“Who the hell are you?”
The man in front of her had a low, gruff voice, but he didn’t sound like a bad person. He didn’t even sound suspicious of someone who came out from nowhere.
She wasn’t cautious as she approached him at a near run, but he didn’t move.
“Hey, miss,” the man said, getting a clearer view of her as she moved into the light. “You don’t look or sound so good, miss. Are you okay?”
Camila gasped, and went to say something, to plead for his help, only to bend over, her hands on her knees as she broke down into a coughing fit.
“Oh, wow,” the man said. He walked over to her, and she tried to stiffen up, only to cough some more. “It’s okay, miss. I don’t know what you’ve been through, but you clearly need some water and something warmer to put on. I have a blanket in the back of my truck, and my home isn’t so far away, okay? Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you.”
The big man came closer, moving slowly as if not to scare her. He didn’t quite touch her as he guided her over to his truck. She felt her eyes and her throat itch, wanting to cry again, because for all his size and gruffness, the man at least sounded kind. It could be a front, but she didn’t even care.
Finally, she was out from under that bastard’s hands.
“Please, you have to help me!” she begged, looking up at the man.
“Of course! But you better at least tell me what a young girl like you was doing all the way out here. I don’t think I’ve seen you around these parts before. Did you get lost, maybe?”
Not at all.Camila could have laughed, and she thought it would come out partly hysterical. Finally, I’m saved.
Just as she thought this, she heard a loud sound in the night, and it startled her so much that she grinned. Then, she noticed the man behind her had stopped. She looked at him, wide-eyed, and watched as he slowly fell forward to the ground, hitting it with a thud.
“Where did you think you were going, Camila?”
She whipped around, only to see Adrien walking forward, gun outstretched in his hand. He was practically dragging his body as he walked closer, his chest heaving with every breath.
He… just shot the man right in his back. Just like with Tansy.
In a delayed reaction, Camila screamed as she scrambled back, only to stumble and fall back on her ass. She kept moving still, her hands scratching against the ground. She didn’t even realize she had dropped the remote, until Adrien noticed it on the ground and his eyes lit up like he’d just found the winning Easter egg.
Dammit!
She should have kept a better hold on it! She’d just been so excited to see the truck, so sure her salvation was right in front of her that she hadn’t even—
She pushed herself up and ran for it but Adrien had already bent down and snatched it up. With a mad gleam in his eye, he pressed the button.
She screamed and fell to the asphalt, her body writhing and twitching on the ground as the collar electrocuted her. He held the button down until there was no sound coming from her, leaving her body twitching, but otherwise lying still. He put the remote away, and got closer to see he’d shocked her unconscious.
“You shouldn’t have provoked me, Camila,” Adrien sighed.
Sticking the gun down the back of his pants, and putting the remote in his pocket, he leaned down to grab her arm in his bruising grip. He pulled her to her feet and she stumbled along behind him as he started the slow trek back to the farmhouse.
* * *
Big Mike
After they were gone, Big Mike gasped, his body jerking on the ground. With a body-wracking cough that made his back flare like it was on fire, he rolled himself so he was on his side. Fucking asshole shot me!
Phone… I need to phone the police…
Big Mike had been minding his own business like he always did. He wasn’t a people person. he much preferred to be left alone. It was why he lived so far out in the country and mostly off the grid. His only connection to anyone was the cell phone he carried, and he generally kept it off. He didn’t need the nosy government tracking him.
His truck had been giving him trouble on his way home from deer hunting, so he’d stopped to look it over. Considering he lived comfortably in the middle of nowhere, it wasn’t every day he saw a scared, weak looking young girl running up to him looking like she was running from something. He also hadn’t expect the bastard who’d come from out of the trees. He’d been stupid not to after the girl had shown up looking as she had, he should have expected some kind of trouble the way she’d been begging for help.
His thoughts turned to the direction the two had come from. That copse of trees led to his old and kindly neighbor, Tansy. She was his only neighbor, actually. If you counted a mile and half as being a neighbor.
Gritting his teeth at the ache in his back, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He dialed 911. He had to get help for that girl.