Chapter 7

By Julie

Ella wanted to fight… she wanted to tear herself from David’s grip and kick him as hard as she could, right where it counted. But she remembered what had happened when Brian and Nick had tried to fight and knew it would do no good. Nate would be there an in instant with his gun, and then she would be in the same situation as Brian… or worse. And that terrified her, even more than the thought of David having his way with her. And so, she did not fight. She dug in her heels and resisted as much as she could, but no, she did not fight.

“Come on,” grunted David, dragging her further. They reached the back of the store, but he did not stop there. He pushed her on through the Personnel Only door in between the meat and dairy sections and shoved her roughly to the cold, cement floor of the stock room. She cried out as her body struck the hard floor, but immediately, she sat up and glared up at him. He only grinned, a sick, twisted grin, and rubbed his hands together. “Good girl,” he said quietly, his grin spreading.

“No,” Ella whimpered. “Please. Please don’t…”

But David just kept grinning.

***

“Nick,” Brian whispered hoarsely, craning his neck to look over at his friend. “Where did he take her? Wh-what’s he gonna do?” Nick glanced back at the stock room door and did not reply. “Nick… you can’t let him… you know. Somebody has to help her!”

“And get shot?” Nick fired back angrily. Brian winced.

“Dude, he’s right,” said a voice from a few feet away. Nick turned to look at the young man, who was sitting beside his wife near the checkout counter. “How can we just sit here and let him… rape her? We gotta do something!”

“Trent, please,” whispered the young woman, clutching at his arm. “Don’t do something stupid…”

“What if that were you in there, Jordan?” Trent said, motioning to the closed stock room door. “I’d be in there after you in a heartbeat.”

Jordan closed her mouth, a pained expression on her face.

“Come on,” Nick said to Trent. “Let’s see what we can do.” He chanced a look over at Nate and Kelly. They had moved away from the others and were sitting on the far checkout counter, side by side, immersed in a conversation. They kept touching each other, and Nick realized they were flirting. His lips drew back in an expression of disgust. Some couple.

Trent rose up a bit and peered over the counters at Nate and Kelly as well. Then he glanced over at Nick. “Should we try for it?” he whispered. “They might not notice us.”

Nick hesitated for just a second, then nodded. It was now or never. He motioned for Trent to follow him, then got to his hands and knees. All they had to do was make it into one of the aisles of groceries, where Nate and Kelly would not see him. From there, they would be okay until they got to the stock room. He sucked in a breath… and then he went, crawling across the floor as fast as he could without making any noise. He stayed low to the ground, praying they would not see his motion from the corner of their eyes. Luckily, they were so immersed in one another, they did not. He made it into one of the aisles and stopped, letting out his breath with a soft whoosh. Moments later, Trent appeared beside him. And still, there was not a peep from Nate or Kelly.

Nick motioned towards the stock room, and he and Trent hurried toward it, glancing back over their shoulders to make sure Nate and Kelly weren’t coming. They reached the back of the store and ducked down, trying to avoid the mirrors mounted on the walls, which would give their position away if Nate or Kelly looked into them closely enough.

“Let’s try to sneak in,” whispered Trent. “Maybe we can come up with behind, and… and knock him out with something.”

“Yeah,” said Nick. He glanced quickly around, then rose up and grabbed a large package of frozen steaks from one of the shelves in front of where they were crouching. The meat was frozen solid… but would it be hard enough to knock a person out? Nick doubted it… but at least it would throw David off and give them an extra advantage. He gripped the package in his hand and nodded determinedly to Trent. “Alright,” he whispered. “Let’s go in.”

He crept forward and slowly pushed open the stock room door. It swung forward soundlessly, and he peeked in. Just a few yards away, he could see Ella on the ground, cowering. David was on his knees in front of her, his fingers fiddling with his belt buckle, his back to the door. Perfect.

Nick tip-toed silently in, Trent following behind him. When he got in the proximity of David, he raised the steak package high over his head… and brought it down as hard as he could on David’s head. David let out a shout, but it was quickly stifled by Trent, who immediately pounced on David and tackled him to the ground, cupping his hand firmly over the older man’s mouth.

Nick looked around wildly for something else to hit David with while Trent had him down, something that would render him unconscious. And then he saw it – a metal tray, lying off to one side on a pile of cardboard boxes. He grabbed the tray – it was heavier than he imagined, which was a good thing – and ran back over to David, who was struggling under Trent’s weight.

“Trent, move,” he said sharply. Trent immediately moved off of David. David tried to rise to his knees, but as soon as he did, Nick struck him with the tray, hitting him on the side of the head. David collapsed to the floor again, moaning in pain. Nick brought the tray down upon him once more. His eyes rolled up in his head, and he fell motionless. Nick set the tray down, breathing heavily.

“Good job, man,” Trent whispered hoarsely. Then he looked at Ella. “You all right?”

“Yeah,” whispered Ella, who was staring at the unconscious David with wide eyes. She glanced up at Trent, then at Nick. “How did you…” she started to ask, then stopped and shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t matter how… just… thank you. If you guys hadn’t have come, he would have…” She trailed off, glancing over at David again, and her eyes filled with tears.

“I know,” said Trent softly. “But he didn’t. It’s okay.” He knelt down beside her and touched her shoulder. “You’re okay.”

Nick stood stiffly to the side, quite uncomfortable. “What are we gonna do now?” he asked flatly. “How can we make it back out there without them noticing? And what about him?” He kicked at David.

Trent and Ella looked at each other.

“I don’t know,” Trent said slowly. “We need to do something with him, before he wakes up.”

“Maybe we can tie him up,” Nick suggested. “Any rope or anything lying around here?”

After a quick search of the room, they didn’t find any rope. But they did, however, find several large rolls of clear packing tape and decided that would work just as well. They worked quickly, putting tape over David’s mouth and binding his ankles and wrists tightly together. Then they dragged him over to one of the shelving units and attached him to it, wrapping layers and layers of tape around his middle and the edge of the shelves until he was restrained up against them.

“There,” said Nick. “That should do it.”

“What about Ella though?” Trent asked. “If Nate and Kelly see her out there, won’t they wonder what happened to David? They’ll come looking for him.”

“We don’t have to go back out there,” Ella said suddenly. “We can go out that way.” And she pointed across the room. Turning around to look, Nick and Trent saw a beautiful site - a door. An unguarded door in the back of the stock room. All three of them ran towards it and pushed on the handle.

It didn’t open.

“No!” cried Ella desperately, throwing her weight against the door. “No, no, no!”

“Stand back, let me try,” said Nick, nudging Ella to the side. He threw his own weight against the door and pushed with all his might. But it didn’t budge. Trent tried too, and then Trent and Nick together. But it still refused to open.

“It must be locked,” Trent said finally. “There’s the keyhole right there. But where’s the key?”

“Maybe the manager has it!” Ella said, brightening again. “If one of you could just get it and get back in here…”

“It’d be risky,” Nick said slowly. “But maybe it would work.”

“We have to try,” Trent said determinedly. “You want me to go?”

“I think we should both go,” said Nick. “And Ella… you stay here. The most important thing is that Trent and I get out of this room without being seen. Then Nate and Kelly will think you and David are still in here… together… We can get the key from the manager, and one of us can bring it back here. If at least one or two of us can get out, at least then we can get some help.”

Trent and Ella nodded.

“Alright, let’s go,” said Trent.

“Be careful, you guys,” Ella said softly. “Don’t get caught.”

Quietly, Trent and Nick crept back to the door and slowly opened it. Trent stuck his head out and peered out into the store. “All clear,” he whispered back to Nick. Then he started out into the store. Nick followed behind him. They hurried quickly into the aisle and made their way down it. Then, suddenly, Trent stopped. Behind him, Nick froze, straining his ears. And then he heard it.

Footsteps.

Someone was coming.

There was nowhere to hide and not enough time to do anything anyway. The footsteps grew closer, and then, suddenly, Nate appeared.

“Well, what do we have here?” he asked. “A couple of runaways? What do you think you’re doing, huh? Trying to get back there and rescue the bitch? Sorry, guys, she’s David’s tonight.”

Good, thought Nick, he doesn’t realize we’ve already been there.

But there was no time to feel relieved. For right then, Nate drew his gun. He played with it at first, twirling it casually around one finger. “I don’t like runaways,” he said. Still twirling.

And then, he stopped. He rose his gun and pointed it straight at them. There was no time to react. No time to move, no time to duck, no time to dodge.

With a horrific blast, the gun went off.

***

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