Chapter 3

            “Oh, shit!”

Des moved as quickly as she could but she knew that it was too late.  Before she could even push herself away from the man she felt one of his large arms wrap around her waist, his other hand around her neck.  Both were squeezing the life out of her with an ease that would have frightened her if she weren’t so focused on trying to get away.

Esme had heard her sister’s exclamation and moved to exit the van.  There had been fear in her sister’s voice and despite Des’ previous admonishments, Esme wasn’t leaving her to fight whatever was in that container alone.

But she froze as she heard her sister’s strangled gasps for air and a series of rhythmic thuds.  Whatever was going on, Esme wasn’t going to be able to get there in time.

“Des, if you can hear me, keep fighting.  I’m coming to help you but you have to keep fighting.”

Des could hear Esme through her ear piece but her voice seemed to be faint and far away.  She knew that if she didn’t break the man’s hold, he was either going to snap her neck, crush her ribs, or simply manage to suffocate her.

Her feet were still resting on the bottom of the box and she flailed them with little effect, occasionally making contact with his legs, but the man seemed to be impervious to pain. 

Des tried to use her hands to loosen his grip on her throat, digging her short nails into his hand.  She could tell she had broken the skin and felt the man’s blood beneath her hands.  But if he felt the pain she was inflicting, his painful embrace did not show it.

Feeling her body starting to weaken from the lack of oxygen, Des tried a different tact, moving her hands up to his face and aiming for his eyes.  She managed to scrape her nails down his cheeks before he shifted his grip and moved her further away from him and out of the box.

Her feet now dangling, Des renewed her kicking, hitting the man’s legs as often as she hit the box.  She shifted her hips and tried to aim for his groin, but the way she was positioned didn’t allow her access.

Feeling desperate, Des shifted her arms and hands down and went straight for the man’s unprotected genitals.  She managed to grab his flaccid penis with one hand and pulled with a harsh jerk.

She felt the man’s body stiffen and the arm around her waist loosen as he moved to grab her hand in an effort to jerk it away.

The change in position gave Des more room to move and she used her left hand to grasp his balls and began to squeeze them with a punishing force.

Almost without warning Des felt herself flying through the air as the man thrust her away from him violently.  Unable to brace herself, she slammed into the hard floor of the container and knocked all the remaining air out of her lungs.

Her mind and body were at odds as she mentally screamed at herself to get up and get away from the man.  But her body was simply struggling to take in air, her lungs seemingly frozen.  The lack of oxygen was causing black spots to invade her vision and her lungs were on fire.

Almost as if she were underwater, she heard a loud thud and the realization that he was on the move and likely coming towards her gave her a burst of adrenaline that kick started her lungs.  Two gasps of air and her vision cleared but she didn’t wait for that to try to struggle to her feet.

Her eyes sought the man as she scrambled first to her hands and knees and then shakily to her feet.  The thudding of her heart and the quivering of her knees told her that she was in no condition to fight. But she didn’t have a choice.  She had barely regained her feet when she saw nearly seven feet of pure muscle charging at her.

Esme was charging down the transporter tracks with no idea of what she was going to do to help her sister.  But she knew she had to try to do something.

She could see the transporter as she approached it but the faster she ran the further away it seemed to be.

The whole time she kept hoping to hear her sister’s voice, or anything other than the sickening choking noises and then the silence that had been coming across the com.

Right as she finally saw she was making ground on the transporter she heard what sounded like a gasp and then harsh breathing.  A surge of relief flooded through her as she realized Des was alive, but that relief was soon squelched when she heard her sister’s strangled scream.

Des tried to dodge the man’s initial lunge but he caught the back of her black shirt and pulled her towards him.

“No!” She finally managed to force words past her throat even as she fell to her hands and knees again and tried to scramble away.  She could hear her shoes squeaking on the floor as she struggled to find purchase.

Changing tactics, she rolled to her back and kicked upwards with both of her feet, catching the man squarely in the chest.

It was like kicking a brick wall, but the force of the kick pushed her away from the man, rather than pushing him away from her.  She slid across the floor and slammed into the side of the container.

She again struggled to her feet, knowing that if she stayed in one spot, he would be on her faster than she could take another breath.

Her breathing was labored and she braced against the wall briefly even as she prepared to dodge the incoming attack.  He was moving towards her like a runaway train and she knew she was going to have to be quick and do something unexpected to get away.

Waiting until he was almost upon her, instead of trying to dodge him to the left or right, she dropped and dove through his legs, using the slickness of the floor to move away faster than she would have been able to run.

But he proved to be faster, almost inhumanly so.  Just as she thought her move had worked, she felt hands latch onto her booted feet and halt her forward movement.

In her prone position she had nothing to grasp on to, nothing to stop him from reeling her back in.  As she slid towards him on her stomach, she frantically tried to reach the knife she kept strapped to her waist. Her hand had just grazed the handle when she suddenly felt his full weight drop onto her back.

For the second time in less than two minutes she had the air knocked from her lungs.  The sensation left her feeling paralyzed and any advantage she might have had with the knife was gone in those few seconds.

She knew that this time she was done for.  On her stomach she had no way of damaging him and no way to wiggle free.  She felt a pang of sadness run through her at the thought of leaving her sister behind.  Then a sense of fear as she realized that Esme would try to come to her aid and would likely die the same way.

That last thought made her start to struggle again, as she fought with everything she had left in her.  She couldn’t let her sister die because of her stupid decision.

She felt the man’s hands grab for her head and knew that if he got his arm around her neck he would likely snap it this time.  She tossed her head in an attempt to dislodge his grasping hands and felt his hands tangle in the dark cap she wore to cover her hair.

She continued to toss her head and buck underneath him even as she again tried to reach for her knife.  She felt the cap give away and her hair unraveled in long tangle of dark curls as she continued to work to free herself.

Then suddenly, he was still.

Des continued to struggle for a few moments before she realized that he was no longer pressing her into the floor.  His weight was still there, but he wasn’t using it to confine her.  She lay still as she tried to figure out what he was doing.

Was he playing with her?  Waiting for her to move for her knife again so he could disarm her? 

It took her another moment to realize that she could feel his hands in her hair, and not in a painful way.  It was almost as if he were petting her.

Moving slowly, Des started to roll over onto her side, and when he didn’t try to stop her, onto her back.  She lay there, breathing harshly and tense as she tried to figure out what her next move should be.  She was glad that he was no longer trying to kill her, but that didn’t help her to figure out how to get away from him before he changed his mind.

She watched his face as he crouched there over her, his fingers sliding through her dark curls as they continued to unravel and unwind from the tight coil she had placed them in.  Most people didn’t know how long her hair was, and she never wore it down in public.  Once it was completely undone it would reach her waist.

Esme had been after her to cut it for over ten years but Des had hesitated.  Now she may have an even bigger reason to be glad she had never cut it.

She didn’t know what it was about her hair that was so fascinating to the man, but he was obviously enthralled.  He began to dig his hands into the thick tresses and spread them out across Des’ upper body, draping long strands across his own thighs.

For a moment, Des began to worry that his interest in her had turned from deadly to sexual.  She took a furtive glance at his lap where he was crouched over her, and through the curtain of her own hair saw that he was not aroused.

She relaxed slightly but went back on full alert when the man’s hands pulled from her hair and he reached towards her face.

Des flinched, expecting a hard touch, but was again surprised as he gently ran his fingers across her cheeks, over her chin, and then back up to her mouth.

It was then that she noticed his eyes had changed from the icy silver she had seen in the box to a light shade of brown.  The color made him look more human and gave Des hope that she might get out of this alive.

He finally sat back on his heels and cocked his head as he looked at her.

“I don’t hurt women.”

Des could only lay there and gape at him.  His voice had come out harshly, as if he had not used it in a while.  He frowned and then reached up to touch his own throat.  Then he ran his hands down to his chest and to his abs.  He looked down quickly and then hurriedly scrambled off of Des’ prone body.

Des would have sworn that she had seen a blush color the man’s neck and face.  She was even more sure of the fact when she saw that he was now trying to cover his genitals with his hands.

He backed away from Des, his eyes darting around the container with its harsh light and cold walls.  He turned and looked at the box that he had come out of, and then walked towards it.

Des struggled to her own feet, feeling as if she had been hit by a truck.  She looked at the muscled backside of the man who was now across the container from her, and figured that she had been hit by something akin to a truck.

She stumbled to the wall that had come down between her and the outer door of the container and leaned against it, wondering how she was going to disarm the system that had shut her in with a killer.  She ran her hands along the smooth surface, looking for anything that would indicate a way to get through the wall.

“Come on, come on, come on!” She didn’t realize she was speaking aloud until she heard Esme’s voice come through her ear piece.

“Des!  Oh, God, Des!  You’re alive!” A pause and then, “What the fuck is going on in there?!”

Des nearly slid to her knees at the sound of her sister’s voice.  As she had felt the life leaving her body she had hoped that her sister would stay away, but now she knew her sister might be her only way out of this container.

“Esme, I need your help.”

“I’m here, Sis.  Just tell me what to do.”

Des glanced behind her to see where the man was and was relieved to see him still standing by the box he had come out of.  She didn’t know what he was looking for, and honestly she didn’t care at that moment.  She only wanted him to stay occupied so that she could get out of the container and away from him.

“I’m going to need you to get to the container and key in the code to the door.  I’m hoping that will somehow release the security wall that’s blocking me from getting out.”

“I’m already here, Des. Just tell me the code and we’ll get you the hell out of there.”

Des sighed, “You don’t listen well, do you Sis.”  It wasn’t a question, but Esme responded anyway.

“Not when you’re in danger, I don’t.  Now what’s the code?”

Des smiled and then rattled off the series of numbers that would open the outer door of the container.  She heard a tell-tale hiss as the door released and held her breath, hoping to see the wall in front of her move.  But she realized immediately that the security wall had not released.

“Des?  I can see the wall, but I don’t see a way through it.”

Des leaned her head against the cool wall and tried to think.

“Yeah, I know.  I triggered it by moving when I entered the container, but it doesn’t seem to respond to movement now.”

“What about the weapon?  Any way you can use it to bust through the wall?”

Des turned her head and looked for the man but froze when she realized he was walking towards her.”

“Hold that thought, Sis.  I might be occupied for a few minutes.”

Des didn’t wait to hear Esme’s reply, instead bracing herself for the onslaught of the man in front of her.  He wasn’t charging at her as he had done before. But that didn’t mean he did not intend to hurt her.

Somehow she held her ground as he got closer and she noticed that he had found some sort of cloth to wrap around his waist.  He approached her as if he wasn’t sure how she would react if he got too close to her.

That thought made Des smile.  The idea that she could do anything to hurt this behemoth was ludicrous.  She had shown how ineffectual she was against his greater strength.  She didn’t understand how her hair had saved her, she only knew that it had.

She dared to look him in the eyes and again noticed that his eyes were a soft light brown with no traces of the steely silver she had first seen in the box.  The closer he got and the longer she stared, the more she noticed something else.  He looked as if he were confused and scared.

Des understood fear, better than most people she knew what it could do to a person.  She also knew that it could make you dangerous if it wasn’t expected.  She definitely hadn’t expected fear from this man, so she made sure she stayed on her toes, literally, as she prepared for an attack.

He stopped when he was only four feet away from her.  They stood there staring at each other for long moments before he finally spoke.

“Where am I?”

Des blinked in surprise.  That wasn’t what she had expected to come out of his mouth.  She answered him automatically.

“You’re on a transporter bound for Four Crossings.”

He frowned at her words, “Four Crossings?”

Des nodded, “Yes, Four Crossings.”
            “What state is Four Crossings in?”

This time Des did smile fully, “You’re joking, right?  States haven’t existed since the Resistance of 2020.”

She saw the color drain from the man’s face and for a moment she thought he was going to pass out.

“2020?  That’s impossible.  It can’t be 2020.”

Des felt her blood run cold as some of her previous thoughts were beginning to sound more like a possibility than she had at first thought.

A part of her was thinking that she shouldn’t tell him what year it really was, especially considering how unstable the man was.  But another part of her knew that she had to tell him.  She just hoped it wouldn’t set him off again.

“Not sure you want to hear this, but it’s not 2020.  It’s 2032.”