9 Seconds of Freedom, Original Suspense, Part 27, links to first 26

She looked at me, angry. “No, the other fighters. We’d all get sorted into cages in the back, and we’d whisper, share information, try to stay informed about the outside world,” she said. “They were the only ones that understood. Even you don’t understand!”

“There was no baby. Some part of me thought the bitch would be happy. She can’t have her own, and the two she adopted, well, you’ve met them,” Leeanne said. “She took me to a doctor, had it taken care of.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t imagine how hard that is.”

“You can’t imagine, because you’ve never laid on the mat, with them counting down the moments until your opponent is free to end you. The worst part is, you want them to,” she said.

"When you're lying there on that floor and they're counting. For nine seconds, all you can think is how free you are. But then you know, you gotta get up before they get to ten, and you gotta fight some more, cause if you don't, they're gonna kill you." Leeanne said.

Her voice had turned to steel.

“You’re right, I can’t understand, but I’m trying,” I said.

“I don’t need you to try. I don’t need you to do anything. I just need this,” she said. “To end, and never happen to another girl again. I need to know that my baby got justice.”

She just sat still and stared at the cage. I had nothing to say. She was right. It was a lot. I could see why she’d think I wouldn’t stay.

“I was going to just kill her, but now I can’t. Now they’ve got my sister! I can’t risk her life just to get my revenge,” she said.

She sighed. She heaved herself up from the floor.

She walked out of the barn. The heels of her shoes shoved hard into the ground with every step. I ran to catch up. I opened the door of the truck, she turned past it, walked down to the road.

I started the truck, pulled it out onto the road, past her, and walked back.
“Please, let me take you back to town, to your place, wherever you want to go. You’re not safe out here, they’ll find you,” I said.

“Let them,” she said. “The worst they’ll do is put me back in there, maybe then I can find my sister.”

I didn’t know what to do. She kept walking. I got in the car and kept pace with her, my window rolled down as she ranted at me.

“You’re just like them. All you see is what you can get from me, a hot piece of ass, who might help you recover your memory. If that’s even true. You’re all just takers!” she screamed.

She threw a rock at the truck.

I got a bit ahead of her, and got out. I walked toward her. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through. I held my hands out.

Then she charged. I have never been so afraid for my life. Where there had been a scared girl, there was a warrior. I didn’t even have time to turn toward the truck, or move my hands in defense.

She hit me hard, rolling me onto my back. One hand went to my throat, the other balled into a fist that struck my face and just kept coming. I tried to push her off, but I wasn’t a match for her rage. Being stronger, outweighing her by fifty pounds, none of it mattered.

She dug her knees into my shoulders and begin to twist my neck. I was choking, and I could hear tendons popping. I blacked out.

That’s where I was when I came to. Laying in the middle of the road, a quarter mile from Vern’s. But, I was alive. I rolled over. The truck was still there, door standing open.

It was daylight. I had no idea how much time had passed.

It was over. I was done. I didn’t care what had happened to her. I’d risk my life a thousand times against someone out there, but not her. If this is what she wanted, her against the world, I couldn’t help her. This had nothing to do with me. Sure, my search had led me here, but the bear was gone. I’d gotten everything I could find out about my medallion. Time to move on.

I could take a hint.

Goodbye River Grove, I decided. I climbed in the truck and turned it over. It barely cranked. I looked at my watch, seven. I’d been on the road all night. No one had passed, or worse, no one had stopped. The truck started, and I slammed my door.

I was forty miles away doing seventy down a gravel section road when I saw the lights in my mirror. I’d been expecting it. I kept going. If it was anybody but Crawford, I might stand a chance. Cop from another town, might believe a lie. Skinner, was sloppy, I could take him if I had to.

But, it was Crawford and he was pissed. Then I noticed a second set of lights, through the dust, coming head on toward me. They’d managed to track me down and I was boxed in. I spun the wheel and dove off the pavement, through the bar ditch. I came up the other side and almost cleared the barbed wire with the front wheels, before the truck slammed back down to earth.

I bounced out into the field. Where was I going? I looked around. There was nowhere to run, wide open country for miles. I stopped the truck. I checked the mirror. Crawford and Skinner had their cars broadside to me on the road. Skinner was leaning across the hood of his cruiser. I caught the glint of a rifle scope. Dammit.

I grabbed the hat Leeanne had worn a couple of days before. I rocked my door open and waved it, hoping they’d understand I wanted to surrender. I heard a crack and the back glass of the Chevy exploded.

“Get out of the truck, belly down on the ground,” Crawford said. His voice echoed over his loud speaker.

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