Glass sliced through Novak’s skin like a hot knife through melted butter. Blood flowed warm down his back, pooling near his waistband. He limped around the vehicle, every step sending pain up his right leg from his ankle to his knee. It didn’t look broken. Time would tell, he supposed.
He had managed to strike Cassie and free her grasp from the wheel. Had he not, he surely would’ve been ejected from the car, through the windshield, and splattered among the trees. Instead, he grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it toward him. Cassie’s foot must’ve slid off the gas pedal, too. The car spun and decelerated and hit at an angle that spread out the impact along the driver’s side. He didn’t escape unscathed, but the wounds he suffered when he collided with the side window weren’t life-threatening.
After pulling Cassie free of the wreckage, he slung her over his shoulder. She still hadn’t come to. He wasn’t sure how far he could carry her. She wasn’t heavy, but damn if his lower leg wasn’t screaming at him. Luckily, he didn’t have to make it to the van, only into the woods far enough that they wouldn’t be seen if someone had heard the wreck and found the car. The chances of that were slim, he admitted to himself. Still, he had to remain vigilant. He’d only been free for less than a month, and going back to prison was not in his plans. He’d rather die in a hailstorm of lead than go back there.
Cassie coughed, then moaned. Novak bent forward and let her slide to the ground onto her back. He found a thick tree trunk to lean back against and catch his breath. She wasn’t going to get up and run off. She could try to crawl away, but he’d jump on top of her. Her eyes fluttered open, wide at first, then squinted. She looked to the side, up, down. She licked the dirt off her lips, then spat it out. Her gaze came to rest on him.
“Hello, Cassie,” he said through heavy breaths. He’d managed to stay in shape in prison, but the wounds from the glass and the pain in his leg combined with carrying her in the humidity had left him winded.
“Where are we?” she asked.
He looked up at the green foliage above and around them, held out his arms. “Oh, you know, nowhere.”
She started hyperventilating. It seemed as though the situation had slapped her back to full consciousness.
Novak drew the pistol from his waistband. He’d somehow managed to find it after the car came to rest against that tree.
“Cassie,” he said. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.”
She lifted herself up on her elbows. He pushed off the tree. A hundred crows swooped down and settled on the branches above. It looked like night for a moment. Their shrill voices drowned out everything else.
Novak motioned for Cassie to rise, then aimed his pistol toward a narrow path. She complied without hesitation. Aside from being rendered unconscious, she appeared to have escaped the accident unscathed.
“Good girl,” he said, unsure if she could hear him over the squawking from the trees.
A few minutes later they were walking along a set of ruts in the ground. The left path. The one he’d wanted her to take when she had decided to take matters into her own hands. What was she thinking? Novak gripped the pistol tight in anger. She could have killed him in the most unceremonious of manners. It would have been weeks before someone came across his remains.
At times, Novak could be a normal, thoughtful person. He felt empathy for those in dire situations, was cordial to restaurant wait staff and store clerks, and he pretty much left things as they were in the world. But that was not always the case. Sometimes the anger would rise. One he couldn’t control. Violence had become the only way for it to subside.
This was one of those times.
Novak rushed forward, ignoring the pain in his leg. Like a soccer player, he planted on his good leg and used the other to sweep Cassie’s feet out from under her. She seemed to freeze mid-air before crashing hard on her side. There was no yell or cry. There couldn’t be. He stood over her, staring at her twisted, reddening face, her mouth open, trying to force out a scream for which the required oxygen didn’t exist.
He reached down, grabbed a fistful of her t-shirt, and yanked. The fabric tore from her collar to mid-breast, revealing a pink and blue bra. He let go and swung his arm wildly, grasping and coming up with her hair.
She still hadn’t taken a breath. Her face had turned dark red. Primal moans escaped from her mouth. He didn’t care. He pulled upward until she was on her feet again. He dragged her along the path by her hair.
When she finally pulled in a gulp of air, it sounded like someone emerging from underwater, their lungs about to burst. She sucked it in, coughed, heaved like she was going to vomit.
“You puke and I’ll do it again,” he said.
She bowed forward, hands on her knees, breathing hard and loud. One yank of her hair and she’d go flying forward.
“We’re almost there,” he said. “Stay on your feet or this forest will be your grave. No one will ever find you here, Cassie. The creatures will pick your bones clean before the hunters bag the first buck of the season.”
She staggered forward, one step much shorter than the other, in obvious pain. He expected later he’d see a large black mark on her right hip. And at that point, the rage drained like water swirling down a drain. He moved in closer, placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezed lightly.
“Forgive me, Cassie. This was not the appropriate place or time.”
He withdrew before she could react. It wasn’t smart getting that close with his weapon out. He knew it. Cassie was a survivor. And she probably prided herself on that. Probably took classes. Self-defense classes. So that she could deal with someone like Novak.
“How’s that working out for you, Cassie?” he muttered.
She looked back at him, confused. “What?”
He shook his head and prodded her forward. A short while later, looking ahead, he saw the sun glinting off the chrome side mirror. Cassie stopped. She must’ve seen it, too.
“Keep going,” he said.
“Who’s there?” she said.
“No one,” he said. “That’s my van.”
Novak watched her face draw tight. Fear? Anxiety? Her eyes darted left and right, looking for a way out, no doubt. She wouldn’t find it. Wouldn’t get more than ten feet before he shot her. Judging by the slackness that overtook her features, she knew it, too.
“What’s inside it?” Cassie asked.
“Let’s go find out.”
She didn’t seem all that keen on doing so until Novak threatened her. Again. It was a game he’d grow weary of if they didn’t get out of the woods soon.
When they reached the van, Novak pulled back on the handle and slid the side door open. He had Cassie wait with her arms around a nearby tree, cheek against the bark, ass toward him. He pulled a length of rope from a cargo bay.
As he approached, Novak instructed Cassie to reach her arms behind her back. She failed to comply, forcing him to drive his knee into her lower back and wrench her arms around. He secured them at the wrists with the rope. She grunted as he tightened the knot, digging the rope into her flesh.
“Yeah,” he said. “Let me know how it feels, Cassie.”
“Fuck you,” she said.
“Not yet.” He ran his hand over the curve of her hip.
She craned her head around and spat. The trajectory was all wrong, though. Didn’t come close to hitting him. Novak laughed as he returned to the van. He waited for a second and watched her. Would she run? Was she that brave? Oddly, he wanted her to try to escape. He desired the chance to hunt her down. Again.
But she didn’t move. Strange. Perhaps she was waiting for a better time or place. If only she knew this was her best and last chance to attain freedom. From this point forward, Cassie belonged to him.
Novak opened the glove box and retrieved a black bag. He carried it over to where Cassie stood with her forehead pressed against the tree bark. Inside the carry case, a metal syringe and bottle of fluid banged together with a soft thud with every step he took.
He stopped a few feet away from her. No point in getting any closer yet. It would only give her an opportunity to wreck his plans and make things more difficult for him.
Novak unzipped the case slowly, hoping to spark some fear in the woman. It was obviously a zipper, but to what? His pants? Something else? A smile played on his face as he leaned to the side and searched hers for signs of a reaction. Sadly, there was none. He unscrewed the lid from the bottle. The needle encountered a slight resistance and then slipped through the membrane. Clear liquid rushed into the chamber as he drew back the plunger.
“This will pinch a little, Cassie,” he said, yanking her shorts down, exposing pale skin. “But there’s no harm being done.”
Before she could react, he penetrated the flesh of her right buttocks with the needle and injected the fluid into her. Her glute flexed and tightened, but it was too late. The drug has found its way into her system. Cassie swayed to the side, stumbled, started to collapse. Novak lunged forward and broke her fall for her.
“Don’t go passing out on me just yet.” He stroked her hair while easing her to a seated position. “We’ve got to get you inside the van.”
Her eyes glazed over. Her stare was distant. Her pupils grew until there was nothing but black and white and tiny strings of red. She mumbled something incoherent.
Novak wrapped one arm around her, lifted her off the ground into a standing position. He draped her other arm over his shoulders. She felt like a noodle, all wobbly. Not the first time he’d had to assist one of his victims in such a way. He could carry her, but why waste the energy when she could sort of walk? She managed a step here and there, but her feet mostly dragged along the ground.
They reached the van. Novak untied the rope around her wrists, then laid her on her back. At her torso, thighs, and ankles there were two steel eyelets on either side of her body. He grabbed two more lengths of rope and strapped her thighs and ankles to the floor. With the third rope, he retied her wrists in front of her.
Then he climbed into the front seat and navigated out of the woods.