the clutch, but with the adrenaline surging through her, she barely noticed.

The car had started not a moment too soon. As Kelly pulled away, the two men's hands were yanked from their grip on her door handle. They tumbled to the floor, leaped to their feet, and hopelessly gave chase.

Kelly exhaled sharply in relief as she sped away from the clearing where the shack was and down the dirt road leading to the highway. She was shaking all over and took a deep breath to calm herself. She was alive and it was best to not dwell on what could have happened. She pushed her rising anxiety away and focused all of her thoughts on driving.

Her jacket suddenly felt like it was suffocating her and she quickly pulled it off and tossed it into the passenger seat. She looked outside at the setting sun and frowned. It was almost seven and her friends were most likely worried sick by now. She would go to Sabrina first, if something hadn't already happened to her. She prayed that it hadn't. Her friends needed to be warned. She reached the highway and headed back towards town. As she drove, she chanced a glance into the rearview mirror to see how bad she looked.

Her eyes widened in terror and her heart jumped into her throat.

Her face may have been bruised and bloodied, but it was the sight of a tan Cadillac behind her that caused her so much distress.

The two men were in the Cadillac and the vehicle was rapidly approaching her.

Kelly slammed her palms into the steering wheel in hopeless frustration. Another careless mistake! How had she been so stupid as to not notice that she was being followed? They were going to run her off of the road.

She jammed the accelerator down, hoping that the clunker she had stolen would be able to handle the increased speed. The bug shook and rattled, but jolted along the highway at ninety miles per hour. Kelly's eyes darted up to the rearview mirror. The Cadillac was still right behind her. Kelly watched with growing dread as it sped up, it's intentions very clear. She braced herself as it crashed into the back of her car.

Kelly yelped as the impact whipped her forward in her seat. Panicked, she ground the pedal to the floor.

The old car groaned in protest and refused to go faster.

The Cadillac rammed her again, making her temporarily lose control of her car. She quickly regained it, and desperately tried to think of a plan. Her frazzled mind could come up with nothing, so she acted completely out of desperation.

She swung her car to the left and slammed on the brakes. When the Cadillac was side by side with her, she spun the steering wheel hard to the right, sending her slamming into the bigger vehicle as it passed her.

The Cadillac swerved out of control and then spun out.

Kelly shrieked in terror as the Cadillac suddenly spun in her path, a head on collision seemingly inevitable. She instinctively yanked the wheel to the right to avoid it. At the abrupt change of direction, the old car gave out on her, both front tires blowing out and sending her careening out of control.

The out of control car flew off the road and lurched down a steep embankment. With Kelly powerless to stop it, the car flipped on its side and tumbled down into the densely wooded area coming to an abrupt stop as it crashed into a large oak tree.