Chapter 7: The Rescue

As they pulled up towards the cabin, the phone in Ted's hand started talking.

"Ted! I detect someone in distress in that building. By her life signs, it's a young woman. She is in great pain. Her body has a bad infection, and her body temp is 106 degrees and rising. Her blood is infected, and is septic."

The Ranger stepped out of the building, and reached for his gun as they approached.

Ted dropped the phone, and unfastened his seatbelt. He grabbed the door handle as they neared the Ranger. With a snarl, he unlocked the door as they came close. Gripping the window and the handle he waited for the right moment to act.

"You're dead, you mother fucker," he said under his breath.

Ken slammed the brakes on just as Ted opened the door wide. The opened door slammed into the big man, flinging him to the ground. Ted was on him, instantly. The man rolled with the kid as the kid grabbed his gun hand.

"I am going to kill you for that, punk!" yelled John as the two men grapple in the dust for the gun.

"You and what army, you shit head?" Ted grabbed the Ranger's gun hand, forcing the big gun down and away from his body. "When I get done with you, you won't know what hit you, you fuckin sleaze bag. Your own mother won't recognize you."

Ken was surprised when Ted dove out of the truck onto the Ranger. He slammed on the brakes on the huge SUV. The brakes locked up, and the SUV slid to a dead stop a few feet past the Rangers Jeep. By the time Ken was out of the car, Ted and the Ranger were in a hand-to-hand fight.

Ted snapped a kick at the Ranger's chest and hit him hard. He staggered back a few feet. With an evil grin the man whips a razor sharp knife out and slices Ted across the stomach. A thin line of blood appears staining his white T-shirt.

"A little closer and your guts will be around your feet. Then I am going to carve you up, and hang you from a tree. And your friend there?" he said as he points at Ken with the knife, "I'm going to stake him over an ant hill and cover him in honey. Then I will force you both to watch, while I rape your bitches, but I won't kill them. I will sell them to some friends I have in the Middle East. They love blonde bitches to put in their line. As you are dying and watching me raping them, you will regret having ever come after me."

Moving the knife back and forth in front of Ted he advanced and makes another swipe but missed as Ted jumped back out of danger.

"You fuckin talk too much," Ted snarled as he tried a leg sweep and missed.

Suddenly Ken was there as the girls raced by him into the building. Ken moved in and with a snap kick, he connected with the Ranger's hand, and sent the huge knife flying.

The Ranger snarled and reached for a second knife when Ken moved again.

Ken threw a second snap kick when he saw the ranger go for another knife, aiming for the chest. He was surprised when the man moved, suddenly.

The man tried to dodge the kick. He dropped down just in front of the kick, and pain shot through his head as Ken's foot connected to his temple.

The Ranger went flying. He landed on his back, and did not move.

Jenny was the first one through the door. She came to an abrupt stop when she saw a young girl. Tammy was running right behind and ran into her back, coming to a sudden stop, also.

The girl was naked beside a bed. A rusty chain ran from her right ankle, to the wall. She was cringing in the corner between the bed and wall. The look on her face was one of despair, and hopelessness. Her red hair hung lifelessly, dark circles graced her eyes, and the right side of her face was swollen from where it appeared that she had been slapped.

Cigarette burns and whip marks studded and streaked her bruised and battered flesh. Scattered on the floor were empty water bottles and sandwich bags from the sandwiches she had eaten. The smell coming from a large pot, made it obvious that it was a chamber pot.

"Oh my God! Tammy, go get a blanket. Get some Gatorade from the car, too! And see if there are any keys on that bastard. Most of all, keep the guys out of here."

Jennifer's words then registered in Tammy's brain, and she turned to go back outside.

"Right away, Jenny! I will be right back," she stepped back outside as Ken delivered a kick to the Ranger's head. The man flew backwards, and landed on his back. He appeared to be out cold.

"Ken, check that son of a bitch for any keys and tie him up," Tammy said.

Jenny grabbed a chair, and brought it over to the girl. She gently picked the young girl up and moved her to the chair.

Tammy went to the back of the SUV. She unlatched the back, and grabbed a six-pack of Gatorade, plus a blanket from the storage compartment. As she turned around, she saw her brother standing there with his T-Shirt rolled up. He was checking his belly, which was running with blood. Tammy screamed as she saw the blood.

"Ted! You're hurt!"

She rushed over to him, and started checking the wound to see how bad it was.

Ken was checking on the Ranger when Tammy shouted out for him to find keys, as she ran to the Expedition. He started going through the man's pants and pulled out a set of keys.

"How bad is it, Ted? Tammy, I found some keys on him," he said as he walked up to the twins, and handed them to her.

"That bastard is dead. I guess I kicked him too hard. What's going on in the shack?"

Taking the keys, Tammy said, "There is a girl in there that is chained up. She's in a bad way. You guys stay out here. We don't want her to flip out."

Ken nods his head, "Ok, I will help Ted. You go help Jenny with the girl."

"You're right, Jenny needs me. Do not come in unless we call you. Take care of my brother. I'll be back if you need me."

Without another word, Tammy ran to the shack and was through the open door. Then it slammed behind her.

Ken led Ted over to the SUV, retrieved his medical kit, and quickly pulled out the items he needs to bandage the wound.

"Ted, this is going to sting like hell."

"I know, just get it over with," Ted said, and Ken went to work on him.

As Tammy came in, she saw Jenny talking to the girl. Moving up she draped the blanket around the girl's shoulders.

"Hi! I'm Tammy," she said as she knelt beside her.

Jenny continued to talk with her.

"You're ok. We will help you. You are safe, now! That man cannot ever hurt you anymore."

"Got that right, he's dead," Tammy said.

Tammy opened the first bottle of Gatorade and handed it to Jenny. She then knelt by the girl's ankle and began trying the keys in the lock. On the eighth try, it unlocked the manacle. She peeled the bloody metal off the girl's leg. The smell of dead flesh that wafted up to her nose was so powerful that it overpowered the sour body odor of the girl.

"Jenny we have to get her to Amy, now! She could loose her leg."

Looking at the leg, she could see that it was inflamed with red lines under the skin. When she looked closer she could see that the skin was infested with maggots.

Jenny took the bottle of Gatorade and held it to the girl's mouth.

The girl just sat there. Her eyes were glazed. She didn't even realize she was being helped. The liquid flowed into her mouth and ran down her chin.

Jenny pulled the bottle back and brushed the greasy red hair out of the girls green eyes.

"Come on. Drink something. You need the electrolytes to get into your system."

Holding the bottle up again, Jenny tried to get her to drink some more. As the liquid entered her mouth, she gently rubbed her throat as she continued to talk with her. Finally, the 8 oz bottle was finished, and Jenny tossed it over her shoulder.

"What is your name, Honey? My name is Jenny, and this is my best friend, Tammy. Our brothers are outside. They are dealing with the man who has been hurting you. We want to help you, and take you to a friend who can help you get better. Will you meet us halfway?"

The girl turned her head, and looked at Jenny. Tears started running down her face, as her eyes focused on the woman in front of her. Opening her mouth she tried to speak, but her throat was still too dry and sore to talk. With a cough she tried to say her name.

"Mo..." cough ... cough...

Tammy opened a second bottle of Gatorade, and lifted the bottle of drink to the girl's parched lips.

"Here, take another sip of this."

She took a few sips, and tried speaking again.

"Molly. My name is Molly O'Neil."

Jenny wrapped the blanket tightly around Molly, and helped her stand.

"Hi, Molly. Let's get you out of here."

Helping her walk on one leg, Jenny led her to the door. When they get there, they could see the effort she was undergoing. The pain was very evident on her face. Jenny sat her down in another chair.

"Tammy, get Ted. See if he can carry her to the car."

Ken finished working on Ted, and got him into the vehicle.

"Ted, I'm going to go see what's taking so long."

"Ok."

"Oh my God! I forgot to tell you! Ted is hurt," she opened the door and saw Ken standing there with his hand raised. "Yikes, don't do that, Ken."

"Sorry, Tammy, I was just getting ready to knock, when you opened the door. Ted is in the car. The cut is not too bad, almost a scratch. It looks worse than it is. It just bled pretty badly. I got it bandaged up. The Ranger is dead. I guess I kicked him harder than I wanted to."

"Oh! I am happy Ted's going to be ok. Ken can you get her into the car? She can barely stand. I think her leg is badly infected. In fact, it smells like it is terribly infected. Her name is Molly, and she has been badly abused. Go easy on her."

"Yes, I can carry her, and I will."

Moving to the girl, he stops. He looked into her eyes and saw the fear there.

"Molly, I am going to help you. We need to get you into our vehicle, so we can get you out of here. I am going to pick you up."

He placed his arms around her. She started shivering in fear. He continued to speak to her.

"Molly, my name is Ken. I won't hurt you, if I can help it. But I must carry you to my car, and get you out of this hell hole."

Molly shivered and tears of shame ran down her face. She looked up at the man's face. She noticed that he was very handsome, and that he had a kind look in his eyes.

"Ok."

Ken bent and swept her out of the chair. Quickly and carefully, he went out the door and over to the SUV. Tammy had rushed ahead of them, and had the door open by the time he got there. He set her on the back seat. Jenny climbed in and placed Molly's head on her lap. Taking a wet wipe from the package in the carryall on the back of the driver's seat, she washed Molly's face as Tammy and Ken talked outside the car.

"Tammy, can you drive? I need to take the Ranger's Jeep. I will take care of the body."

Tammy looked confused at Ken's statement, and asked, "Take him where? Why would you do that?"

"Take him with us! We can't leave him here. He's dead! We don't want people looking for him. Someone will eventually come looking for him, when he fails to check in. But if there is no Jeep, and no body, they will think he is out on patrol or something."

She looked at him and then at the body.

"Ok, sure, no problem, we will follow you. The keys are in the shack, I'll get them."

Running into the shack, she grabbed the set of keys from where she had dropped them after she had unlocked the manacle from Molly's leg. With a shudder at the horror the girl had gone through, she turned and went outside. She saw Ken lift the corpse up onto his back. Then Ken walked to the Jeep and dumped the body into the back. She smiled at the man she loved, and rushed over to him. She handed him the keys. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and went back to the SUV. Climbing in, she fastened her seat belt, and started the engine.

Ken moved back to the fight site and scuffed the blood into the ground. Looking around, he spotted the two knives and the pistol and picked them up. After one final look, he went back to the Jeep.

Firing up the Jeep, he backed up to the other car, stopping at Ted's window. Ted rolled the window down and before he could ask what was happening, Ken told him what he wanted.

"Hand me the communicator so I can lead us there."

Ted looked for the communicator and spotted it by his feet. He bent down, picked it up, and handed it to Ken.

"Here you go, Ken."

"Thanks."

Taking the com unit, he called Amy.

"Amy, we're coming back to you, give me directions. We have a medical emergency for you."

Putting the Jeep in gear, he headed on down the way they were going.

"Hi, Ken. I know, Medical is ready for her. Drive along the cliff until you see a trail that starts climbing up the side of the canyon wall. When you get closer to the trail you will see a huge boulder sitting off to one side. I will tell you which way to go, when you get there."

Ken drove along the side of the cliff. As he came around a small bend, and he saw the dirt road going up the side of the cliff. He also saw the huge rock. Picking up the com unit he contacted Amy again.

"Ok I see the rock."

"Ok, Ken, now drive into the rock."

Ken slammed the brakes on and looked at the communicator.

"What? I will crash!"

Behind him, Tammy came to a stop.

A giggle came from the communicator, and then Amy's voice came back on.

"Trust me, Ken, you won't crash."