Chapter 6
Val was becoming accustomed to waking up in a different situation when she was around Pat. Now she found herself wrapped up in a blanket and lying across the front seat and onto Pat's lap as he drove. Gwen wasn't in the car at all.
"Hi!" Pat said with his nauseating, neighborly smile.
"Hi," Val said, sleepily looking up at him.
"We're about a hundred miles from that motel," Pat said with a straight smile. "We left Gwen there."
"Why?" Val asked, realizing that it wasn't really "we" that had left Gwen behind.
"Because, baby, nobody's ever blown me like you did," he said with that same straight smile.
Val got up and looked out the window. They were traveling in a very green area to be as far south as she expected. She thought that they should be somewhere around Santa Barbara.
"Where are we?" Val asked with a yawn.
"We're going to a cabin I have off Mono Creek, just you and me."
Val was trying to think where that could be.
"It's on the other side of Lake Cuchuma, across the San Marcos pass from Santa Barbara," Pat answered when he saw Val's hesitant look.
Val opened the blanket that was wrapped around her and stared at her own nude body. She turned around abruptly and looked in the back of the station wagon, but her clothes were nowhere around. A dull panic captured her heart. Pat had really thought it out when he had abducted her: without her clothes she couldn't get away. Pat smiled over at her with that awful grin when he realized what she was thinking.
"Yes," Pat said as he gripped the wheel tighter, "I really want you. I need you like I've never needed anything before in my whole life."
His grin became hideous as Val watched his mouth in disbelief. She knew she had to get away. As gentle as he had been when they had fucked, she sensed that he couldn't be trusted away from Gwen. Val thought that the two must've acted to balance and neutralize each other's perversities. She knew he was more weird than she could handle and she wished that Gwen were here right now.
Val watched as a huge lake loomed up on their left. She reasoned that it was Lake Cuchuma, which Pat had mentioned. She began to think about getting away from him. But without clothes it would be very difficult. Aaron's face kept looming in front of her. She wished that she possessed some secret way of communicating her distress to him. And that he would come and save her like the heroes in the movies. I have to get hold of my senses, she reasoned. Sometime Pat's going to make a mistake, or slip up, even if only for a second. I have to be ready for that second.
Val looked at Pat's gas gauge for a clue. It read three-quarters full, so there was no chance that they would have to stop for gas and she could slip into the ladies' room. Besides, that trick was hardly foolproof.
Val reached for a cigarette on the dashboard and Pat jumped. She just tried to smile at him as she lit up. She was pleased to have startled him. She tried to think if she could use it as a means of escape. No plan came to mind.
She wondered if she could claim the clap and scare Pat off. She reasoned that it was hopeless. They'd had sex already half a dozen times. Maybe if he thinks I'll die on him, she tried. Like, I have a heart condition. No, diabetes!
"Did you remember to bring my insulin?" she asked as straight as she could manage.
"Insulin, my ass," Pat answered. "I searched your pockets, honey. Nothing but a little loose change.
Christ! she thought, he's thought of everything.
Val hadn't been prepared for him having gone through her pockets and she fumed at being foiled in her deception. She wanted to strike out at him, but even that was more dangerous than tempting. She took a big drag from her cigarette and blew it in Pat's face. Suddenly he was challenged and his face changed to the kind sexuality of his bedroom smile. Val was caught by surprise, but she was pleased with herself for putting Pat on the defensive.
She turned her head back to the passenger window and watched the greenery flash by. After a while she began to think again of way to get away. But the beauty of the countryside captured her imagination and she could only give a sigh at how lovely everything looked. She knew, though, that what was waiting ahead of her was not going to be peaceful, one way or the other.
She watched as the signs said that she was just passing the Santa Barbara turnoff toward the San Marcos pass. Val became attentive to the area she was in now, because she knew that she would have to come back this way to get to Santa Barbara. It would have to be one chance in a million to get away under these circumstances. She shuddered and pulled the blanket around her more tightly.
The road became curvy as they traveled on. Pat continued to drive fast, even after the sign told him to drive slowly in the national forest. Pat began to speed up and drive erratically. Val reached over in fright and grabbed his arm. With a devilish leer he threw off her hands and continued racing down the road.
"Stop! Stop!" Val screamed over and over again. She was in hysterical panic. The trees raced by in a blur of green as Pat maneuvered his bulky car deftly around the mountain turns.
Val dug her fingers into the seat and dashboard to steady her thrashing body. Her blanket fell down from around her shoulders, and her firm breasts swayed from side to side with each turn.
Suddenly Pat ground to a stop, his tires smoking. Val held tightly to the back of the seat to keep from being thrown forward onto the dashboard. She saw a red light flash by her and stop in front of the station wagon. She saw her way out and jumped. She was through the bushes dragging the blanket behind her. She started running and couldn't stop.
Val's bare feet were tender against the nettles and the stones. She didn't seem to mind the pain as she stumbled on in the direction she supposed to be Santa Barbara.
Valentine didn't have anything to recommend her for survival but a blanket and a goal. Her blanket was an old green Army blanket that blended in with the forest. Her goal was Aaron. His face kept looming up in front of her, inviting her home with his protective smile. She ran in the direction of her fantasy, tripping occasionally but getting up quickly and moving on.
She was suddenly tired, and thirsty, and hungry. She sat down on a rock to rest. It seemed as though she'd been running for an hour, but she couldn't be sure. She just knew that she was in the middle of a dark-green forest. She looked up at the trees towering over her and she felt very small.
She wasn't panicked, but calmed by the sounds of the forest. She found the skittering of the ground squirrels delightful, and the songs of the numerous birds pleasing. It was as peaceful to sit in the forest as it had been at sea with Aaron last summer, or nearly so. She looked up at the large trees and thought of the first time she and Aaron had balled. He had been gentle, and yet commanding with his mighty cock. She had lain back on the deck of his boat and had taken every stroke of his turgid meat with excited pleasure. She wished Aaron was here right now to make the forest complete for her. But he wasn't.
Suddenly Val realized that the police who had pulled Pat over had been a solution to her problem that she'd missed. In her hysterical panic she'd just run. She stood up and looked around. She couldn't remember which way she'd come from or where she was going. She spun around in circles until she was dizzy and frightened. She screamed, "Oh, shit!" and sat back down.
The noon sun was hidden by the trees. Valentine looked up, hoping she might tell the direction that she needed to go. But with the sun so high in the sky it was impossible. She panicked again and began to run.
All of the sounds of the woods became evil. The birds' songs sounded lecherous and the little animals running around the base of the trees seemed malicious. She ran and ran until she dropped from exhaustion on the leaf-covered ground. She panted there until she had enough strength, then she got up again and started to run.
Another hour went by like this until the sun was setting on her right and she knew she was heading in the proper direction. When she slowly began to realize that she wasn't as lost as she thought, she slowed down and began to walk. It felt strange to move that slowly. It was almost too easy to walk. She looked down at her legs and saw that they were scratched and dirty. She needed water to wash them off, and clean the scratches. Then she realized that she needed water even more to drink. She was so thirsty and hungry.
There was a low din coming from quite far away. Val stopped walking, and listened. She thought at first that it must be some animal or other, but as she listened she realized that it was the familiar sound of traffic. She wasn't completely sure, but she started running toward it. When she got up five boys in boy scout uniforms were standing in front of her.
Val began running again, this time in the opposite direction. She was frightened and had to get away. She looked back and they seemed to be trotting after her. A branch caught the Army blanket that trailed loosely behind her as she ran and pulled it from her shapely shoulders. She was jerked in the process and fell down. She was sprawling there nude with five pairs of eyes staring at her.
"Hey, Chuck, look at that!" said the tallest and thickest one to the dark one beside him with the large nose. "She looks like she's on a survival hike, too." The cluster of boys all laughed.
Val cowered and tried to pull loose leaves around her nakedness.
"Eric," Chuck said to the rather pudgy kid with the wire-rimmed glasses, "hand the lady her blanket!" The redhead moved forward as told and shyly handed Val the dirty blanket. She was put at ease by the kindness and sat up as she wrapped the blanket around herself.
The one who had spoken first walked up to Val and said, "My name's Jack, Jack Wilson. What's yours?"
Val smiled and said, "Valentine."
"And it isn't even February," someone said in the background.
"Shut up, Ray," Jack said.
"Sure ... sure!" said a rather handsome boy in a derisive tone. He was the only one in the lot who had a definitely awful gleam to his eyes as he stared fixedly at Val's now-covered body.
She immediately disliked him and respected Jack for trying to protect her.
"Richard," Jack said to the remaining member of their troop, "why don't you give the lady first aid for those nasty cuts on her legs?"
The skinny, hollow-cheeked boy moved forward and pulled a case out of his pack as Ray said, "Why don't you give your artificial penetration," and sniggered at his own joke. The other boys followed his example.
Jack raised his hand solemnly and all fell silent except for a last few snickers from Ray. Jack then said to her, "Please excuse their coarseness. They're still only boy scouts and they don't know how to behave around a lady."
Val noticed that he had an eagle patch on his breast. She knew that as an eagle scout he was bound to be older and more mature than the others.
After a short silence Valentine said, "You're probably wondering what I'm doing here in this condition."
"Well, as a matter-of-fact, we don't find many people out in the woods as ill prepared as you are," Jack said stiffly, trying to sound like an adult.
"I was kidnapped by a pervert," she said, trying to make it sound honest and not too absurd.
"REALLY," said Richard, Chuck and Eric in unison.
Val looked down at Richard, who was now administering iodine to her legs, and smiled as if their "really" were quite out of place. Jack just stood there a few feet from her with his hands on his hips and watched with a concerned smile.
"Do you have any water?" Val asked, licking her parched lips.
"Sure," Jack said as he reached to his belt and unsnapped his canteen. He handed it to her, then reached into his pack and pulled out some hardtack. "This is the only food we're allowed to bring on the hike with us," he said apologetically as he handed it to her.
"That's all right," Val said, grabbing it rapidly out of his hands and wishing it were a steak. She accidentally let the blanket fall open and reveal her lovely breasts for a second.
Richard was now rubbing her legs with salve as she ate greedily. She found his long, large hands exciting for a boy. He was adept at applying the medicine, and his ministrations were almost sensual. Val watched as his eyes began to water as he rubbed her shapely calf. She began to worry about his intentions as she looked up at Jack for help.
All of them had changed. They all were wearing leers as awful as Ray's, even shy Eric and kind Jack. Valentine knew she was in for quite a session this time.