Her feet hit the dirt path below them lightly. Chest heaving with every fresh breath of air that she sucked in and released, her heart pounding underneath. Sweat dripped delicately from her hair line and brow down her face and slender neck. Pumping her arms in sync with her legs moving one in front of the other, she set her pace. Rapid, quick. But controlled. Her heavy breathing lingering in her ears. The only sound she could hear over the birds chirping in the trees all around her.
Without a gym to go to, running was her only option right now. And that release alone was something she needed with all the chaos in her life. Waking up this morning on the living room floor was a surprise in itself. She didn't even remember falling asleep in front of the fire. The pillows and blankets comforting, all around her. Along with the body completely relaxed next to her. Jack.
At some point in the evening, they had ended up horizontal on the floor in the nest he had made. Both of them falling asleep next to each other at some point. They hadn't woken up in a compromising position, just side by side. Him on his back, a hand up behind his head. She on her side facing him.
Without a second thought she found herself sitting up and wiping the rough feeling from her face you get after crying. That of course, woke him. His brown eyes finding hers instantly. And as if it were the most normal thing in the world, he smiled softly at her before telling her good morning. Apologizing for not shooing her off to the guest room or at least pulling out the bed from the couch so she wouldn't have had to sleep on the floor.
Then they were both getting up and starting their day. As if they did this every day. He went off to shower and start breakfast, she brushing her teeth before changing her clothes to go on a run. Leading her to where she was now. Following the same path she had followed yesterday afternoon.
Running past the same trees, the same stream, the same run-down barn further off the trail deeper in the trees. Only catching sight of the roof of what she assumed was a barn anyways. It was more beautiful out here than she thought it was going to be. And the sun coming up displaying all sorts of pink and yellow and orange hues had her distracted. She could hardly keep her eyes off it.
Which led to her barreling into something. Ricocheting off of the object she found herself tumbling down into the dirt. All the air in her lungs escaped as she landed hard, tumbling onto her side as she became a heap of arms and legs on top of the earth. A sharp pain shot through her knee before there was another in the side of her head. The world righted itself in her line of vision as everything spun.
Groaning she blinked heavily, unsure if she wanted to even attempt to move or if she should just lay where she landed.
What she wasn't expecting on top of this entire mess was a figure to appear right in front of her. A figure of a larger man kneeling before her. A hand coming towards her.
Drawing away from the stranger, she frowned as she pushed herself up with one hand.
"You alright there? Looks like you took a pretty hard tumble!" A smirk graced the mans bearded face. Dark green eyes stared intently into hers. Unable to find any words, she could only nod. Still trying to process what exactly just happened. One minute she was running and the next she was eating dirt. "Here. Let me help ya." A grimy hand was grabbing her under the arm before she had a chance to do or say anything and pulling her upright. "Sorry about that."
"It's alright. I should have watched where I was running." Finally finding her voice, she spoke up. Shaking her head to get a handle on herself she glanced down where the pain was. Her black leggings had a tear diagonally across her knee, a few drops of blood spread across the skin showing.
"I should have done the same! Wasn't expecting anyone to be out on the trails this early." Avoiding touching the gash in her knee, she saw the offending object. A small rock with a streak of blood where she had landed. Looking back up at the man she paused. There slung over his shoulder was a bow. Across his chest was the strap for the quiver on his back where the arrows sat comfortably. "Hunter. Looking for some fresh meat."
Realizing she wasn't being discreet by any means as the man caught on to her staring at his weaponry, Sam gave him a soft tight smile. Hunting? This early in the morning? Sure, but this relatively open space didn't seem like the ideal place to hunt. The sunrise had been distracting her of course, but not enough to hide an entire human walking in front of her. He had to of been in the trees and stepped out as she was getting closer to his position.
"Having any luck?" Trying to be polite, Sam nodded at the bow.
"Uh, not so much actually. Not the right game. And lost my buddy in the process." And then he was standing before her, a hand reaching down. Cautiously, she took it letting him pull her the rest of the way up to her feet. "Name's Rick." Her arm jerked slightly as he pulled her up. He was well up to four or five inches taller than her as she looked up at him. His eyes were void, making her uncomfortable. Something about this man just wasn't sitting right within her gut.
"Sam." Pulling her hand away from his, she took a step back. Cringing a little at the pain in her knee.
"You're bleedin'." His finger pointed up at her hairline. Bringing her hand up, her fingertips touched the side of her head, right inside her hairline at her temple. They came back with a little smear of blood as she pulled them away. "You live around here? I can walk ya back or to your car if you're a hiker."
"I'm okay. But thank you." Wiping her fingers on the side of her shirt she shook her head.
"You sure? Don't need you passing out around here all by yourself. Nobody would find ya." His belly laugh had her squinting her eyes as she studied him. His tongue flicking out to lick his lips.
"Thank you, again, for the offer. But really, I'm fine. I'll just-" Stepping around him she nodded respectfully. Apparently, this run was going to end early and heading back to the cabin was her best option.
"You know, it's not very safe runnin' around out here by yourself." Not having gotten more than five steps away from Rick, she found herself stopping and turning back to him. Frowning at his words, she realized he didn't have a lick of sarcasm in his voice or in his features. His hand reached down for the knife at his hip, gripping the handle briefly.
Feeling uneasy, she started to turn back towards her way to the cabin. Choosing to not acknowledge the comment. "Be safe!" He called over her shoulder.
But again, she had only made it a few steps when she heard another body come through from the trees.
"Next body you're carrying all by yourself!" Another man's voice drifted from behind her, clearly not Rick and the deep voice he had. "Well looky here! You found a friend!"
Her heart was in her throat. Her body was stuck between fight or flight. Dare she turn back around to see the face that belonged to the new voice? Or just run? The uncomfortable feeling she got from Rick alone was throwing red flags in her face. This run was slowly going from bad to worse.
"Now don't be shy sweetheart!" She heard from behind her, and gravel crunching as Rick's friend took a few steps towards her. "Who's your friend Rick?"
Without a second thought she threw her right foot forward, pushing off her left. Something was wrong here and she didn't want to wait around and find out. Pushing one foot in front of the other, she could hear the two men laughing behind her. Blocking out their voices, she concentrated on the path in front of her. It wasn't too awfully far from the Cabin, but she had a ways to go.
Unfortunately, her chances of making that distance decreased significantly when a sharp pain shot through her left thigh. Stumbling down to her right knee, she went sideways landing fully on her hip. Her eyes darted down to her leg and grew wide as she found the tip of an arrowhead protruding through her skin.
Pushing herself back to her feet, she stumbled slightly. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins. Forcing her feet to move she winced at every sharp pain that shot through her leg. She could do this, she's been through worse. Another arrow whizzed past her, rushing footsteps were getting closer from behind. Gritting her teeth she pushed on. The arrow was slowing her down, without a doubt. And when a body tackled her from behind she couldn't squelch the scream that tore from her throat as the arrow jostled about in her thigh.
Throwing her elbow back she felt pride swell in her chest as a resounding crack rippled through her ears. Pushing up on her hands and good knee she tried shoving back up to her feet, her attacker now distracted by his broken nose. But she wasn't lucky enough. Fingers dug into her thigh near the arrow stuck there making her falter. Crying out she dropped back into the dirt, rolling onto her back. The fingers on her thigh immediately released and she felt the man climbing over her. Throwing her fist up at his nose again, she felt blood drop onto her cheek as her knuckles met the sensitive skin and bones there.
The man above her cried out angrily in pain, his hands wrapping tightly around her wrists, slamming them above her head in the dirt. "Get me the goddamn rope Rick!" He hollered at his companion. Twisting beneath him she couldn't let this happen. Throwing her head up at him, she was just shy of slamming her head against his. "I don't think so missy." He was too heavy for her. His grip was too tight on her wrists. She was stuck.
With one last ditch effort she started screaming. If she couldn't physically get herself out of this predicament, she had to try her voice. Maybe her luck would change, and someone would be near and hear her, maybe Jack would hear her from the cabin and come running. Watching for any slip up on this man's part, Sam continued to scream and squirm, trying to find any way out of his grip.
"Shut her up Carl! Someone's gonna hear!" Rick shouted as he rushed up next to them with rope in his hand.
An immediate backhanded smack from the one named Carl on top of her had her head snapping to the side, her vision blurring slightly, and her voice cutting off instantly. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth where she had bit her lip. The injury already swelling.
"Tie her wrists up." Carl instructed Rick as his grip moved down to her forearms. The manila material scratched at her wrists as Rick wrapped them tight. As soon as her wrists were secure, Carl let go of her arms and sat back on her hips, placing a hand up under her throat. "Now no more of that. You're going to take the hunt away. And that's something I just won't have sweetheart."
Feeling her source of air slowly being cut off, Sam pursed her lips tightly, her nose wrinkling in disgust knowing he would have no problem with suffocating her right here and now. She had officially run out of options. She was restrained, injured, and if she made any more noise there would be no way of getting out of this situation. She'd be seven feet underground.
His calloused hand swiftly pulled away from her throat and then he was tearing the bottom of his shirt. "Gimme some more of that rope." Carl nodded at the rope in Rick's hand. He was going to stuff her mouth. Her eyes widened at the realization. This alone would lesson her chances of escape. Letting her voice take over again, she screamed at the top of her lungs. Someone had to hear her. The General had to hear her.
Both of Carl's hands immediately wrapped around her throat cutting her off. Only seconds before Rick's booted foot connected with the side of her head. Everything immediately went black.
-x-x-x-
Everything hurt. Everything ached. Her head, her leg, her mouth, her arms. Her pride. Picking her head up off her chest everything danced around in front of her while her vision focused, she found herself in a run-down building. It seemed like the inside of a smaller barn or a large shed. There were no windows to see outside, just a large double door entrance and exit to her right. She could see sunlight coming through the cracks and small holes of the boards. Blinking heavily, she looked up. A metal hook hung above her on a chain from the ceiling, where she currently hung from by her tied wrists. No wonder her arms ached so badly. She was floating two feet off the ground.
Gagging on the balled-up strip of shirt in her mouth held in place by more rope, she closed her eyes. The last thing she needed was to throw up with nowhere for it to go but be absorbed in the material shoved in her mouth or right back down.
Suddenly without warning the doors to her right flew open. "Surprise, surprise! She's awake!" Rick's voice followed shortly after.
"Welcome back sweetheart!" Carl appeared in front of her, arms crossed over his chest. Carl wasn't as large or as muscular as Rick, but he was just as tall as him. "Sorry bout the kick. Rick got a little out of control back there." He shrugged with a smirk on his face. They were the least bit sorry for knocking her unconscious.
"Now Sammy, don't go causing us any trouble alright? We'd like to enjoy your company before it expires." Rick's hand landed on her ankle, just above her shoe and barely showing sock. Slowly he started trailing it up her leg, back and forth from the outer edges of her calf and thigh to the inner. In a zigzag pattern on its way up. Her lip twitched angrily as he dipped his hand into her inner thigh right where it met her center, squeezing the flesh of her thigh. "Our last guest didn't make it more than a day or two before we had to let her go."
"We're nice guys, we promise! Just gotta give us a chance and get to know us." Carl sneered just behind Rick.
Glaring at both of them, Sam shook her head. She wasn't sure what their sick game was, but she didn't want to find out. Rick's hand in the place it was, that was enough for her. Kicking her right leg out she caught him in the chest. Her body swung just a bit back and forth after that movement. Rick recovered quickly and came back just as fast. Getting up in her space, he grabbed her right knee, digging his fingers into the sensitive skin there on the back of her leg before using his left hand to grab the arrow still lodged in her left thigh. Pushing and pulling on it. Immobilizing both legs temporarily.
Unable to stop the scream of pain, tears filled her eyes as he toyed with the arrow. The torn-up shirt in her mouth making it harder for her to breathe let alone catch her breath with the added pain and shortness of breath from screaming.
"Do that again and I'll rip this arrow straight out of ya. Feathers and all. Maybe I'll even pull it out backwards." His left hand let go of the arrow and slapped her leg making her flinch at the pain that shot up her leg. Black dots were taking over her vision as everything started blurring again.
"Alright Rick. Let's let the little lady get some rest. She's gonna need it." Carl patted Rick's shoulder.
"We'll be back in a bit sweetheart." Rick circled her, his hand grabbing at her ass, tapping the arrow one last time before he followed in Carl's footsteps out of the barn. The double doors shutting behind them, a wooden plank sliding into place to lock her in.
Finally getting her breathing under control, a tear trickled down her cheek. Her thigh was throbbing and felt like it was on fire. Taking deep breaths in through her nose and back out, she kept the urge to vomit in check. Her ears were ringing as she hung limply from the hook. She needed to find a way out and fast.
-x-x-x-
Jack paced the kitchen; it had been at least two hours since Carter disappeared on her run this morning and had yet to come back. Something he found unsettling. Yesterday's run hadn't lasted this long. But he did screw up last night and put his foot in his mouth trying to make her feel better. Maybe she needed some extra time away. To think. To process. Hell, he still hadn't processed last night himself. Maybe she was having second thoughts coming up to the cabin with him. Especially two days before Teal'c and Daniel.
Today was their last day alone before Teal'c and Daniel would come up tomorrow. They definitely needed to sort this out between themselves before the other two showed up. In order to do that, would require Carter to come back from this two-hour run she was apparently thoroughly enjoying. He knew she was a runner, but this was a little much, especially for being on vacation.
With a heavy sigh, he pulled on a dark green three-quarter zip pullover. Heading for the front door he stepped out front. Looking for any sign that she would be running back towards the house. Should he go look for her? Should he just wait? Was he overreacting? Long runs weren't uncommon for Carter. But again, they were on vacation and things were eerily quiet. And to be honest he missed her company.
And he was worried. She was still dealing with some big emotions and feelings with her father's passing and who knows how she was managing his behavior from last night. She'd come back. She was probably more than halfway back to the cabin right now. He'd see her soon.
Slapping his hand against the post on the porch, he went back inside. He didn't need to be out here, and he would only look like a fool waiting outside for her to show up. Worried. She was a grown woman that could handle herself. She was fine.
-x-x-x-
Close to twenty minutes had passed since Carl and Rick had left the barn and she had found enough courage mustered up to start thinking properly. Looking around the space she found little to nothing of help or use. Even if she were to get down. But that was her first problem, finding a way down. Her arms were already weak from hanging from this hook. Any time she moved her left leg, sharp shooting pains went from her hip to her toes. Don't forget the lightheaded feeling she had in her head from getting kicked by Rick. She could only imagine what that mark looked like and was more than sure she had a concussion.
Staying awake was getting harder and harder. Things were hard to focus on. And the nauseous feeling she had felt earlier still lingered. And her wrists, she could feel the rope was wet from blood and could feel small beads of it trickling down her arms. But she needed to push that all to the side right now. None of that mattered and wouldn't matter if she didn't get herself down and get out of here.
Testing the restrictions of the rope and hook she tried jolting upwards to see if she could get the rope to slide closer to the tip of the hook. Maybe slide it off. But with nothing to jump off of, she wasn't going to get anywhere. Reaching her fingers up, she strained them as far as she could trying to wrap them around the hook, they weren't on the metal for more than a few seconds before they slid off.
Looking around the area, she thought maybe swinging her legs to grab onto something and work her body off the hook may be a possibility. But again, there was nothing there for leverage and if that was the case, she wasn't going to waste that energy or inflict that pain on herself for nothing.
Looking back up at the hook she took in all its details. It was sturdy, not a spot of rust in sight. Moving past that, she looked at the rope. Eying it from the knot around the hook to as far as her eyes could take her up. The rope wasn't as clean and new as the hook. It was dirty and she could see a few small threads unravelling in a few spots. Maybe, just maybe.
Dropping her chin to her chest, she took a deep shaky breath. Knowing how much pain this was going to cause, she didn't see any other way. Putting her weight on the rope around her wrists, she pulled her body up just a few inches as if doing a weird version of a pullup. Taking another deep breath, she released her muscles and let her body drop. The hook rattled and dust fell from the rope above. Without a second thought she did it again. And again. And again.
After losing track of time, she could feel her arms shaking. The small beads of blood that had already been dripping down her arms from her wrists were turning into small streams. Every pullup was becoming physically harder and harder. Pushing herself, she continued seeing more strands of the rope unravelling. It wasn't the most effective option, but it did seem to be working.
A sharp snap as soon as her body settled for what felt like the millionth time of pulling herself up and dropping all her weight back down, had her looking up sharply. Half of the rope had torn. Feeling relief and a bit of accomplishment, she gave herself a minute to breathe. Move your ass Sam. Clenching her jaw tight she pulled herself up, pushing herself a little bit higher than all the times before. By now her hands and arms were tingling and numb. That wasn't helping her one bit.
With a grunt she kicked her good leg out to jolt up even higher before her entire body dropped. Although this time, instead of the sharp stop she was expecting she heard a loud snap and all the air left her lungs as she slammed into the dirt floor below. Rolling to her right side she felt the weight of the hook disappear as she tried to relax her body. The muscles tensing in her left thigh making the pain of the arrow worse than before. Sucking in as much air as she could around the material shoved in her mouth. Eyes shut tight, she calmed herself, waiting for the pain in her leg to subside as she caught her breath. As well as letting some of the feeling in her arms and hands come back.
She wasn't in any immediate danger, the two men haven't been gone for long, and she needed to find some strength before she climbed to her feet to find a way out of this barn. Looking around the space, her next goal was to find something to help cut this rope off her wrists. But there was nothing. Nothing but old, rotten, wooden planks that weren't sharp or jagged enough to cut through the rope. Not even broken glass or left-over nails or nails protruding from the walls. Absolutely nothing.
Tears filled her vision again as her only option came forefront to her mind. Already knowing how painful it was going to be she sucked in a deep breath. Pushing herself upright, she glared down at the arrow. Without a second thought she dropped her hands down to the arrow and started sawing at the rope with it. White hot pain flashed behind her eyes as the arrow jostled back and forth with every move. But she couldn't stop. She needed to get her hands untied and this was the only way. Biting down on the ripped-up shirt and rope in her mouth, she pushed through the pain. Tears coursing down her cheeks.
After what felt like hours, she felt the rope give a little and pulled her hands up to her chest. Twisting her wrists and pulling sharply she felt the last strand snap. Freeing her wrists. Within seconds her hands were pulling at the knot behind her head, manipulating it enough that she couldn't untie it completely but was able to loosen it enough that she could slide it down out of her mouth. The nausea was unbearable at this point. From the searing pain in her thigh, and irritation she just put the wound through cutting the rope around her wrists off, she was having a hard time controlling her stomach.
Spitting the material in her mouth out just in time to lose the contents of her stomach, Sam heaved twice more before gagging and coughing. She was drained and exhausted. The small space was spinning in front of her. She couldn't pass out. She needed to get somewhere safe first.
After wiping her mouth with her hand, she wiped that hand on her shirt. Immediately pushing to her feet, the room spun, and she found herself stumbling into the nearest wall. Sucking in a few deep breaths of musty air she pressed her forehead against the wood, closing her eyes as she waited for the nausea to pass and spinning to stop.
"Come on Sam." Her voice was a whisper and she mentally and verbally tried to boost herself up for the next step. "We didn't just do all of that for nothing." Determined blue eyes snapped open and landed directly on the double barn doors. Following the wall to the doors, she pushed a few times to see how sturdy the wooden plank was. And unfortunately, it was sturdy. Unlike the rotting wooden planks in the barn with her.
Pushing and pulling wasn't going to do any good. Limping her way along the other wall she started kicking and pushing at the wooden planks that made up the wall. Looking for any weak spots she might find. But again, there was nothing. The doors were her only way out. Somehow, she needed to get that plank out of the way and get those doors open. Reaching for the nearest pile of rotting wooden planks and boards she searched for the thinnest and strongest ones.
Grabbing an arm full she hobbled to the doors again. Dropping the six she had grabbed at her feet, she picked up the board on top. With high hopes she tried to shove the end between the small crevice of the doors. But it was too thick. Turning it over to the other side she tried again, but same results. Tossing that board behind her she reached for the next one on top.
By the time she got to the sixth one she was more than frustrated. They were either too thick and wouldn't fit in the small opening or if they did the board was too weak and rotten and would snap at any pressure she put on it trying to pop up the board holding the doors closed. Throwing the sixth and last board she had grabbed in her pile, the third to snap from the pressure, against the nearest wall she gave out a frustrated cry.
Letting go of the short moment of defeat, she went back to the old boards piled in the back of the barn and grabbed three more. She didn't have high hopes with the first one and wasn't surprised when it wouldn't fit in the small crevice. Tossing that one aside she went for the next one on top again. A sick, never-ending cycle of hope.
The board slid smoothly between the crevice of the doors but that didn't spark any sort of excitement or encouragement in Sam knowing how fragile these pieces of wood were. There was still a good chance this piece was going to snap just like the other three that had snapped on her. Propping the end of the board up against the bottom of the thick board holding the doors closed, she pushed up slowly. Praying it wouldn't snap. Her heart sunk as she felt a crack. But it hadn't broken like all the others. Moving her hands up the board she lifted it further. She could see the board holding the doors shut rising slowly, uneasily through the small slit of opening. Holding her breath, she gave it one last push and almost whooped with joy as the board fell from its holding place and she heard the thud of it in the dirt outside.
Shoving the doors open she grimaced at the bright sun that met her. Pulling her hand up immediately to shield the sun she sucked in a breath of fresh air. This was it. This was her chance. Neither Carl nor Rick were anywhere to be seen. Taking a few cautious steps out of the barn she stumbled as she turned back to look at the dilapidated building only to realize it was the same barn she had seen not far off the path from her run. They were still near the path, and she could easily follow it back to the cabin.
She just had to decide on whether following the path was the best choice or staying within the tree line. Where would she have less of a chance running into the two men? Hearing what sounded like a muted explosion Sam jumped. Pressing close to the barn she started to smell smoke from a fire. Laughter filled the air, and she froze in place. Carl and Rick were closer than she anticipated.
Peering around the corner of the barn Sam watched as she found Carl and Rick almost a football fields length away from the barn in a clearing. Pulling something from the back of a dark blue two door truck. Frowning she concentrated on the limp creature they were hoisting between the two of them.
"Oh my god." And in that moment, she realized it was a human. A person. Not a creature. Not an animal. A woman. A dead woman they were casually tossing into a large fire pit. Immediately pulling gasoline from the back of the truck as well. Igniting the flames more.
Turning sharply, she leaned back against the barn briefly shutting down the shock and reeling in her emotions before she pushed off the unsteady structure. She needed to get to the cabin and get there fast. Preferably before she passed out.
END CHAPTER 2